How a non-Star Wars fan watches AOTC

[Dutchy]

With all this boxoffice talk, I thought I'd post my opinion on the movie as well. Note that I'm not a Star Wars fan, which ya'all know, I guess.

Oh, this post contains SPOILERS. I guess you've all seen it already, but I'll say it anyway. :)

I think things started on Coruscant, which is definitely the most gorgeous looking planet. Too bad most of the shots are rather short, which is basically always the case. Though no matter how short they are, it's obvious that it's always rush hour! For me the movie started when McGregor jumped out off the window to chase that spy-camera thing. What an awesome scene, the detail of the city was amazing. Fortunately this wasn't a short scene, but a superlong scene with the most insane traffic since The 5th Element. I loved this alien who said: "What the... !?". hehe. It was my favorite scene from the movie, and probably my all time favorite Star Wars scene. After that the pace slowed down and the middle part of the movie was rather dull to me. I have to say I really tried to get into the story again, but I couldn't. It's just not my cup of tea. But it doesn't matter really, because there's enough left to enjoy.

AOTC felt more structured than TPM, though still a little silly. For instance the scene with the waterfalls gave me a major Sound of Music feeling! And what the hell was Christensen doin' on those sheepish lookin' cows? hehe. The love story felt kinda forced. Especially since Natalie Portman is one of the most gifted and best looking young actresses, she failed to convince me. Maybe that's because I've seen much better work from her, Beautiful Girls being the absolute highlight. I was even less impressed with mr. Christensen, though. In his overall acting, that is. McGregor did a good job, though, and better than in TPM, I thought.

In all Star Wars movies my fave character is C3PO, and he still is. His scenes in AOTC are most enjoyable. I loved how his head and body got split and R2 dragging it. And I was LOL at his "Die, you Jedi dogs!" line! Yup, 3PO rules. :) I also liked the famous Yoda kicking ass scene. Very funny. Though I'm not too impressed with lightsaber fights, I've kinda seen 'em all, especially after the great one from TPM. The arena fight at the end was also very well done and enjoyable. Gotta love the huge audience. The ending felt kinda sudden, by the way. I didn't even realize that was their wedding! Or wasn't it? :p

Oh, I don't share Ebert's opinion on the digital stuff. The image seemed perfect to me. I guess Ebert watched it on some half assed screen, or whatever. ;)

All in all I liked it slightly better than TPM, and at least thought it was better in sense of structure. I'll never be a Star Wars fan, but I'll definitely be entertainted by the stunning visuals. I'd give AOTC a 70-75 out of a 100.

[JonathanLB]

I am glad you mostly enjoyed it.

Well I am not sure if there is any use defending any critisicms, really, but I'll just make one comment.

I think the love is supposed to be forced, as Anakin is forcing his feelings on Padme and especially his first scene on Naboo, he's really pulling that from his butt, trying to come up with something to impress her, but I don't think she's that impressed. She kind of gives into the moment, kisses him, etc, but then she realizes that was wrong at the time.

I also think we must as audiences realize that more happened between Padme and Anakin than we saw, so while they were on Naboo, they interacted even more, same goes with Tatooine perhaps, and even while in transit. So they spent more time together than we can see, because there is only so much we actually want to see anyway. That is my impression.

Glad you got to see it.

[Nathaniel Nore]

why does a non-star wars fan have so many posts on a star wars board?

[Admiral Lebron]

Box office threads. Boxoffice usually revolves around non-star wars stuff inbetween the movies and releases and whatnot.

[Dutchy]

Originally posted by Nathaniel Nore
why does a non-star wars fan have so many posts on a star wars board?

Haha. :lol

As Admiral Lebron said, because of the boxoffice discussions. This forum is actually the only one I'm posting in. :)

So Jonathan, what are YOUR fave scenes from the movie? :)

[CMJ]

I'd have to say as a non SW fan you gave it really good remarks Dutchy. I KNOW my parents wouldn't be nearly as kind. :)

[Dutchy]

Originally posted by CMJ
I'd have to say as a non SW fan you gave it really good remarks Dutchy. I KNOW my parents wouldn't be nearly as kind. :)

Well, I don't know if they're really good. They're really honest, though. :)

Anyway, where do you guys discuss the movie? In this forum I've read barely anything!

[CMJ]

The SW films forum...:)

[Dutchy]

I'd like to read you guys' first reactions. Long reactions, that is. :)

[CMJ]

You're more than free to go visit. Watch your back though. ;)

[JonathanLB]

Dutchy liked AOTC more than some fans, which is pretty sad because as he admits, he's not much into the whole story of the saga, lol. That wasn't meant as an insult to you, Dutchy, it just perplexes me that a few (and very few) fans of the saga, who should understand the story, didn't apparently understand or appreciate AOTC. That's ok, though, there will ALWAYS be people who don't like any given movie. One of my good friends doesn't much like Spider-Man...

I must admit all of my friends so far loved AOTC. I think it is very well liked among teen audiences especially, but I wouldn't at all be surprised to hear little kids saying they thought TPM was better.

Well I guess since this is in this particular thread, even though it's in the box office forum, I'll answer Dutchy's question about favorite parts.

There are a lot of little favorite parts. I love the details, I suppose, so I end up liking tiny things a lot and watching for them each time. I have to admit I get a kick out of seeing Anthony Daniels so clearly right in the Coruscant bar. He plays C-3PO, Dutchy (not sure if you are familiar with the actors, but I also love Threepio!).

I personally found almost all of Threepio's lines funny. I mean, I wasn't laughing hard at everything Jar Jar did, so I'm not that easy to make laugh, but I love Threepio! I thought he added much needed humor to a grave situation/battle, just as in the OT I felt he did the same thing. In fact, he always was there to do that, so how someone could complain about him in AOTC and NOT in the OT perplexes me.

Other favorite little things, well I love the fluorescent color of the drink that Obi-Wan has in that bar, and I love the exchange of dialogue with that guy trying to sell him death sticks. Absolutely classic. Great new moment.

There is a particular shot I like, about maybe 4 seconds long, just after the Republic's ground vehicles shoot down a federation starship attempting to take off from Geonosis. You see all of the dust and dirt kicking up, sprawling towards the Republic forces, then a few seconds later (and this is the shot I love) you see droids and clones exchanging rapid fire in an extremely chaotic scene that is lit by the blue color of blaster bolts and the white on the Clone Troopers' suits. It's quite awesome, I think.

Of course, Yoda's battle is just all so cool, even though I don't think it's the *best* lightsaber battle, and in fact I'd venture to say at the time it's the least important of all five movies' saber battles, it's also absolutely classic and moved Yoda up on my favorite characters list by a lot. He could be in the top 3 to 5 now for sure.

I like the part where Jango twirls his gun, that's pretty tight, during the end battle.

There are a ton of other little moments I should remember but don't right now. I am also going to make sure I read the novelization so that I can see the movie after that many times and notice even more, hopefully.

[Marcus Telcontar]

This was the review I was waiting to see - how Dutchy would like the movie. An fairly unbias view :)

I personally agree with your assesment of Portman, tho not of Christensen. Personally, I thought he was quite good. Played the part well for my mind.



why does a non-star wars fan have so many posts on a star wars board?

Because everyone is welcome here, not just the Star Wars fans. Especially someone as well spoken aand behaved as Dutchy is.

[Jinn Fizz]

I also have to disagree on the Hayden issue, I thought that overall he did a very fine job.

And yeah, Dutchy rules. :)

[flagg]

Originally posted by Dutchy
I'll never be a Star Wars fan

So certain are you? :)
Have you ever been to the forum at box office report, Dutchy? Very few Star Wars fans there.

[dbn]

On the subject of non-star wars fans.

I took a friend to see it yesterday, and she was amazed at what she saw. I really cannot speak for her, but I can say she is a fan now. She wants to see it again, and cannot wait to watch the last 4 movies.

I like to think we are setting on a time bomb. More and more people are coming out talking how good this movie is. By this, I believe our movie has legs that can walk on for the summer, as the word of mouth starts to spread to get people to see it; also from us that might see it over 10 to 20 times each;)

[Dutchy]

Jonathan, I can see I watched AOTC entirely different than you. :)


Originally posted by flagg
So certain are you? :)
Have you ever been to the forum at box office report, Dutchy? Very few Star Wars fans there.

Yup, I'm certain. :)

I've seen it, yes, but I haven't really checked it out.


Originally posted by Marcus Q'Dunn
This was the review I was waiting to see - how Dutchy would like the movie. An fairly unbias view :)

Because everyone is welcome here, not just the Star Wars fans. Especially someone as well spoken aand behaved as Dutchy is.


Originally posted by Jinn Fizz
And yeah, Dutchy rules. :)

Thanks, that's nice to hear, or read. :)

[Marcus Telcontar]

I like to think we are setting on a time bomb. More and more people are coming out talking how good this movie is


Yeah, I've noticed that too. There's no "It's Star Wars thence you must see it!" it's more lie "Hey, this is actually a really good film, that is why you must go see it!"

Yeah, well it does drag a bit in the middle, but hell, there are bits that just simply make that up and the last 40 minutes is mind boggling. There are parts of AOTC no one can deny are just straight out cool.

I'm not the biggest Star Wars fan by any means, but I was satisfied I saw something very worthwhile. Okay, so Lucas sucked at dialogue, but hell, does he excel at eye candy. Yum yum. So to me, AOTC is 8/10. Could have been better, no denying. Might not be a LOTR:FOTR, but who cares? A barrel load of fun and joy.

[JonathanLB]

Well for me, LOTR: FOTR couldn't compare with AOTC, nor would I say that FOTR is as good as even The Count of Monte Cristo this year, though FOTR was the best film of 2001. I loved it, it's just not Star Wars, that's all. I can't wait for the next two films. That's going to be the best non-Star Wars trilogy ever probably, including Indy and The Matrix films. I love The Matrix, more so than FOTR, but I'm not convinced that Matrix can sustain the awesome quality of the first film, yet I very much believe the next two LOTR films will be as good as FOTR...

As for Indiana Jones, well I love the movies, but I would probably give them solid A grades, not A+ grades. Raiders is an A+, actually, the final Indy film to me is an A- (I realize other people don't even like it at all, some people, but I still really like it).

Dutchy is definitely welcome on the forum, and yes he is always well behaved. The best behaved person around, hehe, never attacks or flames anyone (unlike someone else I know *looks in mirror*, lol), and he's very respectful. Although, I don't think he understand SW, which is sad :( Haha. That's ok though, he understands the box office :)

As for AOTC and "eye candy," well yeah I love the visuals, they totally rock, but to me, the story is the most important part. I mean, that's why I love Star Wars, that's why I can't wait for Episode III. If all I wanted was the eye candy, I'd just go see MIB2 and be very happy, then I'd be looking forward to whatever else came out and had nice effects and looked pretty. But that's not it. The story is the most intriguing to me.

I do agree with the idea that many people who were previously not that interested are somehow being drawn in by AOTC. I didn't think that much happened with TPM, except for the younger audiences, as much as I loved TPM myself. I think most people really loved it, but I don't think it actually drew quite as many fans as AOTC will. So far, Houston and Ryan are both getting into Star Wars because of AOTC. Houston said it's one of his three absolute favorite movies of all time and wants to see it again in theaters, which is something he has never done for any movie. Ryan admitted he never has been into SW, but with AOTC, he has started to become interested. Those were his words.

On SW.com last time I checked...

Where does AOTC fit in the five films?
#1: 37%
#2: 30%
#3: 20%
#4: 11%
#5: 2% (LOL)

Very much front-loaded there, with almost all of the fans agreeing that it is top three. The largest group even think it is the BEST Star Wars film yet! That is dang impressive.

[Jedieb]

I'm glad you liked it Dutchy, but only a 70-75? C'mon, don't you want to bump that up to the mid 80's? ;)

[JMK]

Give it some time, and AOTC will slip a little from #1. Maybe I'm wrong, but this is typical. Everyone's going nuts for it right now, but in time, it will probably drop a little.

[JonathanLB]

Sure, sure, I agree with that, but the point I was trying to make is not that AOTC is the best SW movie yet, I was just trying to say that people apparently really enjoy it and consider it a worthy addition. That point seems to be made in the poll, but I agree with you.