Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
Director: George Lucas
Year Released: 2002
Rating: 2.0
Of course it's flawed and stilted as hell, but you have to be grateful for two changes: the absence of Jake Lloyd and Jar Jar Binks' role being reduced to three or four lines (also improving: Natalie Portman, who manages to at least smile in this one). But there are still most of the same problems from Episode 1 to keep it from being anything more than a novelty; when it comes to young Anakin's becoming malicious and conceited you can really see the plot's gears turning. It must be a challenge on the part of a director to force actors/actresses to be so unspeakably lifeless, but Mr. Lucas is no ordinary filmmaker. Number of times I said, "That's pretty cool": two (Samuel L. Jackson's "bad motherfucker" look at the finale and the all-important but extremely brief Christopher Lee/Yoda showdown).
