Poll: So the romance in Star Wars Attack of the Clones. Yay or nay?

[The Enquirer]

I was talking with my girlfriend today and I was shocked to find out she thought that the romance there was the best part of the movie and just about the series. I really didn't see that coming. I can't stand it. It was inconsistent with who Anakin was supposed to be at the time, even in the movie it was constant inconsistency in his character. It felt overdone. Cheesy. Nothing in there was original, it was just about all cliche. The parts where there could have been a chance to show how close the two had become weren't there. Like when Anakin's mom died Pademe just sort of left him sobbing in the basement and came down briefly. Then there was the obvious bad scripting and acting across the board

Her reasoning for the most part with inconsistency was that Anakin was emotionally unstable. And most of my other reasons didn't matter because it was this forbidden secret love.

Part of me just really wanted to vent and get this out of my system. BUT my question is, did anyone actually find this to be a good romance. And are you a guy or a girl (as I think that has some influence on it).

 

[Tom_green_day]

I didn't mind it.
I didn't mind those films though.

 

[FalloutJack]

Kind of neutral on the whole thing, really. These things have to be established, I guess. Can I just vote Bacon?

 

[Ryleh]

Nope. And this is coming from a girl.

 

[WenisPagon]

Hell no. It's stilted and awkward with all the emotion of a Chinese sweatshop. I like good romantic arcs, this was most decidedly not one of them.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

The reason the romantic scenes in Empire and Jedi worked was because Lucas wasn't involved with directing/writing the scripts. The reason they FAIL horribly in the prequels is GEORGE LUCAS CAN'T DIRECT/WRITE. He's a good lore builder, good concept-guy, bad implementation.

 

[Orthodox_Reality]

Clearly a beautiful love story... I mean, who can forget such gems as: "When I'm around you, my mind is no longer my own." or any other number of gems. My question is, how in the living hell did the Jedi not figure out that Anakin was trouble from the beginning? Especially since he spends the entire film acting like a petulant 5 year old.

 

[Elfgore]

Nay

If I'm marathoning the Star Wars saga that movie is the biggest chore to plow through. They could remove the entire Naboo part and nothing would be lost. It's just awkward and rushed. Like almost every anime romance.

 

[Winterbird]

Most people have probably seen this already, but I feel it's appropriate:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz1L63TdhC8
Just a great analysis of why the romance (of which there is barely any) doesn't work.

I also personally thought that Anakin was just unlikeable.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

It's a film romance that is so bad and tedious that it manages to sap the energy away from the good main plot involving obi-wan. The stuff with Jango Fett and the clone army is actually pretty interesting, and it's held up by a really strong performance by Ewan McGregor. But that Romance takes up so much of the film that any fleeting hopes of cool Obi-Wan stuff are quickly drowned out by cocktease senators and Sand People genocide.

 

[Raikas]

I thought it was total cheese, but the movie itself is total cheese, so it at least it fits its surroundings.

As an aside, most of the time when I've met people who liked bits of those movies that I thought were terrible, they've been people who first saw them at a really young age and are viewing them through the nostalgia filter.

 

[Thaluikhain]

No. Nothing in those movies was any good. Literally nothing.

Oh, wait, was that the one were Yoda makes a joke about Obiwan misplacing a planet? Cause I sorta liked that bit.

 

[Something Amyss]

The reason the romantic scenes in Empire and Jedi worked was because Lucas wasn't involved with directing/writing the scripts. The reason they FAIL horribly in the prequels is GEORGE LUCAS CAN'T DIRECT/WRITE. He's a good lore builder, good concept-guy, bad implementation.

Lucas needs a handler. Most of his early stuff is good because even when he wrote it, he had people who would say no to him. By the end? He had his head so far up his ass he couldn't hear the critics.

It doesn't hurt that AotC's romance was also a cynical "we want to attract more girls" thing.

Shoehorning in a romance is bad enough, the context makes it worse, and the horribly awkward writing and performance just...*shakes head*

My question is, how in the living hell did the Jedi not figure out that Anakin was trouble from the beginning? Especially since he spends the entire film acting like a petulant 5 year old.

They did. Apparently, they just forgot about it sometime between eps 1 and 2.

I thought it was total cheese, but the movie itself is total cheese, so it at least it fits its surroundings.

Yeah, but it was fetid cheese. There were some fun parts in all three of the prequel movies. This was decidedly un-fun. It was the anti-fun.

I mean, I'm not praising them by any means, but none of the movies are completely without merit.

Oh, wait, was that the one were Yoda makes a joke about Obiwan misplacing a planet? Cause I sorta liked that bit.

In that movie, the joke was.

 

[Diddy_Mao]

The romance in those stories isn't the worst thing about them by itself but it is an example of the worst thing about those movies.

Namely the idea that character motivations and major plot points only exist to get the story where it needs to be rather than organically driving the narrative.

Padme and Anakin are in a romantic relationship because they need to be in order for Luke and Leia to be born. That's a thing that needs to happen. But rather than building a believable romance we're just told that they're in love despite the fact that there's nothing on screen to suggest that this is the case. At no point in the story do the characters actually seem to be in love, there's absolutely no chemistry or romantic tension.

Also the timing of it all is just godawful. It's been a while since I watched these flicks but I seem to recall that the first time Padme actually returns Anakin's affection is just after he finishes killing a whole bunch of sand people.

"Oh Anakin, I found you repulsive when you were just a mopey goon with a false sense of entitlement, but now that you've killed a whole tribe of indigenous peoples regardless of guilt...make me a woman!"

 

[mysecondlife]

Cheesy. Nothing in there was original, it was just about all cliche.

Maybe she likes it because this is the description of your relationship with her? *snicker*

But yeah... its pretty bad. Yuck.

 

[Lynx]

I might have liked it if Anakin hadn't been so utterly creepy throughout the entire movie. And juvenile, for that matter. Can't figure out how he got Padmé to like him.

/girl

 

[Psychobabble]

I was talking with my girlfriend today and I was shocked to find out she thought that the romance there was the best part of the movie and just about the series. I really didn't see that coming. I can't stand it. It was inconsistent with who Anakin was supposed to be at the time, even in the movie it was constant inconsistency in his character. It felt overdone. Cheesy. Nothing in there was original, it was just about all cliche. The parts where there could have been a chance to show how close the two had become weren't there. Like when Anakin's mom died Pademe just sort of left him sobbing in the basement and came down briefly. Then there was the obvious bad scripting and acting across the board

Her reasoning for the most part with inconsistency was that Anakin was emotionally unstable. And most of my other reasons didn't matter because it was this forbidden secret love.

Part of me just really wanted to vent and get this out of my system. BUT my question is, did anyone actually find this to be a good romance. And are you a guy or a girl (as I think that has some influence on it).

Gods no! The dialogue was clunky and stilted, the acting was wooden and forced. In fact the whole group of romantic scenes seemed to have been written by a backwards 12 year old virgin. The fact your girlfriend found them the best part of the film screams to me you should run away from her as fast as possible and die alone and afraid. ... Okay I'm just kidding on that last part. I imagine it was probably the part of the film that most jived with her interests and the rest of the show was pretty much just dull talky scenes and pew pew laser beams.

 

[StriderShinryu]

I didn't mind it in theory, and don't even really have all that much issue with how it would have appeared in the script. I feel it was really the acting and directing that killed it.

So, no I didn't enjoy the romance but not because it was a romance or because I didn't feel it fit within the movie.

 

[Signa]

My dad thought it was good romance too. I wanted to punch him.