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Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones
directed by George Lucas
Twentieth Century-Fox

To End All Wars
directed by David L. Cunningham
Argyll Film Partners

With Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones, George Lucas recaptures an essential element of his epic series: foreboding. After Episode I—The Phantom Menace, many critics and even some fans worried that Lucas had lost his director's mojo. The special effects and fight choreography were still dazzling, but too much of the story dwelled on the frivolous Jar Jar Binks and on entirely digital characters like Watto the junkyard slaveholder.

In Episode II, Anakin Skywalker grows from a dimpled boy to a surly 20-year-old (played adequately by Hayden Christensen), Jar Jar (now an interim senator, against all odds) becomes a dupe of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, and Zen master Yoda wields a light saber with ferocity.

In short, Episode II leaves Star Wars fans feeling the same way we felt in the early 1980s: Lucas is a gifted storyteller, and it's a privilege to live in the time when he is creating new films. Lucas is one of the best filmmakers of his generation—not because of his often-stilted dialogue and the sometimes flat emotional range he draws out of actors, but because of his audacious vision. How many other directors have dared to commit so many of their most creative years to a serial drama, much less one that asks questions about good and evil?

Episode II renews the question of whether Lucas was crazy (or crazy like a fox) to start his saga midstory with what he eventually called Episode IV—A New Hope. The 25-year difference between the special effects of Episode IV and Episode II is striking; the past looks more technologically advanced than what follows it. But Lucas has consciously imitated the thrills of serials like Flash Gordon, which also began midstory and drew young audiences back to movie theaters week after week.

Let's admit it: The drama seems stronger in watching young Anakin struggle with good and evil because we know what a power-mad monster he will become for much of his adult life. We wait in dread for the definitive moment in the next film when Anakin (the future Darth Vader) surrenders himself to the Dark Side, but in Episode II we see many of his initial steps toward that end.

This is realistic filmmaking, for few of us merely stumble into doing evil. Often because of fear, pain, or a sense of helplessness, we lash out. In Anakin's case, because he has a light saber and the skills of a Jedi knight, the results are deadly.

Lucas manages to keep Anakin a sympathetic character through most of Episode II. His sulking and rebellion will be familiar to the parents of most teenagers. But there are clear indications of where his character is moving, including the wholesale slaughter of a tribe.

Anticipating the showdown between Anakin and his mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) will guarantee the return of long lines when Lucas wraps up the series with Episode III.

Like the Star Wars series, To End All Wars depicts good and evil on a larger-than-life canvas. Unlike Star Wars, To End All Wars tells a true story of British, Scottish, and American troops held captive by Japanese forces during World War II and forced to build the Burma-Siam "railroad of death." (Their story is told with greater fictional flourishes in David Lean's classic Bridge Over the River Kwai.)

Also unlike Star Wars, To End All Wars depicts Christianity as the best worldview for resisting evil. In Star Wars there's plenty of talk about trusting your feelings and restoring balance to the Force, but there's never any question about the ultimate way to confront evil: kill your enemies and let the Force sort them out.

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July 8 2002, Vol. 46, No. 8