Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones arrives three years after Star Wars fans crowded theaters to watch The Phantom Menace, the first new Star Wars movie in over a decade. And while most folks would agree that Darth Maul was cool and the podracing scene was amazing, a lot of that first prequel wasnât what superfans wanted. Gungans? A little Anakin? A space senate? Lame. 

So this time around, some Star Wars fans might be hesitant to spend nearly $5 on a movie ticket to catch Attack of the Clones. Did Star Wars creator and director George Lucas do better this time around, or did he deliver another meh prequel? Well, according to fans who caught early showings and first-day screenings, Attack of the Clones is better! 

Sure, some people arenât excited about every part of the movie, but Jar Jar is barely in this one, thereâs no annoying kid, and thereâs apparently a scene involving like 200 Jedi with lightsabers! And apparently this time Yoda fights?! Sounds awesome to me!Â

Anyway, here are some of the good, bad, and so-so reactions from fans to Attack of the Clones from the year 2002. I didnât need to say that, of course, because obviously it is 2002, but just wanted to mention that these are real posts from 2002 about Attack of the Clones. Foâ shizzle? Tight. Here we go! 

I loved it. I loved it all. Loved the dialogue, action, acting, love story, overall story, CGI, setting, planets, etc etc etc. You name it, I loved it. Best

Star Warsmovie yet.

There’s nothing special about the movie; to me its lost some of that nostalgia it used to have. What disappointed me was the dialog, very dry and boring. There’re some holes in the plot as well.

I’m currently ranking this movie above

Empirein favorites. That may change, but I doubt it. For me, the love story worked. Yes, the lines were corny, but think back when you were trying to impress someone when you didn’t know what you were doing. Sounds just like Anakin. Hayden is great as Anakin…he can look mad, and he can be whiny. Now we know where Luke got it. CG Yoda is brilliant….I plan on seeing this movie many, many more times.

I felt that

AotCâsbiggest problem lies in its pacing. Especially the first 45 minutes or so of the film. It’s very rushed and laced with some pretty dry exposition, but if you want perfect show, don’t tell filmmaking, go catch the 70mm print of2001: A Space Odysseythat’s making its run around the country. For me, it’s not the dialogue itself that’s so bad, but the over-reliance on expository dialogue. It’s unsatisfying.

I didn’t like C3PO’s sequences in the arena. I thought the idea of having C3PO’s body on a battle droid sounded promising…but it just didn’t work for me. C3PO reminded me of Jar Jar during the Gungan/Droid battle in

TPM. I could have done without it.Note to George Lucas: We can do without the zany antics during the climactic battle scenes. A consistently serious battle scene would really be just fine. Please refrain from this for

Episode III.Thank you.

The great thing about this movie is that eight hours later I still can’t believe what I just saw. It was like something out of a dream…Ah, I don’t know. Maybe because I went alone due to the ticket price, but I’m still in awe. Waiting until the midnight showing is going to be hard.Â

Saw the movie on Friday night, and it exceeded all my expectations. I think the negative critics were watching a different movie.Â

AotCis visually amazing, the story is very good, Hayden is a great Anakin, and Natalie is gorgeous. The love scenes are not bad at all. This coming from me is saying a lot; I am a woman who hatedTitanicand nearly all other teary-eyed chick movies. I think Natalie and Hayden did their best. Ewan McGregor is excellent as well. He really is Obi-Wan Kenobi. Mace is great, so is Yoda. The audience started to clap and cheer up when he appeared on screen. I just can’t wait to see the movie again and again.

Hey. I saw the movie last night; all that I can say is WOW. It was an amazing movie. The best Star Wars movie to date. The end sequence is out of this world. The saber fights are good, the chase on Coruscant is thrilling, the Kamino fight between Obi and Jango was awesome. And the list goes on…

I saw the digital version. And I must say it was perfect. Amazing. It is ten times better than traditional film. End of story.

Hayden was very good. He is perfect as Anakin. Ewan was so damn cool. I will give

AotC5 out of 5 stars. This is the bestStar Warsmovie untilEpisode 3comes out. I am looking forward to seeing it again on May 16.

Great movie, never once got bored, everything worked for me. Like I said earlier, 12 out of 10, my favorite

Star Warsmovie, too bad I can’t see it in DLP.

That is another thing I love about

AOTC. The things that could have made me dislike things about this movie are never repeated, so they do not affect me like they did in… sayROTJ, ANHorTPM.

I can’t get Yoda fighting with his sabre out of my head. To me that was one of the high points. You thought the sabre action was fast in

TPM? HAH, I say, HAH! All in all, I am tempted to chalk it up as my favorite of the series to date. Just aboveESB.

Well, my expectations were exceeded. Big time. This movie has everything you could want in a

Star Warsmovie. The acting is great. Natalie Portman shows much more life in delivering every one of her lines, and Hayden Christianson plays off her greatly. Some of the love story lines are a little cheesy, but there’s nothing as cringingly bad as “I’m going into Toshi station…” ðThe movie has its corny moments, but they work. I’ve never heard a crowd cheer as much as the one that I was viewing the movie with did. Everything in this movie works.

It still has not sunk in yet. Ignore all the negative reviews. I can’t stress enough how good it is.

I felt the movie lacked the type of humor the

OThad, and the chemistry between Anakin and Padme…pffft! The movie is ok, it’s not great! Be realistic for once. IMO –AotCis ok, I like it just because I have a weak spot in my heart forSW,but the movie isn’t that good. I honestly felt the dialog was dry and the scenes didn’t flow, they felt thrown together.

Great! The movie definitely sags once obi-wan/anakin get separated. GL is not a great editor; the constant cutting doesn’t let the movie flow. That’s not to say that the stuff isn’t bad either, just not as great as the other parts of the film. This would have been a great episode 1 – they could have done the jake lloyd stuff/palpatine becomes chancellor in a 10-minute flashback IMO.

Seriously, what is so important about

Ep. 1other than finding Anakin and Palpatine? The rest of the movie is a throwaway. Even Qui-Gon’s death doesn’t resonate at all. ThenEp. 2could continue clone wars/anakin turning, ending with anakin/obi-wan andEp. 3could show the Jedi purge and complete establishment of the Empire

The first 45-60 minutes of

AotCreally clunks along as it jumps from 2-minute scene to 2-minute scene. However, one thing we need to realize is that these films are following a different set of formal rules than a traditional Hollywood-style film. TheStar Warssaga is adhering to the B-movie serial, and must be analyzed within that context.

The CGI Yoda is amazing. Much better than the puppet.

Some of the effects in the movie are not too good. Mainly in the Arena, when some jedi are sitting or standing on the Arene Monsters. Besides that, ILM did an amzing job. If this movie doesn`t get Oscars for the effects, than I will lose my mind.

Although the beginning looked promising, the end of the movie was bad beyond words.

Flying R2, fighting Yoda, the execution, the “we need someone to show their belly like Britney Spears” thing was so ridiculous. The whole movie seemed like a parody of the original trilogy. Even

TPMwas better, and that seemed more than impossible! Well, GL did it again…Â

What’s with all the unbelievable gushing over this movie? Have you people actually SEEN the original

Star Warsfilms?Attack of the Clones comes nowhere close to that kind of spirit, fun, and sheer wonderment. It has no heart, no style, no class, and it isn’t even made well on a technical level. The way Lucas frames his shots and blocks his actors approaches Ed Wood territory. The entire first hour and a half is so horribly edited I’m having a hard time believing this is a major big-budget release.Yes, the last act has fireworks to spare. But really, so what? Where is the human touch? Not at Skywalker Ranch, that’s for sure.

George Lucas isn’t a good, or even mediocre, filmmaker. He is a terrible one. I hate to say these things, because 5 years ago I thought he was a genius. After the Special Editions and the prequel films, I see the truth: Lucas is a businessman who got lucky when audiences happened to like two films he made in the 70’s. He doesn’t give a crap about

Star Wars, except for how much green it can put in his pocket. How else to explain his monumental lack of effort with actors and performances? That’s something he’d actually have to tackle himself, being the director of the film.

I don’t understand your problem with

AotC.When I saw it two days ago, everybody thought it was amazing. Most of us, that includes me, thinkAotCis the bestStar Warsmovie.“It has no heart, no style, no class, and it isn’t even made well on a technical level.”

I couldn’t disagree more. The

PTisn’t supposed to have the feel of theOT. And I’m glad it’s not. ThePTis a whole new experience. It’s different than the OT, and I believe it’s meant to be that too.

For some strange reason, it actually feels LESS like

Star Warsto me thanTPMdid. There is this strange soap opera look to the film that makes it look sort of like a BBC one-hour special that you would see on PBS. Again, I saw the film bootleg, so I doubt this is indicative of the actual product.I will definitely reserve my fuller judgements until after opening night, where the audio, visual, and atmospheric quality will be greatly improved. But so far, I have very mixed feelings (which is strange considering my excitement over

TPMwhen it first came out).

I didn’t think it felt unfinished at all. I feel as if the Republic is about to erupt into chaos considering the events. I also feel a great schism brewing between Obi-Wan and Anakin at the end. The plot is just wonderful, I think. Dooku is deceiving the Separatists into thinking he actually cares for their cause. Sidious and Dooku built armies for both sides and manipulated both sides to start a war to allow for Palpatine’s rise to totalitarian power. What Dooku doesn’t realize is that Sidious is also manipulating Dooku (I believe) and in

Episode III, will betray him, and that is how Anakin rises to Palpatine’s side instead of Dooku.Overall, I am very fond of

Episode II. I loved the short scenes. The expository dialogue has been made short and succinct. No more long meeting scenes. The love story was fine because each of the scenes was brief. The action was fantastic, and the confrontation with Dooku scene was fabulous – best Jedi fights ever.Â

This movie is absolutely FANTASTIC. Right from the beginning, the pace is quick and full of action and content. You will NOT be disappointed. The dark scenes of Anakin killing the tuskens, arguing with Obi-Wan are very, very good. This movie surpasses

ESBas the bestSWfilm, and that’s a bold statement to make, asESBis a GREAT film.ÂA lot of content is thrown at you, and you have to always be attentive, which is GREAT because it keeps you consistently interested in what is occurring..there is no “downtime”. Hearing critics talk about “holes” in the movie- it is great…..works just like it does in

ESB-it’s not a bad thing.ÂI really cannot believe how good this film was. The Yoda fight scene had me howling and really, really excited. WAS FANTASTIC..Rick was right…you will know WHY he is the Jedi MASTER. Yoda was a great victory for CGI. The scene with Yoda and the younglings is also great… shows that carefree and sensitive side we see in him in ESB before Luke discovers who he really is.Â

I have just got home from seeing a charity session of

AotC. I am someone who has grown to likeTPMafter watching the DVD. All I have to say aboutAotCis that it totally rocks!! I did not want the movie to end.ÂI went with friends, and one of them wasn’t really a

Star Warsfan, but after watching it she stated she was. She laughed and clapped during the movie. Seeing Yoda fight was just awesome, Hayden Christensen is and owns Anakain/Vader (I cannot wait to see episode 3 – he’ll be awesome) Hayden was just so brilliant, Ewan was terrific as Obi-Wan, Natalie was great, and Sam Jackson remains Mr cool as always. I felt bad because we left the theatre excited and raving about how cool the movie was, and we were watched by those waiting for the midnight session. All I can say is I will definitely see this movie again at the cinema. It is now my favouriteStar Warsfilm.

LINKThe first half of the movie was very rocky. The crowd laughed at Daniel Logan, but how could we not? He was a local boy, in our eyes New Zealanders don’t belong in

Star Wars.There was alot of laughing at the movie, like at the acting in the romance scenes. But then, after Boba’s last quip, and the arrival of Tatooine,Star Warswas back.The Tusken Slaughter and the scenes surrounding it were SPOT ON. This is the best drama I’ve seen in a

Star Warsfilm, and Hayden has more than proven himself as an actor. The final battle was awesome. Yoda stole the whole show. Everyone was very impressed. The effects weren’t as breathtaking as I had hoped, but they worked very well. I’d even say that they were flawless, in my mind.This movie fits perfectly into the saga. It adds to it, builds on it, and changes it for the better. By far, that was an excellent

Star Warsmovie.

Everything Dooku was incredible. The fights can not be explained; one must watch his duel with Yoda, damn! For all of us Maul fans, Dooku avenges his loss. The planets were great. Kamino and its people were seriously cool. Geonosis was good, and Coruscant was much more colorful and vibrant than in

TPM.All the cheesy ‘yipee’ and poodoo stuff was thankfully absent. Maybe GL and his people actually read us! The humor is back to OT humor. The abundance of alien dialects that seemed somewhat absent in

TPMwas back; the Death Star designs were a great surprise.Â

I wasn’t at all impressed, and neither was my friend.Â

Without spoiling anything, it was wayyy too jumpy, almost as bad as a soap opera. The dialog was choppy, the fight scene was way to short and kind of anti-climactic. There was almost too much CGI. I would have preferred a synopsis of the movie as opposed to a movie that hurt the image of SW. Hayden Christinsen was very good, and so was Natalie Portman, although she was not very believable with her feelings for Anakin (as an actress, not a character). My friend and I were in agreement that the fight scene from

TPMwould be more entertaining than the whole ofEPII. (The other people in the theater liked it even less than us. Sorry

The story you just read is part of the 2002 edition of Warp Week, a Kotaku series that takes readers back to gamingâs past through a mix of time-dilated reviews, retrospectives, and on-the-ground reports.