Star Wars: Attack of the Clones (Episode II)

Attack of the Clones

The 1st hours drags. I found Hayden Christensen's acting to be awkward and painful and unnatural. I could not root for him at all, even when beset by tragedy (which was handled so clusily by the script and the convenient timing of it all and sheer lack of logical progression within the story, plus the casual shierking of his Jedi duties made me roll my eyes. The writing for Anakin's character is perfunctionary, not relevatory, a mistake that Lucas and Hale make in this film. Sure, the fans know the backstory, but actually seeing it unfold was unimpressive in my eyes to the script and timeline.

I did like what they did with Padme's character in that she does become a fighter within the framework of the story, which will lead her to a prominent position in the leadership of the rebel forces in the next film. Obiwan's "James Bond" secret agent sidestory as he discovers the truth of the clones is remarkably goofy and implausible (but you just go with it to get to the meat of the story). He did not did a good job with grounding the foundation of Anakin into the order of the Jedi, perhaps they are right, Anakin was too old, too wild to become a Jedi, a mistake that will cost the Republic.

Mace Windu was more or less wasted in this film, I know no more of him than I did from the 1st film. Yoda was a revelation in the second half. Jar Jar was understated, but his speech pattern is still pretty painful to listen to (but I miss the more exhuberant Jar Jar from the first film). The main villian introduced is Count Dooku, flat out horrible name for a villain. Everytime his name was spoken I mentally inserted "Dookie" and had to laugh. Dooku as a character/villain was a force to be reckon with, though.

The 2nd hour had more action, and tons more CGI and explosions, but I didn't get the urgency of the situation at hand, the tension was never ratcheted up a few notches in the various confrontations and battles within the conflict. I think the problem is knowing who will live and who will die leads to the inability to provide the dramatic tension within the 2nd hour to make it
memorable.

I don't think there's that one great moment in this film, it plays a bit too even, a bit too safe, without a truly awesome turning point.

I thought the music was too intrusive in the film in many spots.

I did enjoy the interplay of R2D2 and C3P0 (did they meet in Episode I?). C3P0 is quite funny in the 2nd hour during the battle.

I give the film a grade of B- or 2.75 stars out of 4.