Sorry, younglings - far too much romance, not enough action...

Rating: 7/10 (9 February 2020)

Romance really does know how to suck the fizz out of an adventure film! Here, with the complicit contribution of John Williams' string accompaniment we have to endure the nauseating love story between Hayden Christensen ("Anakin") and Natalie Portman ("Padmé"). Couldn't they just have got a room? "Palpatine" has seen to it that Ewan McGregor has now been charged with guiding his young pupil to fulfil his potential with the "Force" but without being elevated to the status of Jedi master, so he is naturally a tad narked about that. Luckily for us, though, he discovers that there is a secret army of clones ("Jango Fett" lookalikes dressed a lot like Stormtroopers and just as useless in a fight) and so with the help of "Yoda" et al, he rallies the Jedi order against the evil "Count Dooku" (Christopher Lee). Away from the slush, it's a good action fantasy and the last half hour redeems it somewhat. Worth watching if you like the series, but a very poor relation of it's older cousins.