Star Wars Episode 2: Attack of the Clones

Fans will delight in the increased appearance of the series' classic themes, underlining the wider saga and tantalisingly foreshadowing future events while, like a Bond score, retaining the series' beloved musical signature. Williams frames the film's tragic romance with a beautiful love theme, "Across the Stars". A sweeping epic with a melancholic edge, it's the strongest track, the "threatened romance" theme further showcased in "Anakin and Padme" and "The Meadow Picnic". Yet, the action cues find Williams on equally glorious form. "Jango's Escape" and "Bounty Hunter's Pursuit" are thoroughly exciting fare while "Zam the Assassin" is a breathless 11-minute epic, with Williams exploring new ground, with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon-esque percussion and, surprisingly, electric guitar. The forbidding atmosphere reaches a deliriously thrilling crescendo with "Return to Tatooine", "The Tusken Camp" and "Love Pledge and the Arena", a heart-rending collision of romance, action and inescapable dread, interwoven with a plethora of the series themes. When "The Imperial March" makes a full-blown appearance in "Confrontation with Count Dooku"--as a victorious fanfare, no less--it recalls the best heart-stopping moments of Williams' original Star Wars orchestrations.

Coming so far in to such a distinguished career, this is an impressive, memorable work that once again showcases Williams' virtuoso affinity with cinema and, beyond that, a magnificent fifth segment in his eventual Magnum Opus. --Danny Graydon