Well, it was better than the first one. Considering that Episode I totally reeked, however, that's not saying a whole lot. =/ I guess my overall judgement is that it while it wasn't a total waste of money, I wouldn't want to watch it again, and I'd probably have been content waiting for the DVD.
Once again, some of the plot was a bit too contrived for my liking. And, like many people have been saying, the interaction between Amidala and Anakin was just BLEAH! XP Honestly, I was putting my finger down my throat, making gagging motions, throughout most of the "romantic" scenes. Especially the little fireside one with Anakin's monologue. Ick. Total, utter ick.
It really peeved me to see Skywalker, a.k.a. future Darth Vader, played with so little subtletly! I mean, it's like they didn't want you to forget for a moment that Anakin would become Darth Vader. Really, I had hoped that it would be more like watching any other "good guy," with only the occasional comments or actions, etc. to kind of creep up and hit you, like: "oh yeah, he does become Darth Vader." As it was, right from the beginning I just wanted to smack him. Really hard. The anger and arrogance were just WAY too overplayed, especially in Anakin's relationship with Obi Wan. I mean, the only real indication of his "filial" feelings towards Obi Wan are in some pieces of his dialogue. It was like, who're you trying to convince that Obi Wan is like a father to you? I could've sworn you just resented him... I mean, "he's jealous of me, he just wants to hold me back," could you get any more melodramatic and trite?
Then there was Amidala. For all her protestations otherwise, she sure didn't seem to have that many problems with allowing Anakin to fall in love with her. Could she really be that stupid? Putting herself into very private, intimate moments with him definitely wasn't the best way to discourage his attraction/love/whatever for her! Sure, he was there to guard her, but that didn't mean that they had to go on little romps in the fields, or have candlelit dinners and fireside tete-a-la-tetes! Maybe it's just me, but Amidala strikes me more as a naive, albeit well-meaning, idiot than a strong female character.
Hmmm.... I'm beginning to think that "Attack of the Clones" is one of those movies that you simply can't think about too much, or you'll simply keep on finding more and more things to criticize about it. Sure, the special effects and the battles were fun, but a story without a good, well, story is pretty pathetic. One thing I didn't mind, though, was the interaction between C-3P0 and R2-D2. Sure, the lines were pure cheese at times, but they also evoked fond memories of the original Star Wars series. At any rate, I guess that's where I'll go from here. I'll try to think only of the things that I actually liked about Episode II, and, in the meantime, rewatch the original trilogy to restore my faith in Star Wars movies. =P My final judgement: watch it in theatres if you must, but you probably wouldn't miss a lot by waiting for the rentals.
