Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002)

Rating: 3/10 (26 October 2019)

Directed by George Lucas. Starring Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen, Natalie Portman, Ian McDiarmid, Samuel L. Jackson, Christopher Lee, Temuera Morrison, Frank Oz, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, Silas Carson, Pernilla August, Jimmy Smits. (PG)
Continuation of the "Star Wars" prequel trilogy begins with assassination attempts targeting Senator Amidala (Portman); a now-young-adult Anakin (Christensen) is tasked with keeping her safe--falling in love in the process, natch--while Obi-Wan (McGregor) chases clues to the conspiracy behind those murderous efforts. Large-scale production with all the digital bells and whistles money can buy, but lacks suspense during the action scenes and intrigue during the investigation; "middle chapter" fatigue sets in once it becomes clear that they're just bridging the gap between the introductory movie that preceded it and the climactic outing to come. Periodic bursts of imaginative visuals and noisy excitement are steamrolled by weak plotting, uninteresting characters and banal dialogue. The performances are mostly sub-par, too, with no romantic chemistry at all between Christensen and Portman--the mid-section of the film drags slower than a Jawa Sandcrawler whenever they're onscreen together. At least Jar Jar Binks' role has been reduced to little more than a cameo. Plus, love it or hate it, there's the bizarre fan service that is a lightsaber-wielding Yoda (Oz), springing around like a Mexican jumping bean. The Force definitely isn't with this one.
33/100