Rating: 
Summary: VISUAL EFFECTS+ACTION-PLOT=DUD!
Review: I'm a huge "Star Wars" fan, and find it hard to diss "The Phantom Menace." But this one isn't! Visual Effects and Action don't guarantee a winner. All my favorite films are usually character-driven. A good story is the thing, one that George Lucas misses here. The visual effects are incredible, and the action sequences are awesome (Yoda is the man!), but the story is...! The love story between Amidala and Anakin is worse than "Pearl Harbor" (my favorite Romantic Epic) and "Titanic" put together and multiplied by four. And what story there is hard to follow (I never knew where I was for the last half of the movie). Some of the performances were good (Christopher Lee's Dooku was spooky, as always), but the characters aren't the story, but rather the backstory to "Star Wars Episode II: Visual Effects and Nothing Else!" The DVD is also nothing to praise, since the main feature is a load of bull! Skip this one. If you want to see great epics with loads of visual effects AND a good, involving story, check out "The Patriot," "Pearl Harbor," "Titanic," and the upcoming Civil War Epic "Gods and Generals."
Movie Grade: D- (1.5 Stars)
DVD Grade: D+ (2 Stars)
Rating: 
Summary: About as disappointing as episode 1.
Review: First let me say that the only reason I gave this movie three stars is due to the incredible scene of Yoda (my favorite from back when Star Wars was actually GOOD) wreaking havoc with his lightsaber. Other than that the only highlights were a few good actors (MacGregor and Jackson and Lee are the only ones I can think of at the moment) and the other very well done lightsaber scenes. It disgusts me that the average review for this movie can be four stars, I would think my rating of three should be on the high side. Who on earth writes these scripts? The lines are some of the worst I have ever heard (Jackson's big line: "This party's over." Give me a break). Hayden Christensen has got to be one of the worst actors I have seen in a long time. It depresses me that such an atrocious actor could be laying the groundwork for the greatest villain of all time (the inimitable Darth Vader). Apparently acting isn't what counts anymore (Natalie Portman is not much better than Christensen), nor is a decent script. As with episode 1, the emphasis is on effects overdone to a laughable extent. As I mentioned in my review of The Phantom Menace, why bother replacing the endless ranks of battle droids with stormtroopers? It makes no sense. I could go on at length about why this movie irritates me, but no one wants to read that. I keep hoping that the prequels will get better and Lucas keeps disappointing me. What a depressing spectacle.
Rating:
Summary: Can't Get Excited ...
Review: ... about this one. Yes, visually it's stunning -- and some of the scenes are interesting as well. But the film as a whole is diffuse and at times confusing. The original Star Wars Trilogy led one from one scene to another with a strong sense of what was going on and why. Attack of the Clones just sort of wallows around a bit and seems to take pot shots at the action. LucusFilms seems to be putting more emphasis on the special effects and computer generated graphics than on the story -- and there is a story to be told here. Thankfully, not all facets of the film are negative. We do get a view of Anakin Skywalker and see him beginning to turn to the dark side. We get to meet charactors which were first introducted in episode IV, A New Hope ... and see where the death star comes from. So for stage setting, the movie gets a thumbs up. For story line and strong characters, a thumbs down. Certainly a mixed bag here. I was disappointed, but not devestated. Get it if you're a fan. Recommended with reservations...
Rating: 
Summary: Much Better than I thought it would be!
Review: I had heard lots of bad things about Star Wars Episode II Attack of the Clones, so I was not sure what to expect. I was really surprised how good it was. In Episode II,there is alot of ground to cover, Anakin and Padme falling in love, Anakin starts to turn to the dark side, the rise of the clones and the beginning of the end for the jedi. George Lucas is able to all of these things and not short change any of the story lines. The second disc has a lot extra features including deleted scenes, trailers, and more. Overall, Star Wars Episode II Attack of the Clones is well the money!
Rating:
Summary: The best Star Wars movie yet (IMHO)
Review: In my humble opinion, this is the best Star Wars movie George Lucas has created in the series up to this point. The scope, effects, storyline, and characters are more complex in Attack of the Clones than other films in the Star Wars series. The DVD comes in a 2-disk set containing the movie plus bonus materials that will satisfy most Star Wars fans. My favorite extras are the deleted scenes, which show how the story goes into even more depth than the finished product viewers saw in theaters. The DVDs have excellent picture and sound quality. They are a good value and worth the purchase.
Rating: 
Summary: better acting & less digital effects would have been better
Review: I'm one who found the DVD presentation of the movie to be very average. The picture isn't as sharp as Phantom Menace, and just isn't anything special. As for the movie - well it was good. The acting was really stiff by Christensen and Portman, but I'm one who blames that entirely on the director. As evidenced by the first three movie, Star Wars films don't need first rate acting (though it would be nice), but the acting must at least be emotional and a little over acted rather than under acted as in Episode 2. There were also too many digital effects, and at times I felt like I was watching something more of a cartoon than a live shot movie. But overall, it was a pretty good Star Wars movie.
Rating:
Summary: Incredible and satisying
Review: I can't understand how anyone who loves Star Wars and science fiction could knock this movie. For me, it has everything I could have ever hoped for or imagined being put on film. Only George Lucas could have created the most densely thick backgrounds and effects ever concieved, and a fantastic story of galactic proportions. It is a gem.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing...
Review: Episode 2 is the first of the "Star Wars" movies that I've never seen in a theater. Had I gone, the DVD would never have been purchased. A blend of boring dialogue and overly drawn-out, difficult to follow action sequences, I found myself wondering, "When is this going to end?" George Lucas appears to have forgotten how to tell a story and make it interesting--he seems more absorbed with technology/special effects, and the end result is painfully obvious. There were a few good moments--the scenes on Tatooine, a brief glimpse of a model for the yet to be constructed Deathstar, and some insight into the mind of Anakin Skywalker. But, Mr. Lucas, where is the fun in this movie? Where is the decent storytelling? 15-20 minutes at a time of very little dialogue, and senseless/frequently preposterous action sequences, does not make a film worth watching. Unlike many others, I personally enjoyed Episode 1 after the first 20 minutes or so. I kept hoping for that same, "Hey, this is getting good!" feeling while looking at Episode 2 last night...sadly, that feeling surfaced only briefly, during a few sequences. A mock documentary on the DVD, spotlighting the "career" of R2D2, is far superior to the movie itself, and had me doubled over in laughter. Thank goodness there's ***something*** on this disc to at least partly justify the purchase. Commercials for Episode 2 brag about the digital transfer...small wonder, image quality is all that this movie has going for it. Personally I'll take decent storytelling on conventional film stock any day of the week. Perhaps Mr. Lucas should collaberate with some of the creative minds at Pixar--they seem to understand the importance of a decent story.
Rating:
Summary: Eye candy 'till you're diabetic
Review: Lucas, three words to you: "Less is more!" CGI now permits a director to pack every screen with so much visual detail that you go into overload - to make dazzling CGI sets with nothing real in them at all. It *allows* the director to do that. George Lucas doesn't realise that it's one thing to have the capacity to do something, and it is quite another to actually do it. Again and again Lucas has said: "Special effects now allow us to do things that wouldn't even be possible back in the original films." Then why do the original films look so much more realistic? Just because you *can* stuff a screen with photorealistic spaceships is no excuse to go around doing it. I mean, animated cartoons can display what they like too, and have been around for a lot longer. An animated movie would not be so tastelessly overdone as this! By the way, the benefit of CGI is *not* that it makes special effects look *more real* than miniatures - it only allows you to do *new things*. It's capability, not degree. In this film, you can tell what's CGI and what's not - it's just blindingly obvious. If films are so blue-screened, they suffer. Those who think the new "digital Yoda" is "more real" than the puppet, have forgotten that Yoda never existed: only the puppet existed. SO essentially, making Yoda look *more real* than the puppet was utterly pointless. Apart from "eye candy diabetes", there are major problems with the film. The storyline makes no sense, and has not the structural soundness of the earlier films. The script is awful. Lucas has said: "I rely on visuals, not dialogue". Yet the visuals and dialogue both fail. Actually, this review has been 4/5 on visuals and 1/5 on everything else. That's a good match for the film!
Rating:
Summary: Attack Of The Film Critics
Review: I don't understand why people find it in their best interest to attack this movie and take note of the "bad" things in it.I challenge someone to name a movie that was absolutly perfect,from beginning to end...still thinking?That because they're isn't one.But folks,this movie PROVIDED WHAT IT PROMISED!Lucas promised a film that would take Star Wars to the next level,and if this movie didn't,then you must have have been wearing blindfolders while you watched it. WARNING:POTENTIAL SPOILERS IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE MOVIE! Ok,first of all,if you aren't a Star Wars fan,you probably will not love this film.But,if you are a fan of movies,period,you will AT LEAST love the amazing special effects and powerful sounds that were provided in this.AOTC TOPS THE CHARTS in the use of movie-making techniques.But,to those of you who DO love Star Wars,let's not forget HOW MANY things were in this film that we had longed to see...hundreds of Jedi gathered together fighting in a grand arena...Yoda himself,using the Force against the Sith...Yoda using a lightsaber(it may have been a bit comical,but he IS the most senior and most powerful Jedi...why should he not be able to fight?)and,of course,the CREATION OF THE EMPIRE!What more could a loyal fan ask for? In fact,I think Lucas made this film SO great,that the next one is going to be extremely hard to top.And yes,the widescreen video/audio transfer ans DVD extras are nearly flawless.10/10
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