Second in a series of posts that will offer a review of the newly released Star Wars: The Complete Saga on Blu-ray. I'll be avoiding detailed plot rundowns as I assume that most reading have seen the movies. If you haven't be warned that these reviews may contain spoilers.
Entry 1 can be found here: Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
When Star Wars: Episode 2 - Attack of the Clones was released in 2002 I pretty much knew what to expect. The Phantom Menace had established that the prequel films would ramp up the goofy aspects of the series. In retrospect no one should have been surprised. After all Lucas had filled the original Return of the Jedi with many goofy moments, and the '97 special edition added even more nonsense. Lucas was clearly going in a different direction than anticipated and we could either jump off or buckle up and enjoy the ride. Like most fans I buckled up.
I was pretty anxious to see Attack of the Clones upon its release and even went to a midnight screening. I found it to be an enjoyable film and favored it over The Phantom Menace. It had some great moments. Obi-Wan and Anakain's high-speed pursuit of a deadly bounty hunter in the skies of Coruscant and a thrilling battle between Jango Fett and Obo-Wan (preceded by Obi-Wan doing quite a bit of detective work) on the rain-filled planet of Kamino were both "classic" Star Wars moments. I went and saw it again later that week in a theater equipped with digital projection and was blown away. Visually it served up as much eye candy as its predecessor.
As mentioned in my Phantom Menace review I had read reports that that film was the worst looking of the 3 prequel trilogies on Blu-ray. I was surprised to find though that when I watched it on Blu-ray Attack of the Clones didn't look noticeably better than The Phantom Menace. And that isn't a knock on how good this Blu-ray looks. There are a lot more "dark" shots in Attack of the Clones and at times the blacks didn't really seem that deep to me. Regardless of black levels though this is a nice transfer and it's the best that the movie has looked on home video.
Having watched both films again I'd rank The Phantom Menace ahead of Attack of the Clones. The climax of Clones is filled with too many cartoonish looking monsters and a ridiculous amount of Jedi deflecting blaster shots with their lightsabers. The movie also includes a sequence where Yoda utilizes his Jedi powers. Yoda is quite jumpy though and we don't get a real good look at him in action. We'll have to wait for the next movie to really see Yoda do his thing. There was also a lot of story to tell in this installment and I think as a bridge between Menace and Sith it served its purpose. I could see myself watching the 2 other prequel movies independent of the others. I doubt I'll ever do that with this movie though.
Once again everything from the character design and costumes to the spacecrafts and sets have a level of detail that shows great care went into their design. The special features included in the Blu-ray set highlight much of that work.
Two commentary tracks are included on the main Attack of the Clones disc. The first is carried over from the original 2002 DVD release and features George Lucas, Rick McCallum, Ben Burtt, Rob Coleman, Pablo Hellman, John Knoll and Ben Snow. The second is new for this Blu-ray release and is made up of archival interviews with the cast and crew. Just like the tracks on Menace each commentator is identified by an on-screen subtitle.
The remaining special features are found on the 7th disc in the set. This disc includes all of the non-commentary features for the prequels. The special features for each of the 6 films are laid out the same way. Features to a specific planet are in there own section. For Attack of the Clones the planets are Coruscant, Naboo, Tatooine and Geonosis.
Each planet has the same layout and feature headings: Interviews, Deleted Scenes, The Collection and Concept Art Gallery.
Much like The Phantom Menace the Interviews don't really offer anything too revelatory. The original DVD included multiple documentaries and a series of featurettes that provided a rather in depth look at the making of the film. None are included here. Again I appreciate being spared redundant features but the docs are missed. They thoroughly covered the making of the film and can't really be replaced by a series of short interviews. Each interview runs about 3-5 minutes.
The Deleted Scenes are brand new for this Blu-ray and do not include the 8 that were featured on the original DVD. Coruscant includes: "Extended Speeder Chase" and "The Lost Twenty". Naboo includes: "Anakin's Nightmares" and "Anakin and Ruwee". And finally Geonosis includes: "Raid on the Droid Control Ship" and "Extended Arena Fight". Like the scenes from The Phantom Menace all of the deleted scenes are brief and pretty crude looking with unfinished effects. Of most interest is "Anakin and Ruwee". This scene offers a brief exchange between Anakin and Padme's father.
The Collection is made up of key costumes, characters and spacecraft. Each includes a 3D fly around feature that really gives the opportunity to check out the detail. Select pieces also include video commentary that go into the creative process behind their creation. This is turning into my favorite extra related to the prequels. There is lots to see here. Take your time going through it and I think you'll find it quite informative.
Finally Concept Art Gallery provides pre-production artwork for select characters, costumes and spacecraft. Concept art is always interesting in that many times it greatly differs from what eventually ended up on screen.
As previously mentioned you can access all of the special features on each planet individually. I'd like to take a second here to correct my comments from my Phantom Menace review though. The "Play All" feature lumps all of the interviews, deleted scenes, etc. from all of the planets of the entire prequel trilogy together for a seamless viewing experience.
Join me next time for a look at Star Wars: Episode 3 - Revenge of the Sith.
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