Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones isn’t just the weakest film in the Prequel Trilogy, it’s the worst film in the entire saga. Here are some of the reasons why.
Prior to the release of The Rise of Skywalker, I went back and watched every Star Wars film. After viewing the movies the opinions I’ve held about them most of my life stayed consistent.
The Phantom Menace is more boring than bad, Revenge of the Sith is mostly very good, Return of the Jedi still is my favorite, and The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi both are very entertaining films that don’t deserve the bashing they get.
One thing that changed though, was my feelings about Attack of the Clones. I always considered it one of the weakest Star Wars films but after my recent screening, it’s clear and evident that it’s the worst film in Saga and a pretty bad movie overall.
Now Attack of the Clones does have some good moments. The Jango Fett/Obi-Wan battle still holds up, the seismic charges are some of the best sound effects in all of Star Wars, Dexter Jettster is fun, and the final lightsaber battle with Dooku, Yoda, Anakin, and Obi-Wan is good. But overall, this is just not a good movie.
Here are four reasons why Attack of the Clones is the worst film in the Star Wars saga.
Obi-Wan and Anakin’s Relationship
Anakin and Obi-Wan’s relationship was completely butchered in the Prequels and it all started in Attack of the Clones. Anakin is depicted as a whiny, arrogant, and spoiled teenager. Not even 10 minutes into the film, he openly disrespects Obi-Wan, and is then given a tongue lashing. Their relationship is definitely a strained one.
Never once in the film does one get the sense that Obi-Wan enjoys being around Anakin. Sure he questions his nightmares and half-handedly gives him some advice on dealing with them, but even then seems more annoyed than concerned. It’s really too bad as their strong friendship should be the heart and soul of the last two films of the prequel trilogy.
Anakin actually has a better relationship with Palpatine than he does with Obi-Wan. Palpatine is clearly his confidante and genuinely looks interested in what Anakin has to say. Obviously, he has sinister intentions, but it’s not surprising seeing that Anakin would ultimately choose Sheev instead of Obi-Wan.
If Anakin and Obi-Wan had a friendship similar to that of Luke and Han, their final battle in Episode III would’ve been all the more gut-wrenching and heartbreaking. Han and Luke generally seemed to like each other, and it was easy to believe in seeing the way they interacted with each other. Instead, we get a whiny teenager who argues with a reluctant parent, and it is extremely tough to watch at times.
Unbelievable Love Story
The worst part of Attack of the Clones is the forced and uncomfortable love story between Anakin and Padme. When they first meet again after 10 years Anakin immediately goes full creeper on her. She flat-out tells him how uncomfortable she is, and he continues to stare at her with creepy stalker eyes.
Anakin is later assigned to protect her and then accompanies her to Naboo. They actually have some normal interactions on the way there, but no real sparks between the two. Then as they talk to her former council, Anakin actually becomes verbally abusive to her. After pointing out Anakin is just a Padawan learner, she suggests where they could hide out. He then angrily tells her he’s in charge of security and Sio Bibble and the rest of the members of the Naboo high council give him a what the hell is wrong with this guy kind of a look.
Then it cuts to the lake scene where Anakin then delivers his famous sand soliloquy. I’m no relationship expert, but most women I know wouldn’t suddenly kiss a guy who just belittled her in front of her former council members. It’s an extremely jarring juxtaposition and makes one wonder what the heck is wrong with Padme’s judgment of men and people in general.
Things then escalate quickly after a dinner of pears, as Anakin professes his deep and painful love for Padme that torments his very soul. She shoots him down, and they later go to Tatooine where she finds out he slaughtered a bunch of Tusken Raiders. The murdering doesn’t seem to matter to her, because not much later on, she professes her love back to him as they are brought out for execution on Geonosis.
This love story is so forced and happens so quickly that it is just completely unbelievable. The only reason they “fall in love” is because the story requires it, and not from anything that happens between them in the actual film.
Horrible Animation
One glaring issue with Attack of the Clones that doesn’t hold up over the years is the poor animation and special effects. There are two scenes that stick out like a sore pulsating thumb. The first is on Naboo where Anakin rides the weird-looking giant anteater-like beast. The second is the scene where some of the senators and Palpatine overlook the clones.
Let’s journey back to Naboo first. Anakin and Padme are having one of their usual awkward conversations. The scene ends and we cut to something else. We go back to the young picnickers and suddenly Anakin is surfing on top of a wild Nubian beast.
The animation is poor and it looks completely fake, and it takes the viewer out of the scene and movie altogether. Thankfully, it doesn’t last too long and Anakin falls off the critter and fakes being hurt so Padme can come to his rescue. I know George Lucas really wanted to incorporate as much CGI as possible in the Prequels but this scene just didn’t turn out and it was unnecessary, so it should’ve been cut.
The second case of horrible animation is the introduction of the Grand Army of the Republic. Maybe it’s not fair to say the animation is bad, it’s just that it looks like animation! We are at the end of a live-action film and suddenly we get a scene that looks like it came out of the Clone Wars cartoon.
The movie suddenly flips from being live-action to a cartoon and it is very jarring to see. It would’ve made more sense to actually have an actor in a suit and then replicate him over and over instead of going straight up anime style. I get what George was trying to do, but the end result didn’t look real at the time of the film’s release and it looks even worse 20 years later.
Young Boba Fett
One would’ve thought that George Lucas would’ve learned his lesson about having child actors in Star Wars after the backlash that Jake Lloyd got for his portrayal of Anakin in The Phantom Menace. He either didn’t get wind of those or didn’t care, as he again thought it’d be a good idea for Star Wars fans to see an iconic character as a young child.
He was wrong. Young Boba Fett is a very bland character who is horribly acted by Daniel Logan.
For some reason, young Boba Fett can only talk in whispers. It’s not so apparent in the apartment when he meets Obi-Wan but more so later in the chase through the asteroid field. Young Fett is supposed to be excited and cheering his dad on. I guess he is, but his lines are delivered in basically whispers. He even laughs in a whisper. It’s very odd, distracting, and a little cringy.
There really isn’t anything that sticks out about young Boba Fett and he’s as bland as the generic blue clone-issued jumpsuit he wears. We were told that Jango Fett required an unaltered clone and that honestly would’ve been enough backstory for Boba Fett. We didn’t need to see Boba or at least as much as we did. He definitely didn’t need to have lines and if he did have to, then having a director that could’ve coaxed a better performance out of him, would’ve been helpful.
One of the best parts about Boba Fett was the mystery that surrounded him, and it turns out his backstory really isn’t all that exciting.