SPOILERS: the best with *spoilers*

Rating: Null/10 (6 May 2002)

George Lucas had devoted a large chunk of his life to the biggest ever family epic ever filmed. In turn, he has made enough money to live without ever having to really THINK about money. But this Episode of the Star Wars saga has a different tone to it then all the others. In the original trilogy, Lucas handed over the directorial reigns because of the difficulty he didnt not wish to repeat when Star Wars was made. With this prequel trilogy, the first film was seen as part galant attempt to prepare the balances for the characters to come but as some critics would easily let you know, to 'cash in' on the box office star wars madness. But Attack Of The Clones, despite the slightly silly nature of the title, delivers in less the money making sense, and more in the character driven sense. Each character in this movie has two sides. Padme Amidala is both leader and fragile lady, Anakin is both destined for greatness and confusion and obviously Palpatine is not all he seems. It was a shame the character of Count Dooku did not appear in the first film to add some consistency, but never the less, Lee is at his best, firmly set in stone once again. As an admirer of the works of Alec Guiness, I incredibly enjoyed Ewan McGregor portrayal of the young mentor of Anakin. With this saga, we watch Obi-Wan turn from learner, to young (and weakened) teacher, to hero, to wise old sage and then immortal (of sorts). It is easy to see how Lucas will turn Obi Wan in too the great character portrayed by Guiness in Episode IV. With Luke, he tries not to make the same mistakes twice. Its a shame the third movie will have to cover so much ground (the Jedi Purge, Windu's death, the hiding of the twins) and mostly likely have a time jump in the middle. And although Lucas has already filmed the ending of this prequel series in Tunisia, one can only hope that this set of films can stand by themselves, not as a prologue to the events of Luke's life, but as a moral message, which shows a somewhat innocent fall into corruption, so that his son can redeem him. Epic stuff.