Despite the Usual Flaws, Clones Sets Viewers Up for Revenge of the Sith

In 2002, Star Wars fans celebrated the silver anniversary of the release of Episode IV: A New Hope (the first film actually released) in various ways...by going to the Cincinnati Celebration...by purchasing 25th Anniversary memorabilia (such as Hasbro's trio of Silver Anniversary "two-pack" mini dioramas - which I happen to own)...and by going to the local multiplex to watch Episode II - Attack of the Clones.

This movie has everything Star Wars fans love. A decent screenplay, awesome visual and sound effects, a fantastic John Williams score...and...Yoda fights in this one!

Considering the undeserved "bad movie" reputation of its predecessor, The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones was received by most Star Wars fans with "This is more like it!" I think Episode II - with its more grown up Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) and its depiction of the beginning of the Clone Wars - is the film most fans wanted The Phantom Menace to be, without Jake Lloyd's "good little Ani" and certainly far less of the much maligned Jar Jar Binks.

Yet, the more one watches Episode II (and the DVD's existence certainly makes this possible), the more one appreciates The Phantom Menace as a necessary piece of exposition.

Episode II is set 10 years after the events of The Phantom Menace. With the defeat of the Trade Federation, Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman) has served her terms as Queen of Naboo and is now representing her home system in the Galactic Senate. A firm believer in democracy and peaceful negotiations, she is committed to saving the Republic from disintegration. It will not be an easy task, however, since a secessionist movement led by a renegade former Jedi Master has caused several thousand star systems to leave the Republic.