Posted on 04/30/2002 4:04:36 PM PDT by Starmaker
Star Wars: Episode 2 will be released in theaters across North America on May 16, less than three weeks from today. Amidst long-time Star Wars fans, the anticipation is palpable.
It should be leagues better than Star Wars: Episode 1 was.
Star Wars: Episode 1, also known as "The Phantom Menace", went off track in a number of ways.
First, there was an over-reliance on computer-generated images (CGI). The whole film was awash in settings and otherworldly creatures that were clearly not "there", but were added to the film by computer. This greatly diminished the suspension of disbelief needed by an audience watching a Star Wars film.
Second, the characters were very wooden. Natalie Portman, a gifted actress who delivered an incredibly memorable performance in a stage version of "The Diary of Anne Frank", was overladen with make-up and costumery. Her character, Padme Amidala, was formal to the point of being non-expressive. This stood in strong contrast to the spark and fire of Carrie Fisher's Princess Leia Organa in the original trilogy.
Third, there was too much focus on the "videogame" aspects of the film, such as the podrace-which-ran-forever. There were times when Star Wars: Episode 1 seemed more like an extended advertisement for Star Wars: Episode 1 merchandise than like an actual film with an actual plot.
Star Wars: Episode 2 looks to be an improvement on all counts.
While it still has a perhaps-excessive measure of computer-generated images, it appears to rely on them far less. The infamous Jar-Jar Binks, whose ALF-like presence haunted Episode 1, is apparently reduced to minimal screen time in Episode 2. Additionally, the computer-generated cityscapes of Coruscant are effectively counterweighted by the real-world images of Venice-like waterways, mountains, and meadows. These real-world images and settings, actually filmed in Seville, Spain and Dublin, Ireland, give Star Wars: Episode 2 a grounding in corporeality which its immediate predecessor lacked.
The characters are also more fleshed-out in Episode 2. Once a queen, now a Senator, the pivotal character of Natalie Portman's Padme Amidala is now free to express a variety of emotions and personality characteristics, in a combination somewhat representative of the noble acerbity captured by Carrie Fisher's Princess Leia in the original trilogy.
In Episode 2, Anakin Skywalker (the artist futurely known as Darth Vader) is an arrogant young man whose uncanny abilities are more than he can handle. His persona is more Han Solo than Luke Skywalker, but with a definite edginess added in.
And that element adds a lot of intrigue to Episode 2, giving it more of the original trilogy's sense of an epic battle between good and evil, between Light and Dark. That larger-than-life sensibility allows the story of Anakin Skywalker's personal rebellion to deepen into a backdrop of universal human archetypes.
The basic story is that as Anakin Skywalker becomes skilled in the ways of the Jedi Knights, he also falls in love with Senator Padme Amidala. He meets her again, having not seen her in many years, while on Coruscant---the seat of the Republic which both serve: one as a new Senator, one as a new Jedi.
They appeal to Chancellor (and future Emperor) Palpatine regarding the political turmoil spreading through their Republic.
In a different way, they appeal to one another. To the extent of co-conceiving the twins, Luke and Leia. And they spend time together, quietly sailing the waterways of one world, and quickly walking the corridors of another...
...only to discover that their liaisons are opposed by the Jedi Knights.
And thus the conflict.
Anakin Skywalker wants it all: the love of his life, and his place and power in the Jedi Order.
He is told that he can't have both.
His girlfriend tells him that he can't have both.
Obi-Wan Kenobi tells him that he can't have both.
And Anakin's frustration and peril is born in the centre of that conflict.
His frustration, in turn, leaves him searching for guidance, for someone to tell him that he can, indeed, have it all.
Enter the future Emperor, Chancellor Palpatine.
"I see you becoming the greatest of all Jedi", he tells Anakin.
And so Anakin Skywalker's path to the Dark Side begins.
Star Wars: Episode 2 will be released in theaters across North America on May 16. It looks to greatly recapture the spirit of the original trilogy. In addition to Natalie Portman's Padme Amidala, Hayden Christensen's Anakin Skywalker, and Ewan McGregor's Obi-Wan Kenobi, the multi-talented Samuel L. Jackson plays a pivotal role as well.
To comment on this article or express your opinion directly to the author, you are invited to e-mail Isaiah at isaiah_flair_2002@hotmail.com .
I remember one of the first three movies being panned. I think people expect a little too much sometimes. This isn't going to turn into the epic story of good vs evil. It's abundantly clear that for all it's lofty goals, it will miss that mark. I supposed that's because that story has already been told. This is entertainment. Accept it for what it is. Kids love it, and they're the real draw anyway.
I protest! Comparing Jar-Jar to ALF is an insult to ALF!
Proving once again that girls always go for the guy most like their dad?
I walked out of the movie "A.I.", on opening night, after only 25 minutes when they showed the kid walking with his teddy bear. The CGI bear walked next to him, hopping alpng and basically just defying gravity.
This intusively obvious "effect" just thrown in completely took me out of whatever "suspension of disbelief" I had left at the time. I wasn't going to waste any more of my time with this junk.
(I'd already had a few problems with the movie, and this was the last straw. If anyone's interested, I'll be glad to tell you.)
Anyway, I've got a question for all:
I haven't seen Episode 1; should I just go and see Episode 2, or should I rent Episode 1 on DVD and watch that first? (A little background: I have seen the three Star Wars movies (well, the original Star Wars only on video). The Empire Strikes Back was the first one I saw, and I don't think watching it was diminished by not having seen the first Star Wars.
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