← Back to Reviews
in
Lucas has received (quite rightly) a lot of criticism over the years for his casting decisions. However in Attack of the Clones he pulled off an absolutely tremendous piece of casting in the form of Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker. You would have imagined it would have been impossible to find an actor who could possibly live up to the wooden, emotionless and completely untalented performance of Jake Lloyd in Menace, but Christensen pulled it off, ensuring a seamless piece of transition in the character. Stunning vision from Lucas. And yes I'm being sarcastic! 
Christensen is absolutely dreadful here. Though the character and dialogue he got lumbered with didn't exactly provide him with much support. As I already detailed the romance is just dreadful, while the scene with his mother is so overwrought. After surviving for a whole month she decides to croak mere seconds after Anakin arrives, unable to finish the sentence “I love....” no matter how many times she tries. And instead of being heartbroken and grief stricken his reaction seems much more in the realm of throwing a childish little tantrum. The whole character of Anakin is so disappointing in relation to him eventually becoming Darth Vader. I mean for the love of god where is the darkness that should be residing within him? Instead all we get is this whiny little emo bitch who sulks his way through the film. There's no way this guy is going to become one of the greatest screen villains of all time. At most all he seems capable of is running up to his room (which is painted black of course), slamming the door, listening to some My Chemical Romance while pouting. And probably writing in a journal about how nobody likes him.
Sorry for the longer than normal delay between reviews, been caught up by a few things. Anyway following on from my Phantom Menace review we now have part 2 of the Star Wars sequels
|
|
Year of release
2002
2002
Directed by
George Lucas
George Lucas
Written by
George Lucas
Jonathan Hales
George Lucas
Jonathan Hales
Starring
Ewan McGregor
Hayden Christensen
Natalie Portman
Ian McDiarmid
Christopher Lee
Samuel L. Jackson
Ewan McGregor
Hayden Christensen
Natalie Portman
Ian McDiarmid
Christopher Lee
Samuel L. Jackson
Star Wars Episode II - Attack of the Clones
+
Plot - The film is set ten years after the Battle of Naboo, when the galaxy is on the brink of civil war. Under the leadership of renegade Jedi Master Count Dooku, thousands of systems threaten to secede from the Republic. When an assassination attempt is made on Senator Padme Amidala (Portman), the former Queen of Naboo, Jedi apprentice Anakin Skywalker (Christensen) is assigned to protect her, while his mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi (McGregor) is assigned to investigate the assassination attempt. Soon the Jedi are drawn into the heart of the separatist movement, and the beginning of a new threat to the galaxy: the Clone Wars
I certainly don't think that Attack of the Clones is necessarily a better film than Menace, but with so much action thrown at the screen at least it's a good degree more interesting. The vast amount of action really is the saving grace of the film, even if it rarely exhibits any great creativity or substance it at least keeps you awake. In fact much of it comes across like levels of a video game, not just in their visuals but also their storytelling nature; with Obi-Wan and Anakin chasing the assassin and Anakin and Padme on the conveyer belt being the most obvious. They do provide a couple of fun moments though, as does the fight between Obi-Wan and Jango Fett. I especially liked the moment in the asteroid field with the seismic charges being well realised by the CGI and some great sound design. And while they perhaps didn't achieve the levels that Lucas intended some of the action towards the film's conclusion delivers some thrills. It delivers probably the largest scale set-piece yet seen in the Star Wars films and finally we are able to see Yoda get in on the action. The moment where the little hobbling near-cripple puts down his cane and picks up his lightsaber put a little smile on my face. And finally after five films we finally get to see a whole slew of Jedis enter into battle side-by-side. I think it was actually quite important in helping to re-establish the Jedis as kick-ass. I felt that they had been rather demystified and turned rather dull up until this point both as a result of the midi-chlorian revelation and the fact that for the majority of the time all they seem to do is sit around in Council talking. They were made to look more like politicians or bureaucrats. And not all that bright either considering the way they are getting completely hoodwinked.
Unfortunately Attack of the Clones retains pretty much every single problem that made The Phantom Menace such a woeful experience, with Lucas having to take the blame for the large majority of them. Yet again his writing and dialogue are just lamentable. They are just so clumsy and obvious, completely disposing of any subtlety in favour of clear exposition. Particularly bad are the occasions where Obi-Wan and Anakin all of a sudden talk to each other as if they are complete strangers, ignoring the fact they are constantly together and know everything about each other's lives just so they can move the story along. Oh and some of the painfully unsubtle dialogue? “You're the closest thing I have to a father.” Yet again George also seems totally dedicated to his special effects to the great detriment of the performances of the cast. Pretty much every performance is so lifeless and stiff, with only the odd exception to be found. I can just picture George on the set anytime an actor actually attempted to convey some emotion or show some talent, “No! No! No! You're upstaging my precious, precious effects. Act with less emotion! Look like you couldn't give a damn!” And why the hell did George Lucas feel the need to try and connect everything and everyone in the Star Wars universe and give it a deeper meaning. So many of the little links between characters feel so forced. And then there's the fact that Jango Fett is introduced as the source of the clones. Maybe I'm wrong on this or perhaps it's been addressed elsewhere (the Clone Wars film/series or books) but does that mean that all the stormtroopers we see in the original trilogy are clones of Jango Fett or versions of him? If so that really doesn't work considering that from memory the stormtroopers were different heights and had different accents etc. Either way by making Jango, and eventually Bobba Fett, so vitally important to the whole story it makes Bobba's pathetic, throwaway death in Return of the Jedi even worse. And as with the Jedi it also demystifies the character a great deal.
George Lucas has been criticised for a lot of stuff following the release of the prequels. In one respect though he actually caught quite a lucky break. If it hadn't been for the release of the Twilight films surely it would have been his romance between Anakin and Padme that would have become the go-to example for dreadful, cheesy young romances. Had Attack of the Clones merely been an extravagance of action and special effects it could have been quite entertaining. In between the moments of action however we are lumbered with one of the worst romances I've ever seen committed to the screen, that of Anakin and Padme. Watching their love blossom on Naboo is a truly painful thing to behold. It's poorly written, acted without an ounce of emotion and contains zero chemistry between Christensen and Portman. When Christensen is talking about his deep love for Padme the viewer, just like Christensen apparently, feels absolutely nothing. And Lucas' dialogue? Some of the worst I've ever came across in a major Hollywood movie. Ever! You want an example? “I'm haunted by the kiss that you should never have given me. My heart is beating... hoping that kiss will not become a scar. You are in my very soul, tormenting me.....” Apparently Anakin and Padme are 17th century poets. And s*it ones at that! I don't believe that I have ever cringed so much in my life. It also seems strange that after dedicating so much time to this inane romance the film then rather glosses over their actual wedding at the film's conclusion. Still at least Portman looked adorable. So that's something I suppose.
Film Trivia Snippets - A number of young actors, including some of Hollywood's hottest young actors at the time, auditioned for the role of Anakin. They included Ryan Phillippe, Paul Walker, Colin Hanks and Jonathan Brandis. In the end Christensen was chosen, largely down to the simple fact that he and Natalie Portman “looked good together.” /// Attack of the Clones has the undesirable accolade of being the only Star Wars film not to be the top earner at the US box office for the year it was released. It came in 3rd place, trailing behind Spider-Man and Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. /// In response to the great deal of hatred that was directed at the character of Jar-Jar Binks following The Phantom Meance, the original scripts for this sequel had the joking working title of 'Episode II – Jar-Jar's Big Adventure.' /// There have been 12 Star Trek films released theatrically, and 6 Star Wars films. Only on one occasion however have both franchises released a film in the same year. That was in 2002 when both Attack of the Clones and Star Trek: Nemesis were released. /// Throughout the history of the Star Wars films it had been a tradition that actors who would wield a lightsaber where able to choose their own design of lightsaber. In Attack of the Clones however Hayden Christensen became the only actor not given that chance. He was stuck using a samer that was the same design as the one that Obi-Wan presented to Luke in A New Hope.
Christensen is absolutely dreadful here. Though the character and dialogue he got lumbered with didn't exactly provide him with much support. As I already detailed the romance is just dreadful, while the scene with his mother is so overwrought. After surviving for a whole month she decides to croak mere seconds after Anakin arrives, unable to finish the sentence “I love....” no matter how many times she tries. And instead of being heartbroken and grief stricken his reaction seems much more in the realm of throwing a childish little tantrum. The whole character of Anakin is so disappointing in relation to him eventually becoming Darth Vader. I mean for the love of god where is the darkness that should be residing within him? Instead all we get is this whiny little emo bitch who sulks his way through the film. There's no way this guy is going to become one of the greatest screen villains of all time. At most all he seems capable of is running up to his room (which is painted black of course), slamming the door, listening to some My Chemical Romance while pouting. And probably writing in a journal about how nobody likes him. The first Star Wars sequel was shown up by The Matrix, while in my eyes Attack of the Clones, released between The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers, is deep in the shadow of Lord of the Rings. Both franchises are attempting quite similar stories in the epic fantasy/sci-fi stakes but the Lord of the Rings films did it so, so much better. The story, the dialogue, the acting, the direction - on every level this is vastly inferior. And visually too this is just so second rate, the effects are still very ropey here when it comes to creating characters and attempting to give them life. Particularly bad is any occasion where a character either makes a large leap upwards or jumps down, they just look so cartoonish. George Lucas' constant fiddling with the Star Wars films is quite legendary these days, and not for positive reasons. Well the next time he feels himself getting an itchy trigger finger perhaps the films he should revisit are these first two prequels. If any special effects need ironed out it's those to be found here.
One of my main gripes with the prequels so far has been Lucas' penchant to always go for a cheap laugh, robbing scenes of any drama, emotion, tension etc. It's as if it's an addiction, like he has to do it. So little things like interrupting the chase after the assassin with a 'hilarious' reaction from an alien pilot, or Obi-Wan's alien friend having to pull up his trousers to cover his ass crack, or the dreadful fart humour from The Phantom Menace. Although Attack of the Clones did actually provide me with my first genuine laugh of the prequels, not including the unintentional ones of course. And it only took about three and a half hours! But I actually did allow myself a little laugh at the predicament C3PO finds himself in when his head is switched with that of a droid. I found it gently amusing and a nice callback to his troubles of the original trilogy. Although this time out it's almost ruined by some groaning puns - “this is such a drag!” and “I'm quite beside myself.”
As was the case in The Phantom Menace Ewan McGregor continues to fare the best, doing an excellent job to overcome the dialogue, direction and character development (or lack thereof) which has torpedoed just about every other performer so far. He gives Obi-Wan Kenobi a gravitas, making him both wise but also very arrogant on occasion. The other individual who I felt made an impression this time out was Christopher Lee, a very welcome addition as Count Dooku, bringing a nice weight and similar gravitas to his performance.
Conclusion - After the disaster that was The Phantom Menace you would have expected that surely the only way was up for Lucas. Well he did his damn best to make sure that wasn't the case. This is another extremely poor film that fails to address hardly any of the problems that plagued Menace. There are really only a couple of reasons as to why I would give this the nod over Episode I; the significantly reduced role of Jar Jar Binks and the increase in the action levels. Even if the action is not of the most thrilling standard it is at least more interesting to behold than the constant political conversations of Menace.