Enjoyable, lacking plot

Rating: Null/10 (19 May 2002)

First off, I'd like to answer everyone who's been comparing this and Episode I to the original trilogy. I've got big news for all you folks...those movies were made over twenty years ago! Sorry to say, but times have changed since then. George Lucas isn't an idiot...he knows exactly what he's doing, and he's making movies for today's generation. Episode I was childish, because it was made for mostly children. Episode II is a little more mature, because those kids are a little more mature now. And so on.
With that said, let me talk about the movie....
It's no masterpiece, but it was definitely enjoyable. Anyone looking for Oscar-calibre performances will not find it here (although I do admit, Hayden Christensen did a much better job than I expected). The Oscars suck anyways.
The thread of a plot centers mostly around young Anakin, his love for Padmé Amidala, and his short temper. The rest is about this mysterious Clone army, supposedly built for the Republic but was not authorized to (although Yoda makes magnificient use of them in the spectacular and very redeeming final sequence). And, of course, there's the evil Count Dooku (played disappointingly by Christopher Lee) and his army of Battle Droids. Conspiracies abound, including plans to construct the Death Star, etc., but I won't give away too much.
Anyway, besides the fact that the plot barely moves and it's mostly just a bunch of action sequences and political discussions strung together, I found this movie very confusing. Not to understand, just to look at. Maybe I was just too close to the screen or something, but I found there were just too many creatures and too many spaceships and too much happening at once to really concentrate on what was going on (maybe this was intentional...makes you want to go back and see it again to figure it all out). Some of the dialogue was cheesy, but that was expected.
Now back to Hayden's performance; it wasn't gold, but much, much better than I had thought it would be. He didn't seem like the little boy in the last film, but definitely like the young man who'll become Darth Vader (there's one gut-wrenching scene on Tatooine where he admits his slaughter of those barbaric sand people...nearly flawless). He certainly seems to keep the whole film together, as he should, since the whole film's about him.
One of my biggest problems with films these days are the special effects. Honestly, movies from the 80s or early 90s had better special effects than nowadays. Why? Because computer animation wasn't very developed yet, and they were forced to rely on things like models and animatronics, thankfully. I'm sorry, but CGI is just so obviously...CGI. It stands out so painfully from everything else, it just completely ruins the believability of the film. One frame can be photo-realistic, but an entire sequence? George Lucas, please, do it the old-fashioned way next time. I dare you. It worked great for the original trilogy (ahh, but that brings me back to my opinion on this being a trilogy for today's generation...however, i doubt they think CGI looks any more realistic than I do).
But I digress. This isn't a bad film, not by any means. It's a summer film...it's not one that'll leave you pondering life or anything, but it manages to get the major points across to set up for the next one, as Episode I did (much worse though). Don't expect any cinematic epic, but it is entertaining and well worth your money (more so than other movies coming out this summer, that's for sure). It will, however, leave you very p***ed off that we won't get to see Episode III for another three years.
All in all...I want to see it again.