Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002)
Movie · 2002 · Adventure, Action, Science Fiction · 2h 22m · NR · English
Curator score: 2.1/10 (2.4M ratings)
A Jedi shall not know anger. Nor hatred. Nor love.
Overview
Following an assassination attempt on Senator Padmé Amidala, Jedi Knights Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi investigate a mysterious plot into the heart of the Separatist movement and the beginning of the Clone Wars.
Ratings
Curator score: 2.1/10
IMDb: 6.6/10
Letterboxd: 3.07/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 62%
Metacritic: 54
TMDB: 6.6/10
Director
George Lucas
Production
Lucasfilm Ltd.
Cast
Hayden Christensen, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Christopher Lee, Samuel L. Jackson, Frank Oz, Ian McDiarmid, Pernilla August, Temuera Morrison, Jimmy Smits, Jack Thompson, Leeanna Walsman, Ahmed Best, Rose Byrne, Oliver Ford Davies, Ron Falk, Jay Laga'aia, Andy Secombe, Anthony Daniels, Silas Carson
Where to watch
Disney Plus
Curator Review
Verdict
A visually ambitious, often clunky middle chapter that deepens the political machinery of the prequels while stumbling badly on romance and dialogue. It’s worth watching if you enjoy Star Wars lore, large-scale worldbuilding, and the odd pleasure of watching a franchise get stranger and more operatic as it goes.
Best for
Star Wars completists
Viewers who like political sci-fi and conspiracy plots
Fans of large-scale digital-era spectacle
People who enjoy camp, memeable dialogue, and flawed blockbusters
Skip if
You need strong romantic chemistry
You’re allergic to wooden dialogue
You want a tightly paced adventure
You prefer character-driven sci-fi over lore-heavy setup
Overview
Attack of the Clones is the point where the prequel trilogy leans hardest into its own contradictions: grand mythmaking, corporate politics, digital worlds, and a love story that lands with a thud. It’s messy, but not inert. The film keeps introducing new corners of the galaxy, and the scale of the Clone Wars setup gives it a real sense of historical momentum.
Worth noting
The action is frequently inventive, especially when the movie lets itself become a chase, a duel, or a battlefield tableau. At the same time, the human drama is awkward in a way that has made the film infamous. That awkwardness is part of its legacy now: the movie is often more interesting as an artifact of blockbuster ambition than as a cleanly successful narrative.
Bottom line
If you come in for polish, it will frustrate you. If you come in for worldbuilding, visual imagination, and the pleasure of seeing a franchise take a risky left turn into political tragedy, there’s enough here to justify the trip. It’s one of those big studio sequels that is easier to admire, argue with, and quote than to simply love.
Top Letterboxd reviews
mia lee vicino (2.5★) · 14258 likes
i'm convinced that anakin subconsciously used the force to make padme slowly fall in love with him because there's simply no way a queen/galactic senator would EVER get with a creepy, whiny child murderer with a mini ponytail
Wes (3.5★) · 12148 likes
Nothing gets me more hot and bothered then when I'm on a romantic picnic with a guy at a scenic waterfall retreat and he tells me he supports a fascist regime.
clownhead (2★) · 12066 likes
you: george lucas can’t write dialogue
me, absolutely tearing myself apart with hysterical laughter after witnessing c3po’s disembodied head look sadly at his body and say “i’m beside myself” in a dejected tone: you fools. you absolute lowbrow heathens. how could you not understand the depth of this message
Addison · 9635 likes
Natalie Portman is the reason I work out. I have this fantasy where we start talking at the Vanity Fair Oscars party bar. We exchange a few pleasantries. She asks what I do. I say I loved her in New Girl. She laughs. I get my drink.
"Well, see ya," I say and walk away. I've got her attention now. How many guys voluntarily leave a conversation with Natalie Portman? She touches her neck as she watches me leave.
Later,… more
bri (1.5★) · 9112 likes
out of all people she could leave in charge, padme seriously chooses jar jar binks