Attack of the Clones is the weakest film in the Star Wars prequel trilogy and, by most measures, the weakest in the entire saga. George Lucas's second prequel improves on The Phantom Menace in some respects, giving Ewan McGregor's Obi-Wan a more substantial and more interesting storyline and delivering action sequences of considerable scale and invention. But it also introduces the central romance between Anakin Skywalker and Padme Amidala, and this romance is handled with a stiffness and an awkwardness that makes it the most significant failure. The love story is the emotional engine of the entire prequel trilogy, the relationship whose tragedy is supposed to give Anakin's fall to the dark side its human dimension. That it generates almost no feeling is a problem from which the picture never recovers.
At a Glance
Director: George Lucas
Runtime: 142 minutes
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen, Natalie Portman, Ian McDiarmid, Christopher Lee, Samuel L. Jackson
Release: 2002
Critics Rating: ★★ (2/5 stars, the saga's weakest entry)
Audience Rating: ★★½ (2.5/5 stars, divisive)
Review Breakdown
Plot
Ten years after The Phantom Menace, Anakin Skywalker is now a Jedi Padawan under the tutelage of Obi-Wan Kenobi. When an assassination attempt on Senator Padme Amidala leads Anakin to escort her to Naboo while Obi-Wan investigates the conspiracy, the two storylines develop in parallel. Obi-Wan's investigation, which leads him to the ocean planet Kamino and the discovery of a secret clone army, is the most coherent thread. Anakin and Padme's storyline, by contrast, is a romantic drama that generates almost no romantic feeling, a series of scenes in which two characters declare their love for each other in dialogue of such stilted formality that it is impossible to believe in the relationship.
Characters
Ewan McGregor is the greatest asset, and his Obi-Wan is the most fully realised character in the prequel trilogy. He brings a wit, a warmth, and an authority to the role that makes Obi-Wan feel like a real person rather than a plot function. Hayden Christensen's Anakin Skywalker is a more complex case. The romantic scenes defeat him entirely, and the dialogue Lucas has written for them defeats any actor. Christopher Lee's Count Dooku is a welcome addition, a villain of presence and classical authority whose potential the picture does not fully exploit. McGregor is exceptional and deserved a better trilogy than the one he was given. Christensen is miscast in the romantic scenes and more effective in the darker ones. Lee brings a classical authority to Dooku that makes him the most immediately credible villain in the prequel trilogy, and his lightsaber duel with Yoda is one of the most purely entertaining sequences.
Tone
The tonal range is wider than The Phantom Menace's, moving between the detective thriller of Obi-Wan's investigation, the romantic drama of Anakin and Padme's storyline, and the action spectacle of the Geonosian sequences. None of these registers is handled with sufficient consistency or conviction to give the picture a coherent identity. The Tatooine sequences, in which Anakin returns to find his mother, are the most effective, finding a darkness and a grief that briefly suggests the picture the prequel trilogy was trying to be.
Meaning / Themes
The picture is most interesting as a study of Anakin's psychology, of the anger and the possessiveness that will eventually consume him. His massacre of the Tusken Raiders who killed his mother is the prequel trilogy's most disturbing moment, a scene that makes Anakin's eventual fall feel comprehensible rather than arbitrary. The political themes, about the manipulation of democratic institutions and the manufacture of crisis to justify the concentration of power, are more coherently developed here than in The Phantom Menace.
Direction
Lucas's direction is more confident here than in The Phantom Menace in its action sequences, and the Geonosian arena battle has a scale and an energy that is impressive. But his direction of his actors remains the prequel trilogy's most persistent weakness, and the romantic scenes between Christensen and Portman are directed with a stiffness that no amount of visual spectacle can compensate for. John Williams's score is as reliable as ever, with the romantic theme Across the Stars one of his finest pieces of franchise work.
Cultural Reception
Attack of the Clones received mixed reviews on its release and was a major commercial success, grossing over $649 million worldwide. Critics acknowledged the Obi-Wan investigation storyline and the Tatooine sequences while condemning the central romance and the overlong runtime, and it is now regarded as the saga's weakest entry, a picture whose central relationship fails so completely that it undermines the emotional foundation of the entire prequel trilogy. Its reputation has not improved with time.
Who Should Watch
Star Wars completists and prequel trilogy followers will find it essential viewing. The Obi-Wan investigation storyline and the Tatooine sequences are worth seeing; the romantic subplot requires considerable patience.
Final Verdict: The weakest film in the Star Wars saga, undone by a central romance that generates almost no feeling and dialogue that defeats even talented actors. Ewan McGregor's Obi-Wan is the prequel trilogy's finest creation, the Tatooine sequences find a darkness, and John Williams's score is exceptional. But the stilted romance, the overlong runtime, and Lucas's inability to direct his actors in the most emotionally critical scenes make Attack of the Clones the saga's most difficult watch.
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