STAR WARS: EPISODE II ATTACK OF THE CLONES

By: Anthony C. Ferrante
Review Date: Tuesday, May 14, 2002

While many are hoping STAR WARS: EPISODE II ATTACK OF THE CLONES will be as easy to pick on as THE PHANTOM MENACE, the rest of us were quietly hoping STAR WARS creator George Lucas took notice of all the complaints against the first part of his prequel trilogy and would hopefully address them and deliver the STAR WARS movie we've all been waiting for since our last true youthful fix back in 1983 when RETURN OF THE JEDI was released.

And while CLONES has its share of clunky dialogue (thankfully relegated to the romantic aspect of the script), above the board Lucas has finally done it and crafted another STAR WARS film that will inspire countless repeat visits and build upon the dense mythology he's already created.

The story picks up 10 years after the events of PHANTOM MENACE with the Republic in turmoil planets have been forming separatist movements and Supreme Chancellor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) is using this as his play to gain more power. Meanwhile, Anakin (Hayden Christensen) has grown into a powerful, if impulsive, Jedi under the tutelage of Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor). When Padmé Amidala (Natalie Portman), who is no longer Queen but rather a senator, finds her life threatened, the Jedi Council gives Anakin his first assignment to protect her. They head back to Padmé's home planet of Naboo and, of course, despite the Jedi oath of celibacy, Anakin falls head over heels for Padmé.

Back on Coruscant, Obi-Wan is discovering there's a greater conspiracy at hand and ends up on the planet of Kamino, where he discovers a long-dead Jedi had commissioned the building of a clone army. There he also encounters Jango Fett (Temuera Morrison) - the father of EMPIRE favorite Boba Fett, who we get to see here as a child.

And there's also the business of the film's somewhat intriguing villain Count Dooku (Christopher Lee), who dances circles around Darth Maul's face-value villainy in PHANTOM MENACE.

It would be a sacrilege to give away any more plot info, but suffice to say the clones do attack before the film is over and we get to see all three of our heroes Padmé, Anakin, Obi-Wan engage in all-out kick-ass mode in some of the series' most complex and imaginative action. Plus, we finally witness the powerful Force about that Yoda that has always been hinted at but never shown to us until now.

Now, here's the rub. While CLONES is through-and-through a STAR WARS movie, Lucas wasn't content with just rehashing beats from previous films. Since he's devoted 10 years of his life to bringing the prequel trilogy to fruition, he plays around with some conventions so he can make a couple of mini-movies within the STAR WARS structure and show off some things we haven't really seen done before in these films.

One of the most classy is a sort of retro noir detective story Obi-Wan gets wrapped up in while investigating who attempted to assassinate Padmé. It leads him to a futuristic diner on Coruscant replete with CGI-created informant Dexter Jettster. Some of the film's most natural humor (with echoes of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK) appears during this arc of the story and it also provides a quite natural way in understanding the corruption and lies going on beneath the surface of the Republic that the Jedis have been too blind to see.

The other mini-movie is a total joy a Ray Harryhausen tribute. While Lucas has gone down this path before with the Rancor/Luke Skywalker battle in RETURN OF THE JEDI, that sequence was hindered by now-dated stop-motion animation. This time he offers up three creatures for the price of one all fully CGI-rendered as they attack our heroes in a GLADIATOR-style arena. This is amazing stuff, and it's such a throwback to what Harryhausen did best that you can't help but get caught up in the homage.

Another high

point of the movie is the slow build that culminates in literally an hour's worth of non-stop action. It's obvious the whole nature of the Republic and its politics is a hard thing to integrate into a movie that is intended as a crowd-pleaser, and, as opposed to the long stretches of confusion PHANTOM offered when it came to these scenes, more effort was put towards making this exposition part of major set pieces instead.

Jar Jar Binks is also back, but surprise - he's only in the film for a very small bit and his involvement is the greatest payoff of all for Jar Jar haters around the globe. Subbing for Jar Jar's silly hijinks this time are the much more palatable and enjoyable mishaps of C-3PO and R2-D2. They finally enjoy their first real adventure together and it's just as messy as ever.

Acting is top-notch across the board. Christensen has a rather thankless task of making the love story dialogue sound engaging (when it ends up coming off rather stilted in spots), but he makes up for it when Anakin needs to show glimpses of the Dark Side to come. And there is one whopper of a scene where that anger bubbles in one of the film's most shockingly disturbing scenes.

Growing into his role with comfort is McGregor, who finally gets to do something (he was just relegated primarily to ship mechanic in PHANTOM) while Samuel Jackson as Jedi Mace Windu gets to show what a bad muther he truly is.

Part of why ATTACK OF THE CLONES will satisfy die-hard fans and likely many naysayers is that it's also a much more adult story. PHANTOM MENACE was about Anakin as a kid and it's very hard to go into dark places with a child who is essentially the film's hero. Here, though, the movie isn't afraid to get into darker territory, and while it doesn't quite reach the highs of EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, it's a far more consistent film than RETURN OF THE JEDI.

Also missing is the over-the-top, childlike humor that marred a good portion of PHANTOM MENACE. The humor here grows from the situations and comes out of simple character tics (watch how Yoda jumps into action, shows his stuff and then immediately afterwards is back hobbling with his cane). The series also utilizes many familiar faces to good effect, including Boba's father, Jango Fett, the Clone Troopers (precursors to the Storm Troopers), C-3PO, R2-D2, Yoda and even a visit to Tatooine, where we get to meet young Owen Lars (Joel Edgerton) and Beru Whitesun (Bonnie Piesse) yes, Luke's future uncle and aunt.

And perhaps the most triumphant return to form of all is composer John Williams. PHANTOM MENACE had the superb music cue "Duel of the Fates," but the score lacked the true emotional punch of the earlier films. Here he has so much texture to add - he comes up with a winner of a love theme that is just as haunting as the original trilogy's love theme and also integrates motifs and elements from the previous films' musical tapestry. At the end, when we get to hear that ominous march that begins "dah, dah, dah" and signals more bad things to come in EPISODE III, you know STAR WARS is back, bigger and as badass as ever.