[ EDITORS NOTE: This is a new column we'll be having here at TUCWS, Phil speaks his mind about the Clone Wars, and we hope you all enjoy it. :0) ]

ARE THE PREQUELS EMOTIONALLY EMPTY?
By Phil Tinajero

As Samwise Gamgee closed the door to his hobbit hole and the credits
slowly sweeped over the screen, I got up and went home.

As I travelled to my own hobbit hole I started thinking about how great a trilogy The Lord of the Rings was. From start to finish, it never let me down. Then I started thinking about how great the characters were. You could really root for those people.

My thoughts then turned to the Prequels, when I remembered Episode 3 was on it's way and was going to rule the earth.

But did I really care what happened to Padme or Mace Windu? Or even Anakin or Obi-Wan? I mean, that's what it all comes down to, right? Do you care what will happen to the characters.

I really don't like comparing LOTR to Star Wars, because in the end,
one of them will come up shorter than the other. I love LOTR and I love Star Wars. But this thought was somewhat pestering me. I had to face it; compared to LOTR, the Prequels lack emotional depth.

And no, no, no, it has nothing to do with CG. Of course the bluescreen may conquer the performances a bit, but the blue background shouldn't dominate a scene when a man is professing his love for a woman.

This whole problem of emotion in the Prequels starts with the writing.

Now I know Phantom Menace was supposed to be a family film, but hey, we're dealing with the legend of a tragic hero aren't we? Let's see something that shows us that. Lucas' script was good but it was too family-friendly. He was trying to bring back the fun we all had with SW, God love 'em.

But then again, he knew we were dealing with the story of Anakin
Skywalker, a man tortured by inner-demons, a man who loses those he loves due to his own hatred, and a man who eventually falls from grace.

Now I know, this stuff occurs much later on and Phantom Menace is the story of a child leaving one world to join another, but I still think some dark undertones would've done the body good. And Lucas could've brought on another writer to help out.

Anyway, the performances are a little stiff and bring attention to the
fact that you're only watching a movie. But character development still
isn't right. It all goes back to love and hate; good and evil. All these
traits must be planted in the character, and then we want to see what happens next.

None of this is present in the Prequels.

The Clone Wars did bring about some emotion and definitely some tension between the characters, and hopefully we see a lot more in Episode 3.

We see the outbreak of war bearing down on Anakin as he is torn between love and duty. In the past few days, he's dealt with the loss of his mother, his feelings for Padme, and the thought of war looming down upon him.

Even with all these motifs lightly expressed, we still could've had more depth with Anakin. They could've been stressed a bit more and then we would've cared for this guy. And maybe we would've understood why his life is going down.

Attack of the Clones was more of an emotional film than Phantom Menace. We see the seed of darkness be planted in a once innocent person, and we have the beginning of a tragic love story. The most dramatic moment for me was when Anakin and Padme were standing together, looking at the sunset over the lake. Directly before that scene we were shown shots of pure militaristic power. A "Triumph of the Will"-esque scene expressing the brutal strength and strange beauty of an armed war machine. And then we're suddenly thrown into something quite the opposite; the wedding of two young lovers.

And because of that epic scene we were just shown, we feel for them. We see that a vicious storm is coming and nothing can hold it back, but these two people will hold on and stick together, no matter what happens.

Yes, the Prequels may not be as emotional as LOTR, but I think it's
only because we don't look closer....I think one needs to really examine the themes of the Prequels and look past all the special effects and action sequences and really see this story of Love & War. And if we hold onto that, then the films can hold their own.

TUCWS would like to thank Mr. Tinajero for this editoral. Stay tuned for the next article "From the Mind of Phil..."

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