Better than EP1, but not great

Rating: 6/10 (7 June 2002)

I finally got to see the film, and I was definately impressed by the improvement over Episode 1. However, there were still quite a few problems I have with the story:
1. Anakin - "Padme, I just killed all these sentient creatures that had homes and families. I hope you don't mind." Padme - "That's ok, I love you anyway."
I just don't understand this. While the whole idea of having the tusken raiders kidnap and torture Shmi was fine, I don't really believe that Padme would be completely fine with it, and comfort him.
2. C3PO - "This is a drag."
I hate, absolutely hate Lucas's attempts to put "hip" language in a movie series that are supposed to be classics. The dialogue is always out of place, and seriously dates the movie, something the originals avoided.
3. Shiny ships and other "old" technology.
Unless Lucas is going to work into the plot that there was a serious downgrade in technology after the Clone Wars, I don't really understand some of this stuff. And the ships are the worst. The Star Destroyers, the Millenium Falcon, the X-Wings....You could see the structure of the ship. The god aweful shiny ships that pervade Episode II are completely out of place.
4. It's kind of corny how Anakin loses an arm and Luke loses a hand, both in the second chapter of their respective stories. I guess Luke's kid will lose a pinky?
5. The catch-22 of knowing what happens to the main characters puts a bit of a damper on the action, since you know who's going to make it.
6. In "Tales From The Bounty Hunters," Boba Fett's real name is revealed to be Jaster Mereel. I await Lucas's explanation on this one. I also don't like the fact that Boba Fett is a clone of Jengo Fett. It lessens the coolness factor of Boba Fett by insinuating that he's just a clone of the real cool guy. Also, Epsiode II gives Boba a reason to hate Jedi. However, in all the books and the other movies, the only person Boba absolutely hates is Han Solo. Boba never shows any particular personal animosity towards any Jedi in the stories or movies.
5. And most of all, both prequels are ready-made for toy production, and in fact, are made with video games and toys in mind. Why couldn't they use typical stormtrooper armor for the clone army?
Because then they wouldn't have another toy to sell. Part of the reason the originals were so good was because they were intended to be movies, and only movies
While it seems from my comments that I hated the movie, that isn't the case. I found it to be much more enjoyable than Episode 1 (which is one of the only movie that got worse each time I watched it). Episode II was a decent offering, but it still falls quite short of classic status.
The biggest saving grace of both prequels has to be Natalie Portman. She brings a quiet authority, youthful exhuberance, and athleticism to the Padme character. Apart from Liam Neeson's Qui-Gon Jinn, Padme was the only character I found myself caring about.
This series of prequels, according to Lucas, is supposed to turn the Star Wars story from Luke Skywalker's adventures to the Redemption of Anakin Skywalker. So far it isn't working. I didn't like the special editions of the classics, and I don't have a whole lot of enthusiasm for the prequels. I am hoping that once the last one is released and Lucas finally releases the whole series on DVD, that the unedited, non-special edition classics are available seperately.