Big wide smile

Rating: 9/10 (18 May 2002)

I saw this movie last night, May 17th, and although I was a bit unsure about it´s quality, i left the theater wild and happy. - SOME SPOILERS -
Attack of the Clones kicks off with an assassination attempt on Queen Amidala, and the sense of danger sets the tone for the first few scenes, as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker are chosen to protect Amidala. Another attempt at the queen´s life, and the movie enters it´s real story, as Obi-Wan searches for an unknown bounty hunter, and Anakin stays behind to guard and protect Amidala, while at the same time falling more and more in love with her.
I´ve seen people criticizing the film´s love story, but I think it fits perfectly with the movie. It allows it to start slow and build up into the action-fest that is the ending. Anakin´s change is pretty visible in the movie, and my favorite scene is definitely when he travels through Tatooine searching for Shmi, and the slaughter that followed. Hayden Christensen IS Anakin Skywalker, and some of his lines gave me shivers. The rest of the cast is pretty good too, with Ewan McGregor growing more and more into a young Alec Guiness, his good humor came as a breath of fresh hair for some of the scenes. Natalie Portman, Samuel Jackson, Christopher Lee, they all play their parts well, and I enjoyed watching Natalie´s character becoming a bit like Leia from the Original Trilogy.
That´s also an important part of the movie, as it is filled with references and explanations of myths and stories of the original movies, including Boba Fett, the whole creation of the Stormtroopers, how Anakin came to lose his arm, and just how exactly does Yoda fight (As everyone else said, he KICKS ASS!) and many more. Those moments were the best for me, as being a fan of the movies, I was thrilled to discover more and recognize certain events, and I saw them with a big wide smile, happy because the movie truly returned the feeling that the original trilogy gave me (something that The Phantom Menace, even if not has bad has many have said, was never able to do).
This is definitely a movie for the fans, but is very open for casual viewers too. Go see it now!