PT So, I Recently Re-Watched Attack of the Clones

I think I'd take it over watching Anakin skateboarding on a hog.

 

I don't know. Anakin is handsome, confident, charming, funny, dangerous, and horribly broken. To a certain sort of woman, that combination is like catnip.

 

In other words, the typical male protagonist in 90% of all movies!

 

I too like the deleted scene and definitely think it was better written than a large part of the material we got in AOTC regarding the relationship. For years many have been heaping all of the blame for the cringeworthiness of the romance on Hayden but I have always had an issue with Natalie Portman's portrayal. I am sure I'm in the minority here but to me, Padme was never convincing. It's a combination of her delivery, facial expressions and sometimes body language. In fact, during the scene where they are waiting to be led into the Geonosian arena when she "confesses" that she "truly deeply loves" him and he looks at her incredulously with "You love me?" I am just as confused as he is! I remembering watching it the first time going "What?" I knew it had to come somewhere but the acting et al prior to the confession and the way she says it just doesn't sell me on "true deep love." I think she underplayed while Hayden overplayed and that lies within the direction they were given.

 

Far more importantly, I think you lose out on getting to see Anakin's childhood background and his relationship with his mother. His return and her death would feel a bit hollow without that context, I think.

 

Don't get me wrongo , Shmi is one of my favorite bits in TPM , but a boy loving his mother is something I think we could all take as read anyway , it's not something so specific that we'd need to see it .

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It's more for the audience to make her death more emotional to us by letting us know her personally first before killing her which I think it worked. I really felt bad for what happened her and remembering her moments with Anakin in TPM make her death in his arms such a tragic moment.

To me, TPM is an important part of the saga and a really necessary movie that introduced us to Anakin as a slave and innocent child, Qui-Gon, Shmi, padawan Obi-Wan and Padme as young Queen. It also showed some stuff like how Palpatine become a chancellor for example.

 

TPM is important not just for those reasons, but in the way it establishes a sort of baseline for the story to build on. It allows us to see a Republic and Jedi Order which--while dysfunctional and on the decline--still possess some vestiges of their former grandeur, and are not yet in full free fall.

 

Agreed. There are many elements in TPM that are important for the rest of the trilogy: Anakin's inocent childhood and his attatchment to his mother, the return of the Sith and their conspiracy, the beginnings of corruption and crisis in the Republic... But even more importantly, tonally, it establishes a happy-sunny-optimistic tone to begin the trilogy, which is the exact opposite of what we get in the end with ROTS. For a new viewer who watches TPM, it is literally unimaginable that the trilgoy will end with such a tragedy.

The heaven-to-hell progression of the PT and its three acts is virtually perfect in my opinion, and it creates and incredible -and very surprising!- three-part story, with three very different yet stylistically consistent movies. It's one of the many strenghts of the carefull construction of the trilogy.

 

I think my favorite part of AOTC is the escalation shown through Obi-Wan's investigation, and one reason for that is the tie back to Qui-Gon's perspective: "There's always a bigger fish."

 

AOTC is one of my all time favorites. I love to watch it and pop in ROTS behind much like I do ESB and ROTJ. The scale, the intrigue, OBI WAN, the clones, all of it. It was the holy grail of the SW saga for me right next to Sith. Yeah I grew up on the originals as a kid in the late 70s. They were of course awesome but not like these films. I actually saw this one 10 times on the big screen during its run that summer. Awesome

 

Sadly, I never liked this film, even when I first saw it. However, 10 year old me was blown away by the asteroid chase scene, and the last 30-45 minutes.

 

I always enjoyed AOTC it is spectacular.

 

Agreed! I grew up with the originals on VHS, but Clones has been my favorite SW movie since that first theatrical viewing. Summer '02 was my favorite time ever as a Star Wars fan.

 

Yeah I remember walking into WalMart that summer and seeing all the clone trooper displays in the store. Under them were shelves chocked full of gunships, jedi, aliens, monsters, tanks, droids and starfighters. I was 26 years old and seriously I ran over there and handled every box like a 7 year old. I had a job this time and ended up bringing home so much stuff that I built a diorama of the battle of Geonosis in my office at home. My wife was furious with me that whole summer!

 

JUST finished watching AOTC in its entirety for the first time in at least 15 years (I'm doing an entire saga marathon in celebration of my Star Wars week) .. there was quite a bit validly off about it BUT ... there was so much still that I really loved . to start with ..

The MUSIC .. omg .. the music on Kamino was sublime. The music from Anakin's descent to the dark side during the Tusken Raiders .. likewise and of course, the main love theme. Don't care how much you don't like sand, but you cannot deny that Williams's PT music is some of the strongest of the saga.

The Foreshadowing. Quite literally. You see Vaders' shadow as Anakin bids farewell to Padme on his fateful trip to kill some Tusken Raiders/save momma. It's awesome, as is his first foray into cybernetics when his hand gets encased in the metal mould at the droid factory and he is trapped in a metal prison, far away from the person he loves.

The world building. The CGI is primitive compared to now, and parts are very dated/ cartoonish BUT for all the flack that the green screen was given, some of the worlds feel really . unworldly. Kamino, Geonosis with the termite people ... and of course, Coruscant. Can someone please, please, please promise me that Coruscant wasn't blow up in the new canon? We also see the beginnings of the Star Wars equivalent of the Napoleonic Wars - the Clone Wars (can't wait to catch up on the series).

And for me ... well ... Anakin Skywalker - one of the most compassionate Jedi in the whole order whose compassion and attachment to those he loves becomes in stages, his undoing and in a grand scheme of things, his salvation at the hands of his son. It was so hard watching this, knowing what this poor guy was facing for the rest of this life, not realising that his little time on Naboo with Padme, was likely going to be the happiest he would ever be in his life ... argh.

Ian McDiarmid's acting. Still wonderful. Palpatine still the puppetmaster ...

All in all, still got something out of this. Onto ROTS tomorrow night.

 

I like how that Vader like shadow of Anakin's is a complete coincidence. They mention this in the DVD commentary.

I really recommend watching the 2nd volume of Clone Wars right before RotS. It may not be canon anymore but it fits the beginning of RotS so well. It was even mentioned in the RotS DVD commentary as canon (at that time).

 

Agreed. But are the still canon? I still see them as canon and really thought about editing them back into the film. They add so much and they are only what 2/3 scenes. I understand why they were cut but And extended cut would of done wonders.

 

Those deleted scenes don't contradict anything else in canon, so I believe they are considered canon until something new in canon causes a contradiction. Then they would no longer be canon.

 

People are generally attracted to partners they find exciting, and dangerous is exciting. People who weild power are exciting because power is dangerous and thus exciting which is how leaders attract followers. Also negative emotions can heighten feelings of attraction, which is why horror films are popular date movies.

 

I remember heading to the theater to see Attack of the Clones for the first time. The epic music and crawl started, the camera panned up, a ship approached, and then there was a horrific explosion!
Death, fear, consequences. Cordé.
Mystery and intrigue ensues, and the hiring of two Jedi, a master and an apprentice, to uncover the plot to assassinate the Senator from Naboo. And then the badass assassin herself appears, with he who subcontracted her. Then the Kouhuns! Evading Artoo's sensors, but not the Jedi! An epic chase through Coruscant that reminds of Metropolis, Gotham and Blade Runner, while being original and containing more reveals, including a changeling, and Kenobi's penchant for drinking on the job. Captured and demanded to "tell us now", the assassin is assassinated by her friend/employer, and the quest to uncover the mystery deepens, ultimately separating the two Jedi protagonists with profound consequences.

And that is just for the kickoff! Attack of the Clones is gangbusters. I've got much more to say, but imma chill, as this film is too freakin' awesome right now. Damn.

 

I remember my first theater experience for AOTC as well! It was the most excited I'd ever been for a SW film just as I sit there in the theaters, before the lights go out. ROTS was the most exciting for me in terms of speculation and anticipation in the years leading up to it, but for the actual sitting-in-the-theater excitement, I don't think any new SW film will ever match AOTC for me. And it did not disappoint! I'll never forget the feeling I had seeing Yoda ignite his lightsaber and go nuts on Dooku for the first time! I don't think I'll ever experience that feeling again, sadly....



I'm actually watching the SW films now, in prep for Solo. I'm just starting AOTC right now actually. (with 4 little kids, it's hard for me to watch a whole film in one sitting, so each one will take me 2-3 days!) I'll stop after ROTS, then continue on after I see Solo next weekend. I must say, everytime I go a stretch of time without seeing this film (6 months this time), I'm reminded of how much I really enjoy this episode-I always forget how many personal "favorite saga moments" it has....

 

DP

 

Attack of the Clones is truly a fantastic and highly enjoyable, bad movie.

 

Nope