Bad dialogue, great imagery

Rating: Null/10 (22 January 2003)

"Star Wars: Episode II" finally gets around to hinting at what is to come in Episodes IV-VI. After about an hour, it starts looking, sounding and feeling like classic "Star Wars" - about the time Anakin Skywalker goes looking for the Tusken Raiders who kidnapped his mother, and Lucas frames his parting with Padme in shadow. Cue the original theme from "A New Hope" (blended with the villainous themes from "Phantom Menace") and you have the sense that Episode II is a blend of all of the ideas, conflicts and thematic elements from the whole series, setting us up for the final battles in Episode III.
In one sense, I love this movie for what it is: another chapter in an overarching saga, one more brick in the wall of a much-beloved master-myth. In another, it is a bad, bad, bad, almost incompetent film. The dialogue is obvious, labored and atrocious, existing only to speed the plot from one development to another (and written, irritatingly enough, in the passive voice and in past tense!).
But isn't it beside the point to complain about the dialogue (and the wooden acting ) in ANY "Star Wars" movie? Shakespeare, after all, did not write these films, nor did Quentin Tarantino or Paul Schrader or David Mamet or any of a dozen screenwriters better than Lucas. NO "Star Wars" film contains decent acting; "Return of the Jedi" is downright deplorable in that department. So why spend so much time concentrating on the new film's most glaring flaws? It's like complaining about the lack of digital special effects in "The Godfather."
We go to "Star Wars" to experience other worlds and see strange, beautiful, frightening, awe-inspiring sights. "Episode II" delivers. It is a catalogue of new planets, new settings and new situations that expand the "Star Wars" universe. The final 40 minutes or so - the Clone War and the lightsaber duels - are captivating entertainment, and on a screen, this movie rattles the senses.
As great drama, "Attack of the Clones" ranks far behind Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" adaptations. But as vital, spectacular, entertaining escapist fantasy, it is the equal of anything out there - vastly more important than any of the comic-book hero adaptations we've seen in recent years. So, despite the awful dialogue and the even worse performances, I'll still take the "Star Wars" saga over Harry Potter, Star Trek and Men In Black, any day of the week.