“Star Wars – Episode II: Attack of the Clones” debut on IMAX does not mean bigger is better

I do not need to see “Star Wars - Episode II: Attack of the Clones: The IMAX Experience” to review it. I can already give you my negative assessment of the "The IMAX experience" without seeing it.

My reaction is all based on the various tidbits I picked up off such websites as theforce.net and comingsoon.net the past couple months.

The unexpected news that Clones was coming to IMAX theaters was like having someone say, "Wait before you start cheering. I have good news and bad news."

The good news is obvious, but I'll say it anyway for the record. For the first time, a Star Wars movie is getting the BIG, BIG, BIG, BIG, BIG SCREEN treatment in IMAX theaters across the country beginning Nov. 1 through Nov. 26; 12 days before the theatrical version debuts on video and digital video disc (DVD) Nov. 12. Screenings will begin at midnight.

The sour news is Attack of the Clones: The IMAX Experience, like director Ron Howard's biographical epic, “Apollo 13” (1995), before it and released on IMAX screens last month, will run 20 minutes shorter than the 143-minute version audiences and fans saw last summer. “Apollo 13”, which has a 140-minute running time on video and DVD also had 20 minutes cut for its IMAX presentation according to a 9/20/02 review by film critic Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times.

I suppose I should not blame the filmmakers. It is a known fact movies shown on IMAX projectors can only run 120 minutes or less. Hence the reason Disney does not have problems releasing films like “Fantasia 2000” and making such animated classics as Beauty and the Beast exclusive only to IMAX theaters. About everything in Mickey Mouse's video library run under the 90-minute mark. And as a result of the limited box office success of “Fantasia 2000” (1999) and “Beauty and the Beast” (1991), “The Lion King” (1994) will debut on IMAX screens Dec. 25 followed by “Aladdin” (1992) in 2004 before they head to DVD.

An IMAX print, as opposed to a theatrical one, is 58 inches in diameter and weighs 390 pounds according to an Oct. 11, 2002 feature story on Starwars.com called "Making It BIG: Episode II - The IMAX Experience" with the projector itself weighing in at two tons.

"It's the limit now," said Brian Bonnick, Vice President of Technology for IMAX Corporation who was quoted in the 10/11/02 online feature story. "We are actively developing a 150-minute solution that would be employed as an upgrade to the theaters in the future."

I have already seen Attack of the Clones, the theatrical version twice this summer. I would have loved to view it again just to see how it looks on an IMAX screen. The same would have gone for “Apollo 13”. But not at the cost of leaving scenes on the cutting room floor. I have browsed through the script of Clones and found a number of scenes cut (20 minutes of deleted footage appears on the Clones DVD).

I would have been happy if Episode II had run close to three hours which I think it should have (theater owners prefer to have films clock in or under a two-hour time frame so they can have more showings and thus make more money). I will get a three-hour epic when creator/director/screenwriter George Lucas re-edits episodes 1 through 6 for a special DVD edition due out before 2010. The as yet to-be-titled and reportedly final Star Wars prequel, Episode 3, is scheduled to open in theaters May 2005.

Or maybe I'll just wait for the folks at IMAX to come up with that "150-minute solution" so the father of Star Wars can show the entire series on a much larger screen. Now there's an IMAX experience I wouldn't mind sitting through!

So why should I pay to see an edited two-hour version of Clones at an IMAX theater when I'll be able to either rent or purchase the complete 143-minute theatrical version 12 days from now and enjoy the film in the privacy of my own home?

Is it so I can see a recklessly jealous teenager and love-struck Jedi apprentice, Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen), and his adopted father figure, Ben Kenobi (Ewan MacGregor), go after an assassin while on a high-flying, high-speed chase throughout the night skies of Coruscant? Or see the vast dark blue oceans of an alien water world where armies are being cloned to look like bounty hunter Boba Fett from episodes 4 through 6 (“Star Wars” (1977), “The Empire Strikes Back” (1980), “Return of the Jedi” - 1983) and who are a prelude to the Empire's stormtroopers?

Is it to see ships like the Slave 1 and a Jedi Starfighter do battle in an asteroid field? How about watching hundreds of Jedi Knights fight off battle droids and animated monsters inspired by special effects guru Ray Harryhausen who worked on such fantasy films as the Sinbad pictures and “Mysterious Island” (1961) in the 1950s and '60s? Perhaps it's to see a digitally enhanced, lightsaber welding Yoda throw down his wooden cane and do battle with bad guy Count Dooku (Christopher Lee).

I am willing to good bet those scenes aren't what's going to wind up on the cutting room floor.

The editing will "maintain the integrity of the story" said a Lucasfilm spokesperson according to a brief 9/16/02 article on theforce.net called "IMAX Clones Is Bigger But Shorter."

What will likely be sacrificed are those scenes that made fans moan and groan like the romantic subplot between Anakin and Padme (Natalie Portman) that some said slowed down the film's pacing. Perhaps the much-loathed digital character, Jar Jar Binks, who's barely in the film at all, won't even be seen until the final 30 minutes or so.

That alone will probably be enough to win fans over much the way some were won over by "The Phantom Edit"; an abbreviated version that appeared on the Internet shortly after Episode I: The Phantom Menace's debut that was shorter than the original 1999 theatrical 133-minute version. Some said the condensed version, which cuts a lot of the movie's silliness and several scenes featuring Jar Jar Binks, is better. (Lucas did not endorse the version which was done by someone without Lucasfilm’s permission).

Call it "The Clone Edit" for those who embrace Episode II - The IMAX Experience. I will not be surprised if after seeing the shorter version if some say it is as good as “The Empire Strikes Back”. The fact it will run 20 minutes shorter will not be enough to keep fans away from the box office. It is "the IMAX experience" they want to visually witness; special effects eye candy. Who cares about story content?

Well, I do actually.

I am not against releasing theatrical movies in IMAX format so long as everything that was in the original print is included in the IMAX presentation.

As one friend of mine told me, if the film wasn't made to be shown on an IMAX projector to begin with, then it shouldn't be shown in that format at all.

Perhaps at the beginning of each showing for IMAX's Clones, a statement should come up on a black screen whenever R rated movies are shown on network television that says, "This movie has been edited to fit the time frame allotted."

©10/30/02