1 HOUR AND 50 MINUTES OF PURE BOREDOM, but.............................

Rating: Null/10 (16 December 2002)

I've been noticing a lot of movies I've been seeing lately, you can start them halfway through the movie and not miss a thing. PEARL HARBOR was the most guilty of this; you can start it about an hour and a half into the DVD and you wouldn't skip a beat. STAR WARS EPISODE II: ATTACK OF THE CLONES goes further. If you have never seen this movie, start the DVD around the one hour, fifty minute mark. Trust me, you'll save yourself an hour and fifty minutes of boredom!
After the major disappointment I had with THE PHANTOM MENACE, I said to my friend as we walked in the theatre that May 2002 evening, "this can't be much worse." I was right - to an extent. What is so great about the one hour fifty minute mark is when the actual Clone War begins. Let me tell you, this is probably the greatest battle sequence I've ever had the pleasure of viewing. The beach battle at Normandy in SAVING PRIVATE RYAN follows a close second. I have a feeling come around 30 hours from now after I get back from seeing THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS, I may have to rank the Battle of Helm's Deep as the greatest battle sequence in film history.

ATTACK OF THE CLONES picks up right where THE PHANTOM MENACE left off; nowhere. Granted, annoying characters are not rampart in this movie (young Anakin and Jar Jar), but the Trade Federation Viceroy Nute Gunray is as annoying as ever.
THE PHANTOM MENACE was a horribly written movie and so is this one. The love story between Anakin and Padme is totally uninspiring. Hayden Christensen's whining and griping got very annoying really quick. I can't believe that George Lucas has made two movies that are making the STAR WARS saga sour for me. Granted, THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK was the best film of the saga and I was hoping AOTC would be the best of the prequel trilogy. I will know the answer to this in about 3 years.
Like THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, AOTC ends with a cliffhanger..you have unanswered questions that we will have to wait till 2005 to see. The problem with Episode III is that it is going to have to be LORD OF THE RINGS long. There's no way they can tie everything up in a 2 hour 10 minute movie. Lucas has really blown the first two prequel movies and I hope to God Episode III is a killer. I really really think I am going to enjoy LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS more than AOTC.