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| August 2008 |
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The Clone Wars movie
25th August 2008 |
| Star Wars The Clone Wars has now erupted upon our cinema screens, and overall it's not a disappointment ! |
| Following a new distributor ident, an amended title logo and a snippet of jazzed-up Williams' fanfare, the film opens with a brief reference to the Battle of Geonosis and a visual homage to the starfighter tandem flying that introduces Revenge of the Sith. After a fleeting pass over the faces of our villains, the story continues at breakneck speed showing the Republic on an Outer Rim planet under siege by Separatist droid armies. Jedi Generals Obi-Wan and Anakin, along with clone commanders Cody and Rex, and astro-mech droid Artoo Detoo, lead their remaining soldiers in repelling the massive firepower unleashed upon them. The explosions are bright and cinematically photorealistic, as are the flash and glow of the sweeping lightsabre blades. The change in main logo and the loss of the familiar 'opening crawl' is a bit of a jar, as is the move from Fox to Time-Warner, though the the pace quickly throws us in to the action. I had heard that the 'crawl' would be replaced with 'wartime footage', and although the end result wasn't exactly how I had pictured it, the effect of bringing us up to speed was certainly efficient. |
During a brief lull in fighting, a shuttle brings the new togrutan padawan who introduces herself as Ahsoka Tano, assigned to Anakin by Master Yoda himself to see if the young knight can learn to let go of his new ward once she's proven herself.
This is obviously a cleverly contrived way by Lucas of echoing Anakin's inability to let go of his dying mother, and foreshadows the fate of his wife to come, and as such works very well : by introducing a new character to test the young Jedi's mettle and his embrace of the Code, this 'new chapter' in Ani's life fits within the existing story without feeling tacked on or too heavy-handedly referring to Shmi Skywalker.
The ensuing comical dynamics between the two "reckless" Jedi are great fun to watch - Ahsoka quickly discovering the annoying endearment "Skyguy" for her new master - as are the 'choreographed' sabre moves. Once Obi-Wan has boldly and cockily stalled for time with his proposed surrender, the Republic's victory is soon replaced by news of the kidnap of Jabba the Hutt's son by rival gangsters. The true villains of the piece, the Sith, hope to incite a war against the Jedi and the Hutts, who control many hyperspace routes : "Everything is going as planned", as they often say ! |
Yet more battles follow on Tet where the Huttlet is being held, with an impressively conceived vertical seige-breaker, and Anakin leaping from STAP to STAP to protect his padawan and clone troops. Our heroes soon realise that Dooku is behind the droid army surrounding the prisoner, but are unaware that the Count's henchman Asajj Ventress is also present. She arranges for a holo-recording to be made of the Jedi manhandling the Huttlet, and sends it to her master on Tatooine who in turn presents it to Jabba as evidence that the Jedi are about to murder his son ! After a brief duel between Ahsoka and Ventress, the two Jedi manage to escape ; once Obi-Wan arrives, he also finds himself at the mercy of her two red lightsabre blades. A fiercely intense duel takes place, but once the two combatants realise that Anakin has escaped with the Hutt, Ventress wisely flees the Jedi Master.
Since the Sith Lady is an EU creation, and has her fate already mapped out, the writers have to ensure that, like Dooku, any duels involving her and the hero Jedi must always end in flight for one or the other ; knowing this naturally tarnishes a little of the dramatic tension there would have been if all such stories were revealed linearly. |
Meanwhile, we are re-introduced to Padme Amidala on Coruscant. The Nubian senator is subtly misguided by Chancellor Palpatine that the Jedi are threatening the Hutts, and Anakin Skywalker - her secret husband - is involved. The senator immediately travels to the self-interested Hutt Ziro in the seedier entertainment district of the capital world, who is also the uncle of Jabba. Her plea for humanitarian involvement falls on deaf ears, and in fact she quickly discovers that it was Ziro himself, in alliance with Count Dooku, who arranged the Huttlet's kidnap in order to secure Jabba's throne. When Ziro discovers her espionage and orders her death, the loyal protocol droid See Threepio suddenly makes an appearance flanked by clone commandoes who quickly bring the gangster and his henchmen under control.
Ziro the Hutt is a 'revelation' as a seedy lecherous tatooed camp slug typically without scruples ; his favourite assassin droid, an IG type, is a nice nod to IG-88 we see in Episode V, as well as being the droid class expounded upon within the EU. |
| As Anakin and Ahsoka make their way to Tatooine, they come under fire from Separatist starfighters piloted by Dooku's bodyguard droids. Our heroes crashland, leaving their ship - to the excited gratitude of a cluster of jawas - and trudge their way across the Dune Sea. Sensing Dooku's imminent arrival, Anakin sends his padawan ahead, allowing him to buy time by duelling the Sith Lord. Once again, dramatic tension is jaded a little as the story dynamics mean that Anakin must break away from the duel to race after Ahsoka and defend her from the bodyguard droids. Unwittingly passing her by, the Jedi Knight enters Jabba's Palace, where he realises too late that his padawan's absence implies the Huttlet is dead ; just as Jabba orders his execution, Ahsoka arrives with the Huttlet, and all is well. To confirm the celebrations, Padme suddenly appears by hologram with a chagrined Ziro the Hutt who reveals his treachery. However, Dooku is shown conferring by hologram with his Sith Master, who, unsurprisingly, assures him that this setback is merely a blip in the overall plan. |
| As three episodes of the forthcoming animated TV series the stand-alone adventure stories link well and flow excitingly. The visuals, especially the explosions, are breath-taking and very cinematic. It's not clearly described exactly when these opening stories are set, however, for Anakin is shown with a scar above his eye - apparently the very same injury he sports throughout Episode III, and presumably a wound that would not take 2-3 years to heal ! |
| Since the main comparison is with the live-action movies, it's initially a little jarring to see a full-length Star Wars be animated, but this soon goes : the style is indeed fresh and original, a 3D anime/manga with, as described by Lucas, a "Thunderbirds" touch as well, as can be seen in the 'ragdoll' animation of the figures. The lip-sync, however, appeared 'soft' at times, rather than out of sync, and made it a little distracting to watch and follow the dialogue and action. Anthony Daniels, Samuel L. Jackson, and Christopher Lee (and Matthew Wood) were the only principal actors to provide the voices ; it's a pity that Hayden Christensen, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, and Frank Oz were unable to record their lines and retain the aural continuity. Considering how much this material is being considered as almost full class 'canon' - Lucas was directly involved in the story evolution - one would have thought more impetus would have been given to ensure this element of Star Wars sits comfortably beside the existing six movies. |
| The music was composed by Kevin Kiner, and although he had vast shoes to step into and the nature of the project is 30 minute episodes, he made a credible job. It is indeed a pity that John Williams wasn't available to compose for this, for I feel that his trademark sweeping romantic scores would have helped preserve the continuity from the movies. Kiner's music is action-orientated and 'bitty', making it unfortunately less memorable. |
| Nevertheless, the Clone Wars feature film is a grand spectacle, and hopefully the subsequent TV / web based episodes will match its high production values and entertainment standards. |
| To mark the new Clone Wars feature, starwars.com has considerably re-designed its site. Unfortunately, the news feed has disappeared and so the link [to the left] has gone. My old PC seems unable to fully open the new java and flash driven site now, though, in the immortal words of Han Solo - "back door, huh ??" - it's headlines web page can be found here under 'archives'. I have added this "backdoor" as an additional link under the Star Wars logo link on the left. |
| Discuss the new Clone Wars movie in the forum here ! |
| Nathaniel Reed, 25th August 2008 |
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