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

This is the second review in a series for the SciFi Drive's Star Wars Blogathon.

Making up a story as you go along is a dangerous thing. You can lose focus on what you‘re telling, it’s hard to keep track of all the facts as you proceed (or regress) and sometimes you make points that are hard to follow through on. It’s the job of the storyteller to keep his tale concise and compelling, and not load it up with too many bells and whistles.

And it's all the harder if it takes you almost 30 years to tell the story.

The whole point of George Lucas’ Star Wars saga was to tell a tale of good versus evil and how one child can grow into a man who lets the will of others shape his own and twist him into a creature of their own bidding. So yes, the core of the Star Wars films is the ascent (or descent) of Anakin Skywalker into Darth Vader.

With Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, it was mostly all about Anakin/Vader's offspring Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and the choices he would make in his life. What irony, we now think, that he wanted to "learn the ways of the Force and become a Jedi, like my father". Now the controlled reaction of Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness) concerning this declaration makes so much sense.

So beginning with Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, we backtrack and observe how Anakin (Jake Lloyd) begins to put his talents to use. It all ended on an upbeat, with Anakin trading coy looks with Queen Amidala (Natalie Portman).

And now Lucas gets to Star Wars Episode II : Attack of the Clones, where Anakin, now played by Hayden Christensen, continues his training under the tutelage of Obi-Wan (Ewan McGregor), while protecting newly-appointed Senator Amidala from repeated assassination attempts by an unseen Separatist force, which overwhelms the Jedi Knights' ability to protect. Meanwhile, evidence is uncovered in the process that points to an army of cloned soldiers being created from a sinister bounty hunter named Jango Fett (Temuera Morrison), who has his own agenda to follow. And what is the connection with legendary Jedi Master Count Dooku (Christopher Lee)? And as all this occurs, a forbidden romance blossoms between Anakin and Amidala.

Oh, and room is made again for the antics of series stalwarts R2-D2 (Kenny Baker) and C-3PO (Anthony Daniels), and a bit part by Jar Jar Binks (Ahmed Best).

Okay, the easy part out of the way first: this is indeed a continuation of the story we were left off with in Phantom Menace. However, is this the best kind of a story to tell for those weaned on the action, peril and excitement of the original trilogy of the '70s and '80s?

Hardcore fans will defend Clones to their deaths, and bless them for that. A series such as this succeeds or fails on its fan base. And to say that Star Wars fans are some of the most rabid movie-goers out there is an understatement (the only more wild fans would be those of The Rocky Horror Picture Show). Dressing up as favorite characters, camping out for tickets months in advance, collecting every piece of Star Wars memorabilia known to man....

But there are times when you can only defend something to a certain extent until you realize what you're defending has flaws all the more noticeable as time goes on. With Clones, these are even more glaring than in Phantom Menace.

If you found Phantom Menace's storyline dull and stretched-out, you'll find Clones' even moreso. More debates, subdued dialogues, explanations, oratory and expositions about things that were boring the last time. Why did Lucas and co-writer Jonathan Hales think they could improve a lackluster script by explaining everything multiple times? And the "romantic" dialogue between Anakin and Amidala is even worse - when Anakin compared her to the sand of Tatooine, I winced. My wife would have slapped me if I did that to her.

The direction, again by Lucas, demonstrates more of what he had done in Phantom Menace instead of his 1977 work, or even before with THX-1138. Many more wide-angle shots and loving details to the computer effects people's handiwork than the craft of the story and its characters. I missed the personal level so much here.

There are occasional flashes of decent acting here. Lee is effortless as Dooku; McGregor hones his Alec Guinness vibe more here, even sprouting a beard and more relaxed manner than three years ago; Ian McDiarmid once again walks a fine line as Chancellor Palpatine, expertly wavering from put-upon leader to cold-faced dictator in the matter of a line or two of dialogue. Samuel L. Jackson's Mace Windu again shows how good an actor Jackson can be - when he takes command of the situation late in the film, it demonstrates the flash and fire everyone should have had.

But no: Christensen is, if possible, more wooden and blank than Lloyd was as his former self. His flashes of anger seem more like adolescent tantrums; his passion is more like "hey, baby - I know you want me".

Portman is at the same level she was previously, with perhaps the added expression of looking at someone with her head turned down slightly, eyes looking up. Lucas must have thought this was a good way to shoot her - it's like she's always seen at this angle. Not as much thought went into her reading; flat and bored. At least she toned up for the action scenes.

I may be picking mostly on Christensen and Portman here...but they are the ones who are carrying the brunt of the story here - they're supposed to be in love, passionate about each other in spirit as well as mind. Absolute zero would be the highest point at which they generate any chemistry, even in a forbidden kiss.

The subordinate characters take all the good scenes - and lines. Morrison's Jango Fett is strong and ruthless, all business. His verbal face-off with Obi-Wan about the clones was a dramatic highlight ("They'll do their job well; I guarantee you that.") as was their battle a scene or two later.

And though lesser seen, Leanna Walsman made good as fellow assassin-in-arms Zam Wessell. Her deep, husky voice and lithe features make me wish her part was larger, or at least more prominent.

But at the wrong moments, throwaway parts are given to former prominent characters from the last film (Sio Bibble, Watto) and to characters prominent later on (Owen Lars, Beru Whitesun, Boba Fett) that it would have been better to either build them up (and remove a few thousand extraneous characters) or cut them out altogether. Too many characters to remember make for far less worth recalling later on.

Oh, and the CGI this time, while even more impressive than before, only serves to place an ever-thicker wall between the audience and their connection to what they see. While armies of clone troopers and droid soldiers battling each other are awesome sights, and crushing battlecrafts and tanks roaring past are breath-taking and creatures both vile and benign take on a textured, breathing life of their own, all it serves to remind us of is the mastery of the craft of CGI, not of one's intimate thoughts and dreams. Though fans of CGI may argue, it is a sad day when watching a whole battle at a distance takes precedence to seeing the fighter's faces, feeling their anguish and suffering with their pain.

The one point I will concede is that the CGI recreation of Yoda (Frank Oz) is a splendid work of art, and holds its own well with the flesh-and-blood it interacts with. Every step, every move, every bump and wrinkle - perfect. And his final battle with Dooku was even more rousing that the action seen before.

The only constant here (as before) was in John Williams' score. From the very beginning he weaved together action, drama, romance, humor, despair, exhilaration and mystery with an orchestral score unparalleled. And I'll be the first to admit that I found the romance theme between Anakin and Amidala enchanting and epic. If only the kids had followed suit....

What went wrong altogether? Clones did make money and was one of the big money-makers of 2002 (right behind Spider-Man, if I recall), but afterwards even fans voiced their displeasure with the way the series was headed. Maybe they were giving Lucas a message - You gave us a movie that defined our imaginations, you gave us a series we cherished and adored. Why give us something that tarnishes all we've come to expect - and love - in these films?

In short, the art and technology is all there. But the heart and soul has been sacrificed for the appearance.

I still remember being a child in 1977, watching Star Wars and being amazed at the stars swirling around, the aliens quaffing their drinks at the cantina, and a scared young man off on a journey of adventure and self-discovery; cheering every hero, scowling at every villain, marveling at how it all was so new...and yet so familiar.

With Clones, the magic Lucas had attained so long ago is now gone. And it's sad - not only for those who love movies, the stories they tell and the spell they weave around our hearts and minds....

But also for those of us who once believed in the words, "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...."