Last night R. and I went to see the new Star Wars movie, Attack of the Clones. I was pleasantly surprised. It was much better than I had expected it to be. (The experience was assisted by nice surroundings - we went to the new Reading Cinema here in Wellington, clean, comfy seats, great sound and pictures. I’m hanging out to try the cinelounge…)
Sure, the so-called love scenes have all the romance and excitement of a mystery weekend in Timaru, and the story is full of holes and the odd nonsensical stuff (why do armies go head to head across flat ground firing all the way… it’s tactical suicide but of course looks spectacular).
But this is mostly compensated for with the sheer fun of all the other strands to the story. The Coruscant city scenes are gobsmacking; the asteroid field chase is a total rush, and Yoda really is pretty handy with a lightsabre. Even the matte backgrounds are more sophisticated now, with convincing perspective changes as the camera tracks the subjects of the shot.
Along with the spectacular there’s also a lot more of the mundane parts of the Star Wars universe to be seen: Padme filling a suitcase; Obi-wan visiting the equivalent of a greasy spoon; even some totally incomprehensible advertising. This adds a certain amount of much needed depth to the film.
It’s setting things up well for Episode III. In the meantime, there’s always Spider-man…
