Posted on: Tuesday, May 14, 2002

Star Wars
Spectacular 'Attack of the Clones' harkens back to 'Star Wars' of old

By Jack Garner
Gannett News Service

Lush cityscapes are featured in this scene from "Star Wars, Episode II: Attack of the Clones." Gannett News Service, Lucasfilms

The Force is still with us. The latest "Star Wars" film is a winner.

With "Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones," Jedi Master George Lucas has rediscovered the intergalactic mother lode.

Back are the old-fashioned movie-serial thrills, breathtaking action sequences, elaborate mythology and vivid imagination that made his original "Star Wars" trilogy such a success back in the 1970s and '80s.

With today's computer graphics and digital technology, his densely layered and richly detailed visuals bring us more bizarre worlds and exotic characters than ever before.

Longtime fans of the series will feel right at home with "Attack of the Clones," something that wasn't consistently true of 1999's "The Phantom Menace."

"Attack of the Clones" offers darker tones, more assured storytelling and more intriguing ties to the already-known facts of the "Star Wars" canon.

We're shown the roots of such key characters as bounty hunter Boba Fett and Luke Skywalker's eventual step-parents, Uncle Owen and Aunt Baru.

And we're shown less of Jar Jar Binks, a comic-relief character whose antics annoyed many "Phantom Menace" viewers.

There's more good news: Yoda, the wise Jedi master who is among the most popular of all the "Star Wars" characters, is prominent in the new film.

Thanks to digital graphics, Yoda is able to emote more — and do more — than ever before. His return to glory culminates in one of the choice moments in any of the five "Star Wars" films — Yoda crosses light sabers in a do-or-die battle with the evil Count Dooku (Christopher Lee).

Thanks to special effects, the 800-year-old Yoda fights with the speed and dexterity of a creature one-twentieth that age. (The actions of his opponent in the fight are also a wonder of computer graphics — for the actor playing Dooku is, in real life, 79 years old.)

Now that Anakin Skywalker has matured into a handsome 20-year-old Jedi (played by Hayden Christensen), we see the character's cockiness, brilliance and romanticism.

They're among the elements that'll soon turn bitter, pushing Anakin to the Dark Side and unleashing Darth Vader on the world.

At least two key steps in that development occur in "Attack of the Clones":

First, Anakin falls in love with the lovely Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman), despite the code of the Jedi warrior, which forbids attachments.

Second, Anakin learns his mother's fate.

"Attack of the Clones" is to the Anakin trilogy what "The Empire Strikes Back" was to the Luke trilogy — the essential, dark fulcrum for the story being told.

Director and co-writer Lucas restores another "Star Wars" tradition — paying homage to the films and serials of the past. Here he tips his hat to "Flash Gordon" — the original "Star Wars' influence — by recreating a moment in the original 1930s serial when alien creatures literally step out from the walls of a cave.

And, as he did in the "Star Wars IV," he honors John Ford's "The Searchers." Here, it's a scene in which Anakin sneaks into a Tusken Raiders camp at night to try to find his mother.

But Lucas also teases himself. He's created a new variation of the Tatooine saloon sequence and flashes a remembrance of Luke and Leia trapped on a ledge in the Death Star and being forced to escape by swinging on a rope, Robin Hood style.

The film features several impressive action sequences — a rip-roaring speeder chase through the skyscraper canyons and streets of Coruscant, several light-saber sword fights; a rollicking ride through an asteroid field, a gladiator-like arena contest, pitting Jedi against giant monsters, and much more.

Not quite so successful is the romance that's played out between Anakin and Amidala. Though Christensen and Portman are attractive young actors, they don't have as much spark between them as the story demands. (The relationship is nowhere near as entertaining as the Hepburn-Tracy chemistry between Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher in the original trilogy.)

Like all the "Star Wars" films, "Attack of the Clones" also can be knocked for bits of ineffectual acting and trite dialogue. Lucas has many considerable talents — especially for visual effects, stunning set pieces and broad philosophical issues — but he's not a great director of actors.

But these complaints are minor compared to the wealth of excitement, originality and fantasy brought to life in "Attack of the Clones."

I can feel the Force — and that's all you can ask of a "Star Wars" film.

Rated PG for violence, adult themes.