It might not all be exaggerated.

But they DO have a habit of putting a RANDOM emphasis on words.

This makes it SOUND more dramatic than it really is.

They are also fond of one-sentance paragraphs.

The Sun also typically "FORGETS" to name sources.

They also like to FRIGHTEN us about PEADOPHILES.

But have PICTURES of topless girls who only just turned legal at the SAME time.

And it is HATED in LIVERPOOL.

But that's a DIFFERENT topic.

edited 7th Mar '12 1:02:51 AM by TheBatPencil

OKAY THEN

edited 7th Mar '12 1:05:17 AM by JRPictures

I actually thought Jake Lloyd did his job rather well in the film. He was meant to be this really sweat kid who loved his Mom and was eager to please and yet also wanted to rush off and have adventures which would form a tragic juxtaposition with his future of being the galaxy's greatest monster.

The schmaltzy dialogue and the inappropriateness of this sort of character in the story and the setting? Well, that's not his fault.

Considering veteran actors like Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor had a hard time being charismatic on camera, Lloyd did alright. In documentary features they showed some other auditions and the reason he was cast was because he played the role in a straightforward manner. He read the "Are you an Angel?" line as being sincere, while (believe it or not) the other kids played it up as trying to be cute. The novelization even supports the idea that Anakin had an intense stare that belied how old he was.

The kids obviously had no idea what they were auditioning for. . . I wonder whether they're kicking themselves for tossing away their big chance to be in a Star Wars film, or if they're glad Lloyd had to bite the bullet instead of them.

edited 7th Mar '12 10:46:37 AM by Journeyman

I'd say he was far worse in Jingle All the Way. And for all the natural, but still wooden deliveries he made, the one pivotal scene where it Anakin needed to sound sad, he pulled off greatly.

In fact the whole scene where Anakin and his mother separate was just so well done, it's nearly heartwrenching that all those political scenes have to follow it.

I think that TPM suffered from bad direction in this regard. You even see that the veterans like Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Liam Neeson and Samuel L. Jackson don't really know what to do other than awkwardly read out their lines as they come. You get the impression that no one's sat them down and discussed who their character is, how they act and think, etc. All they seem to have been told is "you're a Jedi, you're a Jedi, you're a Queen and you're Liam Neeson."

The order of the names and the descriptors at the end makes for a funny thought to me.

Natalie Portman as a jedi, Liam Neeson as a queen and Samuel L. Jackson as Liam Neeson.

Yeah, that's what I thought when I read it too. The movie would have been much more amusing that way.

Natalie Portman as a Jedi wouldn't have been a far stretch from her as the Queen, anyway . . . she'd resisted the Romance at first anyway, and she showed the makings of an action girl on Geonosis.

Liam Neeson playing a gay jedi. Hmm, Brokeback Mountain meets Star Wars and Lucas giving a big NOOOOOO. I can see that being awesome! There's already enough Quigon/Obi Wan slashfic to show a fanbase. . .

It's occurred to me that the Imperial March sounds a bit like "A Spoonful of Sugar".

O_O

Well, everyone knows Mary Poppins is descended from Palpatine.

Now I can't stop picturing Mary Poppins cackling evilly and turning children to The Dark Side.

Relevant.

Great. Now I won't be able to not hear that next time I listen to the Imperial March.

edited 13th Mar '12 11:48:00 AM by Liisiko

I'd watch it.

I don't care what anyone says, for all his cheesy lines I really liked Anakin's character in The Phantom Menace, and I wish his development was written better.

Attack of the Clones and nearly every EU writer I've ever seen do him wrote him as obviously evil, but even as a kid before I knew how much I loved the progression of storylines I was excited at the idea of Anakin twisted from good rather than falling full force into evil because of vanity.

That's the reason I like Revenge Of the Sith (well, one of them anyway), because there's more of that in there. It's not perfect, but it's something I felt for enough that it made me like Anakin's character again.

And to tie that in to the few posts immediately prior, I like how John Williams tied in the imperial march theme into Anakin's theme.

He didn't really fall for vanity, though. The Sand Raiders died in a fit of revenge for killing his mom. He fell at the last because he didn't want to see those close to him die. Of course, this being Star Wars, he's not going to follow his good intentions after his fall, he's going to submit to the kill/hurt everything attitude they all do.

^ Attack of the Clones gave the impression that even if loved ones were an issue, it was his vanity and pride that made him Obviously Evil. Again, one of the things I like about Revenge Of The Sith is that they reversed that - he's still vain, but instead of being his most defining trait his more sympathetic traits are made more prominent.

Agreed, AOTC Anakin reminds me of Superboy-Prime; it's like they got so lost in beating us over the head with the fact that he's going to be a bad guy someday, that they forgot he was supposed to be sympathetic beforehand. This, in turn, has a detrimental effect on Padme's character, with her coming across as an Extreme Doormat for staying with someone so Obviously Evil. ROTS saved Anakin by actually making him kind of Adorkable, but Padme still suffered; she was less of a doormat but also less of a badass. Then again, she was pregnant...

I've been thinking that Anakin's portrayal would have been greatly improved if they depicted him as someone who lost his childhood, an adult worldview without the emotional maturity to handle it. The Phantom Menace showed a few signs of that, such as the seperation from his mom and his interrogation by the Jedi Council, but it is offset by the "Yippee's" and "Now this is podracing!" lines. In Attack of the Clones he behaved more like a kid with a stern parent than someone who has real emotional scars, if he was more friendly with Obi-Wan rather than the love/hate relationship shown he wouldn't come across as a teenage rebel. And that's why his Revenge of the Sith portrayal manages to work out alright because it emphasizes his emotional growth while being unable to let things go.

You know, AOTC is my least-favorite movie in the Saga, and I think it's most people's. I will, nevertheless, say this for it: the revelation that Dooku, leader of the Separatists, and Darth Tyranus, commissioner of the Grand Army of the Republic, are the same guy, and thus Darth Sidious is Running Both Sides, is an extremely good Twist Ending. Unfortunately, back when I first saw it, I didn't get this. In fact, I didn't even realize it was supposed to be a twist. Why? Because, you see, I collected the action figures back then, and the Dooku and Tyranus figures blatantly depict the same person. Do we have a trope for when the merchandise gives away the ending?

It supposed to be a twist? Between the dialogue of Obi-Wan and Tyranus (I refuse to use the other name) and half the stuff on Kamino, I thought it was quite obvious, not to mention Christopher Lee is kinda typecasted anyway.

The two good parts in AOTC was the one Kubrick Stare after Shmi dies, oh and of course the Arena Battle