Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002)

By the time Star Wars: Episode II: Attack of the Clones arrived in cinemas in May 2002, anticipation was a complicated thing. Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace had divided audiences and critics sharply back in 1999, and there was a real sense that the second chapter of the prequel trilogy needed to do some heavy lifting. George Lucas, returning to the director's chair for the first time since the original Star Wars in 1977, had spent the intervening decades as a producer and studio founder rather than a working director, and the weight of expectation sitting on these prequels was, to put it mildly, considerable. The film picks up a decade after the events of the first prequel, with a young Anakin Skywalker now a Padawan on the cusp of knighthood, and an assassination attempt on Senator Padmé Amidala setting two parallel investigations in motion. One thread follows Obi-Wan Kenobi into the outer reaches of the galaxy as he uncovers the origins of a clone army. The other concerns Anakin and Padmé, thrown together under protection detail, with the seeds of the Clone Wars beginning to take root.

Produced entirely under the Lucasfilm banner, Attack of the Clones is notable as the first major Hollywood feature to be shot entirely on high-definition digital video rather than traditional 35mm film, a genuinely bold technical decision at the time that attracted considerable industry discussion. Lucas co-wrote the screenplay with Jonathan Hales, and John Williams returned to provide the score, continuing the musical language he had established across the saga. The film runs to 142 minutes and carries a scale that is unmistakably big-budget, from the rain-soaked cityscape of Kamino to the dust and chaos of Geonosis in the third act. Christopher Lee joins the cast as the separatist Count Dooku, bringing a certain old-world theatrical gravity to the role, while Samuel L. Jackson reprises Mace Windu with his characteristic composed authority. At the centre of it all is Hayden Christensen, taking on the defining challenge of making a young Anakin Skywalker feel like a believable precursor to Darth Vader (you can see what they were going for, even if the execution is another matter, and Christensen would go on to other work worth a look, as I covered in my piece on Jumper). Ewan McGregor, meanwhile, continues his run as Obi-Wan, a performance that was widely considered one of the brighter spots in The Phantom Menace and had every reason to develop further here. Natalie Portman returns as Padmé, a character given considerably more agency in the action this time around, even if the script does her few favours in other respects.

The film arrived at a cultural moment when CGI-heavy blockbusters were very much the lingua franca of mainstream cinema, with audiences in 2002 still broadly willing to forgive a thin story if the spectacle delivered. Whether Attack of the Clones managed that bargain is, to put it charitably, a matter of ongoing debate. The prequel trilogy as a whole has been reassessed many times over in the years since, with Revenge of the Sith generally regarded as the strongest of the three, but this middle chapter has rarely come out well in those conversations. Here is what I made of it.

I'd rather have sand everywhere. If The Phantom Menace had its moments and Revenge of the Sith delivered emotional weight, Attack of the Clones just sort of happens. It’s easily the weakest of the prequel trilogy. The romance between Anakin and Padmé is meant to be a driving force, but it’s so awkwardly written and performed that it feels like a parody (I don’t like sand will haunt us forever). The political intrigue is sluggish, and even the action, aside from the final Geonosis battle, lacks the excitement you expect from Star Wars. Credit where it’s due, Ewan McGregor is fantastic as Obi-Wan, and the visuals were impressive for the time. But as a whole, this is a bloated, meandering chapter that fails to be memorable outside of a handful of moments.

Rewatching it now, that assessment feels fair and honestly pretty generous in places. The Obi-Wan material genuinely works, and there are flashes of what this trilogy could have been with a tighter hand on the script. But those flashes make the stretches that do not work feel all the more frustrating. For a saga built on the tragedy of Anakin Skywalker, you need to believe in him, and too much of this film makes that belief difficult to sustain. It is the sort of film you feel more fondly about in memory than you do while actually watching it. Sometimes the sand gets everywhere for a reason.

Rating: ★★★½  | Year: 2002  | Watched: 2002-12-04

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Trailer

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Related on Movies With Macca

More from George Lucas: American Graffiti (1973) · Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999) · Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005) · Star Wars (1977)
More with Hayden Christensen: Jumper (2008) · Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005)
More from the 2000s: Kirikou and the Wild Beasts (2005) · Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) · Daredevil (2003) · Apocalypto (2006)
More adventure: Alice in Wonderland (1951) · The Eagle (1925) · Louisiana Story (1948) · The General (1926)
More action: A Better Tomorrow (1986) · The General (1926) · Hand of Death (1976) · Daredevil (2003)