For the love of all things cinematically appealing, someone please keep George Lucas away from a typewriter, and behind a camera. In Attack of The Clones, Episode 2 in the Star Wars series of films, Lucas is dazzling in his use of imagery and effect, but painfully unwatchable, as he attempts to fill in the spaces in between.  Lucas has delivered a visual playground that salvages a screenplay apparently pieced together from discarded romance and revenge films. Lucas is a great storyteller, as evident by his interweaving of relevant points to link the future stories, but the path he takes is often hard to watch and listen to.  The only thing that saves this film from a fate similar to his disastrous Phantom Menace fiasco is a  that recalls the spirit of his earlier film. Thankfully, Lucas and company close out the film with a thrilling visual eye candy conclusion complete with battle scenes, showdowns, and revelation which recaptures the lost soul of the previous films and partially satiates the bad aftertaste that Episode I left.  

I recently went back and watched the Star Wars trilogy again, to make sure that they hadn’t lost their fascination since those were seen through the eyes of a child, and these new ones, through more critical eyes.  This one falls into the same vein that Empire did, being as it’s the middle piece of a trilogy.  It is beneficial and necessary to the story, because it can forsake character development and dive right into the story, but also establish the groundwork and links for the final chapter, which must tie this one with the original film.  Clones picks up about 10 years after the Phantom Menace.  Anakin Skywalker (Christiansen) is now a Jedi in training under his mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi (McGregor).  Padme Amidala is no longer a queen, but a senator, and yes Jar Jar is back thankfully in a much-diminished role this time.  There is a conflict arising between the government and a rebellious separatist movement.  This does, and will give rise to the Clone Wars, a battle between the Alliance and a Rebellion.  During a visit from Senator Amidala, Anakin and Obi Wan are assigned to watch over her, since her vote is key in an upcoming referendum.  After an assassination attempt, Anakin is assigned to escort Amidala back to her home planet, which results in the painfully executed, but unfortunately necessary, romantic subplot.  Kenobi goes in search of the assassins and ends up on a remote planet battling with bounty hunter Jango Fett (father of Bobba from the later films) and his mysterious employer, Count Dooku (or Darth Tyrannus).  

The story may be a bit hard to follow for those not familiar with the series.  In the beginning I got confused as well, but once it became a dual story, between Kenobi and the Council, and Anakin and Amidala, it was a bit easier to follow.  Mace Windu and Yoda are given more screen time this time around, as they become pivotal characters in the wars, and in the final showdown sequence that ends up saving the movie.  The dialogue is clichéd at best, and painful at worst, but Lucas realizes this and kicks things up another gear with the effects and conclusion.  The story works best whenever McGregor or anyone besides Christiansen and Portman appear.  However it falters badly during their supposed romantic interludes on Naboo (which oddly enough, quite resembles the same Italian coastline portrayed in Captain Correlli’s Mandolin).  

Once again, it appears that Lucas has totally exorcised the acting ability of Natalie Portman.  She is completely wooden and unconvincing, and is a great distraction to the story and the film.  Christiansen doesn’t fair much better, but still his natural acting ability, and talent for playing egotistical, spoiled and brooding (as in Life As A House) shine through when given a chance.  McGregor is very watchable with his playful nature and strong conviction showing through, similar to Jackson who is given more of a role to play with, and relishes in it.  Mixed together with Christopher Lee, who is having a great year, the supporting cast holds their own, even against strong competetion from a certain little green wise one.  If they have an award for best performance by an computer generated character, then win it, Yoda should!

Ultimately, Attack of The Clones is a fitting bridge to what should be rousing, if not complex, conclusion to the first part of the trilogy.  When the film isn’t distracted by an absurd love story, a cardboard performance from Portman, and a complete lack of believable attraction and chemistry between she and Christiansen, it is an occasionally thrilling throwback to science fiction classics, complete with good and bad guys, switched allegiances and moments of humor.  It is almost an unwritten rule amongst fans that Episode V, The Empire Strikes Back, is by far the best of all the films in this series.  I attribute this to the fact that Lucas wrote the basic story idea, and then handed the screenwriting duties  to in the capable hands of Leigh Braddock and Lawrence Kasdan while he focused on the visuals.  The film also benefited from an established development of characters, so that it could dive right into the story.  With Clones, the potential existed to do that again, but Lucas, in his egotism, decided to try his hand at writing once again, and nearly fails. No one has ever denied Lucas’s ability to use his visual acuity to tell a story, he is among the best in the business at it.  What does come into question, as previously mentioned, is his consistent inability to match his creativity in his use of dialogue and words to progress the stories. 

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