Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones 4K Blu-ray Review & Comments

Casimir Harlow

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Thanks for the Cass. These movies are not my cup of tea other than rouge one which we cannot buy in the uk!
 
Thanks again for the review - these aren't helping me not buy the boxset :) I told myself I'd avoid the prequels and just get the OT in 4k, but may succumb.

At the time of release I preferred this to TPM, but subsequent home viewings has made me realise that its the worst of all 9 films.

Some good scenes but terrible dialogue and chemistry ruin it and I agree, it oculd have have been awesome !
 
Thanks for the review again Cas!

I agree with you about this being the worst of the nine films, although I think Revenge Of The Sith runs it close. The robot factory chase sequence is the worst scene in the entire saga in my view - it just looks like it was set up to provide a level for a video game - and how poorly served is Natalie Portman in this? She’s such a great actress but is criminally underused here.

The CGI environments stuff is also a letdown. On the other hand, I enjoy seeing Yoda pinging around in his fight sequence and thank goodness Ewan McGregor gets some good stuff to do.
 
Thanks for the review Cas

I always thought Anakin comes across as a creepy stalker rather than someone in a beautiful love story, just blossoming... a profile of someone I would expect to see on the crime and investigation channel ..padme should have run a million miles away from him.

will try and watch this one tonight and keep up with the reviews!
 
Thanks for the review Cas

I always thought Anakin comes across as a creepy stalker rather than someone in a beautiful love story, just blossoming... a profile of someone I would expect to see on the crime and investigation channel ..padme should have run a million miles away from him.

will try and watch this one tonight and keep up with the reviews!

Agree, some of the dialogue is scarily creepy; the speech that ends in that apt pullout quote from the top of the review is just horrific not just in construction but in delivery. He sounds like an absolute psycho stalker.

"From the moment I met you, all those years ago, not a day has gone by when I haven't thought of you. And now that I'm with you again... I'm in agony. The closer I get to you, the worse it gets. The thought of not being with you... I can't breathe. I'm haunted by the kiss that you should never have given me. My heart is beating... hoping that kiss will not become a scar. You are in my very soul, tormenting me... what can I do? I will do anything you ask. If you are suffering as much as I am, please tell me..."

[removes gag so Padme can speak]
 
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Great film, and Natalie and Hayden are fine. If you want to see a charisma vacuum go watch the sequel trilogy where Daisy Ridley takes wooden to whole new level.
 
Thanks for the Review, Cas. Yep, this is a VERY short Movie once I skip all the Lovey-Dovey bits!
🤮
For me, Ewan McJedi is the centre point in this. There are moments of interest, mostly when he is onscreen, but I have to get to the final part to finally stop skipping bits
 
I know I hate the prequels, I know I thought I'd see them in a new light with the Complete Saga blu-ray box set but watched them only once and cringed through 90% of them, I know I wasn't overly keen on Last Jedi or Rise of Skywalker and I know I had no intention of buying the Skywalker Saga.

So why oh why do I have it in my basket ready to buy?!?!?!?! :facepalm:

1587554713449.png
 
I know I hate the prequels, I know I thought I'd see them in a new light with the Complete Saga blu-ray box set but watched them only once and cringed through 90% of them, I know I wasn't overly keen on Last Jedi or Rise of Skywalker and I know I had no intention of buying the Skywalker Saga.

So why oh why do I have it in my basket ready to buy?!?!?!?! :facepalm:

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Definitely a case of...
1587555542577.png
 
it just looks like it was set up to provide a level for a video game
This actually used to happen a fair amount in blockbusters of this time. An awful lot of PS2 / Xbox movie tie ins were pre planned and family movies particularly would often include an action sequence that was directly planned as an analogue for a videogame sequence.
Disney specifically got some flack for this with Atlantis and the POTC movies.

Not with Star Wars though.

The prequel movie tie-in games (with the exception of Episode 1 Racer) were never that smart and instead the only real Ep 2 tie-in was the GBA platformer in the vein of the Super Star Wars games. The Gamecube's Bounty Hunter (which is so janky as to be impossible to play) and two Xbox/PS2 releases, Clone Wars and Jedi Starfighter (which were extremely dull) did, however, do a great job of emulating the exact way the movie blithely whizzed away neat ideas.
 
Thanks Cas. And like Phantom Menace I remember still liking this a lot on last watch too! :D Yes the romance bits are excruciating but its the build up and the action that easily outweighs the drawbacks for me. Looking forward to the boxset even more now haha!
 
I'd rather watch this than Phantom to be honest. I've never thought of it as the worst film in the saga.
It's got some top stuff. How does the concussion bomb sound (I think that's what it's called, what Jango uses to try a blow up Kenobi when they're in that space chase). I remember it sounding awesome!

Although is this also the one with Anakin having a bad dream and well, it looks like there's something else entirely going on in the bed... shudder

Thinking back to the acting talent on display, it does smack of actors fighting each other to be "in" Star Wars. I bet a few of them don't look back to fondly now...

I don't remember seeing this in the cinema, though I definitely did. It's fine. The prequels perhaps should have been outlined by Lucas but written and directed by others. He's got the ideas, but not always the execution.

I fear there will be a wait until we see each film available to buy individually. Understandably, Disney will want to sell as many of the saga set as they can.
 
Great film, and Natalie and Hayden are fine. If you want to see a charisma vacuum go watch the sequel trilogy where Daisy Ridley takes wooden to whole new level.
It's a toss up mate lol. But to be fair, I think both of them didn't have much to work with either.
 
Excellent review. I agree with every word of it.

In some respects this should look worse than the 'Phantom Menace', as it was shot on 2K digital movie cameras when the technology was embryonic (only one scene in the 'Phantom Menace' was shot digitally - the rest was shot on 35" film), but I guess digital composition and editing had improved between the 'Phantom Menace' and 'Attack of the Clones', hence the improvements in the visuals.

I can't get past Yoda rendered digitally. Looks truly dreadful, and all characterisation has been lost.
The scene on the landing pad with Jango Fett was the only scene that felt worthy of a 'Star Wars' movie.

A headbutt was removed by the BBFC when the film was first released. But subsequent releases re-instated it.

Regards,
James.
 
I know I hate the prequels, I know I thought I'd see them in a new light with the Complete Saga blu-ray box set but watched them only once and cringed through 90% of them, I know I wasn't overly keen on Last Jedi or Rise of Skywalker and I know I had no intention of buying the Skywalker Saga.

So why oh why do I have it in my basket ready to buy?!?!?!?! :facepalm:

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@Evinger nails it. You like the idea of the collection I suppose. But you may want to physically write the pros and cons on a piece of paper side by side. That might just shock you out of this.
 
Thanks Cas, this film is utter cack, it’s like watching a really bad computer game.

I wanted Annakin to die, he was even more annoying than Jar Jar in the first one!
 
I blame the sand.
It's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere.
 
The prequels perhaps should have been outlined by Lucas but written and directed by others. He's got the ideas, but not always the execution.
I don't know if you ever watched any of the documentaries on the making of the prequels, but it certainly feels like that...nobody was brave enough to stand up to Lucas and say "no" ! The producer (Rick MCallum??) comes across as a complete sycophant, yes man rather than trying to keep the director in check. Everyone seemed to be falling over themselves to be part of Star Wars and Lucas' vision and letting him do as he liked. It was his money I suppose !
 
I agree with everything Cas says here. It's a very, very bad Star Wars movie. Take it out of the context of the franchise, though, which is holding it barely aloft with its music, style and lore, and I think it's actually one of the worst films ever made. I tried sitting through this again recently since it's 'free' with Disney+ and honestly it's even worse than I remember it. 2/10 from me.

"Around the survivors, a perimeter create". My God.
 
I'm not sure which is worse Attack Of The Clones or The Last Jedi, having said that i have not had the pleasure of watching The Rise Of Skywalker. Probably the worse thing about the new sequel trilogy is Daisy Ridley's acting. Well, come to think of it, that and everything else.
 
Nice review. I remember preferring this to TPM at the time of release, but only in a shallow sense that it put more action on screen and would keep casual and younger viewers entertained. I can remember very little about it now actually, so it wasn't memorable and I can imagine it's aged badly.

Have just watched a fairly low-res trailer on YouTube and even on that it looks extremely green-screened, can't imagine how it would look at 4k on a large screen.
 
I'm not sure which is worse Attack Of The Clones or The Last Jedi, having said that i have not had the pleasure of watching The Rise Of Skywalker. Probably the worse thing about the new sequel trilogy is Daisy Ridley's acting. Well, come to think of it, that and everything else.

I think the difference is that with TLJ most people without much interest or investment in the Star Wars universe come away from it thinking it was a pretty kick-ass movie, where those invested in it focus on the flaws. It's divisive. Attack Of The Clones, though, I believe is a movie fans and non-fans both find risible. When I rewatched it a couple of weeks ago my dog was sick about halfway through. Coincidence?
 

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