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Star Wars – The Attack of the Clones

Twenty-five years and five movies into the Star Wars saga, the score is: two masterpieces (Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back), two disappointments (The Return of the Jedi and The Phantom Menace) and now, one pretty good film.  No one will ever call it a masterpiece, but it gets George Lucas’ epic back on the right track at least. 

The most amazing thing about the film is that it is not good enough to be as enjoyable as it is.  The dialogue is clunky and awkward… in fact this is the worst written major film since Titanic.  But the sheer majesty of the visuals and the power of the mythology of the world sweep away these shortcomings.  It leaves you with some astounding set pieces, including an intergalactic cab chase (which is stunning looking, even though both Blade Runner and The Fifth Element beat them to the punch), a cloud city where they build clones, a Romanesque coliseum and a lavish rainforest planet.  Not all of them work… the climactic fight scene between Dooku (Christopher Lee) and Yoda, which I know is supposed to be the big crowd pleaser, looked kind of ridiculous. 

Lucas also plays a bit fast and loose with Star Wars facts, having both robots C3P0 and R2D2 on the planet Tatooine even though they very specifically say they’d never been there before in the first film in 1977.  Also, the forbidden love affair between young Anakin Skywalker (a scowling and rather bratty Hayden Christensen) and the pretty but colorless Padmé (Natalie Portman) hinges on the fact that Jedi’s are not allowed to fall in love, but that didn’t seem to be a problem when Luke Skywalker was interested in Princess Leia before they realized they were siblings. 

Otherwise, though, it is a real undeniable kick to see foreshadowing of such future stories as storm troopers, the Death Star, Boba Fett, Uncle Ben and Aunt Beru… even the Millennium Falcon makes a cameo appearance.  It is interesting, after having Obi-Wan Kenobi make an offhand remark about the Clone Wars in the original, to see them actually start.   And Jar Jar Binks barely makes a cameo, and when he does he starts an intergalactic war.  So Attack of the Clones is far from being a great film.  But for the first time since 1983, I am curious where this story is going.  (5/02)

Jay S. Jacobs

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