स्टार वॉर्स 2: हमशक्लों का हमला

Episode II of the Star Wars saga, "Attack of the Clones" had the misfortune of following the poorly received first instalment. The good news is that it corrected most of the problems that plagued the first movie. While still not in the same league as the original trilogy, it was nevertheless a step in the right direction.

Several cast members from the first movie returned and, thankfully, stars Ewan McGregor & Natalie Portman fared much better this time around. Additionally, Christopher Lee provided a strong villainous presence that was sorely lacking from the first movie. Hayden Christensen stepped into the role of Anakin Skywalker and he at least did better than Jake Lloyd, though that's a case of damning with faint praise. Admittedly, though, his character wasn't written especially well, so it wasn't all his fault.

Speaking of writing, this time around George Lucas had the good sense to work with someone else on the screenplay. While the dialogue is still a bit stilted at times, the improvement is noticeable. Lucas also occupied the director's chair once again, with satisfactory results.

From a technical standpoint, the movie is highly accomplished, even though some of the profuse CGI is overly ambitious. In any case, the visual effects ended up being the source of the film's sole Oscar nomination. As usual, John Williams's score was also a highlight.

However, perhaps the most important difference this time around is that story is much more engaging as it really begins to set the stage for Anakin's inevitable transformation into Darth Vader. The movie's romantic elements may be awkward at times but, overall, the script does a pretty good job of balancing action and laying the foundation for the events to come.

Ultimately, I think that "Attack of the Clones" is underrated. It does have some problems but it managed to set the trilogy back on the right track. Thankfully, the concluding chapter would continue this upward trend.

First off the movie had some good aspects about it. For one the relationship between Obi-Wan and Anakin was phenomenal. They were emotional and comedic at the same time. The second thing is the action. This movie was very action packed and the choreography in the fights were very good. The conflict was nice as well I just wish they didn't have as many sub-plots. I didn't like how unnecessarily long this movie was, it felt like 3 hours. Some scenes didn't need to be included and I didn't like how they made it seem as if Anakin was obsessed over Padme but other than that their romance was believable and cute. The acting was strong although sometimes it came off as bland. The beginning tried to be serious but ended up looking like a joke. The movie was pretty good overall but could've done better.

After what many perceived to be a weak entry in the prequel trilogy of the star wars movies with regards to TPM. Lucas still 'did his own thing' and produced one of the most breathtaking, exhilarating and fantastic star wars films to date. In this film we have already established characters thrust upon the cinema screen once again. The opening scroll is simpler than in TPM, it doesn't require us to think, it just puts us into the right frame of mind to pick up the story. As soon as we see a ship gliding through the foggy clouds we see straight away that something is amiss in the republic. The bright and breezy republic in the previous film seems to be bathed in fog. Difficult to see the dark side is. Lucas said these are silent movies and the visuals tell their own story and it happens a lot in this film, like the Darth Vader silhouette that had no digital tinkering whatsoever . The footage of Anakin with his robes on was basically a mirror image of darth vader but without the helmet. The footage of Padme next to him was strikingly reminiscent of Emperor Palpatine in Return of the Jedi. Absolutely everything in this movie is intriguing, Obi-Wan Kenobi investigates a clone facility on the planet of Kamino. A mysterious Sifo Dyas placed an order for the Clone army based on a template of a Bounty Hunter called Jango Fett. Jango Fett states he was employed by a man called Darth Tryannus. We find a former Jedi, Count Dooku knows all about the corruption in the senate, even if the Jedi arnt yet aware and plans to do something about it. Secretly creating a new order with the goal to build an army powerful enough to fight the Republics army. A republic army which was mysteriously started at the Clone facility even though the Jedi Council were not aware! Confused? No…intrigued? Most definitely. Anakin Skywalker also gets given a sole mission on his own. Its here that the much vaunted love story begins. To be honest, it's a bit choppy and seems rushed. Its not a smooth romance like in The Empire Strikes Back, instead it's a romance which reeks of desperation, as if the characters themselves know about their impending doom and they just want to be as one before the inevitable happens. The deleted scenes on the DVD really should have been implemented within the film. They are gold, with regards to character motivations and shows little glimpses of their affection to each other. Would have made the final, declaration of love scene less jarring. In fact, would have been completely smooth and believable. The final showpiece in this film is the Clone Wars, they begin on a planet called Geonosis and this is where the film gives us a scene so wonderful it just keeps on piling the cherry's on top of the cake. A superb full scale war better than anything in any star wars movie happens, its absolute mayhem and its absolutely brilliant. But it doesent end there, we have not one lightsaber fight, not two, but three. With the third being one of the most memorable of all time. Also, a plot point that culminated in A New Hope makes its entrance here and it left me absolutely gob smacked Basically, this film is everything you would want in a star wars movie. Is it the best star wars film out there? Quite possible, difficult to call. Had George Lucas just gone with the flow and put in the Padme/Anakin deleted scenes plus toned down the over bearing nature of Anakin in the fireplace scene (after reading an earlier draft there's some vocal foreplay at the beginning that would have been great to have in the final movie) then this would have been the best Star Wars film without a doubt. We see intrigue, we see action and we see the galaxy begin to rot away in a very obvious way. The beginning of the end.

Four Stars out of Five.

Right this is my first review, so don't slam down on me to hard! anyway... I've read a lot of comments about petty-problems with this film, but couldn't help thing'what the hell!,' this is a fun movie.

First, a plot summery, Padme Amidarla is mow a senator for Naboo who deeply believes in democracy, and i travelling to couresant to vote 'no' for a Republic army. After a failed assassination attempt, Obi and Anakin are assigned to protect her. Anakin takes her back to Naboo for safety, while Obi tries to find out who's trying to kill her.

Next, the special effects are great, all of it looks real and the detail to attention in superb. The Clone war is amazing, explosions and shooting. And the digital characters don't look fake at all.

The plot is good too,it all revolves around the beginning of the clone wars and thats all I'm going to say.

The acting is on the whole good, McGreggor, Portman and Lee are all great. Jackson's good. Christen leaves a lot to be desired but i can forgive him just this once.

Finally, ignore the haters, this movie's great!

I just watched this on DVD last night, having seen it in the theatre. I was very disappointed when I watched the scenes that had been cut, as they fleshed out the story a lot more than the final cut. You learned more about the wasp creatures near the end of the film and why Dooku enlisted their help. Padme's character was a lot more established as well in visits to her parents house and in a confrontation with Dooku.

Many people have commented on the wooden acting of the two leads, which I somewhat agree with, but Christensen is not that bad an actor, and neither is Portman.

The problem with both this film and Phantom Menace is Lucas' dialogue. He writes lines which no actor, even in a fantasy movie, can say without sounding like they're reading them off of cue cards. This can be excused when the line is SF technobabble, but when it's supposed to be intimate romance it comes off as clumsy, forced, and utterly unbelievable. Considering that we KNOW the ultimate fate of each of these characters, these make scenes where they are put in peril uninteresting, since you already know they'll survive. Lucas really blew the chance at creating highly developed, memorable characters in my opinion.

In addition, both this and Phantom Menace sorely miss a solid supporting cast to the two cardboard character leads. Where is the Han Solo/Chewbacca/Lando of these movies? Watching the original trilogy, the chemistry between Han and Chewie gives the movies a much broader appeal than the soap opera Skywalker saga. Imagine the original trilogy with only Luke and Leia as the two main characters -- it'd be far less interesting!!!

Ewan McGregor is given a lot more to do in this film as Obi-Wan, and he acquits himself very well, although I think the scenes on the clone world would have been much better if he had been accompanied by Mace Windu. We almost always see Jedis travel in pairs, until Kenobi's solo visit. Christopher Lee does well in the limited screen time he's given. Samuel L. Jackson gives a one note performance as Mace Windu ... we're never convinced that he's as powerful a warrior as he's said to be. And when a CGI Yoda is the most expressive character in the film, you know something's just not right.

Lucas has really painted himself into a corner to deliver the goods in Episode III. In my opinion, to tie up all the loose ends he's created between Phantom Menace and this film, Episode III might have to be 4 hours long.

In summary, this is a decent film for fans of the Star Wars saga, and certainly better than Phantom Menace, but it still doesn't break much new ground. Compared to the colorful entertaining space opera of the first trilogy it's rather dull and predictable. Hopefully Episode III will give Star Wars fans a movie that can be held up to the high standards of the originals.