OK, so two months later I've watched the second one. It's been kind of a busy 60 days, with a family reunion, the birth of a child, and a lot of other things. Are these excuses to neglect my commitment to reflect on all six Star Wars films? Certainly not, but they are reasons.
When adjusted for inflation, 'Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones' is the 85th grossing movie of all-time, surrounded by such films as 'Aladdin', 'Mrs. Doubtfire' and 'Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.' The 2002 film grossed almost $650 million world wide, so it would have to be considered a huge commercial success. But why do many people, including myself, view this as the weakest movie of the six?
Because the middle act is boring, and the dialogue is the worst George Lucas ever wrote. As I re-watched it and listed to some of the 'romantic' lines between Anakin and Padme, I wasn't sure if I should cringe or laugh. I ended up doing some of both.
But this is still an awesome movie, and here are the biggest two reasons: Obi-won in action, and the awesome battle on Geonosis.
As I did with Episode I, I'm going to start with annoying before I jump to the awesomeness:
- I already mentioned how bad the dialogue is. It is bad enough that it bears repeating. 'I deeply, truly love you.' As Harrison Ford reportedly once said to Lucas, "You can write this crap, but you can't say it."
- George Lucas deciding he needed one more action scene (Anakin and Padme storming the Geonosis factory) in place of some plot building scenes. If you look at the deleted scenes, there is a key bit between Padme and her family where you find out why Padme likes Anakin, and it's Natalie Portman's best scene. I understand that Lucas thought the second act was getting a little tedious, but he took out the one scene that could have lifted their love story from ridiculous to somewhat bearable.
- Too much CGI. The aforementioned scene of Padme and Anakin storming the Geonosis factory has not aged well, and a few scenes in the Jedi temple also look a little fake. A few more sets would have been nice.
Now, on to the good stuff.
Obi-won Kenobi: Jedi Knight
As a kid who grew up on Star Wars, I use to always wonder what Obi-won was like as a younger Jedi Knight during the days of the Republic. Though we get a good feeling for the young Obi-won in Episode I and his awesome victory over Darth Maul, this is where we begin to see the man who would eventually train Luke Skywalker and bring down his old apprentice Darth Vader and his old nemesis Emperor Palpatine.
What I didn't think about as a kid is that much of the fall of Anakin can be blamed on Obi-won. Surely Anakin's evil choices were his own, but Obi-won was very critical of his padawon, and though he did warn the Jedi Council about the danger Anakin might be, he was blind to some of the greatest seeds of Vader's birth: his secret marriage to Padme Amidala, and his violent reaction to his mother's death.
But you can see the wise Obi-won beginning to be born. Even leading members of the Jedi Council (Mace Windu and Yoda) council with him. He is renowned for his abilities. And then he single-handedly ferrets out the existence of the clones and tracks down Jango Fett.
Jedis in battle
Though the outcome was a little disappointing, seeing Jedi fight a full-out battle against a droid army on Geonosis was a dream come true. Mace Windu takes out Jango. Many Jedi die, but after a valiant fight against overwhelming numbers.
But you have to wonder why they were there. Yes, trying to rescue Obi-won (and subsequently Anakin and Padme) was a noble effort, but worth trading a dozen (or more) Jedi for? Mace knew from Obi-won's report that the separatists were building a droid army, so he had to know being outnumbered was a very good possibility. And though Yoda was headed to Camino to get the clones, Mace could not have known how timely Yoda's arrival would be.
Regardless of Mace's strategic misstep, seeing a bunch of Jedi in action was awesome.
Darth Sidious manages everything and everyone
Supreme Chancellor Palpatine/Darth Sidious seems to have planned for everything. He was deftly manipulating the Jedi, spreading them thinly throughout the galaxy. He was manipulating the Senate, quietly grabbing more and more power. And why was he able to get so much power? By creating his own threat, a separatist movement led by his apprentice Darth Teranus, aka Count Dooku, the former Jedi.
But his masterpiece was his manipulation of Anakin. He understood the young man's motivations better than Obi-won or any of the Jedi. He knew that the key to pushing the young, powerful Jedi to the Dark Side (or destruction) were getting his mother dead (which makes me wonder if her kidnapping by was coincidental) and a romance with Padme. He knew Anakin was the key to bringing down the entire Jedi Order, and he fostered a mentor relationship that would bring an entire galaxy to its knees.
The Jedi blind spot
Maybe the most important dialogue in the movie is between Mace Windu and Yoda. They are discussing the fact that the Jedi power is waning, and that the Sith Lord was clearing obscuring their abilities. But Yoda says that they should not make this public, because it would weaken the Jedi and therefore the Republic.
This Jedi 'blind spot' is the key to the entire story line. In Episode V ('The Empire Strikes Back') it appears that Yoda's ability to look into the future is better than in Episode II. The wisest Jedi of all-time was helpless, powerless to see that the Sith infiltration was right in front of him, and that his trusted ally Palpatine was actually a Sith Lord. Did he see the danger of Anakin? Yes. But he didn't see how it would happen, and it happened too quickly for Yoda to stop it.
Count Dooku: Revolutionary or Terrorist?
Who is Count Dooku? Was he really an idealist who saw the Sith path as a way to end Republic corruption and create a new better government? Or was he just a power hungry Jedi reject who found in the Dark Side more power? I think hestarted out as an idealist who was turned off by the corruption of the Republic and passive nature of Jedi. But in the end he gave away his soul in a quest for more power.
His relationship with Palpatine is a curious one. Unlike Darth Maul or Anakin, Dooku is not a young apprentice, or clearly Palpatine's eventual heir. So what did Dooku think was going to happen? Did he, like many Sith before him, believe that he would become more powerful than Palpatine and eventually kill him, taking control of the Republic in the process? Certainly that must of been his motive, but it's clear this was never going to happen.
Why? Because he wasn't powerful enough. Though his talents with a lightsaber were undeniable, it's likely he would have met his end if Anakin had fought alongside Obi-won as instructed. And he only escaped his duel with Yoda through trickery. He was a stooge, he just didn't know it yet.
Yoda: Jedi Master
When Luke Skywalker meets Yoda on Dagobah in Episode V, Luke does not recognize the diminutive creature as a great Jedi Master. Part of it is Yoda's hermit act, but the bigger part is what Luke had in his mind: someone more like Obi-won Kenobi. He likely would have been impressed if an older Mace Windu had survived, or one of the more physically impressive members of the Jedi Council.
But Yoda was the greatest Jedi of his day. Even though he was already well into his twilight years in Episode II, we get to see him fight his former apprentice Dooku. His acrobatic, Force-aided fighting style was an awesome sight to see, and it one of the greatest scenes in movie history.
The Clone Wars begin
As Yoda points out at the end of Episode II, the victory on Geonosis was really not much of a victory. A war had begun against a well-armed and motivated foe. Count Dooku was in league with the Sith Lord, who was still unknown. Many of the Jedi had died, and many of the surviving Jedi were already spread throughout the Republic.
And, unknown to Yoda, another awful event was unfolding: Anakin's secret wedding to Padme.
What did she see in the guy?
My final section is one of the most puzzling. After Anakin comes back from killing an entire village of his mom's kidnappers, he admits it to Padme. At this point, wouldn't most women have run the other direction? The guy was unstable, and extremely powerful, especially when he gave into his anger.
But for whatever reason, she still loves him. Maybe she feels bad for him. Maybe she sees the desert dwellers as non-intelligent life. Maybe she was a little nuts herself.
Regardless, the galaxy would be glad she stuck around. Anakin was headed toward the Dark Side, and the one good thing that would come out of this series of tragedies was the birth of twins who would bring down the monster she helped create.
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