Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones 4K UHD (2002)

[karsten]

Originally Posted by tcripe

I've seen some wild takes before, and this is defiantly one of them.

I gave some of my reasoning above. It's all relative. TPM is simply an altogether bad movie from every perspective (characters, plot, acting, pacing, everything is terrible, and Jar Jar and Jake Lloyd's horrendous sub-Little Rascals line readings finish it off; so much so that not even Darth Maul, who is a genius creation and the film's lone good element, can make up for it). It's far, far worse than AOTC, where at least we're spared Jake and mostly spared Jar Jar.

And ROTS is a colossal disappointment when gauged against what it could and should have been. It fumbles one of the greatest setups ever presented -- the transformation of Anakin to Vader -- and makes of something that should have been unforgettably epic into something that's ultimately quite banal and almost pathetic.

In addition to the favorable aspects of AOTC that I mentioned above, there's also some unexpectedly half-decent humor ("You don't want to sell me death sticks," "You'll be the death of me"). And at least in this film, the Obi-Wan subplot is interesting and feels like a worthwhile discovery expedition, with the cloner world, Dooku, and everything else that he uncovers. I remember being legitimately intrigued by those tantalizing reveals. (Pity that they were all poorly paid off in subsequent SW films or shows -- and that's another thing that I hold against ROTS.)

By contrast, in ROTS, Obi-Wan's excursion feels like a pointless diversion, just an episodic bit to give him something to do. Grievous turns out to be a big nothing and a waste of screen time. Anakin defeating Dooku is perfunctory, whereas it should have itself been a transformative moment. Time and again in ROTS, what could have been great, and had epic potential, becomes meager and small in execution.

Frankly, though, even in the original trilogy, I find ROTJ to be pretty disappointing and felt that way even when I first saw it in the theaters in 1983 when it premiered. Really, there have only been two bona fide Star Wars masterpieces: Eps IV and V.