Going just by my memories from seeing Phantom Menace 10 years ago, I'd say that Phantom Menace is a worse film than this. I was never angered or bored to the point of sleep in this one. There's not as much focus on racist stereotypes in this outing. The ones from Phantom Menace (Jar-Jar, The Trade Federation, etc) still exist, and do make appearances, but their screen times are drastically reduced and they don’t receive as much focus or importance. That said, Attack of The Clones is still awful. A lot happens here, but not much really feels of importance.
This sequel explores more of Anakin's character. Anakin is fully aware of how gifted he is, and he is resentful of Obi-Wan’s keeping him from completing the Jedi tasks. Anakin is shown to be a brazen, reckless thrill seeker who gets off on his own bravado and heroics. He has a serious ego and an issue with pridefulness. He has very poor control over his emotions and impulses, and often acts like a whiny, entitled brat. He hates being told what to do, having to answer to Obi-Wan, and that he isn’t allowed to “love”. He dreams of being able to enforce his will on others. Long story short: He isn't likable.
There are two plots at play here: Obi-Wan investigates an assassination attempt on Padme's life, and Anakin is assigned to bodyguard duty for Padme and attempts to woo her (Anakin's lecherous smirk is just gross). The Obi-Wan plot is the more interesting of the two. The relationship/friendship between Obi-Wan and Anakin is pretty weak. The actors share zero chemistry and don't act well together, and in the film they are shown to have a good deal of animosity towards each other. Obi-Wan resents Anakin’s effortless skill, and Obi’s pride and ego hinder his ability to effectively train Anakin. Obi also fails due to a general lack of experience and training on his part. The bickering and arguing Obi-Wan and Anakin get into in Clones gets tiring fast. Just shut up and make out already!
Anakin is portrayed here by Hayden Christensen. Jake Lloyd in Phantom Menace was bad, but Christensen might actually be worse. He is asked to convincingly portray young love, but the best he can muster is lust (that lecherous grin he wears is just gross). It’s hard to buy Padme and Anakin as lovers, and it doesn’t help that she tells him early on the way he stares at her makes her uncomfortable, and his response is to intensify and double down on his efforts.
Attack of The Clones portrays the Jedi in an interesting way. They are shown to not be all they’ve been built up as. They are religious fanatics who follow a strict and unrealistic set of guidelines/rules. They can sense something is up, but are unable to figure out Palpatine is the cause. While painted as heroes, they are in reality well-meaning but flawed people who’s actions and inactions only end up almost dooming the entire galaxy.
Disappointingly, Phantom Menace might haver the better action scenes when compared to Clones. There is little action here (much like in Phantom Menace), and when there is any it's weak. The first act chase fails to thrill, and the final 45 minutes of non-stop action is a jumbled, chaotic mess. You'd hope seeing numerous Jedi fighting would be exciting and cool, but no. The decision to focus on CGI technology only hurts the film as well, as the character designs and overall CGI work is painful and distractingly bad.
In the end, Clones falls prey to an abysmal script (the script for Clones is worse than Phantom Menace), poor acting, and bad directing . Clones leans heavily into the space soap opera aspect of Star Wars and is all the worse for it. While Attack of The Clones doesn't feel like as much of a waste of time as Phantom Menace did, it's still mostly a waste of time. Enjoyable and watchable, but only in a "Bad Movie" way.
1 STAR
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