Classic Review: Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002)

“Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones” stars Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen, Natalie Portman, Ian McDiarmid, Samuel L. Jackson, Christopher Lee, and Frank Oz.  Released on May 16, 2002, the film has Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker protecting Senator Padme from assassination while facing a Separatist movement formed by a former Jedi master.

The film is directed by George Lucas, and it is the second installment in the Star Wars prequel trilogy.  It is also the fifth film in the Star Wars film series.  Since I reviewed Episode I on my blog, I thought it would be fun to review the rest of the Star Wars films, even though we’re months away from Star Wars 8, but hey, better to do it now rather than later.  While Episode I left a bad taste in the mouths of multiple Star Wars fans, Episode II, at least, got a better reception from critics, but that doesn’t mean the fans liked it as well.  It’s actually been a while since I last saw Episode II, so let’s see how well it holds up in today’s standards.

One of the things that made a small improvement were the performances.  Even though they weren’t grand enough to provide strong characters, at least they’re not as bland as the performances in Episode I.  There were a few actors that did manage to provide some decent acting like McGregor as Obi-Wan, McDiarmid as Palpatine, Oz as Yoda, and Christopher Lee as the film’s antagonist, Count Dooku.  Hayden Christensen, however, could’ve used some more acting lessons.  I like the fact that this film showed the first step of Anakin’s road to the dark side, but Christensen’s acting didn’t do a whole lot to portray this type of character.  The visuals in the film were a tad better than Episode I, especially when it comes to the action sequences, but some of them were a bit dated and noticeable.  I was watching it on my 4K television, and I can easily tell that some of the creatures are made with CGI.  The film also features a romance aspect between Padme (Portman) and Anakin, and it was cheesy as heck.  I wasn’t really bothered by this kind of stuff, but this is probably an example of what not to do while making a romance film.  When you get past the weak romance parts of the film, the overall story is actually not that bad.  It’s the longest film in the series, but George Lucas managed to keep certain scenes as engaging as possible.

Overall, while it still has its problems, “Attack of the Clones” marks a small improvement over Episode I in terms of some decent performances and its visuals.  There were a few things that could’ve been a lot better, such as Christensen’s performance, but in the end, it’s a very nice experience that still didn’t live up to the standards of the original trilogy.  If you’re a fan of Star Wars, you may or may not like this installment, but if you don’t mind any of the flaws that are in the film, then it’s worth a watch.

C