|
 Movie A |
Video A+ | Audio A+
| Extras A+ | Recommended!
Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Hayden
Christensen, Christopher Lee, Samuel L. Jackson, Frank Oz, Ian
McDiarmid, Pernilla August, Temuera Morrison, and Ahmed Best |
see the complete cast
& crew
director George Lucas | Lucasfilm & 20th Century Fox
2002 | Science Fiction - Action - Adventure | PG | 142 minutes
Region 1 | DVD-9
|
anamorphic
widescreen 2.35:1 aspect ratio
THX-certified | Dolby Digital
EX 5.1
Summary: Of all the five Star Wars
films released to date, Episode II, Attack of the Clones is to me
the
most satisfying, the most intriguing, the most romantic, and the most visually
lush with awesome visual special effects! There is much more that I
like about this particular episode, but mentioning them would take away
from your experience. So I won't. But I will say that Episode
II is a sequel where you would need to have watched Episode I, The Phantom
Menace. But that's OK, since Star Wars is after all a
saga. I won't give away the details of the plot. All I will say
is that after the Star Wars trademark flyby introductory text, the camera
pans up and it's not an Imperial spaceship. (The other four films
have the camera pan down to Imperial ships.) Oooohh...
All right, I'll set up the scenario. Episode
II picks up ten years after we've seen Anakin Skywalker (Hayden
Christensen) join the Jedi ranks as
a Padawan to Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) at the end of Episode I. Padmé
Amidala (Natalie Portman) finished serving her maximum two terms as Queen of Naboo, and is
now a senator for the Galactic Senate. The ten years have not been
kind to the Galactic Republic, as increasing corruption has steadily added
to the decay of the political environment. That's all I will give
away.
The picture quality of this direct digital video
transfer is stunning. Remember, Episode II was shot entirely in the
digital video format. The surround sound is equally stunning, in Dolby
Digital EX 5.1. Readers with good home theater systems are in
for a visual and auditory treat.
Special Features: There's a lot here to
satisfy most Star Wars fans. And the animated menus are totally
awesome!
Disc 1: audio commentary with George Lucas,
Rick McCallum, Ben Burtt, Rob Coleman, Pablo Helman, John Knoll, and Ben
Snow; THX Optimizer
Disc 2: two documentaries ("From Puppets to Pixels:
Digital Characters in Episode II" and "State of the Art: The
Pre-visualization of Episode II"); eight deleted scenes
with optional introductions ("Padmé Addresses the Senate",
"Jedi Temple Analysis Room", "Obi-Wan & Mace - Jedi
Landing Platform", "Extended Arrival on Naboo", "Padmé's
Parents' House", "Padmé's Bedroom", "Dooku
Interrogates Padmé", "Anakin and Padmé on Trial"); three featurettes
("Story", "Love", and "Action");
12 web documentaries ("Here We Go Again: The Digital Cinema
Revolution Begins", "Wedgie 'Em Out: Designing the Jedi
Starfighter", "We Didn't Go To The Desert To Get A Suntan:
Location Shooting Around the World", "Trying To Do My Thing:
Hayden Christensen is Anakin Skywalker", "A Twinkle Beyond
Pluto: Extras Fill Out The Star Wars Trilogy", "It's All Magic:
Visual Effects Wizardry Starts on the Set", "Revvin' It To The
Next Level: Sounds From A Galaxy Far, Far Away", "A Jigsaw
Puzzle: Building Model Communities", "Bucket Head: Introducing
The Fett Family", "Good To G.O.: The Jedi Knights In
Action", "P-19: The Wardrobe of Padmé Amidala", and
"Reel 6: Creating The Action in the Geonosis Arena"); Dex's
kitchen ("Films Are Not Released; They Escape: Creating A Universe of
Sounds for Episode II", "Episode II Visual Effects Breakdown
Montage", and "R2-D2: Beneath the Dome"); still
galleries (exclusive production photos, one-sheet posters; international
outdoor campaign); theatrical trailers/teasers (4) and TV spots (12);
"Across the Stars" music video with John Williams conducting;
and starwars.com
DVD released on 11/12/2002 | Reviewed 10/25/2002
List $29.98 | online $17.99 | order the widescreen version from Amazon.com, Buy.com
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Additional Notes: Unless we specify otherwise, the
video and audio quality are very good when their grades are "A-"
or better. Only the highest number of channels of surround sound
format is listed (e.g., Dolby Digital 5.1). If there are both Dolby
Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 soundtracks, then both are listed. All
DVD-Video discs are backwards compatible with stereo-only playback
systems.
Let us know what you think about this DVD review, write to us at
Editor@TimeForDVD.com.
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Associated equipment used in evaluation: Sony
DVP-S7700 reference DVD player, Sony
KP-61V45 61" rear projection TV (4:3 screen aspect ratio), Sony ES STR-V444ES A/V receiver, four
B&W CDM 9NTs as left/right main speakers
and left/right surrounds, B&W CDM CNT center channel speaker, Monster Cable M-series S-Video cable MSV-500, Monster
Cable Interlink LightSpeed 100 (Toslink) optical cable, Monster Cable
Interlink 400 MKII interconnects, Monster Cable
Original speaker cables in bi-wire configuration with Monster Cable twist-on gold-plated banana plug
connectors, Lovan Sovereign T HiFi audio
rack, and Sony MDR-V600 studio monitor headphones. Our home theater equipment was calibrated
with the Video
Essentials DVD.
Be sure to check out our Top 10 DVDs of the year
2001 and our list of this year's Oscar winners on DVD.
|
United We Stand
