STAR WARS EPISODE II: ATTACK OF THE CLONES Dir: George Lucas. Starring: Ewan MacGregor, Natalie Portman, Hayden Christiansen, Samuel L. Jackson, Christopher Lee, Temuera Morrison. Co-Starring: Frank Oz, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, Ahmed Best. The second of the Star Wars prequels was always going to be a tough sell to the fans after The Phantom Menace. It was not that Episode I was a bad film exactly (actually it's pretty good), but just that it didn't come up to the standard set by the original trilogy, nor did it feature much that would excite the devotees of Luke Skywalker adventures. Well Attack of the Clones goes some way towards placating the hardcore. The much hated CGI-clown Jar Jar Binks is reduced to a small role, and his one significant action is extraordinarily stupid - proposing a motion to the senate that Supreme Chancellor Palpatine be given special powers. Hardly another sop to the kids, then. Furthermore, there are some big Jedi confrontations featuring not just Obi Wan (the returning MacGregor) and Anakin (newcomer Christiansen), but also Mace Windu (Jackson) and even, much to the evident delight of millions, tiny Jedi Master Yoda. Add to this the irresistable cool Jango Fett (Morrison, very good indeed), the dad of second trilogy bit-part player Boba, and you've got clear evidence that this time George isn't taking any chances, he's playing straight to the gallery.

The first movie's baddie, Darth Maul, was pretty good, but this time Lucas has gone for the grand master of screen villainy and installed Christoper Lee as the Republic's nemesis, former Jedi gone bad Count Dooku. Predictably, he's great, although Dooku's screen time is rather limited, and we could definitely have done with a few more scenes exploring the character. Astonishingly for a man pushing 80, Lee is fantastic in the action scenes, especially the movie highlight duel with Yoda, which could so easily have been terrible but instead will have audiences across the world cheering with delight (no, really, I've seen it happen). So, have the glory days of Episodes IV and V come back at last? Well, the short answer to that is, I'm afraid, no. Okay, so the movie appeals more directly to Star Wars groupies than it's immediate predecessor, but isn't actually that different from it in many other ways. The look of episodes I and II is very similar, as is the dodgy dialogue and occasional lapses into pomposity. Some of the action scenes are wonderful, but yet again, others are obviously intended as models for computer game tie-ins. There is also a laugh out loud unintentional wank scene (i.e. Anakin has a restless night) and some of the acting is pretty wooden. Worst of all are the strange continuity errors that will occupy many an internet community for months if not decades. Most glaringly, C3PO has been living on the Lars farm for most of the intervening ten years since the Pod racer sequence. Interesting, then, that in Episode IV the droid appears not to recognise the place, nor does Owen Lars mention their acquaintanceship when he buys C3PO from the Jawas. Oh, and we get to see Kenobi with R2 again, and another one of those droids he doesn't seem to remember owning any of in A New Hope. Obviously there's going to be a space-plague of amnesia hitting the galaxy in Episode III.... Naturally, though, these faults are all side issues. Okay, so deep down we all know that the Lord of the Rings movies have surpassed this second Star Wars trilogy by miles. But, hey, this is Star Wars, and even though it'll never be a patch on the originals, somewhere underneath all the hype, CGI and cinematic weaknesses, there's a jolly good film that's well worth seeing. Chris Denton.

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