Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones

Well, I know I said this about the last Star Wars movie I reviewed, but this was also...definitely a movie. Now, unlike Phantom Menace, this has a few more moments of brilliance in it.

The story follows Obi-Wan Kenobi, played by Ewan McGregor, and his apprentice, the now grown Anakin Skywalker, played this time by Hayden Christensen, who are sent to protect the senator Padme Amidala, played once again by Natalie Portman, from assassination by the mysterious separatists. After an action packed opening scene, the story splits off in two directions.

The first, and arguably the more interesting thread in the story, concerns Obi-Wan looking into the assassin going after Padme and ends up running into the leader of the separatists, Count Dooku, played by Christopher Lee, as well as learning of an army of clones made for the republic to fight against the armies of the separatists. It's a good mystery, with some great action, and Ewan McGregor is always just fun to watch on screen.

As for the second thread, it follows Anakin as he attempts to guard and protect Padme, and they begin to fall in love. Now, I'm down for a good love story and...this was not one of them. Anakin doesn't come across as in love as much as he acts like a creepy stalker who talks about seeing Padme in his dreams and just is very...off. The crowning moment of just...weirdness with their relationship is when, after attempting to find his mother after having a dream of her death, he kills the tribe of raiders who captured her. Padme's response is literally, "It's okay to be angry." I'm sorry, what?! The guy commits literal murder and she justifies it as blowing off steam? And somehow they fall in love and will have kids in the future, hence Luke and Leia in the original movies. Just...wow. Whoever wrote the scenes between them clearly has no idea what romance is, but being creepy and justifying actual murder is definitely not romance material.

The acting, as in the first of these prequels, is definitely hit or miss. Natalie Portman continues to be bored throughout the whole movie, as does Hayden Christensen, although thankfully Ewan McGregor and Christopher Lee have more than enough gravitas to keep this movie afloat. The action is appropriately fantastic and features some really cool lightsaber combat. Also, I just love seeing Christopher Lee fighting with a lightsaber. It's totally just for the sake of being cool, but it's still something.

Overall, while I'd say this film is definitely an improvement over the first by featuring more of a compelling narrative, the awkward and just plain weird romance subplot, as well as the fact that half the cast clearly doesn't care about the movie, means that there are still a lot of flaws at the end of the day. It's fun, but I would not suggest watching this one even with the improved story.

Next time, we hopefully journey into a bit of a better film as we return to the wizarding world to observe Harry Potter's adventures at his second year at Hogwarts. What sort of adventures will he get up to this time? Find out when I review Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

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