PG, 2 hr. 23 min. Directed by: George Lucas. Release Date: May 16, 2002. DVD Release Date: November 12, 2002.
For some reason, there’s something about the second movie in a trilogy that’s a problem. They just never seem to satisfy. If I was pressed to go through the list of trilogies I’ve seen, my least favorites in the trilogy are almost always the second installment. Certainly in the Star Wars trilogies, it’s been the case. In Attack of the Clones, which I’ve subtitled “The Making of Luke and Leia,” the problem for me isn’t the effects, the cast, the acting (except Hayden Christensen), or the story. Well, not the big picture story. The problem for me is the tepid, semi-desperate, romantic mewling that goes on for about half the movie.
There are romance stories that can be told without sucking. I know it has to be true, because I’ve seen them at work. The love story in Clones feels like the drivel that’s published by Harlequin romances, something mass produced, following a set formula that ultimately ends with tragedy, because of course, NOTHING is more romantic than tragic love. But when you think about it, how many true examples of tragic love have you seen? Not in fiction, but in life? The answer is probably none, although there are some folks who arrange their entire lives around their next tragedy. Every romance, no matter how trivial, ends and the world stops with it. So… we have an unrealistic concept made even less so by throwing in telekinesis and a light saber.
Other than the stupid romantic entry, this isn’t horrible. However, the build-up of tension between the two major players takes about half the movie’s run time, so I spend most of the movie being distracted. Once that bit is over and the story starts to rev up, I actually like this movie a lot. There are beautifully choreographed action sequences, there’s the joy of watching Christensen whine his way through his performance, and then there’s the best part: the fight between Yoda and Count Dooku. I’m always afraid to investigate the methods behind ILM’s magic too closely for fear that it will ruin Star Wars for me, but I would love to learn how they made Yoda’s part of the battle look so real.
In a very basic way, this movie does what it’s supposed to. It sets up not only the third installment of its trilogy, but the entirety of the original trilogy. It explains the basic workings of the Star Wars universe that so many of us grew up on. It also has major cool points associated with it just for bearing the Star Wars name, but this is far from their best effort. The movie stagnates, waffling between its identities as an action sci-fi and as a romance. See this as part of the trilogy, but I think as a standalone, Clones isn’t really worth spending two hours working on.
