Clone Wars Early Review!
Saturday, August 9th, 2008At an undisclosed location somewhere in America, sometime this past week, I gained access to a Clone Wars early screening. Making my way past security checks and guards armed with night vision goggles (seriously), I took my seat. My expectations of Clone Wars were realistic: Since this movie takes place between Episodes II and III, I knew there wouldn’t be any big revelations, any major character developments, or any major deaths. This is the beginning of a 100-episode television series, after all. To that end, it’s an excellent introduction, jam-packed with wall-to-wall action. But compared to the live action films, The Clone Wars feels slight.
When the lights went down, there was something distinctly different about this installment of Star Wars. For one, no 20th Century Fox logo. Instead, it’s replaced by the Warner Bros. logo, which after Dark Knight, should probably just be changed to a giant dollar sign. Also, there’s no opening crawl. Instead, we’re treated to a newsreel-style announcer and footage, setting up the story. It sets itself apart from the live action films and establishes a lighter tone necessary for an animated feature.
After a brief mention of all the main players, the movie hits the ground running, and doesn’t really stop until it’s over. We immediately dive into a battle in-progress, led by Obi-Wan and Anakin. There are battles constantly being fought, and the majority of the running time is overloaded with action. Anyone who complained about the endless political debates in the prequels will be happy to know all diplomacy has been blasted to bits in favor of non-stop explosions and clone army battle tactics.
During all this fighting, there are two important subplots that intersect. The first involves Anakin accidentally gaining an apprentice, and the second involves the Jedi helping save Jabba the Hut’s kidnapped son to gain his favor and use his trade routes for the war. Most of the Anakin/Obi-Wan banter is shifted to Anakin and “Snips,” his new apprentice. We’re only given a handful of scenes with Obi-Wan and Anakin together, but I think giving Anakin a padawan will create an interesting dynamic for him as the series goes on. We already know Obi-Wan and Anakin’s relationship, so it’s kind of fun to see Anakin trying to tell someone else to be patient.
The Jabba storyline is also an excuse to bring in the Sith. Dooku shows up with his new apprentice, Asajj Ventress, a badass female Sith with a proclivity for choking and, judging by her lightsaber, an admiration for Darth Maul. The Sith are involved with the kidnapping in some capacity, but I’ll leave that to you to see how it all fits together. Also, the reveal of Jabba’s son is unexpected and made me laugh.
The first half is very much a war movie. As we’ve heard all along, a great deal of time is spent with the clone troopers, particularly Captain Rex. There are some really great battles, particularly the uphill climb. It’s a really fun scene. This is where I noticed another Star Wars first: During some moments, the John Williams score was tossed aside in favor of a rock score. It’s jarring at first, because Star Wars has always been about classic themes and music, but I actually, kinda dug it. It energizes certain scenes and, again, separates it from the live action films. Something that hasn’t changed is the droid humor. In fact, it’s played up even more in Clone Wars, so if you hated it before, this movie will only deepen your disgust. It’s a strange balance, because it makes them less threatening, yet we see a high number of clone troopers killed by droids. It’s hard to be both funny and deadly, but the movie seems to want it both ways.
The second half plays more like a Star Wars movie. All the familiar characters are in place (The Cantina Band’s sax player really shines), there are showdowns between good and evil, and, of course, the Wilhelm scream is employed. This is where the story gains footing, and we get to see Dooku, Skywalker, and Kenobi do what they do best.
Clone Wars is highly entertaining and retains the spirit of Star Wars, but doesn’t carry the weight of the live action movies. There’s just not that much at stake. Since we know the outcome of the major characters, there’s little wiggle room for surprises. That said, the CG is beautiful, the voice acting is spot on, and there are a ton of cool moments to discover. As a movie, it might be missing some depth, but The Clone Wars is a great intro to the TV show, and if the quality is this good week-to-week, I’ll never miss an episode.
