Attack of the Senses

Rating: Null/10 (21 May 2002)

The movie is worth seeing mostly for the effects and to be prepared for what I hope to be an improved Episode III. However, Lucas really stumbled here. This should have been a character movie. This is the centerpiece of a trilogy concerning the rise the good, Anarkin Skywalker, and his fall into evil, Darth Vader, one of the movies greatest bad guys of all time. This is the movie where we should have learned along with Amidala to love Anarkin. That would make his fall, that much more personal and involving. He's not really very lovable here. Hayden Christensen does the best that he can, but he's just not right. We needed a cross between Errol Flynn and James Dean, a swashbuckling hero with a hidden inner angst. We don't get that, and that's a shame.
Luckily, Lucas still has a great feeling for special effects. It's here that the movie shines and keeps people in the seats. We all want to see a glimpse of the 'future' that Lucas continues to create. The detail and completeness of the dynamic backgrounds is definitely worthy of praise. However, the special effects end up being more believable than the actors or the story. The pace is quite fast, but seems more rushed than action packed. I think that is mostly due to the difficulty in relating to the heroes.

Anarkin's arrogance, which will obviously be part of his movement to the darkside, is not at all appealing. He's petulant, moody and really too good-looking to be a believable action hero. This combination of preening good looks, and whiny attitude makes him difficult to identify with.

I couldn't understand why Amidala even likes him, much less falls in love with him. His early meetings with her after a 10 year lapse were either trying to countermand her decisions, or complaining how Obi Wan doesn't appreciate him. Is she really a closet Jedi groupie?
Maybe she's just not very smart. My opinion of her, and anyone who helped to make her a planet representative, fell as low as it could go, as soon as she passed her senatorial duties to Jar Jar Binks in her absence. Huh? Wouldn't that type of decision be reason enough for impeachment? Jar Jar's character is used like an old pair of shoes by Palpatine and is, thankfully, barely seen again.
Obi Wan is also hard to relate to here. His character, which was in my opinion the most appealing in Episode I, seems out of place in II. He's just not as engaging playing the mentor as he was playing the Padawan. He comes off as cool and patronizing, showing very little emotional range as a character.
Who else can we cheer for? As mentioned above, the big three are whiny, unbelievably dumb and one-dimensional. Who else is there? The Jedi Council? Please. By their own admission they are getting weak and disjointed. Yoda? His action sequence is entertaining but also a bit unbelievable. He comes in and out of the scene obviously relying on his crutch. Between the beginning and the end of that scene, he has more power and ability than anyone else in the movie. Come on, who's he fooling. Us?
I looked forward to Episode II with high expectations, hoping that the feedback from Episode I would help to bring the series closer to its roots. Sadly, instead of moving back toward simple stories where a few intrinsically good individuals hesitantly make brave contributions toward the betterment of galactic society, we get a morass of convoluted politics, a forced no sparks romance, and an endless exposition of unendearing heroes taking unthinkable risks.