The Force is.....Really Not With This One......

Rating: 5/10 (21 November 2011)

When George Lucas says to the audience that the original trilogy is really one whole film with three parts in it, he describes The Empire Strikes Back as the middle act in which 'nothing really happens' well I wish he had applied that description to this film, because even though, yes Empire is the middle act, it is far more exciting than this film.
In my review of The Phantom Menace, predecessor of this Star Wars film, I basically came to the conclusion that it was a children's film, a film made for commerical value aka lets make as many toys as we can for the kids. That is what a generally think of when I think of The Phantom Menace. However, when I think of Star Wars Episode 2 - Attack of the Clones, I genuinely find it hard to find anything about this film, much less anything positive, it really is that bad at times. My general rule of film viewing is this, no matter how bad I've heard it is, I at least try and see some positive points in the film, then at least I can salvage something good from the experience, but with Episode 2, there really isn't anything to recover from the mess that it is.
The second film in the Star Wars saga sees Anakin Skywalker now a grown man, and I use that term lightly, because he certainly acts more like he did in the first film than we have been told of in the original trilogy. Anakin and his master Jedi Obi Wan Kenobi (seeing Ewan McGregor reprise his role) have been assigned to protect Senator Padme Amidala from being assassinated by a bounty hunter supposedly working for a separatist movement who are wanting to leave the republic and possibly declare war on them. The two Jedi go on an investigation into the conspiracy which sees them taken to different planets as we finally see the beginning of the clone wars, and ultimately, the fall of Anakin Skywalker to the dark side.
See when the plot is put like that, it doesn't sound too bad, its just that when put into film and written as poorly as it is, the film falls flat on its back with a giant thud. The biggest difference between this film and the last one becomes apparent immediately and that is the change of actor for Anakin. A lot of hate on the subject of Anakin, and I will say this. Hayden Christiansen himself is not a bad actor, some of his work outside of Star Wars is pretty good, and he does his best with the material given to him, however it isn't his fault that the material isn't very good. Anakin Skywalker was supposed to be a great guy, and in this film he is presented as though he was on the dark side right from the start. This here is the film's biggest error. We cannot get behind someone who has traits of being traitorous to the republic and who commits mass murder on the sand people after he finds his mother has been murdered by them and we cannot route for someone who is generally just not a nice person and acts superior to everyone around him. In the first star wars film, we are explained Anakin Skywalker was a nice guy who was noble and courageous. It turns out though, that he was selfish, ignorant and didn't listen to his superiors. The whole character of Anakin is one giant contradiction and it is a shame that he is central to the whole point of Star Wars, which is good triumphs over evil, when really the good was evil from the beginning.
The gratuitous CGI in the last film is turned up full throttle on this one, as there are barely any live on set scenes in this one and everything becomes fake and artificial. Even Yoda is CGI in this one, much to the annoyance of loyal fans around the world. Ewan McGregor and Natalie Portman are disappointingly wooden as well, despite both of their massive talents. Even the mighty Christopher Lee, who plays the film's villain Count Dooku is on auto pilot in this one.
If I had to try and think of anything positive about this film, it would be the score, a large part of what makes Star Wars so memorable. Indeed, The Phantom Menace had a superb score and this one has a decent score too, so well done John Williams. It's just a shame the volume wasn't turned up so we could dub out the god-awful dialogue between Anakin and Padme when they're supposed to be in love.
In conclusion, Attack of the Clones is by far the worst Star Wars film, but if you're an avid fan of the mythos of Star Wars, as I am myself, its unfortunate that you cannot avoid it. Attack of the Clones is indeed the middle piece where not much happens, but without it, the story would make even less sense. George Lucas is laughing to the bank once again.