Star Wars: Attack of the Clones – Review

Upon my most recent Star Wars marathon and the writing of these reviews, I always thought that it was this film that I liked the least, but it’s a bit of a toss up now between The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones. The former because it adds very little to the Star Wars mythos, this one because it was just a missed opportunity. While it served it’s purpose of starting the Clone Wars, it was interwoven with this ham-fisted love story, in a desperate attempt to have two of our characters make the babies they’re supposed to to tie in with the original trilogy.

Anakin and Padme’s wooden love story aside, which is difficult because drives so much of the film, Attack of the Clones focuses on the continuing problems plaguing the Galactic Republic. It’s not just the Trade Federation any more, its the Banking Clan and the Techno Union, they all want out and are willing to go to war to do so. With tensions building, Obi-Wan Kenobi investigates a plot to kill Senator Amidala which unveils many more plots and secrets that have been in the making for the last ten years.

As with The Phantom Menace there isn’t much to praise in this film. The acting abilities of Ewan McGregor, Ian McDiarmid and Christopher Lee were drowned out by the again poor character development and general lack of direction from George Lucas. The dialogue from most characters was poorly thought out but it was delivered to the best of the actors abilities. Character was again, left behind for visuals and general plot.

The visuals are interesting in this film, it is good to see that the Naboo sets were still used despite a lot of the other sets and destinations being digitally rendered for the most part. The prequel trilogy films do not deliver the same lived-in feel that the original films and subsequent newer Star Wars films have tried to re-create. This comes at the sacrifice of real world settings for the advancement of visual effects and putting Industrial Light and Magic at the fore-front of the industry. Which, while I feel is a very good thing it did cause a lot of problems for fans of Star Wars.

Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones is more of the same when viewing the films in chronological order. This film has a main character but unfortunately, it’s the wrong one. While yes it charts the path of Anakin Skywalker from fear, to anger, to hate, to suffering and sets up for his fall to the dark side, it focused too much on him. Obi-Wan’s mission leading to the formation of the Clone Army and the beginning of the war was much more important to the story. This film falls short of its potential.

Star Wars: Attack of the Clones: Below Average

Star Wars: The Phantom Menace – Review

The first film in the timeline of Star Wars is not character driven, nor is the plot overly that important to the franchise’s mythos. What The Phantom Menace does is sets the stage and introduce the characters for the real story that starts ten years later.

Is the film important? For particular fans, no, for others, absolutely not. The story could probably be a decent 25 minute short to serve as a prelude to the story of Anakin Skywalker’s fall to the dark side. On the plus side, we wouldn’t be as well versed on inter-galactic trade law as we are now if it wasn’t for this film.

Star Wars: The Phantom Menace opens on a young Obi-Wan Kenobi and his master, Qui-Gon Jinn on a mission to settle a trade dispute between the Trade Federation and Naboo. The negotiations never occur, the Trade Federation establish a blockade and invade the planet. The Jedi along with the Queen of Naboo flee to the capital planet of Courscant to convince the senate to intervene. Sounds pretty straight forward right? Except along the way the meet a boy who ((SPOILERS)) becomes Darth Vader.

The star of this movie is difficult to pick out as the film has no main character. Liam Neeson plays a great Jedi Knight as Qui-Gon Jinn respects the Jedi Order but also challenges the establishment. Ewan McGregor has little screen time as Obi-Wan Kenobi but The Phantom Menace is a nice little origin story for him. Ian McDiarmid, also did a decent job as Senator come Chancellor, Palpatine. (Funny how the only stand outs in this film were established actors). For almost everyone else it shows that while they may have been good actors, the major fall back came from the direction (or lack there of) from George Lucas. Something you will find with the prequel films is that Lucas seemed to be focused on the over-all story and the look of the films rather than the actors living in the world. As a result, character development and dialogue come up short.

On that point though, the look of the film is fantastic, and for 1999 the use of CGI was bold but they pulled it off. The prequel films are a triumph of visual effects and had Lucas focused on this and left the directing to some of his peers, the general consensus around the films would be much more positive. This does bring me to probably one of the most amazing sequences 7-year-old me could ever have hoped to experience, the battle between the two Jedi and Darth Maul, the platforms, the amazing score by John Williams, the Lightsabers, the flips and the lens flares. What an amazing piece of cinema. Now of course I look back at it and it is very choreographed to the point where it seems more like a dance than if they were actually trying to kill/injure each other. However, it is still a pretty cool scene.

Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace is a below average film with a confused plot and very little direction. It left a sour taste in a lot of people’s mouths before the turn of the century and it still does. I don’t bash the film as much as a wide range of fans do but it’s not a film I enjoy.

Star Wars: The Phantom Menace: Below Average