The Sopranos "Woke up this morning...."

Rrrrrrrright this is another post which I have taken from my tennis blog and this is a fairly big un, which will cover one of the most critically acclaimed television shows in history, The Sopranos, which follows a crime family based in New Jersey.  So with that let's get out the gun and the baseball bat and give this mother a look..... (WARNING: BY THE WAY PLOT SPOILERS IN THE SERIES ARE TO BE FOUND AHEAD!!).  I will also try and add to this post as well over time as well just to expand it a bit more as I already have added a bit more to it.  Anyway....

Soooo to start with the premise of the show, which basically is about a mob boss, Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) who starts off as a capo in the DiMeo crime family.  Tony suffers from panic attacks, which see him pass out, which leads him to go into therapy, where he meets with Doctor Jennifer Melfi (Lorraine Bracco), an Italian American psychiatrist.  At first Tony has a difficult and confrontantial relationship with Melfi, but soon after he settles into the therapy, and he takes medication for his panic attacks and depression.  The main reasons behind his anxiety attacks being the pressues of his work, and also the aggravation of his homelife, particularly his mother, Livia (Nancy Marchand), who is cynical, difficult, and almost impossible to please.  As the series progresses Tony encounters difficulty from his Uncle Corrado "Junior" Soprano (Dominic Chianese) who is in charge of the crime family, but at the end of the first series, Junior is arrested by the FBI, and put under house arrest in the second series.

Tony's crew also include his nephew, Chris Moltisanti (Michael Imperioli), who is similar to Tony in being hotheaded and impulsive (or another way to put, a real asshole) but also highly ambitious as he wants to climb the mob ladder.  Other associates also include Paulie "Walnuts" Gaultieri (Tony Sirico), one of Tony's capos, who is quite eccentric, while also sociopathic (well they all are!) but also wisecracking, and Silvio Dante (Steven Van Zandt), Tony's consigliere (Italian for counselor), who is by far the most level headed out of his crew and provides valuable advice for Tony.

For the most part Tony's crew are loyal to him, but now and then there is dissension in the ranks, as Paulie at one point in the fourth series, while in jail, out of feeling left out and paranoid tries to side with one of the New York crime family high up figures, Johnny "Sac" Sacrimento, and discloses a joke about his wife, which was told to him by his nephew, which nearly starts a mob war.  Chris also while he remains loyal to Tony, also proves to be a bit of loose canon at times, going off the handle on several occassions, particularly during his heavy period of drug abuse, and also abusing his girlfriend, Adriana La Cerva (Drea De Matteo).  Tony has other crime subordinates that include Bobby Bacclieri (Steven R. Schirripa) who is a more sensitive and big hearted than the others in his crew, and Sal Bonpensiero (Vincent Pastore), who is later revealed to be an informant for the FBI, who pinched him for selling heroin, and later suffers the consequences of his actions at Tony's hands. 

As for Tony's family, he has a difficult and strained relationship with his wife Carmela (Edie Falco), and he also has several extra-martial affairs with other women, most of which end badly.  Tony also has two children, Meadow (Jamie-Lynn Sigler), who is very intelligent (and pretty hot) and is A-grade student at her high school, and then proceeds to go off to college, where she does very wel.  And then there is A.J. (Robert Iller), who is quite the opposite, an underachieving, ignorant youngster who frequently gets himself into trouble at school.  In fact A.J. for me has to rank as one of the most annoying and obnoxious little twats I've had the misfortune to watch on television, and he is someone who you would never tire of punching in the face.  Regardless of the stress of his home life, Tony is a very loving father and he tries his best to keep his family away from the unpleasant asepcts of his work, and encourages his children to do well in their education and in life.  He also has a rather distant and stressful relationship with his older sister, Janice (Aida Turturro) who is large as life, and is also rather manipulative like her mother, but she likes to think she is a free spirit, but is really just a nutter.  

Tony himself is undoubtedly a complex character, as he has so many different sides to his personality, as he is shown as a tough, ruthless businessman, and he also isn't afraid to get his hands dirty as he would gladly mete punishment himself, and does so fairly often throughout the series.  In fact Tony in certain episodes commits several murders himself, such as his cousin Tony Blundetto (Steve Buscemi), who he did as an act of appeasment for the New York crime family, but also he brutally murdered one of his unstable associates, Ralph Cifaretto (Joe Pantoliano) for killing a prize stallion horse.  But on the other hand Tony also shows in his therapy sessions that he is very vulnerable and that he is prone to anxiety attacks, and that this something that he keeps secret from his crime associates, as if they find out, it would be a sign of weakness, although later in the series, his therapy is revealed to his associates.  And yet despite Tony's tough guy image, he has also shown to be quite sensitive towards certain comments made about him, especially in the episode in Season 5 where Junior finally starts to really suffer from dementia and insults Tony for his weight by saying at school "he never had the makings of a varsity athlete".  He also was quite affected by the death of Ralph Cifaretto's horse, Pie o my (thereafter bludgeoning Ralph to death as he suspected him of destroying the horse in a fire) and in his therapy session with Dr Melfi, he suddenly breaks down in tears. 

Tony also can show signs of compassion and kindness, as he often buys things for his family and gifts for his friends and business associates, and he has a close friendship with one of his friends from school, Artie Bucco (John Ventimiglia), who is the chef of a local restaurant.  He also is shown to have an affection for animals, which is displayed in the very first episode of the series, where he is happy to see some ducks in his back yard, which he plays with, and also a prize stallion horse, which he is very fond of, but is ultimately killed in a fire by the aforementioned Ralph Cifaretto.  Even after some of his acts of violence, he is also shown to be remorseful, one example was when one of his less than bright staff Georgie, who works at his crew's local hang-out, Bada Bing, a strip club, enrages Tony, who proceeds to beat with a metal cash tray.  After the event, Tony laments and gives Paulie some money to give to Georgie and says to him that he sees that Georgie gets the best treatment for his wounds.

Tony can also be quite mean spirited and manipulative, one example of which is were, despite his warnings, he let's a gambler and childhood friend David Scattino (Robert Patrick) play at a high steaks card game, in which Scattino get's into heavy debt, and is unable to pay back Tony.  As a result Tony forces Scattino into handing over his sports and hunting store, in order to pay his debts, and as a result Scattino is left bankrupt.  Tony's constant infidelities as a husband to Carmela are also a strain, who does her best to turn a blind eye to it for the most part.  But that does change in the last episode of the fourth series, when Tony's cheating finally sends Carmela over the edge, after receiving a call from Irina, Tony's ex-mistress who tells her that Tony also slept with her sister, Svetlana as well, which leads to their separation.  And at this point you have to really say that Tony got his just deserts, his cheating went on so long unpunished that something sooner or later had to give. 

The show itself has been lauded for is writing and acting, which throughout the series is of the highest quality.  James Gandolfini's central performance as Tony is superb, and he drives the series along, playing Tony with compassion, malice, rage and humour.  James Gandolfini get's some of the best dialogue in the series as well, and one of his funniest lines is a threat he gives to the loose canon and made man, the wide-eyed Richie Aprile (David Proval) "don't give me those fuckin Manson lamps!".  There are plenty of other examples to be had as well, such as the scene in the fifth series where Tony confesses he had a panic attack earlier in his life and it takes alot out of him to remember about it and after he says "You know being in therapy, it feels like taking a shit!".  And Dr Melfi smiles and says "I like to think of it more like giving birth" and Tony says "Trust me, its like taking a shit!".  Another hilarious moment is in the episode "Funhouse" where Tony suffers a violent dose of food poisoning and he spends most of the night throwing up or having the skits.  And as Tony races to the loo and stars being sick we hear him yell "Its the fuckin chicken vindaloo!!  Those fuckin motherfuckin wogs!!!".  Or in another episode where Tony complains about recieving an incorrect Chinese food order after he asks the delivery boy if the order is right, Tony opens up the box and moans "Motherufckin chili beef!!" as he got the wrong one after all.  Tony also has other amusing moments where    

Gandfolfini also has some great dramatic moments of course in the series such as the last episode of the fourth series "Whitecaps" where Carmela confronts Tony over his infidelities.  And in the scene Tony blows up at Carmela and says regarding the girl he slept with "I could converse with her because she had something to say!".  And Carmela yells back that she has things to say and Tony roars back "Besides bringing down the fucking chairs and signing the fucking trust?!!  She was a grown woman who kicked around!  And she's been on her own and she's had to fight and struggle!".  And as Carmela yells at Tony about their lives he yells back "Well, you sit back for 20 fucking years all you did was fiddle with the air conditioning and fucking bitch and complain!  And fucking bitch, bitch, bitch to me!  To your priest!  FUCK IT!!!".  Also Tony's affair with Gloria Trillo (played by the lovely Annabella Sciorra) is played out superbly by both actors and their affair is quite intense, with Gloria's character being a manic depressive.  And later on sometime after their split, Tony learns that Gloria took her life, and she was also a patient of Dr Mefli's he becomes enraged at her for not telling Tony about her death (well it is privileged information after all!).   

Edie Falco is also great as Tony's long suffering wife, who is a good mother to her children, and aspires to be moral and upstanding, and is occassionally conflicted with her lifestyle, but she is also shown to be quite manipulative at times, and occassionally in the series she is seen flirting with some men that she fancies, such as Furio (Frederico Castelluccio), one of Tony's ruthless crime associates (although she might think twice about him if she saw some of the violent acts he commits!).  Carmela also during her separation from Tony,  for the first time in the series has a brief affair with a high school teacher (played by David Strathairn) and she clearly shows a degree of manipulation in getting from the teacher what she wants, while they have sex, she uses him in a way to get her son a higher grade for his poor essays.  But Carmela is later accused by the teacher of her manipulating him into changing the grade, after which she angrily breaks up with him.  Carmela also briefly warns the teacher to watch his step, but she does show some moral character by not saying anything about it to Tony, because obviously there would be horrendous repercussions on both sides. 

Michael Imperioli, despite the fact I do not like Chris Moltisanti at all as a character, as he is an obnxious nasty prick, also gives an excellent performance throughout as Tony's loyal but troubled associate, through his own brashness and violent impulsive behaviour, get him into a whole lot of trouble.  And despite the fact that Chrissie is mostly a despicable character you also admire the skill of Michael Imperioli's performance and portayal of such a bad guy.  Although in the later series, Chris does mellow a bit, as he is no longer as outright abrasive and rash as he was earlier on in the series, especially towards the end where he settles down and gets married and has a baby (his wife that is!).  However at this point Chris still dances with danger having an affair with a recovering (or not so recovering) heroin addict, Julianna Skiff (played by the saucy Julianna Marguiles) and re-establishing his heroin habit, albeit for a brief time. Chris also like Tony occassionally is shown to be quite sensitive about when he is made fun of, especially in the season 5 episode where Tony and his cousin Tony Blundetto make fun of Chris's nose and other things.  Chris tries to hold back his feelings in front of the men, and the next day he drives off home, and we see he is nearly in tears, deeply hurt by the comments the two Tony's made. 

Lorraine Bracco also deserves special mention as the Dr Melfi, Tony's psychiatrist, as she plays her with a level headed calmness, even in the face of Tony's anger, and he is frequently angry in his therapy sessions with her.  Dr Melfi often has many entertaining exchanges with Tony, who is most of the time is quite defensive when she is trying rationalise his fears and thoughts.  In fact one of my favourites is when Tony angrily says to Dr Melfi that he has been trying to control his anger, as he went out to a broken down slum area with his son and he confronted by some crackheads, but rather than get angry and start something, he let it go.  So Dr Melfi replies "so I would expect you to give me the same courtesy that would give to a crackhead!". 

Of some of the other main cast, Dominic Chianese is also terrific as the crime boss, Junior Soprano, who spends most of the series under house arrest, or awaiting trial, and later on in the series, starts to suffer from dementia.  But Junior provides some of the most entertaining moments in the series, with some of the dialogue he has, one of my favourite scenes is where he flirts with a nurse who applies an oxygen mask to his face, and she says "I'll be back later", and he says "I'll be counting the beats!".  There are plenty of other examples of Junior's hilarious wit but I'll probably cover them a bit later.

Tony Sirico is also hilarious as Paulie, one of Tony's capos, as Paulie is usually quite eccentric, and makes wisecracks often, but at the same time he can also be quite cold and paranoid.  One of Paulie's funniest pieces of dialogue is when he finds out that his mother that had raised him, in actual adopted him, as he meets his real mother later on, who was a nun, lying on her deathbed.  When Paulie enters the hospital later to see Tony (who was shot by a senile Juior prior to this time), a priest asks him "How are you doing, Paulie?", and Paulie angrily replies "Alot better than those fuckin nuns you have up there!".  Paulie also loves to tease his fellow mobster pals, and one of the funniest lines Paulie has is when he says to an associate "Do you remember your first blow job?" and the associate says "Sure" and Paulie replies "Oh yeah?  How long did it take the guy to come!" and Paulie laughs at his own joke and he reiterates it to Tony "You hear that, T?  I asked him "do you remember your first blow job?  And he says "yeah" and I say "how long did it take the guy to come?!".  Priceless.  Another favourite moment of mine regarding Paulie is in the episode "Commendatori" where Tony and his crew visit Naples and in one scene Paulie sits outside a cafe and he spots a few Italian mafioso type looking fellas chatting at a table and Paulie warmly lifts his cup of coffee to them and says "Commendatori!" but one of the men (played by the show's creator, David Chase no less) just looks at him with contempt and they ignore him carry on chatting, leaving Paulie annoyed, he says under his breath "cocksuckers!" and leaves in a huff. 

Then there is Aida Turturro (sister of the actor John Turturro) who plays the whacky Janice Soprano, which Aida plays to perfection as a manipulative, rebellious woman, who also a thing for kinky sex (one example being one of her former lovers, Richie Aprile who does her from behind while holding gun at her head!).    And then there is the late Nancy Marchand, who passed away shortly into the 3rd series, who is a great as Tony's manipulative mother, Livia, who drives Tony mad, and at one point event conspires with his Uncle Junior to have him killed.  She's a lovely woman. ;-)  At one point in the series, Dr Melfi describes Livia as having a borderline personality, meaning she is not capable of showing love, or forming relationships with anyone.  

The series also has many controversial moments in it, and also some rather shocking scenes of violence as well, the third season in particular has a very violent murder in it, where one of Tony's capos, the sleazy loose canon, Ralph Cifareto (Joe Pantoliano) beats his girlfriend, who is a stripper, to death outside the Bing.  There is also the alarming scene where Dr Melfi is raped in a car park after leaving her work by a hood.  Also the brutal murder of Fat Dom in the series 6, where Sal and one of the family's associate, Carlo, stab the big man to death  in the back of the Bing.  And one of the most surprising murders in the show (PLOT SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!) is Chris Moltisanti's where Tony and Chris are involved in a car crash, as Chris is high on drugs, and he is badly injured in the car wreck.  Tony however just has cuts and bruises and gets out to call 911, when he notices that the baby carriage in the backseat (by then Chris had a wife and a baby) has been crushed by a tree branch, which pre-empts to suffocate Chris to death.

But for all its scenes of violence, the Sopranos is about so much more than that, as it goes much deeper into looking the gangsters families, their lives outside crime, and also even from the perspective of the FBI agents and the police who are after Tony Soprano and his crew.  It also has many funny moments in it too, one of which is where after the death of Tony's mother, he is angered by his sister Janice's refusal to attend the funeral.  When Carmela's parents arrive to give their condolences, Carm's father asks "how is Tony holding up??" and then we hear in the background Tony shouting "What the fuck??! Goddamn fuckin bitch!!".  James Gandolfini also said what drew him towards the part was the humour of the show, and not the thought of playing a violent tempered bad guy, as he himself is a pacifist (although he has no qualms playing violent characters!) and had concerns over the scenes that involved guns.   

David Chase, the creator of the show also deserves no end of credit for bringing the series to our screens, and he wrote many episodes of the series, and he made the decision to ensure the cast was mostly Italian American.  Chase also throughout provides a great choice of soundtrack for the series, and he uses the music so well in many scenes.  Some examples include the scene at the end of series two "Thru and Thru" by The Rolling Stones, Elvis Costello's "High Fidelity" at the end of the first episode of series 3, which shows a shot of Tony's house.  Not to mention the memorable theme song "Woke up this morning" by Maroon 3 (which is a remix version) and one of my favourites is The Pretenders instrumental track "Space Invader".  They even use Radiohead's "Kid A" track really well at the end of one of the episodes in series 4. Chase also employs the use of some great classic tracks as well form a variety of different genres of music from folk, rock, classical, opera, ambient, electronica, and many more. 

Anywayyyyyy so that's it for my critique on The Sopranos.  Its easily the largest post I have done yet, and plenty has and will be added to it.

But that's it for now.

Doctor Who: The War Games "It's the Time Lords!"

Right well this is a rare bit of blog robbery as I have transferred most of my review posts from my old tennis blog onto this site, however there are still one or two that still remain, so here is another one.  And the one I have opted for is Patrick Troughton's swansong in Doctor Who, The War Games, which was a massive 10 episode epic finale originally broadcast back in 1969, which saw the Second Doctor go out with several bangs and explosions.  So let's give this one a look....

Right so the plot is pretty convoluted and it starts with the Doctor (Troughton), Jamie (Frazer Hines), and Zoe (Wendy Padbury) arriving in the TARDIS, in what appears to be a quarry somewhere.  The quarry has trenches and barbed wire all over and soon the Doctor and his companions come under fire from explosions.  The Doctor soon finds some artefacts that help him deduce that they are in the middle of the First World War.  Pretty soon after, the Doctor and his companions are lead away by a helpful woman, Lady Jennifer Buckingham (Jane Sherwin), but they are soon captured by soldiers and taken to the callous General Smythe (Noel Coleman) who accuses the Doctor and Zoe of espionage, and Jamie of desertion.  Jamie is ordered to be sent back to his so called regiment, whereas Zoe is to be imprisoned, and the Doctor is sentenced to death.  Before the Doctor's sentence is carried out, they are rescued, however as they try to leave in a jeep with the help one of the soldiers, a strange mist comes over them, and they arrive in what appears to be a different era in time, as the Doctor and the others take cover from a group of Roman soldiers charging toward them in chariots and on horses.  Soon after the Doctor deduces that they are caught in what appears to be a series of different time zones, and different wars in Earth's history such as World War I and the American Civil War.

The Doctor also soon manages to uncover what is happening as he goes back to General Smythe's office and finds a strange contraption, which he enters and it transports him to an alien control centre.  The control centre is the centre of operations for who is behind the creation of the time zones, and the Doctor soon meets the War Chief (Edward Brayshaw), who as it turns out is one of the Doctor's people, a Time Lord.  The War Chief is aiding an alien race lead by the War Lord (Philip Madoc) who plans to use the soldiers from the different eras to brainwash them and fight each other in a series of war games, in order to find out the best soldiers and use them to create a super army to conquer the universe.  The War Chief, who has created the travelling machines, known as SIDRATs (TARDIS spelt backwards) to transport the soldiers, recognises he needs the Doctor's help with his TARDIS to create more machines that can successfully direct the soldiers more in time and space.  The Doctor refuses to help and aids in helping the soldiers to join up together and form a rebellion in order to take down the War Chief and the War Lord's evil plans.

After the Doctor thwarts the War Lord's plans, the War Lord kills the War Chief, who tries to escape, and the Doctor who finds it too difficult to return the soldiers to their proper time zones (due to the fact he has so much trouble steering the TARDIS!) calls on his own race, the Time Lords to help him.  However the Doctor explains to Jamie and Zoe, that while the Time Lords will aid in returning the soldiers, that he wants to escape them, as he may face consequences for his actions in interfering with time.  Soon enough the Time Lords catch up with the Doctor as he tries to escape them in the TARDIS, and they force him to land the TARDIS on the Doctor's home planet.  There the Time Lords capture the War Lord, who must stand trial, but the War Lord attempts to escape using his soldiers, and forces the Doctor to operate the TARDIS to take him back to his planet.  But the Time Lords intervene and place a barrier round the War Lord and banish him to an eternity in the void of time and space.  The Doctor next has to stand trial in front of the Time Lords, who find him guilty of breaking their cardinal rule of non-interference in the affairs of other planets in time and space and from here the Time Lords must decide the Doctor's fate as a result of his actions as the story draws to a close......

The War Games is without doubt a landmark in the history of the show, as it finally introduce the Doctor's own race, the Time Lords.  And while the Doctor had already previously encountered one of his race in the story, The Time Meddler (the Meddling monk played by Peter Butterworth, during the William Hartnell era), this was the first full introduction of them, and goes about in explaining a little more of the Doctor's origins.  It also significantly shows that the Doctor can change his appearance more than once, and while the concept of regeneration was yet to be properly identified (not until Jon Pertwee's last story, The Planet of Spiders) this story showed the longevity of the show would be ensured.  Additionally it gives insight into the Doctor's reasoning as to why he left his planet, as he said he was bored, showing the Time Lord lifestyle was a rather dull and somewhat serene one, and essentially the Doctor is a renegade Time Lord, albeit a good one.

The story is highly ambitious and has many plot strands, not to mention many different characters, starting with Lady Jennifer Buckingham (Jane Sherwin, who was also the wife of the then producer of the show, Derrick Sherwin) and Lt Carstairs (David Saville) who help out the Doctor and his companions in escaping the time zones.  General Smythe is one of the villainous military head figures in the World War I era, but is soon revealed to be one of the aliens, who has been brainwashing the soldiers (by the use of his glasses!).  And then there is the War Chief, played excellently by Edward Brayshaw, who is one of the masterminds behind the war games, who is identified as a renegade Time Lord, who wants to help conquer the universe.  The War Lord is a more measured, cold and logical villain, played by the ever great Philip Madoc, who is both calm and booming in his responses.  In fact you could almost say the plot is at times a bit too ambitious and covers so much ground, that its hard to keep track of what is happening.

The War Games is also notable for the depature of the Doctor's regular companions, Jamie and Zoe, and Frazer Hines, by this time had been virtually in the whole of second doctor's tenure, was always one of the most memorable characters of that era, and Hines had grown really well into the part in that time.  Wendy Padbury by then had also grown really well into her part as Zoe, who's character was usually of a cheery disposition, although Padbury always played Zoe's anxiety under of threat danger well (she also had a rather nice bum! Pervo!! ;-).  The story also marks the first time the Doctor ever kisses one of his companions, as he gives Zoe a plutonic peck on the cheek in an earlier episode, although who would have known years later the Doctor would be getting snogs aplenty!  And their final scene with the Doctor as he says goodbye to them is nicely underplayed, as the Doctor calmly says goodbye to them both, and in that regard the original series was always better at dealing with the depature of the companions.  In the new series the producers and writers of the show, particularly in Russell T.Davies and even the Steven Moffat era, evey time a companion departed they had to heighten the emotion of it, and they always overdid it way too much.  The original series always dealt with the departures in a very understated way and that always made them far more effective, than the big swelling orchestral music and unecessary need to try and tug the heartstrings (or not so much as tug but throttle!). 

The final episode of the story also must rank as one of the finest in the Troughton era, as the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe try to escape in the TARDIS, only to be captured by the omnipotent Time Lords.  The Time Lords themselves are presented as being quite distant, almost aloof, and also very calm in their manner, even when passing their sentence on the War Lord and the Doctor.  The Time Lords are also well played by the three actors Bernard Horsfall, Clyde Pollitt and Trevor Martin in this regard.  And the trial, the attempted escape of the War Lord, and the Doctor's goodbye to Jamie and Zoe, and his own trial are dealt with very well in the story.  The final scene we see with Zoe also has a real ring of poignancy about it too, as she is sent back to her own time, having forgotten her time with the Doctor, and she looks puzzled for one moment when one of her colleagues on the space station asks if she is ok, and she says "I think I had forgotten something important, but its alright now."  She then looks on for a brief moment as if a faint trace of her time with the Doctor is remembered then she walks away, its a deft touch in the story.

The final scene (PLOT SPOILER RIGHT HERE!!!!!) of the Doctor spinning away into space as the Time Lords force him to regenerate, protesting over his sentence is also memorable, and it must rank as one of the darkest moments in the original series run, but its really effective at the same time, and it would pave way to beginning of an new era in the history of the show.  Patrick Toughton himself in the story is terrific, and his doctor his often fondly remembered and regarded as one of the best in the series, and it would hard to disagree, as over his tenure from 1966-1969 he firmly established his character as the Doctor, playing him with an impish sense of humour, yet he was always highly intelligent, and on the surface he looked like he would run away from danger, but he was also quite brave and very resourceful.  And it was great to see that Troughton would later reprise his role in future stories such as the the Three Doctors and the Five Doctors, where again he would provide his wonderfully colourful potrayal of the Time Lord once more. 

As for the direction of the story, David Maloney, who would go on to direct some of the great classics in the original series, such as Genesis of the Daleks and The Talons of Weng Chiang in the Tom Baker era, does a great job here too.  And despite the story's almost inordinate length, he manages to keep the pace going fairly well considering how long it is, although the story's length does remain its main flaw, as it is probably just a bit too long, and does feel a bit repetitive at times, with its endless scenes of the soldiers going in and out of the SIDRATs for example.  I also think the scene where the Time Lords present the Doctor with choices of his new appearance is a bit silly as the choices he is given are crude drawings, and hardly depict realistic choices for his regeneration, so its no wonder he protests saying "I've never seen such a ridiculous bunch!".   

The music by Dudley Simpson is also worthy of note, as his score is really good, although some of the cues are quite reptitive, but once again he shows why he was one of the show's most prolific and finest composers.  Brian Hodgson, who provides the sound effects, and did so since the beginning of the show up until around 1973, also creates some great sounds, particularly the spooky and ethereal passages used on the Time Lord's planet (which actually features on the 50th Anniversary Doctor Who soundtrack CDs).

Sooooooo to sum it all up, The War Games stands as one of Patrick Troughton's finest and most ambitious stories, and it showed that he went out on a high, paving the way for the colourful 1970s and the Jon Pertwee era.

And that's that.  

Breaking Bad Part 2: "Better call Saul!"

Right now its time for part two of my look at the critically acclaimed drama series Breaking Bad, so this will be hopefully the final part, which will cover alot of the other characters in the show.  And yes warning: PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!

Sooooo as for the other characters Bob Odenkirk is great as Saul Goodman, Walt and Jesse's sleazy criminal lawyer, who has some cheesy commercials on TV promoting his business and as the series progresss he get's involved in their drug business and takes a small cut of their earnings.  Saul's catchphrase is "Better call Saul!" and he often wisecracks throughout the series and there is numerous examples such as when not long after he first meets Walt and Jesse he tells them "Look here is some tough love for you.  You guys suck at pedalling meth!".  Saul of course not only works with Walt and Jesse but also Skyler as well, whom he always teases (as he does with everyone in the show!).  And when Saul first meets Skyler he says to her "Walt never told me how lucky he was.  Clearly his taste in woman is the same as his taste in lawyers!  Only the very best with just the right amount of dirty!".

Saul quite often though is given more trouble than he bargained for with Walt and Jesse as their drug business expands he continually has to try and get them out of hot water, such as in the episode where Hank traces Walt and Jesse's RV in an effort to arrest Jesse and Saul contacts an associate to have the RV destroyed.  And later on as things get ever more heated Walt even bullies and intimidates Saul and at one stage Walt goes into Heisenberg mode and says to him "We're done when I say we're done!".  Saul also has the knack of arranging to have people "disappear" and start fresh with new identities which comes into use later in the show as well.

There are also of course other characters such as Marie Schrader, played nicely by Betsy Brandt.  Marie is Skyler's self-absorbed sister who never shuts up and always tries to offer advice to other people.  However Skyler is also an obssessive shoplifter, which is seen in a few episodes, one in which she shoplifts a pair of shoes she tries on as she simply swaps them on places her old shoes back on display and leaves with the new ones.  Marie however still does care for her family and is very supportive of her husband, Hank and she has a love for the colour purple, which she wears throughout the show!

RJ Mitte as Walter Jr provides a moving performance as Walt's good natured son, who has cerebral palsy and is very much kept in the dark of the reality behind Walt's double life.  And there is no doubt that Walter Jr or "Flynn" as he later prefers to be called, is the most sympathetic character, who in the end suffers just as bad emotionally at the hands of Walt's action as anyone.  

Then there is Gustavo "Gus" Fring, who is a major drug kinpin, who Walt and Jesse work for initially, who is played superbly by Giancarlo Esposito.  Gus has an outwardly friendly and benign nature and he also runs a chain of Mexican food restaurants as well and he often greets his customers warmly and says "enjoy your meal!" to them.  However Gus also happens to be a very cold and calculating sociopath, who has a stranglehold on the Mexican drug cartels and as the series progresses, Walt and Jesse both start to get under his skin and its not long before he is forced to take drastic actions against them.  Gus's single most memorable scene is of course the scene in the episode "Box Cutter" where (PLOT SPOILER!!!!!!!!!!!) he cuts the throat of one of his men, Vincent, right in front of a horrified Walt and Jesse and afterwards, Gus calmly cleans himself and goes to leave and coldly says to Walt "Well... get back to work!".   

Other characters that are memorable include Tuco Salamanco played by Raymond Cruz, the volatile and unstable local drug kingpin who deals with Walt and Jesse, who later kidnaps them.  Tuco makes a memorable impression early on in his first episode where he brutally beats Jesse for asking to be paid for the meth upfront and he yells at him after "NOBODY MOVES CRYSTAL IN THE SOUTH VALLEY BUT ME, BITCH!!!".  And in the last episode of the first series "A no rough stuff type of deal" one of Tuco's men simply reminds Walt and Jesse "Just remember who you are working for" and Tuco suddenly turns on him and says "Why are you saying that?  Do you think they're stupid???  Or are you saying am I stupid???!" and he goes on to brutally beat the man to death.  Tuco also introduces another interesting character in the show, his uncle, Hector Salamanco (Mark Margolis) a former Mexican drug kingpin, who is now elderly and in a wheelchair, having had a stroke, he is unable to speak or walk and communicates by using a bell attached to his wheelchair.  As the series moves on Hector swears for revenge against Walt for Tuco's death and has Tuco's cousins try and track down Walt to execute him but of course things take a different turn along the way.

Then there is Todd Alquist who for me is one of the creepiest and most loathsome characters in the show  who appears in the final season.  Todd works for an extermination company, which Walt, Jesse and Mike use as a front to their business.  However Todd is a true sociopath who has no morals or ethics and despite being polite and quiet in nature, he really is quite a nasty piece of work.  And Todd's worst crime is arguably the shooting the young boy, who witnesses Walt and Jesse finishing their methalymine heist at a railway track and they later dispose of the boy and his dirtbike.  Its where the series really delves into the unthinkable and before his end you want to see the creepy Todd get his comeuppance and its actually credit to Jesse Plemmens performance that he makes the character so chilling and dangerous.  Interestingly enough Todd in the show also has a thing for a drug distributor, Lydia (Laura Fraser) who worked with Mike, however she ends up betraying Mike's trust and later Walt, but in the end she will pay a hefty price.   

And lastly there is Mike Ermantraut, played by Jonathan Banks, a former Philadelphia police officer, who turned to crime and takes on different jobs such as private investigator for Saul and Gus's head of security, cleaner and a hitman.  Mike's background suggests that he left the force due to an incident where he arrested a criminal who brutally beat a victim, whom he let go after intimidating him, but later on discovered the perp killed the victim in question.  Despite Mike's activities he is also a loving grandfather as in certain episodes he is seen with his grandaughter, although he later is forced to disappear from the park where he is with her, without saying goodbye.  Mike works closely with Gus through series three and four, and later he forms a reluctant partnership with Jesse and Walt.  Mike also has a strong dislike for Walt and in his final confrontation with Walt he says to him "We had a good thing, you stupid son of a bitch!  We had a lab and we had everything we needed!  You could've shut your mouth and cooked and made as much money as you needed!  But no you just had to blow it up.  You and your pride and your ego!".

Mike however under Gus's orders did try and shake Jesse out of his drug fuelled funk after feeling guilty for killing Gale, their former chemist, who co-worked with Walt.  And this is apparent in the episode where Mike makes Jesse travel with him and later Jesse stops two gunmen from attacking him and he drives off and later picks up Mike, who earlier refused to let Jesse smoke in his car, but as Jesse decides to put away a cigraette on remembering what Mike said, Mike looks at him and says "Go ahead, kid.  Light up".  And Mike is almost like another father figure for Jesse, albeit his approach is far more tough love than Walt's is (which is tough enough!).  And in their first meeting when Saul sends Mike to deal with the aftermath of Jesse's dead girlfriend, Jane, he tells Jesse "When the police arrive, you say "I woke up I found her, that's all I know!" and he get's Jesse to repeatedly say it while slapping him in the face.  Mike in the end is again something on an anti-hero, he does bad things but he too has family to provide for and in that respect he isn't too different from Walt and remains one of the shows most interesting characters.  And Jonathan Banks excellent performance is of course what makes the character work so well, with Banks being an actor who featured in small roles in films during the 1980s such as 48 hours, Beverly Hills Cop and Stir Crazy, he landed on a goldmine with this role, which really shows what actors who weren't given a big break before can really do.

FINALLY moving onto the show's creator, Vince Gilligan truly has created a great television show here and himself was previously a writer on the X-Files, but personally this show in my opinions surpasses it.  And it was Gilligan's idea to cast Bryan Cranston in the role, who appeared for years in the comedy show, Malcolm in the middle, and Cranston himself also appeared in an episode of the X-Files, which gave Gilligan the idea of casting him in the lead role as Walt.  Gilligan has said that he wanted to make the show where the good guy essentially becomes the bad guy, although with Breaking Bad, he's actually managed to make the lead more than just a bad guy and Gillian described it as "turning Mr Chips into Scarface".

Music wise Breaking Bad is also great as Dave Porter wrote the series catchy and foreboding theme and at the end of each episode he composed variations of the theme of which most of them are pretty dark (naturally!) and his music couldn't be more suited to the tone of the series.  The show also has a varied soundtrack froma variety of different music artists such as Rodrigo y Gabriela, Mick Harvey, 10,000 Maniacs, J.J. Cale, Blue Mink, Robert Palmer, Molotov, The Fixx (yep even they showed up!), The Pretenders and Badfinger.

Sooooooo that's it for my exhaustive look at Breaking Bad, which is one of the finest American drama series in recent years and if you haven't watched either buy the box set or get on Netflix (that would be cheaper!) and give it a go.  You won't regret it.

And after that I will take a break! (and not a bad one hopefully) :-)

Breaking Bad Part 1: "Say my name!"

Well I haven't done too many reviews on TV so far so I thought I would one especially devoted to a TV show, which has received much critical acclaim in recent years, and the show is Breaking Bad.  So here are my thoughts on this fascinating and gripping TV show....  (OH AND SOME PLOT SPOILERS LIE AHEAD!).  So I will do this post in two parts given there is so much to cover on the series, so let's get started with part 1.

Right as this is a whole TV show and it spans 62 episodes it would be impossible for me to cover the entire plot within one post (or if I did it would be one BIG post!) so I thought I would keep it relatively short and cover the main concept of the show.  So the story follows its main character, Walter White (Bryan Cranston) a mild mannered high school chemistry teacher, who lives with his wife Skyler (Anna Gunn) and his son, Walter Jr (RJ Mitte) however financially they are struggling somewhat and Walt in an effort to earn extra money works a second job at a car wash.  On his 50th birthday, Walt is given the chance to go on a ridealong with his brother in law, Hank Schrader (Dean Norris) who is a DEA agent, and they witness a drug bust, in which Walt is impressed by the amount of money the agents recovered and Walt notices a former student of his, Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) leave the scene of the crime.  The next day Walt collapses while working at the car wash and he goes to the hospital where scans reveal he has lung cancer, which he is told is inoperable. 

Out of desparation, Walt decides to pay Jesse a visit and makes him a business proposal to make methamphetamine using his chemistry skills, of the purest quality to compete with the junk currently on the drug market.  Together they make the meth, which turns out to be successful and of pure quality and Jesse starts to sling it on the streets, and to takes it to a customer, Krazy 8, who is a meth distributor.  Krazy 8 is surprised by the quality of the meth and demands Jesse to tell him who made it and forces him to take him to Walt, where they were cooking in the middle of the desert.  When Krazy 8 and his cousin, Emilio hold Walt at gun point and force him to show how he makes the meth, Walt mixes up phosphine gas, which suffocates Emilio and Krazy 8, and Emilio dies as a result, but Krazy 8 survives.  Walt and Jesse then hold Krazy 8 prisoner in Jesse's basement, and Jesse tries to persuade Walt to kill Krazy 8, but Walt refuses to do so.  Walt instead feeds and waters Krazy 8, who they have chained to a post with a bicycle lock around his neck.  However as Walt starts to befriend Krazy 8 and decide to let him loose, just he is about to release him, he twigs that Krazy 8 is about to stab him with a makeshift weapon and strangles him to death with the bicycle lock.  After this Walt decides to finally tell his family about the cancer and from here he decides to keep his meth making a secret, and Walt starts a program of chemotherapy.

After a brief hiatus Walt decides to return to cooking Meth with Jesse, but he grows impatient with Jesse's small deals and insists they try and find a distributor.  So Jesse approaches a local drug kingpin, Tuco Salamanco (Raymond Cruz) and gives him a bag of their meth, which Tuco agrees to buy, however when Jesse asks for cash upfront, Tuco becomes enraged beats Jesse senseless, which results in him being hospitalised (Jesse that is).  As a result, Walt decides to confront Tuco, shaving off his hair (which was begining to fall out due to the chemo) and turns up with a bag of what appears to be crystal meth, and Walt demands that they do business together and also compensate Jesse for his injuries and Walt instead gives an alias "Heisenberg" instead of his real name.  As Tuco becomes angry at Walt, Walt throws one of pieces from the bag which causes a big explosion in Tuco's office, but Tuco admires Walt's courage and decides to deal with him, which eventually goes sour.  And from here Walt and Jesse's partnership deepens as they work with other dealers and expand their business.  And all the time Walt tries to keep his drug dealing life apart from his personal life as well as dealing with his own personal demons and struggling with his health, but at the same time his first desire to provide for his family is soon replaced with feelings of vanity, greed and power as he begins to build his drug empire.

There's not much doubt that Breaking Bad really deserves the critical acclaim it is gathered over its five year run as it is a gripping as American drama can get.  And the characters are what make the series work so well and its central character, Walter White is a fascinating and complex character who is at once both sympathetic yet at times quite loathsome, as the series progresses Walt begins far more self centred and greedy as he expands his drug business.  And its Walt's journey as his character is single handedly the most gripping aspect of the show in watching a mild mannered chemistry teacher become a narcissistic, power hungry, ruthless drug manufacturer/dealer.  But despite his drawbacks Walt also does do what he does for his family initally although he later admits "I did it for me" and he largely shows loyalty to his partner in crime (literally) Jesse Pinkman.  But there are times of course where Walt's behaviour verges on the sociopathic and some of his tragedies are very much self inflicted. 

And Walt's alter ego Heisenberg, named after a German scientist, from the era of WWII who was also diagnosed with cancer, shows Walt's dark side and there many moments in the show where Walt flicks a switch and goes from the family man to Heisenberg.  And as Heisenberg, Walt shows how intimidating he can, as we first see his alias in "Crazy handful of nothing" and uses a piece of mercury to nearly destroy Tuco's office.  Another example is in the episode "Mandala" where Walk notices an amateur dealer buy items to make meth in a DIY store and he goes out and eyeballs the dealer and his partner and warns him by saying "Stay out of my territory!".  Walt however also shows he almost has a clumsy and amusing side and in season three he tries to make amends with Skyler as he eventually tries to work his way back into her life, after she decides to separate from him.  Walt also amusingly tries to confront Skyler's man on the side, Ted, at his office, where he tries to use a pot planet to smash through Ted's office window and he ends up being arrested.  In these moments Walt is pathetically quite amusing and another example is in the episode "Fly" one of my favourites, where Walt tries to swat a fly that somehow has found its way into his meth lab and he ends up going half mad and injuring himself in trying to kill it. 

But there are also moments where Walt is quite a heartbreaking figure where you realise how tragic he can be, such as when he forced out of his house by Skyler in the second series and also where he tries to convince her to leave with him in the fifth season and she refuses to go and they have a fight, which get's out of hand.  Walt's cancer is also the central bame of all things in his life and in the end it has alot to answer for, but without it, it would be a very boring series.  So Walt is definitely one of most complex and intruiging characters in television and Bryan Cranston's performance is simply superb as shows just about every emotion imaginable in his potrayal of a man who constantly lives his life on the edge. 

Walt also in the series delivers many affecting monologues and also cynical ones, and one of the funniest in an unintentional way is when he addresses his school about the tragedy of the plane crash over Albuquerqe as a result of Jane's father, who after her death went back to work, as an air traffic controller, not fit to do his work he caused the crash.  And Walt speaks to the students of the school and says "Well no one on the ground was hurt that's the main thing and the planes weren't even full, maybe two thirds full???  And if you look at it this was only the 50th worst crash in American history, and there were 50 more worse crashes than this one!".  And a bit later on Walt loses his job at the school after he comes on to the principal teacher, Carmen Molina he is suspended from his job and put on temporary leave.  This again shows Walt's hidden desires but the funny thing about the show is the only person Walt engages in sexual activity with is Skyler and given his thirst for power and money, he's never unfaithful despite that one little slip, which is very mild in comparison to Skyler's affair with her boss, Ted Beneke.

Walt frequently also shows he has a short fuse and quite a temper at times even as early on as the pilot episode where he sees some kids in a clothes store mock Walter Jr because of cerebral palsy.  And Walt walks out the store quietly and shortly after storms back in and kicks one of the kids to the floor and he digs his foot into the boy's leg and he says "What's the matter, chief?!  You having trouble walking?!  You want to hit me take your best shot!".  Also later on in the first series in episode 6 "Crazy handful of nothin" where he complains to Jesse about how he is pedalling too little of the meth at once and insists they try and find a distributor, which Jesse is reluctant to do and Walt suddenly explodes yelling "Oh come on!  Jesus!  Just grow some fucking balls!" leaving Jesse stunned.  Of course later Walt has quite a few fallouts with Jesse and they on a couple of occassions they even have fisticuffs, which actaully saw Walk coming out on the losing side of both encounters.  Walt at times also likes to belittle those around him as he loves to bask in the glow of his achievements of his creation of the purest drug on the market and often puts Jesse in his place as his lackey and at first insults Jesse's attempts at making meth, although that later changes and he calls Jesse and himself "the two best meth cooks in America".  In the same episode called "Say my name" Wat also makes a prospective buyer to say his name and he hints to the buyer whom he is and Walt says "Go ahead, you know me.  Say my name" and the buyer finally says "Heisenberg" and Walt says "You're goddamn right!".  It shows how fickle Walt can be but what is clear is his relationship with Jesse is core to the serious success and despite it all for the most part they trust one another (despite a few lapses!).            

As for Jesse Pinkman starts off as a rather obnoxious and unsympathetic character, but as the series progresses his humanity starts to come to the fore.  And Aaron Paul is also terrific in the role as a troubled, sympatheitc, amusing and complex character, who is very much like an adopted son to Walt.  Jesse's background of course saw him grow up as an underachiever and his parents never really cared for him as he dropped out of school.  However Jesse did prove to have good understanding of chemistry which lead to his career in drug dealing, although Jesse is a small time distributor when he meets Walt that's when they slowly start to expand their business together. 

Jesse has many moments of personal tragedy in the series as well, such as his relationship with Jane Margolis (Krysten Ritter) as they become fixed on heroin, and Jane tries to blackmail Walt into giving Jesse his cut of money they earned from their dealings.  Walt eventually gives Jesse the money and Jesse and Jane get high together and Walt later shows to confront Jesse to try and stop using, but he accidentally moves Jane, who proceeds to choke to death on her vomit, while Walt callously watches her die.  This remains one of the series most disturbing scenes and it also again shows Walt's dark side come to the fore, although he sobs silently after and later shows his regret to Jesse in the episode "Fly" without acutally admitting it directly.  And he later flat out admits it to Jesse in the episode "Ozymandias" callously, which may appear ugly and uneccessary but I think that was all about leaving it all out there in the open so in a way it was necessary for Walt to say it as there are no secrets between them anymore. 

Jesse unlike Walt however is not willing to resort to murder and he has a stronger moral compass and he also is very protective of children as he shows strong concern for a young boy, who's parents are drug addicts, in the episode "Peekaboo" and he ends up phoning the police so the child can be taken from them, especially after the boy's mother kills her husband in a heated argument and he lives the boy on the porch saying "Stay here, don't go back inside, and have a good rest of your life, kid".  Another example of this is in the first series where Jesse takes the rap for his younger brother when his parents find marijuana in the house and they assume its his.  And when Jesse finally is forced to commit murder, he feels tremendous guilt after shooting the meth chemist, Gale Botticher and spends time in limbo where he invites drugies and lowlifes to live in his apartment.

Jesse however is also shown to be quite naive and foolish at times, which is well highlighted in the episode "Four days out" when Walt and Jess cook a big batch out in the desert and Jesse leaves the keys in the RV's ignition for two days, leaving the battery flat!  Another example is when Jesse has to "disappear" the corpse of Emilio and he uses a potent acid upstairs in his bathtub, but the acid is so potent is melt through the floor bringing down the remains of Emilio with it!  Jesse always says "bitch!" alot, quite often to exclaim or make a point, as well as "that is the bomb, yo!!" which shows Jesse's street lingo and the time he spent on the streets with his fellow drug dealing buddies, Badger (who talks alot about Babylon 5 and other sci-fi series!) and Skinny Pete (who looks pale and gaunt and apparently was tight with Tuco, and Jesse asked him how tight, and Skinny says "Like two nuts in a ballsac yo!" and they both provide some comic relief in the show.  And one of Jesse's best "bitch" lines comes in the fifth season where Walt, Jesse and Mike come along the idea to destroy incriminating evidence taken by the police by using a powerful magnet.  And when the men test power a magnet on a laptop, which is destroyed, Jesse yells "Yeah, bitch!  MAGNETS!".  But the best one of all comes in the episode "Sunset" in series 3 when Hank follows Jesse to his RV and with Walt already there having received a call from Hank beforehand and Jesse get's in the RV with Walt.  And Walt quietly tells Jesse what to say to Hank "this is my own private domicile and I will not be harrassed" and Jesse repeats it "This is my own private domicile and I will not be harrassed.....bitch!!". 

Jesse's uneducated street wise nature also provides some moments of amusement such the scene in the penultimate episode of the second series where Jane says to him when Jesse receives his money that they could go to New Zealand.  And Jesse says "New Zealand is that like a part of Australia??!" and Jane says "No New Zealand IS New Zealand!" and Jesse says "Oh yeah that's where they made Lord of the Rings!  Yeah we could go there!".  And it has to be said that Jesse is by far a more sympathetic character than Walt given that his compassion for children and being protective of them and basically he isn't a bad guy, despite his dealings, he just fell into the wrong business.  Jesse also bears a great deal of guilt over certain incidents in the series and you feel that Walt really at times has dealt Jesse some real psychological and physical blows, such as his brutal beating by Tuco, the death of his ex-girlfriend Jane and also forcing him into the position where he had to kill the chemist Gale Botticher.  Jesse was even shunted aside by Walt in the third season when Walt started working for Gus simply because Walt was furious that Jesse had been cooking Walt's meth formula whilst Walt had taken a hiatus from the business.  Jesse also has some righetous moments of anger such as the scene where he was beaten to a pulp by Hank in the 3rd season and he is hospitalised as a result.  And Jesse says to Walt and Saul in hospital regarding Hank that "Your scumbag brother-in-law is finished!  Done.  When this is over I will own him.  Every cent he earns, every cent his wife earns is mine.  Any place he goes, anywhere he turns, I'm gonna be there grabbing his share!" and he goes to say that he will use Walk "You are my free pass, bitch!".     
  

Skyler White however has to be one of the more tedious characters in Breaking Bad as her incessant whining and eventual scheming and manipulation can become quite tiresome.  Regardless of that though Anna Gunn is excellent in the role as well and she plays Skyler at first as a decent, compassionate woman, yet as time goes on she get's drawn into Walt's dealings as they later buy a carwash firm together and she launders the money Walt gives her.  Skyler also after learning of Walt's criminal life reluctantly decides to keep quiet about it but she kicks him out of the house and she has an affair with her boss, Ted Beneke, where she works as a book keeper.  Later on Skyler reconciles with Walt but becomes increasingly frightened of his behaviour and his dealings when she learns how far Walt is prepared to go to protect his interests and his family.  

Skyler can also show her manipulative side as well as she in one episode feigns going into labour to get out of being questioned by the police albeit for taking the rap for her sister Marie's shoplifting as she is a kleptomaniac.  Skyler also uses Walt's shady lawyer, Saul Goodman (Bob Odendirk) to work on their money laundering and also figure out angles on taking over the car wash business and she chooses the car wash Walt use to work at where the owner use to push and bully Walt around and uses Saul's shady legmen to take the business over.  In the end Skyler tries her best to protect her son, Walter Jr, and young baby daughter Holly yet also keep silent for Walt's sake even as the pressure is ramped up to boiling point near the end of the series. 

As for the other characters there is Hank Schrader, played by Dean Norris, who is married to Skyler's sister, Marie, who is a cocky DEA agent, who at first comes across as bit of an arse and a hothead.  But as the series progresses Hank becomes a very strong moral character and he also shows his vulnerabilities as well desite putting on a tough front.  Norris is great in the part as well and he provides some comic relief in the series too with his wisecracks.  And as a few examples Hank in the episode "Cancer man" in the first series, says to young Walter Jr who says he wants a beer, he replies "And I want Shania Twain to give me a tuggy.  And guess what that ain't happenin either!".  Also later in the same episode where Hanks goes to pay Walt a visit at his school where he is shown in by the headmistress, and Hank watches her nice bum wiggle as she leaves the room and he says "Chick's got an ass like an onion... makes me wanna cry!".  Another is when Saul Goodman turns up to represent Badger who is arrested in the episode "Negro Y Azul" and Saul says "Anything you care to share with me?" and Hank says "Sure. Your commercials suck ass!  I've seen better acting in an epileptic whorehouse!".  

Hank also as he edges closer to discovering that Walt is Heisenberg in the episode "Open house" as he the police found Gale's diary from his apartment from the scene of Gale's murder, and he shows it to Walt while they are having dinner one night.  And Hanks reads the page inside "To W.W, my star, my perfect silence.  I mean who do you figure that is?  Woodrow Wilson?  Willy Wonka?  Walter White?" and at this point Walt laughs nervously and puts his hands up saying "You got me!".  Hank however also suffers from post traumatic stress as well, which he tries to conceal from his co-workers at the DEA, which was the result of his shootout with Tuco.  Hank also later in the series narrowly survives an attempt on his life by Tuco's cousins who are given the go ahead to kill him, which leads into a long rehab process for him.  Norris who had largely played smaller roles in Hollywood films really does a great job here and with Hank's character he really had something to get his teeth into and no doubt will be his most memorable role.

Right so this is enough for Part 1 of my look at Breaking Bad, its quite big so its going to come in two parts and Part 2 is coming up....

Back soon.  

Star Wars Episode III Revenge of the Sith: "So uncivilised!"

Soooooo its time for my last post on the Star Wars prequels and this one of course will cover Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith, which concludes the story leading up to the events of Episode IV.  And without further ado let's give this one a look.....

Well the story begins several years later after the events of Episode II and Anakin (Hayden Christensen) and Obi-wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) go on a mission to rescue the supreme chancellor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) who is being held by a separatist commander named General Grievous.  The two jedi knights infiltrate Grievous's flagship where they confront Count Dooku (Christopher Lee) and during their fight, Dooku knocks out Obi-wan, however Anakin this time around get's the better of Dooku, and as an act of revenge cuts off both his arms, and is then urged by Palpatine to kill him, which Anakin reclutantly does.  The three of them then escape and crash land the cruise on the planet Coruscant.  Later on Anakin rejoins with his wife, Padme (Natalie Portman) who is now pregnant, however Anakin is soon haunted by nightmares of Padme dying in childbirth.  Anakin is then placed on the jedi council as Palpatine's representative, however the council refuse to rank him as a jedi master, which is privilege usually given to jedi council members and instead they want Anakin to spy on the chancellors dealings.  Anakin now feeling frustrated and being excluded by the council, begins to lose faith in the jedi and becomes closer to Palpatine, who shares with him that the dark side of the force has the power to save people from death. 

In the meantime Obi-wan leads a clone army on the planet Utapau and chases after General Grievous, whom he eventually kills.  And Palpatine finally reveals himself to be the sith lord, which angers Anakin and informs Mace Windu (Samuel L Jackson) of the chancellor's treachery.  Windu then confronts Palpatine with some of his fellow Jedi knights and they fight, with Palpatine killing the others, Windu then subdues Palpatine, who tries to use his force lightning powers to kill Windu, who deflects them back on Palpatine who's face begins to deform and become more aged.  Anakin arrives and pleads with Windu to spare Palpatine, who refuses to listen and as he is about to kill Palpatine, Anakin uses his lightsabre to cut off Windu's hand, allowing Palpatine to kill Windu using the full fury of his force lightning powers.  Anakin then pledges his loyalty to Palpatine and become his apprentice, and is then dubbed as Darth Vader.  Palpatine then sends Vader to kill everyone else at the jedi temple and also orders the clone army to turn against the Jedi and kill them off.  Vader afterwards then travels to the volcanic planet, Mustafar where he kills the separatists leaders and stays there to await further orders from Palpatine.

In the meantime Palpatine addresses the senate and tells them that he will reform the republic into the Galactic empire.  Meanwhile Yoda (voiced by Frank Oz) and Obi-wan regroup back at the jedi temple to find everyone dead, including the jedi younglings, and on scanning the security footage, Obi-wan to his horror discovers that Anakin was behind the killings.  Obi-wan then decides to persue Anakin and Yoda goes after Palpatine.  Obi-wan then confronts Padme over Anakin's actions, who refuses to listen to him and she decides to go to Mustafar herself via a shuttle (in which Obi-wan hides as a stowaway).  When Padme arrives on Mustafar and reunites with Anakin, she is horrified to discover that Obi-wan was right as Anakin rants about his powers, Padme pleads with Anakin to come back with her, but when he sees Obi-wan emerge from her ship, Anakin feeling betrayed uses his force powers to choke Padme into an unconscious state.  Obi-wan then confronts Anakin and they engage in a fierce lightsabre duel, which leads into its dramatic and intense climax....

Revenge of the Sith is easily the best out of the three prequels and it is a fine end to an otherwise mixed trilogy, but here it sees the characters and story resolutions come together quite well leading into the events for Episode IV.  The film also has a much darker feel and tone to it than the previous two films and there is thankfully a real weight leant to Anakin's plight and how he is torn between his loyalties to the jedi and to Palpatine, while he fears for Padme's life.  George Lucas's writing is also significantly better than before and the dialogue has improved much from the previous films as well, as there are some excellent moments in the script particularly the scene where Palpatine tells an old story to Anakin about a former Sith lord.  The film also still has its fun moments and some good action scenes especially Anakin and Obi-wan's intense lightsabre duel and also when Anakin and Obi-wan save Palpatine from Count Dooku at the start of the fim as well.

As for the performances they are mostly quite good here and an improvement over the previous two films.  Hayden Christensen however is still a bit too wooden in his performance as Anakin and although he does reasonable job at showing Anakin's torment, he still struggles with dealing with the more dramatic moments and he sounds almost a bit too robotic at times even!  Christensen also has some naff moments to deal with such as the scene where he cuts off Mace Windu's hand and let's Palpatine finish him off, after which Anakin drops his lightsabre in shock and exclaims "What have I done???!" which is delivered rather lamely by Christensen.  Also toward the end Christensen struggles to properly show Anakin's rage and feelings of betrayal, such as in the scene when Obi-wan arrives on Mustafar and Anakin after he force chokes Padme yells "You turned her against me!  You will not take her from me!".  Hayden also sounds a bit robotic in the next bit where Anakin says to Obi-wan "Don't lecture me, Obi-wan.  I see through the lies of the Jedi.  I do not fear the dark side as you do.  I have brought peace, freedom, justice and security to my new empire!".  Which of course what he really means is I've killed at the guys on this planet and its nice and quiet now! ;-)  Hayden however still has one or two good moments such as in the scene where he learns that Palpatine is the sith lord and Anakin ignites his lightsabre and points it angrily at Palpatine who asks him if he is going to kill him and Anakin says angrily "I would certainly like to!".  Another good moment is after Anakin has killed the separatists on Mustafar, he looks coldly out at the volcanic lava around him, and he gives an evil glower and we see a tear roll down his cheek, and this is where Anakin has chosen the path of evil but he still to an extent feels ambivalent about it and the tears reflect his turmoil.  

Christensen however does have the odd amusing moment as well where he shows a bit of levity earlier in the film, such as the scene General Grievous says to him "I expected someone a little older!" and Anakin says "General Grievous.... you're shorter than I expected!".  And the scene where Anakin and Obi-wan are in a lift trying to make their way up to the command deck of Grievous's ship and they have trouble getting the lift to work.  And after Anakin cuts a hole in the roof of the lift and jumps up and the lift goes up and down at the behest of R2-D2 (Kenny Baker again), leaving Anakin dangling over the edge of one of the floors, he drops back into the lift once it comes back up for him, and he says to Obi-wan "No loose wire jokes!" and Obi-wan says "I didn't say anything!". 

Ewan McGergor is good once again in his role as Obi-wan and he has grown nicely into the part by Episode III with the beard still on show!  McGregor has some good moments in the film and for once some good lines too, such as in the scene where Obi-wan congratulates Anakin for his efforts in rescuing Palpatine at the start of the film.  And when Obi-wan with Anakin arrives to save Palpatine from Count Dooku, Palpatine says "Careful he's a sith lord!" and Obi-wan turns to Palpatine and says "Chancellor, Sith Lords are our speciality!".  And Anakin says "Alright but you owe me one, and for not saving your skin for the tenth time" and Obi-wan says "Ninth time!  That business on Cato Neimodia doesn't count!".  Another good moment McGregor has is where Obi-wan kills General Grievous with the villain's own blaster, and in doing so McGregor makes a fun reference to Alec Guinness's line in Episode IV when Obi-wan said the lightsabre is from a more "civilised time" and he throws away the blaster afterwards saying "so uncivilised!".  McGregor also has a really good intense fight scene with Christensen as Obi-wan and Anakin battle each other on Mustafar in the film's climax.  And in the scene as Anakin warns him "If you are not with me, then you are my enemy!" Obi-wan realises that Anakin has truly become evil and realises he can't reason with him anymore and says "Only a sith deals in absolutes.  I will do what I must!".  And after Obi-wan defeats Anakin in their duel he looks down sadly and says "You were the chosen one!  It was said that you would destroy the Sith, not join them.  You were to bring balance to the force, not leave it in darkness!". 

Ian McDiarmid for me steals the show in the film as the villainous Palpatine/Darth Sidious and he is given a significantly larger role here than before as he plays a key part in the demise of the era of the jedi and also the creation of the Galactic empire.  McDiarmid pretty much get's the film's best dialogue and scenes and his moments with Christensen are among the best in the film.  McDiarmid has several highlights in the film such as where Palpatine shares with Anakin the story of a former Sith lord, Darth Plaugeus "the wise" and how "He had such knowledge of the dark and so much power that he could even save those he cared about from dying.  But his apprentice killed him in his sleep.  Its ironic that he could save others from death, but not himself".  This hints of course that Palpatine was the apprentice in question and at this point he is manipulating Anakin already into believing this.  And Anakin asks "Is it possible to learn this power?" and Palpatine turns to him and says "Not from a jedi!".  Also there is the scene where Mace Windu and the other jedi knights confront Palpatine and as Mace tries to arrest him, Palpy takes out his lightsabre and says "Its treason then!" and they engage in a fierce duel.  And when Anakin intervenes and cuts of Mace's hand, Palpatine zaps Mace with the full power of his force ligthning and he shouts "I have the POWER!!! UNLIMITED POWER!!!!".  And McDiarmid also has good fun later in the scene where Yoda confronts him and as Palpatine zaps Yoda with a blast of Sith lightning he walks toward a stunned Yoda saying "I have waited a long time for this moment, my little green friend!  At last the jedi are no more!" and the two of them engage in a lightsabre duel and a force bitchslap fest! ;-)  And McDiarmid's intro scene as Palpatine is also really good where after Anakin has cut off Dooku's arms, Palpatine tells Anakin "Good kill him.  Kill him now!" and Anakin hesitates "I shouldn't!" but then Palpatine suddenly breaks character and delivers his next line as a Sith "Do it!!".   

Natalie Portman is also quite good as Padme and her performance is certainly an improvement than in the previous films and here Padme really is thrown into real danger as her hubby is toremented by the dark side of the force.  Portman also some has some good lines such as the scene where Emperor Palpatine announces that Galactic republic will now be reformed into the Galactic Empire and Padme looks to a fellow politician, Bail Organna and says "So this is how liberty ends... with thunderous applause".  Portman also has another good scene where Padme arrives on Mustafar to rejoin Anakin only to find to her horror that he has turned to the dark side.  And Padme steps back horrified saying "I don't believe what I'm hearing!  Obi-wan was right... you've changed!  You've turned to the dark side!  Anakin you're breaking my heart!  You're going down a path I can't follow!".  And in her final scene (PLOT SPOILER!!) where Padme with her dying breaths gives birth to her twins, she says just before she dies to Obi-wan "There is still good in him".  

As for the supporting cast, Samuel L. Jackson reprises his small role as Mace Windu very well again, and he does a nice job of showing Mace's mistrust of Palpatine and even of Anakin, given Anakin's close connection with Palpatine.  And when Anakin confides to Mace about Palpatine being the Sith lord, in surprise he says "Then our worst fears are realised!  You must stay here, Anakin, I sense much confusion in you.  There is much doubt that clouds your judgement".  And later as Mace confronts Palpatine and subdues him, he stands over him with his purple lightsabre ignited he says "You are under arrest, my lord!" just shortly before he get's zapped.  Christopher Lee is also good again in his brief reprise of the villainous Count Dooku who takes on Obi-wan and Anakin again only this time he comes up short, fatally!  Lee also has a good line when he fights Anakin, who says to him "my powers have double since the last time we might, count!" and Dooku says "Good!  Twice the pride, double the fall!".  And lastly Frank Oz does another good job in his voice acting for Yoda, the aging Jedi master, who manages to survive the backlash of the clone army and later confronts Palpatine.  And Yoda get's a really funny moment in the film where he arrives to confront Darth Sidious, who has two guards in red outfits (same as the ones in Return of the Jedi) standing either side of the doors, when Yoda enter he uses his force powers to knock them out!  

Direction wise George Lucas does a fine job here with Sith and its a much better effort this time round and overall the pacing of the story is better and he keeps the tone of the film pretty intense and brooding throughout.  Given the film is also rated a 12 certificate in the UK it is easily the most violent and dark film out of three prequels and the most graphic scene in the film (PLOT SPOILER AGAIN!!!) is where Anakin who after being defeated by Obi-wan in their duel, lies near the bottom of a hill near the firey hot lava, which catches fire and severely burns his body.  Music wise John Williams provides another fine score here aswell and he adds in some pretty good dramatic passages that reflects the tone of the film well.  

As for flaws.....well Sith isn't quite perfect as for starters it has to be said that Anakin's reasoning for turning to the dark side isn't that convincing as he simply does it in order to save Padme's life, but at the same time he is willing to go against everything he stands for in the process!  And Anakin's quick turnaround into a vicious murderer doesn't seem to fit that well as he appears to be just quickly give into Palpatine's way of thinking, and before we know he's up at the Jedi temple slaying young kids!  The only thing that shows his torment is the scene where we see him shed a tear on Mustafar after he has killed the separatists, which is a good moment in the film, but at the same time you just think there is an overall lack of conviction in the whole reasoning for Anakin's transition to the dark side.  I also thought that Anakin wasn't very bright in not seeing through Palpatine's real nature sooner, as Palpatine kept dropping enough hints about the dark side.  And its almost like Palpatine finally says to him "Look!  I'm the sith lord, do I have to spell it out for you?!".  Another silly aspect of the film is General Grievous, the lizard alien who wears heavy robotic armour and its bizarre of Lucas to decide that Grievous should be an asthmatic villain (a bit like another one who wears a dark leather suit and wears a mask that we might know!).  Grievous doesn't make for a very threatening or convincing villain either in the film and when Obi-wan finally guns him down, he deserves a cheer, which is followed up by Obi-wan's line "so uncivilised!".  The film's opening sequence is also a bit overlong when Anakin and Obi-wan go to rescue Palpatine from General Grievous and Count Dooku as it seems to take forever for them to get onto Grievous's flagship, rescue Palpatine and eventually escape.

Despite those niggles Revenge of the sith is a very entertaining and largely satisfying end to the prequels which sees the story come up to speed and cues nicely into Episode IV, which I've already covered anyway.  

So that's it for my look at the prequels, hope you enjoyed them and I will see you for the next post (whenever that is!).

Peace!    

  

Star Wars Episode II Attack of the Clones "This party's over!"

Right time for part two of my look at the Star Wars prequels and this will cover Episode II Attack of the Clones, which would introduce Hayden Christensen as the young Anakin Skywalker.  So let's gie this sad mother a look.... ;-)

The story is set ten years after the events of Episode I and the Galactic Republic are still in turmoil after their invasion of Naboo by the Trade federation years earlier.  And a former jedi knight, Count Dooku (Christopher Lee) has organised a separatist unit against the Republic and the senate is trying to put forth a plan to create an army to help the Republic against the separate threat.  Meanwhile former Queen of Naboo, now a senator, Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman) has Obi-wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) and his apprentice jedi, or padawan, Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) are assigned to protect Padme after an assassination attempt is made on her.  Obi-wan and Anakin chase the would be assassin and corner her, but she is killed by her employer, with a poison dart.  Obi-wan soon learns that the dart was manufactured out on a remote ocean planet called Kamino and he goes out to investigate.  Meanwhile Anakin is assigned to escort Padme back to Naboo where they spend time together and soon fall in love. 

In the meantime Obi-wan arrives on Kamino where he discovers an army of clone troops are being created in secret for the Republic by using a bounty hunter named Jango Fett as their genetic template.  Obi-wan soon realises that Jango is the employer of the would be assassin and after a brief fight with him, Obi-wan tracks them after he places a tracking device on Jango's ship and follows them to the planet Geonosis.  Meanwhile, Anakin is suffering from premonitions of his mother in pain and he decides to go against Obi-wan's orders and he travels with Padme to Tatooine to save her.  Anakin eventually finds his mother, Shmi (Pernilla August) in a sand people camp, and she has been badly tortured, barely breathing she acknowledges her son and dies, leaving Anakin in a blind rage, he goes and slaughters all the sand people in the camp and he returns Shmi's body back to her original home.  Obi-wan meanwhile on Geonosis learns that Dooku is creating a new droid army to fight against the Republic and that Dooku also gave the order on the attempted assassination of Padme.  Obi-wan then relays this info to Anakin via a hologram and Anakin transmits the message on to the jedi council, however during the transmission Obi-wan is captured by Dooku, which prompts Anakin and Padme to go and save him.  However Anakin and Padme are also captured shortly after their arrival and sentenced to death alongside Obi-wan on a colosseum type pit where they must fight against large monsters.  But they soon manage to release themselves and are saved by the arrival of Jedi Master, Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson) along with a team of jedi knights and soon the arrival of the clone army, they begin their battle against Dooku and his droid army...

It has to be said that for me Attack of the Clones is easily the weakest of the three prequels and one of the main things that hampers the film are the poor characterisations, particularly of Anakin Skywalker and Padme, but I will get to that a bit later.  However its not all bad with Attack of the Clones as it still has some engaging fight sequences, such as Yoda's showdown with Count Dooku, the battle between the clone army and the droids on Geonosis, and Obi-wan's encounter with Jango Fett on the sea planet Kamino. The film also was quite innovative in terms of film technology as it was one of the first films to use digital video cameras and HD digital 24-frame system and the cameras even proved to work very well in intense heat, as certain sections of the film were shot in Tunisia.  Lucas who was concerned by the critical reception The Phantom Menace met with in regards to the script and dialogue brought in another writer, Jonathan Hales to co-write the screenplay with him, although the dialogue is still pretty cringeworthy in places, but more on that soon.

Getting onto the performances, there is no doubt that Attack of the clones is a mixed bag, starting with Hayden Christensen, who is very wooden in his performance as the young, arrogant and somewhat tormented jedi apprentice, or another way of putting it is that Anakin is a whiny little bitch!  Christensen physically is right for the role but his performance however is just hampered by some corny dialogue and under Lucas's direction he simply cannot make a decent impact with his character, yet Hayden himself has proved in other films that he is a very capable actor (just look at the drama film Shattered Glass and you'll see that for yourself).  Hayden's performance also isn't helped by the fact he has to play his part in a very contrived love story with Natalie Portman and their dialogue is like something out of a Mills and Boon novel!  One such example is when Anakin tells Padme of his true feelings for her when they are on Naboo and he says "Now I'm with you again... I am in agony.  I'm haunted by the kiss you should never have given me.  My heart is beating.... hoping that kiss will not become a scar.  You are in my very soul.... tormenting me!".  Achhh shut up ya fanny!!  Christensen however does fair well enough with the physical fight sequences and he does have a good moment when he fails to rescue his dying mother, Shmi, from the sand people as she dies in his arms, he looks up and his lip trembles with rage and goes outside and slaughters the sand people tribe.  And he confesses to Padme later "I killed them.  I killed them all.  And not just the men, but the women and children too.  They're like animals and I slaughtered them like animals!  I hate them!!".  On a lighter note Hayden does somehow manage to have relatively decent rapport with Ewan McGregor in their scenes together.  Hayden also has one amusing moment as well where on Geonosis he fights the natives and his lightsabre is broken in half and he says "Oh not again!  Obi-wan is gonna kill me!".        

Ewan McGregor fairs better however in his reprised role as Obi-wan Kenobi and this time McGregor has sprouted a beard, as he starts his physical resemblance toward Alec Guinness.  McGregor must have enjoyed playing the part of Obi-wan in this film as he get's to really patronise and keep Anakin down and in his place with his somewhat highly critical tutelage.  McGregor has some good moments in the film such as the scenes where he arrives at Kamino and finds the secret clone army being built and he later fights against Jango Fett, the bounty hunter.  McGregor also manages to one or two good lines in the film as well (yep there are some!) such as the scene where Anakin jumps into their ship and Obi-wan asks Anakin "What took you so long?" and Anakin replies "Sorry Master I couldn't find a speeder I liked with the right cockpit and the right speed capabilities".  And Obi-wan snaps back "If you spent as much time practising your sabre techniques as you did your wit, you'd rival Master Yoda as a swordsman!" and Anakin says "I thought I already did" and Obi-wan says "Only in your mind, my very young apprentice!".  And later on when Obi-wan is captured by Count Dooku and sentenced to death and put out on display in a large pit, chained to a post, he sees Anakin and Padme brought who are chained up as well.  And Obi-wan says to Anakin "I was beginning to wonder if you got my message" and Anakin meekly says "I retransmitted it, just as you requested, Master.  And then we decided to come and rescue you" and Obi-wan looks up at his handcuffed hands and says "Good job!".  

Natalie Portman, while she is by far the better performer than Hayden Christensen and does what she can with her role as Padme, she too suffers from having to try and deliver a convincing love story, and in the end it is anything but as it is rather flat and one note.  Natalie also get's some cringeworthy dialogue, especially in the scene where after Anakin and Padme have been sentenced to death, Padme declares her love for Anakin.  And Padme says to Anakin "I'm not afraid to die.  I've been dying a little bit each day since you come back into my life.  I truly.... deeply.... love you and before you die I want you to know that".  Awwww jeeezzzzz!! 

As for the supporting cast, Christopher Lee fairs alot better in his role as the villainous Count Dooku,  former jedi knight, who is now sided with the federation and creates a robot army to take down the Republic.  Lee doesn't get many good lines either but he does have a couple of good scenes, one being where after having captured Obi-wan he asks him to co-operate but Obi-wan refuses.  The other scene is his last one where he has his showdown with Yoda, which is a bit a comical but its worth watching to see Yoda dance around like a whirling dervish!  Samuel L Jackson also reprises his role of Mace Windu well enough, although Sam doesn't have the luxury of great dialogue either, but he does get to do a bit more here than in Episode I as he get's to kick some ass in the film's climactic battle scene on Geonosis.  And Sam does deliver the film's best line when Mace Windu arrives on Geonosis and he ignites his lightsabre and holds it threateningly close to Dooku and Mace says "This party's over!".  Temeura Morrison however doesn't fare so well in his role as the bounty hunter, Jango Fett, who is used to create the clone army, as he gives a pretty lame and wooden performance and is also given some naff dialogue to deliver.  And a prime example of this is when Jango meets Obi-wan on Kamino and Obi-wan says to him "You're clones are very impressive.  You must be very proud." and Jango says "I'm just a simple man trying my way in the universe".  Gaaaawwwwd!  

Ian McDiarmid once again provides another fine performance in his dual role as Chancellor Palpatine and Darth Sidious although he does take a bit of a back seat in Episode II and he would feature more heavily in Episode III.  And McDiarmid nicely hints at his dual character's manipulative schemes Palaptine at one points speaks to Anakin alone and he tells him "In time, you will learn to trust your feelings.  Then you will be invincible.  I have said it many times, you are the most gifted Jedi I have ever met.  I see you becoming the greatest of all Jedi, Anakin.  Even more powerful than Master Yoda."  And lastly Frank Oz does a good job with his voice acting skills again as he voices Yoda and he delivers one of the film's best lines when Yoda fights Dooku and at the point where they try and outpower each other with force lightning, Yoda manages to absorb Dooku's lightning and says "Much to learn you still have!".    

Getting to George Lucas, direction wise he does a decent job in directing the action scenes which are once again visually very impressive and the CGI effects are largely great, especially the scenes involving the clone army construction on Kamino and also seeing them in action on Geonosis.  Lucas however again misdirects his actors and he is guilty of providing a rather uninspiring and vapid love story between the two lead perfomers in Hayden and Natalie.  Music wise however, John Williams once again provides a fine score for the film, keeping in tradition with the familiar Star Wars themes he composed for Episodes IV-VI and adding in some newer tracks aswell, although I wouldn't say it was one of his most memorable soundtracks though.

So getting on Clones flaws, does it have any?????  Yep.  To start with the love story between Anakin and Padme as I've already stated is really insipid and it leaves you cringing at the awful dialogue the actors are given to say, and their love story simply isn't that believable, although with a better script maybe it could have been.  Anakin and Padme's story also at times drags the pace of the film down as well and it could have done with being excised a little bit in order to keep the film a little tighter (or just get rid of it altogether! ;-)).  The story itself overall is also a bit dull with the creation of clone army, which is done secretly on the behalf of the Republic, although I think more realistically what happened there was Palpatine gave the go ahead to create the army and he of course would later plan to use it for his own selfish ends in Episode III.  Jango Fett is also a bit of boring character too and he really isn't give much more to do then sit around in the facility on Kamino, before escaping and heading to Geonosis, and putting on his familiar bounty hunter gear, which his son, Boba Fett, would later probably inherit (as Jango has his head lobbed off by Mace).  I also thought the climactic fight scene between Obi-wan, Anakin with Dooku and eventually Yoda was a bit anti-climactic, especially the way in which Dooku easily deals with the two young Jedi before facing off the master old yin.  And Yoda's fight scene with Dooku visually is also a bit silly and cringeworthy and its funny how Yoda NEEDS a cane to walk most of the time, yet he can jump and somersault around like nothing else when he fights Dooku!  And after their fight scene Yoda uses his force powers to regain his cane and limps slowly away, and you think.... is this the same guy I saw a moment ago????!!!  To be fair though Yoda and Dooky's fight scene works OK in the close up shots but in the far away shots, it looks just ridiculous!  

Anywayyyyyy despite all that Attacks of the clones is still an entertaining film even if it is the weakest out of the three prequels, and it would have benefited from a better script and a shorter running time overall.  

So that's it for Episode II, next is up is Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.

Back soon!  

Star Wars Episode I The Phantom Menace: "Wipe them out! All of them!!"

OK this is not the most popular of choice of reviews maybe but I felt I would give it a go and poke fun at the prequels of Star Wars, which despite their flaws still contribute to the Star Wars series.  So the subject of this post will be the dreaded Episode I: The Phantom Menace, which started the whole thing off so to speak.  So let's dawn the cloaks, get the lightsabres on and have a look at this one.....

So the film begins with two jedi knights, Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) and Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) who are sent on a mission to negotiate to end a blockade set up by the trade federation around the planet Naboo.  However the negotiations are ended when Nute Gunray, the trade federation Viceroy seeks the advice of a silent adviser, the Dark sith lord, Darth Sidius (Ian McDiarmid) who tells him to have the jedi killed and invader Naboo with army of battle droids.  Qui-Gon and Obi-wan flee to Naboo where they meet up with a local, a gungan named Jar Jar Binks, who leads them to his people's underwater city.  The Gungans however refuse to help the Jedi to fight the invasion on Naboo but they do allow them a way to access the surface.  The ruler of Naboo, Queen Amidala (Natalie Portman) is captured by the federation army but she is soon rescued by Qui-Gon and Obi-wan, and they flee Naboo using Amidala's personal spaceship which is damaged during their escape from the blockade.  They then stop off on the planet Tatooine for repairs and they seek out a settlement where they go to a repair shop and meet with the owner, Watto who has a young slave named Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd) working for him.  Qui-Gon senses a strong powerful sense of the "Force" within Anakin and he believes that Anakin could well be the chosen one who will bring balance to the force as prophesised by the Jedi.

Qui-gon then decides to wager with Watto, to grant Anakin's freedom if he wins in a podrace, as Anakin is a gifted podracer.  Anakin as a result wins the race and is granted his freedom so Qui-Gon can take him to be trained as a jedi knight.  However just before they are set to leave, Qui-Gon is attacked by Darth Maul (Ray Park) Darth Sidius's apprentice, but Maul quickly flees.  And from this point on Anakin begins his long journey toward becoming a jedi knight and he becomes embroiled between the war going between the trade federation and the galactic republic.

As it was the first Star Wars film in over 15 years at that time, the Phantom Menace was hugely anticipated to be a great prequel that woud explain the origins of the Star Wars trilogy IV-VI.  However it has to be said that the film itself does fall somewhat short of those expectations as George Lucas, who directed all three prequels doesn't quite deliver the goods here and has created a very cheesy, poorly written and at times only competently acted film.  But despite all that there is still a fair bit to enjoy in the Phantom Menace, its not a perfect film and it was never going to be able to live up the expectation of the hype surrounding it.    

Performance wise Phantom Menace is certainly a very mixed bag but alot of it boils down to Lucas's direction (or mis-direction) as he clearly is trying to direct the actors as if they were appering in an old black and white space opera from the 1940s.  The actors that come off better are of course Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor as the two jedi knights, Qui-Gon Gin and the young Obi-Wan Kenobi.  Neeson simply affects his Irish accent, albeit slightly toned down a little, and plays Qui-Gon in a kind of simplisticly moral way.  Neeson does have some good moments in the film, although he also has some appalling lines of dialogue (but then they all do!) and the worst, but funniest being when Qui-Gon talks to Watto, a blue-skinned winged alien, the repair shop owner on Tatooine and he says to Watto at one point "patience, my blue friend!".  One of Neeson's slightly better lines is when he saves Jar Jar Binks when they first meet from being flattened by a federation tank, and he says to Jar Jar "What are you brainless???  You almost got us killed!" and Jar Jar says "I spake!" and Qui-gon says "The ability to speak does not make you intelligent!".  Neeson's fight scenes in the film are also very good and one of the film's best moments actually comes Qui-Gon's battle with Darth Maul and they fight in between force field barriers which shut off and on, and when they are separated by a barrier, Qui-Gon simply kneels and meditates, whilst Darth Maul menacingly paces around patiently.

Ewan McGregor does not too badly as the younger Obi-wan kenobi, who at this time is Qui-Gon's padawan, who aides him in the battles against the trade federation.  McGregor however does appear to be doing some kind of feeble impression of Alec Guinness, but it doesn't really come off that well throughout, but he does do a decent enough job with the character himself.  McGregor also has some cheesy dialogue but does have one or two decent lines such as after their negotiations with the trade federation fail, they are forced to fight their way out and Obi-wan says to Qui-gon "Well you were right about one thing, Master.  The negotiations were short!".  Also another amusing line is when Qui-Gon tests young Anakin for his midi-chlorian count (which in the film are microscopic body cells which in large numbers can have a strong sense of power with the "force") and he gives the reading quietly to Obi-wan who scans and says "This is incredible!  Not even Master Yoda has a midi-chlorian count this high!".

Ian McDiarmid undoubtedly however gives the film its best performance in his dual role as the evil Darth Sidious and Chancellor Palpatine.  As Darth Sidious, McDiarmid get's the film most memorable line (or as memorable as you can get for this film!) where he says to his apprentice Darth Maul "Wipe them out!  All of them!".  Another good moment in his performance is when Sidious speaks with the Viceroy, Nute Gunray who says it is impossible to track Amidala's ship and Sidious says "Not for a sith!" and on the hologram image we see Darth Maul emerge and Sidious says "This is my apprentice, Darth Maul.  He will find your lost ship!".  Natalie Portman also provides the film one of its better performances in her dual role as Queen Amidala and the queen's handmaiden, Padme, who befriends the young Anakin.  Although Portman's potrayal of Padme it has to be said is far better than her one-note potrayal of the Queen, who speaks like a posh robot (if that's possible!).  Ray Park is also quite effective in his physical role of Darth Maul, the menacing red-skinned Sith apprentice, who whirls and twirls his way around the screen like some vicious ballet dancer (OK that's even more strange!).  Park of course didn't voice the character as the voice of Darth Maul was provided by actor and comedian, Peter Serafanowicz.  

Jake Lloyd on the other hand is quite irritating in his role as the young Anakin Skywalker, and he doesn't really lend a great deal of weight to a young child who has so much responsibility weighted on his shoulders.  Lloyd also potrays Sykwalker in places as being a bit too chirpy in the role, and again he has some real naff moments such as the scene where Qui-Gon tells him that he is no longer Watto's slave and he is free and the boy simply goes "Yippee!" and runs off!  And then there is Ahmed Best was given the worst part in the film to deal with as the hugely annoying Jar Jar Binks, the CGI based clumsy Gungan, who helps out the jedis and young Anakin.  And Best's almost squeaky voice doesn't really lend well to help make the character that much more bearable as he says such lines as "Oh moy oh moy!  I love you!" to Qui-Gon Jon when they meet after he saves the Gungan's life.  And then there are lines such as "Mesa Jar Jar Binks!  Mesa your humble servant!" or "Mesa gettin very very scared!".  Oh sheeeeadddupppp!!!  And lastly on a more positive note Andy Secombe does a better job as the voice of Watto, the grumpy and cynical repair shop owner, who owns Anakin as a slave.  Secombe does provide some good moments of amusement in the film such as in the scenes where he meets with Qui-Gon, who tells him he has acquired a racing pod, the "fastest in the galaxy" and Watto laughs saying "I hope you didn't kill anyone I know for it!".   

Direction wise George Lucas set himself a mammoth task here in trying to follow up the original trilogy and as a director he succeeds in some areas and fails miserably in others.  Where Lucas does succeed is in the visual presentation of the film as the CGI effects are largely excellent and impressive, even if alot of the CGI characters such as Watto, Jar Jar Binks and Boss Nass (voiced by Brian Blessed) aren't that convincing looking as alien creatures.  Lucas also handles the film's lightsabre fight scenes pretty well, especially in the big sabre duel between Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan and Darth Maul.  Where Lucas fails is in his writing, which is largely poor, and his inability to actually direct actors and aide them to provide good performances, where a majority of the acting is more hammy than a butcher's shop after its just received a big load on a Monday morning!

So getting onto the film's flaws, the Phantom Menace, let's face it has its fair share.  To start with the plot is rather dull and while it sets up the basis of the whole franchise it doesn't really grab you in an interesting way.  The droid army aren't that effective as enemies either, as Qui-Gon could demolish the whole army almost by himself if he had to, as the droids are mostly wafer thin (well the troops are!) and they rather annoying American digitised voices.  Lucas also as a result of this film had some I guess unfair accusations of racism aimed at him for his depiction of the incompetent Viceroy Nute Gunray and how he has an Asian accent, this was also aimed his visual depiction of Watto, who has a long nose, and his stingy mean nature, was almost depicted as being a take on the Jewish.  But it has to be said that use of accents for some of the characters are definitely questionable and pretty poor.  Anakin's character also isn't really dealt with in a very convincing way and there is no real weight lended to the responsibility of Anakin either in the film.  And I also thought the way in which Anakin was depicted as an accidental hero at the end was really stupid, by jumping into a vacant starfighter onboard the droid army's control ship, and he accidentally fires a laser blast at the ship's reactor, which knocks the droid army dead, as they are no longer operational as a result!  Yep, real convincing, George!  Its the equivalent of the same silly idea he had in the original Star Wars where there is ONE vulnerable exhaust port in the Death Star which if a shot is fired into it will destroy the whole Death Star!

And another flaw in the film is its most irritating character, Jar Jar Binks, who could be said to be the equivalent in terms of annoyance as the bloody infuriating frog ring tone that came out a few years back!  Jar Jar Binks it has to be said is an abortion of a character in the Star Wars series and his constant use of "Mesa mesa!!" is just irritating to say the least.  The character was obviously designed to provide comic relief for the film but in the end it just makes the whole film look like a complete joke anyway.  The criticism of course of Jar Jar at the time was so harsh that Lucas even decided to largely sideline him from the following sequel, The Attack of the Clones, which shows he did make at least one or two sensible decisions while he directed the prequels.  But for that reason alone I haven't really watched this film in quite some time!

So that's it for my look at The Phantom Menace, which has its problems but it is actually still quite an enjoyable and entertaining film despite them although it is a long way off coming close to the quality of the original trilogy.

So next up is Episode II....

Till then bye the now.