Better than Phantom Menace, but still not great

Rating: 6/10 (13 May 2002)

I'm going to try to keep spoilers to a minimum, so bear with me, but if you want to know absolutely nothing about this film, then please refrain from reading any further.
I saw Attack of the Clones today in a sneak preview, and I went in knowing next to nothing about the film, since I have avoided watching previews or reading articles about it. Overall, I thought the movie was better than The Phantom Menace, but still not as good as any of the first Trilogy. In the most basic structure, the plot is almost exactly the same as The Phantom Menace. The dialogue, while better, is still very stilted, especially in the romance scenes. Lucas conveys character development issues by dialogue rather than through actions or acting. The romance between Anakin and Amidala seems very forced, and makes no sense given what occurs in the film. It seems less of a romance and more of a stalking. It was not believable, and detracted from the later scenes.
Hayden Christensen did as well as could be expected, given the dialogue, but he came off more whiny than charismatic. Unfortunately, he seems to be the thematic heir to Jake Lloyd from the previous movie. And again, his transformation to the Dark Side is overly telegraphed. It would have been more subtle if Lucas had written the dialogue on a piece of paper, taped that paper to a large brick, tied that brick to a sledgehammer, and then hit you across the face with it. There is no subtlety or interpretation to the character, and nothing is left up to the audience.
Plot points are delivered in the same nonsensical fashion. I don't want to give away any details here, so let me instead use a made-up example to illustrate one of the more irritating aspects of the plot: Let's say a secret agent breaks in to the villain's lair, discovers a piece of vital information, then sneaks out. Would you expect that secret agent to then sneak away so he can relay the information in secret? Or would you expect him to stand ten feet outside the doorway to the villain's lair and broadcast the information to his home base at the top of his lungs over a speakerphone? Unfortunately, you find characters essentially doing the latter at several points in this movie. Other characters make glaringly stupid and shortsighted decisions, all so you can moan and groan about how their plans are being played against them. I would much rather see intelligent, well-written characters who struggle, than see poorly-written characters forced to make bad decisions, just to move the plot along.
Now, on to the good points! The action in this movie is fantastic, and the effects are mostly seamless. There are a few examples of "gee, look what we can do with computer graphics!", but for the most part, everything fits together well. Amazingly well. The final battle is worth the price of admission alone, and is head and shoulders above anything in The Phantom Menace. The sheer computing horsepower on display is astounding. The battles and scenery are done well, the characters look great, and the design is good, with a few minor exceptions. And as others have written, the Jedi battles are first-rate. If only they were wrapped around a better story.... And one more note on the battles: There is one part near the end that is something everyone has always wanted to see (if you've seen the movie, you know what I'm talking about), but it came off kind of campy. Maybe others liked it (and I did too, in a way), but it just seemed a bit much. But honestly, I don't know what they could have done to improve it.
I have seen a lot of comments about this movie saying things like "Lucas has redeemed himself," or "This is the Star Wars fans have been waiting for!" I think these people are overcompensating for the disappointment of The Phantom Menace. I honestly don't see how you can praise Anakin's character development, or the complexity of the plot. The plot is a rehash of the first movie, and the character development is for the most part portrayed by the dialogue. And frankly, I don't buy the emotional development of Amidala's character at all. I can't say more without giving away plot details, but I honestly can't see how the romance could possibly bloom, especially given how Anakin's character develops. I'm sorry for all the fans who were expecting a great redemption of Lucas from Episode I, but you're not going to find it here.
My rating: 6 out of 10, or one notch above Liked It (8 out of 13) by the old Movie Critic scale.