Good parts sadly overshadowed

Rating: 6/10 (17 May 2002)

It's ten years since little Anny started his training as a Jedi, and he and Obi Wan Kenobi have been sent to protect the ex-Queen Padme Amidala from separatist assassins. There are not enough Jedi these days to protect the universe from the separatist threat, so a clone army is being created.
What ensues is a very spectacular, but ridiculous affair. The love story between Anikin, who is ten years older than in Episode One, and Padme Amidala, who for some reason has not aged more than a day, is terribly acted, and unoriginally and blandly written. Many parts are so much like a kung fu movie that you wonder whether Jet Li will turn up to save the day. The special effects were nothing short of superb, but nothing much is new since the last movie.
So much could have been achieved in Episode II, but I was very disappointed in this film. Even bona fide Star Wars fans may be turned off by the bad plot and wooden acting, but Star Wars is Star Wars, and as long as there are people willing to put "Jedi" as their religion on the census form, George Lucas will churn out movies like this.