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CNN Live Today
"Star Wars" Fanatics Await New Movie Premiere
Aired May 10, 2002 - 14:42 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Fanatics have been waiting for it. "Star Wars" fans, get ready. Clones are coming. This film you see right here is going to be in theaters in about one week's time.
And compared to "Phantom Menace," the hype for episode two has been toned down somewhat. But the P.R. machine now in high gear. Take this week's edition of "Entertainment Weekly." The magazine is publishing two different covers for collectors. One of its critics has already seen the movie.
Owen Gleiberman is with us in New York. Owen, good afternoon. Good to have you back. Nice to see you.
OWEN GLEIBERMAN, "ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY": Good to be with you, Bill. ` HEMMER: You did not like this, did you?
GLEIBERMAN: No, and neither did my colleague, Lisa Schwartzbalm (ph), who reviewed it. Look, "Attack of the Clones" is not a good movie and I think it's the one that really shows definitively that George Lucas has spent too much time in his digital bunker. I think he's gotten lost in there.
Some of the effects in this movie are dazzling. He's got a couple of chase scenes that, if anything, are a little more integral to the plot than the chase scenes were in "Phantom Menace." And yes, there is less Jar-Jar.
But look, this movie shares the same essential flaws as "Phantom Menace" and extends them, which is that the story extends all over the place. It doesn't really hang together. I think Lucas has lost touch with the human material...
HEMMER: Really?
GLEIBERMAN: That's really what made people love "Star Wars" in the first place 25 years ago.
HEMMER: So you're saying that they've overdosed, essentially, on the special effects, is that right?
GLEIBERMAN: Well, I think that George Lucas as a director has really lost the ability to tell a story. He's telling the story here of the young Darth Vader, before he becomes Darth Vader, Anakin Skywalker. And of course,, that's the hook of the movie. You want to see how Hayden Christensen, playing this character, turns into Darth Vader, goes over to the dark side.
But instead, what we see is a kind of petulant teenager who, at moments, looks like he's sort of unhappy because he got shut out of the audition for a chorus line or something like that. But we don't see real evil in him. And I think that's because George Lucas hasn't really written the role that way.
HEMMER: It's a love story of sorts, right?
GLEIBERMAN: Yes, there's a kind of shallow teen romance between him and Natalie Portman. The best relationship in the film, the most interesting one, is the one between Anakin and Obi-Wan Kenobi. I really liked Ewan McGregor's performance.
He sort of does a mini version of what Robert de Niro did in "Godfather II," which is to say he's not just playing a younger version of his character. He's doing a younger version Alec Guinness' performance. And he studied that performance and he duplicates Guinness' wit and his lightness.
The relationship between him and his protege, Anakin, is kind of interesting because the younger Jedi is chaffing at the authority. He's a little bit punky. We see the beginnings of how he might go down to the dark side.
HEMMER: Let me take you away from the critics' review of this. I know your colleague didn't like it either. How did the people in the movie theater react when they saw it?
GLEIBERMAN: Well, I'm not going to sit there and judge the way the people around me felt about it. But I will say this: if you go back to the original "Star Wars," that movie redefined what the box office meant in America. The movie was really two things at once. It was a movie you went and enjoyed. And the fact that it was such a popular hit meant that it was something you shared with this vast number of people, I mean, seemingly everybody.
But now the tail is wagging the dog. The popularity of these movies is their only meaning. When you go to see "Attack of the Clones," you know you can talk about it with everybody. But what's on screen no longer justifies that. Because I do think that George Lucas has lost touch with what made this material vital.
HEMMER: Owen, quickly. I'm running out of time here. How do you think this will do at the box office?
GLEIBERMAN: Well, I think it will be the same kind of big hit that "Phantom Menace" was. There's enough stuff in it...
HEMMER: So it's going to make a lot of money, certainly.
GLEIBERMAN: Sure, sure. But the question is, is it a movie that people are really going to experience with the same joy and excitement that they did 25 years ago? I don't think so.
HEMMER: Fair comment. Fair comment. Owen Gleiberman, maybe we'll have you back once we hear more from the public. We'll see. Thank you, pal. We'll talk to you again. Have a good weekend.
GLEIBERMAN: Thanks, Bill.
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