More FX and Yoda with a lightsaber. So how good is it?

Rating: 7/10 (19 May 2002)

I like Star Wars. I'm not a Star Wars nerd who collect everything about it, but I love the films. I loved the original trilogy and disliked Episode 1. I went into "Attack of the Clones" expecting an okay movie, more or less. Now that I saw it, I can say it's on par with "Return of the Jedi". On par but just a few notch under it.
*This Review may contain spoilers, read at your own risk*
The main attraction of this film are the FX, of course. I doubt there is even one scene which wasn't even a little digitally altered. The background, spaceships, creatures and even digital humans are breathtaking. However, the best part of this special effects fest is the last 40 minutes, which consist an epic war involving Jedi and Clones fighting against Droids is simply heartstopping, immediately followed by the final battle opposing Count Dooku and the great Jedi master Yoda in a lighsaber fight. And Yoda kick butts.
The other part of the movie which I liked is the great score by John Williams. In this Star Wars, he does a great job of recycling previous songs, including, of course, the Star Wars theme, the Darth Vader theme and "Duel of the Fates"(you know, the theme that play during the Darth Maul fight at the end of Episode 1.). They all fit well and sound spectacular.
This film also has fault, and even maybe too many for non-Star Wars fan. The acting is average, sometimes too stiff and so is the direction, which is very straightfoward except for a few bright moments. The story move too fast to have enough emotion or momentum. It's like George Luca guessed that the average American has an attention span of two minutes. The last problem is that George Luca can't write about love. The love story between Padme and Anakin is a cliche full of cheesy lines(What's with Anakin comparing Padme to sand?).
In the end, it come down to this: you'll like Star Wars Episode 2 either if you're a fan of the serie or if you like spectacular effect. But overall it's much overrated.