The plot for Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones is actually really confusing. But the basis of it is that various star systems are opting out of the Republic – and for some reason Senator Padme, Natalie Portman, who used to be a queen but no longer is – is crucial to the vote which is why there are threats on her life. Anakin Skywalker, Hayden Christensen, who's in love with her even though he's not allowed to be as an apprentice Jedi – and Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ewan McGregor, are put in charge of her security.
With a bewildering overload of CGI, truly cliched dialogue and performers who struggle with that, George Lucas once again, as co-writer, director, supplier of CGI via Industrial Light and Magic, delivers under expectations. Hey, spend the money and get a decent writer and while you're at it employ a director to get performances out of the really fine actors you've cast like Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Samuel L Jackson, Ian McDiarmid.
You have to feel sorry for them in this. But, and there's always a but. The magic of the myth survives and nostalgia is a powerful force, so there are some exciting sequences where we really want it to be as great as we remember. I just wish that George Lucas would remember his origins. Basic myth, good story. Forget the CGI, just go back to the magic.
