Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002)

Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones is a 2002 American epic space opera film directed by George Lucasand written by Lucas and Jonathan Hales. It is the second installment of the Star Wars prequel trilogy, and stars Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Hayden Christensen, Ian McDiarmid, Samuel L. Jackson, Christopher Lee, Temuera Morrison, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, and Frank Oz.

The film is set ten years after the events in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. The galaxy is on the brink of civil war. Led by a former Jedi named Count Dooku, thousands of planetary systems threaten to secede from the Galactic Republic. After Senator Padmé Amidala evades assassination, Jedi apprentice Anakin Skywalker becomes her protector, while his mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi investigates the attempt on Padmé's life. Soon Anakin, Padmé, and Obi-Wan witness the onset of a new threat to the galaxy, the Clone Wars.

Development of Attack of the Clones began in March 2000, after the release of The Phantom Menace. By June 2000, Lucas and Hales completed a draft of the script and principal photography took place from June to September 2000. The film crew primarily shot at Fox Studios Australia in Sydney, Australia, with additional footage filmed in Tunisia, Spain and Italy. It was one of the first motion pictures shot completely on a high definition digital 24-frame system.

The film premiered on May 16, 2002. Critics praised the visual effects, costume design, musical score, and Ewan McGregor’s performance as Obi-Wan Kenobi. Despite this, critics lambasted the romance of Anakin and Padmé, the dialogue, most of the acting, and the film's long runtime. Despite the mixed reception it had received, the film was a financial success; however, it also became the first Star Wars film to be out-grossed in its year of release, placing only third domestically and fourth internationally. The film came out on DVD and VHS on November 12, 2002 and was later released on Blu-ray on September 16, 2011. Following Attack of the Clones, the third and final film of the prequel trilogy, Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, premiered in 2005.

Ten years after the Trade Federation's invasion of Naboo, the Galactic Republic is threatened by a Separatist movement organized by former Jedi Master Count Dooku. Senator Padmé Amidala comes to Coruscant to vote on a motion to create an army to assist the Jedi against this threat. Narrowly avoiding an assassination attempt upon arrival, she is placed under the protection of Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi and his apprentice, Anakin Skywalker. The two Jedi thwart a second attempt on her life and subdue the assassin, Zam Wesell, a shape-shifter who is soon killed by her bounty hunter client before she can reveal his identity. The Jedi Council assigns Obi-Wan to identify and capture the bounty hunter, while Anakin is assigned to escort Padmé back to Naboo, where the two fall in love.

Obi-Wan's investigation leads him to the remote ocean planet Kamino, where he discovers an army of clones is being produced for the Republic, with bounty hunter Jango Fett serving as their genetic template. Obi-Wan deduces Jango to be the bounty hunter he is seeking, and follows him and his clone son, Boba, to the desert planet Geonosis via a homing beacon placed on their ship, the Slave I. Meanwhile, Anakin becomes troubled by premonitions of his mother, Shmi, in pain, and travels to Tatooine with Padmé to save her. They meet Owen Lars, Anakin's stepbrother and the son of Shmi's new husband, Cliegg Lars. Cliegg tells Anakin that Shmi was abducted by Tusken Raiders weeks earlier and is likely dead. Determined to find her, Anakin ventures out and, finding the Tusken campsite, locates Shmi, dying from torture at the hands of the Tuskens. She dies in Anakin's arms. Anakin, enraged, massacres the Tuskens and returns to the Lars homestead with Shmi's body. After revealing his deed to Padmé, Anakin says that he wants to prevent death.

On Geonosis, Obi-Wan discovers a Separatist gathering led by Count Dooku, whom Obi-Wan learns had authorized Padmé's assassination and is developing a battle droid army with Trade Federation Viceroy Nute Gunray. Obi-Wan transmits his findings to Anakin to relay to the Jedi Council, but is captured mid-transmission. With knowledge of the droid army, Supreme Chancellor Palpatine is voted emergency powers to send the clones into battle. Anakin and Padmé journey to Geonosis to rescue Obi-Wan, but are also captured. The three are sentenced to death, but are eventually saved by a battalion of Jedi and clone troopers led by Mace Windu and Yoda; Jango Fett is killed by Mace during the rescue. As the clone and droid armies battle, Obi-Wan and Anakin intercept Dooku, and the three engage in a lightsaber battle. Dooku overpowers Obi-Wan and Anakin, but then Yoda arrives and engages the Count in a duel. Finding he is unable to defeat Yoda, Dooku flees. Arriving at Coruscant, he delivers blueprints for a superweapon, the Death Star, to his Sith master, Darth Sidious, who confirms that everything is going as planned. As the Jedi gravely acknowledge the beginning of the Clone Wars, Anakin is fitted with a robotic arm and secretly marries Padmé on Naboo, with C-3PO and R2-D2 as their witnesses.