The plot thickens (incomprehensibly) and the baddies get a little more competent in the second instalment of the 'Star Wars' prequels. While 'The Phantom Menace' felt more like a stand alone movie, 'Attack of the Clones' and 'Revenge of the Sith' fit together more easily, and as a more direct prequel to the 1977 'Star Wars'.
We get to see a lot more of Coruscant, seeing it's darker underbelly, as well as a deeper look into the Jedi Temple. But that's not all. Compared with 'The Phantom Menace' this one feels great, though obviously it's still dwarfed by all the later movies. We are treated to a properly huge battle on Geonosis, marking the beginning of the fabled Clone Wars. It's a nice twist that, for a few years at least, the clones are fighting alongside the Jedi and not against them, though having clones fighting robots does totally take away any emotion from the flashy battles.
The Geonosians are a nice new addition (the heads of the mk1 battle droids were originally based on the skull of a Geonosian), and I love the Separatist council, though the brightest of them are clearly not much smarter than Korean Ant and Dec from the Trade Federation. It's sad how easily they fit into Count Dooku's pocket, and depressing how easily Palpatine is manipulating him in turn. I've always felt that Palpatine and Dooku were not always working perfectly together, and that Palpatine always intended to betray Dooku from the beginning. Dooku seemed to really believe that what he was doing was what was best for the galaxy, which is part of the reason why he's my favourite Sith.
Also, he's the kind of cool that I aspire to, and he's played by Christopher Lee, who played some of my favourite villains of all time (Dracula, Saruman the White, etc.). It's a shame none of the villains of the prequels are ever given any background. They're cool, but they tend to be characterless for the most part.
We also get to see a mini Boba Fett, a major fan favourite (Major Fan Favourite), along with his father (who dies a little fast for me). This is the episode that marks the beginning of a long tradition of violent amputation in the 'Star Wars' universe (which is understandable considering their extensive use of light sabres), when Dooku wails on a whiny Anakin. I'm not too fond of pre-Vader Anakin, though in the third film I get the impression that this is intentional. Here he falls for Padme's wooden acting (I hadn't thought of this before, but she was an adult in the first film, so what's the age gap there exactly?) before wrestling a massive fat animal in a field. He then returns to his home planet (took his time) just in time to find his dead mother. It is here that we really start to see his dark side, which is fun, but it's once all the main characters are together on Geonosis that the real fun begins.
The arena scene is awesome, if anything I want more of that kind of thing. One thing 'Star Wars' does excellently is it's alien animals, and coupled with the setting (I'm fond of ancient Rome, too) it has created one of the most memorable 'Star Wars' scenes for me. The morphing of this into a far larger battle is great too, and the visuals here specifically (and throughout the rest of the movie) are fantastic - first use of a 100% animated sandstorm/foggy type situation, as far as I know. It's been said before, but I'm con the disposable Jedi in the arena battle. I get that they're minor, but the impact isn't so much as it is after order 66 is carried out, and it seems far more meaningless than it does in the third movie.
Another thing that's really stuck with me from this one is the sound Jango's seismic bomb makes. It's possibly my favourite weapon sound from any work of fiction, closely followed by the brute shot from 'Halo 3' (not sure why, but I love the sound it makes and can still imagine it clearly in my head. Whenever I play 'Halo 3' on multiplayer I religiously collect brute shots, often killing myself repeatedly whilst trying to recover one.)
A fairly competent movie. It's still definitely a 'Star Wars' prequel, but we're seeing signs of improvement as we go along.
Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones: 36.2