An entertaining but faulted film

Rating: 7/10 (1 May 2010)

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace was derided by fans of the original trilogy for a weakly plotted, childish tale that was George Lucas complaining about his tax bill. Because of this hopes for Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones were low. Luckily Attack of the Clones was a big improvement, but still does not match the heights of the original trilogy.
10 years after the events of The Phantom Menace many star systems are attempting to break away from the Republic, led by a former Jedi Knight Count Dooku (Christopher Lee). Because of these events the Senate debate on whether to create a new army. One of the key players is Senator Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman), who becomes the target of an assassination. The Jedi Knights are called into action. Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) is assigned the mission to investigate the assassination attempt, whilst his young apprentice Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) is asked to act as Padme's bodyguard. Obi-Wan Kenobi quickly discovers a wider conspiracy involving a clone army already been made for the Republic and the hunt for a bounty hunter, Jango Fett (Temuera Morrison). On Naboo Anakin and Padme start to fall in love with each other, despite it is forbidden by the Jedi code. Anakin also suffers from dreams about his mother and on the planet Tatooine explores his dark side. With war edging closer all the Jedi Knights are called into action.
There are a number of reasons why Attack of the Clones is better then The Phantom Menace. There is a better plot and much more of a drive in this film, the lead up to a war. There is a hell of a lot of action in the film which will entertain most people with good moments throughout. The humour is better then it was in The Phantom Menace, relying more on witty lines then slapstick. It's basically a fun summer blockbuster. But there are still problems with Attack of the Clones. Whilst the story overall is better, there is no explanation on what the separatists want to achieve or what their ideology was. The dialogue was weak (which has never been Lucas' strong suit.) The love story between Anakin and Padme was not very interesting and disengaging. The acting too was weak and wooden, particularly Hayden Christensen; it seemed like he was casted because of his looks. The film itself is too long when it should be a fast paced adventure and Lucas was too reliant on CGI when the first three films had a more physical feel because they did not have the option of CGI back then.
Overall, an entertaining, but faulted film.