An improvement over Episode I

Rating: 7/10 (22 January 2016)

Everyone knows that the prequel trilogy in the "Star Wars" universe is light-years far from the magical results George Lucas and Lawrence Kasdan managed to pull off with the originals. However, I'm not inclined -like many hardcore fans- to completely destroy these movies as if they were some of the worst results in the history of cinema, and with Episode II, which I consider the halfway between the pretty bad I and the pretty good III, I have the chance to explain why. This film starts off as a pretty boring one, making the viewer fear for the worst, but as the plot progresses it shows its interesting political points and some impressive CGI scenes, if you consider that in the early 2000s this technology was the life itself for action/adventure motion pictures. It surely lacks the wonderfully amusing relationships and characters that developed in the originals (except C3PO and R2-D2, who are lovely as usual and are used in a more active way than "Episode I"), and the "love story" between Anakin and Padmé is good only as a script, but fails on the actual complicity between the lead actors, who seem ashamed of taking on a romantic scene. That's one of the big problems here: Hayden Christensen is an awful actor and the single worst choice in the whole series of films also considering the key character he's entrusted with. Obviously he can't take all of the blame, as the man who should have directed him and the others in the right way apparently does nothing to help, with no acting direction at all (I hope!) and uninspired shots. That said, I will save this flick and brand it as an enjoyable one, when not considering the let-down you get knowing what kind of masterpieces George Lucas had been able to invent in the past (with the evidently needed help of his brilliant collaborators).
Give up your anticipation for great characters and enjoy the great fights, chases and (titular) wars. 7/10