The Most Underrated Star Wars Film Ever Made: An AOTC Review

NEXT

Star Wars: Episode II- Attack of the Clones, unlike the prior episode, is jam-packed full of action, and whilst it is renowned for its cringe-worthy dialogue, it is also undeniably filled with emotion, high stakes and strong themes. It is perhaps one of the most action-driven Star Wars films to date, and I would argue that the special effects in Attack of the Clones are some of the most well-dated effects across the entire prequel trilogy. And if that is not enough to make you fall in love with this film, John William’s excellent score is bound to persuade you.

Attack of the Clones: the Most Underrated Star Wars Film

The film jumps straight into the action with Zam Wessel’s first assassination attempt on Senator Pe Amidala, in which she fails. This opening scene sets the tone perfectly, establishing these mystery/crime genre vibes. This is progressed through the exciting chase sequence in the Coruscant underworld, where Obi-Wan and Anakin track Wessel down. Obi-Wan’s mission to Kamino and later to Geonosis is easily my favourite subplot in the film- it is full of action, suspense and mystery, all revolving around the villain’s excellently thought-out plot. George Lucas really brings it home with the final forty minutes. This final third is perhaps some of the best Star Wars to date in my opinion. The battle of Geonosis has extremely high stakes, not to mention stunning visuals and even better music to accompany it. Besides from minor issues with the CGI, I cannot fault that last forty-to-fifty minutes of Attack of the Clones, and I would not change a single thing.

Throughout the film, Yoda, Mace Windu, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Pe Amidala are huge standouts, mostly due to the superb acting of Frank Oz, Samuel L Jackson, Ewan McGregor and Natalie Portman. Ewan’s acting, whilst not bad in The Phantom Menace by no means, improved significantly in Attack of the Clones. His acting is enthusiastic and engaging, which is a commendable point considering the vast majority of this film was shot with a green screen. Samuel L Jackson is as you would expect him to be- nothing short of excellence. He has much more screen time than in The Phantom Menace, which I am immensely grateful for. Not to mention, his purple lightsaber is most definitely a statement piece.

Natalie Portman’s acting is as good as it was in The Phantom Menace, and I would say that she and Ewan McGregor are easily the most consistent stars of the Prequel trilogy. Frank Oz voices Yoda perfectly once more, but what truly shines here with the character of Yoda is how we get to see him running the Jedi Order, with Mace Windu at his side. We get to see him training younglings, we see him running the Council, and we see him talking privately to Mace about how the Jedi are losing touch with the Force. He is shown to be immensely wise and very influential, and in the film’s climax, George Lucas gives us a highly satisfying reason as to why Yoda is the man in charge. His duel with Dooku is fast-paced, thrilling and overall, simply excellent. The CGI Yoda has aged extremely well in my opinion, and his acrobatics are not jarring in the slightest, despite him being a puppet in most other Star Wars films. Attack of the Clones is also the film that gives Yoda the most character depth, showing that he had a failed apprentice, and that he is privately keeping secrets from the Senate and the other Jedi. In Attack of the Clones, we see Yoda’s failures firsthand, and we see how they will eventually bring about the Jedi Order’s downfall at the hands of Darth Sidious later on.

One of my favourite scenes in Star Wars: Episode II- Attack of the Clones is the sequence on Geonosis, where Anakin, Pe, R2 and Threepio are stuck inside the droid factory, forced to fight for survival on the droid construction conveyor belts. The sequence is not dry for a single second; there is always something engaging to look at. When I was young (I grew up with the prequels) this sequence was the reason why Attack of the Clones was my second favourite Star Wars film, second only to the legendary Return of the Jedi, which remains my favourite Star Wars film to this day. The droid factory sequence has high stakes and is highly suspenseful, with both Pe and Anakin nearly dying several times. The callback to Anakin losing his lightsaber is a good chuckle, and as a child I thought Threepio losing his head was. The. Single. Most. Funniest. Thing. Ever.

Still to this day, I chuckle when I see C-3PO with a droid head, or C-3PO’s head on a droid body. Not to mention, the smile that Kit Fisto gives when he force pushes battle droid-Threepio over is extremely heartening. The comedy that everyone’s favourite droid duo brings to the Battle of Geonosis balances the seriousness of the battle well. Add in the well thought out and emotional dynamics between Anakin, Obi-Wan and Pe, and you have yourself an excellent third act.

The callbacks in this film are some of the most satisfying in all of Star Wars, with the constant return to this idea of aggressive negotiations really linking the battle of Geonosis to the earlier events of the film, giving those earlier lines more meaning beyond just character small talk. We see this time and time again, such as when Anakin’s lightsaber is chopped in half in the droid factory, which calls back to when Obi-Wan said to Anakin, “this weapon is your life”. In Attack of the Clones, every line has a deeper, hidden meaning that you won’t understand until you’ve finished the film, or sometimes even until you rewatch the film for a second or third time.

One thing that I am still, to this day, undecided on, is the buildup of Anakin and Pe’s relationship. Even after watching Attack of the Clones countless times, I am still so unsure. Half of the Anakin and Pe scenes are so cringe-worthy, fake and unbelievable, but the other half feel genuine and romantic. Whilst I feel, quantity wise, the cringe outweighs the good here, at the end of the day, Anakin x Pe is a ship I can still get behind. George Lucas really promotes the idea that you cannot control love. Even after Anakin (cringe-worthily) murders the Tusken Raiders, Pe still finds love for him. My main criticism here is that, despite the theme being powerful, it is only believable if both sides have a reason to not fall in love. Pe has a plethora of reasons to not love Anakin- he is power hungry, bad with women, and he literally murdered a whole camp of Tusken Raiders. But Pe is perfect in Anakin’s eyes.

Had Pe’s character been more fleshed out in the prequels, and Anakin was able to see her faults, then this notion that love is uncontrollable would be better promoted. With Pe being “the perfect woman”, Attack of the Clones just looks like another case of gender bias in film, where George simply created Pe to serve the male main character as a love interest. I would not go as far as to call George Lucas a sexist man, but gender bias, and more specifically the Male Gaze, is undeniably present in Attack of the Clones. This brings me to one of the most annoying aspects of Star Wars: Episode II- Attack of the Clones- the deleted scenes.

In most Star Wars films, the deleted scenes are just fun little extras that did not really add much to the story. However, Attack of the Clones has several deleted scenes, some of which would have added a whole new layer to Pe’s character. I am, of course, talking about the scenes in which Anakin and Pe visit Pe’s family. In fact, all the Pe-centric deleted scenes (so most of the deleted scenes) help to characterise her, and I think that many of them should have been included. You can see all of the deleted scenes from Attack of the Clones below- after the first deleted scene, skip to the nine minute mark and watch through to the end to see all of the Pe scenes (or just watch the three Obi-Wan deleted scenes as well).

The first deleted scene is in the Senate, and it gives us politics reminiscent of that seen in Star Wars: the Clone Wars. It outlines Pe’s irable courage. This courage is also reinforced later in the deleted scene where Dooku interrogates Pe, as well as after that, when Pe and Anakin are put on a Separatist trial on Geonosis, following their capture. These show Pe as the strong, independent woman she is, a feature of her character that is less evident in the final cut, as nearly all of her scenes involve her simply being there as Anakin’s love interest. Then there’s the sequence where she and Anakin visit her family, and we get to see her and Anakin’s romance from her perspective. I wish this was in the film, as in the final cut, we only ever get Anakin’s perspective, which makes it harder to understand why Pe is falling in love with this angsty, Tusken-killing teen. The Pe’s bedroom deleted scene is another I wish was in the film, as it showed Pe’s failures from her previous relief missions, which fleshes out her character. Overall, I just think that one of Attack of the Clones biggest issues, besides the cringe-worthy Anakin dialogue, is the lack of proper develop of Pe Amidala- an already interesting character that had so, so much potential. I mean, they practically are a fan favourite already, so it’s sad to imagine what could have been, if George had chosen to include more of her in his prequels.

I think it’s also worth noting that John Williams’ music in Attack of the Clones is phenomenal. The Anakin and Pe love theme “Across the Stars” is one of my favourite pieces of John Williams across all of his work. I feel like John Williams excellent work on Attack of the Clones is not talked about enough.

••••••••••

Star Wars: Episode II- Attack of the Clones is a suspenseful, action-packed adventure, and a very worthy addition to the Star Wars universe. It has heart, it has character, and it has epic lightsaber battles. What more could you ask for? The film gets a bad reputation because of the cringe-worthy Anakin dialogue, but really, I think it gets way too much hate- it’s an underrated film. Attack of the Clones is an extremely fun film, and whilst I would not say it is as thematically rich as The Phantom Menace, it still has that Star Wars soul that George Lucas always uniquely gave his Star Wars films. The cringe-worthy Anakin dialogue, the cringe-worthy Tusken Raider massacre and the lack of Pe-centric scenes is the main reason why Attack of the Clones scores in the bottom three of this review series that I’m doing (reminder: The Phantom Menace scored 86/100).

Rating: 82/100

#TeamKashyyyk