Review of Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) by Ethan L — 04 Dec 2015

Continuing my marathon of all the Star Wars films, in preparation for The Force Awakens, I followed up The Phantom Menace with Attack of the Clones. Just like Episode I, this film receives a lot of hate from Star Wars fans and while there are definitely flaws, just like the previous film, I think Episode II does remedy some of the problems from the first film.

For example, there are less scenes of Jar Jar Binks this time around and even in the scenes he is in, there is no needless, unfunny comic relief present from his character. Also, Jake Lloyd is not present now that Anakin has grown older in this film's timeline.

However, some of the problems in The Phantom Menace do continue over into Attack of the Clones. For one thing, the film could have benefited from more use of practical effects. The dialogue isn't always the best amongst other problems.

With that said, just like Episode I, I do believe there are many redeeming qualities to be found in Episode II. Firstly, I just love the worlds that George Lucas created with this film, especially the scenes on Coruscant at the beginning, the cloning unit on Kamino and Geonosis near the end. This is the one thing that Lucas nailed in this film is allowing you to breathe and immerse yourself in these creative worlds. The action sequences are once again exciting, particularly the climactic battle on Geonosis. The two chase sequences were also exciting, when Obi-Wan was following Zam and chasing down Jango Fett through the Asteroid field. The John Williams score once again stands out. Ewan McGregor owns it as Obi-Wan Kenobi. Christopher Lee is awesome as Count Dooku and I actually sympathised with Anakin's character, because I felt his pain when (SPOILER) his mother dies and when he broke down and confessed to Padme what he had done to the Tusken Raiders as a result.

So overall, even though Attack of the Clones definitely has flaws, it is an improvement over The Phantom Menace and while objectively my rating would be lower, I'm going to stick with me 4 star rating as I did still really enjoy revisiting this film for the reasons I stated.