Better than Menace!

Rating: 10/10 (20 May 2002)

Possible Spoilers!

Firstly, Attack of the clones is a big, big, improvement on the dire Phantom menace, first and foremost is the fact that while relying on special fx thrills and action, as phantom did, the action itself is actually exciting. Phantom menace, aside from the uninteresting plot and sub-par acting, had rather lacklustre action that was just annoyingly cheesy or boring, or had an annoying 9 year old commentating on what he was doing, the only saving grace in my mind was the excellent pod race. What episode 2 does is take the major flaws of episode 1 and improve on them, the bad guy in this played by Christopher Lee is far more interesting than mute ninja Jedi Darth Maul from the first film, in that he has lines and is menacing to a degree more just than frowns, red face paint and a double ended lightsaber, which while cool in the eyes of a 6 year old really annoyed me, it just wasn't necessary. Anyway Episode 2 is much better but it still is a long way from being close to the original trilogy, what made the first three classics was the fact that it never set out to be a big blockbuster, it was a film Lucas wanted to make which was totally his vision and which he was catering for himself, producers thought it would fail but it didn't, it had charm, it was an adventure, it was remarkably ground breaking, the actors were great, the script was funny and exciting with an interesting story and the characters were likeable and held the screen. The two prequels have fallen in the blockbuster syndrome trap, they have purely ahead of anything else tried to make them gross as much as possible by loading them with cool special effects and stylish light saber action instead of trying to re-capture the style and the tongue in cheek charm of the original trilogy that marked them down in cinema history as classics. The prequels are more like action films than fantasy adventure, with Lucas and the producers thinking that a great action scene is loading the screen with computer generated effects and having the actors do karate and spinning their sabers around like a ninja, somewhere between return of the Jedi and Phantom menace Lucas has been inspired by Jackie Chan Movies, and I personally think it doesn't work, we don't want kung-fu in star wars we want Sabers being swung violently slicing through pillars, we want intermissions where an opponent hides waiting to strike, to build up tension. The action scenes are exciting, the special effects are exceptional but I find the action in the originals more exciting because I like the characters more, they didn't suffer a touch from effects overkill like the prequels have done, there are too many effects as great as they are, and at times they were overly ambitious with some shots.
Anyway a simpler approach to voice my opinions will be to list good and bad points, there are in my book more bad but the good points outweigh the bad. Firstly the good. The action is great, the effects at times will blow you away, all the action scenes are exciting and in particular a scene shot in the rain between Obi-Wan and Jango Fett also towards the end when the Jedi's fight with Count Dooku's soldiers, it was manic but exciting. I think that Christopher Lee was very good as Dooku, we all know Mr Lee is one of the silver screens ultimate baddies and we know that he was gonna be a bad guy in this from minute one because you don't employ Christopher Lee to be the good guy. Also to a certain extent Ewan Mcgregor was good, he has improved since Phantom Menace and plays a more key role but you always feel like Ewans doing a two hour Alec Guiness impression which doesn't always work. Natalie Portman was good, she has been rather slated for being wooden inthis and Phantom but her character is like that, when Amidala expresses her feelings more, towards the end, Portman shines she also looks good holding a gun. Also Yoda fights, we finally see the little dude in action, unfortunately I saw this as downright hilarious, he hobbles around for the whole movie and is unable to travel more than 30 yards without using a floating platform and then all of a sudden he's jumping and flipping around the room like a muppet and acid. That was not terribly exciting but it did provide comic relief. So overall there is a big excitement factor here. Also its great to see little references to the originals such as the plans to the death star. Bad points, still no strong characters, this movies so needs a Han Solo, a Luke and a Leia but we don't have that, it lacks the great interplay they had, Ford damn carried those movies alone he was so good and to add to the class of them his support was excellent. Hayden Christianson didn't convince me, I don't rate him as an actor and I certainly cannot picture him as Vader. He delivered his lines too woodenly or too over the top while at times coming across like a petulant child. The dialogue was terrible, sure the lines in the Star Wars films are notoriously cheesy, so much so that Guiness hated spouting them, but they were fun, the comedy factor worked because of the chemistry on screen, this film and Menace completely lacked chemistry and any humour rarely hit the mark. Count Dooku is underused, also the plot has two many politicla sub-plots like Menace that are incoherent and I doubt youngsters will really follow, then again they will be there for the effects so they'll be happy. The plot was uninteresting, it didn't draw you in as the original trilogy did, it lacks classic twist such as `I am your father Luke' and the acting is also not very good, so far the casting of Anakin in both prequels have disappointed me. Just going back to the poor dialogue, it was everything said, such as the love scenes everything was cliche or just plain stupid and they have two many poor comedy attempts. There are some lines that were so bad that my head hurt, for instance Dooku says to Yoda, `it is obvious we both have equal powers in the force, we shall have to see who is more skilled at using a lightsaber'(or somethin like that) and the line was delivered like the dubbing of a 70's martial arts flick, if they had made Mr Lee look like he was dubbed it may have got some laughs, a missed opportunity I think. Some scenes really dragged, such as the dull love scenes in which no Chemistry was shown. The pacing was not great due to the fact that it is so difficult to direct a movie this heavily laden with CGI effects. Furthermore, the inclusions of C-3P0 and R2-D2 seem pointless, C-3P0 was no purpose at all so they use him as comic relief, unfortunately he has been really camped up and his lines are awful it just makes you secretly wish he gets blown to smithereens but we know that unfortunately he won't. R2 also has no purpose and for some reason it seems he downgrades over the years because in this film he can fly. That is another problem, the film like Phantom Menace has everything looking far more advanced than in the original three, you get the sleek designs in vehicles that are very 2000 and then in the originals there's the rather squarish looks of the 70's with some dodgy mullets to boot. Also Samuel L Jackson disappointed me somewhat, he is good with the acting but when they had him whip out his Light-saber(nothing dirty) and use it he look kind of over-awed at the fact he was in a Star Wars film and he was using one, he didn't use it too convincingly and I thought at any moment he was gonna start jumping for joy.
Basically this film is enjoyable, it does take itself a little too seriously at times and suffers from it, aside from the action and effects there is nothing to write home about. This still falls far short of the originals and in the recent blockbuster wars between this, Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings this pails in comparison to Frodo's adventure although for me it beats Potter, my advice is see it, it does make up for Phantom menace, and also leaves you wanting to see the next one to carry on the story for some conclusion, unlike menace where I really wasn't bothered, this is film no 2 of the year behind Panic Room, and I now look forward to the release of its rival Spiderman to the UK. 7/10