Episode 2 - Attack of Bad Writing

Rating: 6/10 (17 May 2002)

Like so many other die hard fans, I waited in line for the midnight showing to see this film, and now I am completely regretting my decision. While it was better than Phantom Menace, as a life-long Star Wars fan, I take offense that Lucas thinks he can get away with putting the worst love story ever into an otherwise interesting action movie. The film would have been so much better if 90% of the dialogue that Amidala and Anikin have together was cut from the movie. Star Wars fans are smarter than Lucas thinks. WE KNOW that Anikin and Amidala fall in love when they're not supposed to. Otherwise, Episodes 4, 5, and 6 don't make sense. Just showing scenes of them enjoying each other's company in the beautifully landscaped scenes would be enough to get the point across. Instead we have to endure crappy lines like "Everything here is soft and smooth", and "I am haunted by the kiss you shouldn't have given me." It sounds like Anakin is making an awkward pass at his sister.
It's also this clumsiness towards Amidala that makes Anakin a spoiled little brat, rather than an arrogant and extremely talented Jedi. When Anakin fights, he is arrogant and rushes to judgment. But this arrogance doesn't carry over to his relationship with Amidala. If he was truly the arrogant hero, then he wouldn't fumble around making awkward passes at her through the entire film. It would be more romantic if Anakin just knew that they were supposed to be together. Lucas meant for Anakin to grapple with his emotions throughout the entire film, but we don't need to see the angst he has with Amidala, we needed to see him grapple more with the death of his mother. Unfortunately, we are wisked away from a crucial scene with Anakin and his mother's kidnappers before we truly grasp what he is doing that is so wrong. Instead, Lucas has his characters map out all their actions with words, instead of letting the actions speak for themselves. This is his main fault as a script writer. He is so good at letting the scenery and locations speak for themselves, but all the actors have to say what they are going to do first, then do it, or vice versa. Just because actors have mouths doesn't mean they have to use them.
Case in point, during the final (and very cool) battle between Tyrannus and Yoda, Tyrannus (Christopher Lee) says "Clearly this battle will not be won by our knowledge of the force, but by our abilities with a light-saber." Well, thanks for clearing that up for me George. I've just seen a very cool fight scene where both characters try to defeat each other by using the force to move objects and kill their opponent, and you had to ruin in by having someone talk. If Tyrannus and Yoda had just pulled out their light-sabers and started fighting, we would have understood perfectly. No one would have thought that when they pulled out their light sabers that they were going to have a cooking contest. Let the action speak for itself. This is what Lucas needs to learn as a script writer, and a director. Action speaks louder than words.