"I don't like sand."

Rating: 4/10 (18 December 2019)

George Lucas' long-awaited STAR WARS prequel THE PHANTOM MENACE divided critics and disappointed many fans, but the film still earned enough money to justify continuing the new trilogy. Still, it was clear that fans were shocked by EPISODE I's uneven mix of childish goofiness and stoic sluggishness, and many hoped Lucas would make amends with the subsequent entries. Unfortunately, the second prequel, ATTACK OF THE CLONES, is no improvement; in fact it comes across as the nadir of both the prequel trilogy and the whole STAR WARS franchise. While some might argue that THE PHANTOM MENACE is more deserving of that title, in reality, it was EPISODE II that truly brought a once respected series to a new low. Carrying over many of the same faults as its predecessor (stale acting and dialogue, overuse of CGI), and introducing two major new ones, it was almost enough to make many wonder what had become of Lucas' talents in the years since the original trilogy. Even with the argument that its primary purpose is to function as a transition between Episodes I and the far superior III, it still comes up short, the occasional decent moment notwithstanding.
Lucas chose to shoot the film digitally, which unfortunately results with a cold, artificial look. It's especially noticable with the visual effects; although some pieces are stunning, such as a car chase above the streets of Coruscant, too many others come across as too distractingly obvious. The scenes involving the plastic glass spaceships especially look distractingly fake.
The real problem with ATTACK OF THE CLONES is that it is much too slow going, with an abundance of weak, unsatisfying scenes which last too long. A good majority of this comes from a love subplot between Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) and Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman). Christensen and Portman never really come to life in their roles. Neither is there any genuine chemistry and the scenes where they're together suffer tremendously because of that. The less said about the laughably inept dialogue they are slapped with, the better.
On the flipside, Ewan MacGregor does a fine job as Obi-Wan and Christopher Lee adds some gravitas in an otherwise negligible villainous role, but Yoda walks away with the show in this episode. In the past episodes, this memorable Jedi master was seen as a rubber puppet as operated by Frank Oz. Oz still speaks for the character, but here he becomes more fully animated and expressive, thanks to computer technology. His lightsaber duel with Lee at the end of the film, in particular, is a knock-out (if sometimes too goofy).
As mentioned, however, there are too many long, dull scenes with the protagonists, not enough action, an overabundance of unconvincing visual effects, and a love story that falls flat on its face.