WOW! A Compelling Complex Actionfest!

Rating: 8/10 (18 May 2002)

First, let me say that i enjoyed Episode 1 (yes i was the one). Though it wasn't as great as 4 or 5 and at times it was childish, it was still incredibly entertaining. Episode 2 delivers the excitement of 1, but comes across as much more complex and an overall better film.
I was stunned when i read somewhere that Lucas has lost his touch as a director. After seeing this film, it shows that Lucas is still a master storyteller. He is great at editing parallel stories or action sequences (the endings of 1 and 6) and he does this even better throughout the middle of the film. Characters are developed nicely with the exception of Christopher Lee's character (he was still cool). The story in this new trilogy seems more complex than the past three. In 4-6 the bad guys and good guys were well defined as so was the story, this time around it is much larger, but Lucas keeps us all informed and following along.
The acting was good. Again, i am alittle amazed at people saying tha Natalie Portman was bad in this film. We see her grow as a character. From the stoic but passionate Queen to a more personable and adventure ready Senator. Ewan M. is still a great Obie One and now we see hints of Alex Guiness come through. Haydan Christienson had a very difficult role and pulled it off nicely.
**********SPOILERS************************************* I loved the fact that the clones (or stormtroopers) were good guys in this film, and seeing Yoda command them like a general was excellent. Keeping with the complexity of the overall piece Yoda and the other Jedi's still disapprove of the clones, yet can manipulate the situation to first stop the immidiate danger (Lee and the droid army). I liked the intercutting of Obie One's story and Anakin's story. The middle of this film was not as corny as the 1 and i felt that a true Star Wars adventure was unfolding. The Death of Jango Fett and the blueprints of the Death Star at the end connected this film with the next three and hopefully Episode 3 will do even better. I liked the complexity of the overall film and thought the love story worked. Yes, the dialogue was alittle corny, but the emotions from the characters rang true. The midde was slow paced, but that is not a bad thing. I enjoyed being in the Star Wars world where explosions do not have to happen every 5 seconds to keep my interest. Lucas showed that he could make a different movie in tone, style and pace than Episode 1 and that shows he can tell a complete story in 3 films, but still make each one a separate piece. The Force is still stong with him.