NOW, pay attention. Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones is the sequel to 1999's Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, which was the prequel to Return Of The Jedi from 1983, which itself was the sequel to The Empire Strikes Back, released in 1980, and that film was the sequel to Star Wars, the movie that started it all in 1977 and now goes by its full title of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.

But, of course, you knew all that. Star Wars fans have been following this epic science fiction saga around the world for the past 25 years. There hasn't been a movie phenomenon quite like it.

The buzz surrounding this latest edition to the series has been considerable, not least because Attack Of The Clones comes hot on the heels of two extremely successful, special effects laden blockbusters Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone and Lord Of The Rings: Fellowship Of The Ring (yes, movie titles are getting longer).

But what fans will want to know is, is it any good? Well, it's certainly not as impressive as the Harry and Rings films, but is a touch more satisfying than the last Star Wars outing, The Phantom Menace.

Attack Of The Clones starts well and has an exciting and spectacular final third, but the film grinds to a halt in the middle section when a protracted love story takes over.

Central to this story is Anakin Skywalker (Christiansen), now an apprentice Jedi working with Jedi master Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Anakin is growing up to be headstrong, wilful and rebellious which at this stage is subtly pointing to things to come (in case you didn't know, Anakin Skywalker eventually turns into the evil Darth Vader).

He also falls in love with the beautiful Senator Padme Amidala (Port-man), again setting the scene for later revelations (Anakin and Amidala are the parents of Luke and Leia, heroes from the original film).

And while young love stirs, all is not well in the universe. Exiled Jedi Count Dooku (Lee) heads a separatist movement that is a threat to peace in the galaxy.

To counter this, Supreme Chan-cellor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) is given powers to create an army to help the Jedi overthrow Dooku and restore some equilibrium to what is fast becoming a very volatile situation.

The political stuff can get confusing and it's down to the die hard fans to keep up with what is going on in the corridors of power. The rest of us can be content for it to act as the catalyst for the splendid action scenes, which rival anything we've seen in the previous Star Wars episodes.

For a start, there's a lot more lightsabre action in this film. We get small scale duels, when Obi-Wan and Anakin whip out their impressive beams of pure energy at the merest hint of danger, to a full blown battle, which sees an army of Jedi knights taking on hordes of battle droids.

This sequence is a feast for the senses as the special effects team puts its highly expensive hi-tech equipment to good use.

We even get to see wise and wizened old Jedi Yoda strut his stuff with a lightsabre, to say nothing of Jackson, as cool Jedi master Mace Windu, doing likewise with his purple weapon of choice (Lucas' rule had always been blue lightsabres for the goodies, red for the baddies but granted Jackson's request to have a purple one).

We meet enigmatic and ruthless bounty hunter Jango Fett (Temuera Morrison), whose son Boba plays a key role in later films, and the droid partnership of R2D2 and C3PO (Kenny Baker and Anthony Daniels) is forged, and this time provide much of the humour, taking over from the irritating Jar Jar Binks from Episode I.

The good points do outweigh the bad. The treatment of the love story important as it is to the saga slows everything down and is, frankly, boring. And Christiansen, who has boy band good looks and a fetching petulant pout, lacks a sense of danger that would indicate we have an evil master of the universe in the making.

He will come into his own in Episode III. Which is when the brown stuff will really hit the fan.

Rating: 7 out of 10