"Be mindful of your thoughts..."

Rating: 7/10 (13 February 2005)

Perhaps even now, nearly 3 years since this movie first appeared on screens, it may be too early to fairly judge the second chapter of the Star Wars saga, The Attack of the Clones. As the pieces of this awkward jig-saw puzzle that is the Star Wars saga come together, it has become more and more difficult to judge the stories of each chapter. How will it set up the next movie? How much of the first and second movies relate to the last 3 movies? Do we need to care about these characters? After the final movie of the the 6 movie series by George Lucas hits the screens in May 2005, the successes and failures of The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones will finally be clear. I say all of this because I have always been a fan of the Star Wars movies, and as excited as I was to see new movies about the time long ago in the galaxy far, far away, it has been hard to say that these first two movies have been what was expected. The original Star Wars movies were full of joy and whimsy, going places we have never been before, battling an enemy we have never seen before, but can identify with. Good vs. Evil is easy to see, and perhaps it's that the early episodes in the saga are murky in who's good and who isn't hinders the films. The Attack of the Clones looks great; we know everything is generated by a computer, but still looks right and good enough that we accept it as real. My favorite scene is how the special effects artists zooms from one passing ship to another, making it look like it was shot with a real camera. The acting is wooden, perhaps encouraged by the dry script. The love story we are subjected to is pretty lame, which for "forbidden" love, that's hard to do. Where is Han Solo and Princess Leia's sassy triste when you really need it? Ewan McGregor is good enough as Obi-Won Kenobi, but the other characters are unmemorable and uninteresting. The story itself, I will say this, it does leave a lot of interesting places for the 3rd film to go, assuming of course Lucas does that. I said the same thing after Phantom Menace but Attack of the Clones didn't really capitalize on the openings that were there. Again, the ultimate judge on this film is how it fits in with the other segments of the Star Wars saga. If this was the build-up to a climatic Revenge of the Sith, then it will be worth your time to check out Episode 2. If the third movie veers off into other plot points, then don't waste your time with Attack of the Clones. Just go out and rent The Empire Strikes Back for a well done middle cog to a 3 movie trilogy.
Note: After seeing Revenge of the Sith, this movie is almost rendered pointless. It does set up a few plot points in Revenge of the Sith, but nothing that could not be handled through conversations.