Search - Star Wars - Episode II, Attack of the Clones (Widescreen Edition) on DVD

Possibly the most under-appreciated movie ever

Christopher Farrell | Cupertino, CA USA | 03/07/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I find it kind of weird to be writing a review of Star Wars: Episode II so long after the fact. But for what is and has always been a series of popcorn movies, it took me a surprisingly long time and large number of viewings to really appreciate the subtlety of what Attack of the Clones was doing and how well the prequel trilogy as a whole succeeded.

In a nutshell, George Lucas set himself a gargantuan task in doing the three prequels. He had to take the character of Anakin Skywalker, make him a likable and sympathetic character that viewers would enjoy watching for most of three movies, and then turn him into Darth Vader at the end in a way that was both fundamentally believable and effective, and allow the us to feel the tragedy. In short, he had to do something almost completely unlike the heroic arc he did in the original trilogy.

And you know what, for me anyway, he succeeded, and once again the middle chapter is the key one. This is where Lucas had to develop Anakin as a real, likable character, and yet give us just enough of his darker side to set up his final fall without yet making us actually dislike him. I think Anakin's romance with Padme was the linchpin and very well-done, even though many fans have criticized it for lousy dialog. You know, I had badly-written dialog when I was that age too. We've had a lot of hip teenagers in popular culture these days, like the character from Buffy: the Vampire Slayer, who talk more like what their 30-something writers would have liked to have talked like when they were that age. Anakin is an awkward, conflicted, serious yet emotional teenager who is deeply in love with Padme and doesn't know how to talk to her. And that's what he sounds like, and for me, it worked, allowing Anakin to develop both sides of his character (Padme's side of the relationship is a little sketchier; her role isn't as well drawn in my opinion, and additionally Natalie Portman, a talented actress, may have been mailing this one in).

Needless to say, the action and chase scenes are brilliant, and George Lucas is the master when it comes to framing and setting these things up. Whether it's the skillfully managed tension of the bar scene, the cleverly-shot lightsaber duel between Dooku, Anakin, and/or Obi-Wan, or fisticuffs in the rain, Lucas makes all the action scenes compelling. Crucially, they are an extension of the plot and character development and not just spectacular set pieces as they are in so many movies of this genre.

I'm not going to say the movie is perfect, or as compelling as The Empire Strikes Back; it's got its awkward moments, not all of them there for a good reason. The first time I saw Episode II, I wasn't that impressed. But what Lucas set out to do was much more ambitious than it appears on the surface, far more ambitious than most Sci-Fi action flicks, and for me he's succeeded in delivering a trilogy of both exciting action and emotional depth. It took a little while for them to grow on me, and for me to appreciate and understand what he was doing, but now that I'm there I like the second three as much as the first three."

See my review below...

|||'||||'|||||'''||''||||| | Here | 03/21/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It is doubtful that any movie in the history of American Cinema faced as imposing a wall of negativity at its release as the one that loomed before Episode II. To say that a large percentage of viewers had a bad taste in their mouth because of Episode I is an extreme understatement. I defended 'Phantom' as "not as bad as" people were saying. Sure I wanted all 'gungans' to die horrible deaths, especially Jar-Jar, but we had all the story elements plus some ingenious characters. At the end of its run I had decided that despite errors in canon and the abominable comic relief, I liked the film and 2002 was way too far away. As we got closer to the release date, I started to worry that all the comments about the whole franchise being trashed may have some merit. What if this one was an awkward disaster, flailing even further into the swamp of failure than the first? I intentionally didn't look up any synopsis or look for any spoilers; I wanted my reaction to be raw and immediate, based on what I was taking in. So it was that I found myself in line opening night; midnight showing, of course. I didn't really have any hope in mind one way or the other aside from "please don't let it suck". As I was standing there, I overheard a snippet of conversation from some youths who obviously had done some advance research, and one of them said "Oh yeah that's right! We get to see Yoda fight in this one!". For a few seconds, I didn't hear anything after that. Hold the phone. We get to see Yoda........fight?? OK, all thoughts of gloom and disaster are jettisoned. Is that a flicker of Optimism? Maybe so. We're seated. Down go the lights. Drum roll. "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..." Fanfare. We're off. It's all urgency, action, and an overarching sense of danger and chaos. Whoa. I've seen this 'look and feel' somewhere before. Maybe it's too early to tell, but George may be back on his game. We've got crazy things happening left and right. Alliances are being forged and broken; acts of war and treason are being committed. Holy crap, there are more Jedi on the screen than I've ever seen before! And then one of the most memorable film sequences I've seen in my whole life. It's a desperate fight, and the good guys have exhausted almost all their energy. Death seems certain, and destruction is inevitable. Why are we looking at a doorway and floor? Why- hey a shadow...why is it familiar---? Holy crap. The theater erupts. I'm gripping both arms of my chair so hard it hurts, staring bug-eyed at the screen. I've got tears in my eyes. Judge him by his size does Dooku?? This is going to ROCK!!! There is a sustained explosion of whirling, twisting light onscreen. I hope the theater manager will be understanding and send me a bill, payable in installments, for whatever I might do to this chair. Whoa the pillar!-oh....my....word. It's wrapping up; we see huge ships, and battalions of white-clad soldiers stretching to the horizon. Where have we seen those before? The March swells. It's over. I'm sitting deflated in my chair as the masses file out, talking excitedly. I would like something to drink and a listing of showtimes immediately please. Well done, George. Well done."