It's Good, but not Great

Rating: 7/10 (18 July 2006)

With The Phantom Menace, George Lucas reintroduced everybody to the Star Wars universe after a sixteen-year absence. I was seven when the movie was released, and, to tell the truth, I loved it. I now see the flaws of the film though, but still, I think it's a solid Star Wars movie.
Attack of the Clones is not as good as Episode I. This is pretty much only because of one thing: The love scenes. I really liked this movie too when it came out, but that was mostly for its awesome action scenes and Yoda fighting. (The best part of the movie, hands down.) And while the action is definitely top notch, the acting, and dialogue, are not.
Attack of the Clones has the worse dialogue of the Star Wars films. It's also the worst Star Wars movie. It's not that bad, and I still find the movie enjoyable, but it just does not match up against the originals (though really, none of the prequels do).
The love scenes are the definite reason. Natalie Portman, who did a good job in The Phantom Menace as Padme Amidala, declines here. Hayden Christenson, the newcomer to the Anakin Skywalker (and future Darth Vader) role is good in the action scenes and not that bad overall, but he fails in most, if not all the romantic parts. The film goes past the innocent love between Padme and Anakin in The Phantom Menace and tries to make the love story the major focus of the film. It flops. Though I don't know if you can really blame the actors, as it seems that George Lucas and Jonathan Hales (the screenwriters) were trying to make the lines more Shakespearian, especially in the scene by the fireplace. But these lines are AWFUL, and the rest of the love scenes, sadly, follow suit.
The film is saved by the action and mystery parts. Ewan McGregor isn't always perfect, but he's still fairly solid and Temeura Morrison does a great job as Jango Fett. Christopher Lee is the standout performance here as Count Dooku. It seems that George Lucas can still make really good villains. He just needs to work on his heroes.
So, overall, this film is good, but not great. It lacks the acting and dialogue that made the original trilogy so great, but is partially redeemed by state-of-the-art special effects and, of course, Yoda fighting. But still, I think this is the worst of the series. Luckily, Lucas would follow this with Revenge of the Sith, which is my favorite of the prequels and, in my opinion, one of the best sci-fi films in recent memory.