SWTOTD SWTOTD 02 - Mace Windu is a jerk 8:02 PM | Zeroplate When I heard Samuel L. Jackson would be playing a Jedi in the prequels, I like many others assumed this would be the coolest, most badass Jedi performance ever. The fact that Windu doesn't even seem to have a lightsaber in The Phantom Menace didn't deter excitement that once the Clone Wars started, we'd see the Shaft come out in Jackson's performance as he whupped up on some clones. George Lucas then interestingly pulled the rug out. The clones aren't the enemies of the Jedi in the clone wars, in fact they are the Jedi's allies. Windu does get some great action shots during the battle on Geonosis, but he's still overwhelmed by droids and bugs and we never get to see him busting out the cocky, wise-cracking smart-assness that we all wanted to see. But I think there's a method to Lucas' madness, and it's this: Mace Windu is the epitome of Jedi life; he's immensely powerful, his use of the force is unmatched, he's wise and he's a great presence to be around. But in all that, he has lost his humanity. The Jedi order calls for its followers to have no attachements, not to things or people. They are essentially Buddhist Monks... with swords. Maybe the most apt analogy would be to the Shaolin Monks who follow a rigorous regemine of spirtual as well as martial training. They are skilled combatants, sworn protectors, and avid followers, but they live up on a mountain away from the real world, its real people, and real troubles. I get the sense that the Jedi have gone virtually unchecked for so long that they have become somewhat complacent, arrogant even as Yoda alludes to, and they no longer have any real opposition or reason to exist. A few bounty hunters here and there might pick off a Jedi or three, but for the most part, the monks dedicate their lives to this path that is ultimately meaningless because it requires them to lose all connection with the real world. Sure, they can sense thoughts and lift things with the force, and they are connected to the world in a very literal way through the force, but they are so emotionally distant that they don't see what's going on. And Mace Windu is the KING of emotionally distant. Watch the arena battle scene on Geonosis and it's clear that Windu is all business. He dispatches droids without a though, bugs likewise, and he separates the galaxy's most feared bounty hunter from his head without breaking stride. When he turns to the camera, there's a brief moment of what looks like reflection that he's had to take a life, but he never fully embraces any sort of feeling as he goes on deflecting laser blasts. Despite his claim earlier in the film, he's a perfect soldier because he is duty-bound and perfectly trained. I just get the sense that he doesn't really care about any of it--that he's going through the motions because it is his duty and not because he wants Anakin and Padme to live because he likes them as people. Windu is a stoic in the classical sense, and he's only got one movie left in which to shine, but in which we're almost certain to see him killed. One of my great hopes is that the Mace Windu character gets used in the story to demonstrate why the Jedi are about to fall--that his disconnection from people winds up being one of the reasons that no one saw that Palpatine was the emperor. At the end of it all, I want to like Mace Windu because he's still got the potential to be the biggest badass to ever weild a lightsaber (Uma Thurman notwithstanding), but as of now, he's just kind of a jerk. Back to Top {0} Comments

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