Movie Review:
Attack of the Clones:
Star Wars Episode II
Robert M. Price
In the first Star Wars (now paradoxically dubbed
"Episode IV: A New Beginning"), Darth Vader faces Obi-Wan Kenobi, his old
swordmaster, in a duel to the (seeming) death, and he says to the old man, "The
Circle is now complete! When I left you, I was but the learner. Now I am the
master!" Yesterday, as I walked back to the theatre parking lot with my
thirteen-year old daughter, I could not help reflecting on how Lord Vader's quip
applied to my own situation: a quarter of a century agone I had reported on
opening day to see the original Star Wars. I was then a callow lad of 22.
I have seen that film over 30 times since then. Here I was, performing the
ritual again, and with my little pal (that's why I had kids, by the way, to
share my geeky interests!). The circle is now complete.
But the circle is complete (or nearing
completion) in another way, too. Of course the whole point of the current
trilogy of Star Wars movies (The Phantom Menace from 1999 and
Attack of the Clones, as well as the next one in 2005) is to fill in the
implied backstory for the initial trilogy (A New Beginning, The Empire
Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi). In these new movies we are
catching up to the beginning, and it must be said writer-director George Lucas
is doing an amazingly effective job of it. Despite occasional claims to the
contrary, I cannot believe he had any of the others planned out when he was
putting the original Star Wars together. Princess Leia being Luke's
sister? An afterthought. The Clone Wars? Just a nice sci-fi throwaway to set the
stage for the original film and Obi-Wan's role in it. Yoda? They created him to
replace Obi-Wan when it appeared Alec Guinness was terminally ill (it turned out
he wasn't, so he appeared as a Force-ghost in the second and third films
alongside Yoda). And so George Lucas set himself quite a task when he determined
to connect all those dots.
I feel quite certain that most viewers will
feel as I did that, watching Attack of the Clones, they are seeing what
"really" happened leading up to the events of the first trilogy. You can see
Jedi apprentice Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) as both an older version
of the tousle-headed child we met in Phantom Menace as well as the
embryonic Darth Vader. I noticed only one continuity glitch: if the
Laurel-and-Hardy droids C-3PO and R2-D2 really met Luke's Uncle Owen and Aunt
Beru as early as Attack of the Clones, why do they not recognize them
when they meet them "again" in the original Star Wars? But I can forgive
that. Star Trek has done worse.
Attack of the Clones is a fantastic
spectacle from first frame to last. The vast complexity and beauty of the sets
is stunning: alien landscapes and cities, aerial traffic jams and speed chases,
strange monsters, etc., are all great. The action is virtually uninterrupted,
but it never obscures the story or the development of the characters. Just as
important, George Lucas seems finally to have snapped out of the delusion that
he was writing Muppets episodes. No cosmic teddy bears this time around (boy,
did they ruin Return of the Jedi), and the step 'n fetch it Jar Jar Binks
was mercifully scarce this time around. Plotwise, there is plenty of intrigue to
keep you guessing. And despite some rare moments of wooden acting, most
performances are very effective. Ewan McGregor is spot-on as a younger Obi-Wan,
with a perfect Alec Guinness impression. As Count Dooku, the great Christopher
Lee (utterly wasted in the Hammer horror films of the 1960s, sometimes with no
lines at all!) plays much the same role as he did as Saruman in The Lord of
the Rings. In both he is a veteran adept who has turned to the Dark Side,
seduced by Sauron in the one case, by Darth Sidious in the other. Either way, he
is great! And to see him here nicely compliments the presence of his Hammer
co-star Peter Cushing in the original Star Wars (where Cushing played the
evil Grand Moff Tarkin).
Attack of the Clones is by far the best
Star Wars movie since The Empire Strikes Back (which had to be
good, based on a script by science fiction immortal Leigh Brackett). Watching
it, you think equally that you should have seen this back in 1983 instead of
those darn Ewoks, and that you can hardly wait till 2005 for the next, and
final, installment.