Lucas rediscovers his youth and heart

Rating: Null/10 (20 May 2002)

Watching Star Wars- Episode II: Attack of the Clones, I felt as if George Lucas had gone through every single piece of hate mail he had recieved from Phantom Menace and made every effort to satisfy his disappointed fans in the next installment of his saga. Does he succeed? Without question, yes. The most frequently mentioned disappointments of Phantom Menace are as follows: Jar Jar Binks (need I say more about him?), wooden acting, wooden characters, confusing plots, the overall lack of adventure, and simply the fact that it didn't seem like a Star Wars film. I can only begin my critique of Attack of the Clones by saying it is a film that corrects the mistakes made in its predecessor. Jar Jar Binks is brilliantly written into this film. Lucas knows we hate Jar Jar. So he makes the characters feel the same way about him (i.e. Amidala shutting him up). Lucas also places Jar Jar at the heart of something terrible to come, which gives us reason to hate his stupidity even more. (But at least this time, it's a deliberate move by Lucas.) Now...many critics have destroyed and mamed this second episode. I, along with generally everyone I know who has seen the film, have no idea where these criticisms originate and why. What we know is that contrary to popular critics belief, the acting is not nearly as wooden as we've been made to believe it would be. Ewan McGregor has finally settled into the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi, as he conveys a true personality that is slowly and brilliantly molding into the likes of Alec Guiness. Also, Portman, although not incredibly versatile and outstandish in this film, does an adequate job as Senator Amidala. But the man of the hour (or should I say, 2 hours and 22 minutes) is Hayden Christensen. He shows a wide range of emotion as Anakin, and he grips us right from the beginning as the unstable Jedi who's fate we already know. We loathe his cockiness, we buy his romantic seduction, and we are simply in heart-pounding awe of his turn to anger. (Let's just be frank, that evil look of his is the coolest freaking thing on the screen.) Let me end with this. The adventure is back. THIS is the Star Wars we've been waiting for. Here is a film with a sense of comedy that we didn't see in Phantom Menace at all whatsoever. (R2-D2 and C-3PO have a wonderfully comedic and heartwarmingly developing relationship and Obi-Wan and others share clever one liners). Here is a film with a sense of drama and romantic conflict (Anakin is being torn between his love for Padme and his loveless committment to the Jedi order. He is truly feeling the angst we expected him to from Obi-Wan "holding him back".) Here is a film with a real sense of danger and loss. Here is a film that rivals with the first 3 installments of the Star Wars saga. I won't even go into the special effects and action sequences. We all know they're amazing and breath-taking. What I must say overall is that we finally have back that feeling of adventure we had from the original SW films. And throughout the film, we have incriments of ingenious musical score that bring us back to the soaring dark horns that give an overture to the reign of the Galactic Empire in the first three films. Episode II does more than just correct its prior installment's mistakes. It goes much further. Out of a possible 10, I grade this film a 9. (Phantom Menace was a 5, Empire was a 10.) I urge you...do not go dwell on the skepticism of critics. Go in with an opened mind, and low and behold, you may likely enjoy yourself.
Jason Kramer