Star Wars Episode II: The Attack of the Clones

By EWAN McDONLAD

(Herald rating: * * * )

Pretty soon — well, it's happening already — there will be two kinds of movie. The ones that are made for people to watch, puzzle over and enjoy as the story unfolds on screen, and the ones with not very good stories, cut-out characters and really cool toys on the DVD. Today, one of each.

The latest Star Wars is right in the second category. Apart from an attention-grabber, a sensational chase between city skyscrapers, most of the first hour of the 142-minute production is a talkfest.

The characters update viewers on what has happened since Episode I and background the political crisis facing the Republic (noticed the resemblance between Barry Soper and Jabba the Hutt? Just a thought).

After that we lurch into the adolescent romance between Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman) and Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) before superb computer-generated images — the planet of rain, the coliseum where our heroes battle alien beasts, the Senate chamber — kick in.

As has been the case throughout George Lucas' saga, the acting is stagey and lifeless. It has been suggested this is because the actors were often filmed in front of blue screens so their environments could be added later by computer. In fact, the movie is a technical exercise — given the scope of the franchise, an accounting exercise, too — rather than a movie. And on DVD, it comes into its own.

Filmed digitally, the images are sharp, especially on the special effects, and the sound so awesome you might think there's a starfighter in the house.

The first disc features comments from Lucas, producer Rick McCallum, animation director Rob Coleman and other geeks. Dry as ever, Lucas backgrounds the story while his mates stick to technical details.

The second disc opens with a 52-minute documentary showing how Frank Oz's Yoda puppet has been transformed into a CGI character, fascinating for the images of the meticulous Lucas at work.

Another feature shows how the film was planned with a digital preview rather than the cartoons and videos of models on sticks used for the first three movies.

After the usual deleted scenes, there are three somewhat unnecessary featurettes in which cast and crew talk about the plot and their characters; and, picked up from the website, 12 short documentaries that will tell you more than you probably wanted to know about Lucas' inspirations, Young Indiana Jones, how to make really neat sound effects, and how extras don't need to act.

If you're not sated after that, take in the three stills galleries, theatrical teasers, TV spots or click through to the DVD Rom drive and explore exclusive content on the web.

And so to a movie that has virtually no add-ons but is a remarkable piece of cinema.