The Force Needs Character

Rating: 7/10 (16 May 2002)

Well, this film can be reviewed as two seperate movies, really. One is a visual treat on a level never before seen in the cinema. The other is a character play that clunks along like cinematic artereosclerosis.
Fans who hope for an "improvement" on "Phantom Menace" may be thinking quite a bit over "Clones". The story continues to be an explanation of the first trilogy rather than a story on its own. It reads like a backstory. The implication is always that the first three films are the reverential material, and "Clones" (along with "Menace") is merely the prolog. Consequently, none of the characters have any of the charm that the first films had. This is a problem that will persist into "Episode III". It is a major dramatic weakness that no amount of special effects can cure.
Hayden Christensen does his best to present a conflicted Anakin. The character has to play against a continuing wooden Ewan McGregor, who has yet to capture the gravitas of Alec Guinness. Christensen also has to contend with Nathalie Portman and convince the audience that we should believe and care that the two are falling in love. I don't. I can understand Anakin's obsession, but not Portman as the object of it. In order to be three dimensional and empathetic, one must be more than an object. And there's that lack-of-charm thing again.
Lucas has repeatedly said that this prequel triology is meant to find an echo with the first three. Obi Wan is Obi Wan, Anakin is the Luke replacement, Amidala is the Lea replacement, Jar Jar is the Chewbacca replacement, jango Fett is the Boba replacement, and so on. Where's the Han Solo replacement, the "rogish" character that personified the charm of the first three films? It isn't there.
The story itself could be compelling, but is bogged down again by explication. Apart from a pretty good car chase scene in the first quarter of the movie, nothing really happens. The plot revolves around an assassination attempt on Senator Amidalla, but we the audience never get a sense of urgency because we don't care about her. The only interesting thing is the tension between Obi Wan and Anakin, and if anything, we empathize with Anakin. Obi Wan is a priggish ass.
I'm not quite sure what to make of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Yoda". It seems to me that his inability to perceive Palpatine's machinations, along with his generalling at the end of the film is out of character. But it got a good laugh (one of the few the audience had).Personally, I would like to have seen more seducing between Palpatine and Anakin, and this promises to be the one true character play of this trilogy.
Now, let's look at the other film: the visuals. Nothing on this scale has ever been seen in the cinema. The digital video photography is almost on par with celluloid. Almost. The only fault is the washed out palette when the filming moves into sunlight. The definition is as good as traditional 35mm, and signals a final death knell for the latter medium. Technical Oscar for ILM.
The production design is what one would expect from Lucasfilm. Apart from nods to Bladerunner, Metropolis and Gladiator (to name a few) the vistas are magnificent and well worth seeing the movie over again.
All things considered, though, when I left the theatre today, I wanted to load my VCR with some recent tapes of "Enterprise" and watch characters I really care about. The story might be a little smaller in scale, but "Birth of the Federation" is a more interesting story than "Birth of the Empire".