STAR WARS: EPISODE II – ATTACK OF THE CLONES (2002)  **1/2

Reviewed 5/16/02

Were such heavy expectations and biases, both positive and negative, not hanging over ATTACK OF THE CLONES as a STAR WARS movie, it would probably be seen for what it is – a silly, often cheesy but still entertaining eye-popping spectacle.  George Lucas’ insistence of retroactively citing Joseph Campbell’s shadow over the films do them a disservice.  With obvious B-movie titles like THE PHANTOM MENACE and ATTACK OF THE CLONES, Lucas can’t have it both ways, and the STAR WARS movies are ultimately lowbrow vaudeville, not veiled works of highbrow art.  Furthermore, even if one could read Campbell into the movies, that would still make any aspirations to significance purely superficial ones. All of this is to say, there is nothing wrong with having lowbrow, comic book origins. On that level, ATTACK OF THE CLONES works well enough to be much more pleasurable than the mediocre PHANTOM MENACE and a little short of the flawed but occasionally inspired RETURN OF THE JEDI.

The story begins ten years after the events of THE PHANTOM MENACE.  Under the leadership of one-time Jedi, now separatist Count Dooku (Christopher Lee), many star systems are trying to leave the Republic. Former Queen, now Senator Amidala (Natalie Portman) of planet Naboo comes to capital Coruscant over important legislation on whether the Republic should militarize against the separatists. The infamous Jar Jar Binks (voice of Ahmed Best) accompanies her, but he is appropriately sidelined for most of the movie. After an attempt on Amidala’s life, Yoda (the voice of Frank Oz) and the Jedi Council appoint Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) and his Padawan (apprentice) Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) to protect her. They trace the assassination attempt to bounty hunter, Jango Fett (Temuera Morrison), and while Kenobi investigates Fett on the watery planet Kamino, Anakin returns to Naboo with Amidala under his care. There, the two fall in love before Anakin has an ominous premonition of his mother (Pernilla August) in danger on Tatooine.

Three things – the acting, the dialogue, and easily avoided plot loopholes/inconsistencies – would ruin the movie if one thing – the impressive special effects and the worlds they create – didn’t save it.  Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman are so stiff, they might not pass your local high school drama class.  They are not helped by some of the worst dialogue since PEARL HARBOR.  Even Laurence Olivier would struggle with “You are in my very soul tormenting me” and “I’ve been dying a little each day since you came back in my life.” Lucas also seems to have gotten his ideas about love from looking at the paperback covers of cheesy romance novels. Soft focus photography of Christensen and Portman in grassy fields, before waterfalls, and in front of crackling fireplaces are eye-rollingly absurd. Lucas and co-writer Jonathan Hales’ dialogue isn’t isolated to romantic clichés.  Anakin and Amidala have a truly glib political debate. She staunchly notes, “The day we stop believing in democracy is the day we lose it.” Furthermore, Christensen plays Anakin entirely as a spoiled brat or leering wolf. If Yoda and the Jedi Council had apprehensions about him in PHANTOM MENACE, they should have it tenfold now. Instead, the roles are reversed with Kenobi wary of Anakin and Yoda pushing him forward. Aside from this being a nonsensical plot choice, it doesn’t make Anakin’s transformation to Darth Vader very dramatic if he starts out more than half way there.

Like PHANTOM MENACE, many plot holes leave the viewer asking why Amidala didn’t buy Shmi Skywalker out of slavery ten years ago.  How did C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) come to join the group all of a sudden?  Since when could R2-D2 (Kenny Baker) fly?  And why is Jimmy Smits in this movie?  Lucas also has an over-reliance on John Williams’ blaring score, which is not nearly as transcendent as the ones he wrote for the original trilogy. The only thing subtle about the movie is the nicely underplayed relationship between Jango and his “son,” a clone of himself, Boba Fett (Daniel Logan).

Where ATTACK OF THE CLONES succeeds is in spectacle.  The CGI does go overboard occasionally with Lucas sometimes filling the screen with too many details; actors’ eyelines don’t always match with other CGI characters; the creature designs are less inspired this time out; and an action scene on a conveyor belt seems to be in the movie only because it will be in a video game later.  Still, Coruscant, home of the Senate, and Geonosis, where the climatic battle takes place, both look amazing.  A chase scene through the heavily trafficked skies over Coruscant, a late battle involving a couple dozen Jedi, and the already famous fight between Yoda and Count Dooku all dazzle.

Adding at least a bit of a human element to the movie are Ewan McGregor and Christopher Lee. McGregor really seems to be having fun with the role, and Lee has thrice the menace of Darth Maul. ATTACK OF THE CLONES doesn’t have great character development, but it looks grand and the action is exciting. That’s enough for it to be a good but far from great popcorn movie.