The noise and chatter quickly came to a complete silence as the words, "A long time ago in a galaxy far away," were shown on the screen. Seconds later, that silence was broken by a storm of cheers and cries from the audience. For the next 2 hours and a half, the theater echoed with laughter, cheers, approval, excitement, shock, and gasps. When the movie ended, a standing ovation of several hundred people cheered and applauded with only one thing on their minds, when will Episode III be coming out?
I was very fortunate to see the first showing of Star Wars Episode II: Attack of The Clones on it's opening day at midnight, and it was well worth the wait. The movie takes place 10 years after Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Queen Amidala (Natalie Portman) is now the elected Senator of Naboo, Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) is the apprentice of Jedi Master Obi-Wan-Kenobi (Ewan McGregor), and Darth Maul is still dead (but is soon to be replaced). Trouble is brewing in the Senate on the planet of Coruscant. Senator Amidala is under the attack from the opponents of her political ideologies. Seeking help and protection from the Jedi, Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan-Kenobi are sent to protect her from all forms of attack. Jedi Master Yoda (Frank Oz) feels that these attacks are linked to a much more bigger problem with The Sith. After an attack from a changer and newcomer, Jango Fett (Temuera Morrision), Obi-Wan-Kenobi tracks the assassin to a secret planet where it is discovered that clones are being created to become an army for the Jedi. While all this is going on, we discover that Amidala and Skywalker are secretly falling in love.
It doesn't take a genius to figure out that these events are leading up to the highly anticipated Clone War, the war that divides the powers of the senate and creates the evil Empire. If you recall from the original Star Wars (Episode IV), Obi-Wan-Kenobi stated that he fought along side Anakin until he was killed by Darth Vader (since Anakin is really Vader, Obi-Wan implies that "Anakin's death" is really a metamorphosis from the powers of the Jedi to the evil corruption of the Darkside (Sith). That leaves us left to conclude that something terrible is going to happen in Episode III.
Returning in this movie are Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackosn), Jar Jar Binks (don't worry though, he's only in a few scenes), Watto, the flying alien from Tatooine, Chancellor Palpatine, and Darth Sidious (both played by Ian McDiarmid). Joining the cast of characters is Bail Organa (Jimmy Smits), the Senator from Alderaan and who will become the adoptive father of Princess Leia Organa in Episode IV, Cliegg Lars (Jack Thompson) the husband of Shmi Skywalker who lives with his son Owens Lars (Joel Edgerton) and Owenˇ¦s girlfriend Beru (Bonnie Piesse). Count Dooko (Christopher Lee) who was once a very promising Jedi, now goes under the evil Sith name of Darth Tyranus, and Jango Fett, the hired bounty hunter who is accompanied by his cloned son, Bobba (Daniel Logan).
The storyline and effects in this movie are awesome. Some people have commented that there are too many special effects in the movie, and it kills the storyline. True, most of the backgrounds, effects, and some characters are CGI, but I don't think it hurt the story one bit. In fact, there is one fight at the end of the movie that has Dark Tyranus dueling with a CGI Yoda. I think that the advancement in technology has enabled Lucas to create this movie the way it should have been created. One thing I think it does is keep the audience on their feet because people don't know what to expect. I personally enjoyed this movie not only because I grew up on Star Wars, but because the idea of the prequels are interesting to watch. Itˇ¦s nice to see why things turned out the way they did. I personally can't wait to see Episode III, but you can bet you wonˇ¦t catch me waiting in line three months in advanced. Great job Lucas!!
Rating: 95
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