Star Wars: The Clone Wars Movie.
August 17th 2008 22:34
Category: Movies
Director: Dave Filoni.
Written by: Henry Gilroy, Steve Matching & Scott Murphy.
Producer: Cath Winder.
Starring: Samuel L Jackson (Mace Windu), Christopher Lee (Count Dooku), James Arnold Taylor (Obi Wan Kenobi), Matt Lanter (Anakin Skywalker), Ashley Eckstein (Ahsoka), Anthony Daniels (C3PO), Ian Abercombie (Chancellor Palpatine/Darth Sidious), Catherin Taber (Padme Amidala), Corey Burton (Ziro the Hutt/General Loathsom) Nika Futterman (Asajj Ventress) & Tom Kane (Yoda).
Produced by: Lucasfilm Ltd.
Distributed by: Warner Brothers.
Running Time: 100 minutes Rating: PG.
Following on from the animated series that was produced during the two Star Wars live action movies, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith and was initially shown on MTV both in Australia and America Lucasfilm Ltd has taken this particular aspect of the Star Wars universe into the next level, a full length animated movie. After going through such levels of travail that would make the Jedi trials and Sith ordeals look like a Sunday pancake jamboree I eventually managed to make into the Stygian gloom of the local cinema to let this fully animated drama set in familiar universe unfold over me. To those of you out there who have ever had the opportunity to play either version of the Knights of the Old Republic computer games, on any of the platforms its on, the animation in this film is of a similar style to this, though a lot more polished than the games.
Unlike the original animate series some of the actors involved in the live action films get a chance to reprise their roles in this particular feature, thus Samuel “This party is Over” L Jackson returns to his role as Mace Windu and the incomparable Christopher Lee dons the mantle of Count Dooku, giving the villainous Separatist leader that extra air of dignity and gravitas. As the title hints the galaxy is locked in the throes of war, the Confederation of Independent Systems has managed to gage the upper hand on the Galactic Republic, seizing control of the Outer Rim Territories and taking control over the various hyperspace routes that lead to this region. In one swift blow they have thus managed to cut off the forces of the Republic fighting in the Outer Rim, cutting them off from any hope of resupply and relief. Thus things look bleak, on top of that order in those regions controlled by the Republic is starting to come unravelled as more and more Jedi move away from their role as keepers of the peace and instead become generals in what appears to be an unending conflict.
Can things get any worse? It seems that they can, Jabba the Hutt, one of the major Hutt crime lords and controller of a significant territory located on the Outer Rim has had his young son kidnapped by renegades. He sends an appeal to the Supreme Chancellor asking that the Republic do something to return his young son to him, in order to sweeten the deal he dangles the lure of hyperspace routes through his territory that will allow the Republic to link up with its beleaguered forces on the Outer Rim. Even though it’s a tempting offer there are misgivings amongst the Jedi, Masters Yoda and Mace Windu know that Jabba is villain through and through yet if they do not do anything to aid the Hutt they will lose the chance to aid their own members leading the legions of the Republic as well as abandoning the countless soldiers fighting against the Separatists.
It’s the classic case of being between a rock and a hard place, the Jedi have no desire to be in this situation yet it seems as there is no real choice. Obi Wan Kenobi is chosen to negotiate with Jabba in regards to the hyperspace routes whilst his former Padawan, now fellow Jedi Knight, Anakin Skywalker is to command the rescue of Jabba’s young son. At the moment though the two Jedi are involved in a conflict on the world of Christophsis against the forces of the Retail Clan and where things have taken a turn for the worst, a blockade has prevented the Republic fleet from rendezvousing with forces under the command of the two Jedi currently engaged in street fighting on the planets capital city. Communications are unreliable at best so when the fleet admiral in charge of the forces backing up Generals Kenobi and Skywalker receives the new orders from Jedi temple on Coruscant he says that the best he can do is send someone down their to relay the command in person.
Enter Ahsoka; a youngling from the Jedi temple who has recently become a padawan learner, when she lands on the planet to pass on the orders from the temple Obi Wan mistakenly believes that she is to be his new padawan. She instead informs him that she is to be assigned to Anakin Skywalker as his padawan learner. This is news to Anakin and it’s not one that he is all that enthused about, still he somehow finds it within himself to take this particular young learner under his wing and teach her. In fact this particular inclusion of a young padawan learner assigned to one of the series iconic characters adds an interesting dimension to the film’s story as well as the character of Anakin Skywalker. Despite being less than thrilled about Ahsoka, or Snips as he calls her, the two eventually form a bond one that despite his open façade seems to reach deep into Anakin’s character.
This bonding between padawan and teacher is one of the two major foci of the story that unfolds within this feature, the other being the rescue of Jabba’s offspring who has been hidden away by mysterious kidnappers on a remote monastery in the Teth system deep in the Wild Region. Republic clone commandos managed to discover the location of the monaster as the kidnapper’s hideout as well as the fact that Jabba himself had sent a cadre of bounty hunters to try and rescue his son. It seems that there is more going on with this particular aspect of the story that is being let on by the various players involved, still with the shroud of the Dark Side and the machinations of the Sith being the main instigators behind much of what is going on this is only to be expected.
The Clone Wars movie is a worthy addition to the corpus of Star Wars films and one well worth going to your local cinema and checking out if you’ve got time on your hands, and its family friendly.
Written by: Henry Gilroy, Steve Matching & Scott Murphy.
Producer: Cath Winder.
Starring: Samuel L Jackson (Mace Windu), Christopher Lee (Count Dooku), James Arnold Taylor (Obi Wan Kenobi), Matt Lanter (Anakin Skywalker), Ashley Eckstein (Ahsoka), Anthony Daniels (C3PO), Ian Abercombie (Chancellor Palpatine/Darth Sidious), Catherin Taber (Padme Amidala), Corey Burton (Ziro the Hutt/General Loathsom) Nika Futterman (Asajj Ventress) & Tom Kane (Yoda).
Produced by: Lucasfilm Ltd.
Distributed by: Warner Brothers.
Running Time: 100 minutes Rating: PG.
Following on from the animated series that was produced during the two Star Wars live action movies, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith and was initially shown on MTV both in Australia and America Lucasfilm Ltd has taken this particular aspect of the Star Wars universe into the next level, a full length animated movie. After going through such levels of travail that would make the Jedi trials and Sith ordeals look like a Sunday pancake jamboree I eventually managed to make into the Stygian gloom of the local cinema to let this fully animated drama set in familiar universe unfold over me. To those of you out there who have ever had the opportunity to play either version of the Knights of the Old Republic computer games, on any of the platforms its on, the animation in this film is of a similar style to this, though a lot more polished than the games.
Unlike the original animate series some of the actors involved in the live action films get a chance to reprise their roles in this particular feature, thus Samuel “This party is Over” L Jackson returns to his role as Mace Windu and the incomparable Christopher Lee dons the mantle of Count Dooku, giving the villainous Separatist leader that extra air of dignity and gravitas. As the title hints the galaxy is locked in the throes of war, the Confederation of Independent Systems has managed to gage the upper hand on the Galactic Republic, seizing control of the Outer Rim Territories and taking control over the various hyperspace routes that lead to this region. In one swift blow they have thus managed to cut off the forces of the Republic fighting in the Outer Rim, cutting them off from any hope of resupply and relief. Thus things look bleak, on top of that order in those regions controlled by the Republic is starting to come unravelled as more and more Jedi move away from their role as keepers of the peace and instead become generals in what appears to be an unending conflict.
It’s the classic case of being between a rock and a hard place, the Jedi have no desire to be in this situation yet it seems as there is no real choice. Obi Wan Kenobi is chosen to negotiate with Jabba in regards to the hyperspace routes whilst his former Padawan, now fellow Jedi Knight, Anakin Skywalker is to command the rescue of Jabba’s young son. At the moment though the two Jedi are involved in a conflict on the world of Christophsis against the forces of the Retail Clan and where things have taken a turn for the worst, a blockade has prevented the Republic fleet from rendezvousing with forces under the command of the two Jedi currently engaged in street fighting on the planets capital city. Communications are unreliable at best so when the fleet admiral in charge of the forces backing up Generals Kenobi and Skywalker receives the new orders from Jedi temple on Coruscant he says that the best he can do is send someone down their to relay the command in person.
Enter Ahsoka; a youngling from the Jedi temple who has recently become a padawan learner, when she lands on the planet to pass on the orders from the temple Obi Wan mistakenly believes that she is to be his new padawan. She instead informs him that she is to be assigned to Anakin Skywalker as his padawan learner. This is news to Anakin and it’s not one that he is all that enthused about, still he somehow finds it within himself to take this particular young learner under his wing and teach her. In fact this particular inclusion of a young padawan learner assigned to one of the series iconic characters adds an interesting dimension to the film’s story as well as the character of Anakin Skywalker. Despite being less than thrilled about Ahsoka, or Snips as he calls her, the two eventually form a bond one that despite his open façade seems to reach deep into Anakin’s character.
This bonding between padawan and teacher is one of the two major foci of the story that unfolds within this feature, the other being the rescue of Jabba’s offspring who has been hidden away by mysterious kidnappers on a remote monastery in the Teth system deep in the Wild Region. Republic clone commandos managed to discover the location of the monaster as the kidnapper’s hideout as well as the fact that Jabba himself had sent a cadre of bounty hunters to try and rescue his son. It seems that there is more going on with this particular aspect of the story that is being let on by the various players involved, still with the shroud of the Dark Side and the machinations of the Sith being the main instigators behind much of what is going on this is only to be expected.
The Clone Wars movie is a worthy addition to the corpus of Star Wars films and one well worth going to your local cinema and checking out if you’ve got time on your hands, and its family friendly.
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