Star Wars (Prequel)
Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Episode II: Attack Of The Clones
Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith
Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones -
Overview
Positives
Negatives
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Brief Review
After the mediocrity of Phantom Menace, Lucas returns for Episode II: Attack Of The Clones. Taking onboard all the criticism from Phantom Menace, the quality overall is a lot better but there's still a few issues throughout. Between an unrealistic CGI Yoda lightsaber battle and the forced romance scenes between Padme and Anakin, the real gem here is watching Obi-Wan who steps up to the mark and is the stand-out actor in the film.
Full Review
Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones is a film that improves on its predecessor, Phantom Menace, but still has some pretty bad mistakes throughout. The film takes place roughly ten years after the first film and Anakin is no longer an annoying hyperactive child but a darker and more emotion-driven young adult. Anakin is played fantastically and his lines are delivered well on the whole. His character in Attack Of The Clones is exactly what was needed in Phantom Menace. Fair play to George Lucas for finding an actor that finally can portray Anakin Skywalker for how a lot of people perceived him to be.
The story is much improved from Menace with the main plot being about the assassination attempt on Queen Amidala (now Senator Amidala). This quickly unfolds into chasing a bounty hunter, Jango Fett, across the galaxy and finally uncovering the sinister plot underneath it all on Geonosis and the Droid Factory. What makes the story so good is the contrast between Anakin and Obi-Wan, which I'll explain now.
Obi-Wan Kenobi is spot on here with improved acting from Menace and really steals the show. His scenes are the most engrossing and enjoyable to watch and his balance of humour, passion and seriousness is well portrayed and makes his character more fleshed out. Anakin, on the other hand, is more interesting to watch because of his internal struggles. This film is the very start of his path to the dark side and sets the scene perfectly for Episode III. His love scenes with Padme though are cringing to watch and are acted awkwardly, with the two actors not quite gelling together, breaking the illusion of true love.
The other problem with these scenes is that the age gap between Padme and Anakin seems to be non-existant now. Padme looks like she hasn't aged a day and Anakin is now a young adult compared to the little kid he portrayed in Menace. This really threw me in this film and made the scenes, in my opinion, even more awkward to watch.
The drab mediocrity of Menace doesn't trickle into this film with the improved action and more engaging scenes to watch. The chase across the asteroid field is good but has nothing on Empire Strikes Back that performs exactly the same thing, just ten times better. There's a lot of influences from other films here and its interesting to see how Lucas has put them all together, even if it isn't that original.
The annoying presence of Jar Jar Binks is at last gone with about 5 minutes of airtime for the annoying alien. In this respect its good to see Lucas taking on board the fans' opinions and considering the character is one of the most hated in the Star Wars universe, its good to see that he isn't anywhere to be found here. Most of the other characters are pretty standard and don't stand out, with more lines for Yoda and Mace Windu which is good as they are good here. The inclusion of more Jedi to the main plot is always a good sight and the big fight at the end is brilliantly done. The other stand-out actor that I must mention is Senator Palpatine that plays his role to perfection. His scenes are passionate and delivered with such force that he steals the scenes from every other actor there.
As I mentioned before the end fight scene is excellent and the CGI is just right. The Geonosis Arena is a fantastic setting and once the fight gets going, the cuts are delivered at a breathtaking pace. After the brilliant fight in the Arena, an inevitable lightsaber duel breaks out between Dooku and some of the Jedi. With Anakin and Obi-Wan the fight is fantastic but the real scene-ruiner is when Yoda walks in. His unrealistic flips, spins and speedy counters are so unrealistic to the fragile, wise Jedi we've all come to love, that it sucks the life out the scenes and make you go "Oh...really?" The over-done CGI also doesn't help and I was just happy when the fight ended.
The music does its job but to be honest there's nothing that really sticks out and no future-anthems to be seen. The music is done well though and especially the music during the love and chase scenes which are perfect for the setting.
Attack Of The Clones is a big improvement from Menace but only because that film was so mediocre. The film is good and chugs along at a decent pace but this story is really used to show the love between Padme and Anakin which, unfortunately, isn't anywhere near good enough and makes the audience feel awkward. The special effects are good but in some places are over-done which is a shame but the overall story is a big improvement from Menace. The real talking point here though, is Obi-Wan's acting which is brilliant and the mass-Jedi battle at the end which is brilliant.
3 and 3/4 Stars for Attack Of The Clones is a fair score which is reflected in the better standard of acting compared to Menace and the overall quality increase. However, the poor love scenes, over-used CGI and unrealistic Yoda lightsaber battle drag the score down. The finale is good and all the scenes with Obi-Wan are excellent but the rest of the film is just pretty standard.