love the story, hate the movie... almost

Rating: 5/10 (19 May 2002)

I cannot consider myself a Star Wars fan even though I have seen all the movies. I love the story and mythology behind it, but Episode 2 was a bit of a disappointment.
First of all, the love story that was such a big part of the movie, was so full of cliches, that it was almost nauseating. First kiss followed by the inevitable lines "sorry, we shouldn't have done that" (sry, if the quotes isn't 100% correct! you get my meaning anyway). Then this ancient scene: Boy tries to ride an animal on a breathtakingly beautiful meadow, (while the girl is laughing, probably at him), he falls off, pretends to be hurt; girl rushes to his side, sees that he is ok, playfully hits him (pretending to be mad), he laughs and they roll on the green grass. And of course, as it wasn't predictable enough before, she saying "I love you" just before they are going to be executed. Oh, come on! And to set the things straight, I really like romantic movies. Or at least, did like. So far.
And as to keep the force in balance (or at least I'll try!), about the good things. The special effects were quite good: the large battle scene got a bit too difficult to watch visually, but light sabre fights were as good as always, if not better due to Yoda's participation. Why Anakin is starting to move towards the dark side was made quite clear, and different factors contributing to it (feeling of being hold back by Obi-Wan, not being to save his mother, forbidden feelings of love and hatred, etc.) were set out even a bit too explicitly.
Last but not least, I do have to agree with some critics, that the dialogue was worse than usual - not a single quotable line.
In short: I love the whole story behind the Star Wars movies, but almost hated the way it was displayed in Episode 2.