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Revisiting Star Wars: "Attack of the Clones"
This week, in preparation for the premiere of The Rise of Skywalker, I'm rewatching all of the live-action Star Wars films. Some for the first time in years. As I go along I'm collecting some of my thoughts on how each film has changed in my own estimation, and how well I think they hold up overall in the story as it stands.
Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones is the very first Star Wars movie I ever saw, and the only one I ever saw when I was a kid. It was the activity at a friend's birthday party when I was almost 11 years old. And, honestly, its a real knock against this movie that is targeted towards children that it turned me away from Star Wars entirely until thirteen years later when The Force Awakens was released. I remained largely unimpressed with it upon rewatch as part of my Star Wars binge in late 2015, and upon watching it again now, having consumed many pieces of Star Wars content, I can't help but feel that familiar sense of disappointment.
Honestly, the things that people most often complain about when it comes to this movie are actually some of the parts that I think largely succeed. The Anakin-Padmé romance - flowery language and all - feels very true to the intensity of teenage romance. Padmé sticking by Anakin despite the very alarming signs that he is not okay and has the potential for great darkness only adds to this feeling in a way that surprisingly works. It also helps that even through the stilted dialog, the actors clearly have chemistry and are able to sell the rapid progression of their relationship. However, their scenes are also are part of what makes the movie feel dated in a way that Star Wars movies usually don't. Everything about this pairing and the way their scenes are constructed feels very specifically a product of the early 2000s.
The part that makes this feel the most dated, however, is the dodgy visual effects, which have simultaneously gotten better and worse from the previous film. The settings feel more real, but the character models and the way the characters are merged with the background is extremely unconvincing and the graphics remind me of a mid-budget video game at points. Yoda in particular looks awful for most of the movie, whereas others simply look very uncanny valley. Fire and sparks also vary in quality from scene-to-scene.
This movie commits two very big sins that is part of the reason, beyond the to-be-expected aging of the visual effects, this movie does not feel well constructed. The first is the aping of elements from the original trilogy to a degree the previous film did not. Yoda is insufferable through the whole movie and given a fanservice-y "badass" moment that feels so at-odds with the character. C-3PO is given a weird shtick in the third act that becomes grating almost immediately. Boba Fett's backstory in general is just a giant fanservice subplot that I don't think satisfied anyone and feels incredibly disjointed.
Worse, I think, is the fact that the movie's own internal logic is extremely confusing and honestly doesn't make a lot of sense. I remember being very confused as a kid and writing it off on the fact that I hadn't seen the other movies. But no, even now I found myself scratching my head trying to figure out what the hell was going on even though, marco-level, I already knew all the answers. Surely it should've been obvious to all the characters that the person responsible for the Clone Army was also responsible for the Separatist army, and that person was probably Dooku with help from Jengo Fett. But there's so much conflicting information - including a bullshit story from Dooku that everyone immediately writes off - that no one can make heads or tails of it. Instead, they use the Clone army without any further questions despite Jengo Fett being an enemy. The ever-changing alliances and character motivation of everyone aside from, oddly enough, Anakin and Padmé also makes this movie difficult to follow from a practical standpoint. By the time the third act battle sequences came around my brain was practically goop.
As far as other things I did like? Obi-Wan was great in the first two acts, and his solo investigation until he reached Geonosis was honestly delightful. Jar Jar had a reduced role and was much more palatable this go around. I though the new settings and the expansion of Coruscant were handled expertly. And in general I enjoyed watching the movie even when my brain started shutting off. I also appreciate what this film does to set the stage for Revenge of the Sith and The Clone Wars.
I also watched the movie's deleted scenes for the first time, courtesy of Disney+. I kind of think it would've been neat to see the scenes with Padmé's family as a part of the final film, and it would've added another dimension to their relationship. However, I get why the decision was made to cut them. I don't feel like any of the other scenes would've added anything to this movie though, and mostly I'm just glad we didn't have an extra five minutes of the large Jedi arena fight.
Overall, I think this was a necessary but flawed entry in the saga, and I've come out of it which a deeper appreciation for some scenes... and a more sour view on others.
Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones is the very first Star Wars movie I ever saw, and the only one I ever saw when I was a kid. It was the activity at a friend's birthday party when I was almost 11 years old. And, honestly, its a real knock against this movie that is targeted towards children that it turned me away from Star Wars entirely until thirteen years later when The Force Awakens was released. I remained largely unimpressed with it upon rewatch as part of my Star Wars binge in late 2015, and upon watching it again now, having consumed many pieces of Star Wars content, I can't help but feel that familiar sense of disappointment.
Honestly, the things that people most often complain about when it comes to this movie are actually some of the parts that I think largely succeed. The Anakin-Padmé romance - flowery language and all - feels very true to the intensity of teenage romance. Padmé sticking by Anakin despite the very alarming signs that he is not okay and has the potential for great darkness only adds to this feeling in a way that surprisingly works. It also helps that even through the stilted dialog, the actors clearly have chemistry and are able to sell the rapid progression of their relationship. However, their scenes are also are part of what makes the movie feel dated in a way that Star Wars movies usually don't. Everything about this pairing and the way their scenes are constructed feels very specifically a product of the early 2000s.
The part that makes this feel the most dated, however, is the dodgy visual effects, which have simultaneously gotten better and worse from the previous film. The settings feel more real, but the character models and the way the characters are merged with the background is extremely unconvincing and the graphics remind me of a mid-budget video game at points. Yoda in particular looks awful for most of the movie, whereas others simply look very uncanny valley. Fire and sparks also vary in quality from scene-to-scene.
This movie commits two very big sins that is part of the reason, beyond the to-be-expected aging of the visual effects, this movie does not feel well constructed. The first is the aping of elements from the original trilogy to a degree the previous film did not. Yoda is insufferable through the whole movie and given a fanservice-y "badass" moment that feels so at-odds with the character. C-3PO is given a weird shtick in the third act that becomes grating almost immediately. Boba Fett's backstory in general is just a giant fanservice subplot that I don't think satisfied anyone and feels incredibly disjointed.
Worse, I think, is the fact that the movie's own internal logic is extremely confusing and honestly doesn't make a lot of sense. I remember being very confused as a kid and writing it off on the fact that I hadn't seen the other movies. But no, even now I found myself scratching my head trying to figure out what the hell was going on even though, marco-level, I already knew all the answers. Surely it should've been obvious to all the characters that the person responsible for the Clone Army was also responsible for the Separatist army, and that person was probably Dooku with help from Jengo Fett. But there's so much conflicting information - including a bullshit story from Dooku that everyone immediately writes off - that no one can make heads or tails of it. Instead, they use the Clone army without any further questions despite Jengo Fett being an enemy. The ever-changing alliances and character motivation of everyone aside from, oddly enough, Anakin and Padmé also makes this movie difficult to follow from a practical standpoint. By the time the third act battle sequences came around my brain was practically goop.
As far as other things I did like? Obi-Wan was great in the first two acts, and his solo investigation until he reached Geonosis was honestly delightful. Jar Jar had a reduced role and was much more palatable this go around. I though the new settings and the expansion of Coruscant were handled expertly. And in general I enjoyed watching the movie even when my brain started shutting off. I also appreciate what this film does to set the stage for Revenge of the Sith and The Clone Wars.
I also watched the movie's deleted scenes for the first time, courtesy of Disney+. I kind of think it would've been neat to see the scenes with Padmé's family as a part of the final film, and it would've added another dimension to their relationship. However, I get why the decision was made to cut them. I don't feel like any of the other scenes would've added anything to this movie though, and mostly I'm just glad we didn't have an extra five minutes of the large Jedi arena fight.
Overall, I think this was a necessary but flawed entry in the saga, and I've come out of it which a deeper appreciation for some scenes... and a more sour view on others.