Star Wars: Episode II Attack Of The Clones

Part two of the prequel trilogy dives into the mystery of the dark side and how it has been manipulating events over the last decade. Padme has continued her fight for democracy, now in the role of Senator for Naboo and while it is easy to think that her actions have been problematic enough to warrant sending an assassin after her, future revelation diminishes her efforts. This is important, because so much of this saga rests on the purity of the Republic, which as outsiders we already know is pretty corrupt. Padme, the Jedi and other Senators who would fight against the fall of democracy are brushed aside by a few simple words from the most unlikely of sources; Jar-Jar Binks and his prompting of a motion to give Palpaine executive power in the Senate.

This insidious rise to power, followed by the claiming and wielding of absolute power within a formerly democratic society obviously has certain real world historical connections, and it is perhaps a little surprising to see them being used in this way, given who the Republic, soon to be Empire, are representative of. Then again, what is the power of myth and storytelling if not the presenting of a powerful message in the guise of entertainment?

Again, despite sources of backlash against pretty much anything that isn't episodes IV, V or VI, I enjoyed the film. Anakin is a pretty whiny character at this stage, and the love scenes between him and Padme are pretty cringeworthy, but frankly it seems rather fitting given their situation. They are two young people, Anakin is basically still a teenager, and they behave like it. He goes off spouting the worst type of 'poetry' to describe his feelings towards Padme and while I hate it, it is perfect for the moody lovestruck teenage character. Similar to Anakin's little bursts of rage, and the one not so little burst of rage - he was a boy thrust into an ideology that rejects all base elements of human emotion at an age when he was already emotionally developing. Compounded by the fact that Obi-Wan appears to be very critical of him, the polar opposite in his character and slipping into the father figure for Anakin, the young padawan didn't really stand much of a change of gaining any emotional balance within himself.

The movie is still primarily set between the three worlds of the first movie, taking us from Coruscant and the political bickering to the more peaceful Naboo, which has since recovered from its brief occupation. There is even a brief return to Tatooine as well as the introduction of two new big players - the Geonosis and Kamino, both of which are responsible for the grand armies about to be deployed against each other.

I really liked these two new settings, and the style choices to set Kamino as a world of sleek cities surrounded by a raging sea is a nice touch of symbolism, given the clones they are creating. On the other hand, Geonosis is a world of sand and brutality. They have used molten metal and brute strength (admittedly in the form of more machines) to create their droid army, one which lacks finesse, but wins through attrition.

While there is a lot of subtle foreshadowing and, weirdly, callbacks to the earlier yet also technically later movies, I particularly enjoyed the early chase scene in Coruscant with Anakin, Obi-wan and the assassin. There are a few moments when her body moves in slightly odd ways for a human, revealing her true nature to the observant, before Anakin confirms it. Later on, at the other end of the movie when Anakin is fighting against Count Dooku, they have been heavily influenced by the fight to come between Obi-wan and Darth Vader. With the darkness around them and the focusing on their faces, with short lightsaber parries and thrusts, the theme and feeling of that fight is almost identical. One last little thing, and I won't go into it too much as it's a spoiler for Rebels, but I really liked that they revealed the Death Star was designed on Geonisis since it explains the motivation behind what happens in the future to the planet.

I wasn't super impressed with the general Jedi reveal at Geonosis, since apparently these cloaked individuals had been completely missed by everyone, despite being the only non robots or Geonosians in the arena. Topped off with the fact that some were already in the arena themselves it smacked of having little planning behind the scene, beyond wanting to 'look cool' and show off the Jedi in a big fight. While it does do the latter, it lacks the finesse and skill most expect from their lightsaber fights, and it is a little disappointing compared to the showdown between Dooku and the others. That said, watching Yoda draw his weapon for the first time in this saga, after displaying an interesting array of force powers, made for an intense fight, showing off two very different styles and the power of the Jedi from a bygone era.

I did like the final reveal, bringing a few more of the pieces together of Palpatines' plan. It's done with the simple use of a name, but its a nice way to bring those events together and explain it to the audience without having to literally spell it out again on screen. My last little niggle with this movie was that Dooku mentions that he had not met Obi-wan before, which I'm pretty sure is not true if my memory serves, as in Master & Apprentice, or Dooku: Jedi Lost, Obi-wan met him when he was training under Qui-gon.

Overall I think it's a pretty good film displaying some of the social-political commentary that has proven key to heart of the star wars franchise, along with a fast, action packed storyline that drives us ever closer to that infamous moment in the saga's history - "I have the high ground!"