Star Wars: Episode II: Attack of the Clones

Say what you will about “Menace”’s unfocused plot and “Sith”’s turn towards reckless darkness, but at least both films occasionally succeed at conveying, or at least eliciting, emotion. “Clones” dies in every scene—during its horribly green-screened battles, during its horribly green-screened chases, and during its horribly green-screened romantic subplot in which Anakin falls for Padme because she isn’t sand. The actors are doing the best they can with the material, but the material and directing suck. There’s no urgency, vitality, purpose. It is wretched and painful to watch. Lucas knows this is supposed to be an action-packed adventure, right?

1