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Rating: 8/10 (22 January 2020)

In the latest installment of Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, directing powerhouse George Lucas brings the story of a young Anakin Skywalker to life. As we follow Anakin's Jedi training at the hands of well respected Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi, we learn so much about what defines this character. Episode II illustrates how a well developed storyline coupled with strong casting come together to make a fantasy world feel like reality.
Set ten years after The Phantom Menace, the Republic is in chaos and waging battles all over the galaxy. A separatist (bad guys) movement is forming at the hands of evil Count Dooku (Christopher Lee), encompassing several thousand systems and planets creating a powerful corporate alliance that poses new threats to the galaxy. Natalie Portman plays a convincing Padme Amidala, the former queen of the planet Naboo and current Republic leader of the Galactic Senate. With threats of her assassination looming, the Jedi High Council sends Obi-Wan (Ewan McGregor) and his 20-something apprentice, Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen), to protect her at all costs.
While Christensen's version of Anakin is fast and furious, with multi-elevation, light speed spacecraft chases and intense light saber battles, his believability is a bit of a stretch for this critic. As a love sick Jedi, his chemistry with Portman is weak, but he redeems himself as he explores his dark, Darth Vader-like side. With Chancellor Palpatine and ex Jedi Count Dooku behind the plot to kill Amidala, Jango Fett (Temeura Morrison) is enlisted to oversee the assasination. Amidala is a formidable woman in her own right, but backed by the Jedi she is unstoppable. Not to be missed, we finally see Yoda in a lightsaber duel, flipping around like a ninja and showing us all how he earned his title of Master Jedi. Many people across the fanbase have labeled this duel between Yoda and Count Dooku as the single greatest moment in franchise history simply due to Dooku being Yoda's apprentice many years ago and the fact that it is extremely rare to see Yoda in combat.
The movie reaches new heights during the epic Battle of Geonosis, with the epic clone war providing high tech visuals that are seriously ramped up over previous installments. Obviously the battle of Geonosis is a massive invasion with hundreds of Jedi storming the battle arena to save Anakin, Padme and Obi-wan, but we also need to remember the massive ground assault lead by Yoda in the forward command center. Enhanced sound effects during high speed cruiser chases and battles scenes make the viewer feel like they are experiencing it first hand, and music legend John Williams presents a fantastic soundtrack for this installment.
There do happen to be a few flaws with this movie, such as the romance between Anakin and Padme never truly escaping the plot originated from early in the movie (until potentially in the Geonosis execution arena). Another questionable flaw of would be the story. For avid fans of the series, it is much easier to follow along in many of the other movies in the series, but for some reason this one tends to be the hardest to follow along with. The final complaint I have with this movie is in some instances the dialogue can be clunky and the middle of the movie needs a bit of an upgrade in the pace department.
Star Wars: Attack of the Clones has fast become one of my personal favorites from the series, tying for first place with The Phantom Menace. As we get more background on the life of Anakin, the story takes on a real life feel and the audience clearly connects with these characters, cheering them on, if only from the seats of the theater.