Ten Years Gone • Episode II Attack of the Clones • May 16 2002 - 2012

[The_Somnambulist]

This was the only one of the prequels I didn't see on or very close to the release date. Funny, because it's turned out to be my favorite of all the Star Wars films.

From my perspective (I was a sophomore in high school), I don't recall the hype and anticipation for the film being as great as it was for The Phantom Menace. This time around, it wasn't brought up in class on the day of its release and rarely mentioned in casual conversation. I was pretty pumped about it, though. I had been visiting StarWars.com and 's news page very, very frequently in the few years leading up to its release; the televised premiere of the final "Clone War" trailer that March had overtaken my imagination; and I happily spoiled myself silly when I downloaded the leaked soundtrack a month or so before the film's release.

I eventually saw the film with my older brother (whose Star Wars fanaticism had faded over the years by then). However, I remember being somewhat disappointed by the film. I think it had to do with the influence of some initial reactions from the internet and the considerably stepped-up use of CGI. This disappointment with the film continued past its DVD release and I found myself not caring when that rolled around.

But then, something unexpected happened. My older brother bought me the DVD of the film as a gift for the holidays. And then I sorta rediscovered the film in the few months following that and saw it with new eyes after a prolonged break from all things Star Wars. It also helped that I happened upon some very positive and critical essays about the film around this time. But apart from that, I began to really appreciate its classy cinematography; the angsty, relatable characterization of Anakin Skywalker; the love story's repressed sexuality; the sublime intercutting during the finale; the lightsabers-in-the-dark duel between Anakin and Dooku; and its general heralding of a new age of digital filmmaking.

And my feelings toward the film haven't really changed since then. And I'm happy about that.

Feel free to share your memories of the film, the experience of its release and post cool online memorabilia.

[TroyObliX]

I dunno' bout it being a 'favorite', as it ranks in the lower third of my all-time SW rankings. But that still puts it above a lot of other (non-SW) movies, so it isn't an insult er anything either.

While not a favorite SW film, it has some of my favorite moments.

-the opening few minutes, and the introduction of a much more fleshed-out Coruscant, the design and sound of the naboo cruiser flipping over and gliding through the clouds and traffic. Fantastic.

-Kenobi-dash out the window. OMFG I almost yelped like a girl when that happened. Great shot. And the chase sequence that followed, right up to the dialogue "she went into the club master", fucking epic.

-Amidala looking hot, and old enough for me not to feel 'too creepy' about noticing.

-Yoda fights! Kinda more spastic, hard to follow, and somewhat less exciting on multiple replays than the initial viewing, but still a great moment there.

-the ambiance and atmosphere (visually, not the effing rain) of Kamino. The Kaminoans, the clones, and the plot-as-laid-out, not saga highlights for me. But the place was amazing!

-Slave 1, in like-new condition, was a sight to behold for any kid who grew up trying to imagine a way to make their Kenner version of the ship real. Great stuff.


Most of what I could say I like about AOTC is wrapped up in design, or elements of action that I thought was smart and/or exciting. Unfortunately, this is where the story of the PT falls apart for me. The characters, the actors playing them, the overall sense of where the PT is headed, all went down the tubes, for me, by the end of AOTC. I think by the time the asian-girl-jedi gives her useless right-cross jedi hand-wave, while posing uselessly with saber, in the arena sequence I had given up on caring where this was all going.

Still, fun to watch. Thanks for posting!

[Topeka]

Those puzzle pieces that came in Frito-Lays, the ones that you could hold up to the light to see the character, were pretty sweet. Find the gold Clone Trooper!

Episode II was the first film I saw in a digital theater. That was a shockingly great experience. I saw it four or five more times that summer on celluloid but those couldn't compare to that first viewing. I definitely remember thinking that this was the movie we should have received in 1999. Much darker, more serious in comparison to Menace. Plus it contained the Clone Wars, seismic charges and FUCKING YODA doing battle.

I do think it's the weakest, story-wise, in the entire series. I blame Hayden and Natalie's flat performances on the director rather than them. If you want to see an emotional kid convincingly turn to the 'dark-side,' go watch Chronicle. That was done much better within half of one film than Lucas did in three.

[Longtime_Sunshine]

Wow, I was thinking about this yesterday. I was in 7th grade. I followed every single post on TFN and starwars.com leading up to Episodes I and III but not for II. I first saw any new info on that great teaser screened before Monsters, Inc. It looked NOTHING like Phantom Menace, plus it was my first glimpse at the digital Yoda.

My stepdad took me to see it opening weekend and it was sold out. I ended up seeing it sometime in June with my older stepbrother (who would not stop whispering creepily about Natalie Portman) and the theater was practically empty.

I have mixed feelings about Clones. It was the most watched of the prequel trilogy; I know every frame of that movie. It felt more adult, a bit darker. It makes you think about the appropriate ages for Star Wars movies. I was 10 when TPM came out. 13 when AOTC came out. 16 when ROTS came out. I was the perfect age for all three of the movies.

I hold AOTC above TPM. It seems AOTC and ROTS are kind of one big movie. they look/feel nothing like Phantom Menace, tonally.

I will say, though, Clones is the worst offender of "Here's a ship landing/taking off!"

[Bandersnatch]

The entire last hour of Episode II has blown me away for 10 years, and continues to do so.

[The_Somnambulist]

LFL is going ahead with a 3D re-release of AOTC. SW.com just confirmed it in an article about Celebration VI. They're going to preview some of AOTC 3D there.

I'm sure this comes as no surprise due to TPM 3D's moderate success, but I hadn't heard a single thing about AOTC 3D.

[Gabe]

[CoGro]

I still think it's got the most problems of all the films and is nearly unwatchable in parts.

I have to change the channel out of embarrassment during any of the love scenes.

[Alexrd]

I like it, but unfortunately it's my least watched Star Wars movie nowadays thanks to that horrid teal shift on the Blu-ray. I truly hope the 3D release doesn't have it.

[Bandersnatch]

[Treadwell]

[cantina_patron]

I'm rewatching the saga now so I thought I'd drop a comment.

Even thought it's the most problematic, AOTC is my sentimental favorite of the PT. I think it has less to do with the movie itself and more with anticipation. I hadn't moved to the US until after TPM so I'd missed all the hype (good thing, or it would have ruined it for me). But I followed all the news for Episode II and really looked forward to it. I love the atmosphere and most of the actions and some new elements it brings to the saga. Kamino stuff must be the most scifi-oriented stuff we've seen in SW, and who could have thought that a Jedi could be a noir style investigator? Dooku is a classy villain, if somewhat underdeveloped.

People usually bash action and dialogue, but I think what hurt the movie even more is editing and music. Even the unfortunate love story could have been improved somewhat by inclusion of Padme family's scenes (instead of the awful meeting with the Queen, for example). Still don't understand why Lucas would go with Ben Burtt on this.

Overall, I like the story if not always the execution. It was strange to realize that as far as the middle episodes go, TESB - while being a superior movie - actually doesn't move the story forward nearly as much as AOTC. I'm curious to see as to the new team's approach to the middle chapter in the sequel trilogy.

[thecolorsblend]

I have a lot of admiration for Ben Burtt the sound designer. But Ben Burtt the editor has a questionable track record and Ben Burtt the sound mixer is a fucking atrocity. The last half hour of AOTC and scattered bits of ROTS rely way too much on tracked music.

Love or hate TPM, it doesn't feel like it was originally building toward AOTC. I think Lucas changed his mind about a lot of shit in between those two movies and the end result suffered, especially as a lot of subplots in AOTC aren't even resolved in ROTS (who ordered the clone army, the vanishing/returning Jedi, all that).

I dig AOTC, it's severely underrated by most people, but it epitomizes how disjointed the PT really is.

[cantina_patron]

Well, actually, they work pretty well together, especially the tonal progression. But the story could have been improved on. It feels that Lucas made up a lot of stuff as he went along instead of developing the whole trilogy first (at least in the treatment form).

[ETAndElliot4Ever]

It's a complete disaster, I think. Phantom and Sith are extremely flawed, but this one may be the worst.

[TroyObliX]

I'm fairly certain that right after the release of TPM Lucas decided a certain segment of his fanbase could kiss his ass. As in he didn't care what the whiney, arrogant fans thought of his PT or his (at the time) recent changes to the OT. The entire SW universe was his. When C-3PO says "Thank the maker", he's talking about Lucas and Lucas knows it.

But at the same time, everyone, I'm certain even people Lucas trusted and/or admired, let it rip on Jar-Jar. The Gungan's marginalization, and subsequent near-complete elimination, especially considering the hype during TPM-production about how technologically-marvelous this creation was, seems like a cave-in during the writing process. It makes me think that what we are seeing in AOTC is a story in which Lucas, the 'Artist', wants to do his own thing creatively, but he also wants people to like it.

So it gets muddy. AOTC contains puzzles with no answers, ever, from the people who pose them. It's like a framework of bubbles, even the things it's made of contain empty space, filled with an illusion of substance.

It sure is pretty though. And some of the action is pretty radical. I always like that in a movie. But other parts make me want to claw out my eardrums or the part of my cerebral cortex that processes spoken language.

And the above criticism of Ben Burtt by thecolorsblend made me chuckle hysterically with agreement. Great sound designer. Hey Ben, stick with that, huh? You kind of suck at the other stuff.

[ETAndElliot4Ever]

The writing is terrible. Period.

Anakin and Padme with little to no history (or chemistry) are together for a couple days, he murders a bunch of Sandpeople and they marry. What? It's not like in Empire and Jedi where a romance was actually feasible (as opposed to straight sex appeal in the first one, where nobody got the girl). You had characters who had been together for years, knew each other pretty well and played really well off each other.

I still have no clue what's going on with the clones and the chase scene at the beginning. So Boba Fett hires another alien to kill Padme, right? She attempts to kill her with slugs (??) as opposed to just bombing the tower or sending a probot or something to annihilate her in any kind of logical way. So Obi-Wan grabs the probot by jumping out the window in a ridiculous and extremely stupid stunt that would clearly have killed him. I mean, at least when Luke jumped at Cloud City, he was like choosing to die. Anyway, they chase the alien to a bar and then Boba Fett shoots a dart into her than leads them to a planet deleted from the Jedi map. This is where the clones have been bred, apparently created for the Republic by a guy who did exist, but the Jedi never knew about and it's driving them crazy and they feel they can't even use the Force anymore.

So I have no clue what's really happening at this point, but I'm still especially irritated and puzzled by one line by the prime minister on the clone planet, a voice actor that blows the rest of the cast away with like a minute of dialogue, if that. "One of the finest armies we've ever created." As though this is just a normal thing for them. So someone could show up to these guys with a fortune, create an army and take on the Republic? I don't know, I just don't like any of this. The writing is frickin' terrible.

[TroyObliX]

Maybe the Kaminoans are still in business? Hey, that would make a great episode, someone orders a new army and we get to find out who it really is, and how/why.

I have to disagree about the Obi-Swan dive through the window, though. Is it seemingly illogical? Sure.

But that was (one of the) the most bad-assed (if few) character moment of the entire PT.

[thecolorsblend]

[Alexrd]

[cantina_patron]

[SI]

I will always have fond memories of this installment for obvious reasons. Although a fair bit changed towards the climax scenes I still view it favorably even though there are some dubious editing faux pars.

Was much less spoiled for ROTS which was a personal choice after AOTC.

[thecolorsblend]

Finally watched the changed parts of the BluRay AOTC. I'm only aware of three- the change in timing of the power coupling stuff in the speeder chase, Shmi's voice in Anakin's dream and a change in timing/cuts/shots when Yoda saves Anakin and Obi-Wan from the crane. The first two? ..

But that third one... holy fuck does it ruin the tension. Obi-Wan, Anakin and Yoda basically just kick back while Dooku escapes. On top of that, some dumb, lazy son of a bitch didn't even bother changing up the music. We go from tense "Dooku is about to escape" music to mournful Yoda face and "we just screwed the pooch" music and back again. It cuts from Dooku's shipping cruising around in space immediately to Yoda on Geonosis picking up his cane. They just flip-flopped the shots/cuts without even thinking about how the music is affected. It's the damned sloppiest hackjob editing I've ever seen.

[Topeka]

Funnily enough, I just caught the end of Clones on Spike and I think they played the original cut.

[Alexrd]

[cantina_patron]

So instead of fixing the existing editing issues they added more?
I guess I'll have to keep that Spike HD version I recorded a while back.

[thecolorsblend]

That seems to be the trend with Star Wars. Skip glaring problems, fix trivial bullshit and also introduce new glaring problems.

[cantina_patron]

Reminds me of the American government
Is Lucas even doing any quality control?