This is part 2 of a 6-part series review of the Star Wars movies leading up to Star Wars: Episode VII- The Force Awakens, which will be in theaters on December 18, 2015. In the coming months I will put out reviews of Episodes 1-6 (check out my Star Wars: Episode 1-The Phantom Menace review here)  in chronological order in which the stories take place, continuing with Star Wars: Episode 2- Attack of the Clones, here we go!

Taking place approximately ten years from the events in the The Phantom Menace, Star Wars: Episode 2- Attack of the Clones fixes some of the problems from its predecessor but creates a whole bunch of new problems ultimately leading to the creation of a bad film that might be the worst Star Wars movie of all-time. I say that hesitantly because there is some really cool stuff in this movie as well, unfortunately none of it is based on the characters, story or dialogue; all of the good things in Attack of the Clones are action sequences and in my opinion they are some of the best in all of the Star Wars movies. I will be going over the negatives and positives of the film, starting with the positives. First check out the synopsis below to get a better understanding of the plot of the movie.

Synopsis (IMDB): 

Ten years after initially meeting, Anakin Skywalker shares a forbidden romance with Padmé, while Obi-Wan investigates an assassination attempt on the Senator and discovers a secret clone army crafted for the Jedi.

Positives: Like I said, most of the things done well in Attack of the Clones are action scenes. Therefor this will mostly just be a list of really cool scenes that happen in the movie.

• Obi-Wan and Anakin chase down the changeling bounty hunter– This is the first action sequence in the movie and one of the most memorable things I could recall before re-watching it. It involves a speeder chase on the planet Coruscant and although it’s overloaded with CGI, it’s so cool to see this world that George Lucas created. It just goes to show that no one can take away how visually accomplishing these prequels were.

• Obi-Wan vs. Jango Fett- When Obi-Wan travels to the ocean-planet Kamino in search to of a certain bounty hunter; he finds him. This fight is one of my favorites in all of the Star Wars movies since Boba Fett is one of the coolest characters in the original trilogy and we get to see his father in a similar suit fighting a Jedi in a scene that was done with great special effects for the time.

• The Battle of Geonosis- Say what you want about Anakin and  Padmé’s dialogue in this scene ( I agree it’s horrible) but when the hundreds of Jedi show up to battle, it’s one of the coolest things ever executed in a Star Wars film! You can’t tell me that seeing hundreds of Jedi running into battle against hundreds of droids wasn’t a fantasy of many Star Wars fans prior to this scene. Well you can thank George Lucas for another amazing action sequence in another bad movie. P.S. I absolutely love when Mace Windu cuts off Jango Fett’s head and looks down at him like, “Yeah, that’s right.” Totally a Sam Jackson moment!

• Obi-Wan, Anakin and Yoda vs. Count Dukoo- It’s crazy when you think about it; three of the most powereful Jedi in the Star Wars Universe couldn’t take down one Jedi-turned-Sith Lord. Insane! Regardless, nothing tops the moment when Yoda pulls out his light saber and goes toe-to-toe with Dooku. Something fans waited for a long long while for.
• Limited Jar Jar Binks’ Screen Time- If you read my Episode 1 review then you know one of its biggest flaws is the Jar Jar Binks character and most fans would agree with that. I think Lucas got the the hint and intentionally limited Jar Jar to less screen time; thank goodness!
• Imperial March/Clone Army- I’m referring to the scene near the end of Attack of the Clones when you see Supreme Chancellor Palpatine and other politicians standing on a balcony overseeing the Clone Army! This is one of the first times in the prequels we hear the Imperial March loud and clear. It’s also the moment representing the secret rise of the Empire which Palpatine created the army for, making the Republic think the clones are for good and to fight with the Jedi. I get chills when I watch the scene due to it’s significance and my love for the Imperial March, maybe my favorite Star Wars score.

As you can see, most of my positives in Star Wars: Episode 2- Attack of the Clones are action sequences. That’s because there’s a whole lot of b.s. between them. Let’s go over some of the negatives of Episode 2.

The Negatives: I’m not going to be able to name everything wrong with Attack of the Clones but I will point out some of the things I find to be horribly executed.

• Anakin and Padmé’s Romantic Relationship- I don’t mind romance in movies as much as most people do, especially when it’s done right, but the dynamic between Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman was nonexistent! They had absolutely no chemistry at all and some of the lines Anakin says to her when their “hiding out” in Naboo made me want to throw up in my mouth. This aspect of the movie is one of the biggest negatives and it’s essentially the thing that shot this film in the foot and then cut off its head. I didn’t realize this as a kid but damn is their dialogue horrible and their feelings towards each other are so unbelievable! Either way a romantic relationship was not the way to go, especially when making it one of the main story lines of the movie.
• Politics, politics and more politics- If you read my review of Episode I then you know one of my negatives is the trade negotiations and political aspect of the movie. Well they try to continue it in this film and I ultimately just didn’t care. I understand the importance of it however, which is to set up the fall of the Republic and the eventual rise of the Empire but the way it was executed just didn’t carry any weight. I couldn’t help but not care when the political based scenes were on, I just wanted to see all of the actions sequences. That’s when you know a film’s story and plot are horrible even if they are mixed in with incredible action scenes.
• Whiny Anakin- As much as I dislike the attempt at romance in this movie it’s not even the worst part. The worst part of Attack of the Clones is Anakin being a complete a-hole and a whiny little b-word. He’s constantly complaining throughout the entire film how he thinks he’s a better Jedi than Obi-Wan and how Obi-Wan is holding him back from being great. The movie doesn’t even show us how he’s became so bitter, it jumps right into Anakin being whiny brat that doesn’t appreciate anything, only cares about himself and is not likable at all! It doesn’t make sense how Anakin went from a smart, light-spirited and polite kid from the first movie into a complete anger-driven, insecure douchebag in his early adulthood.

Conclusion: Numerically it looks like I have more positives than negatives but trust me, the negatives heavily out-weight the positives. It’s just that most of my positives are action sequences and not one involves the story or dialogue while the negatives all revolve around characters, story and dialogue which carry more weight when talking about how good a movie is. I’m usually one defending the prequels but there is only so much I can do for Attack of the Clones since in my opinion, and most other people’s, it is the worst of the six live-action Star Wars movies.

I give Star Wars: Attack of the Clones a 5 out of 10.

Let’s hear it movie lovers! Do you think Attack of the Clones is as bad as I make it out to be? What redeeming qualities do you find in it? Let us know in the comment section.

Read My Star Wars: Episode I- The Phantom Menace Review Here!

Like Movie Talk Express on Facebook

Follow Movie Talk Express on Twitter- @movietalkex

Follow Jacob Bartley on Twitter- @jakeryanbartley

Follow our Youtube Channel- Movie Talk Express