Star Wars: Episode 2 - Attack Of The Clones (2002) Review

Star Wars: Episode 2 - Attack Of The Clones (2002) Review 

 The next stage of my Star Wars marathon leads me to the second episode of the prequel trilogy Attack Of The Clones and this is my review for it. The premise of the film is set 10 years after The Phantom Menace and Obi-Wan and Anakin Skywalker are tasked with protecting Senator Amidala from an assasination attempt which leads them both to question what is going on in the galaxy and The Republic as a whole.

Main Character

Hayden Christensen was cast as an older Anakin Skywalker in this film and I am just going to be blunt he isn't particularly good in this film. The character has some interesting moments and it does feel like he isn't as dull as some of the other jedi but it is just Christensen doesn't pull it off. It doesn't help that the story he is involved in drags down the movie and the script is really bad, which he can't rise above. Ewan McGregor plays an older and more wiser Obi-Wan Kenobi and he is great in this film and is the best character in the film, he has way more charisma and personality in this film and you really see his connection to Alec Guinness's version of the character here. 

Supporting Characters

Frank Oz voices Yoda in the film and even though he had a smaller role in The Phantom Menace his role is beefed up here and it is great seeing this wise Yoda at what could be considered in his prime. Natalie Portman is back as Padme Amidala and I thought she would be better in this film but actually after rewatching this film she is just as bad in this film as the previous possibly even worse. She gives such a wooden performance, the dialogue for her is terrible but she does nothing to attempt to rise above it and comes across as a very boring character. The amazing Christopher Lee plays Count Dooku in this film and he tries but he is very similar to Darth Maul in the previous film, he turns up very late in the film and you learn very little about his character to care about why he is going against The Jedi. Samuel L Jackson gets a bit more screen time as Mace Windu in the film and it is such a shame that such a charismatic actor such as Jackson is given nothing to work with and is possibly the most boring Jedi on film that there ever has been. 

Story

The main plot thread of this film is the on and off romance between Anakin & Padme and my goodness it is so bland and cringeworthy. The fact the performers have no chemistry doesn't help and that it actually is really creepy at times. You can tell they were going for a Han & Leia romance here but the difference is that there story was a secondary story not the main one, but this film focuses too much on this romance and it is just a really badly written romance. However, the story of Obi-Wan trying to locate the assassin is really interesting and well handled, you learn along with Kenobi and the revelations really work for the film. It is just a shame that the film didn't focus more on this part of the story as there was even more potential for intrigue in this plot thread. 

Script

Now as mentioned in my Phantom Menace review the scripts for these films are just really not good and this one might be the worst one there is. The romantic and dramatic dialogue is cringeworthy and feels completley unnatural making these characters not even feel like normal people and it makes you not care at all. The attempt at humour also doesn't work McGregor does his best and delivers some decent one liners but that is more down to his performance then the script.

Style

The style of this film has some great action scenes in it, the battle between Obi-Wan & Jango Fett on Kamino is one of my favourite battles in any Star Wars film because of how physical and different it feels to any other battle in franchise history. It is also really cool seeing Jedi in their prime taking down armies of enemies showing just how powerful they are. But, a big thing in the films is the lightsaber fights and this one really fails to deliver, they are less entertaining then Phantom Menace and don't have the personal feeling of the original trilogy plus it is really obvious that it is not Christopher Lee involved in the action scenes. Also the pacing of the film is even worse in this film then the previous one as it focuses way too much on the romance and less on the interesting Obi-Wan story. 

Overall

Overall, this film is better then The Phantom Menace with more entertaining action scenes and a few decent characters but the romance really drags the film down and lets face it this is not worthy of being called a Star Wars film either. 

Rating - 4/10