This is a Resurfaced review written in 2002 or earlier. For more information, please visit this link: Resurfaced Reviews.

Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones

Rating

Director

George Lucas

Screenplay

George Lucas, Jonathan Hales

Length

2h 22m

Starring

Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Hayden Christensen, Christopher Lee, Samuel L. Jackson, Frank Oz, Ian McDiarmid, Pernilla August, Temuera Morrison, Jimmy Smits

MPAA Rating

PG

Review

The most successful film franchise in history offers up its latest chapter to adoring fans across the world. “Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones” is the fifth film in the series, but tells the second chapter of the story.

A crucial vote in the Senate sees Senator Amidala (Natalie Portman) return to Coruscant and a threat on her life. The threat has sponsored a request to have Jedi protect the senator. Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) and Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) are assigned to protect her. Separatists have threatened the empire and Supreme Chancellor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) wants to create an army to combat them.

After a late night assassination attempt is thwarted, Obi-Wan and Anakin pursue a wayward assassin attempting to discover who she’s working for. They discover a secret facility where clones are being manufactured as a war brigade. Anakin is sent to accompany Amidala safely back to Naboo and Obi-Wan begins a long investigation to the assassins and this mysterious clone army.

“Attack of the Clones” seems a very unwieldy title for a film that most thought would delve more into the Clone Wars, but indeed merely sets up the third film in that respect. While the title is still abysmal, it’s certainly more appropriate to the film than the Clone Wars title would have been.

Name aside, the movie was fast-paced and full of wonderful effects. There were some modestly bad moments in the visual effects, but overall an improvement over the childishness of “Episode I.” He acting did not improve much. With the loss of Liam Neeson at the end of “The Phantom Menace,” the acting improved only slightly. On the light side, Samuel L. Jackson is one of the better performers in the film as the Jedi Master Mace Windu. Christensen is weak and lacks the ability to endear the audience to him. His romantic scenes with Portman aren’t good and even Portman finds it hard to keep a straight face. McGregor comes down off his excellent work in “Moulin Rouge” to give a solid, but underwhelming performance as Anakin’s master.

On the dark side, the force is powerful among the performances. McDiarmid is good as Palpatine, having three previous outings in the role. Temuera Morrisson as Jango Fett, the father of infamous Boba Fett, is solid though a touch overt. Child actor Daniel Logan appears as his son Boba and does significantly better than Jake Lloyd did in the ‘kid’ role in “The Phantom Menace” as young Anakin. The true powerhouse in “Episode II” is Christopher Lee as the mysterious Count Dooku. His mischievous, cruel venom drips over every inch of his performance. Unlike Jeremy Irons whose villains in films like “Dungeons and Dragons” and “The Time Machine” have become trite and over the top, Lee keeps his cool and adapts his style to that of the film and keeps from overexerting himself. This is evident in his two major roles as a villain in two major film series, “Star Wars” and “Lord of the Rings” where he plays the powerful wizard Saruman the White, two excellent roles that bare his evil glare, but also display his powerful acting prowess.

The acting makes up small part of the film’s overall technical merit. It is the most important part of the film outside of the plot, which has to be perpetuated by the performances. The rest of the film’s technical potential falls in the hands of its visual effects artists, designers and editors. The visual effects are spectacular. There are a couple of weak points in the effects, but overall they are truly exceptional. The overall production design is wonderful, with a more diverse exploration of the architectural beauty of Coruscant; the mysterious new oceanic planet for the cloners; and the desert landscape of Tatooine. The costumes aren’t nearly as spectacular as in previous films, but still create a unique, otherworldly environment.

The weakest part of the film outside of the acting is in the script. While a dozen different chains to the first trilogy are linked into “Episode II,” the romantic relationship between Amidala and Skywalker is uninteresting and filled with trite dialogue. Indeed much of the film is filled with cliched statements and unoriginal thoughts. The only dialogue that doesn’t feel false is Yoda’s traditional tidbits of wisdom.

“Attack of the Clones” is an adventurous, action-packed film that will delight “Star Wars” fans of all ages. It easily surpasses “Episode I” and “Return of the Jedi,” but doesn’t quite eclipse “The Empire Strikes Back.” Now that director George Lucas has recaptured the attention of his “Star Wars” fanbase and made up for his misstep with “Episode I,” fans will certainly be standing in line even longer in 2005 when “Episode III” is released.

Awards Prospects

Not a likely contender in the music category as it is basically a recycled score and editing and cinematography are basically out. The acting will receive no notice and the only things that even have a chance are Costume Design, Art Direction, Makeup, Sound, Sound Effects and Visual Effects.

Review Written

May 22, 2002