Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones

On points, this beats the underwhelming Episode I: more action, less politics and better gags. Though the old truisms about saga creator George Lucas still apply - as a director he's uncomfortable with actors (apart from those created in post-production) and as a writer he excels at stage directions - fans of the original Star Wars will find much to enjoy here, particularly the cleverly planted story seeds for what we all know is to come. Ewan McGregor relaxes into the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi, playing master rather than pupil now, and combines withering humour with credible superheroics. Samuel L Jackson finally gets to wield a lightsaber in the climactic gladiatorial showdown - an improvement on all the sitting and talking he did in The Phantom Menace. By cutting between three major plot strands - Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) and Amidala (Natalie Portman) fall in love; Obi-Wan confronts bounty hunter Jango Fett (Temuera Morrison); the Jedi prepare for war - Lucas never loses our attention, and the computer-generated imagery is impeccable, not least when Yoda duels with Jedi gone bad Christopher Lee. If only the outcome - still one long episode away - wasn't set in stone. But then, this isn't a film - it's part of a cinematic institution.