jobloffski
Posts: 1837
Joined: 30/9/2005
From: elsewhere
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While its a bit late in the day to say, perhaps the film would have been improved if more, not less time had been spent with Padme/Anakin so that the central relationship upon which everything was supposed to depend could be developed properly. And getting the clones thing into it would surely have been much stronger if the goodies had been attacked by a Jango clone, killed him. Then another. Killed him. Everybody trying to kill them a Jango clone. My God, how many of them are there...build up that mystery, then never see just how many there are until the battle at the end, and then, the final shot of the massed ranks of them, holy shit...
Keeping the clone stuff fed in small chunks into a more focused plot followed by the big reveal at the end would have made the film more mysterious, but Lucas had to try and show everything, and cut down the screen time available for every aspect of the story. Actually being attacked by people who turn out to be clones would have made more sense of the title, and killing Jango clones over and over again and creating the feeling that there could be another one waiting for them wherever they went, and would have been quite spooky. Thus, the stuff happening 'behind the scenes would have fed into, and then completely took over the film.
And how many multitudes of sins could have been avoided if the exposition had taen place during action scenes (heard over coms equipment, and 'what the hell is happening' conversations rather than people just sitting and talking?
but bit late now to complain how trying to make absolutely every moment of the film(s) a visual/sound money shot only spread the atmosphere way too thin and relegated the acting/character development to a painfully obvious third place after 'stand there, say your lines, well fill in the picture later, don't move, you'll ruin the effects' direction and the soundtrack.
But its never too late to ask whether Lucas himself fell to his own personal dark side and was no longer able to tell the difference between effective storytelling and just trying to get as much of what he had in his head on the screen at once, at all times. Because while there is cool stuff in all the prequels, its the efficacy of the storytelling that is questionable in all three of them. What to linger on and what to race through is the most important thing to bear in mind in any story, and had Lucas been willing to employ script editors rather than seeking to do it all himself, the same stories could have been told, the same visuals could have ended up on the screen, and the gulf between the people an the screen and the CGI on display could have been narrowed.
And the latter point is the biggest problem with all three of the prequels. Ironically, while making films supposedly telling the story of the corrupting influence on the soul of seeking to control everything, the films ended up a little soulless because of Lucasdoing that very thing. Effectively Lucas became what he was trying to warn people about: all powerful within his sphere. When that happens, when there is no trusted voice to say 'perhaps that idea conflicts with that one' every idea gets treated as equally valid. But no matter how creative someone is, that is never, ever true.
Lucas should have employed someone and had 'hurt my feelings with your questions about my ideas' as their job description, rather than chatted to the 'Berg (one of his best friends) about his ideas. Yes, it can hurt to have your ideas challenged, but it makes you focus on why they are so important to you, and if that isn't coming across to the script editor, it makes you rework your idea so what you intend does come across. Or it makes you think of a new, better way to get it across. Operate in a vacuum too long, and eventually you suck.
< Message edited by jobloffski -- 9/5/2010 9:00:52 AM >
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Yes, dreamers dream and doers do. But if dreamers DON'T dream, doers don't have anything TO do. Everything that is only here because people exist, only exists because someone thought of it., or in other words, dreamed it.
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Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones - 
, the scene in the field with that hippo/reptile looking thing was just pointless
and the scene in the arena just looked fake, it looked like it belonged in a computer game or somethin!!
George... what were you thinking!!! 
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