Re-Watching Attack of The Clones
Dec. 17th, 2017 12:18 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
zesty_pintoSo I'm watching this film half-heartedly because I remember how much I hated this film even after the theaters, to the surprise of people who thought it was good at the time.
I feel like a lot of the mistakes about this film are already well-established so I can't really know how to start playing script doctor for this one without being a repeater, but here are a few things I would have done.
-The death of Amidala would have had another Amidala. she has multiple handmaidens for a reason, but we no longer see them for some reason. A stronger script would utilize them. Also, it would help enhance conflict between Padme and Anakin as they tease him as Padme's wingmen.
-As previously mentioned, a lot of Season 1 should have been reiterated. Obi-Wan should have acknowledged he was instructing a hot shot kid who won a freaking pod race against adults.
-Why does no one seem to mention to Obi-Wan that he's a dick? Like, he's always been a dick from Episode 1? Even Yoda in all his infinite wisdom seems to not realize that he's encouraging all that "fear leads to anger" not because Anakin is a hotshot, but also because his master is an utterly terrible person to him who never explains why he's this way to him.
-I kind of wanted the assassin to die from a failsafe "gift" that Jango knew the changeling would be wearing, perhaps a communicator or a piece of expensive jewelry.
-This is more of a cinematography concern, but Why is the coloseum so lacking in angles? We don't get any concept of disorientation or the thrill of what is happening because the scale of everything is so roomy and slow. This might be because of the CGI? But no, the camera angels are so roomy and there's no real sense of disorientation. Even the reveal is oddly staged like you're welcoming a football team. At least the amount of droids is better emphasized here. It's like there's no real attempt to create surprise.
I feel like a lot of what Lucas did for Episode 2 seems to be just that: no element of adding surprise and I think that's why it feels so weak. Anakin discusses how much he hates sand, so he must go to Tatooine. Padme talks about how they can't get together, so she must fall in love with him. There's almost a quality to this similar to "The Room" because of it.
I hate that the wedding scene is shot with the droids getting as much screen attention as Padme and Anakin. They should be in the center and maybe the droids are in the back as sole witnesses.
-So I guess in that regard, I'd add more surprise. Have the assassin die and we are never shown a suggestion of Jango. Have Anakin not try to mack on Amidala and they just end up together because of the tension they have together. Maybe Padme would tease him about being a little boy and Anakin being Anakin would defiantly say he's not and that tension would make them realize how much they really do love each other. Don't make Dooku visible until his robe is pushed away as a red herring to Sidius until we see him talking to Sidius after he is revealed and we realize he is just another chess piece to a much bigger game. The list goes on.
-When Anakin looks for Smee, I'd consider adding more of an emotional stake for Anakin. The visions are starting to manifest to him physically even awake while on Tatooine and this just adds more urgency and anger to his quest as he keeps showing strain through the quest. When he reaches the Tusken Raider site though, I would be tempted to see if he feels nothing at all, and that is when he knows he is too late and he really snaps. I don't know how this could be best portrayed in a script, but would lend a much greater impact.
-I feel like all the Trade Federation guys do is just say stuff and do nothing else. I want them to be cowardly. I want them to be around a group of droids because they're afraid all the time or, if the droids are not there, then I want them to be cowering in a corner, I just want them to be more than voices standing around. Does that make sense? Like if they hid behind the railing of a collosseum, I would find that oddly appropriate when surrounded by an enemy they have never wanted to face directly.
-I honestly also feel like the voice work was improvised through CGI. There's a lot of "look over there!" or "I'm going to___." A lot of the cast members seem to be afraid to move around and the cameras refuse to do the work for them. The "show don't tell" vibe needs to be practiced a lot more heavily throughout this film and although I can imagine why the cast were improvising by saying these things, Lucas could have trusted himself more by using CGI or whatever else to fill in those gaps.
-While we're on the subject of dialogue, I don't feel any sense of personal sentiment out of Anakin, which is annoying because his problem is supposed to be he's passionate. "You killed a lot of jedi today, Count Dooku!" could have been "Master Glibglog, Weeny, whateverwhatever; all of them. BECAUSE OF YOU!" Even if it is all him flashing back to his mother, I would have seen why he's the way he is throughout the film.
-Use footage from Episode 1 for Anakin's dreams and splice in maybe some Smee vocals about her crying for him. Even if it comes from a momentary doze while watching over Padme would be a great way to do more show than tell. At the least, it would give a momentary recap. Maybe Lucas didn't like that because he knew he'd do some retcon updating in the future, but it would really make for a nice reminder for the rest of us.
-Yoda's defeat by Dooku could have been organized better if he found a way to use Anakin or Obi Wan as a shield. Yoda, not wanting to see any more blood shed, would have given up or tried to throw his stick at Dooku to distract him and make him lose that trump card but also given him a chance to escape. It also wouldn't screw with original canon.
In terms of items through the film I would have liked to see get a callback:
-Death sticks. Maybe one of the Trade Federation gets a death stick and smokes it because he's scared shitless at the Jedi in the colloseum, which would again emphasize not only are they cowardly, but they would sooner choose dying from drugs than an actual form of justice.
-Waddo really sees so many jedi on a backwater planet that no one wants to live on that he would not immediately recognize that it's Anakin if it's a jedi? At the least, I would have rewrote his dialogue to tell the jedi to back off he knows one of them and then makes up facetious shit about how he helped raise one of their own into an awesome pod racer and this great warrior of their caste.
-I know people hated Jar Jar, but he was still technically a part of the whole tapestry of the story and deserved the opportunity to show that he matured into the wise politician when given a chance.
-Handmaidens. I know I keep coming back to them, but they deserved to be part of that whole as well.
-Anakin's mom, because I think she deserved to be there more, even if it was as some sort of connection to him.
-Jango Fett. He seemed underutilized. And although this isn't his story, it may have been interesting if he was there in the background, checking on Obi Wan without him visibly knowing it or hiding among his clones. If there was an unnecessary scene I would consider throwing in to replace Anakin and Padme's dating scenes, it would be Jango testing one of the clones through training and Obi-Wan being there to see it. Maybe Jango is brutal to him and forces Boba to watch, leading Obi-Wan to question further if this program is not as noble as intended.
Brace yourself, I probably will have one of these entries on Episode 3 later on.
I feel like a lot of the mistakes about this film are already well-established so I can't really know how to start playing script doctor for this one without being a repeater, but here are a few things I would have done.
-The death of Amidala would have had another Amidala. she has multiple handmaidens for a reason, but we no longer see them for some reason. A stronger script would utilize them. Also, it would help enhance conflict between Padme and Anakin as they tease him as Padme's wingmen.
-As previously mentioned, a lot of Season 1 should have been reiterated. Obi-Wan should have acknowledged he was instructing a hot shot kid who won a freaking pod race against adults.
-Why does no one seem to mention to Obi-Wan that he's a dick? Like, he's always been a dick from Episode 1? Even Yoda in all his infinite wisdom seems to not realize that he's encouraging all that "fear leads to anger" not because Anakin is a hotshot, but also because his master is an utterly terrible person to him who never explains why he's this way to him.
-I kind of wanted the assassin to die from a failsafe "gift" that Jango knew the changeling would be wearing, perhaps a communicator or a piece of expensive jewelry.
-This is more of a cinematography concern, but Why is the coloseum so lacking in angles? We don't get any concept of disorientation or the thrill of what is happening because the scale of everything is so roomy and slow. This might be because of the CGI? But no, the camera angels are so roomy and there's no real sense of disorientation. Even the reveal is oddly staged like you're welcoming a football team. At least the amount of droids is better emphasized here. It's like there's no real attempt to create surprise.
I feel like a lot of what Lucas did for Episode 2 seems to be just that: no element of adding surprise and I think that's why it feels so weak. Anakin discusses how much he hates sand, so he must go to Tatooine. Padme talks about how they can't get together, so she must fall in love with him. There's almost a quality to this similar to "The Room" because of it.
I hate that the wedding scene is shot with the droids getting as much screen attention as Padme and Anakin. They should be in the center and maybe the droids are in the back as sole witnesses.
-So I guess in that regard, I'd add more surprise. Have the assassin die and we are never shown a suggestion of Jango. Have Anakin not try to mack on Amidala and they just end up together because of the tension they have together. Maybe Padme would tease him about being a little boy and Anakin being Anakin would defiantly say he's not and that tension would make them realize how much they really do love each other. Don't make Dooku visible until his robe is pushed away as a red herring to Sidius until we see him talking to Sidius after he is revealed and we realize he is just another chess piece to a much bigger game. The list goes on.
-When Anakin looks for Smee, I'd consider adding more of an emotional stake for Anakin. The visions are starting to manifest to him physically even awake while on Tatooine and this just adds more urgency and anger to his quest as he keeps showing strain through the quest. When he reaches the Tusken Raider site though, I would be tempted to see if he feels nothing at all, and that is when he knows he is too late and he really snaps. I don't know how this could be best portrayed in a script, but would lend a much greater impact.
-I feel like all the Trade Federation guys do is just say stuff and do nothing else. I want them to be cowardly. I want them to be around a group of droids because they're afraid all the time or, if the droids are not there, then I want them to be cowering in a corner, I just want them to be more than voices standing around. Does that make sense? Like if they hid behind the railing of a collosseum, I would find that oddly appropriate when surrounded by an enemy they have never wanted to face directly.
-I honestly also feel like the voice work was improvised through CGI. There's a lot of "look over there!" or "I'm going to___." A lot of the cast members seem to be afraid to move around and the cameras refuse to do the work for them. The "show don't tell" vibe needs to be practiced a lot more heavily throughout this film and although I can imagine why the cast were improvising by saying these things, Lucas could have trusted himself more by using CGI or whatever else to fill in those gaps.
-While we're on the subject of dialogue, I don't feel any sense of personal sentiment out of Anakin, which is annoying because his problem is supposed to be he's passionate. "You killed a lot of jedi today, Count Dooku!" could have been "Master Glibglog, Weeny, whateverwhatever; all of them. BECAUSE OF YOU!" Even if it is all him flashing back to his mother, I would have seen why he's the way he is throughout the film.
-Use footage from Episode 1 for Anakin's dreams and splice in maybe some Smee vocals about her crying for him. Even if it comes from a momentary doze while watching over Padme would be a great way to do more show than tell. At the least, it would give a momentary recap. Maybe Lucas didn't like that because he knew he'd do some retcon updating in the future, but it would really make for a nice reminder for the rest of us.
-Yoda's defeat by Dooku could have been organized better if he found a way to use Anakin or Obi Wan as a shield. Yoda, not wanting to see any more blood shed, would have given up or tried to throw his stick at Dooku to distract him and make him lose that trump card but also given him a chance to escape. It also wouldn't screw with original canon.
In terms of items through the film I would have liked to see get a callback:
-Death sticks. Maybe one of the Trade Federation gets a death stick and smokes it because he's scared shitless at the Jedi in the colloseum, which would again emphasize not only are they cowardly, but they would sooner choose dying from drugs than an actual form of justice.
-Waddo really sees so many jedi on a backwater planet that no one wants to live on that he would not immediately recognize that it's Anakin if it's a jedi? At the least, I would have rewrote his dialogue to tell the jedi to back off he knows one of them and then makes up facetious shit about how he helped raise one of their own into an awesome pod racer and this great warrior of their caste.
-I know people hated Jar Jar, but he was still technically a part of the whole tapestry of the story and deserved the opportunity to show that he matured into the wise politician when given a chance.
-Handmaidens. I know I keep coming back to them, but they deserved to be part of that whole as well.
-Anakin's mom, because I think she deserved to be there more, even if it was as some sort of connection to him.
-Jango Fett. He seemed underutilized. And although this isn't his story, it may have been interesting if he was there in the background, checking on Obi Wan without him visibly knowing it or hiding among his clones. If there was an unnecessary scene I would consider throwing in to replace Anakin and Padme's dating scenes, it would be Jango testing one of the clones through training and Obi-Wan being there to see it. Maybe Jango is brutal to him and forces Boba to watch, leading Obi-Wan to question further if this program is not as noble as intended.
Brace yourself, I probably will have one of these entries on Episode 3 later on.
