The second installment of the second trilogy created by George Lucas is infinitely better than the first prequel. Mastermind George Lucas continues to give us more details as to how Anakin Skywalker turns to the dark side. "Attack of the Clones" was the most complicated film in terms of computer generated effects, and fans failed to understand that when talking about this movie. There are many, many scenes that were computer generated that you can not tell the difference. This movie is a perfect send off to the third prequel.

"Attack of the Clones" picks up 10 years after the end of "Phantom Menace" and there is talk in the galactic senate to create an army of the republic. Senator Padme Amidala, former Queen of Naboo, played by Natalie Portman (Garden State,) is one of the leaders of the opposition to the creation of an army. When she arrives on Curiscant her ship is attacked and several of her guards are killed. Jedi Knight Obi-Won Kenobi, played by Ewan McGregor (Robots), and his young apprentice Anakin Skywalker, played by Hayden Christensen (Virgin Suicides) are ordered to protect her by the Jedi council. While under her protection, an assassination attempt is foiled and Anakin is told to take the Senator back to her home planet of Naboo, while Kenobi is ordered to find who hired the assassin and find out why they want Amidala dead.

Lucas has further developed the Anakin Skywalker character and giving more details on how he turns. Skywalker is on an emotional rollercoaster from the death of his mother and his revenge killing of the sand people who killed her, to the amount of love he has for Padme and her unwillingness to accept his love and acknowledgement of her love for him. George Lucas has created between the first movie and the second movie logical steps that allow for the creation of Darth Vader.

Lucas the screenwriter though at times does not do a very convincing job of writing a love story. The dialogue between Padme and Anakin is very dry at times for what should be a blossoming romance. Since this movie is about the love between these two, it drags the movie down. However, the action scenes and in general all of the writing pertaining to Obi-Won's search for the assassin was very entertaining and well paced.

Lucas the director made some interesting decisions with his character development of Padme. Her character has always seemed dry and at times incapable of showing the kind of emotion that is required for when you are dealing with love. I have often thought that it may have to do with Natalie Portman's performance, but after watching the DVD extra's it is clear that she has more to her character but it was cut out of the movie. I am not sure if I agree with his reasons because it really takes away from the character and involuntary makes Portman's performance mediocre. Another fact that became clear in this movie is that he does not do a good job of casting young children in his movies. The child that is cast to play the young son of the bounty hunter, Jengo Fett, known to us as Boba Fett, played by Daniel Logan (The Legend of Johnny Lingo) does a horrible job. But the writing was bad too, especially in the chase scene in the asteroid field. It's just as bad as Jake Lloyd's acting and dialogue during the battle in space above Naboo. Hopefully, Lucas will have other people cast child parts in the future.

The acting was better on a few levels in this movie over the first prequel. Ewan McGregor does a much more believable job as Obi-Won this time. His character gets closer to the original that Alec Guinness created 20 years earlier. Also, Hayden Christenson was a huge step up from Jake Lloyd. That being said he was somewhat stiff and at times seemed out classes by some of the other actors around him. Natalie Portman did okay except for some of the romantic scenes with Christenson and some of her action scenes. She may be doomed to playing the drama's or comedies because I am not sure if she has the body or the attitude for action movies. But I like her so I won't hold it against her.

This movie also provides for a lot of things that Star Wars fans have been wanting to see. The large battle between the droid army and the Jedi Knights in the arena was the first time we saw the Jedi Knights fight in mass. But most importantly we got to see Jedi Master Yoda fight with the light sabre against Count Dooku, played by Christopher Lee (Lord of the Rings trilogy.) It is very fun to watch and it also shows that this is the first time that Yoda is computer generated and not the puppet we have seen him in all of the other movies.

Speaking of the special effects, this movie is another ground breaking event for Lucas and we have become all too familiar with and sadly ignorant of its uniqueness. There are so many things added to these scenes that it's hard to keep up with them all. The scene where Obi-Wan is hanging on to the robot going through Curiscant is amazing in the detail that is given not only to the city but to all of the ships moving by, excellent special effects. I also dare anybody to tell me that they knew that the Obi-Won Kenobi that hugs his friend in the diner is computer generated except for the head, which is Ewan McGregor. Go ahead I dare you.

This is another wonderful movie by George Lucas and it makes me look forward to the final installment. Rent this if you haven't seen it, but I can't imagine that would be true.

Brian - the Naked Gun