(Almost) no Jar-Jar to blame this time.

Rating: Null/10 (27 May 2002)

I have two main problems with Episode II: the dialogue and the plot.
The dialogue never had to be stellar - people don't go to Lucas films for Shakespeare - but somewhere along the line it became really really awful. Stupid puns everywhere you go, and verbal references to lines popular with the older crowd ("I've got a bad feeling about this", "you're going to be the death of me"). The plot annoyed me not because of the broad sweep of things (we all know what has to happen before the end of Episode III, and Lucas has to get that going), but because of Lucas's need to explain *every little thing*. Why bring in Jango Fett? Why keep introducing C3PO and R2-D2? Is it so incredible that in a galaxy of (presumably) hundreds of billions of sentient (and suspiciously humanoid) beings, a few of them might just slip through the cracks, and not be seen again? It seems pointless to me, and complicates the overall story too much.
I didn't actually think the underlying acting was too bad. Christensen wasn't that bad, and Portman was OK, too. Though apart from youth and proximity, I'm not sure where the chemistry between them was supposed to come from. The real irritant for me was McGregor. He certainly *can* act, and he was one of the bright points of Episode I. His character is supposed to mature from a callow youth to wise old Alec-Guinness Obi-Wan. And yet all he seems to have done by now is grow a beard and become heavier-set. He seems unnecessarily stupid (as others have pointed out) and pompous. Perhaps this is a plot necessity, but it's irritating as hell, and I don't know where it's coming from. Now I know that Star Wars should have ended with Return of the Jedi. It's funny how pretty bad stuff can give you the warm fuzzies of nostalgia after enough time had passed. I recall thinking that Ewoks were a bad move in the (retitled) Episode VI, but really that was just a warmer up. Lucas is just making kiddie films with lots of violence and incredible CGI.
Oh, and on a more childish note, there's lots of lightsaber fighting, but none of it seems as good as the two extended scenes in Phantom Menace.