|
Episode II Rocks! |
"Episode II -- Attack of the Clones,"
George Lucas's latest installment of to the "Star Wars" series
earned an impressive $86.2 million in its first weekend and a total of
$116.3 million in its first four days. Though unable to defeat
"Spiderman’s” record of $114.8 million in the first weekend,
"Clones" comes in third in the weekend record standings, just
behind "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," which holds
second place at $90.3 million.
Many "Star Wars" fans were swarming
to theaters for good seats. Some theaters were even selling tickets two
weeks in advance, which leaves one wondering what those people do with the
rest of their lives. At "The Bridge; Cinema De Lux" in the
Howard Hughes Center, crowds of people were waiting in there by 2 p.m. to
sit in the theater by 8 p.m. By the time the previews for Disney's "Lilo
and Stitch" and "The Matrix Reloaded" went on the screen,
the fans were already at the peak of their anticipation. By the time of
the lightsaber battle between Yoda and a dark Jedi, the crowd became so
loud that one could not even hear the hum and clash of the lightsabers.
Yoda was digitized from puppet to a computer-generated image, mainly for
this lightsaber battle. He looked like something extracted out of
"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." Yoda transformed from a Gandhi
–like figure to someone like Jackie Chan.
Junior
Matt Pifer, like many students on campus, saw the show at midnight. "It was
amazing. Practically the best 'Star Wars' since 'The Empire Strikes
Back.'" Sophomore James Bailey said, "It was way better
than the first one. They did a good job on it." Even teachers, such
as Paul Boitano, went crazy for Episode II. " Episode II?
Great it was. Four times see it, I did, better each time it was. See it
you should, suggest do I.”
George
Lucas was inspired to make "Star Wars" after the old matinee
movies in the 1940's. However, when he finished writing the story, which
consisted of "A New Hope," "The Empire Strike Back,"
and "Return of the Jedi," he realized that it was way too big to
be one movie, and would last about 7 and a half hours. To shorten it, he
played around and made it into three episodes. Naming them Episode IV, V,
and VI respectively, he decided that if they were successful, he would
make prequels.
Although
much better than "The Phantom Menace", many critics were still
not giving "Clones" the full five stars. According to them,
"Clones", although much more mature than "The Phantom
Menace", is still not entirely an adult movie. Anakin was still
young, which makes it harder for Lucas to make it a real grown-up movie.
However, Anakin, at the age of nineteen, is beginning to find a darker
side of him that is growing harder and harder to control. He was also
falling irresistibly in love with Padmé Amidala, whom he has liked since
he was a child. At this stage, it will take the whole next episode for
Anakin to grow into Darth Vader. And one more thing, the kid who played
Anakin, Hayden Christensen, had a not-so-flashy performance, but it was
still o.k.