I love the way Lucas seems to really enjoy his own set pieces this time out. The droid factory on Geonosis, added late in production, is a perfect example. Like some lunatic live-action version of the pot-pie machine from CHICKEN RUN, this sequence seems designed just to let Lucas play with environment. There’s a dozen different things going on, and he has fun with all of them. In the battle arena itself, each of the different creatures is a distinct type of beast, and Padme, Obi-Wan, and Anakin all come up with different approaches to their problems. The cross-cutting is fun here. Everything’s worth paying attention to, so you don’t have sequences where you’re just waiting to get back to the Darth Maul fight, where the cross-cutting draws you out of some key bit of momentum. Instead, Lucas gives you too much to look at. You end up feeling overloaded on first viewing. You hardly know where to look at any given moment. I can’t wait to see what sort of easter-eggs sharp-eyed viewers start picking out of the film as it plays out its run. I know I’ll be seeing it many times, trying to soak it all in.
I haven’t talked about how incredibly poised Samuel L. Jackson is as Windu. I haven’t talked about the incredible seismic charges in the asteroid sequence and that sound they make. I haven’t talked about the always outstanding work of Ian McDiarmid, once again talking out of both sides of his mouth, lying with the greatest sincerity possible. I didn’t get to mention how great Watto is in his one scene, how heartbreakingly scuzzy he’s become. I didn’t bring up Dexter Jettster and the delightful animation of his character, right down to the hitching up the pants before tucking his gut into a booth across from Obi-Wan. I didn’t even hint at how cool the Kaminoans are as they seem to glide in slow-motion through ever scene, or how intense the battle is on the landing platform between Obi-Wan and Jango.
But that’s the great thing, isn’t it? I’m this far into the review, and I’m hard-pressed to talk about what I didn’t like. I could talk about how weak some of the dialogue is, or how I think Natalie Portman gives a boring and, at times, wholly unbelievable performance. I could, but all this great stuff keeps crowding it out, and I feel like the Grinch, like my little black heart is just so full of rediscovered STAR WARS love that it’s growing, swelling, and I’m practically evangelical. I want to see this film over and over opening weekend with all of my friends. My birthday is the 26th, and it looks like we’re going to try to see WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT? at the El Capitan to celebrate, but otherwise, it looks like I’ve got a new habit to support, a junkie itch I thought I’d licked years ago. STAR WARS is back in all its glory, and all true fans are going to feel the warm thrill of an almost existential sigh of relief when they crowd theaters for that opening weekend rush. I’ll be there, and I can’t wait to share the feeling with all of you.
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