Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones Movie Review

Released: May 16th 2002

Length: 142 Minutes

Certificate: PG

Director: George Lucas

Starring: Hayden Christensen, Natalie Portman, Ewan Mcgregor, Ian Mcdiarmid, Anthony Daniels, Temuera Morrison, and Christopher Lee

The Phantom Menace was a strong success financially, something which mostly came down to the massive hype surrounding it; yet despite the mixed reactions to the film in 1999, fans nevertheless remained hopeful for the middle chapter of the prequel trilogy. Episode II marked the moment we were introduced to Anakin Skywalker as a young man, the form he possessed before falling to the dark side. While Attack of the Clones does make some minor improvements, scars that remain from the first film still hold it back.

Attack of the Clones picks up ten years after Episode I; tensions are rising in the Republic with several races and planets leaving to form the Separatist movement. With a massive droid army at their disposal, both the Galactic Senate and the Jedi Council are concerned that war is approaching. Whilst this political struggle is going on, Anakin Skywalker, deep in training under Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan Mcgregor) grows closer to Padme Amidala; (Natalie Portman) he is assigned to protect her from assassination while his master attempts to investigate who ordered the hit. From the offset, it’s clear that there’s a lot more going on here and while Episode II still has its moments of boring, drawn out scenes, most notably the scenes with Anakin and Padme, it does a better job of breaking these up with more action packed moments. From the city chase through Coruscant to the brief showdown between Obi-Wan and Jango Fett, much of the action feels much more extravagant and sustained than Episode I. Not only that, but you can see the strings of the Chancellor’s plans slowly coming to fruition with the entrance of the Clone Army and his careful manipulation of the Senate. In its latter half, Episode II begins a build-up process, laying the foundations for something which culminates in the Clone Wars and the film’s sequel Revenge of the Sith; this is greatly personified with Anakin losing his mother to the Tusken Raiders around halfway into the film. We can feel the seeds of anger growing within him and this gives the audience a first glimpse into the gradual downfall of the character. Much like The Phantom Menance, Episode II explodes into action towards the end, only this time working to incorporate in more characters and factions into the proceedings.

While the narrative has taken a step forward or two, the characters unfortunately have not. The most glaring flaws in the cast this time come through Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman respectively. This really is some of the most awkward, forced and clichéd romantic dialogue that has ever been put on film; it’s impossible to believe or take their so called “romance” seriously and yet it takes up a good portion of the film, distracting from the far better done action scenes. Hayden Christensen isn’t a particularly bad actor; I’ve seen him give a strong performance in Shattered Glass, but here the material given to him drags the film down from good to simply average. What exacerbates things here is that he’s the main protagonist, the one person that we’re supposed to root for. How can we do this when he’s constantly alternating between dull emotionless dialogue and moaning at people? For every moment of genuine emotion, there are five which fall flat. Thankfully, the other characters are again present to make up for things; McGregor’s performance is great once again, creating a believable and varied portrayal of Obi-Wan. The Jedi Council isn’t just sitting around in this film; they have a more realised participation in Episode II. The final member of the cast is Christopher Lee as Count Dooku, who brings a relatively good performance with subdued conversation and solid swordplay to the film; considering that he’s introduced towards the film’s final act, I only wish he was given more to do.

Building on what was established in its predecessor, Episode II continues to introduce more diverse planets and locations to the series; the water soaked cloning labs of Kamino have a particularly gloomy atmosphere to them and on the opposite side of the coin we have Geonosis, a run-down, dusty and gritty setting which serves a strong backdrop to the opening battle of the Clone Wars. We are also given a wider insight into the Jedi temple on Coruscant and go further afield in Naboo; it’s a strong step towards creating a greater scale and more far reaching worlds. These newer planets are accompanied by an expanded selection of theme songs which are swapped seamlessly depending on the location. While the computer effects worked into every shot still aren’t the best in class, there are far fewer moments where characters are shoved in front of the camera, lessening the negative impact they had previously. With a few tentative steps forward in presentation, Attack of the Clones can make a stronger claim to immerse the audience, something which would be much improved in Episode III.

Attack of the Clones is really a film of two halves; one made of frantic, fast paced action sequences and the other riddled with painfully stiff and pretentious “romantic chemistry”. It succeeds at standing above The Phantom Menace, but that isn’t really saying much when you consider how flawed the two central leads are. Just as the film sits in the middle of the prequel trilogy, it does the same in terms of overall quality.

Rating: 2.5/5 Stars