Ego Wars: Episode II - Attack Of The Mush.

Rating: 7/10 (2 June 2003)

The second entry in George Lucas' new Star Wars trilogy rises above it's predecessor with better dialogue, less Jar Jar, a spry Yoda, and overacting good enough to make Hayden Christenson the perfect father of Mark Hamill. While this movie, which shows Anakin's resentful tendencies and introduces the clone army that will dethrone the Republic, is better than the mediocre Phantom Menace, it does not even reach Return of the Jedi standards. While the writing is better in this entry, the love story between Padme and Anakin is so painfully dumb and childish that it almost destroys the other improvements. The biggest problem continues to be the lack of a villain to match Vader and the utter predictability of it all. Yoda becomes the star when he starts doing summer salts and makes Dooku tuck tail. Why wasn't that in Episode One? If George Lucas can make Episode III as much of an improvement over Episode II, as Episode II is over Episode I, fans may finally get the ride that they have been waiting twenty-two years to experience.