I was actually quite disappointed in Ep2. There were good bits, like the Yoda scene at the end, the Janga Fett scene (I'm a big fan of Temuera Morrison ever since I saw Once Were Warriors), and the gladiator scenes. I thought the special effects were outstanding.
What I was disappointed in was the fact that there was so much filler in the rest of the movie...it seemed to meander around without any plot. The romance between Amidala and Anakin was a joke. Seriously, Hayden Christensen needs to pick up a "How To Act In Three Quick Steps" book - a piece of plywood would have conveyed more emotion than he did. I REFUSE to believe that a spoiled, shrimpy little kid like him will end up becoming Da Vader - you've gotta be joking. There is ZERO chemistry between him and Natalie Portman - if I was him and Natalie was a girl I was dating I would be getting worried - no positive vibes, no negative vibes, just...no vibes.
Nobody in the film really grabbed me except Yoda (and maybe Ewan McGregor). Isn't it a bit sad when a CGI character can elicit more emotion than his flesh-and-blood counterparts? And Yoda WAS brilliant - his impersonation of an angry, lightsabre-armed gnat in the fight with Count Dooku (who I thought was ok but too one-dimensional - we never find out the WHY or the HOW of this guy) was quite outstanding and nearly salvaged the entire film for me.
Maybe my expectations of the film were too high - but I just felt that it was so much like a "tweener" film - between episodes.
Or maybe it was the fact that I went and saw it at 11 pm on a Sunday night to beat the crowds, booked a La Premiere booth with my sister (it cost me $60 for two tickets for comfy seats - normally 2 tix are $28, free popcorn, drinks, etc) again to beat the crowds, get there at 10:45 to find that there were NO crowds and the cinema was half-full and the movie went on for 2 1/2 hours plus previews so I got out of there at two am and all I could think of was "what a SHOCKER!!!". [img]tongue.gif[/img]
Anyway...just my 2c, don't be biased by my experience.
[ 05-30-2002, 09:17 AM: Message edited by: Memnoch ]