Disappointing

Rating: 4/10 (15 May 2002)

I have seen the Episode Two on its premiere night in Zagreb, Croatia. Apart from it being organized as a very exciting event, I was disappointed. The new prequel of the Star Wars saga lacks in many things that would make a good movie; good story, good acting and good dialogues. Yes, special effects are great. Yes, the movie is almost perfect _visually_, but other than that...
Hayden Christensen looks fine, handles the sword in a very cool way, moves well, but his acting is horrible. Ewan McGregor, who is normally a good actor, has such stupid lines that he couldn't show off his acting skills even if the Force has inspired him. Samuel L. Jackson, otherwise a cool dude, is very pale and his role is quite uninspiring. Christopher Lee looks like a retired count Dracula, i.e. not a least bit scary or threatening (but ridiculous), while Nathalie Portman, apart from being beautiful, doesn't really deliver anything that would be convincing, including her supposedly great and tortured love for Anakin.
The dialogue is shallow, love story seems more like a reckless fling between two spoiled teenagers than the deep and passionate affair that it was supposed to be, and one can hardly escape malicious satisfaction derived from the knowledge that it will NOT end well. The worst part (and here comes a tiny bit of spoiler) is when Anakin tells Padme about his slaughtering spree, which sounds as if she told her: "Honey, I'm sorry, but I am a war criminal!", and her reaction to that is almost as if she said: "Oh, well, who can blame you...you were SO stressed out!".
All in all, bad. Better than "Phantom Menace", but...what isn't?