Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones Review
by Greg Novak (Deerboy67 AT cs DOT com)June 5th, 2002
Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones
A Review by Greg Novak
"A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…." Those words sent shivers down my
spine as I sat in my local theatre waiting for the beginning of "Episode II: Attack of the
Clones," the latest installment in the pre-trilogy, trilogy. I'm what you would call a
true fan of the "Star Wars" phenomena. I often have to explain to people what that
means. They don't understand that I could hate other movies in the series such as
"The Phantom Menace" and "Return of the Jedi," yet still call myself a "Star Wars"
fan. It's simple really. "Star Wars" fans don't follow the Standard English lexicon.
When a Star Wars fan says he hates "The Phantom Menace" or "Return of the Jedi,"
it means he'll only see those films six or seven times, instead of the fifteen to twenty
times for the ones he really likes.
Ok, back to "Episode II: Attack of the Clones." My expectations were significantly reduced as I sat down to watch "Episode II." Viewing "The Phantom
Menace" had significantly lowered those expectations. I hated the character of Jar
Jar, the silly cartoonish Trade Federation Robot army, and the stupid underwater
Nabooians. (Translation-I only saw "Phantom Menace" six times, and I hated every
second of each of those six times!!) Perhaps, my reduced expectations are what
made "Episode II" so enjoyable. Or perhaps George Lucas still has some of that
magic left in him.
For those living in another universe, "Attack of the Clones" is the second
installment in Lucas' trilogy about the Clone Wars, alluded to in the first trilogy. The
film takes place decades before the events in the first trilogy and about ten years after
the events in "The Phantom Menace." The story follows further attempts by the Trade
Federation to undermine the Republic, a collection of thousands of worlds rule by a
democratically elected senate. Behind all these attempts at galactic chaos is the
covert work of a Sith Lord to bring about the fall of the Republic and replace it with
himself as Emperor. The Senates' complete inability to deal with local emergencies,
and its spiraling bureaucracy, only fuels these conspiracies, and a latent secessionist movement within the Republic gains momentum, as one planet after another threatens to leave the union.
The Jedi Knights, the peacekeeping super-heroes of the Republic, are outnumbered and overwhelmed. Ultimately, the Senate itself willingly relinquishes its
powers to the president, as it issues him emergency powers to deal with the current
crisis. Bad move. It's easy to give someone ultimate power, but it's a bit more
difficult to take that power away after the emergency subsides. (Historians will see
shades of the fall of the Roman Republic in this) The events that bring about this
unprecedented relinquishing of senatorial control begins with an assassination attempt on a minor senator from the planet Naboo. Senator Padmé Amidala is the
unlikely target, and in investigating her assassination attempt, a Jedi knight and his
student are assigned to the case. The Jedi Knight happens to be Obi-Wan Kenobi;
his student is none other than Anakin Skywalker.
Hayden Christensen gives wonderful performance as the arrogant, teen-age, angst
ridden Anakin, now ten years older than the boy he was in the first film. (And, yes,
they did have teen-angst a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far, away) I think I was the
only person in America who actually heard of Hayden Christensen when the media announced that he had been cast for the new "Star Wars" film. I had already known
him from his character in a short-lived drama, "Higher Ground," about troubled teens
in an Outward Bound program. Hayden gave stunningly emotional performances in that show, and Lucas obviously thought Hayden could bring those same emotions to
Anakin. Hayden Christensen does just that.
Anakin has a natural talent for the force, but it serves only to increase his
arrogance, rather than cradle his humility. At one point Anakin even dares to insinuate that he is a better swordsman than Yoda himself! Dare to dream. As a
result, this Anakin has shades of darkness in him, an all too important ingredient for
the future Darth Vader. Fans get to see those fateful first steps that drive Anakin to
the dark side, as he completely looses his Jedi calm after rescuing his mother from a
tribe of Tuscan Raiders. His mom dies soon thereafter, and Hayden reacts with the
cold-hearted vengeance of a Hitler, rather than the collected and compassionate mold
of a Jedi. We also see how Anakin ultimately blames his mentor, Obi-Wan Kenobi,
played wonderfully by Ewan McGregor, for holding back the development of his powers. (Powers that he could have used to save his mother) The tension between
Obi-Wan and the young Anakin adds great depth and drama to the two characters, and will, no doubt, lead to their split in the next "Star Wars" film. While Hayden deserves credit for bringing dimension to Anakin, critics have been
less than kind to many of the performances in this film, as well as to those in "The
Phantom Menace." For evidence, these critics cite the characters as un-lively cardboard cut-outs and fault Lucas' inability to direct his actors. A certain amount of
that criticism is justified. Lucas is at his worst when trying to get good performances
from his actors. Of course, he makes up for this by getting tremendous actors that
don't need directing, as with Harrison Ford in the first trilogy. However, to some
extent the critique demonstrates a lack of understanding of these characters, most of
whom are Jedi knights. A Jedi's signifying characteristic is the ability to control his or
her emotions. The actors playing Jedi's are stoic, not because they can't act, but
because they are supposed to be stoic!! Still the non-Jedi characters are mostly
awful. Senator Padmé Amidala, Anakin's love interest played by Natalie Portman, is
so wooden you'd think she was a droid. Yet, the droid characters display much more
personality than Portman's character. Her character is as dull and flat as in the first
film. This trilogy desperately needs another Princess Leila character, and another
Han Solo.
The actors also fail to create any suspense in this film. This is not necessarily
Lucas's fault. Inherent in a prequel trilogy is the knowledge of what ultimately
happens. We know these characters won't be harmed, because we've already seen their future. This film takes place before the first trilogy. So when Anakin and Obi-
Wan, C3PO and R2D2, Yoda and the future Emperor, face terrifying certain-death type situations that would normally generate high levels of suspense, the scenes fall
flat. Even when Anakin jumps from his floater, falling hundreds of feet, I found myself
more taken in by the visually stunning details of the city itself, than by the attempted
action sequence. We know that none of these characters get killed. Lucas needs to
find a way to bring back some of the suspense that was such a fundamental part of
the first trilogy.
Few fans of the "Star Wars" phenomena, however, go to these movies to see brilliant performances from their favorite actors. Ultimately, they go for the fantasy.
And what Lucas lacks in his directing abilities with actors, he more than makes up for
in bringing his own stunning vision to life. This film is 100 percent eye-candy!! Lucas
pays fastidious attention to details, and this pays off. He delivers highly imaginative
and breath-taking landscapes on wildly different planets. For fans of the planet
Tatooine, (Yes, "Star Wars" people have their favorite planets) Lucas delivers some
absolutely stunning sequences involving Anakin riding a speeder at dusk. The Tatooine desert at nightfall is one of the most breath-taking scenes I've seen in film.
We also see an interesting sea planet. (Has anyone else noticed Lucas' fascination
with creating planets based on Earth biomes? We have the jungle planet of Degaba,
the desert planet of Tatooine, the ice-planet Hoth, and now a sea planet.) Ultimately, "Episode II" is a visual treat with characters we care about, if only
because we've come to love and hate their future versions. I can't say I hated "Episode II," as I did "The Phantom Menace." But, I can't say I loved "Episode II"
either. In "Star Wars" language that means it'll probably be at least another week
before I see it again.
Note: Fans of "Attack of the Clones" will want to read Allen Dean Foster's, "Star Wars: The Approaching Storm." This novel, released in time for the movie, immediate precedes the events of Attack of the Clones, and offers some wonderful insights into the mind of Anakin, and the politics of the Republic. The movie refers to some of the events in the book during its first 5 minutes.
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