Much better than Epi I, a Galaxy away from "Empire"

Rating: 6/10 (14 May 2002)

After the jar-jarred "Phantom Menace", the fifth "Star Wars"-installment is a huge step in the right direction, but still a long way from "The Empire Strikes Back". "Attack of the Clones" has lots of action, but it's never really moving in any way. It has lots of visual effects and perhaps the most sophisticated sound effects ever, but the love for details shown in these departments is sadly missed when it comes to characters and story. That's nothing really new with the "Star Wars"-movies, but it's sad in this case, where beauty and greatness could have been easy to achieve. Part of the reason for that is the shallowness of Hayden Christensen, who doesn't have enough to offer in order to let us believe he's suffering - let alone the ability of sharing his turmoil. Natalie Portman is way over Christensen's head when it comes to acting, and it would have required a really good actor like Tobey Maguire to make those love scenes work.
Since those emotional scenes do not work the way one hoped for, the cross cutting between Anakin's story and Obi Wan's adventures doesn't have the zip of the crosscutting in "Empire Strikes Back", where you had Leia and Han Solo fooling around on one level, and Yoda teaching Luke on the other. That worked really wonderful. Then again, "Empire" still is the only great "Star Wars"-movie, and therefore I start to wonder whether that film was a "mistake".