Movie Night: Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones.

Review #143: Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones.

Cast
Ewan McGregor (Obi-Wan Kenobi), Natalie Portman (Padmé Amidala), Hayden Christensen (Anakin Skywalker), Ian McDiarmid (Chancellor Palpatine / Darth Sidious), Samuel L. Jackson (Mace Windu), Christopher Lee (Count Dooku / Darth Tyranus), Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Kenny Baker (R2-D2), Frank Oz (Yoda), Ahmed Best (Jar Jar Binks), Pernilla August (Shmi Skywalker), Oliver Ford Davies (Sio Bibble), Andy Secombe (Watto), Silas Carson (Nute Gunray and Ki-Adi-Mundi), Alethea McGrath (Jocasta Nu), Temuera Morrison (Jango Fett), and Jimmy Smits (Bail Organa) Directed by George Lucas (#113 - Star Wars, #141 - American Graffiti, and #142 - Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace)

Review
As of May 2019, this review has been superceded by a Redux Review that goes into better detail - as seen here: https://movienightcentral.blogspot.com/2019/05/redux-star-wars-episode-ii-attack-of-the-clones.html

Three years after Jar-Jar ruined the world, this film tries to heal some wounds as it promised origins to help this trilogy. But does it? Kind of. It is better then The Phantom Menace, but not by much. The acting is decent from some (McGregor, Lee, Oz), but the main point of focus is what is not from Christensen and Portman. Now, Portman is not entirely bad, but as one part of the love crud in the film along with Christensen, she takes the blame. Christensen, oh Christensen. He is dull as you feel you are watching a robot as he tries to speak the dialogue. The writing is mediocre, not as magical as the Original Trilogy, with many love cliched lines that make you wonder if Lucas completely forgot how love was dealt with in The Empire Strikes Back (#114). My only question is why Lucas wants to connect the two trilogies so much. Look, you inserted 6 characters of the Original Trilogy already (Obi-Wan, Yoda, Anakin, Papaltine C-3PO and R2-D2 plus Chewbacca in Episode III), and these two trilogies aren't really similar in style, so don't try to connect them. Either way, this film is barely better then Menace, but it has a different problem that overlays into the one from the previous one: Sappy romance and Anakin's performance.

Countdown to 150: 10, 9, 8, 7...

Overall, I give it 6 out of 10 stars.