Rating: 
Summary: Did Not Dissapoint
Review: The day: May 15th, 2002.
The time: 5:30 am
My good friend and I, both Star Wars geeks, got into the car, drove to the mall, and waited until the boxoffice opened its holy doors at 10:30 to get tickets to Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. That night at 11, we entered the theatre for the first midnight showing of the film. The buzz had been fantastic, the trailers mindblowing, and the last movie horrible, but from the trademark Fox logo to the end credits, our backs were glued to our seatbacks, and the adrenalin was pumping.Seeing Attack of the Clones that night was my favorite theatre experience ever. The movie DID NOT dissapoint, but rose to the level (maybe above?) of the original 1970s trilogy. Here's why. The movie tells the story of 18-year-old Anakin Skywalker, returning with mentor Obi-Wan to Naboo after 10 years to protect Senator Padme Amidala's life after recent assassination attempts. After rescuing her from deadly slugs, a chase ensues, that in classic Star Wars fashion, sets the stage for the rest of the movie. The information ascertained by the Jedi duo 10 minutes in sets events in action that fall into place beautifully, and allows for Anakin and Padme to be alone (and fall in love) while Obi-Wan investigates and finds farely suprising things out. The first part of the movie does this, it develops relationships and plot, going back and forth between characters and plot. But after Anakin's nightmare (see the movie), everything gets up to pace. Anakin then commits a major no-no and disobeys Obi-Wan in a way I won't reveal. This betrayal sets the scene for one of the most moving and disturbing sequences since Vader saved Luke, and provides real fodder for the gradual damnation of arrogant Anakin. Via his nosiness, Obi-Wan gets into trouble and requires Anakin to save him. At this point, about halfway through the movie, the greatest action scenes ever put to film come alive, securing Star Wars as the reigning king of action. There is more than meets the eye, however...
While the movie is a "kid's movie" (George Lucas, PREMIERE, May 2002), there is an underlying political backbone that's probably too complicated for most children to catch onto. A growing separatist movement, led by (suprise, suprise) the Sith, is present. And any Star Wars fan is sure to feel rivers of nostalgia and peace as they watch the movie and feel everything begin to fall into place. In summary, George Lucas has come back to the Light Side. The characters are developing, the Empire is growing, familiar faces are showing (think Owen Lars), and Yoda shows why he is the Jedi Master. To boot, the special effects are possibly the best ever made, the sound is riveting, the visuals are crisp, and I actually got pushed back in my chair a few times by the sheer experience. Anyone who hated Episode I, get ready. You're going on one [heckuva] ride.
Rating: 
Summary: The Madness of King George....
Review: I want to say first that I am a fan of the Star Wars movies, specifically the original films, and have seen 'A New Hope' more times than I should have. I thought this movie was awful for a number of reasons (in the order that they occur to me) : 1 : The dialogue was awful and delivered flatly by actors who are generally very good, but not in this instance. 2: What happened to the John Williams soundtrack? The scores for the original movies are superb and memorable. I know and love every note in them. The music for the prequels was barely noticable and left us cold. 3: The film was undercut. Several sequences should have been left on the cutting room floor - particularly the romatic scenes between Anakin and Amadala. There is a deeply funny moment when Amadala runs up a hill. It reminded me of 'Sound of Music.' 4: There was no real heavy villain until the very end. Every mythological tale needs a great villain and this was lacking. 5: An over reliance on creatures and effects. If you use too much of something, you lose the element of wonder and it becomes really dull to watch. The creatures should be used more sparingly for greater effect. 6: We are robbed of a potentially great scene as Anakin destroys the Tusken Raiders. This is a major point for his character development and we were denied it. Instead we got the romance which would have been nice had it actually worked. 7 : This is a personal thing, but the Tusken dogs were obviously taken from the same program that created the Beast in 'Brotherhood of the Wolf' with minor modifications. This is nothing new to Lucas, who used some of the Dinosaurs from Jurassic Park in SWSE - namely the Brachiosaurs became 'Rontos.' We thought that this was unimaginative and cheap of Lucas. 8 : The mythological themes seemed to be completely lacking here unfortunately. Star Wars without the mythology isn't much good. 9 : The jokes were not funny. 10 : Yoda is a great character. He is one of the greatest characters in the original trilogy. But in this he comes across as ridiculous - particularly in the fight scene. Obi Wan's character seemed once again to be undermined, and still not the Kenobi we know from the classic trilogy. This had the potential to be a really great story, but Lucas has proved that with a little effort and a lot of CGI, he can make a film that is even worse than Phantom Menace. Avoid this film. Watch the original, classic trilogy instead.
Rating: 
Summary: Lucas is on his way to bring back Star Wars....
Review: Well, now we`re in the fifth (or should I say "second") chapter in the Star Wars saga. Yet again, we`re in the middle of a trilogy.
Ten years has passed since the events of "Star Wars Episode I - The Phantom Menace". Anakin is now a 19 year old Jedi padawan, and Amidala has left her position as the queen of Naboo to serve the senate. We`re also facing a cooler, less annoying Jar-Jar Binks (but don`t worry. He`s just on screen for 5-10 minutes!). Obi-Wan Kenobi is the same person as always, a worried man with a tough sense of humour. The Republic is still in crisis. Many solar systems is trying to separate from the republic. Under the lead of the mysterious count Dooku (yeah, right , COUNT Dooku, played by legendary horror veteran Christopher Lee), the separatists plan to kill senator Amidala. Anakin and Obi Wan are now sent out by the Jedi council to protect her, and this leads into many fearsome events, especially as Anakin is more and more on his way to the Dark Side.
I think that "Attack of The Clones" is a lot better than "The Phantom Menace". After having seen the first film I was worried. I was thinking "Well, it`s Ok to have one bad Star Wars film. But if the second appears to be [bad], I don`t think the prequel trilogy will ever reach up to the standards of the old one"
Fortunatley, Lucas hasn`t written the script himself this time. He`s co-written it with Jonathan Hales (who also wrote the action flick "The Scorpion King"). This film is more in the spirit of the original trilogy than "The Phantom Menace", and it`s full of memorable action sequences and has lots of fun lines, which comes close to "The Empire Strikes Back" which is may be the best Star Wars film in my opinion.
This movie is much more matured and serious than "The Phantom Menace" - for example, there is much more love and serious drama this time.
This could very well be the darkest and most serious Star Wars movie so far.
Finally, we are also given the answers of questions that has previously been hidden. For example - why don`t the jedi discover the dark lord of the sith is controlling the republic, what did the Storm Troopers came from and how did Anakin`s enormous hate really began?
While the last movie felt more like an adventure film, this one feels more like a typical Star Wars movie.
I also think that the actors are well chosen - the newcomer Hayden Christensen is excellent as the grown-up Anakin Skywalker (while Jake Lloyd [was not]!)In fact, he`s one of the best actors since Harrison Ford to appear in a Star Wars film!
Ewan McGregor is great as the always skeptical and carefull Obi-Wan Kenobi and Christopher Lee is a fun surprise as the new villain ( I think this is funny : he`s playing a real bad guy in both Star Wars II and Lord of the Rings II this year!) and Samuel L. Jackson swings his lightsaber with the same coolness as when he played "Shaft".
Something which I have noticed recently is that the Star Wars characters never changes. They always have the same personality. This is making a typical film analysis of Star Wars impossible!
Anyhow, this isn`t the best Star Wars movie out there. I think that there is simply TOO MUCH action to make it as memorable as the original trilogy.
The 30-minute final battle sequence sometimes seems more like marketing for action figures than a real movie!
And the sequence where Yoda swings his lightsaber for the first time is fun, but it`s sometimes feels made just for the fans to have someone laughing at. To sum it up : the action sequences are too many and too long!
They should have taken even more feelsome and serious moments and cut away may be 15 minutes or so of the action sequences.
But except for that, I`m actually quite happy with this movie. This movie simply brings us a new hope for the Star Wars saga - Lucas is definitly on the right way, but he`s not really there yet. It feels like a pity you have to wait for another three years to see what the final chapter of the saga is like. I hope Lucas is taking all of his best ideas and use them to give us the greatest film ever made with Episode III!!
Rating:
Summary: Worth waiting for
Review: I just had a few miscellaneous comments to make, not so much in the way of a full review so much as a few personal reactions to the movie. I saw the movie at the opening show last night, and it was worth waiting for. The movie has great special effects, of course, and the planetary backdrops and settings are really breathtaking. Lucas uses more of these than in any of the other previous movies. The depth, detail and realism of these is really amazing, and they rival or exceed any science fiction art ever done up to this time. For example, the scene on the Kamino ocean-world was a nice touch, since Lucas has done so many scenes on desert planets before, and it makes a great backdrop for the fight scene between Obi Wan and Jango Fett. Lucas just keeps getting better and better in the special effects areas. The climactic battle scene is also probably the most ambitious thing Lucas has attempted, and it's a long one. You'll also like the dual between Yoda and Count Dooku. Yoda himself gets into the fighting in this one; he's not only a teacher in the background, and it's pretty cool when he does. This was one of the 2 or 3 points in the movie when people starting cheering and clapping out loud. Basically, Yoda rocks, since you finally get to see what his powers really are like. You get to see why he's the head Jedi, and as I said, it's pretty cool. And last but not least, Samuel Jackson has a much bigger role in this movie, instead of merely a cameo as in The Phantom Menace. His fight scene with Jango Fett is another one of the high points during the final huge battle scene between the Jedi and the massed battle droids. I only had two minor criticisms, which is that despite the more complex plot than in The Phantom Menace, I still found it a little weak, but it was better than the last one. But the story lines of the last two movies still weren't as good as the three original Star Wars movies. My second criticism was that unfortunately I found the casting of the Anakin character a little weak. Considering this was the probably the most important role in the movie, I think Lucas could have found a better choice. I'm not usually that critical when it comes to things like this (I didn't even mind Jar Jar Binks when he first appeared in The Phantom Menace). But it was still okay. But neither of these problems bugged me too much, because overall I liked the movie and am happy to have another "prequel." I mainly go for the sheer visual appeal and impact of movies like this, and am not bothered too much by problems in other areas. The special effects and the strong characterizations are what make Star Wars movies so appealing. I give it five stars for special effects and four stars for plot and characterization, so if I could give it four and half stars here, I would.
Rating:
Summary: An opinion from a Non-fan
Review: Don't get me wrong I like Star Wars fine, I'm just not a practicing member in the church of Star Wars that so many seem to belong to, I saw the film as I saw the Phantom Menace, just like any other film this year. I liked it fine, of course nothing is perfect.....
There is a scene near the end where Anikin and Obe Won and senator (former queen) Amadala are going to be killed, naturally the bad guys fail to simply kill them, instead they set up an elaborate ritual where by the three are chained with there hands above there heads in front of a coliseum crowd, various CGI animals are brought in. As one approaches the Senator (Natalie Portman) it swipes at here, ripping off just part of her attire exposing her lovely midriff and her right arm and shoulder, I like that creature, it understood what kind of movie it was in, a Saturday mourning adventure, complete with heroes, villains, cute girls in ripped midriff outfits and lots and lots of swordfights, just what we wanted and just what we got. The CGI and fact that no film was harmed in the making of this picture mattered little, as usual we have far too many CGI characters supposedly interacting with flesh and blood characters, this is doomed from the start, the flesh and blood characters are talking to a blue screen and everyone knows it, but that's the way Mr. Lucas wanted it and that's what he got, so be it. The only real drawback was the agonizing love story between Anikin and Amadala, the dialogue must be heard to be believed "I have died a little bit every day since you came back" AAAARGHHHHH!! I will spare you, gentle reader, from any more quotes, at least Darth Vador wasn't in love he never had to say anything like that. All in all a good time at the movies, not a religious experience not something to change the world, just good old fashioned entertainment, I will see the next one. Oh yeah and Jar Jar is given a mercifully small role, there is a God after all!!!
Rating:
Summary: Star Wars is dead
Review: The buzz about this movie is that it is better than The Phantom Menace, but that is like saying it is better to be punched in the gut than kicked in the groin. After sitting through this horrible, horrible movie, I feel like I have been punched, kicked and eye-gouged once again by Mr. George Lucas, Clone creator. The movie is jumbled, foolish, boring and has absolutely no heart. Just turn on CSPAN and you will get the gist of Clones, it is one meeting after another where everyone uses the word "politics" but no one actually discusses anything political. Everything you've heard about how terrible the script and acting are, is right on. And the visual effects are only engaging about half of the time, the other half you feel like you are watching a cartoon because everything is so obviously computer generated. I saw the movie on opening night and everyone in my theater was very upset. Had George Lucas been present, I am certain we would have stuck a light saber right up his ... Star Wars, after barely surviving the Return of the Jedi and The Phantom Menace, has officially been killed by the Attack of the Clones.
Rating:
Summary: What A HUGE Disappointment
Review: An incredibly good story is absolutley killed by bad dialouge among other promises that were not obtained. A friend of mine told me the film reel would be flawless because we went to a midnight showing and it was horrible. I thought it was going to melt on the reel. The crowd who attended this midnight showing pretty muched laughed out loud every single time anakin and padme did anything romantic....I felt embarassed for all the people involved with this movie. I was also told ...that we would see lots of Jedi die in this movie.....we see one, and we dont even know or care about the one who does die. this is by far the worst movie on the installment and thats saying a lot with Phantom menace out there to compare it too. Here's hoping (praying) that Lucas gives the reigns of the movie to someone else for the final movie...someone who can actually DIRECT.
Rating:
Summary: The Force is strong with this one.
Review: On a diplomatic mission to Coruscant, Senator Amidala is attacked by an unknown force. The Jedi council calls for Master Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi and his young apprentice, Anakin Skywalker, to solve this mystery and protect the senator respectively. As Anakin and Padme Amidala fall deeply in love for each other, Obi-Wan discovers the creation of a vast clone army, supposedly ordered upon ten years ago by a Jedi Master thought to have been dead.
The film's greatest strength is the focus on Anakin's emotions, and how he handles his aggression. It's apparent as the story progresses that he starts to realize something isn't right in his world, and the beginnings of his journey to the Dark Side start to take shape.
I was a huge fan of The Phantom Menace, and needless to say, Episode II made leaps and bounds, having more focus on the story, better writing and a load of surprises. The only general complaint I have for it is that it is unlike any of the past films to date. The atmosphere, character relationships, and the psychological feeling in Anakin make this a unique experience, but sometimes go outside the usual restraints of a Star Wars film. Also, the emphasis is definitely on action, and some of the characters' relationships aren't fully developed.
I waited in line for two hours to get in to the first midnight showing, and while there were a few disappointments along the way, it was ultimately worth the wait.
Rating:
Summary: This IS Star Wars
Review: This movie is amazing, it rocks, this is real Star Wars. I saw ...the...first showing with hundreds of other Star Wars fans and there were cheers all through the movie. Pieces fall into place in the storyline and you get to see Yoda show his true powers. Go see this many many times.
Rating: 
Summary: 2 and 1/2 hours of trite, mish mosh but SFX are great!
Review: 25 years ago George Lucas began a phenomena called Star Wars. The 1977 movie spawned two quick sequels and moved Lucas' ILM(Industrial Light and Magic) into the movie effects forefront. 16 years pass and Lucas takes another stab at the Star Wars mythos with Phantom Menace. Gone are the characters you cheered for in the first films replaced by flat, boring, and nondescript rags of characters. The enthralling plots and endearing characters were gone so Lucas decided to overcompensate by giving us a chunk of eyecandy without the things that truly make a good movie.
ATOC is a step ahead of the ramshackle film that was PHANTOM but the plot is still sketchy and the actors are worse. The lightheartedness of the first trilogy is replaced with cheesy dialog. Hayden Christiansen is gawd-awful babbeling like Forrest Gump at times. Lucas himself seems to be caught up in making the movie digitally as opposed to true content. ILM has enough clients already George you don't have to put together a 2 and 1/2 hour ad for your company. The epic storyline/space opera from the original trilogy is gone what remains is an undeveloped endless wave of characters and a mish mosh of tidbits to suck in old school fans. Don't get me wrong I loved the effects in the movie,as always ILM is top notch. The movie is just too slow no REAL action occurs until the last 1/2 hour of the movie.
My biggest disappointment is YODA. ATOC has the dislexic little green man speaking eloquently and jumping around like a extra for a kung-fu scene in the new MATRIX film. UhGGHHHH! Bring back the Yoda puppet!
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