By Tanya Batson, Staff ReporterTO GET it out of the way, let's admit that Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace was not much of a movie.
Other than providing a clearer picture of the ground work for the original trilogy (and the rest of the prequels) it was not of much value.
That being said, it is good to see that Episode II - Attack of the Clones is a real movie. Thus, its success is due to more than a really large cult following and enough hype to build a whole new galaxy.
Episode II moves towards the adventure found in the original trilogy, though it isn't there just yet.
Actually, even the make up of the characters is somewhat similar. In the original there was Han Solo, Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia, in Episode II there is Obi Wan Kanobi, Anakin Skywalker and Padme Amidala, and while the different character traits are switched around (for example Anakin is more like Han Solo), what you have is a good mix for an adventure film, and let's face it, when you cut to the chase, that's what Star Wars is: a great adventure film (with some very ardent fans of course).
Episode II is, for the most part, fun to watch. There are sufficient light sabre fights, huge monsters to escape, galactic chases and duels. In fact, Lucas did enough sampling in this movie, that even P. Diddy could learn a thing or two from him. However, they work, and one tends to get sufficiently caught up to notice them. One scene to definitely watch out for, is the final fight. In this duel you get to see Yoda through whole new eyes. In fact, seeing Yoda's performance in Episode II justifies the how many years of waiting. Great the force in him is.
Unfortunately, quite a bit of attention is placed on the growing romance between Anakin and Padme. At these segments, the movie really tended to drag. While I had truly liked Natalie Portman's performance in Beautiful Girls, she proved quite disappointing in this one.
Portman's voice lacks almost all expression, and while this works for giving her the poise of the princess turned senator, it doesn't work for passion. Thus, when you team her up with Hayden Christensen, who is sailing right along side her, what you get isn't passion. It is some kind of cardboard cut-out version.
Fortunately, the score was quite good and thus some intensity was brought to the romantic scenes. However, if the romance wasn't so integral to the story, Star Wars: Episode II could have done without those scenes. It is quite hard to believe that Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker came from those two - a DNA test may well be in order.
Anakin has grown up to be quite a petulant young man, and he barely looks pubescent, much less 20 years old. As such, when he begins to whine about how unfair life is, you simply want to yell 'go over to the dark side Anakin' just to get it over with (Darth Vader was far more interesting than this guy).
So while you appreciate seeing the hints at what changes the cute little boy you saw in Episode I into the villain that is Darth Vader, you kind of want him to get there quickly.
Because it's a prequel, Episode II, provides an extra measure of fun. You already know where you are going but you don't know how you are going to get there.
Thus the ironic factor is there. Star Wars fan(atics) will be glad to see the pieces of the puzzle fall into place. Nonetheless, newcomers (and it is really hard to believe that such people exist - even among tots) can still find the movie interesting. Of course, such persons will miss out on those knowing moments.
