Vast Improvement over Episode 1

Rating: 10/10 (19 May 2002)

I have seen the movie twice now and after seeing it a second time, I'm thrilled to see how much of an improvement Lucas did over Episode one. Unlike most of the overly harsh critics, I see genuine improvement in several areas. In addition to the improvements in character development and visual effects, the aspect of parallelism within the series is present specifically in regard to Empire Strikes Back. If you go back and look at the two movies, you see how Lucas patterned Attack of the Clones just like Empire Strikes Back right down to the ending. Just take a close look and you'll see.
The visual effects were excellent as always and the ending battle was probably one of the most impressive uses of CGI along with Lord of the Rings and the Matrix. The lightsaber fight once again went over the top of the beginning trilogy, but was incredibly well done. Yoda particularly puts any of the previous lightsaber fights outside of the Kenobi-Vader in Star Wars to shame.
The character development is much better and is not as stale as Episode One. Hayden Christenson does an excellent job presenting the conflicted, tormented Anakin. I actually enjoyed the romantic development between Anakin and the beautiful, alright outright gorgeous Natalie Portman as Padme. From what I remember, Anakin was 9 in Episode 1 and Padme 13, so its not that much of an age difference. Any romantic relationship during the late teens-early adult years is awkward (I would know). Lucas could have made it a little deeper, but that too is to be seen how it will develop in the third episode. Ewan McGregor is fitting in nicely as Obi-Wan Kenobi. I feel he still needs the last movie to develop into the Obi-Wan we loved as Sir Alec Guinness. Christopher Lee is excellent as Count Dooku and brings in an excellent new villain that we can all hate.
One of the best things that Lucas does is finally tie some ends together and brings about some developments that will close the entire series together. I'm sure many die hards are disappointed because of their incredibly high expectations. Let me say this, why can't people just love a movie for what it is and be happy with what we're getting. Lucas wasn't even going to do these movies and we should be thankful that he has done so much. So please be appreciative of what we're being given. Episode 3 will tie everything together and I can't wait for it. I plan on seeing the movie a few more times to finally pick up any missed references to the other Star Wars movies and see what direction Lucas is going to take in the last Episode.