The second episode is worse than the first.

Rating: 2/10 (14 August 2002)

Note: I have never been a diehard star wars fan. Sure I know the storyline and read Timothy Zahn's excellent follow-up trilogy to the first movie trilogy, but I simply enjoyed the first trilogy. I saw it when I was 15 so there was no real kid nostalgia in it for me. When I heard the prologue trilogy was going to be filmed, I was thrilled, expecting to get an entertaining storyline, beautiful cinematography and just plain fun.

After seeing the phantom menace, I was slightly disappointed. The action was good, the storyline was okay, the real problem was the abundance of flat characters. Jake Lloyd portrayal of Anakin didn't work for me, it is a tough role to play and it is hard for a kid to bring depth into a character. The characters seemed only to be there for the flow of the story and didn't seem to have any real emotions or interests. This was a pity, but still the movie was amusing to see.
***SPOILERS*** story arcs: 1. The pavement is laid for Anakin's fall 2. The love story between Padme and Anakin 3. The making of a clone army 4. The creation of a robot army 5. The disintegration of the council.
1st storyline We have to be informed that Anakin Skywalker is a troubled soul. For some reason Anakin hasn't been able to free his enslaved mother since episode I, which is odd. I am sure a powerful organisation as the Jedi council could help to free the mother of their most promising student, just for his peace of mind. This however is not necessary, since she is sold to a nice man, who eventually marries her. She later gets kidnapped by Tuskan raiders and dies, when Anakin attempts a rescue. Following this he kills the entire village of Tuskan raiders. His training as a Jedi doesn't go much better. Obi-Wan is a very condescending teacher. With all that Jedi wisdom, I had expected a more constructive teaching method. We never see any of the teachings, so nobody can really understand what a Jedi training is except when you graduate you can do all kind of nifty moves. This was done better in episode V. So we see Anakin following Obi-Wan around and not being allowed to have any initiative. Anakin is annoyed and starts to act like he is Mr. pitiful. Anakin than forsakes all his teachings to commit some genocide. All right, later he points out that he is somewhat uneasy about that choice of action. The problem with this storyline is it is too much emphasised and overstated. I don't need to hear three times that Anakin is not allowed to grow to his full potential. I don't need the guilt dialogue. A little more subtlety could do the trick.
2nd storyline. The dialogue is mental torture. The dialogue coming out of the actors mouths are the most corny, cliché and infantile swamping of words put together. It may have beautiful backgrounds and the actors try to squeeze out some emotion, but I noticed most people in the cinema wishing the scene to end.
3rd storyline is necessary. There is a threat of a clone army and someone has to find out about it. In comes Obi-Wan-Kenobi, he knocks on the door. `Is there a clone army here? ' `Yes there is a clone army here. We have been making it for you for some time now.' There is no acting in this whatsoever. We are just presented with one item of information, followed by an action sequence leading to the 4th storyline. The insertion of Jango Fett is fun, since we can have a look at young Boba, but of no real importance whatsoever.
4th storyline. There isn't much difference between this one and the clone army story arc. Obi-Wan-Kenobi visits this time covertly and finds another army.
5th storyline is dealt with lightly. It is of no importance for the rest of the movie, but has to be shown to understand what happens in episode III.

***END SPOILERS***
Hayden Christensen does a valuable attempt at acting. He tries to show a range of emotions and that his portrayal fails, is not thanks to him, but thanks to the awful script and dialogue.
Ewan Mcgregor has been given a very shallow character. We do not get to know him at all or feel anything for him. The only thing he does is act condescending to Anakin and he does some investigation.

Natalie Portman is pure eye-candy. I can't see why she would fall in love with Anakin. Sure he is cute, but he is also a homicidal, depressive, megalomaniac. It doesn't sound like a very appealing match.

Samual L. Jackson this is not even a flat character. I think people decided they gave him a too small a role in the first episode. This time you can whoop some ass. I admit it looks cool, but there is no real reason or interest for this character to be there.
Frank Oz Yoda is an amusing character, but is here used as a deux ex machina.
Christopher Lee is clearly the best actor in the movie in a minor role. his presence is pleasant distractions from the flaws.
Bad: The storyline is hacked up like confetti. The characters are unconvincing due to bad script and awful dialogue. There are a number of scenes, which are totally irrelevant to the movie. Most notable an action sequence through a factory making robots. You cannot substitute action and CGI for a script.
Good: It looks beautiful. The CGI people have again outdone themselves in giving us picturesque images. The problem is it is overdone, it distracts from story and is used as fill-up for the lack of a good story.
Opinion: It's a pity, I had hoped they had learned something from the in comparison minor flaws of episode I.
4/10