Clones Attacks! Is Summer Blockbuster New Menace?

This publication, like many others, has already dissected the flaws of the first film at length: meandering plot, flaccid action, an inadvertent racist subtext, wooden acting, hideous dialogue.

Lucas will no doubt shove the ill-conceived Jar-Jar Binks into the wings (though both Jar-Jar and Watto the Winged Semitic Stereotype are back with us). And the passage of ten years lets Lucas put aside at least one childish thing (Jake Lloyd's nine year old "Anakin the Manakin"). Instead, we have Jedi Anakin Skywalker as a troubled teen with powers (Hayden Christensen, last year's troubled teen with piercings in Life as a House). Glimpsed in the trailers to date, Christensen seems arrogant, sullen, petulant—frankly, insufferable; but he is, after all, destined to become the scourge of the galaxy, so this is in character. Much will depend on Christensen's performance, especially as (breaking with the ascetic Jedi way) he woos and wins twenty-something Senator Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman, stunning even in some of the unflattering getups and hairdos that passed for fashion a long, long time ago). Will these two have the needed chemistry to make the passion of Anakin Skywalker credible? (The preview clips so far leave some doubt as to whether he has the needed charm.)

Most of the old Jedi Council crew is back as well, but now moving to take center stage. Ewan MacGregor grapples bravely again with the ghost (or accent) of Sir Alec Guiness as Obi Wan; and Yoda's digitally reincarnated as well. Christopher Lee, fresh off his turn as Saruman in Lord of the Rings, has no rival for "Actor most likely to show up in a Star Wars movie" (or even "Actor most likely to show up as a villain in a Star Wars movie"). Meanwhile, Sam Jackson (Jedi Master Mace Windu) contends with Jimmy Smits (as Senator Bail Organa, someday to be Princess Leia's adoptive father) for "Actor least expected to show up in a Star Wars movie," as much because they're so recognizeable compared to the rest of the cast as because they're practically the only ones on screen who aren't ersatz space Brits. (Lucas should be commended for having the smarts to cast Billy Dee Williams as rogue Lando Calrissian in the original trilogy; here, with any luck, Lucas will again putting capable actors of color in major roles without reducing them to sidekicks or foils for the heroes.)

No doubt all the glitches are out of the effects technology by now, and money is certainly no object, so the movie should look just the way Lucas wants it to. And the story should be more engaging, now that the setup of the first movie is behind us. (Could all that have been compressed into a prologue? After all, The Lord of the Rings squeezed three thousand years of history into five minutes of exposition.)

But the film still labors under two burderns: the foreordained downer ending (Anakin will become Darth Vader, the Republic will fragment, the Empire will rise), and Lucas' uneven direction. He may have had the vision to breathe new life into the cliches that provide the outline of his story, but he won't be the first or the last talented "creator" who overreaches himself by insisting on writing and directing. Will co-writer Jonathan Hales bring balance to the writing? We can only hope. A more capable director would have been nice, too—the best of the series, The Empire Strikes Back , certainly benefitted much from Irvin Kershner's hand on the helm. Perhaps Peter Jackson, whose SF/fantasy street creds were established by his truly first-rate job on Tolkien, will handle Anakin's fall from grace? (Not likely— this is George's baby.)

So with about three weeks to go, the hype machine is in hyperdrive. Other films have jockeyed for months to boost attendance by being bound to a Star Wars trailer; the fourth trailer, revealing much about the coming Clone Wars, is now out; the toy lines are being released; and the media blitz is everwhere—the Web is awash in Star Wars sites, and the press is flooded with stories about the film (Time, notably, is giving the film the same cover-story treatment they gave the new iMac, another hype-creation). There will be no escaping the attack of The Clones. All we can do now is count down the days, and hope that the Force is with us.


Related: Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace