Review of Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) by Billie P — 29 Jan 2016

In "Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones" (2002), a grown-up Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) is charged with protecting Senator Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman) from some mysterious person who wants to kill her. Meanwhile, the Jedi master Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) is on a mission to find out, among other things, the purpose of the creation of a strange new army of genetically identical clones. A third plotline concerns Chancellor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) and his increasing consolidation of power in the Galactic Senate under his supreme command. Much of this latter plotline parallels the fascist rise to power in Germany and Italy, and serves as a cautionary tale for our own time.

The movie does a lot in the way of fan service, but which will be fascinating to viewers if they have no familiarity with the series. For instance, fans of the original trilogy were likely long interested in seeing what kind of fighter the short green Henson-creation Yoda (voiced by Frank Oz) was, and they get to see his frenetic style for the first time in this film. Even a newcomer to the series will delight.

The Star Wars franchise is and always has been space opera, so the amount of vitriol this film and the other prequel trilogy have received seems disproportionate in retrospect. "Attack of the Clones" is a fun, fast-paced popcorn Sci-Fi / Adventure movie. No doubt some of the criticisms are justified. Hayden Christensen DOES give a wooden performance, and some of the CGI in the film didn't even look good at the time. So it goes.