Attack Of The Clones Is The BEST Prequel Movie

Okay, this may be one the hottest of hot takes in the Star Wars community. As I was watching the Star Wars marathon on TNT, I realized that Attack of the Clones is, at least in my opinion, the undisputed best Prequel movie, and it isn’t really close.

“ISN’T CLOSE! HOW! Revenge of the Sith is the greatest Star Wars movie. Period,” ROTS mega-fans will argue. And that just simply isn’t true.

Sure, Revenge of the Sith has the greatest lightsaber battles and is the most emotional Star Wars movie, but that’s it. Attack of the Clones has so much more than that.

First, the whole movie starts with an intriguing murder plot (or attempted murder as Padme Amidala lives) that allows us to experience the darker and little-known aspects of the Star Wars universe from the OG trilogy (ex: the drug trade, criminal underworld, everyday lives of Coruscant citizens, bounty hunters, etc.).

This was explored in the Phantom Menace somewhat, but that was mostly just focuses on Anakin Skywalker’s escape from slavery, and the Revenge of the Sith didn’t even cover the topic whatsoever.

AOTC Is where we could finally take a small break from the “galactic storytelling” and divulge into the extremely interesting stories of the “background” characters. Moreover, Attack of the Clones is the only Prequel movie that actually decided to investigate the internal conflicts, desires, and motives of the primary characters.

Unlike in The Phantom Menace, AOTC actually gives us an entire side plot of Anakin Skywalker and Padme Amidala’s motivations through their budding romance.

Even though George Lucas really struggled with writing a realistic young-love story, the nuance that Anakin and Padme’s story brought to the movie was some of the best character work done in all of Star Wars.

A young Jedi and senator, hiding on a beautiful planet from mysterious bounty hunters and assassins seeking to kill said senator, struggle to explore and discuss their emotions and feeling for one another may sound boring, but it is vital in stories like Star Wars.

These epic fantasies will always master the battles, magic, empires, space adventures, mythical/alien creatures, etc. (if they’re good), but they often run the risk of demoting the character work/exploration to the side.

Anakin’s journey gives so much depth to these movies as AOTC really shows his descent down the path of the Dark Side (which Phantom Menace didn’t and Revenge of the Sith did too quickly).

His rage about the Sand People killing his mother and his frustration over the Jedi Council “holding him back” by not teaching him more about the Force was really interesting and relatable. Yes, Lucas ruins most of the conflict by giving Hayden Christensen some awfully comedic lines to say (i.e.: “I hate sand”, I hate them”, etc.), but I appreciate the attempt.

By exploring the motivations, wants, wishes, and fears of Anakin and Padme, Attack of the Clones brings what is so often missing from Star Wars and other epic fantasy/sci-fi creations: real, relatable characters. But it’s not only Anakin and Padme who were explored in ATOTC as both Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi’s motivations were portrayed to a lesser extent.

In Obi-Wan’s case, he’s desperately trying to tutor and mentor Anakin as his old master, Qui-Gon Jinn, instructed him to do so before he died. However, he finds it difficult to separate his brotherly-love and adoration for Skywalker while also keeping the young padawan safe from his destructive nature.

Meanwhile, Yoda tries desperately to keep the Jedi order out of the Republic’s politics and the corruption that goes along with it, while also keeping the galaxy safe from the rising threat of the Separatist and mysterious Sith Lord Darth Sidious.

All four of these characters struggle to balance their emotions and feelings with the duty of their occupations, which makes them so likable.

Now, don’t think that AOTC just focuses on the characters and their internal conflicts as there are some awesome battle scenes in the movie too.

The Battle of Geonosis is still the best on-screen Star Wars battle to date (with the Hoth and Kashyyyk close seconds), and the movie-long conflict between Jango Fett (the greatest bounty hunter in the franchise) and Obi-Wan was amazing to watch too. Especially their confrontation on Kamino.

If George Lucas was a better screenplay writer (in terms of dialogue), this movie would be SO MUCH better and fondly remembered. I’d even argue that if Lucas had allowed some more creative input from staff writers and outside sources on the script, the Prequels would be considered the superior movie trilogy to the Original trilogy.

That is how good the concepts introduced in these three movies was.

But, seeing as he didn’t, I’ll have to just settle with Attack of the Clones being the superior Prequel movie out of the three.

Images Source: Featured Image: (Star Wars/Disney) (Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones)

In Text Image 1: (Star Wars/Disney) (Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones – Trailer – YouTube)

In Text Image 2: (Star Wars/Disney) (Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones – Trailer – YouTube)

In Text Image 3: (Star Wars/Disney) (Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones – Trailer – YouTube)