Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones wants to be two films at once. One half is a political thriller about corruption and war. The other half is a romance between two characters who keep getting in each other’s way. Neither half gets enough room to breathe.
Trailer, via Star Wars.
The Chase Through Coruscant
The movie opens with a chase across Coruscant, a city built on top of itself. That set piece is the best the film has to offer. The streets are dense, the crowds are busy, and the camera moves fast enough to make you feel like you’re running alongside the heroes.
The Middle Section
After that, the film settles into a pattern of exposition and action that rarely finds a rhythm. Senator Padmé Amidala returns to her home planet after being chased by assassins. She brings along Anakin Skywalker, now a young Jedi, to protect her. Their chemistry is supposed to be the heart of the story. Instead it plays out as a series of arguments about duty, honor, and the future of the galaxy.
The middle section drags. The Senate debates, the droids, the sand planet Tatooine, and the clone army all get introduced in quick succession. Some of this works. Some of it feels rushed.
The film’s biggest problem is pacing. Scenes that should build tension instead run together, losing their impact. A chase through a city becomes a corridor of green screens. A fight scene becomes a blur of lightsabers and clones. The film is at its best when it slows down and lets a character speak, and at its worst when it tries to explain everything at once.
Here’s what stands out:
- The opening chase on Coruscant
- Natalie Portman’s performance as Padmé
- Hayden Christensen’s performance as Anakin
- The design of Coruscant itself
The film also introduces Count Dooku, a villain who feels more like a placeholder than a threat. His scenes are competent but forgettable, and the final confrontation with Anakin doesn’t land with the weight it should.
The film’s ending sets up the coming war. It does this well enough, even if the setup takes too long to arrive. By the time the credits roll, the audience has seen a lot but understood little.
Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones is a competent entry in the franchise, but it never reaches the heights of its predecessors. It’s a film that knows what it wants to say and can’t quite find the right pace to say it.
