In Case You Can't Make It To Conventions: Elstree 1976

The Good: Good interviews, Some moments of vintage footage
The Bad: Disorganized, Largely unsubstantiated stories, Does not hold true to its core
The Basics: Elstree 1976 is a marginally interesting rambling of character actors who participated in minor roles in A New Hope.


While most of the world is out watching and rewatching Rogue One (reviewed here!) in the theaters, I am keeping warm with movies at home. To that end, I am exploring the nostalgia surrounding A New Hope (reviewed here!), which is certainly riding high upon the release of Rogue One, given how many connections there are from the tangent prequel film to the original Star Wars film. I figured a great way to explore the nostalgia is to take in some Star Wars documentary films and tonight's is Elstree 1976.

Elstree 1976 is a straightforward documentary film focusing on the supporting (uncredited) cast of the first Star Wars film A New Hope. Featuring a surprising amount of vintage footage from the backlot, mixed with new interview footage of the actors involved, Elstree 1976 meanders through the lives of nine supporting and background actors from A New Hope.

Forty years after the shooting of A New Hope, in the London suburbs, actors were assembled to act as extras in the film. Paul Blake laments the crappy environment in which he was raised, Anthony Forrest was a musician for his youth. Garrick Hagon, who played Biggs Darklighter, started acting young as a vocal actor working on the radio. Laurie Goode discusses how he got into acting. John Chapman was the son of engineers. Pam Rose was modeling in Milan, when she got pregnant, returned home to England and worked on a dance television show. Derek Lyons was not a male prostitute, but did grow up at home with a father who was mob-affiliated. Dave Prowse was struck with tuberculosis in his knee, yet grew several inches while in hospital before becoming the man behind Darth Vader's mask. Angus MacInnes was working in London as an actor when he was cast.

Several of the castmembers ended up in Soho in 1975 when they were cast for A New Hope, while others were in London at Pinewood Studios where they were cast as extras. The actors talk about going through Central Casting, getting recommended by other actors on the cast, and meeting with George Lucas to get assigned a number for his general casting of the characters. The actors talk about arriving on set and what they saw and how they were affected by being in the Elstree Studio.

David Prowse has one of the more interesting acting stories as he talks about performing in A Clockwork Orange, after giving up on being Mr. Universe. Paul Blake relates a story of arriving on set and getting George Lucas to get him a cup of coffee (before he knew who he was!).

The bulk of the actors were on stage for about five days and some developed relationships with some of the primary actors. But, the stories are largely subjective and unsubstantiated. Most notably, Laurie Goode claims to play the Stormtrooper who hit his head while on the Death Star, but he notes that many other actors have made the same claim. Goode tells the story from his perspective, but his story is similar to the one that others who claim to be the same Stormtrooper tell. Goode might well be the distinctive Stormtrooper, but director Jon Spira merely documents the stories without substantiating them.

Spira manages to mix vintage footage, shots featuring the actors being documented from within A New Hope and the new interviews with each of the actors involved. But, Elstree 1976 is fairly aimless; the actors' stories are spliced together without any real commentary or narrative. The actors meander through telling stories or parts of stories and Spira puts them in Elstree 1976. The net effect is a "documentary" that is much like what one gets at a convention where character actors discuss their time on vintage projects.

The aimless nature of Elstree 1976 climaxes with the sudden inclusion of Jeremy Bulloch (Boba Fett) talking about conventions and his appearance in The Empire Strikes Back. Elstree 1976 is a meandering documentary that is cool in that it gives voice to the extras, but it is hardly substantive or even well-organized. The result is a good background flick for watching once, but is not a great or compelling documentary - even though some of the character actors are interesting.

For other documentary films, please visit my reviews of:
Supersonic
For The Love Of Spock
The Furious Gods: The Making Of Prometheus

2.5/10

For other movie reviews, please check out my Film Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Aging No Better Than Its Initial Release, Hook Is Bloated And Boring!

The Good: Decent character arc for the protagonist
The Bad: Mediocre performances all around, Varying quality of special effects, Plot progression in the midsection is dull
The Basics: A family adventure that provides a live-action Peter Pan story, Hook is an unfortunately dull take that has the lawyer Peter Banning put on a quest to save his children by reverting to his prior persona of Peter Pan.


Last month, with the untimely death of Robin Williams, my wife and I felt an instant desire to rewatch works by Robin Williams that we had not seen in quite some time. For me, that took the form of wanting to watch The Fisher King (reviewed here!), for her she had a powerful desire to rewatch Hook. Hook was one of those films that I had managed to avoid in my young adulthood – when it was released, I was past the age where I had any interest in kid’s movies and I was still too young for the adult themes in Hook to resonate – but, as it turns out, it was one of the formative films for my wife. I recall the movie being on in the staff lounge when I worked at a summer camp (I avoided it by going off on my own to read, as I frequently did), but until my wife sat us down to watch it, I had never actually seen Hook. In watching Hook, I realized that I never paid tribute to the passing of Bob Hoskins, who also died this year (I’ll rectify that later this week!). Unfortunately for the legacies of Robin Williams, Bob Hoskins and the rest of the cast who will one day leave this work behind as part of their legacy, Hook is not an exceptional film in any way.

Steven Spielberg, who directed Hook, is famously quoted as saying “People have forgotten how to tell a story. Stories don't have a middle or an end any more. They usually have a beginning that never stops beginning” and he certainly is right about that. Most movies do not develop or only do so in truly predictable, banal ways. Unfortunately, with Hook, Spielberg (who was not involved with writing the film) illustrates well that even with a solid sense of development, it is possible to make a pretty terrible movie. Hook is not the worst movie ever, but it is a film crippled by mediocrity, hampered by predictability and is so concerned with telling a specific story of one character’s arc that is completely neglects a sensible development for several of the other characters (most notably the titled villain).

While finding an audience should not be a huge problem, rewatching Hook is a great example of how a movie without a clear focus of to whom the story is being told can be troubling. The film is painfully boring for children for almost the first third, too goofy for adults in the second and third parts to pay off for adults and ultimately acts as an overlong The Little Rascals sketch with an obscenely long build-up.

Peter Banning is an American lawyer who hates flying on planes, is tremendously focused on his work, and neglects his two children most of the time. After missing his son, Jack’s, baseball game, Peter, his wife, and children head to London where Peter’s “great grandmother” Wendy is being honored for her lifetime of charity work for orphans. While Peter, Wendy and Moira are out at the dinner, Jack and Maggie are kidnapped from their beds by the malicious Captain Hook. Peter is miffed, though Wendy tries to get him to believe that he has to go to find the children. Peter is visited by Tinkerbell, who takes him to Neverland.

There, Peter awakens in the pirate’s village where he finds his children and Captain Hook. Hook slowly comes to accept that Banning is Peter Pan (even though Banning does not), but finds the straight-laced lawyer an unworthy opponent for his wrath. To save Peter’s life and the life of his children, Tinkerbell tells Hook that she can get Peter to remember who he is within three days and they can have the battle Hook wants. So, while Hook tries to convert Jack to his cause, Peter is taken to the Lost Boys where Rufio and his child gang retrain him to use his imagination and recall that he is Peter Pan.

The thing about Hook is that Hook is so dramatically underdeveloped in contrast to Peter that he comes across as a monolithic villain. He has had decades to get over the fact that Peter Pan cost him his hand and he essentially rules the seas around Neverland, so provoking a fight with Peter that could cause him to lose everything seems utterly moronic. Lacking a compelling villain who has a clear and compelling need for revenge, Hook becomes a somewhat ridiculous grudge match where one of the participants does not even bear a grudge!

Fortunately, Captain Hook is given the whole plotline that has him turning Jack Banning to his side, to drive a wedge between Peter and his own son. That concept at least makes Hook smart and gives Dustin Hoffman as Hook additional screentime.

But Hook is too straightforward otherwise to keep the interest of the viewer. Peter Banning was always going to go through the journey to realize that he was Peter Pan; everyone around him has been right all along. This was never going to be a reality-bending film experience where people surrounding Peter Banning are all crazy and they get wrong who Peter Pan has become. So, going into Hook, the deck is stacked against those hoping for an audacious film experience. Peter Banning’s arc from uptight lawyer to Peter Pan is actually remarkably good and well-developed. The entire film smartly moves Peter along on his journey of self-discovery (or rediscovery) in a way that works beautifully.

The acting in Hook is mediocre. Dustin Hoffman plays Hook as bored and goofy as opposed to truly menacing, so the hold Hook has over the other pirates does not seem at all realistic. Julia Roberts, due to the special effects process of making her appear smaller, seldom gets eyelines right for interacting with other actors. As a result, Tinkerbell seems disconnected from other characters and Roberts is clearly not interacting with Robin Williams or Dustin Hoffman in most of the scenes they share. Robin Williams is fine as Peter, though he has absolutely no on-screen chemistry with Caroline Goodall (who plays Peter’s wife, Moira) and he fails to land a key scene where Peter Pan tells Jack that the happy thought that allows him to fly is related to his son. Poor Bob Hoskins is relegated to the role of ridiculous Disney-style comic relief sidekick as Smee.

The result is that Hook has a clear beginning, middle, and end and a protagonist whose story develops, but none of it is truly compelling. Too slow to be a great kid’s movie, too goofy to entertain adults, Hook fizzles.

For other works with Caroline Goodall, please check out my reviews of:
My Life In Ruins
Alias - Season 5
The Princess Diaries 2: A Royal Engagement
The Princess Diaries
The Mists Of Avalon
Schindler’s List

3/10

For other movie reviews, please check out my Film Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Resurrecting For Movement Toward Closure: The Clone Wars Season Six Has A Few Moments, But Is Largely Unimpressive!

The Good: Generally good animation, Leads into the final Star Wars movie well.
The Bad: Some of the arcs are utter duds, Light on character development, Inconsistent vocals.
The Basics: The Clone Wars Season Six was a Netflix-continued season of television which filled in a few of the gaps between the animated series and final prequel film . . . with a few annoying divergences.


When the Cartoon Network cancelled The Clone Wars, the show was picked up by an unlikely source: Netflix. Netflix continued the series even after Cartoon Network released the five seasons it produced as a Complete Series set. Season Six of The Clone Wars was designed to fill in just a few more of the gaps between the prior five seasons and Revenge Of The Sith (reviewed here!). Given the climactic moment of season five of The Clone Wars (reviewed here!), it is virtually impossible to discuss the sixth season of The Clone Wars without revealing a few significant spoilers. The funny thing is The Clone Wars Season Six only really spoils events from earlier seasons of The Clone Wars, though it has a few pointless divergences that keep the show from making a focused lead-up to Revenge Of The Sith. Interestingly, Season Six also does not make it to the point where it would lead directly into Revenge Of The Sith the way the earlier Clone Wars season (reviewed here!) did. Instead, this creates more of the backstory that clears up inconsistencies between the prequel Trilogy and the original Star Wars films.

As fans of the Star Wars Saga figured from the very beginning of The Clone Wars, Ahsoka Tano had to disappear before Revenge Of The Sith and her write-off at the climax of Season Five causes her to be left out of Season Six. Season Six might not use Ahsoka, but the show continues her problematic presence in the Star Wars universe. What Netflix did right with the sixth season of The Clone Wars was simple: the show maintained the style of the prior seasons. The animation in Season Six is consistently good, even when the stories are unexceptional.

Anakin leads the defense of a planet under siege by Separatists with the help of clone troopers and twin Jedi, Tiplar and Tiplee. One of the Clone Troopers, Tup, suddenly turns on Tiplar during the battle and kills the Jedi. Investigating Tup puts Sidieous and Dooku on the defensive as the clone’s snap threatens their future plans. Admiral Trench launches a massive Separatist attack to recover Tup before the Republic can study what happened to him. Anakin and some clone troopers rescue Tup and Clone Trooper Fives returns to Kamino to find out what caused Tup to snap. Shaaki Ti tries to get a very deep brain scan, but the Kaminoans are working with Darth Tyrannus and they work to keep Fives and his droid companion from performing an atomic brain scan. After discovering a tumor in Tup, who dies shortly after its removal, Fives and Shaak Ti return to Coruscant to plead the case that the Clones have been engineered with a flaw. The Kaminoan scientist Namas Sul works to discredit Fives when Fives is brought before Palpatine with evidence of the inhibitor chips. After appearing to attempt to kill the Chancellor, Fives goes on the run. This arc clearly establishes the concept of Order 66.

Rush Clovis returns when the Banking Clan on Scipio has trouble maintaining business operations due to the war. Senator Amidala is attacked on the neutral world of Scipio while visiting the central vault. A bounty hunter tries to kill Clovis because he knows that the Banking Clan is on the verge of collapse. Amidala is granted unprecedented access to the vault, where she discovers that Clovis is right and that the Banking Clan is corrupt. Returning to Coruscant, Amidala works to expose the Banking Clan while the Sith reorganize to bring Clovis back to the Separatist fold. Clovis allows himself to be manipulated by Dooku to take control over the Banking Clan when he exposes the corruption in the Banking Clan. With a wedge driven between Anakin and Padme, Palpatine tasks Anakin with learning what Clovis is hiding and Anakin is forced to rescue Scipio from the Separatists.

Fives is put in virtually the same situation and arc as Ahsoka was at the climax of the prior season. Fives puts doubt in Anakin’s mind as to the Chancellor’s benevolence before he is killed and fans of The Clone Wars are likely to feel like they have seen the arc before. It also makes the viewer feel like the Jedi should have seen Palpatine’s influence about five years earlier than they did! Similarly, The Clone Wars Season Six spends a lot of time on Dooku’s extortion of Clovis. That extortion comes in the form of a particularly tedious exchange that involves raising interest rates on Republic loans. This calls to mind a joke from The Simpsons about Episode I wherein the political machinations of the Sith was reduced to boring parliamentary issues, which undermined the wow factor of the Star Wars franchise.

The penultimate arc has Jar Jar Binks going on a mission with Mace Windu and earning his respect. Jar Jar and Windu visit a planet where Binks is infatuated with the queen and when she is captured, it is Binks who arranges to rescue her. In the process, Mace Windu comes to respect Jar Jar for his skills.

The season climaxes with a mini-arc featuring Yoda. Yoda hears the voice of Qui-Gon Jinn and goes on a quest to find the source of midiclorians in the galaxy. This leads Yoda to understand most of the Sith conspiracy that plagued the Jedi

The sixth season of The Clone Wars might maintain the animation style of the prior seasons, but it does not keep the voices consistent. Sidious, for example, does not sound like he does in other seasons. The tone of the season – save the annoying Jar Jar Binks segment – is distinctly intended for adult or young adult audiences, as opposed to children. The result, though, is a thoroughly mediocre season of television that might be worth watching for free on Netflix, but is not likely to wow fans into shelling out money on DVD or Blu-Ray when it is released in that form.

For other Netflix exclusive seasons, please check out my reviews of:
Arrested Development - Season Four
House Of Cards - Season 1
House Of Cards - Season 2
Orange Is The New Black - Season 1

4.5/10

For other television reviews, please check out my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Resurrecting Preposterous: The Clone Wars Season Five Takes A Long Time To Build To Watchable!

The Good: Generally good animation, Tone, Fills out the larger Star Wars universe well.
The Bad: Some of the arcs are utter duds, Light on character development until the end.
The Basics: The Clone Wars Season Five is a poor season of television until the last half of the season when it fleshes out the Star Wars universe in a (mostly) interesting way.


It might take a long time, but the Cartoon Network show The Clone Wars finally went somewhere. The show, which struggled for four seasons to find a tone and storytelling consistency was troubled by conceptual problems and stories that seemed to distract from the known inevitable – which was that the series had to lead into Revenge Of The Sith (reviewed here!). The concept of Anakin Skywalker, who was the subject of the Star Wars prequel trilogy, having a Padawan learner of his own was fundamentally a departure from the main story of the prequel trilogy. Conceptually, it served only to make Anakin Skywalker’s indignation in Revenge Of The Sith over not being made a full member of the Jedi Council more palpable and realistic, but it was otherwise a big departure from the known Star Wars mythos.

In a similar fashion, The Clone Wars - while utilizing creatures, droids, and ship designs common to the Star Wars film sextet – further diverged from the Star Wars universe by upsetting many of the basic tenants of the series. The animated television series was actually packed with Sith characters: by the fifth season of The Clone Wars there were six Sith or ex-Sith alive and kicking ass and using lightsabers fighting throughout the galaxy. The Clone Wars Season Five picks up the thread of Darth Maul’s resurrection that largely confounds the whole idea that the Sith apprentice was killed at the climax of The Phantom Menace (reviewed here!). Season Five of The Clone Wars ended up not being the conclusion to the series (there is a new sixth season on Netflix), though it closes on the closest note possible to the other inevitable imperative of the series: Ahsoka Tano parts ways with the Jedi. The risk of making The Clone Wars and introducing such an important character as Anakin Skywalker’s Padawan was that the character had to be gone (one way or another) before the end of the series; otherwise her absence in the final prequel film becomes a huge continuity problem (albeit a retcon issue) for the diehard fans.

The fifth season of The Clone Wars, unfortunately, fleshes out the larger Star Wars universe before it finally narrows to a point in the season’s final arc. Along the way, the journey goes from pointless (opening with a Darth Maul arc seems self-defeating as viewers have to know that he cannot survive the series!) to unpleasantly boring (there is a droid arc that seems especially juvenile) right before it climaxes well with a powerful arc that starts cutting away loose ends before refocusing on Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, and Ahsoka Tano.

With Darth Maul and Savage Opress cutting a swath of destruction across the outer rim, motivated by a desire to get revenge on Obi-Wan Kenobi, Darth Maul tries to draw out the Jedi. Maul, after asserting dominance over Opress, lures Obi-Wan to the Florin System, where there are pirates who pledge themselves to Maul and Opress. Obi-Wan receives a distress call from the bounty hunter, Hondo. Aiding Hondo gives Obi-Wan an out when his fellow Jedi master is killed and he is cornered by the two Sith.

The immediately dark arc is followed up by a four episode Onderon rebellion arc. Ahsoka is left on the planet Onderon after the planet’s inhabitants fall to the Separatists. Aiding the young rebels, Ahsoka helps a brother and sister rally the people of Onderon to resist Separatist rule and fight back against the droid army of the Separatists. Training the rebels, Ahsoka and the rebels fight to rescue the deposed King and retake the planet, which puts Ahsoka at odds against her emotions (as she develops an attachment for one of the rebels in a doomed romance).

Ahsoka then takes a group of Younglings to the planet where they must get the crystals to make their own lightsabers. After facing the trial that nets the kids their crystals, their ship is attacked by the pirate Hondo. Ahsoka is kidnapped and held hostage by Hondo. But Hondo’s attempt to get the Younglings’ lightsaber crystals is foiled by the Younglings and then an attack by General Grievous.

The next mission is taken on by Colonel Gascon, a small sluglike Republic leader, and a team of droids, including R2-D2. Their mission is to capture a Separatist encryption module, but in trying to complete their mission, they crash land on Abufar. After days in the desert, the small team meets up with a clone trooper who has lost his memory and in their escape, the team discovers a Separatist plot to bomb an important Jedi strategic conference.

The season finally gets good when Darth Maul and Savage Oppress are rescued by Deathwatch. Together they assemble their own crime syndicate and, visiting Nal Hutta, they are attacked by the bounty hunter holdouts loyal to the Hutts. Assembling an army, Maul and Oppress make their move, but Pre Viszla inevitably betrays the Sith on Mandalore. Usurping Duchess Satine, Pre Viszla takes leadership as Prime Minister and declares the Mandalorian systems independent of all foreign rule. When Maul kills Pre Viszla, he installs Almeck as the new Prime Minister of Mandalore. When the Jedi converge on Mandalore, Maul gets his chance for revenge. The dark episode sees the death of Satine and Savage Opress, which seem like they would have motivated later character arcs for Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Maul (given Kenobi’s love for Satine and Maul’s allegiance to Savage). Sidieous and Maul confront and that, too, seems like it was going somewhere, though the failure of Sidieous to kill Maul seems to diminish his character and the concept of the Sith.

Cato Malodia is under siege when the Jedi Temple on Coruscant is bombed. Investigating puts Ahsoka in a crisis of faith as she cannot believe that a Jedi might have been involved in the bombing. The bombing is soon revealed to be the work of a terrorist (who was not a Jedi) using nanotechnology. But when Ahsoka interrogates her, the terrorist is killed and Ahsoka is framed. Despite Anakin believing in his Padawan, the Jedi Council releases Ahsoka from the Jedi order in order for the Republic military to put Ahsoka on trial. Ahsoka goes on the run while Anakin looks to find the guilty parties who framed her. Unfortunately, Asajj Ventress turns up and that complicates things for Ahsoka.

Unfortunately, the fifth season of The Clone Wars lacks emotional resonance. The Youngling and droid story arcs are especially juvenile and they make for an erratic season because they precede an arc that involves the most on-screen deaths of major recurring characters in the series. The stories oscillate between violent and adult and silly and troublingly young. The fifth season of The Clone Wars might finish strong, but it is a long way for viewers to go and the good portions of the season are entirely dependent upon seeing the prior seasons of the show.

The animation in the fifth season of The Clone Wars is good, but the technology has not improved in any recognizable way from the prior seasons. In the end, the season is a fair conclusion to the story of The Clone Wars, even if the fifth season is not the climax.

For other seasons of The Clone Wars, please check out my reviews of:
The Clone Wars
Star Wars: The Clone Wars Volume 1
Star Wars: The Clone Wars Volume 2
The Clone Wars - Season 1
The Clone Wars - Season 2
The Clone Wars - Season 3
The Clone Wars - Season 4

5/10

For other television reviews, please check out my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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So Much Foreshadowing! The Clone Wars Season 4 Goes Dark And Adult!

The Good: Generally good animation, Tone, Most of the stories
The Bad: Minutae, Some of the character designs
The Basics: In the fourth season of The Clone Wars, the show virtually abandons its childish tendencies to present a more consistently adult story that continues to lead to Revenge Of The Sith.


For the first few seasons of The Clone Wars (season 1 is reviewed here!), the show from the Cartoon Network did not seem to know what it wanted to be. The show started with ridiculously childish “morals” (themes) and mixed a bit of warlike violence with annoyingly childish quips between Anakin Skywalker and his padawan learner, Ahsoka Tano. Fortunately, with the fourth season of The Clone Wars, the series goes all in and commits to making an adult series. Fans of the Star Wars franchise are likely to enjoy The Clone Wars Season Four because it works steadily toward the darkness that awaits the characters in Revenge Of The Sith.

Not only focusing on Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka, The Clone Wars Season Four starts to illustrate just how bloody The Clone Wars were and how the galaxy of Star Wars became run-down enough to get to the point where Palpatine could reasonably take over. The civil war between the Republic and the Separatists is packed with political intrigue and machinations that are not at all appropriate for children. The on-screen carnage (people getting stabbed, shot, or blown up) is also pretty extensive compared to anything that belongs in a children’s show. Fortunately, that leads to real depth and foreshadows the turn of Anakin Skywalker well. It also begins to seriously imply the dark side of Ahsoka Tano.

Opening with a civil war on the water world of Mon Calamari between the Quarren and the Mon Cala, Padme and Anakin work to bring about a peaceful resolution. While the Quarren want to join the Separatists, Anakin and Padme try to keep the Mon Cala in the Republic and defend them as citizens with the help of Captain Ackbar. Joined by Kit Fisto, the Republic Forces put up a valiant defense against the new Separatist Weapons dropped into the oceans. With Dooku calling the shots on the conquered world, the Republic forces retreat to the underwater caves. Fighting to keep the rightful king of the Mon Cala alive while Dooku’s jellyfish weapons and slave camps lead the Quarren leader to rethink his deal with the Separatists leads the Republic forces to the edge of peril.

Following the incident at Mon Calamari, trouble hits home when there is a fracture at Naboo. With Gungan leaders being manipulated by Dooku and Grievous, Amidala is able to help Jar Jar Binks rally the Gungans against the Separatists. In the process, Grievous is captured and to protect him, Sideous has Dooku abduct Anakin to make a prisoner exchange. This is a very dark episode with a number of on-screen deaths. Despite being a very short arc, it continues the reversals that make it at all plausible that the Jedi could manage to not capture and convict the two leaders of the Separatists.

Elsewhere, the planet Aleen is suffering from earthquakes which are devastating the planet. R2-D2 and C-3PO meet with the aliens on that planet to discover the complex relationship between the race above and the race below. In the process, R2-D2 and C-3PO find a way to save Aleen. Unfortunately, while leaving Aleen, the Republic transport the droids are on is attacked and in fleeing, the two droids have a “Gulliver’s Travel”-style adventure to return home.

After a particularly bloody battle on Umbara, Anakin is relieved of duty and recalled to Coruscant. He is replaced by the overbearing and demanding Jedi General Krell, who has no real regard for the lives of the clones under his command. While some of the clones resist his commands, Krell is actually very effective at achieving his mission goals, even if clone casualties in his unit are higher. Despite some impressive victories, like capturing an Umbarian air base, Krell continues to push Captain Rex and his men into increasingly dangerous situations. When two battalions of clones are set against one another, Krell’s treachery is exposed and his true nature is revealed.

When the Separatists make inroads at the peaceful planet of Krios, Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Ahsoka are dispatched to investigate. Slavers have captured the entire population of Krios, which makes Ahsoka’s homecoming a pretty horrible one. When Obi-Wan Kenobi is captured by Count Dooku’s slavers and taken to Zygaria, Anakin becomes bound to the queen of the slavers to find where the Kriosans and other slaves have been taken. When Dooku inevitably cracks down on the Queen, she realizes she has been a pawn for the Sith and works to free herself and her people from the Sith. This is a smart arc that alludes to Anakin’s past and brings up new darkness in the character. Since Attack Of The Clones, Anakin has had a reasonable sore spot toward slavery in the galaxy and this puts him direct conflict with slavers and his guilt over his mother’s death. Anakin’s darkness is hinted at well when he goes more than a little angry and badass on the slave traders.

A peace conference between the Republic and Separatists breaks down when the son of a Separatist leader declares that his mother was killed by Dooku and that the Separatists are an illegitimate regime of murderers. When Lux turns on Ahsoka after she saves his life, they end up in the company of the Mandalorian Deathwatch. When R2-D2 is conscripted to repair the Deathwatch psychopath’s droids, he and Ahsoka lay the groundwork for escape.

Returning to Coruscant, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin, and Ahsoka track a bounty hunter who threatens Palpatine. In the pursuit, the bounty hunter kills Obi-Wan, which sets Anakin off. Kenobi, of course, is not dead: he is working with Mace Windu and Yoda to uncover a plot between the bounty hunters and the Separatists. Kenobi disguises himself as Hardin (the bounty hunter) and goes to prison. There, he is approached by Cad Bane who engineers an escape plot from the prison. Cad Bane, Hardin, and Moralo Eval crash and work to get armed and a new ship. Palpatine sets Anakin against the bounty hunters, even as Obi-Wan Kenobi works to procure a new ship and escape Nal Hutta. After an encounter between Anakin and Raako Hardin, Hardin is able to get inside Dooku’s bounty hunter stronghold on Sarenno. There, the bounty hunters that Dooku has assembled are set against each other in a lethal contest within a game cube. The survivors of the box are used by Dooku to hunt Palpatine at a festival on Naboo. With Ahsoka put in charge of protecting Amidala, Anakin takes point on Naboo in protecting the Chancellor while Obi-Wan as Hardin tries to undermine the bounty hunter’s plan. This arc hinges on Dooku not being able to sense Obi-Wan Kenobi, which makes unfortunately little sense.

Asajj Ventress resurfaces at the climax of the season with an arc that sets her against the Sith. Ventress renounces her Sith training and rejoins the Sisters Of Dathomir. Dooku sends Grievous to kill Ventress and his droid armada attacks Dathomir. With the battle going poorly, the Sisters resurrect their dead to create a zombie army to combat the droids! Ventress manages to survive the holocaust on her world and ends up in the company of bounty hunters. The season climaxes with the return of Savage Opress . . . and Darth Maul!

The final arc of the season hinges entirely on having seen the third season of The Clone Wars (reviewed here!). Ventress’s fall from grace and the return of Darth Maul are obliquely referenced in the fourth season episodes, but are not really appreciable by those who have not seen the prior season.

The animation in the fourth season of The Clone Wars is decidedly mixed. The space battles and settings are appropriately epic and most of the character designs are wonderful. Ahsoka is no longer a girl (her outfit is changed to one that uses a keyhole cut to accent her breasts, which would be disturbing if they kept playing her so young) and the rest of the characters generally look smoother and more realistic. The only real problem with the animation in the fourth season of The Clone Wars is that all of the bald characters look like clone troopers. That’s a problem when Obi-Wan impersonates a bald human bounty hunter for several episodes.

Adult fans of the Star Wars Saga will find that the fourth season of The Clone Wars is one of the few arguably essential ones of the franchise. Despite still having themes up front, The Clone Wars matures in its fourth season to be worth watching!

For other works in the Star Wars franchise, please check out my reviews of:
Star Wars - Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Star Wars - Episode II: Attack Of The Clones
The Clone Wars
Star Wars: The Clone Wars Volume 1
Star Wars: The Clone Wars Volume 2
Star Wars - Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith
Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope
Star Wars - Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
Star Wars - Episode VI: Return Of The Jedi
Caravan Of Courage - An Ewok Adventure

6.5/10

For other movie and television reviews, please check out my Film Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Quite A Bit More Adult, The Clone Wars Season Three Brings Real Darkness To The Star Wars Universe!

The Good: Tone, Overall story
The Bad: Lack of significant character development, Animation, Continuity
The Basics: While the third season of The Clone Wars is finally engaging enough for adult audiences, it lacks enough substance of character to enthusiastically recommend to adult audiences.


For those who have not followed my many reviews, I have not been wowed by The Cartoon Network's The Clone Wars. The animation is not as impressive as it ought to be, the character development has been ridiculously low and the explicit themes at the outset of each episode are very clearly geared toward children. So, when I sat down to watch the third season DVD set of The Clone Wars, it was with remarkably low expectations. The Clone Wars Season Three still suffers from the ridiculous title cards and has the same lame animation, but this season is much darker.

Filled with political messages, more gore, violence and some stronger sexual undertones, the third season of The Clone Wars finally seems ready to part with the child audience and commit to being for the adults who grew up on the original Star Wars Trilogy. To wit, The Clone Wars Season Three features several episodes before the appearance of Ahsoka Tano and when she does appear, she is less Anakin's padawan and more her own person.

In the third season of The Clone Wars features more arcs that build more complex stories and an increased sense of continuity . . . within the series, if not the franchise. The Clone Wars - the current series - seems to exist in complete denial of the Cartoon Network's earlier venture (Volume 1 is reviewed here, Volume 2 is reviewed here!), which had a few different plot points than this series. The most relevant difference comes in the character arc of Asajj Ventress, who gets a burn notice in this season and is the subject of the penultimate arc of the season. In the earlier series, she was killed by Anakin and the third season of The Clone Wars tells a very different story.

This season of The Clone Wars features the training of the Domino Squad of Clone Troopers. The troopers seem less competent than the other units to be trained on Kamino. After learning how to work as a group, the Domino Squad returns to defend Kamino from an all-out assault by Asajj Ventress. Following that, the war turns toward politics with Bail Organa making a diplomatic mission to get support for the planet Ryloth by going through the Toydarians. The Separatists then hire Greedo to take a political hostage, that Ahsoka must then rescue.

The politics of corruption are explored then when the series returns to Mandalore. There, Padme discovers the planet to be mired by corrupt politicians and Ahsoka makes a trip there to teach some students and find the root of the corruption plaguing the neutral system. Ahsoka then tries to protect Amidala from an assassination attempt by Aurra Sing, whom she thought dead from the prior season. Cad Bane re-enters the narrative when he takes C-3PO and R2-D2 hostage as part of a Hutt plan to destroy the Senate.

Padme gets her opportunity to fight for peace through a clandestine mission to a Separatist world where she has a friend. When the Separatist government makes motions for peace, Cad Bane's droids knock out the Republic Senate's power and makes it appear as if the deregulation of the banks is a necessary step in continuing the war at any cost.

In the wake of an unlimited budget for the war, Darth Sideous orders Dooku to kill Asajj Ventress. Dooku leaves Ventress for dead and when her body is recovered, she takes a trip to a planet run by a powerful coven. Joining with the Nightsisters, Ventress trains an assassin of the same species as Darth Maul to have her revenge upon Dooku. In the wake of Savage Opress kidnapping and killing the Toydarian King, Obi-Wan, Anakin and Ahsoka find themselves in a spatial anomaly, Mortis, where Ahsoka is infected with the Dark Side. The conflict on Mortis leads to a confrontation at the Citadel fraught with danger.

In many ways, The Clone Wars Season Three seems to be about capitalizing on that has worked for the franchise best before now, as opposed to making genuinely new stories. The appearance of Savage Opress is an excuse to do more with Darth Maul in a thinly disguised plotline that seems more of an exercise for fan animators than genuinely good storytelling. The popularity of bounty hunters is capitalized on through the reappearance of Cad Bane and Aurra Sing, as well as the appearance of Bossk. The use of Carbonite seems especially cheap, considering its use for freezing people was supposedly pioneered in The Empire Strikes Back.

That said, this season is solidly entertaining and it illustrates a much more realistic sense of the consequences and reach of war than the prior seasons did. Instead of being a parody of Star Wars, the third season of The Clone Wars has the scope and political acumen of an adult commentary on the nature of war. In fact, during one episode, all I could think was that it was unfortunate George Lucas and his team had not made similar statements back when they might have mattered, like 2003. It's much easier to make the edgy political statements when the Administration has changed.

While the sense of continuity within the series increases, it is at conflict with the prior season. That said, the resolution to the third season of The Clone Wars seems to be clearing the way for the fourth season of The Clone Wars to have greater continuity to Revenge Of The Sith. Most notably, the role of General Grievous needs to be expanded to make him seem like a legitimate threat, as he was at the beginning of the final film.

On DVD and Blu-Ray, the third season of The Clone Wars has featurettes that explore some of the new characters, aliens and the role of this season in the overall Star Wars mythos. Outside one of the later episodes, Anakin is not truly focused on and his character does not truly develop, save in the Mortis arc. But the Mortis arc gives the season just enough character to engage adults.

More than any of the prior seasons, The Clone Wars Season Three engages adult viewers and makes it a worthy investment for Star Wars fans.

For other Star Wars reviews, please visit my reviews of:
The Star Wars Saga
The Clone Wars
The Clone Wars - Season One
The Clone Wars - Season Two

6.5/10

For other television reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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The Star Wars Saga Has Legendary Qualities, But Is Far From Perfect!

The Good: Great story, Pretty awesome special effects, Generally decent acting
The Bad: Moments of character and acting.
The Basics: There is a timeless quality to the Star Wars Saga, but there are serious enough issues that make it anything but perfect.


I love Star Wars. I have the figures, I have the movies, I've gotten autographs of many of the obscure stars (Michael Sheard just months before his death, as it turned out!), and I do enjoy the mythological sensibility to the story of the fall. But, for one who grew up on it and one who enjoys the universe, I am prepared to commit the ultimate heresy that every other reviewer knows, but few fans admit:

The Star Wars Saga is not all that great.

Sure, it's good. It was groundbreaking at the time, but have you actually watched it? If you've never actually sat down and watched the Star Wars Saga in order, it is the saddest collection of clueless law enforcement officers running around getting slaughtered by a military force that becomes more inept over twenty years leading into a rebellion of people who are willing to give up at the drop of a dime. Seriously. The sheer number of times characters say something is "impossible" or "can't be done" or whine about the state that they are in before actually trying is shocking. And for those looking for a great hero story, we all know that the quality of the hero is judged by the quality of the villains. Who are the villains in the Star Wars Saga? A bunch of people who look pretty cool, but are even more inept than the heroes! Darth Maul? One kill and dead. Darth Tyrannus? One arm and dead. General Grievous? One kill, nope that's been edited out, one escape and dead. Who is the villain in the Star Wars Saga? A one thousand year-old geezer and his robot apprentice.

But I jest. When the Star Wars Saga works, it works because it tells an essential character story of how easily good may be perverted into the forces of power and control and how hope may lead to the redemption of that corrupted soul. It tells the story of how common plight leads to romance and how sidekicks can be universally annoying be they amphibian or droid. The Star Wars Saga illustrates that when you push the boundaries of what is known, you may create a work that will capture a generation simply by being ambitious and daring.

Cinema has lost that. Arguably the most original attempt in recent years, The Chronicles Of Riddick Saga (reviewed here!) was thwarted from continuing by commercialism. The Star Wars Saga tells a pretty universal story set in a distant galaxy populated by humans, aliens, robots and an astounding array of creatures. But, like The Matrix (reviewed here!), a full series was created based on a decent original idea. Unlike the disturbingly constructed The Matrix Saga, George Lucas - the creator of the Star Wars Saga - had the first trilogy constructed before the first film was filmed. While he had the prequel trilogy conceived, he had not fleshed it out, resulting in a six-film Saga that tells the story of Anakin Skywalker, but is plagued by minutia between the two trilogies that do not quite add up. The inconsistencies are disturbing enough to stymie even the Star Wars loyalists, but not enough to drive it into unwatchable territory.

For those unfamiliar with the Star Wars Saga (now available on Blu-Ray), the six movies that comprise it are:
The Phantom Menace
Attack Of The Clones
Revenge Of The Sith
A New Hope
The Empire Strikes Back
Return Of The Jedi

The Phantom Menace explores a galaxy far, far away that is brimming with conflict. After a thousand years of peace, the Galactic Republic is in turmoil when the planet of Naboo is besieged by the capitalist forces of the Trade Federation. Republic negotiators, two Jedi named Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi, arrive to try to lift the Trade Federation blockade but they are nearly killed. Escaping Naboo with the planet's Queen, the Jedi make it to Tatooine where they discover a young boy, Anakin Skywalker, who is powerful with the Force, the mystical power utilized by the Jedi. Amid political machinations that insinuate that the Jedi's enemies - the Sith - have returned to the galaxy, Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon and Anakin return to try to liberate Naboo.

Ten years later, Padme Amidala, former Queen of Naboo is returning to the political capital of the Republic to vote on an important bill when she is almost assassinated. The Jedi Anakin and Obi-Wan are assigned to protect Amidala as the Republic heads toward war with Separatists who wish to leave the Republic. Obi-Wan searches for the bounty hunter who put the hit on Amidala and discovers a clone army being built for the Republic that no one knew about. As Obi-Wan becomes embroiled in political and military machinations that were directed by the Sith, Anakin and Padme fall in love.

Revenge Of The Sith begins two years later as the Clone Wars rage on and Anakin and Obi-Wan have to save the Supreme Chancellor from a powerful Separatist general. As the Jedi try to end the war and uncover the Sith Lord who has evaded them for the past decade, Anakin is seduced by the power of the Dark Side of the Force using his secret wife, Padme, as the tool of his undoing.

Twenty years later, A New Hope finds the galaxy under the control of the Galactic Empire where a small band of rebels fights against the forces of power and control. When Princess Leia acquires the plans to the planet-destroying Death Star weapon, she tries to get the plans back to the Rebellion, but is intercepted by the Empire's forces, most notably Darth Vader. Leia manages to get the plans into two droids who end up on Tatooine in the possession of Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Luke and Obi-Wan try to get the plans back to the Rebellion, but are intercepted by the Death Star and must save the galaxy from the massive weapon.

The Empire Strikes Back has the Rebellion fleeing from the might of the Empire as Darth Vader scours the galaxy for Luke Skywalker. As Han Solo and Princess Leia try to evade the Empire, Luke Skywalker goes to a remote world where he learns to use the power of the Force. But Darth Vader is intent on luring Luke out and he uses his friends to entrap the young man.

The Saga concludes with Return Of The Jedi wherein Luke and Leia try to rescue Han Solo from the gangster Jabba the Hutt. As the Rebellion goes on the offensive against the new Death Star - which is still under construction - Luke, Leia and Han journey to Endor for a final showdown with the Empire and Darth Vader.

The Star Wars Saga has essentially two groups of characters in the two trilogies, but when viewed together is the story of the downfall of Anakin Skywalker from the Jedi with the most potential to a tool for the Empire. George Lucas, who wrote the Saga (at least the story), does an excellent job of telling the story of Anakin using pretty standard mythological storytelling. Anakin begins as a boy of mysterious origins with the insinuation of incredible powers. As he refined his powers, Anakin illustrates an impatience which is a pretty classic tragic flaw and he develops with the potential to be the most powerful instrument for good. The forces of evil, of course, seek to exploit that and the Star Wars Saga illustrates well how the feelings of love may be used by malevolent forces.

What does not work when the Saga is viewed together is how loss keeps Anakin under the thumb of the Sith Lord. In The Empire Strikes Back, the Emperor reveals - through new scenes added into the film - that he has essentially lied to his apprentice for twenty years and there is no significant character reaction. Given that the character's tragic flaw has much to do with seething rage, it is virtually unforgivable that the character has none of that evident when the truth is revealed.

This, of course, is a problem with the fact that the story was retroactively created. The prequel Trilogy has to explain how Anakin Skywalker fell from grace and when it fits back into the original Trilogy, there are dramatic inconsistencies. On the character level, this seldom works. This is also why the Prequel Trilogy neglects the spiritualism of the original Trilogy. In the first (or second, depending on perspective) Trilogy, the Force is a powerful field and belief that empowers the Jedi. In the Prequel Trilogy, thousands of Jedi are completely duped by a single Sith with many of the Jedi revealing tragic flaws that - according to the later installments - would have led them to the Dark Side. In other words, the principles of using the Force to create a policing body work out philosophically, but not in a practical application.

The Star Wars Saga pioneered all sorts of special effects and on Blu-Ray, they look absolutely incredible. From stop-motion model work through computer-generated characters, the Star Wars Saga is a visual masterpiece from George Lucas and the other directors in the Star Wars films.

As for the acting, the Star Wars Saga utilizes some pretty incredible talents - Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, and James Earl Jones - exceptionally well. It also introduced many new talents who deliver as well as they can. Hayden Christensen, for example, performs somewhat stiffly in Attack Of The Clones and Revenge Of The Sith. Where the Saga succeeds on the acting is how the performers completely invest in the universe being created. All of the actors look like they believe in their setting and with the virtual characters, they interact with complete seriousness, making it easy to invest in the galaxy.

On Blu-Ray, the Star Wars Saga includes commentary tracks for each film and featurettes on the creation of each movie and the Saga as a whole. There are also forty-five deleted scenes and animatics which are kept separated from the films. For a Saga that George Lucas has so continually tweaked, it is almost ridiculous that the movies do not have the scenes actually integrated into the new versions of each movie.

This leads to the exploitative quality of the Star Wars Saga. George Lucas is a shrewd businessman and while this is the first time the Saga has appeared all together on Blu-Ray, the films have been available in at least two different forms on DVD. Most people will not have the equipment needed to get the additional value out of the Blu-Ray versions. More than that, beginning in February, the films will be rereleased theatrically in 3-D. Will Lucas add new scenes for the 3-D release? Will he integrate deleted scenes into the 3-D release? Who knows? What is virtually undeniable is this: even if the only change is that a 3-D print of the Star Wars Saga is created, those 3-D versions will be released after the Saga is once again completed as 3-D Blu-Rays undoubtedly with more bonus features to exploit the same customer base for their hard-earned dollars for what is essentially the same product.

In other words, the Star Wars Saga is complete now. It has been for more than half a decade and the change in technology has not fixed the problems that the Saga has had. Instead, those who already have the six DVDs are not truly going to need to reinvest in the Blu-Rays and until a complete reimagining including a complete rewrite, much like the new Footloose (reviewed here!) completely remakes the Saga from the original, is created, there is no real need to buy the new boxed set.

For other cinematic Sagas, please visit my reviews of:
The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy
The Back To The Future Trilogy
The Indiana Jones Trilogy

7.5/10

For other film reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Marginally Better Than The First Season, The Clone Wars Season Two Is Still Remarkably Simple Science Fiction.

The Good: Action sequences, Moments of character
The Bad: Short episodes, Still more juvenile than I'd like, Frequently predictable.
The Basics: Largely unmemorable, The Clone Wars Season Two is still a decent progression on the first season of the animated series and moves the viewer closer to Revenge Of The Sith.


Back when I was working for the comic book shop, I would bring in movies or television shows to watch and one of them was the second season of The Clone Wars. So, this is going to be a shorter review than usual because I last saw these episodes was about three months ago and the twenty-two episodes were mostly action-oriented, so there is very little to discuss about them. That said, The Clone Wars Season Two follows on the heels of The Clone Wars Season One (reviewed here!) and continues to detail the struggles of the Jedi during the Clone Wars between Episodes 2 and 3. The thing is, the Clone Wars are supposed to set up the defeat of the Jedi and the number of victories the Republic has in this season make it a slower and slower process than is realistic.

In the second season of The Clone Wars, Anakin Skywalker's Padawan, Ahsoka, is more grounded and less rebellious. Her missions on her own, like "Lightsaber Lost," are more vignettes with a pretty obvious message that panders to a younger audience than most of the series seems to be targeting. Ahsoka remains a largely unnecessary character in a work where she must ultimately die, so throughout the adventures in The Clone Wars Season Two nothing happens so extraordinary as to make one attached to the girl. In other words, when she goes, not only will most viewers not be surprised, most will not care.

This season, though, focuses more on Anakin and Obi-Wan, though to say the work is more character-driven is a fallacy. The Clone Wars Season Two is highly plot-driven. Anakin's temper is annoyingly under control, making his turn to the Dark Side less realistic and his interactions with Padme as more stereotypically "guy" responses as opposed to those of a complex or realized character. As such, episodes like "Senate Spy" seem more like a "type" than an actual vital story within the saga. Moreover, arcs like Boba Fett's return minimize the power of characters like Mace Windu and that continues to cheapen the overall power of the Jedi.

What the season does have going for it are generally interesting storylines and increasingly better animation. So while the show might be largely inconsequential, even to fans, it is not unenjoyable to watch. The animation is less blockish or pixellated in many places and there are no places where the season feels cartoonish, except with the "messages" at the top of each episode that seem like they are appealing to a lowest common denominator of people who might not understand the moral of each episode unless it is made explicit.

The second season of The Clone Wars is made up of a few multi-episode arcs that are broken up by bottle episodes. The main arcs for the season include bounty hunter Cad Bane getting a Jedi Holocron for Darth Sideous so the Sith Lord can find Younglings to experiment upon, a mission to Geonosis where the Jedi try to stop Poggle The Lesser from continuing to build his massive droid army for the Separatists and Duchess Satine of Mandalore struggling to keep Mandalore in the Republic while Separatists undermine the legitimate government there. Late in the season, the Republic sets off a massive bomb which awakens the huge Zillo Beast, which becomes a pawn in Darth Sideous's plans. And Boba Fett returns with the help of other bounty hunters to try to take down Mace Windu for killing his father.

The bottle episodes are far less interesting and involve Ahsoka searching for her lightsaber, a pacifist Clone Trooper, a cloaked fighter, and the Jedi defending a village from, essentially, a motorcycle gang. There is also a creepy, but derivative, episode involving a Clone Trooper infected with brain worms.

All in all, The Clone Wars Season Two is entertaining, but does not flesh out the larger Star Wars Saga in any meaningful way.

For other works in the Star Wars franchise, please check out my reviews of:
Star Wars - Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Star Wars - Episode II: Attack Of The Clones
The Clone Wars 
Star Wars: The Clone Wars Volume 1
Star Wars: The Clone Wars Volume 2
Star Wars - Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith
Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope
Star Wars - Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
Star Wars - Episode VI: Return Of The Jedi

5.5/10

For other science fiction movies/television, please visit my index page!

© 2011 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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Men In Black Wins Serious Credit For Originality And Plays Well Even Now!

The Good: Funny, Decent special effects, Character arcs, Story is fun and well-developed, DVD bonus features.
The Bad: Somewhat predictable.
The Basics: Funny and smartly using a diverse cast, Men In Black helps to cement the science fiction comedy in the collective unconscious!


For me, it is always fun to return to origins. So, for example, the very first big assignment I ever had reviewing was for my college newspaper when I pulled the assignment for the summer movie preview issue. I spent the day watching three movies back to back - Con Air, Men In Black, and Batman And Robin - and then reviewed them for the summer issue of the paper. It was exciting for me, but the day dragged and it has taken me until now to rewatch any of those movies. Recently, I took in Men In Black with my wife, as she has it in her permanent collection. I think, perhaps, I was a little too harsh on it when I reviewed it the first time back in college.

Men In Black is a rare science fiction comedy. And while there are plenty of science fiction movies that are funny, oftentimes they are not deliberately funny, they are laughed at more than laughed with. In fact, outside Men In Black, arguably the most successful science fiction comedies are Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (reviewed here!) and Galaxy Quest. Men In Black, however, did not seek to appeal to the niche audience, instead trying to hit the summer blockbuster audience and it was part of Will Smith's ascent to a-lister. In fact, this was probably the movie that finally cemented him as part of Hollywood's a-list, though he was not quite there when the movie was released, as evidenced by the fact that he is billed below Tommy Lee Jones for the credits.

The Earth has been invaded by aliens, not the least of which is a crazed alien trying to leave his designated visitation spot on Earth. When his ship crashes, agents Kay and D are sent in to clean up the mess and make sure Immigration forgets the incident ever happened. They are, as they always are, successful, though the mission leaves Kay without a partner. The incident is the first in a series of events which send known extraterrestrials living on Earth scurrying for the stars. This has a lot to do with the crash landing of a Bug who has taken the body of a human, Edgar, and whose presence on Earth is in pursuit of a galaxy hidden from an intergalactic war.

It is into this situation that a New York City cop, James Edwards, stumbles. Recruited by Kay when one of his perps flees in a most fantastic way and is connected to getting alien weaponry, James is enlisted into the Men In Black, a covert government agency which is responsible for keeping the truth about aliens quiet on Earth. Renamed Jay, James helps Kay find out the truth about the bug and hunt down Edgar. But soon, a menace from outer space threatens to destroy the world if they do not stop Edgar and recover the hidden galaxy quicker!

Men In Black is, first and foremost, a fun film. The premise is smart and original and it is executed with a panache that is not common. Will Smith plays with his sense of comedic timing and is benefited by a script which plays to his ironic voice. In fact, one of Smith’s most memorable lines and deliveries has to be when – as James – he lands on a tour bus and informs the people there “It just be raining black people in New York.” The script is filled with clever one-liners like that and the original set-up with Immigration finding themselves in possession of a real alien is instantly disarming.

As well, Men In Black is just smart enough not to push the romantic subplot between Jay and the coroner, Laurel, into cliché territory. The result is a buddy comedy that is very close to perfection. In fact, I checked my notes from my viewing over a decade ago and I noted in the theater that some of the effects were shaky. However, watching the movie on DVD on my HDTV, the effects seemed just fine.

And Men In Black has character development, even if it is somewhat predictable. Kay is an aging officer who has the experience, but has been pining for the love he left behind in order to become an effective agent of the Men In Black. So, while Kay has the experience, Jay has the energy and the pairing seems to be headed in a very specific direction. The film works because it is enjoyable in getting there, but it is not surprising and in that regard is somewhat less original than the set-up (much like situational comedies that use the same plots, but a different setting than we’ve seen before).

Men In Black also rocks because its supporting cast is exceptional. Supported by actors like Linda Fiorentino, Carel Struycken, Vincent D’Onofrio, and Rip Torn, Men In Black is a comedic success because it uses so many different talents so very well. In fact, Tony Shalhoub is only in the movie briefly, but he has a very memorable role as a pawn merchant Jack Jeebs. Even the usual problematic acting sources shine in the film, in this case the use of a dog whose role is clever and funny.

But Men In Black hinges upon the performances of Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith. Together, Jones and Smith shine and they have great on-screen chemistry which makes them a wonderful comedic pair. Jones has the depth and dry delivery to make the extraordinary seem plausible and Smith has the reactions and emotional range to make the film seem like it is still in touch with reality enough to make the viewer buy the premise. The banter between Jones and Smith alone is worth the price of admission.

On DVD, Men In Black comes loaded with bonus features. In addition to a commentary track which is as funny as the film, there are deleted scenes and informative featurettes. Most of the featurettes focus on special effects – puppeteering and computer-generated effects – but they are informative as well as entertaining.

For a film as short as Men In Black is, it certainly leaves and impression and anyone looking for a fantastic buddy comedy with a science fiction twist is likely to enjoy this film.

For other science fiction comedies, please check out my reviews of of:
Land Of The Lost
Year One
Charlie And The Chocolate Factory

7.5/10

For other film reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Too Much Mysticism And More Of The Same Kills Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom.

The Good: Decent enough acting, Moments of character, Fun iconic moments
The Bad: Way too much mysticism compared to the former, Terrible supporting characters/performances
The Basics: In a lackluster sequel that goes in a completely different direction, Indiana Jones returns to go on a mystical journey to help recover magic rocks in India.


I've been challenging the old notion of "you can't go back" this week as I peruse the films in the Indiana Jones Trilogy. I recall as a child enjoying Raiders Of The Lost Ark" (click here for my review!) and finding a lot to enjoy in Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom. Having now rewatched the second installment - though chronologically it precedes Raiders Of The Lost Ark as far as the story it tells - of the Trilogy, I have to say that maybe I should have stuck with my youthful enjoyment of the film and left it at that.

Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom is not a terrible movie, but it is so thoroughly different from Raiders Of The Lost Ark that one wonders why Spielberg, Lucas and Ford were willing to collaborate and call it part of the same franchise.

Indiana Jones, having recovered an artifact for a Chinese gangster named Lao Che, finds himself fleeing Shanghai with his young sidekick Short Round and an annoying American lounge singer named Willie Scott. Alas, Indiana is betrayed once again when the pilots abandon the small aircraft and Jones, Round and Scott are forced to abandon the plane at their peril. After a rocky descent in a rubber raft, the trio finds themselves in India in a village where all the vegetation is dead and the children are missing, abducted by forces from a nearby spooky castle (no kidding).

Indiana, compelled by a sense of duty and intellectual curiosity, pledges the villagers to find the sacred stone that will restore the crops. With his sidekicks, he goes off to the castle to fight evil and superstitious nonsense with his sense of American intellectualism and his bullwhip. There he encounters a bloodthirsty cult led by Mola Ram, a high priest who is using the sacred stones of the Indian gods with the goal to take over the world.

Yes, it is just as hokey a plot as it might sound and therein lies the difficulty with accepting the Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom (perhaps from the same naming guide that brought the world Star Wars - Episode II: Attack of the Clones) as a part of the same franchise as the magnificent Raiders Of The Lost Ark. In Raiders, Indiana Jones is a man of science, an archaeologist and adventurer who uses reason, logic and a studious disposition to uncover clues and search for the truth or history.

In Temple Of Doom, Indiana Jones succumbs to a wad of mysticism whether or not he claims to believe in it. In the course of the film, such superstitious elements are entered into the Jones-universe as mind-controlling sacrificial blood, voodoo dolls, and the classic man with heart removed from his chest who continues to live until he is set on fire minutes later. Yeah, this is not the same guy who searched for the Ark of the Covenant for money and the principle of keeping the artifact from the Nazis. This is not the guy obsessed with artifacts for the purpose of filling museums and bettering humanity. This is Hero For The Sake Of Hero and one wonders what compelled Harrison Ford to participate in the debacle.

Outside Indiana's abrupt shift in character - the mysticism has an effect on him and the closing lines of the film are troubling in that regard - the supporting characters are far less likable than those of Raiders Of The Lost Ark. First, Willie Scott is no Marion Ravenwood. Scott is no doubt supposed to be completely different, but the problem with her character is that while Ravenwood complained about things and shrieked for "Indy!" when she needed help, she also grabbed a torch and kept the snakes at bay. Ravenwood drew a knife on Belloq; Scott does nothing so bold. Instead, she is a cinematic menace to feminism in any form, the archetypal damsel in distress and nag in one form. The only decent moment she has in the entire film is a brief scene wherein she and Indiana flirt. Sadly, this is not nearly enough to justify her place in the movie and she is a pathetic excuse for comic relief and an annoyance in virtually every frame of the film (if you haven't actually seen Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom, Willie Scott is the Jar Jar Binks of Indiana Jones).

Only slightly better than Scott is Short Round, an Asian Stereotype Child who makes quick quips throughout the movie up until the climactic moment when the boy tells Indy he loves him. It's so pathetic and formulaic that it could only have come from the pen of George Lucas.

Steven Spielberg and his henchmen (John Williams this means you!) are equally inept at creating something new in this movie. Spielberg makes scenes as unrelenting as possible without a real ratcheting up of emotion or menace. So, for example, at the castle, there is a banquet featuring dishes that gross Willie out. She's not into eating baby snakes or scarabs. We get that. She's grossed out. So, Spielberg throws in some eyeball soup. Willie is grossed out (we get it). So, Spielberg throws in chilled monkey brains. Willie is really grossed out (WE GET IT!). It's not any more funny with the second or third dish than it was with the first, especially considering the disgust Willie feels for . . . alternative cuisine is already made quite clear in a scene earlier in the film at the village.

The point is Spielberg tries the same hackneyed gags over and over. He tries to make menace by things moving fast (like the chase scene through the caves in the mining carts) and Williams comes along to telegraph the emotions musically, as if to keep saying "You need to be feeling more excited now!" The problem is, regardless of what the music is telling us, the film is hardly as exciting as it wants to be. Neither Lucas nor Spielberg is daring enough to add real jeopardy to the mix by offing one of the leads (if Short Round had been slain in Temple Of Doom it would explain his lack of presence in Raiders Of The Lost Ark) and the result is that the adventure never reaches the heights it could have.

This is, in part, because Spielberg surrenders to so many of the obvious cinematic conceits of adventure movies. Indiana is pursued by many warriors, none of whom may catch up to him. He is shot at by marksmen who are so inept they cannot possibly hit him even though they are supposedly otherwise quite formidable warriors. And of course, Mola Ram is as monolithically evil as his henchmen are stupid. This means, of course, that Ram will literally climb over his henchmen to save his own life and toss them to their deaths in the process.

The point in all of this is that Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom is a cinematic letdown and it's astonishing to see the film was made, much less got past the script stage. Sadly, the only reason to even watch the film now is the cinematic legacy it is a part of. Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom has iconic images that are heavily referenced in parodies and homages and as a result a true pop culture junkie must take in the film at least once. In order to appreciate such things as the heart getting ripped out, the twin coal car ride, and the chasm bridge being severed by the hero one has to endure Temple of Doom at least once to truly get certain allusions in The Simpsons, Family Guy, and the works of Kevin Smith (just to name a few) . . .

. . . but you're not compelled to enjoy it. And between Willie's whining and Williams' telegraphing score, it's not likely you will.

For other adventure films, please check out my reviews of:
The Fellowship Of The Ring
Sherlock Holmes
The Mists Of Avalon

4.5/10

For other film reviews, please check out my index page by clicking here!

© 2010, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.


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