RedLetterMedia's Attack of the Clones review

[adam_grif]

... is currently being uploaded. At time of posting, two parts are up out of a total of nine.

Part one.

Haven't got to watch it yet, but it's sure to rile some people up if it's anything like the last one.

[Channel72]

Good review so far. The reason these reviews stand out is because they're more than the usual rants about how Jar Jar is stupid, etc. They really explore why the Prequels were so uncompelling, both emotionally and thematically. For example, when we see the Jedi casually fall thousands of feet in mid-air traffic without breaking a sweat all tension basically goes down the toilet. The extent of their abilities is so undefined that we don't know exactly what would pose a serious threat to them.

[General Brock]

Rile up? The first one was kind of disturbed to start, but just kept getting funnier. Now a nine-parter. Heh. Lets see how well RLM does at sequels.

[adam_grif]

The extent of their abilities is so undefined that we don't know exactly what would pose a serious threat to them.

Exactly. As the saying goes, "if anything is possible, then nothing is interesting."

Rile up? The first one was kind of disturbed to start, but just kept getting funnier. Now a nine-parter. Heh. Lets see how well RLM does at sequels.

Going from memory, the thread degenerated into people whining about his voice and complaining that he was stupid and everything he said was wrong. A related discussion to his review ended up turning into the "TPM and bad writing" thread, which got to like sixty hojillion pages long.

[General Brock]

Well, lost me in part three. Some jokes are too 'real' and should not be made, such as mocking real people with serious facial injuries. Figured he'd mess up the satire. Joking about being a psychopath is one iffy thing, dissing Star Wars, yeah, so what, but a genuine lack of compassion and discretion isn't funny at all.

[adam_grif]

Well, lost me in part three. Some jokes are too 'real' and should not be made, such as mocking real people with serious facial injuries. Figured he'd mess up the satire. Joking about being a psychopath is one iffy thing, dissing Star Wars, yeah, so what, but a genuine lack of compassion and discretion isn't funny at all.

Which joke was that?

[General Brock]

He repeats that 'What's wrong with your face' Neimodian joke but flashes a picture of a woman who got a face transplant after surviving a shotgun blast to the face. It was a horrible real-life story, she suffered a lot and continues to suffer because while it was possible to restore function, the cosmetic damage remained obvious.

It was completely unnecessary and gratuitous, I might add. Just no reason for it except to be sick and disturbed.

There was a woman, a nurse actually, whose face was badly disfigured in a bear attack. She regained functionality and some appearance, and something of a normal life, but eventually committed suicide despite the love and support of her family, friends, and colleagues. I guess her kids had grown up by then and she figured she wasn't as needed anymore, and it all just caught up with her.

I just hope nobody with similar injuries catches that vid. The context is disturbed enough to really magnify the psychological pain. Perhaps I should e-mail the guy for a re-edit. However, I don't think I could be at all diplomatic or constructive just now.

[adam_grif]

This is the man whose main gag is that he's a serial rapist and murderer. Except for the fact that this was referencing a specific incident, it ain't really any worse than the jokes he's already pulled. I'm sure the victims or their families of such crimes won't exactly be thrilled by those running gags either. Not disputing that it's tasteless, but if you were offended by this face thing, you probably should be offended by the other stuff too.

[General Brock]

Not really. The psychopath stuff is common enough in popular culture and while I'm not programmed by television anymore I am aware that public standards are different from when I was more plugged in, and the 'net fractures the audiences even more... never mind.

Well, OK, I don't like it and maybe am more than a little uncomfortable with it. However, its not real and the intent is to create a disturbed and macabre mood reflecting a SW fan's disappointment with the sullying of an innocent childhood ideal of SW or some such. Its effective theatre and I'd rather judge it in its entirety before drawing a definite conclusion.

Which only make the insertion of a real-life event the more jarring. It crosses a tangible line of decency and victimizes again a real person who simply does not deserve it. Its like how calling someone a 'cancer' as an insult is insensitive to the victims of cancer and their friends and family. Except it not even distanced by fiction or anonymity. Hell, I suppose he could have swapped in Michael Jackson's pic and it would bother me, but the late Mr. Jackson was at least a public figure and responsible for his own idiocy, not an innocent victim.

Of course, if by chance the women actually agreed to be a part of the video, that still doesn't make it any better. A line of decency was still crossed.

[adam_grif]

I was under the impression that crossing the line of decency was the whole point of this guy's reviews This is going to be a subjective thing, because directly making fun of people who have suffered tragedy doesn't phase me, at all.

Also, he does the serial killer gags in his reviews before star wars, just less frequently. He did a few in TPM and it was a huge hit, so he ramped it up even more for the AOTC review.

[Channel72]

Well, lost me in part three. Some jokes are too 'real' and should not be made, such as mocking real people with serious facial injuries. Figured he'd mess up the satire. Joking about being a psychopath is one iffy thing, dissing Star Wars, yeah, so what, but a genuine lack of compassion and discretion isn't funny at all.

Yeah, that was pretty tasteless, not to mention pointless and unfunny. This guy constantly oscillates between hilariously disturbing and offensively disturbing. That joke basically crossed way over into offensively disturbing territory. However, many parts of the review are really insightful, so it might be worth it to simply overlook that part.

[Channel72]

Part 5 is literally one of the funniest sequences I've ever seen. The narrator describes in detail the absurdity of the whole Anakin/Padme romance. The most hilarious part is when the Star Trek ensign butts in to discuss minor continuity problems while Anakin is ranting about how he killed the sand people.

[Oskuro]

Woah, this one felt a lot shorter. I agree on many of his points, but it pains me on certain parts, for example all the mockery of the Yoda fighting scenes, I liked those. But then again, liking something doesn't mean it is exempt from crticism. Oh, and I can no longer see the Yoda/Dooku force duel without thinking of Mike. Wonder why?

I liked the relationship analysis too, specially the "Supports Fascism" one, pretty funny. Of course, he is right when giving Lucas the "understands women" award, heck, I've seen relationships formed in worse circumstances (minus the slaughtering, of course), people are really wacky when it comes to relationships some times.

The part that had me laughing openly, though, was when the Sith drone floats by the puzzle girls.

He repeats that 'What's wrong with your face' Neimodian joke but flashes a picture of a woman who got a face transplant after surviving a shotgun blast to the face. It was a horrible real-life story, she suffered a lot and continues to suffer because while it was possible to restore function, the cosmetic damage remained obvious.

Hum, the joke there is that he sees nothing wrong with that person, going all "Hey, what's up? How are you?" when he sees her, yet he jumps with "WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOUR FACE" when shown the TPM character.
I actually found it to be a kind of sweet gersture to have such a depraved character see nothing wrong with the deformed woman.

[Jim Raynor]

The extent of their abilities is so undefined that we don't know exactly what would pose a serious threat to them.

Exactly. As the saying goes, "if anything is possible, then nothing is interesting."

How are the Jedi's powers so "undefined?" They demonstrate, and even flat out say that they have precognition. We see them jumping high and surviving huge drops. What Anakin did was hardly unsupported by other feats shown throughout the movies. As for limitations, they're still mortal and susceptible to blaster fire. They can block shots but can be overwhelmed if the volume of fire is too great. Othe force users can fight them as equals.

This seems to me like he's making (another) criticism out of nothing.

[Gramzamber]

I think he was exceptionally long-winded in the segment about how Padme falling in love with Anakin was silly, though the strikes against Anakin were funny.
In the end it boils down to "Padme is an idiot". Hey it turns out women can be idiots who fall for a vapid dumbass for no other reason than the dumbass is hot just like men do. Cause hey they're human too.
Not that this is a defense of how the character is written or her potrayal since she's clearly not intended to be an idiot but comes off as one anyway.

[Uraniun235]

Rile up? The first one was kind of disturbed to start, but just kept getting funnier. Now a nine-parter. Heh. Lets see how well RLM does at sequels.

Well, TPM wasn't his first "crazy old man reviews movie" video; he started off with Star Trek: Generations, and then went on to attack all the other TNG movies. (And I love all the Star Trek movie reviews he did, too; if you liked either of his reviews of the Star Wars movies, you'll love "oh yeah honeypie, work that business". ) So by the time he got to TPM he'd already been at it for some time.

[Aaron]

I rather enjoyed it, his point on Yoda being a totally different character and it shitting on the established lore was decent.

[Stofsk]

I love how he describes the disjointed nature of AotC's 'plot' by likening it to someone getting five boxes of jigsaw puzzles and mixing them on the floor and then saying you have an hour to put them together.

[Channel72]

How are the Jedi's powers so "undefined?" They demonstrate, and even flat out say that they have precognition. We see them jumping high and surviving huge drops. What Anakin did was hardly unsupported by other feats shown throughout the movies. As for limitations, they're still mortal and susceptible to blaster fire. They can block shots but can be overwhelmed if the volume of fire is too great. Othe force users can fight them as equals.

The criticism here applies to the chase scene through Coruscant. Since Anakin and Obi-Wan are both able to fall thousands of feet, while demonstrating insanely serendipitous timing, what exactly could happen in this scene that would actually put them in danger? At face value, the danger in the scene is generated by: 1) the possibility of a mid-air collision with another vehicle, and 2) the possibility of falling to their death. After we see Anakin fall thousands of feet and then perfectly time his fall to safely land on another vehicle, it becomes obvious there is no longer any real danger. Furthermore, neither Anakin nor Obi-Wan even act as if there is any danger. Anakin jumps out of the car, and Obi-Wan simply shrugs and says "I hate it when he does that." So how exactly is the audience supposed to feel any suspense here, when the heroes are for all intents and purposes seemingly immortal?

Really, it's the same problem I had with the various Matrix sequels. Keanu Reeves basically turned into Superman, and it was unclear what, if anything, could ever harm him. As a result, the elaborately choreographed fight scenes mostly just became boring.

Compare this to the speeder-bike chase in Return of the Jedi. Here there is a clear danger that any moment, Luke might slam into a tree and die.

[Jim Raynor]

The criticism here applies to the chase scene through Coruscant. Since Anakin and Obi-Wan are both able to fall thousands of feet, while demonstrating insanely serendipitous timing, what exactly could happen in this scene that would actually put them in danger?

Spider-Man can predict future danger and deomonstrate insane timing, how is he ever in danger?

At face value, the danger in the scene is generated by: 1) the possibility of a mid-air collision with another vehicle, and 2) the possibility of falling to their death.

Alsot the possibility of the assassin getting away.

After we see Anakin fall thousands of feet and then perfectly time his fall to safely land on another vehicle, it becomes obvious there is no longer any real danger. Furthermore, neither Anakin nor Obi-Wan even act as if there is any danger. Anakin jumps out of the car, and Obi-Wan simply shrugs and says "I hate it when he does that." So how exactly is the audience supposed to feel any suspense here, when the heroes are for all intents and purposes seemingly immortal?

So a hero pulls off one feat which is well supported by other feats but is implied to be high-end and all danger suddenly evaporates? It was supposed to show that Anakin was reckless but extremely skilled with the Force, and if it was ho-hum for a Jedi then Obi-Wan wouldn't "hate" it at all.

[adam_grif]

Spider-Man can predict future danger and deomonstrate insane timing, how is he ever in danger?

You just missed the point. It's not that they can never be put in danger ever, it's that in this scene, they can't really be put in any danger. The "undefinedness" of their powers is that we don't really specifically know what they can and can't do. When in Ep1 or the prequel trilogy did they demonstrate such unbelievable timing and precognition skills? Blocking a bit of blaster fire seems to be the the most we see. In Ep1 we get some improved driving skills due to force precog, but still nothing of this level.

It feels like watching Superman beating up thugs. You know nothing bad will happen to him, so there's no tension. That's the criticism.

[Aaron]

So a hero pulls off one feat which is well supported by other feats but is implied to be high-end and all danger suddenly evaporates? It was supposed to show that Anakin was reckless but extremely skilled with the Force, and if it was ho-hum for a Jedi then Obi-Wan wouldn't "hate" it at all.

See for me, Obi-Wan says it like his dog has just pissed on the floor rather then his apprentice had just jumped out of an aircraft.

[adam_grif]

So a hero pulls off one feat which is well supported by other feats but is implied to be high-end and all danger suddenly evaporates? It was supposed to show that Anakin was reckless but extremely skilled with the Force, and if it was ho-hum for a Jedi then Obi-Wan wouldn't "hate" it at all.

See for me, Obi-Wan says it like his dog has just pissed on the floor rather then his apprentice had just jumped out of an aircraft.

He didn't seem too stressed about it either.

[Aaron]

Yeah, thats what I mean. The line doesn't convey anything but mild annoyance.

[General Brock]

I was under the impression that crossing the line of decency was the whole point of this guy's reviews This is going to be a subjective thing, because directly making fun of people who have suffered tragedy doesn't phase me, at all.

Also, he does the serial killer gags in his reviews before star wars, just less frequently. He did a few in TPM and it was a huge hit, so he ramped it up even more for the AOTC review.

I get the B-horror film parody/ Star Wars Prequels horrible parody of OT. I don't get crossing the line from make believe tragedy to real life tragedy.

Hum, the joke there is that he sees nothing wrong with that person, going all "Hey, what's up? How are you?" when he sees her, yet he jumps with "WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOUR FACE" when shown the TPM character.
I actually found it to be a kind of sweet gersture to have such a depraved character see nothing wrong with the deformed woman.

Um, right. Seems just a little backhanded. Nope. I'm sure its backhanded.

Yeah, that was pretty tasteless, not to mention pointless and unfunny. This guy constantly oscillates between hilariously disturbing and offensively disturbing. That joke basically crossed way over into offensively disturbing territory. However, many parts of the review are really insightful, so it might be worth it to simply overlook that part.

It should never have made the final cut. Otherwise, the review is an interesting synopsis of many of the criticisms of ATOC by an experienced and knowledgeable filmmaker. Its hard to overlook that this is a guy who clearly knows how to juxtapose and manipulate images and use narration to deliver layered messages to an audience.