Movie Review - Star Wars Episode II, Attack of the Clones

Reviewed by Justin Colburn and Keayn Dunya

10 years have passed and Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) is a padawan to Master Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor). The two are assigned by Mace Windu (Samuel Jackson) and Yoda (voiced by Frank OZ) to protect Padmé Amidala (Natalie Portman) after her assination attempt. Obi-Wan goes on the discover a plot by the Seperatist leader Count Dooku (Christopher Lee).

Justin:

Anakin Skywalker shares a forbidden romance with Padmé Amidala even while his teacher's investigation of a Separatist assassination attempt leads to the discovery of a secret Republican clone army.

George Lucas is out of his liversnap mind, he took a once great story and stuffed it with shite. In this most recent installment he disregarded all previous character development and completely ignored continuity. What we should be seeing is the rise and fall of Anakin Skywalker, but what we get is a weak love story, bad acting, terrible dialogue and mindless fight scenes with a thick CGI layer on top.

From beginning to end I found fault after fault in the film. I couldn't believe Obi Wan and Anakin were supposed to be friends. If assassinating Padme was such an important task why did Jango Fett sub contract the hit to Zam Wesell? How am I supposed to believe a disrespectful, immature Jedi wannabe and a dignified and well-mannered Senator are supposed to fall in love? I'm not going to go too far into this because I don't want to give any plot points away to those who haven't seen it, but let me summarize by saying I found several of the movies plot points unbelievable and contradictory to the previous Star Wars films.

I think my greatest disappointment with this movie was the way Lucas completely wasted the acting talent he gathered for this film. Natalie Portman is one of the best young actresses in Hollywood today, in my opinion. I loved her work in Beautiful Girls and Leon: the Professional, but her talent has been completely wasted in the Star Wars films. Haden Christensen seemed to overact every scene he was in, I know he was trying to give the character some feeling, but in the end it was just way too much.

If you haven't seen Episode II yet, you should definitely go see it. The Star Wars series holds different meanings and expectations to every different person. I wanted to like it, but it didn't live up to my expectations of what a Star Wars film should be. It whetted my appetite, but ultimately left me unsatisfied.

Keayn:

I am a fan of the Star Wars Universe. I've taken a junk YT-1300 from on end of the periphery and back. I have been maveled by the simple purity of the force. Yet Episode I & II have let me down. I admit I went into Episode I with high expectations and I left throughly frustrated. For Episode II, I checked my expectations at the door and went in with an open mind. Again I left frustrated.

The Episode Movies are beginning to symbolize all the excess that plagues modern productions. Here you have a movie with great actors, Natalie Portman and Ewan McGregor to name a few, that are overshadowed by a thin plot and a heavy layer of computer graphics. Ten years have past since Episode I and we are given very little background. Throughout the movie the audience is expected to follow along while being given very little reason two. As a fan of the Star Wars universe I find this both appaling and insulting.

That leaves me with a paradox. It's still a Star Wars movie and if nothing else it's still entertaining. Love it or hate it, it adds to the universe. Besides "A Jedi Shall Not Know Anger. Nor Hatred. Nor Love." Yet, the Dark Side is very tempting.