The Force is arriving

'Attack of the Clones' to open Thursday

Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen star in "Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones."

(CNN) -- Three months after the lines started forming, seven months after the first trailer was released, nine months since the title was announced, three years after the last film debuted in theaters, and 24 years, 11 months, and 356 days -- give or take -- after "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away" first officially appeared on movie screens, the time has come.

"Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones" debuts in theaters Thursday.

It doesn't matter that critics, many of whom released their reviews last weekend in advance of special showings in several cities, have given the new movie decidedly mixed reviews. It doesn't matter that even fans thought that "Episode I -- The Phantom Menace" was below par.

It doesn't matter that the new movie, which was "filmed" digitally, will be projected that way on only a handful of its 5,800 screens, or that "Spider-Man" has broken box office records in advance of "Clones" or even that the new film isn't even the final chapter in the long-running "Star Wars" saga. All that matters is, it's here.

REVIEWS • Paul Clinton: 'Clones' a worthy successor  • Paul Tatara: 'Clones' better, but still uneven    CNN NewsPass VIDEO CNN's Bruce Burkhardt visits Skywalker Ranch, the home of director George Lucas and birthplace of the 'Star Wars' saga (May 7) Play video   MORE STORIES George Lucas: Mapping the mythology  CNN On the Scene with Anderson Cooper: Cloning 'Star Wars' magic  • The man who killed off Chewbacca  • 'Star Wars' to land at Cannes    EXTRA INFORMATION Gallery: The fans await the new 'Star Wars'  Gallery: 'Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones'  Know your 'Star Wars' characters? See our 'Star Wars' Character Guide  Want more about summer entertainment? Check out our in-depth 'Coming Attractions' guide section   RESOURCES • TIME.com: 'Star Wars': An advance look  • EW.com: All about 'Attack of the Clones'  • PEOPLE.COM: Where Are They Now?: The cast of 'Star Wars'  • InStyle.com: Party Hopper: 'Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones'  • TEEN PEOPLE.COM: The hottest stars under 25

Some of the series' hardest hard-core fans queued up for the final few hours late Wednesday, a few ending a month-long adventure in line, to take in the first "Clones" shows just after midnight.

"Everybody's really excited," said Justin Sewell, 21, camped outside Los Angeles's historic Chinese Theatre since early April, according to Reuters. "The fever is running high."

A merchandising juggernaut

If there are more fans like Sewell out there -- and there most certainly are, judging from the ticket lines that have formed on the blocks of U.S. cities in the past few days -- the movie's box office prospects may be even better than expected.

They're already pretty darn good. "Phantom Menace" grossed more than $430 million and made the all-time box office top 10. The four "Star Wars" films are all in the top 15 and have cumulatively grossed $1.5 billion (yes, with a "B") in North America, and a couple billion more more overseas.

Combined with its merchandising, its publicity, its sheer fan enthusiasm, "Star Wars" is simply the most valuable movie franchise of all time.

The stars, at least, promise that "Attack of the Clones" will be worth its buzz in dollars.

Samuel L. Jacson, who portrays Jedi Mace Windu, said the film "goes back to the original," according to the Associated Press.

And Natalie Portman, who plays Padme Amidala, says she enjoyed "Attack of the Clones" more than "Phantom Menace."

"I get really bored in action movies, but I was at the edge of my seat with my mouth open," she told the AP.

Not that Lucas is buying into the hype himself.

"It's not a contest," he told the AP. "It's an art form ... In the end, I think we'll do fine. And whether we beat 'Spider-Man' or not beat 'Spider-Man' is irrelevant."

Critics: Great visuals, weak dialogue

The critics, so far, are leaning towards the web slinger. The Chicago Sun-Times' Roger Ebert gave "Spider-Man" two-and-a-half stars while giving "Clones" two.

"As someone who admired the freshness and energy of the earlier films, I was amazed, at the end of 'Episode II,' to realize that I had not heard one line of quotable, memorable dialogue," Ebert wrote.

And The New York Times' A.O. Scott, taking a poke at Lucas' directorial abilities, said the new movie is "a chance for gifted actors to be handsomely paid for delivering the worst line-readings of their careers."

George Lucas isn't worried about competition with "Spider-Man." "It's not a contest," he said.

Ebert, a longtime partisan of film, also had a bone to pick with the movie's viewing quality. He saw the movie on both celluloid and digital, and though he said that the movie is "sharper, crisper, brighter and punchier on digital than on film," he adds that this is small consolation for the vast majority of people who will be seeing it on the older medium.

More mythology

Nevertheless, both critics and fans agree that "Attack of the Clones" is visually stunning, regardless of how it's seen. Lucas -- and his friends at Industrial Light and Magic, the special-effects company Lucas founded almost three decades ago -- have made sure of that.

And the new film also builds on "Star Wars" mythology, a veritable cottage industry in its own right.

Anakin Skywalker, the future Darth Vader, is now grown up. The romance begins between him and Amidala, setting the stage for their future, as parents of Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa.

But their romance, according to Lucas, also sets the stage for Anakin's fall from grace -- and to the Dark Side.

"In this film, you begin to see that he has a fear of losing things, a fear of losing his mother, and as a result, he wants to begin to control things, he wants to become powerful, and these are not Jedi traits," Lucas told CNN. "And part of these are because he was starting to be trained so late in life, that he'd already formed these attachments. And for a Jedi, attachment is forbidden."

Natalie Portman as Padme Amidala, with the ubiquitous R2-D2. The actress has said that she enjoyed "Clones" more than "Phantom Menace."

As the movie's tagline says: A Jedi shall not know anger. Nor hatred. Nor love.

Well, a Jedi may not know love, but there will be love -- from the millions of "Star Wars" fans waiting to see the movie.

"We're a generation that grew up on 'Star Wars,' " J.R. Barbee, a youth pastor at a Hollywood, California, church who incorporates "Star Wars" into his classes for middle and high school students, told the AP. "I was 6 years old when 'Star Wars' came out in 1977, and I remember seeing Luke Skywalker. He was my hero. Lucas has taken a generation on a journey."

For Barbee, and all "Star Wars" fans, a new journey is about to begin.