WE ARE LIVING in an age of evil. All people do, of course, but until very recently Americans had done a fine job of talking themselves out of believing in real, absolute evil. Now that the vacation from history is over and the president is focused on defeating an “axis of evil” and bringing “evildoers” to justice, we seem to be embracing the notion of evil across the culture–and particularly at the movies.

Movies with ambiguous antiheroes are out, and movies with moral clarity–specifically comic-book and fantasy fare–are in. Indeed, next week the granddaddy of good vs. evil franchises, “Star Wars,” returns with “Attack of the Clones.” Whether it will break “Spider-Man’s” box-office records is hard to say, but it’s a good bet that the evil in it will be front and center, although cheesier than in most comic-book sagas, and more pretentious too.