What everyone said... but better. grin.

Rating: 6/10 (21 May 2002)

I had a look at other comments and critics opinions on Episode 2. THe general consensus seemed to be: - Visually Amazing. - Crummy Dialogue leading to wooden performances. - Better then Episode 1. Everyone seemed to agree on this, no matter what final score they gave the film.
So i wandered along, with fairly low expectations after ep1, and I have to say that all the comments above are perfectly true... 8.5/10.

TO SUM IT UP: on the way out of the cinema my mate asked me "what are you grinning about?". i couldn't answer, just mutter something about "film" and "yoda". I was still grinning when i got home. What more recommendation could you want?
spoilers may follow:
Visuals: Some of these are stunning... but better than that, they are artistic. I got the impression that episode 1 was just trying to show off what it could do... but episode 2 has much more interesting shots, such as the droids vs clones in a cloud of dust, and the final saber battle in only the light of the sabers.
Dialogue: Much better than i was expecting. Not as dire as Ep1, and without any of the stupid sounding americanisms ("Yippee!", "are you braindead?", sports commentators). But it is still pretty clunky in places, allthough i like jonathan, his shakespeare type backgroud isn't really what is needed to counter georges lack of feel for dialogue. They need someone with a flair for sparky interplay (like the leia/han stuff in the originals) like Joss Whedon or Shane Black. A compromise between their styles and Lucas' would be about the right feel.
Characters: Anakin came across as a spoilt, whining kid for the 1st half of the show, but as soon as they headed for tatooine he picked up and really started to be the sort of interesting, emotional, torn character that i was expecting. Ob1 came across as being a bit to stern and overcritical about anakin, and fairly uncharismatic. Natalie portman was much more interesting in this one, as we actually got to see a bit of her personality... she still needs a bit more of leia's cockiness, but she is getting there. Samual L. Jackson was wooden as hell. Looked bored. Jar Jar is cut down to size, but i liked the fact they gave him a pivotal role. Christopher Lee was cool as always, but the film is stolen by Yoda. Between them Frank Oz and ILM's character is by far the best acted, most charismatic and most interesting character in the film. It must say something about Lucas that he can only really get a great character out of a digital effect. Yoda in the school room "lost a plant, obi-wan has, how embarassing" and in his final fight make the film worth watching on it's own.
Plot and pacing: On the whole the plot is pretty good, more epic, dark and ambiguous than episode 1 (which didn't really have a plot). George never explained about disappearing jedi (which he promised!), and he forgot about all the annoying stuff from ep1 (immaculate conception, midichlorians etc...). The main problem i had with the film was the INTERCUTTING OF THE OB1 AND ANAKIN PLOTS and their effect on the pacing. Too often we were just getting to a good bit in one, then we were cut over to the other. ANd to often we cut from a dramatic ob1 scene to a romantic ani scene. Or just as we were feeling the anger and grief of anakin, we cut to the other side of the galaxy. Personally, if i could have made one change it would have been to cut out naboo altogether (anakin suddenly running off to tatooine felt false) and had anakin hide padme on tatooine from the start. It would have made more plot sense and been less jarring in the cuts. Also, ob1 turning down dooku straight felt wrong... at that point dooku sounds like he has a point, trying to save the senate from sidious. The political statements are as subtle as a sledgehammer and lead to some of the most cheesy and boring parts of the film ("the moment we stop believing in democracy is the moment we loose it!" etc..). I think we could have got the point on our own george.
Better than Episode 1: YES, in every way. Almost as good as return of the jedi in fact (better because of the darker tone, not as good because i can't care as much about the characters, and x-wings, tie fighters and the millenium falcon are still cooler than droids and the ships in ep2, no matter how cool they look)