It seems every year about this time, my employer takes us all to see a movie.  This year’s choice was, of course, Attack of the Clones, Episode II of the Star Wars saga.  Technically, the movie was excellent, with beautifully rendered scenes and lots of eye candy.  I could do without the computer graphics characters, though.  At least they didn’t use CGI for a primary character like they did with that annoying Jar Jar in The Phantom Menace.  I thought that the acting was mostly uninspired, and I still haven’t figured out why they cast Samuel L. Jackson in that role as a member of the Jedi Council.  That role is a poor use of Jackson’s considerable acting talent.  The action scenes are reasonably well done, but the movie drags a bit (okay, a lot) between action sequences.  This is not a science fiction action/adventure movie like the first three (and to a lesser extent, the fourth).  It’s an historical epic disguised as a science fiction movie.  That’s fine, I guess, but it’s not my favorite type of movie.

I saw the movie more because I want to see how Lucas presents the story.  We all know what the story is—Obi Wan told it to Luke at the beginning of the first Star Wars movie over 25 years ago.  I’m interested now in how the final part of the story will be told.  I don’t expect any surprises, though.