Gushing in spite of myself. SPOILERS!

Rating: Null/10 (6 July 2002)

About a month prior to the opening of AOC, a local theater ran ALL of the prior Star Wars movies over the space of a weekend. This put me in a state of happy expectation for Attack of the Clones, although I had an opportunity to be reminded of how disappointing TPM was. On first viewing I found AOC to be visually overwhelming and complex to the point of incoherence. I've seen it a few more times since and I keep enjoying it more. Lucas has not succeeded at recreating the pristine splendor of what is now called "Episode I"; the beauty and simplicity of that movie has been supplanted by overly-complex yet banal plotting, and and stupifyingly ornate costumes, creatures and special effects. I find it irritating that George Lucas (or his creative droids) keep needing to perform damage control in order to maintain that the entire series was written before Episode IV was produced. This is so blatantly a fiction-- wish George would just own up to it. Maybe he had a basic plot in mind, but the continuity problems are just so manifest that it is impossible that he had it completed back then. In fact, I've read that Lucas changes the plot continually, and substantially, in the midst of filming and post-production. Who cares when it was written?

In spite of all of these criticisms, I love the movie and consider it to be among the best of the SW series. Hayden Christensen just does a great job as the impetuous, imperfect, immature Jedi fated to bring about the great galactic cleansing that will take place in Episode III. I find myself spinning out fantasies in which Anakin and Amidala can fulfill their need for each other without bringing destruction to each other, the Jedi order and the galaxy itself. I think one of the things that AOC does best is present the terrible dilemma that faces them against the backdrop of the cosmic disorder facing the entire galaxy. Although the acting is stilted and the dialogue sometimes almost bizarre ("I don't like sand. It's not like you . . soft and smooth . . . ") and although Anakin is sometimes insufferably self-absorbed and Padme an unbearable ice-queen, the romance in the story is really wonderful, heartfelt (at least on Anakin's side of things), a key plot element rather than a gratuitous sidebar.
And I like the return of the one-liners, which were so absent from TPM.
It is messy and flawed, but with more than enough great performances (Ewan MacGregor, Christopher Lee) and scenes (the Jedi archives, the dawn scene with Anakin alone on the balcony, Anakin's return to Tatooine, the battle with Jango Fett) to make it worth several viewings.