Is There Anything GOOD About Attack of the Clones?

Attack of the Clones is often considered to be the worst of the Star Wars movies, a sentiment of which I agree with, the dialogue is flat, the characters unlikeable, the set pieces dull and the story a mess. But is the movie-like Vader-is not beyond redemption (More on that tomorrow). Now true this movie is not one of the worst films ever made so finding positives is not as difficult, but even still, the negatives outweigh the positives so it's still more difficult. Regardless we may as well get into it and talk about them.

Now the first major positive in this film is Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan, now yes he did play the role in Phantom Menace but he was so underutilised and let's be honest, boring in that film. This is the one where he finally got to portray an Obi-Wan in his prime and even to this day, people love Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan, in fact i'd say i prefer him far more than Alec Guiness. He's still wise and caring but is not so old and jaded that he can still have fun, he's witty and sarcastic and is able to look cool in a fight. Not to mention Ewan is the only actor in this movie that is still able to inject personality into the film and not always make it feel like it's on life support. His naturally energetic yet equally cynical personality makes him a delight to watch on screen.

Which leads me to my next point: The comedy. While Phantom Menace may be less annoying, it is more boring, and while i'm not saying this film is gut-busting in anyway, there is clearly more comedy and even some half-decent banter in this film. The death sticks scene with Obi-Wan, the "we're here to rescue you" "good job(!)" interaction between Obi-Wan and Anakin. Obi-Wan's "Oh dear" and...actually i just realised all these scenes are because of Obi-Wan. Damn he was a real treat in this movie.

So other things not involving Obi-Wan that work about this movie, the first one that comes to my mind is the music. In fact, i think we can all agree the best thing to come out of the prequel trilogy is the score, in each film it is still a masterpiece. Dual of the Fates, Anakin's Betrayal, Battle of Heroes, each one is incredible. This films addition to this series of amazement is Across The Stars, the romance theme between Anakin and Padme. Now yes the romance itself is almost as bad as Edward & Bella, but good lord this theme is one of the most romantic, passionate, endearing tracks i've ever heard. In fact, i'll say it, it's better than Han & Leia's theme. I love it.

Something else Anakin related that didn't suck is the death of his mother, a sequence with minimal dialogue and some actual emotion and weight behind it. This was the start of Anakin's downturn, his switch to the dark side. It was brutal, hard hitting and for the first time in this movie, had Anakin express an emotion apart from lustful stalking.

Then there are the technicals of the movie, the sound design as you can imagine is incredible. I think it speaks volumes when a franchise like this has iconic and recognisable sound effects of all things. In this films case the seismic charge is just one of the most...pleasing explosions ever. I know that is a very strange statement to make, but it is, it's like if an explosion can give a massage. Then there is the sound design for the car chase on Corusant, it's just so pleasant to listen to. Looking at that's another conversation due to the overuse of CGI.

Speaking of CGI, here's a controversial opinion: I think CGI Yoda is better than Puppet Yoda. Now i'm not saying Yoda is better portrayed as a character in the prequels, nothing will ever top Empire's version of Yoda. But when it comes to just the visuals, i prefer the CGI version, he's much more expressive and detailed, when he moves i believe there is an actual character there. Are there times where he looks like a Playstation 2 character? Of course. Is it stupid to have him flipping about? Absolutely. But when he looks concerned or saddened, i genuinely believe that reaction, unlike the original films where he looks like...well a puppet. He isn't that expressive and fairly dead eyed, just in comparison, the one here looks more alive than the one in Empire.

So those are certain things about Attack of the Clones that I think are legitimately good. Does that make the film good overall? No. It's still a bad film, but it just wouldn't be fair to ignore the things that it did actually get right.

-Danny