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Date Posted: 11:35:52 05/17/02 Fri
Author: Defiant
Subject: Review of Episode 2 (No Spoilers)

After a long absense, I have returned, and with a review of Episode 2.

Well, I saw it twice now and here it goes...


Like Empire Strikes back, after the first major action scene, the story is pretty much split into two stories. First there is a romance
between Padme and Anakin. Second there is a story of Obi Wan trying
to track down who is trying to assassinate Padme. At the end both
stories come together.

The Obi Wan story is Fantastic with Great scenes and a couple of great battles. The Romance story is pretty weak and at some times has
some of the most painfully bad dialogue I have ever seen. I know Lucas got help with his writing in this one, but like he did in Empire, I think he needs to stay out of the screenplay all together. It would also be better if Anakin was closer to a Han Solo type rebellious character (something this trilogy really needs), but instead he is written as more of an arrogant kid dying to show off how powerful he is. He also comes across more whiney than angry. I don’t really blame this on the actor though. It is the job of the director to give an actor his motivation and as Lucas showed with the last film, the actors are on their own.


Despite Lucas' constant claims that this is a love story, this
is definitely the most action packed of the Star Wars films. At least the last half hour consists of 5 back to back action scenes. This may be great to some but I found it to be overkill and actually slowing the movie down. The first two of these 5 scenes were really unnecessary story wise and seemed to be there cause Lucas thought it would look cool. Still, the last three battles were Extremely impressive and last battle in the film worth price of admission alone IMO.

Visually this is much more impressive than the last film IMO, but still not as groundbreaking as the original films were in their day.

Like the last film, what I felt was lacking in this film was the Drama. You never get a feeling that our characters or the universe is really in all that much danger. Because of this there is little suspense in this film as well. There is also little intentional humor in this film. Only Obi Wan of all people seems to have any wit. I also must say that I am also disappointed with the lack of Revelations and Plot unfoldings. This would be fine if this was the first in the new trilogy, but being the second, I feel like the story should be a bit further along by now. Nothing as big as Luke becoming Much more powerful, or “Luke, I am your father” in this film. It seems to be trying to keep what's really going on to be a secret like the last one, but after 2 movies, you really want to know more of what's going on. Especially since you have to wait 3 years for the next one. This also makes me concerned about Episode 3. There seems too much story left between episodes 2 and 4 to fit into one movie.

Still, despite it’s flaws, it is a fun film. It is saved by a lot of great scenes, visuals, and Obi Wan. I would say that it is slightly better than Return of the Jedi. Very entertaining but somewhat lacking in the writing and directing department. I just hope next time Lucas stays out of the screenplay and directing all together.


I would give it a 9 out of 10
My favorite Star Wars films in order from best to worst are
Empire Strikes Back 10
Star Wars A New Hope 9.5
Attack of the Clones 9
Return of the Jedi 9
The Phantom Menace 7.5

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