the prequels improve, but not by much

Rating: 5/10 (22 May 2005)

SPOILERS After 1999, George Lucas must have been questioning his choices. Creating an awful prequel for his amazing original trilogy, Lucas had created a woeful script, some terrible characters and succeeded in nothing except making a bit of money through games and toys. In the second of his prequels therefore, Lucas must surely have had his mind on creating a better film with more substance. To a degree he has succeeded, and "Attack of the Clones" is a vast improvement on it's predecessor. Ultimately though, this film is still a weak product which fails to live up to the high standards fans of the series expect.
Darkness is approaching. With attempted assassination attempts on Senator Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman), someone is trying to get a bill through to create a clone army. Called in to protect the Senator, Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) is now older and even more passionate. As the two begin to spend time together, Anakin begins to break a Jedi rule and a romance begins to blossom.
Removed of the irritating young Anakin and mostly free of the infuriating Jar Jar Binks, "Attack of the Clones" is an improvement on the previous instalment. Set years afterwards, although Natalie Portman's character hasn't aged, the story is also much more energetic and true to the traditional styles. It does contain some considerable flaws though.
As the more moody and emotional Anakin, Hayden Christensen is a dire choice to play such an important role. A weak actor throughout, Christensen never really develops the strength to fulfil a difficult role.
To offer some small consolation for the ineffective Christensen, part of his failure to deal with the character is the way that it is so badly written and directed. Lucas, learning from his mistakes in the last film splits his writing responsibilities this time with Jonathan Hales, and at times this proves to be a good choice. Ultimately though, with the romance having to take up a large portion of the film, the script is often as tedious and dire as the rest of Lucas' work.
As a director too, Lucas is again in charge, and again he simply cannot deal with the role. Constantly acting like he must have full control because these films are his babies, Lucas demonstrates a complete lack of skill behind the camera and needs to learn to step away.
Another problem with "Attack of the Clones" is the continued destruction of the character of Yoda.
In the original series, Yoda was voiced by Frank Oz and was basically a rubber puppet with bent ears. In the prequels however, like so many other parts of the universe, Yoda is now entirely computer generated. This has it's moments because it can give him a different, arguably more realistic, look, but at the same time, it gives George Lucas the capability to make Yoda more mobile. One scene in particular springs to mind when, to the shock and delight of many fans the first time they see the film, Yoda produces his lightsaber and engages in physical combat. A fresh and surprising take the first time you see it, this soon grows old however and by the end you feel more let down and dirty for receiving a guilty pleasure that you should never have received.
To look for a positive in "Attack of the Clones", the performances of Christopher Lee and Samuel L Jackson are worth praising. Both are new to the franchise, but both live up to their roles well and entertain.
At the same time, the sight of multiple Jedi fighting is another guilty pleasure which fans finally get to see in this film. Teaming up to battle robots, the group battle in a well made scene. The film though, is not worth watching for this one scene alone.
It's hard to explain how the "Star Wars" franchise could have gone so wrong. An improvement on the atrocious first prequel, "Attack of the Clones" is still a turgid affair with not much going for it. Often badly acted, mostly badly written, and full of countless pleasures which should never have seen the light of day, this film is not something to truly remember and hopefully it will fade from the memory completely. An improvement on "the Phantom Menace", but not by much.