Note to all, movement has begun o'er at Vagabender dot com. Join the mailing list if you want to be informed when the next steps come to fruition.

...

In other news, I watched the 2nd neo-Star Wars movie with my sister tonight. I think I'm content to wait for Episode 3 on video. The truth is, in spite of the mythical status of the franchise -- and that's the word for Lucas's little empire: franchise -- "Attack of the Clones" simply wasn't a very well made film. The script had very little rhythm. None of the characters were really engaging or well-explicated; the acting was uniformly weak, even from quality talents like Ewan, Natelie and Samuel; and the special effects were cartoonish and mostly distracting (the 45-seconds of Yoda wielding a light saber being the notable exception).

A few bright moments were the inclusion of the Fett story, which was carried off nicely, and the intentional irony of seeing Yoda lead stormtroopers into battle. The grand "political" storyline clicked once or twice, but without quality acting and a consistant script it's hard to sell anything that depends on actors communicating information to the audience. The film was mildly entertaining, but nothing more.

I have little recourse but to conclude that George Lucas is not a good film-maker. His original films succeeded because of an engagingly epic story which managed and artful balance of character, action, and galaxy-spanning plotline. They were executed by actors who brought life to their roles and backed by revolutionary special effects which even today seem highly realistic. The current run, by contrast, feels like a B-grade videogame -- complete with clunky dialogue, poor narrative rhythm and off-target acting, all glossed over with an over abundance of flashy 3D graphics which are supposed to make up for the lack of substance.

Of course, Lucas will still make out fine. Production costs have already been recouped through product placement and merch deals, so ticked sales and three rounds of DVD release are all gravy. Keep on humping that dream, George. Maybe your next act should be another TV special.