Style over Substance

Rating: Null/10 (15 July 2002)

I'll admit that the title of my commentary may be a bit harsh.
But after the Phantom Menace fiasco, I was really expecting a much deeper, more complex film. The makings of a great drama are clearly there: the beginning of the end of Anakin / roots of Vader, the love story, the rise of the "Empire", the fall of the Republic, etc., etc.
I was expecting too much it seems. Let's start with the good points: the visual effects, as always, are simply stunning. The sound also makes for an amazing cinematic experience, it is really this "sensory ride" that everyone expects from the Star Wars franchise, and Attack does not fail to deliver on this point. At the same time, however, this visual / audio extravaganza almost takes away from getting more deeply involved in the film, the plot, the characters...(more on that later).
The screen presence of Ewan's Obi-Wan is truly superb and is matched only by Portman's strong performance. Hayden does a decent job, but ends up being too whiney - (I guess that runs in the adolescent Skywalker genes - a.k.a. Luke in the original Star Wars) - and actually despite the audiences expectation that he will fall to the dark side, his ability to portray a convincing conflict between the force and the dark side was disappointing. I think it would have been far more powerful if he was truly a rising Jedi with superior talent, a greatness that somehow falls to the dark side.

Instead, he is portrayed as a spoiled brat with an inflated sense of entitlement, yet there is no SUBSTANCE there (a recurring theme, hence my title). Wouldn't it have been far more powerful if he was a truly engaging, likeable leader who is ultimately destined to fall? As it is now, I almost want him to become the bad guy - its too easy - not complex enough - the viewer can handle this.
Furthermore, Senator Palpatine is clearly Darth Sidious - why make it so obvious - another case of giving substance to the wrong areas - why not make Anakin's character more complex, darker, yet great?
This comes back to Obi-Wan, the other Jedis and the Force in general. The force was such a central and critical theme to all of the "middle" trilogy Star Wars - why stray from this path? In fact, given the historical context in which the 1st trilogy plays out, shouldn't the Force not be an even greater "force" in these films? It seems to have become some kind of a "punch-line" like when Obi-Wan tell Anikan "may the force be with you" before his assignment. Disappointing.
Finally, the love story. I thought that for a few scenes, the film was going to cut to a digital version of the Sound of Music and a bunch of aliens would come busting out of the hills singing "Doe a Deer" - NO!! If you want a simple lesson on how to portray a tense love story develop within the context of a SciFi - you don't have to go far - watch Empire Strikes Back and the scenes between Han Solo and Leia put the ones from Clones to utter shame.
*** minor spoiler alert ***
On the lighter side, it was great to see Yoda in action, but I have another slight complaint here: Master Yoda is clearly revered as the most powerful Jedi, now when he comes up against Count Dooku (who is not even the "Master" equivalant) he actually puts up a "draw" against Yoda - to make the math stack up, Yoda should actually wipe the floor with Dooku...
Finally, it was great seeing R2 and 3PO back in action, so all is not lost!

In all, a decent film, that somehow got lost in all of the minor subplots and digitalization: this trilogy should get back to its roots: the Force, the Dark Side, the conflict between good and evil, the relationships between Master and apprentice, friends and enemies, the Yin and Yang philosophy that has made the first trilogy classics.