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First of all, I want to note that I don't hate Jar-Jar the way a lot of serious Star Wars fans do. Second, I have mixed feelings about the re-use of music from earlier entries in more recent entries in the series. I figure John Williams is getting old (assuming he's stopped getting older entirely), and George Lucas has been unsuccessful in finding a replacement composer who was an adequate match for this incredibly important element. But also, I think it works relatively well as an ongoing, unobtrusive series of references and allusions to the earlier movies. The kiddies won't notice, so it won't annoy them. The adults will be drawn in. Third, I think Ewan McGregor is doing a fabulously good job integrating his acting style with Alec Guinness's lazily supercilious Obi-Wan Kenobi with is own version of the character from Episode 1. Fourth, I like the Muppet Yoda better than the CGI Yoda. Just because you can make a character practically rotate his features in a grimace, doesn't mean you should.
That should cover my most controversial opinions.
I expect this entry in the franchise to play better world wide than any previous Star Wars movie, possibly better than any movie ever, particularly in markets that were formerly colonies of the UK. The romance which is central to this film (much as some old school fans might wish otherwise) is classic Mills and Boon. Lots of clothes. Lots of scenery. Stilted dialogue. Contrived obstacles to chicky and dude getting together. Chaste (oh, so chaste) kissing. No exposed genitalia or breasts, but lots of dark room/heavy ambience/probably inappropriate socializing. And, best of all (not so much Mills and Boon, but still very appealing in many, many, many markets), the star-crossed lovers/expected tragic outcome for the romance (which helps the reader/viewer remember that she should not engage in such contrary-to-familial-or-societal-expectations behavior, not to mention making it that much more titillating).
Back to that stilted dialogue. Because it is stilted. I think that's a good thing, and here's why. First, it is stilted the way Brent Spiner's Data was stilted in speech: written English grammar, rather than colloquial American English grammar. That should translate well, literally, and it will also translate well in the sense that a lot of places know English better than Americans do, and use it in a manner much closer to written English. Again with the playing well overseas remark. Second, it is stilted in that it is very literal (e.g. the infamous sand, coarse vs Amidala's skin, soft, remark). That will also move well between cultures. Third, it is stilted in that it is politically obvious. Not naive (because it turns out that most of the commentary accusing Lucas of naivete is a helluva lot more naive than I perceived ST2 to be). Not even simplistic (witness the messy and veering behavior of the Senate, characteristics one would expect of a true representative democracy). But it is obvious (well, not that obvious, or more critics and viewers would be picking up on it). Right there in the literal dialogue. Amidala and Anakin discussing government and how it should and does work is the best example (well, that and the ongoing obliviousness of the Jedi Council). Gosh, do you think Anakin would wind up supporting an apparently legitimate leader turned dictator, even to the extent of engaging in atrocity and genocide? Well, he doesn't like messy and veering, and tends to think someone should make everyone do The Right Thing. And when some people piss him off (Tuscan, er Tusken Raiders kill his mom by torturing her for a month) he kills them all. All. All. Men, women and children. And, here's the amazing bit, how does Amidala react? She does a there, there, dear. Not, holy crap, aren't you supposed to be a Jedi? Nope. There, there, dear. She'll follow this guy to the mouth of hell (altho probably not into it) before she realizes that he's genuinely nuts. And nuts and powerful are not a great combination.
Next, a few bits and pieces. A friend commented that the fix-it speech that turns into an I-hate-my-teacher-he's-holding-me-back-I'll beat-death-itself speech was the speech of a child, rather than an adolescent. I disagreed, and after we talked a bit, I think he came around. It's easy to forget (as an adult) how much of an idiot one was as a teenager. If you don't know any teenagers, one isn't forced to realize how idiotic they still are. Next, what's up with Yoda? He stops fighting the Big Bad to rescue Anakin and Obi-Wan. Is this the guy who exhorted Luke to forget his friends when he dreamed of their danger in Cloud City? At least Luke (unlike his papa) has the sense to take off at the first dream, rather than wait around for the victim to (nearly) die before rescuing them. Either Yoda has an annoying double standard (you can get attached, but only to your fellow monks, er, Jedi Knights, but not to your mom, my goodness, what do you think we are, decent people?), or he's changed his tune, or the rules don't apply to him. Which makes me dislike him.
Finally, the real reason I put this fragmented review together. Like the previous movie I reviewed, I believe this movie requires a relatively sophisticated, or at least somewhat informed historical perspective to make sense of it. Specifically, you need to know a little bit about what happened to the Roman Republic, their Senate, and why they wound up with not just Caesars occasionally, but Caesar all the time, and eventually, centuries of chaos and disorder that ultimately produced pretty much all the technology that makes our country, and our empire a rich and prosperous time and place to live (if extremely exploitatively, and probably ultimately destructive of the biosphere). Lucas is (so far) doing a really nice job of helping the viewer to understand Darth Vader, and how he wound up being the genocidal maniac we loved to hate in the first trilogy. While the first movie caused a lot of people to scoff and wonder why everyone couldn't see right through the Chancellor, this movie suggests a level of conspiratorial complexity usually limited to the theories of the lunatic fringe ( and very suggestive in view of recent events). I hope (but am not sure) that the last of this trilogy will wrap up with no clear good guys or bad guys, but a nasty, ugly, chaotic situation that will stay nasty, ugly and chaotic for a good long while -- before giving birth to some fascinating new future with something entirely different to recommend it than what the Empire, the Federation, or the Alliance had to offer. Pity we'll never see that trilogy. Lucas won't last that long (and has probably abandoned the youthful idealism that enabled that vision in the first place).
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Copyright Rebecca Allen, 2002.
Created: May 21, 2002 Updated: November 25, 2002