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There is
unrest in the Galactic Senate. Several
thousand solar systems
have declared their intentions
to leave the Republic.
This
Separatist movement, under the leadership of the mysterious Count
Dooku, has made it difficult for the limited number of Jedi Knights
to maintain peace and order in the galaxy.
Senator
Amidala, the former Queen of Naboo, is returning to the Galactic
Senate to vote on the critical issue of creating an ARMY OF THE
REPUBLIC to assist the overwhelmed Jedi.... |
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 Star
Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones is a 2002 science fantasy film
directed and co-written by George Lucas. It was the fifth film to be
released in the Star Wars saga, and the second in terms of internal
chronology and takes place ten years after the events depicted in
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Now 20, young Anakin
Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) is an apprentice to respected Jedi
Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor). Unusually powerful in the
Force, Anakin is also impatient, arrogant, and headstrong, causing
his mentor a great deal of concern. The pair are ordered to protect
Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman), the former queen of the planet
Naboo, now representing her world in the Galactic Senate. Someone is
trying to assassinate her on the eve of a vote enabling Supreme
Chancellor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) to build a military force that
will safeguard against a growing separatist movement led by
mysterious former Jedi Count Dooku (Christopher Lee). After another
attempt on Padme's life, Obi-Wan and Anakin separate. The young Jedi
and Padme fall in love as he escorts her first to the security of
Naboo and then to his home world of Tatooine, where the fate of his
mother leads him to commit an ominous atrocity. Meanwhile, Obi-Wan
travels to the secretive planet Kamino and the asteroid-ringed world
of Geonosis, following bounty hunter Jango Fett (Temuera Morrison)
and his son, Boba (Daniel Logan), who are involved in an operation to
create a massive army of clones. A vicious battle ensues between the
clones and Jedi on one side and Dooku's droids on the other, but who
is really pulling the strings in this galactic conflict? |
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Filming primarily
occurred at 20th Century Fox studios in Australia, with additional
location shooting in the Tunisian desert, at the Plaza de
España in Seville, Spain, and in Italy at the Villa del
Balbianello on the Lake of Como, and in the Royal Palace in Caserta.
The film's subtitle was met with a negative attitude when it was
first revealed; some compared it to the title of the film Attack of
the 50 Foot Woman. It was long thought that the title The Rise of the
Empire would be the true title of the film. As a disguise during
filming, the film's "working title", intended sarcastically
in light of the negative fan response to the Episode I character, was
Jar Jar's Big Adventure.
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At his own
personal request, Samuel L. Jackson's character Mace Windu received a
lightsaber that emitted a purple glow, as opposed to traditional blue
and green for "good guys" and red for "bad guys".
In addition to his request of a purple glow, he was rumored to have
"B.M.F." inscribed on the bottom of the lightsaber hilt, a
reference to his role in Pulp Fiction.
Like the saga's
previous film, The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones furthered
technological development, effectively moving Hollywood into the
"digital age" and spawned controversy over the benefits and
disadvantages of digital cinematography that continue to this day as
more filmmakers "convert" to digital filmmaking in addition
to many filmmakers stating their opposition of it. In contrast to
previous installments, for which scenes were shot in the Tunisian
desert in temperatures up to 125°F (51°C),
the camera would still run without complications. Lucas had stated
that he wished to film The Phantom Menace on this format but Sony was
unable to build the cameras quickly enough. In 2002, Attack of the
Clones became the first film to be shot entirely on a digital camera.  Despite
Lucas' efforts to persuade movie theaters to switch to digital
projectors for better viewing of Episode II, few theaters did.
Because of George Lucas' method of creating shots through various
departments and sources that are sometimes miles and years apart from
each other, Attack of the Clones became the first film ever to be
produced through "virtual filmmaking". The film was
produced under a budget of US$120 million, making it the most
expensive set budget of any Star Wars film.
Episode II also
introducing a new completely CGI-created version of the character
Yoda. Lucas repeatedly stated to the animation department that
"the trick" to the animation of the CGI Yoda was to make
him like the puppet from which he was based on in order to maintain a
flow of continuity. Frank Oz (puppeteer for Yoda in the original
trilogy and The Phantom Menace) was consulted; his main piece of
advice was that Yoda should look extremely old, sore, and frigid.
Because of Christopher Lee's  age,
he was unable to perform much of the fight sequences, especially the
duel with Yoda. As such, a stunt double performed the scenes instead
and Lee's face was superimposed onto the double's body. Lucas often
called the duel crucial to the animation department, as it had such
potential to be humorous rather than dramatic.
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 Observers
believe that Palpatine's rise to power is very similar to that of
Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany; as Chancellor of Germany, the latter
was granted "emergency powers", as was Chancellor
Palpatine. Comparisons have been made to Octavian - who became
Augustus, the first emperor of Rome - and to Napoleon Bonaparte, who
rose to power in France from 1796 to 1799. Octavian was responsible
for the deaths of several hundred political opponents well before he
was granted tribunician powers;  Bonaparte
was appointed First Consul for life (and later Emperor) by the
French Consulate after a failed attempt on his life and the
subsequent coup of 18 Brumaire in 1799. Some have drawn parallels to
the American Civil War, likening the Separatists to the Confederate
States of America; the official name of the Separatist group is the
"Confederacy of Independent Systems". The name of the
government Army, the "Grand Army of the Republic", is the
same in both Star Wars and the American Civil War, and both Palpatine
and Lincoln took extensive warmaking  powers
and suspended many civil rights.
Palpatine's role
in popular culture extends beyond the Star Wars universe and its
fans. Palpatine has become synonymous in American mass media with
evil, deception, manipulation, and power. The character is utilized
as a literary device - either as a simile or metaphor - to emphasize
these traits. For example, one of the characters from Orland
Outland's novel Every Man for Himself (1999) is described as
"rubbing his hands together in imitation of the emperor in  Return
of the Jedi." He says, "Everything is happening exactly as
I have foreseen!" In film and television, Palpatine's likeness
is similarly used as a parody. Comedy series such as The Simpsons,
South Park, American Dad!, and Family Guy have employed Palpatine's
image to satirize characters and public figures. For instance, in the
South Park episode "Best Friends Forever", Satan sends his
boyfriend Kevin, a parody of Emperor Palpatine, to secretly
manipulate the Republican-controlled Congress into opposing human
euthanasia to prevent a character from dying and going to Heaven.
Similarly, "Deacon Stan, Jesus Man," an episode of American
Dad! portrays George W. Bush's senior advisor Karl Rove as Palpatine.
Stan, uses Rove to help him become a deacon at his church through deceit. |
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Historical war
journalism, combat films and footage of World War II combat also
influenced the documentary style camera work of the Battle of
Geonosis in Episode II, even to the point that hand-held shakes were
digitally added to computer generated sequences. In addition, much
World War II footage features the German army's marches through the
streets of Nazi Germany. In a similar fashion, Clone troopers march
onto starships toward the end of the film on the planet Coruscant. |
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 A
large search for the new Anakin Skywalker was performed across the
United States. Lucas auditioned various actors, mostly unknown,
before settling on Canadian Hayden Christensen. Among the many
established actors who auditioned were Ryan Phillipe, Colin Hanks,
and Jonathan Brandis. Leonardo DiCaprio also met with Lucas for the
role, but was "definitely unavailable" according to
DiCaprio publicist Ken Sunshine. Co-star Natalie Portman later told
Time magazine that Christensen "gave a great reading. He could
simultaneously be scary and really young."
The prequel
trilogy films often refer to the original trilogy in order to help to
connect the films together. Lucas has often referred to the films as
a long poem that rhymes. Such examples include the now-famous line of
"I have a bad feeling about this", a phrase used in each
film, and battles, namely lightsaber duels, that almost always occur
over a pit.
As with Attack of
the Clones, The Empire Strikes Back was the middle film in a trilogy;
therefore, of the original trilogy films, Empire is the object of the
most references in Attack of the Clones. In both films, an asteroid
field is the backdrop of a major star battle in the middle of the
film. Obi-Wan Kenobi escapes Jango Fett by attaching his spacecraft
to an asteroid in order to disappear from the enemy sensors; Han Solo
uses the exact same tactic by attaching the Millennium Falcon to a
Star Destroyer in Empire. As a retcon, John Knoll confirms on the
film's DVD commentary that Boba Fett, who would later catch Solo in
the act in Empire, "learned his lesson" from the events of
Attack of the Clones.
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