Rating: 
Summary: Attack of the Clones
Review: As a Star Wars fan, I loved this film, and while it might not be as intense as episodes IV-VI, it's still very good. George Lucas made the plot line to include the fan favorites Jango and Boba Fett, clad in Mandalorian armor, which I thought was pretty cool. The fight scene between Jango and Obi-Wan Kenobi was the best of the movie. Anakin Skywalker is starting to show signs of what he will ultimately turn into, a force of evil, and his master, Kenobi, is powerless to change him. Of course, Natalie Portman was great...All in all, AotC was even better than episode I.
Rating: 
Summary: For fans only!!
Review: Seen this one to see what all the fuss is about and the best thing I can say is that the action scenes are good,but the talking scenes are just plain boring!!So slow....I prefer the first 3 orginal ones with Harrison Ford than the prequels..
Rating: 
Summary: Still Not Great
Review: Though this movie is not up to original Star Wars standards, I am being more easier than some of the other reviewers. The film does lack decent acting or writing, but some of the scenes are still a feast for the eyes and thrilling. This film is far from great, but it is suberbly better than of "Episode I", the DVD itself is a good disc though, worth the buy for the numerous special features.
Rating: 
Summary: Worse than Ep1, I didn't think it possible.
Review: George...You have one chance left. Read this...ONE chance left to redeem your prequel trilogy. Ep1 and Ep2 are non starters. They do NOT belong near the "Classic" trilogy. In fact they don't even resemble them remotely.If you thought Ep1 was bad and my god was it bad, then wait til you see this mish mash of absolute nonsense. The script, direction, casting and acting are all below the standard of a B movie like "Zombie Flesheaters" never mind a multi-million dollar production. Everyone concerned should be ashamed of themselves. Some people in the film actually look bored to tears in the film. The story is just non existent, its simply not there. Its one set piece after another and they are handled awfully. The Characters are insipid sketches, rather than people of reality. Christiansen should NEVER be allowed to act again. I mean that. At least Hammil's young Luke Skywalker in Ep4 is a realistic character and this trilogy really needs a gritty character like Han Solo, everyone is so black and white its cringe-worthy. The best moment from Portman is when she gets a strategically precise tear on her uniform. Well, it gave me a laugh. McGregor just looks like his wonderment at the first trilogy has been utterly destroyed, but he can enjoy his millions. Jackson can forget it. Even poor old Chris Lee looks irritated by this rubbish. Count Dooku (Or Count Dookula), god almighty, could they not even be bothered to give him a decent name? The ONLY character in this dross who was visually engaging was Palpatine. The action is boring....BORING. Battle scenes where nobody dies are "A-team" nonsense. George, watch "Saving Pvt Ryan" and take note. The Jedi's. Yes I know the trilogy is essentially about them, but they are such a boring bunch of semi-mystical hippies its just too annoying to let it go. Thank god they dropped the mediclorian nonsense though, who came up with that? In the next film I want to see them killed in their droves. The "love" story doesn't gel even once in the whole film. I have more of a relationship with Natilie Portman, than Christiansen does. George, you cannot write or direct, please give the reigns to a serious director. When you handed over the the direction to Irvin Kirshner for Empire, he created the masterpiece of the Star Wars saga. Take note. The effects, while numerous, are lifeless. They lack the reality needed to be convincing. Everything in the film is shiny and new. Theres no weathering or anything aproaching a "used" look on any of the vehicles or equipment. In fact, one ship is so shiny its silver!!!! They must have artoo out every morning, with his special polishing equipment. He's able to reach all areas too, because some genius gave him the ability to fly.....yeah fly........WTF? He can fly 30 years before Ep4, but cannot after Ep4. I'll say this again... George.....you have one chance left. If Ep3 turns out to be good, then at least fans can view the saga from Ep3 onwards. If not, do the world a favor and never direct or write ANYTHING ever again........oh and fire Rick McCallum.
Rating:
Summary: WAY TOO MUCH CGI!!!!!NOT ENOUGH STORY!!!!!!!!
Review: When George Lucas started writing Star Wars in the 70's,he wrote a fully developed epic in three parts(New Hope,Empire,Jedi) with a short back story(told in the Star Wars novel by Princess Leia)about the deterioration of the Republic,The Clone Wars,and the rise of the Empire.The result:THE GREATEST SCI-FI EPIC EVER PUT ON FILM!Fans were so enthralled by those movies that when die hard fans learned that there may be more to that little back story than anyone thought(Obi-Wan and Anikan fight and the horribly dis-figured Anikan dons the Vader outfit and truly turns evil,for example)that ever since 1983,when Jedi was released,they've been screaming for the full story.George Lucas,the all-powerful guru of Industrial Light and Magic(which provides the SFX for nearly every movie),THX sound(Remeber those deafening ads before each movie just to get the point across that you could hear everything...even though you lost your hearing!),and Lucasfilm,LTD(which produced the Indiana Jones movies),said that he would make those movies when the technology for SFX was better.Unfourtunately,he forogt the fact that while the SFX for the Trilogy was mesmerizing,it was the story that kept the audiance glued to their seats.When he finally announced that he was doing a new trilogy that would go back and tell how it all began,my question was this:"How are you gonna stretch this story out over three films?" Now I'm sorry I asked.The Phantom Menace was a little slow,but it was okay.My only real complaint(besides Jar-Jar) was how he virtually mimicked the space battle from A New Hope.(Did anyone else find it disconserting that the Trade Federation's ships looked like mini-Death Stars?)When I left the theater,I thought "Well...it's only part one.The next one will be better." Boy...was I wrong.This one was even slower.Hayden Christenson's acting was really bad(I wasn't the only one walking out of the theater thinking that!),he drew out the relationship of Anikan and Ameldala too long,and the plot was too convoluted.The only cool thing about the movie was Samuel L. Jackson(just for a joke,it would've been cool if he spouted "Ezekel 25:17" when he was in that balcony.)The fact is,Lucas is trying way too hard to show off the special affects and CGI characters that he can create,that he could've spent more time tightening the plot to manage-able and entertaining proportions.You know....it's sad when the DVD extras are more interesting than the movie itself.We can only pray that Episode Three is better.After all....how could he possibly screw up the transformation of Anikan into Darth Vader.Oh....just you watch!
Rating:
Summary: Shades of Samurai
Review: An action movie
racisim and aliens?
Overactive minds
Rating:
Summary: Rose tinted glasses?
Review: I think one of the problems with Star Wars is that the original movies were completely blown out of all proportion during the long haiatus between the release of Jedi and the release of the new movies. In truth, the original movies aren't really as good as people make them out to be. Mark Hammill is truly a poor actor, and boy didn't Luke whine a lot in Episodes 4 and 5. No surprise that Anakin whines just as much in Attack of the Clones....and of course Haydn Christensen's acting abilities are about as good as Mr. Hammill's. A lot of us were kids when the original trilogy was being released in theaters, and we have an emotional attachment to the original trilogy. If you try to distance yourself from that emotional attachment, you'll find that the new movies are no worse than the old ones. There seem to be inconsistencies to some extent - however, in the original trilogy a lot of the myth surrounding the force (for instance) was based on eastern philosophy - faith and mysticism. In the new movies a western philosophy has been adopted - explain everything with science, i.e. midichlorians. Both philosophies are valid, and in fact both explain what we observe on our own world just as good as each other. Maybe Lucas is just trying to show that you can apply to philosophies to the Star Wars world and come up with two ways of explaining the same phenomena quite easily....after all it happens in real life, here on Earth, all the time. When it comes down to it, this movie (and episode I, although not as good) is thoroughly enjoyable....just as enjoyable as the originals. George Lucas is obviously going somewhere with this new trilogy, but no one can be sure exactly where he is going until we see the third installment. Does the duel on the volcano really take place? How does Anakin completely turn to the dark side - doe he go off to fight Palpatine - remember in Empire, both Obi-Wan and Yoda feared that Luke would turn bad if he went off to fight Vader. Well, I think we're going to see Anakin take on Palpatine, lose and turn to the dark side. Or maybe he'll defeat Dooku, yet take his place - after all the emperor told Luke that if he defeated Vader, he would only replace him at the emperor's new apprentice. But it is pointless, second guessing Lucas. He has been unpredictable with these movies so far, and I'm sure episode 3 will have some interesting surprises, and it will tie everything up once and for all.
Rating:
Summary: Extra Features Are Nice, Movie Is So-So
Review: Among the many flaws that "Star Wars Episode II" suffered from, I think I can say that the acting and the dialogue were the greatest problems. To put it frankly, the two leads (Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman) had no chemistry, expressed cardboard emotions, and were thoroughly unlikeable. This is a shame considering that they were the two characters the film focused on most and considerably dragged the film down. Still, I can't lay the blame all on them -- George Lucas's stilted dialogue also played a key role in the blandness of the characters. Going deeper into Lucas's screenplay, I have to say the story wasn't all that interesting either and only really picked up towards the film's finale. Aside from the dialogue, the acting, and the story, however, when seen in theaters, the visual effects were the one aspect of the movie that was not at a mediocre level. DVD is a different story. Due to the clear and realistic quality of most DVD players, the visual effects themselves look quite, well, computery on DVD, especially the abundant computer-generated characters. The real redeeming quality of this DVD is the seemingly endless amount of special features, and they will sure please the hardcore "Star Wars" fan. If this were a good movie, my rating would be **** or possibly *****, but due to the lack of quality in the film itself, my overall rating for this product is dragged down to ***. Only recommended to the hardcore "Star Wars" fan.
Rating:
Summary: Better than Phantom Menace.. although it's all relative
Review: I miss Empire Strikes Back so much. Where in any of the new films is there a moment even approaching the intensity of the scene where Lord Vader both talks smack to Luke and then lops his freakin' arm off? I think anyone who saw that movie remembers how shocking that instant was, as well as how well-framed.. the sweep of the light saber, the shortened, mangled limb held aloft in a moment of pure shock for both Luke and the audience itself. Now, it turns out that actually ol' Hayden "Mini-Vader" Christensen loses his hand in this film too. Does anyone even remember it? It's before the Yoda/Doku fight, and thrown in almost as if someone smacked themselves on the forehead and "Oh yeah, Vader here has to somehow transition from a golden-haired diety into a half-machine terror of the entire universe. Uh, have him lose a hand or something, that was a hit last time. Now where's my latte?" I think that comparison alone reveals the fundamental flaw in Attack of the Clones. It is far too timid for its own good. It is concerned solely with checking off the box for each "Star Wars Moment" that it believes the audience demands, without creating anything new. Attack of the Clones _is_ better than the Phantom Menace, mostly because Jar Jar is held to about 3 lines, and there is no tow-headed moppet spouting inane dialogue. Moreover much of the other silliness was appropriately shelved: Midichlorians (aka Force cooties), Anakin's "immaculate conception" and other wackiness are, thankfully, never ever mentioned again. Unfortunately, others are kept: Again, nearly all the combat takes place against robots, which I believe actually makes the combat more desensitizing than less. Blasters and light sabers are now practically antiseptic in their use, meaning that there is no grittiness (read: adult content) what so ever. There are many thermometers one can use to read the health of the films, but I find the transition from gritty realism to CGI cartoonism the most telling. Let's review: A New Hope: Burning Jawa bodies, rebel troopers gunned down in ship, gory demonstration of de-arming ability of light saber in Mos Eisley cantina, Leia menaced by interrogation droids
Empire Strikes Back: Luke mauled by snowbeast, loses hand to Vader, Han tortured (!) by red hot thingies, several good-natured Wookie stranglings
Return of the Jedi: Leia gets shot, Luke electrocuted for quite some time, Admiral Ackbar's chin tendrils quiver with outrage at operability of Death Star II
Phantom Menace: Bunch of zany robots lopped apart, a few Gungans presumably die somehow off camera, Darth Maul ungraphically bifurcated and falls down hole (achilles heel of all Sith)
Attack of the Clones: Padme clawed by a big cat, Obi-Wan gets a cut on his leg, Vader inadvertantly loses a hand (whoops!) and then sorta takes a nap or something, bunch of sand people killed off screen, many robots sent to trash heap in the sky, one Jedi shot by Jango Fett All in all, what little realism one could expect from a sci fi epic has been leached out and replaced with CGI and confectioner's sugar. Attack of the Clones is better than Phantom Menace, but that sure doesn't mean it's good.
Rating:
Summary: Glimpses of Vader
Review: For just one moment, ignore some of the negative hype surrounding this movie (such as poor acting and a love story script)... And allow yourself to see the "Big Picture" concerning Attack of the Clones. Besides witnessing why Yoda is the true master of the force (who knew he could move like that?!?!), moviegoers are treated to two very important points that were unexplained up until now. In addition to learning the origin of the Stormtroopers (as well as Boba Fett), we now have seen the first glimpses of the dark-side manifesting itself in Anakin Skywalker...the man who would eventually slay most of the Jedi order, and send the remaining two (Yoda and Obi Wan Kenobi) into seclusion. This alone is reason enough to watch this movie! In Star Wars: A New Hope, the Jedi seem to be but a distant memory, no doubt do in part to Vader's skill with a lightsaber, while under the tutelage of Emperor Palpentine. Make no mistake about it; the next Star Wars should be a somber one. It simply has to be in order for such radical changes to take place between this title, and Star Wars: A New Hope (enter Luke Skywalker). One thing is for certain; Attack of the Clones is the installment that sets the events in motion. Love it or hate it, Attack of the Clones is the "glue" that holds the whole series together. "alankelly"
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