SLC, UT

Rating: 4/10 (22 May 2002)

I had higher hopes for Episode II, but I was sorely disappointed.
The Hayden Christensen (Anakin) seemed like he was reading his lines off a teleprompter since they just plopped out of his mouth without much feeling or timing. I'm sure he's a better actor than he seems since George Lucas seems to be good at getting the WORST possible performances out of his actors. Natalie Portman was just a little better than Hayden Christensen--although I've seen her do some good acting before. George Lucas seems to be awful at getting any kind of reasonable performance from these people--no wonder he wants to replace all the actors with computer generated people: he can do special effects but he can't get a performance out of a real-life person. Even Samuel L. Jackson, a usually good actor, had a few bad moments (watch him swagger into the room, plop down on the stool and pose and preen for the camera in one scene).
Aside from the bad acting, the plot was disjointed and boring for about the first 2/3 of the movie. Everyone just seemed to be planet hopping so we could see more of Lucas' special effects while the actors read their lines off of teleprompters.
This cast doesn't seem to have much chemestry or play off each other well as the original cast with Harrison Ford, Cari Fisher, et al did. Watching these people is almost as much fun as watching Al Gore. Can you say wooden and stiff?
Anyway, it's worth the money to see some special effects but this is another utterly forgettable Star Wars movie like Episode 1. After the hype dies down, I doubt this movie will be so well liked.