Attack of the Clones

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

What a relief...I thought it was going to suck

After 1999's disappointing Phantom Menace, George Lucas seemed to be losing his grip. Not that the 57-year-old filmmaker has been making that many films in the years between Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and the recent revamp of the Star Wars trilogy, but legions of fans had expected more nonetheless. Phantom had incredible special effects, wonderfully choreographed fight scenes…everything but a story. Attack of the Clones, on the other hand, picks up right where Lucas left off with Return of the Jedi in terms of characterizations and a plot that dictates the adventure, rather than searching for excuses to do one CGI-born sequence or another.

In the second (or fifth, depending on how you look at it) installment of the Star Wars epic, we are ten years after young Annakin was made a Jedi apprentice. The Annakin Skywalker we remember from before (chubby-cheeked do-gooder, played by a forgettable Jake Lloyd) has turned into a tall, lean, tempestuous young punk (Hayden Christopher) who's especially good at mouthing off to his mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor, sporting the Alec Guiness look). Meanwhile, under growing assassination dangers from a Separatist movement led by Count Dooku (Christopher Lee), Senator Padme (Natalie Portman) is escorted into hiding by Annakin while Obi-Wan tracks down an army of clones being manufactured under the supervision of a rogue bounty hunter Jango Fett (Teumera Morrison) and son Boba (Daniel Logan). Chancellor Palpatine (Ian McDirmad) is still secretly pulling strings in the Republic Senate, while Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson) and a CGI Yoda (Frank Oz) try to figure out how all these things are happening without the Force clueing them in.

While on Naboo, Annakin and Padme do some rolling around in the grass, but the coolheaded Padme keeps stopping things short. "I won't let you throw your life away," she tells an increasingly frustrated Annakin, since, were the two to have a relationship, both would be betraying their professional responsibilities. Now the pieces start to fall into place-Annakin became Darth Vader not so much out of the dark side of the Force as much as a good old case of blue balls. (Padme in a bellyless top? Move over Princess Leia!) Eventually, after a few twists and turns, there's the expected battle royale, consisting of a Braveheart meets Starship Troopers showdown with a few other surprises thrown in, and at this point it's all you can do to keep in your seat as Jedis are hauling lightsabers left and right, flanked by a bunch of creatures that look like the Dark Side's casting choices for A Bug's Life. Also, the pieces of Annakin's deterioration of character slowly begin to fall into place and Yoda finally backs up his declaration to Luke in The Empire Strikes Back: "Size matters not." (Most have probably heard the rumors circulating about Yoda by now, but don't let it be said that it was given away here.)

Lucas's first good move in accomplishing this movie was to enlist the help of screenwriter Jonathan Hales (The Scoripion King). Their script is not without its flaws-the Republic's politics are just as boring as in the first movie, and many of the characters still speak as if they have cue cards shoved up their asses. However, this stops when the action really starts getting going-there's no room for hokey dialogue or limp humor a la Jar Jar Binks in the traditional space dogfights, Coruscant chase scenes and WWF-style rumbles towards the end of the film. Secondly, the love angle between Padme and Annakin, surprisingly enough, works rather well. The two are not overly mushy, and each one's postive and negative traits play off each other well enough to pretty much spell out the direction Annakin's career is about to take.

Hayden Christopher is a pleasant surprise as Annakin. In order to evince a young man being seduced by evil, he has to alternate between being a good guy and being a bad guy, and Christopher manages to convince us of this. Christopher Lee, whose character is touted through most of the movie but who doesn't really have much of a presence until the third act, is satisfying as a new bad guy but not particularly awe-inspiring. Presumably, this is the guy Annakin is going to have to go through to become Darth Vader, and the movie sets up a personal vendetta really well. As for Samuel Jackson, don't think that just because Jackson can't quote scripture, jerry-curl his hair and write "Bad Mother Fucker" on his lightsaber doesn't mean he can't be as badass as we've seen him before.

Attack of the Clones, in all sincerity, probably should have been the first chapter of the new trilogy. There's very little raison d'etre in much of Phantom's events, while Attack sets up the burning questions that have been plaguing loyal fans' minds ever since the new movies were announced. Episode III (which Lucas has labeled "the darkest Star Wars movie of them all") still has a lot of ground to cover, including Annakin's surrender to evil, the disintegration of the Republic, the extermination of the Jedis, and the birth of Luke and Leia, all of which is perhaps more than can be handled in two and a half hours. Nevertheless, Attack has enough of the old elements we've come to expect in a Star Wars movie to get us drooling and slavering for the epic's conclusion. If you can separate part of a series and derive any amount of satisfaction from it, while simultaneously ignoring how it fits into the larger picture, the movie has supposedly done its job. Attack of the Clones does just this, and has redeemed Lucas for much of his failure from the previous movie. Keep it up, George. You're almost at the finish line-don't blow it.

-Long