Looking back on Star Wars, part 7: Attack of the Clones (2002)

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Another curiosity comes from acting legend Christopher Lee as the secondary villain, Count Dooku. Well into his late-70’s and despite the lines he’s given, Lee delivers what is, perhaps, the best performance of the entire film. However, having just finished work on Peter Jackson’s adaptation of Lord of the Rings, it’s also clear that Dooku is pretty much the evil wizard Saruman in all but name. Also, the idea that Dooku was human was another last-minute change. Originally, the former master of Qui-Gon Jinn turned Sith Lord was envisioned as a female alien (Dooku’s early concept sketches would later form the basis for Asajj Ventress in the Clone Wars cartoon).

It’s also obvious while watching Attack of the Clones how much Lucas made it in response to fan reactions. Because of Boba Fett’s popularity, Lucas created the character of his father, Jango Fett (Temuera Morrison) as the donor for the clone army. In turn, he reveals that Boba (Daniel Logan) is actually Jango’s clone. This was a departure from his original idea that Lando Calrissian was a surviving clone from the Clone Wars. But if the idea was to show how cool Boba Fett was through his “father,” it actually does the opposite. Now, along with his inglorious death in the Sarlacc Pit, the “greatest bounty hunter in the galaxy” wound up being a literal carbon copy of somebody else.

Using a combination of digitally-animated storyboards and rough green screen footage (often filmed in someone’s garage with production assistants playing certain parts), these “videomatics” were then later shown to the actors on-set for them to re-enact in front of blue screens.

Also, C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) and R2-D2 (Kenny Baker) are given more screen time and return to their comedic roots. By contrast, Jar Jar Binks’ (Ahmed Best) on-screen presence is greatly diminished, as are his comedic antics. He does, however, wind up becoming crucial to the plot (and ultimately dooms the galaxy), as he’s tricked into convincing the Republic Senate into granting Chancellor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) “emergency powers.” It’s almost as though Lucas is punishing Jar Jar because of the hatred the fans had towards him.

But the surprising downsides about Attack of the Clones involve the filming process itself. Partly to save time, and partly because the script wasn’t finished, Lucas and editor Ben Burtt relied heavily on what they called “virtual filmmaking.” Using a combination of digitally-animated storyboards and rough green screen footage (often filmed in someone’s garage with production assistants playing certain parts), these “videomatics” were then later shown to the actors on-set for them to re-enact in front of blue screens. The idea was that this would result in more “believable” performances than if the unit directors verbally described what was happening to the actors.

In addition, advancements in CGI also allowed Lucas’ Industrial Light and Magic to not only create fully computer-generated characters and environments but also computer-generated “stunt doubles.” Furthermore, Attack of the Clones was one of the first major motion pictures to be filmed completely in digital, using what was considered a still-experimental camera system from Sony. This highly controversial for its day, particularly since most movie theatres back then didn’t have the right projectors to even show the film.

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Keep in mind, this was all still relatively new technology back in the early aughts. In that sense, the scenes of the droid factory, the colosseum, and the first battle of the Clone Wars can be seen as groundbreaking. It can also be seen as looking very, very fake, especially when the real-life actors are in the scene. If anything, filming in digital exacerbates how unreal the movie looks, particularly the pre-Stormtrooper Clone soldiers. The same goes for the much-hyped lightsaber duel between Dooku and Yoda (voiced by Frank Oz). It may sound cool on paper, but it ends up looking unintentionally hilarious on-screen.

It also didn’t help that Attack of the Clones was released during a time when moviegoers started turning to other movie franchises. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring had been released the year before, with The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers was on its way. Same for another cinematic adaptation of a beloved novel series, Harry Potter, with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001) and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002). It was also the year when the modern superhero movie craze really took off with Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man (2002). All of these movies would outdo Attack of the Clones at the box office. With $640 million in ticket sales worldwide, it remains the lowest grossing Star Wars movie to this day.

Next. Looking back on Star Wars, part 6: The Phantom Menace (1999). dark

With The Phantom Menace and now Attack of the Clones being lackluster disappointments, it definitely seemed as if the bloom was off the Star Wars rose. Whereas Empire Strikes Back raised the original Star Wars trilogy into mythic status, Attack of the Clones is what made the Prequel Trilogy be seen as (back then) the low point of the franchise. What’s curious is how, when one thinks of the Prequel Trilogy, it’s still The Phantom Menace that receives most of the flak, proving that it’s better to be despised than to be all but forgotten.

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