LuckyWillSTAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS - I Never Met a Jedi I Didn’t Like, Until Now
September 12th 2008 10:29
So why have we returned to the Clone Wars? What tale remains untold? Well Lucas believes that if World War II was worth telling from hundreds of different perspectives then why not the Clone Wars? Characters that didn’t get much of a run in the main prequels now have a second chance to impress us with their heroics or, as is the case in this one, bore us to tears. Where it ends, only Lucas really knows. If he decides to make a third Clone Wars film (which he inevitably will) then ‘Episode 2.5’ could become Episode 2.33’ and the new one ‘Episode 2.66’. Or they could all shift further to become Episodes 2.25, 2.5 and 2.75 if he squeezes another in before Episode 3. Depending on how long this creative streak lasts, the name of the final Clone Wars film could end up looking like something closer to the value of Pie.
This film has been a long time coming for Lucas, whether he knew it or not, as this new threat to live action everywhere has slowly crept into the industry. Star Wars has been one of the front runners in the creation of a new CGI empire which began its rise to power a long time ago when Lucas remastered his original trilogy in 1997. By incorporating digital effects into his films he quickly realised its potential to illustrate any story imaginable, which would make him the most powerful director in the galaxy. The digital side of the film proved far too strong a temptation, as if Vader himself had offered George his outstretched hand and said “Lucas, I am your father.” At that moment he turned to the digital side, slowly severing his ties with the live side of the workforce and with each episode began to replace more flesh with pixels until at last the Clone Wars arrived, “more machine than man.”
The Clone Wars is the first fully animated Star Wars feature film and focuses on the efforts of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker as they struggle to turn the tide of the war in the republics favour. During this time Yoda presents Anakin with his very own Padawan, Ahsoka Tano, a youngling that could quite possibly topple Jar Jar Binks as the most annoying character in the entire franchise (though other contenders emerge later on). During some of their “riveting” exchanges, the two form a bond and together embark on a mission to rescue the kidnapped son of Jabba the Hutt, sparking questions like; why are the Jedi helping a known gangster clan? Why do we never hear about Anakin’s Padawan in Episode 3? And, more importantly, how does a Hutt have sex? Because if you think about it, Jabba had the hots for Princess Leia in Return of the Jedi and the two species aren’t exactly anatomically congruent. And if, as a Hutt, you are surrounded by Leia look-a-likes everyday, as Jabba is, how do you summon the willpower to choose another Hutt for procreation?
I have never been a fan of CGI films and going in I expected to see two things. Firstly, since physics no longer applies in the digital world, I anticipated the action would be phenomenal, both in speed and imagination. This was the case in the animated 2003 Clone Wars volumes where anyone with a lightsaber certainly dished out some ass whooping, so there would be no excuses now. Secondly I expected the look of the film to at least attempt realism but ultimately fail to capture the subtle shapes and tones of the natural world. To my surprise and disappointment, both expectations were wrong.
The action appeared too distant, and by this I mean you never really feared for the characters because they seem so synthetic. The graphics can be as good as you want but when you know the actors aren’t real, it just feels like you’re watching a video game. The lightsaber battles were also a disappointment as they were much slower than I had hoped and actually appeared slightly regimented as if the actors were still learning the routine. The brief cut scenes to a battle droid doing something stupid, a refreshing break from the norm in the other films, were overused and at times felt like you were watching a children’s cartoon aimed at preschoolers, or worse, that Jar Jar Binks had been reincarnated as a battle droid.
That being said, there were still some fantastic battles that were quite exciting. One in particular saw Anakin lead the Clone trooper army up the cliffs of an abandoned monastery, bearing down on the hideout of a rogue separatist force. This is a scene that is truly unique to the digital format as computer programming effortlessly defied the powers of gravity and common sense to allow gigantic AT-TE’s to scale vertical cliffs under heavy fire while Jedi’s hop across large distances to take out battle droids buzzing around on STAP’s. Both explosive and entertaining, later films would do well to treat this scene as guide on how action should look.
Visually I was extremely impressed with the film. The clone troopers and battle droids were basically copied and pasted from episodes 1, 2 and 3 but it all worked so well together and the detail was outstanding. It would have been good to see Obi-Wan loose some of the gel in his beard and Anikan take the Rubics cubes out of his mouth before his cheek bones take someone’s eye out, but otherwise the look wasn’t all that bad.
My biggest problem was, unfortunately, also the main focus of the film. As I mentioned before, Anakin’s new Padawan makes the hapless Gungan from the Phantom Menace look like a smooth talking, lovable, entrepreneur. Ahsoka is annoying; her dialogue is terrible; she looks like she’s been dragged from Second Life or one of those rigid online lifestyle games; and she’s bright orange which makes her stand out so much more than she should. The only comfort I took from her character is knowing that she will inevitably die before the Clone Wars saga comes to an end and that I would pay money to see.
The aim of Star Wars: The Clone Wars is obviously to introduce the next generation of film addicts and super fans to the galaxy far, far away and anyone below the age of 12 (or equivalent IQ rating) will most likely love it. But for those who know just how good Star Wars can be, our expectations are much higher and its going to take a little more effort than this movie produced to impress us. I didn’t like it but just because it’s Star Wars I would never dream of giving it a fail.
Rating: 2.5 drooping lightsabers/ 5
| 66 |
| Vote |
Comment by Jarrah
Back to the Eighties
I don't particular like the style of animation either.
Should have sent it to Japan and it would have come back a hand-drawn, vibrantly coloured masterpiece.