While 'Attack of the Clones' is a step in the right direction when compared to the underwhelming 'Phantom Menace', it also brings more baggage on top of the previous problems resulting in a mixed movie that is over a better film but still not a great one. One of the best things about the film is that it has a lot more action and overall more memorable sequences. The fight between Obi Wan and Jango Fett on Kamino is one of the best scenes, along with a great intro chase sequence in a busy metropolis. But for every great scene like those, we get many slow or downright unbearable exposition dumps which feels even more so given that 'Attack of the Clones' was the longest running film in the franchise at 2 hours and 22 minutes (until it was topped by the upcoming 'Last Jedi'). This makes the good moments feel too far in between with the cringe worthy and infamous dialogue we all know by now.
Besides the film's story, many critics and fans have cited the decision to go full CGI and green screen with the final two prequel films. This results in the actors looking completely out of place with their environments, as if they were simply paper doll cutouts pasted onto your 'Star Wars' playsets. It doesn't help that many computer effects at the time had become rather lackluster despite the strong advancements. Watching the movie again in 2017 and now in high-def Blu-Ray makes the effects stand out and age even more poorly. Now it's really nothing against the team at LucasFilm as I'm sure they worked hard to give George what he envisioned, but it is really odd to see so many films during the millennium have such inconsistent effects.
Even the famed Jedi battles have been tainted by the overuse of CGI effects with video game like character sprites hopping and bouncing around like they were on a trampoline. Yes, the original trilogy's swordplay was a tad slow and oddly choreographed at times, but it's true sword fighting techniques being used. These prequels just get a little too out of control with their fight scenes, particularly the end battle between Yoda and Darth Tyranus still makes me laugh out loud to this day. Yoda is a friggin' pinball in that scene...a big green pinball. So you've read a lot of negative here and very little positive as is to be expected but why do I still place it above 'Episode I'? Well, despite 'Attack of the Clones' being far too long in the tooth, poorly aged special effects, and some of the worst acting in the series, it actually feels like a 'Star Wars' movie in comparison.
'The Phantom Menace' was a political drama with lightsabers thrown in at the end to give us fans something related to 'Star Wars'. 'Attack of the Clones' adds to the overall lore, led to the excellent 'Clone Wars' television series on Cartoon Network, and has more action than that previous film. I like many don't care for the prequels, but they are far from the worst things I have seen in my life (Santa's Slay anyone?). That doesn't excuse it's faults however and I won't blindly look past the many flaws of 'Episode II'.
6.5/10
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