Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones: The IMAX Experience

This spectacular and occasionally lame adventure begins 10 years after The Phantom Menace. Former Princess Padmé Amidala (Natalie Portman) is now a senator. Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) is an accomplished Jedi apprentice of Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor). A separatist movement of solar systems threatens to turn the galaxy into a battlefield. Now, with a title nearly as long as its opening explanatory text, the digitally created second episode of George Lucas’ ambitious space saga has been re-mastered for the monster IMAX screen and pared to about two hours in length. Bigger and shorter is better. The visual wonders and thrills are amazing. The acting and dialogue ranges from wooden to pedestrian. It is as if the envelope-pushing Lucas himself has become a victim of the film’s recurring theme of the difference between knowledge and wisdom. Episode II generates its most playful moment by turning Yoda from serene guru into action figure. It also leaves us with a teaser of what is to come: “The shroud of the dark side has fallen. Begun the clone war has.”