STAR WARS EPISODE II: ATTACK OF THE CLONES

Starring: Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Hayden Christensen, Samuel L. Jackson, Christopher Lee and Temuera Morrison
Writer/Director: George Lucas
Certificate: PG
Official Movie Website: www.starwars.com

Out to buy on DVD 11th November

There is unrest in the Galactic Senate. Several hundred solar systems, under the leadership of the Rebel Leader, Count Dooku (Lee), have declared their intentions to secede from the Republic. This separatist movement has made it difficult for the limited number of Jedi Knights to maintain peace and order in the galaxy. Senator Amidala (Portman), the former Queen of Naboo, is returning to Coruscant to vote on the critical issue of creating an army to assist the overwhelmed Jedi...

After all the hype and expectation, all the fans want to know is… has George Lucas finally delivered the Star Wars movie they have dreamed about since 1983? The answer for the fans is a resounding, yes!

The film has everything a Star Wars devotee has longed for and makes up for what The Phantom Menace failed to deliver, a sense of fun among all the seriousness. The first film in the Prequel trilogy took itself far too seriously, mixing politics and trade embargoes but missing the camaraderie between the main characters that the Original trilogy had in abundance. Here, the cast seem much more at home with their roles, with Ewan McGregor coming out of the late Sir Alec Guinness's shadow and having the chance to shine in the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi. After a slightly nervous first half of the movie, Hayden Christensen brings a certain underlying menace to the role of Anakin Skywalker. He definitely makes you feel that this man will become pure evil over the course of the third Episode. Natalie Portman, while still not showing the pure acting talent that we know she has, feels more at home with the role and manages to inject a lot more fun into her character after all the seriousness of the first movie. R2-D2 and C3-PO are back as the comic relief, with Phantom Menace's so called comedian, Jar Jar Binks relegated to a ten minute supporting role, which will come as a relief to many of the fans.

The special effects, for the most part, are astounding. The chase on Coruscant, the asteroid confrontation and the final epic battle are technological marvels and some of the most visually impressive sequences to grace the Star Wars Universe. You can tell that ILM (Industrial Light and Magic), George Lucas's own special effects firm, had put all of their creative efforts into these big showcase scenes and this is where some of the movie's problems arise.

Yes, the movie does have its problems. It is not the Empire Strikes Back beater the fans have been waiting for. Lucas still has a way to go to capture the feel and the impact the second movie of the original trilogy has on the Star Wars Universe.
As I mentioned before, the special effects for the big scenes are astonishing, but others are not to the same high standard. Some of the blue screen work in the lesser scenes is terrible and Lucas relies too much on digitally created characters. The new completing computer generated Yoda, while having more facial expressions and a greater level of movement, looks too computer animated for my liking and I ended up missing the puppet the fans had always loved.
Some of the dialogue is cringe worthy and in some instances, laugh out loud funny but not in an intentional way. I think George should give Lawrence Kasdan, the co-screenwriter of Empire and Jedi, a phone call for the third instalment.
The love story between Anakin and Padme seems very rushed and only in the movie because it has to be. It doesn't have the same impact and feeling that the Han and Leia romance had. I would have also liked to have seen more of Jango Fett and Christopher Lee's wonderful Count Dooku but that is me just been greedy.

The good news is that the positives far out way the negatives and most importantly, the film is a lot better than The Phantom Menace, more akin to what the fans really wanted in 1999. What I enjoyed most about the movie, as I did with Episode I, is the underlying main plot of Palpatine/Darth Sidious manipulating his way into power. He is the puppet-master, pulling the strings of everyone's destiny for his own evil gains and this even makes Jar Jar's inclusion in the Star Wars universe very relevant. To understand all this manipulation, you really have to be a fan of the movies however and for the uninitiated some of the plot points can be abit confusing.

For the die-hard Star Wars fan this movie is a dream come true. The chance to see the Jedi in battle is worth the price of admission alone. For everyone else the film still has a lot to offer and while it may be a little confusing at times for those who haven't been already captured by these movies, it is still a roller coaster ride from start to finish. For the fans, the Force is definitely back with us.

Disc 1
Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, mastered directly from the digital source by THX for superior sound and picture quality, presented in Dolby 5.1 Surround EX (English) and Dolby 2.0 Surround (English, Spanish and French)
Audio commentary by Writer-Director George Lucas; Producer Rick McCallum; Editor and Sound Designer Ben Burtt; Visual Effects Supervisors Pablo Helman, John Knoll and Ben Snow; and Animation Supervisor Rob Coleman, offering personal insights into the making of the film.

Disc 2
Eight deleted scenes created for the DVD release, with introductions by George Lucas, Rick McCallum and Ben Burtt
"From Puppets to Pixels," an all-new, full-length documentary that tracks the revolution in digital character animation, featuring the creation of the digital Yoda, Dexter Jettster and more
"State of the Art: The Previsualization of Episode II," an all-new documentary featuring never-before-seen Animatics of Episode II
Three behind-the-scenes featurettes exploring Episode II's storyline, action scenes and love story
All 12 parts of "Making Episode II," the web documentaries that first appeared here at starwars.com
"Across the Stars" Music Video
Posters and print campaign
Trailers and TV Spots
An Episode II visual effects breakdown montage from Industrial Light & Magic
R2-D2 Beneath the Dome Mockumentary
Never before seen photo gallery
DVD Rom Content

 

For Star Wars fans