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Attack of the Clones was released 20 years ago today


Edmilson

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Today marks the 20th anniversary of the release of Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones in American theaters.

 

The movie is not good, it has some atrocious CGI and laughable moments, but at the very least John Williams' score is amazing.

 

 

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I don't believe I've ever seen this movie all the way through...if I have...I simply don't remember.  It just came out during a time when I didn't care about anything star wars and I never really cared to catch up with it.

 

The original Lego star wars game is actually how I remember this story the most.

 

Also to this day, it's still the most least listened to SW score for me. Although probably has my favorite Darth Vader theme rendition of all time in the end credits.  It being the most least listened to score for me is probably bound to change when the complete version comes out in 2085.

 

But honestly, thanks to this thread, I might watch this movie one of these nights.

 

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Here's a great essay about the movie's impact - or lack thereof:

 

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When Attack of the Clones opened in May of 2002, it was already at risk of playing second fiddle. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone had smashed opening weekend records with a $93 million debut before legging to $317 million domestic while topping The Phantom Menace globally with $974 million worldwide. A month later, The Fellowship of the Ring earned rave reviews and $881 million worldwide. Peter Jackson’s towering adventure would earn a slew of Oscar nominations (including Best Picture and Best Director) and was almost universally believed to be the start of a Lord of the Rings trilogy that could stand side by side with Star Wars. Not only did Attack of the Clones have to reset the narrative after The Phantom Menace, but it would be the first Star Wars film opening amid other Star Wars-sized fantasy blockbusters. Oh, and that’s not even counting Sam Raimi’s game-changing Spider-Man, which opened two weeks earlier and stole much of Episode Two’s presumed thunder.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2022/05/16/20-years-ago-matrix-spider-man-harry-potter-lord-of-the-rings-put-star-wars-attack-of-the-clones-on-the-defensive/?sh=4441e01c7f64

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31 minutes ago, Edmilson said:

Here's a great essay about the movie's impact - or lack thereof:

 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2022/05/16/20-years-ago-matrix-spider-man-harry-potter-lord-of-the-rings-put-star-wars-attack-of-the-clones-on-the-defensive/?sh=4441e01c7f64

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Oh, and that’s not even counting Sam Raimi’s game-changing Spider-Man, which opened two weeks earlier and stole much of Episode Two’s presumed thunder.

 

I remember an interview where George Lucas was calling Spider-Man 3 a "silly, silly movie" and how Star Wars was way better.  I think he has a lot of resentment towards Spider-Man

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2 hours ago, Not Mr. Big said:

I remember an interview where George Lucas was calling Spider-Man 3 a "silly, silly movie" and how Star Wars was way better.

 

Did he? I'm far from a Lucas apologist, but that doesn't particularly sound like him. He'll take shots at the competition, but not like this.

 

Oh nevermind, he said this of Spiderman 3! Can't blame him... The "Well, it's not 'Star Wars'" remark doesn't seem to have been Lucas', but the reporter's.

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I remember my Dad asking me if I wanted to go and see this for what would've been my 17th birthday and my absence of enthusiasim for anything SW-related being obvious. I've still never seen this or TPM beyond a handful of isolated clips and I have zero desire to correct this.

 

I'm afraid my general apathy towards the score continues. Whilst I adore HP:PS to bits, this one just doesn't do anything for me outside of one or two tracks, not helped by Across the Stars being far too similar to Hook for me to really enjoy it.

 

I certainly hope that expansions for all 3 prequels come out soon though - they will make a lot of people very happy (and I want RotS, for anyone thinking I'm completely anti-SW :P )

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4 hours ago, GerateWohl said:

It was actually the first time to watch an army of jedi knights in action. That was quite uplifting. Anyway, the whole arena part is great and unlike anything that we saw in the other movies.

 

The movie has its upsides for sure: every movie does. I actually like the tableaux of Curoscant and Naboo and how the plot is constructed such that we see a fair amount of it. Its nice to kind of have some quiet time in the Republic before it goes to the gutter...

 

Other than that and some of the things you mentioned, though, I definitely think its the worst prequel; and probably still the worst Star Wars entry.

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The movie is ambitious but never achieves its aspirational goals.  That being said, it has its moments.  Before 2015, it was my least favorite SW movie--5 new movies later, it is nowhere near the bottom of my list.   

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This was the first and only time watching a new SW film that I knew how the story would play out going into it, as I had spolied myself completely reading a leak of some sorts that had been posted online before the release date.

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AOTC was probably the prequel that I liked most when I saw it in theaters, but the one that has held up for me the least.

 

(Personally, even though I wasn’t a fan, I also think that TROS is better than any of the prequels, but ymmv on that).

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10 hours ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

Worse than THE RISE OF SKYWALKER?

I think not!

At least it was directed by someone who gave the appearance of knowing what he was doing.

 

Agreed. While they often felt wooden and odd (like George himself), they were always strangely watchable. OTOH, I can't stomach The Rise Of Skywalker.

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Before the Disney era, it was my least favorite Star Wars movie, and I left the theater disappointed, which I didn't at all with Phantom Menace and Revenge of the Sith. 

 

But the score was SO good. I remember being way more into it than I was The Two Towers that year. 

 

One positive thing about the movie itself, I think all the Tatooine stuff is REALLY well done. There's almost no real cheeseball stuff like there is in the rest of the movie. Even Anakin's outburst was appropriate I thought, and this:

 

On 16/05/2022 at 7:03 PM, Manakin Skywalker said:

 

 

 

Plus the next piece:

 

 

is REALLY amazing stuff. Sorely missing from the OST. 

 

I've significantly warmed on the prequels over the years, but my last viewing of this film was still super rough. With that said, for as bad of a movie as it was, and it was bad, there was a ton of positive associated with it, especially the extended media. 

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The prequels have good core ideas but Lucas failed to clean them up and mostly really failed in putting them onscreen, or doing it compellingly. IMO he failed the least with TPM. Undoubtedly the most complete failure is AotC, but RotS's inconsistency (still being just as bad as AotC for half the runtime) might annoy me more. Reading the Rinzler books, he always complains that he hates writing and directing. Well, it shows.

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10 hours ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

Worse than THE RISE OF SKYWALKER?

I think not!

 

I keep on going back and forth between the two. Its basically a debate between over the top whackiness (The Rise of Skywalker) and tedium (Attack of the Clones). I think whackiness wins.

 

Both films are about the same degree of decadent, too.

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I’ll defend this movie until the day I die. I kinda love it. I just love this world & this era of the SW universe. Yes the dialogue is cheesy and the acting is a bit stiff, but there’s more imagination and visual wonder in 2 minutes of this film than most have in their entire runtimes. I love the little detective story Obi Wan is on, & god help me, but I even like Hayden Christensen as Anakin. Darth Vader was once a whiny, pouting love struck teenager. Frankly, Star Wars has never been an acting showcase. Mark Hamil in the original also comes off a little whiny at times. I can always excuse iffy acting and dialogue is the story is interesting & something is going on visually. This movie has that in spades. 

 

yes a lot of the CGI doesn’t hold up, but again, that doesn’t bother me in the same way Star Trek TV FX don’t hold up & that doesn’t bother me. I just dig the story being told in the prequels. I find them much more interesting & imaginative than the sequel trilogy. When you add in the Clone Wars TV show? It’s magic

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For me it was probably the worst Star Wars, until maybe Rise of Skywalker - I go back and forth to be honest. It has some genuinely impressive sequences, even now, but it's the service of a lot of more melodramatic elements, and Lucas just isn't the kind of writer / director to bring that to life. It does feel way more creative, then most of the Disney movies, I'll give it that. 

 

I do have fond memories of seeing it in the cinemas back in the day with my friends, though. I'm pretty sure we lost it at the climatic Yoda sequence at the end, and I specifically remember one of my friends going "I guess that's why him the jedi master", when he started using his lighstaber. 

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23 hours ago, Mr. Gitz said:

I love the little detective story Obi Wan is on

 

I think that storyline gets more credit than it deserves, honestly. I mean, its great that you enjoy it, but for me, the fact that no more attempts are made on Padme's life kinda puts the fire out from underneath Obi Wan's investigation. Its like "Oh, chill out, Obi Wan, clearly whomever it is who tried to kill Padme had given up!" Sure, the detective story kinda morphs into "the hell is this Clone army?!" but then that "mystery" gets...shoved under the carpet, never to be resolved.

 

Also, the answer of who's behind Padme's assasination attempt is disappointing: "Ah, right, the bad guys from the previous film! And this new character - not introduced until this point - who we could guess was 'it' unless for the extremly clumsy device of letting Windu promise us he isn't."

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4 hours ago, Chen G. said:

 

I think that storyline gets more credit than it deserves, honestly. I mean, its great that you enjoy it, but for me, the fact that no more attempts are made on Padme's life kinda puts the fire out from underneath Obi Wan's investigation. Its like "Oh, chill out, Obi Wan, clearly whomever it is who tried to kill Padme had given up!" Sure, the detective story kinda morphs into "the hell is this Clone army" but then that "mystery" gets...shoved under the carpet, never to be resolved.

 

Also, the answer of who's behind Padme's assasination attempt is disappointing: "Ah, right, the bad guys from the previous film! And this new character - not introduced until this point - who we could guess was 'it' unless for the extremly clumsy device of letting Windu promise us he isn't."


The reason Padme’s life is never put in Jeopardy again is because the result was the same. It wasn’t really the separatists who wanted Padme dead, it was Palpatine. Yes they wanted her dead, but Palpatine wanted her out of the senate for the war measures vote. Her death or her out in hiding resulted in the same thing:Jar Jar being put into place to propose to vote. That was the entire point of that plot line, not the separatists. Dooku/Palpatine was just using their hatred of her towards their own ends. 
 

Obi Wan’s detective story is interesting because of where it leads. The Clones. It’s actually pretty cool plotting by George Lucas. The bad guys make the army for the good guys and since the Jedi have lost their way the force is clouded and blocking their ability to see what’s happening right in front of them. Right when the good guys think they are about to win…Order 66. The separatists put the republic in the situation where if they DONT use that Clone Army, they are done. So they use it & it brings about their end anyways, except now they are complicit. Especially the Jedi. 

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6 hours ago, Mr. Gitz said:

The reason Padme’s life is never put in Jeopardy again is because the result was the same.

 

I think that's a huge conceptual issue with the movie. If the entire film was about repeated assasination attempts against Padme, it would make both Anakin protecting her and Obi-Wan's investigation have a lot more urgency.

 

But alas...

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