One thing I wish they made more obvious to the viewer is that count Dooku was responsible for choosing Jango fett as the template for the clone army so that the twist at the end had more impact. Perhaps yoda saying "or should I say Darth Tyrannus" when confronting dooku at the end would have primed the viewer for the end when sideous says "you have done well tyrannus"
Definitely. As it is now, the viewer could easily forget the name Tyrannus entirely by the end. Maybe making that the name of the person who ordered the army instead of Sifo-Dyas would've helped? I dunno.
@@ToughMartin I like that Dooku being Tyrannus is only offhandedly revealed at the end actually. Gave it rewatch value. You really have to pay attention to have it confirmed what the exact plot was. Till then, it's this really interesting mystery I think. Great that you do such a fresh take on the movie though. I like the romance and the dialogue though. Fittingly awkward. Realistic. Unlike the characters in the Disney sequel films, some people, especially those who have little experience with being in love, do talk like this. I kinda did... got the girl though! Good times. Sweet, sweet Gabr... what was I saying?
I think the greatest failure of the prequels was anakin and padmes romance. If George Lucas was able to fix it it could’ve been the glue that held the prequels together and the heart of it all.
Tbh I always liked the romance, I like that it's kinda corny and awkward, that's how people actually are, especially ones like these two. I also LOVE that Star Wars never gets remotely sexual at all, it's much more subtle and mature. When they split apart in Revenge of the Sith it always hits me really hard, especially when she's telling Obi Wan there's still good in him.
@@ToughMartin I agree. I wouldn't have bumped it out as I feel including it added more to their relationship and saying that Anakin tried to be with Padame whenever he could which is good but the execution does fall a bit flat.
there are a lot of young men marrying older women but i agree, lucas should fix the romance stuff like talk with those men on how they got older women to love them
Attack of the Clones is already great, but these tiny tweaks could make it even better! Nice job! I like the fact you don't try to change Lucas's vision, and instead enhance it further.
Thanks! Yeah Lucas is already a great storyteller. I think just about every movie can be tweaked to be made even better just because the movie making process knocks most visions off course a little
@@ToughMartin I should also point out, the Attack of the Clones Novelization goes into more detail on Anakin and Padme's relationship, and also Padme's pov on Anakin.
I also think it's VERY easy to dunk on how the movie looks from where we stand now (the same will inevitably happen to the sequel trilogy, I can assure you of that) because it was made two decades ago and the medium has evolved with new technological standards etc. but being a kid in the 2000's and seeing this movie for the first time, whether in theater or on my tiny little CRT TV at home, it was magical. I think what I liked the most was how, sure they used plenty of CGI but compared to movies from the past ten years, there were actual set pieces built for this series of movies and they also went to different locations around the world to find environments that look like the places on these far away planets. I can go to Italy and see the places that inspired Naboo, I can go and look at the landscapes that shaped other movies from this era like Lord of the Rings in New Zealand. Where do I go if I want to experience a little slice of the sequel trilogy or an MCU movie? Oh yea, that's right, Disney's newest attraction at their parks because that's all those movies will ever be. A bunch of CGI slop dumped onto a soundstage filled with blue screens, rendering the theme park experiences ironically more realistic than anything the actors in these scenes ever experienced. I love some of the world building decisions that Lucas made in the prequels as far as literally building the actual world was concerned. There are so many new locations we had never even heard of before which were so masterfully crafted. There are the chasms of Coruscant which are contrasted by the glowing futuristic interior of senate chambers, luxury apartments but also yet again contrasted by shady alleyways and grimy bars. Perhaps one of the best examples is what they did with Kamino and the cloning facility. It's so overly clean, so sterile, it's a lab, a hospital and yet also the place where the people who will fight our wars will be raised and taught. I think Clone Wars (the series not the movie, lol) did a great job at expanding on these things from a lore perspective but even that couldn't match the kind of atmosphere that segments of the prequels had. I have never met a single Star Wars fan who has never pretended to be Obi Wan standing on the dock on Kamino in the rain making a call with his hood up while waiting in the rain somewhere. Literally not a single one, like as irrelevant of a scene as it is from a plot perspective, the cultural impact it had and not for ironic reasons, can not be overstated and was very real. That is something that has yet to be replicated by the new movies and perhaps most importantly, while we perhaps cringe at it from time to time, there is a sincerity these movies had that could not come out of todays post-post-post-meta-irony era in Hollywood. Everything needs to be a self referential joke, everything needs to laugh at itself. Here's a movie that is, for better or worse, just trying to tell a story and bring you the sci-fi vibe that made the original trilogy so special to begin with. People tend to forget that if there is one person who knows Star Wars, it's George Lucas.
Imagine if we had the stuff we have today all the way back then. Light-up lightsaber props that glow in-camera. Unreal-Engine 3D rendered backgrounds in rear-projection making blue/green screens obsolete, photorealistic CG environments, and ofc still blending practical effects with CG to make everything look better. Part of me wishes I could see an alternate version of the first 6 films made with this new technology, still with the original actors, as if you just transported them to 2024 and started filming.
@@MarioTheLiopleurodon I think the original trilogy should probably remain untouched because there's practically no digital VFX in there to begin with while it would be more interesting to see for the prequels because those do have digital effects and those effects specifically happen to be their weakest aspect (out of the stuff that's not related to writing). I don't consider the aged effects of parts 4, 5 and 6 as a weakness, I actually marvel at how well they aged all things considered. we have seen time and time again that there is a quality to those effects that just can't be digitally replicated. even though movies like Rogue One have similar set pieces and do look pretty good and the "volume" on Mando sure doesn't ruin immersion in viewers, I will always love the practical approach of the original films. go on site, anything you can't do there you do in miniatures and anything you still can't do and can't fathom a way to do, maybe you don't need to do. maybe those elements don't necessarily improve the movie. I think the endless possibilities are exactly where a lot of modern filmmakers go wrong because they allow themselves to get tempted.
I think these ideas are really cool. I think Mace should be the one to kill Jango as there’s an arc in the Clone Wars where Boba tries to get revenge on him
If Jar Jar proposing emergency powers to Palpatine bothers you, consider this. Naboo was under siege a short time ago and the Republic failed to act. As a whole the republic failed one of its members and the only reason Naboo overcame its crisis was because the indigenous peoples who weren’t even being represented in the senate, joined the fray and sacrificed its own military. Padme became a hero and the members of the senate allowed an innocent indigenous community to pick up the tab. So now you have a member of the before shunned indigenous population from the planet whose tragedy everyone felt guilty about, making a plea to the senate and not only does the senate agree but they do so enthusiastically because they don’t want to appear as racist and uncaring in the face of the peoples they once ignored. The senate literally virtue signals it’s way into a dictatorship. Lucas knows what he’s doing here. This is how our world has got itself into all sorts of conflicts. Palpatine knows how sympathetic not just Jar Jar but the Gungans are in the eyes of the Republic. Naboo was a false flag operation and it’s finally paying off. It’s brilliant.
Which is even funnier because 9/11 happened during the production of Attack of the Clones, and almost immediately the US congress ratified the Patriot Act (spying under the guise of protection), and justifying massive war against Afghanistan & Iraq.
Whats really missing in this film for me is the actual reason for the separatist crisis. It just looks like "generic evil/greedy systems wanna leave the republic", but as we know, the issues between the Outer Rim and Core Worlds are centuries deep and even slightly mentioned in Episode 1. I just think we need to see more flaws of the Republic, even without Palpatine having emergency powers in order to understand why a neglected part of the galaxy decided to leave and form an alternate galactic government - and also give them another reason for creating a Droid Army besides "evil guys doing evil things". Like just have a character like Senator Organa mention that leaving the Republic is a bureaucratic hell, basically impossible without bribing tons of officials and if the Planet decides to ignore it and still go with it, they would be forcefully re-integrated. That would be a good (pseudo) reason for the Droid Armies that could be propagated to the separatist public while behind the scenes serving the Sith, just like the Clone Army did to the Republic. I still think that the prequel films suffer from this simplified black-white painting of the conflict, making it far less compelling than it actually was, especially compared to all the depth it got within the EU. That flaw even persisted within "The Clone Wars" series and was only slightly broken up in the later seasons. But the Clone Wars era being morally grey is one of its most unique and tragic aspects within all Star Wars and it baffles me how the movies just didn't use this asset properly, especially since the whole point of the prequels was to lead into the ultimate Greek Tragedy. I love how back in the day a common complaint from OT purists was that the prequels had too much politics but i'd say it needed even more politics. The guys who just wanted the OT 2.0 were hating the prequels anyway so its no point in trying to pander to them, instead embrace the different setting and tone of this era to its fullest. And "more politics" dosen't have to mean more senate scenes. You can introduce politics trough characters, dialogue, war, and even implications.
More suggestions to make Attack of the Clones better: Sabé dies at the beginning, raising the stakes by killing an established character from the previous movie Anakin jumps out Padmé's window to grab the probe droid instead of Obi-Wan, better fitting his characterization as brash and obsessed with Padmé Zam shapeshifts into someone else to try to excape the bar (there's no narrative reason for her to be a changeling in the actual film) Restore the deleted scene of Obi-Wan looking at the bust of Dooku in the Jedi Archives and talking to Jocasta Nu about him
As someone who struggles with wanting to over explain everything, I have great respect and admiration for writers (and editors) who can convey great depth with just a few smart choices. That’s what you’ve done here.
The scene in the beginning of Episode 8 of Luke throwing the lightsaber over his shoulder should have been the last shot of Episode 7. It would have turned it from a disappointing moment of anticlimax to a shocking and interesting cliffhanger for the fans
Nah, all it would have done was make the hate-boners come out two years earlier. And they'd be MUCH harder, because all they'd have to go on is that one scene without any of the context around it.
@@gabiusz1375 that’s the real issue of it all they had diff ppl write diff stories with diff visions and it was all run by a corporation with a huge agenda and wanted to insert their own self righteous moral beliefs over telling a compelling modern myth which was georg Lucas’ intent. It all screams inauthentic. And it’s sad for ppl who grew up with the lessons of star wars and the battle for good and evil in our own hearts :(
I always thought Lucas missed an amazing opportunity during the Dooku/Kenobi conversation. If Dooku had actually been a legit good guy, a true independent agent like he made himself out to be, the Jedi would have been the architects of their own downfall by fighting and killing the only person who saw the truth: that the Sith were rising. You could have done this with barely any change at all, even down to his execution at the hands of Anakin, and it could have been an even bigger step down Anakin's path to the Dark Side, when he realized he had been tricked into killing the only actor who was actively trying to stop the Sith.
This is somewhat how the Proxy Edits do Dooku. Through changing the lines of alien characters such as Poggle, it changes the context of the separatists as a whole to be more sympathetic, and Dooku doesnt have a red lightsaber even
I really liked the one about Mace being quick to kill. I feel it really adds a lot! And also kinda goes with Sam L. Jackson's character from Pulp Fiction 😂😂😂
Mace is one of the most devoted Jedi, he wouldn't set out to assassinate Jango like that. Evidence: "We're keepers of the peace, not soldiers." Also he is the only Jedi that wanted to save the Zillo beast and used killing as a last resort. Also he forgave Boba for trying to kill him because holding grudges is not the Jedi way.
I like your ideas TM. Interesting observation about the galactic size army developed on one planet unnoticed. And the comment about a little more development of the Anakin-Padme relationship. Great job!
I'd add a simple exchange of dialogue between two imperial officers in Ep. 5 about how the rebel energy shield HAS to be destroyed by a ground attack because the coldness of Hoth prevents a bombardment from overheating the shield.
That doesn’t make sense considering lasers burn really hot. A better explanation would be the rebels are jamming the imperial ships and their gunners cannot find a firing solution
Palpatine staying in office too long is a good idea but instead of him having another turn against the law or having the rules changed for his term to be longer by delaying an election maybe it could violate a precedent. Like in the US, after Washington there was a precedent that no president would serve more than 2 terms, and when FDR broke that by running for office again in 1940 it made people nervous even though there was no law against it. The 22nd amendment formally imposing a 2 term limit came right after during the Truman administration, largely as a response.
I would've made Anakin 5 years older in Phantom and beyond to make the romance in Clones more believable. It also would've given him more believable teenage angst, and perhaps some of said angst in Clones and Revenge could've been spread out a bit more into Phantom, to make it less... full-on and more digestible by the audience. In addition, I would've had Clones take place 5 years after Phantom instead of 10, making the fact that Palpatine is avoiding elections more of a plot point in Revenge, as well as making the ages of the characters line up a bit better.
Those are great ideas. Ageing up Anakin and shortening the time between films would've gone a long way. There's a reason Lucas' filmmaker friends told him not to make Anakin a kid in TPM.
George Lucas is a brilliant ideas man but he needed: - a good screenwriter to filter those ideas into a concise final screenplay. - a great editor to take the raw footage and shape it into a much tighter final cut. - a brave producer who will fight and push for a better film even when George is saying "meh, good enough". In other words, what he had on the Original Trilogy (or the first two instalments thereof anyway!)... and look how they turned out! George needed excellent collaborators to bounce ideas off and rein him in. He has brilliant ideas, good instincts... but lousy judgement. 'Clones is the living embodiment of that dichotomy; compelling in concept, deeply flawed in execution, alas... But even as flawed as 'Clones is, I'm still convinced if you brought in the best editor you could find to re-edit that film from scratch, trim the very considerable amount of fat from its bones, and deliver a much tighter, more focused, more concise final cut of around 127-129 minutes in length, you'd have a really, really solid SW film right there! When it's good, it's very, very good...
@@didncozosksma4466 The man was a fantastic cinematographer: he lined up shots in A New Hope that defined cinema for decades. But he couldn't direct actors to save his life.
I know that you dont want to rewrite anything just tweak it, however i think one rewrite would be instead of the whole jango fett assassination plot leading to a trail to kamino, have anakin have visions about a mandalorian army on a planet called kamino and a great war is about to happen, obiwan doesnt take it too seriously but he gives in after anakin predicts the assasination attempt on padme and that it would be from a mandalorian and does research on the lead. He goes to the archive where he finds that kamino doesnt exist like in the movie, but due to anakin saying it is a mandalorian army, he goes to mandalore where he meets up with satine and inform satine about a potential threat to her pacifist government as well as getting access to government archives of mandalore since if mandalorians are on kamino a map must exist on mandalore. After that the movie continues on how it was before. This could help play in anakins visions in rots as he knows that the visions that he sees will come true, but the jedi council ignores him like obiwan did.
That's an AotC I would watch. I particularly like the theme of Anakin being a sort of oracle. Plus, having a live action Satine...c'mon, that would've been great.
A point could be made to make the Separatists more sympathetic. The Loyalist Committee should have been seen acknowledging the Separatist claims of corruption and a broken system by arguing for reforms along with a stronger response. Moreover, it shouldn't feel like a triumph when the Republic attacks a sovereign system to rescue two Jedi Knights and a Senator caught literally committing acts of espionage. There should have been some serious reservations by the Loyalist Committee and the Jedi to starting the war with such a flagrant act of aggression. There should have a great deal of soul-searching on the side of the Jedi, representing a split in opinion, with a decent plurality of Knights openly expressing agreement with Dooku, not unlike the split in the Galaxy at large.
"it shouldn't feel like a triumph when the Republic attacks a sovereign system to rescue two Jedi Knights and a Senator caught literally committing acts of espionage" Do you remember when they played the imperial march at the end?
1. I would have Anakin be knighted in the beginning of the film after he stops the padme assassination attempt (obi stays with her and gathers Jedi to help but ani does it himself). 2. Anakin and padme have had a secret romance for years and padme leaving during the vote is a positive for Anakin since they finally are alone and this causes conflict. 3. For Anakin and padme to go to tatooine off the bat instead od Naboo. Allows more focus on shmis death since Anakin now had the freedom to go where he wants but is too late. 4.The idea of Sido Dyas not being scrapped and Palpatine using a fake Jedi name to make the army (which allows the Jedi to be even more confused and not trust the clones). 5. Anakin kills dooku in anger in this movie. Obi is knocked out early in the battle and after losing his mother the attempt on padme and what he thinks is obi wan killed he goes dark side and defeats dooku. This leads Palpatine to having him secretly be in the inner circle and his “secret chancellor mission” is to hunt down any future rogue Jedi that pose a threat to the republic (this leads to a suspicious Jedi shortage and really plays into them being spread in the outer rim in ep 3)
Nice video! If I was going to change something from the prequels in a relatively minor way I would change TPM to my prediction from the trailers. I thought Qui-Gon was a Jedi out travelling with his companions Padme and Jar-Jar. Jar-Jar would be the series equivalent of Chewie. Obi-Wan was a young Jedi Knight who they encounter. Anakin is the same but just a quiet little boy who barely talks who the Jedi and Sith are looking for because of his potential. I would amp up the sass on all of them.
Such an amazing plot + amazing character and vehicle designs + great CGI for the time with 2000s aesthetics akin to the Halflife 2 Citadel on Kamino. So glad my childhood and life was shaped by this movie! ❤
"Nothing changed under Palpatine after 10 years of him being in the office" Bullseye! And I wanna bring that up. Why a 10 year gap between ep 1 and 2? To make Anakin grow up! But that raises another question; why make Anakin a kid rather than a 20-something, in ep 1? I mean it was pretty clear, in the OT, that Anakin was a grown up when he and Obi Wan met ("When I first knew him, your father was already a great pilot"). And on top of that, meeting his love interest as a kid, while she's practically a grown up is pretty awkward. But there is a simple answer to why George made Anakin a kid - merchandise! If Anakin Skywalker is the same age as the toy buyers, his toys will sell even more
Which is ironic, because I have never known a kid who wants to play as a kid, they want to play as a grown up. I completely agree, he should have been at least 15, or older, while Padme should have been a year or two older at the most.
@@hartfartpoptart Exactly! Most kids don’t wanna play as Robin, but Batman. It seems George simply assumed a child version of Anakin would appeal more to the kids, which doesn’t make sense! I wasn’t born in 1977, but as I understand, the kids absolutely adored Luke, already back then! And yes, Padmé should def be around the same age.
Brilliant analysis, and well said. I like your improvements, and it's only a shame that this isn't what the original film was. Lucas needed that solid editor.
@@ToughMartin Something that Lucas was sadly lacking with the prequels. But Lucas had turned things around with The Clone Wars, he was on his way to back to form when Disney unfortunately happened. The Lucas-Filoni sequels would have been epic.
All great points. I'd love anything to fix the giant glaring weakness that is the romance. Maybe have Anakin back off a bit after Padme says no the 3rd time. But then have her pursue HIM so it doesn't seem so one sided and icky.
So last year actually went through the prequels again for the first time in many years I was pleasantly surprised at how good actually Phantom Menace was and I do think the attack of the Clones was actually the weakest of the three. Attack of the Clones was actually better than the phantom menace but I do not think that now
As I've ALWAYS said... the prequel trilogy, most noticeably Eps. 1 and 2, had GREAT storylines, sense of cohesiveness and compelling characters, but the final screenplay and final execution leaves much to be desired. That's sad because, in the essence, those are VERY good "movie ideas", not so very good "final movies". Episode 3, in the other hand, fixes most of these errors, making it one of the best films of the whole saga. Is a very high point. Just imagine if eps 1 and 2 were on par!!!, specially the Phantom Menace which is the weaker one.
you should do a video like this for all the films in the prequel trilogy. I'm planning to do a fan edit for AOTC that makes edits that you have suggest by using clips from the kenobi and tales of the jedi show along with some ai voices
A little disappointed you didn't bring up any of the Deleted Scenes especially since you used footage from some of them. While not a vast improvement, scenes like Anakin meeting Padme's family would've helped the romance plot as there'd be more footage or Anakin & Padme interacting with each other. Considering that Phantom Menace got multiple deleted scenes added back in future releases (most of them in the Podracing, there's cool comparison video on TH-cam), I've always wondered why Attack of the Clones didn't as there are multiple scenes that should be in the movie. Maybe it's a pacing thing, this movie does have a lot of switching between storylines so maybe it was too hard to reintroduce scenes. I do know it's common to cut all scenes related to side characters if you can't keep their introduction & exit so that's likely why Padme's family is completely cut. Be weird to meet them and then Anakin & Padme go straight to that private island since there's multiple scenes at their house. It'd also be weird to skip the family's introduction and just keep scenes like Anakin talking to the parents, so it was an all-or-nothing scenario but still a shame to lose those scenes. Similar thing happened with Revenge of the Sith where Padme talks with a group of senators to try to get Palpatine to give up his emergency powers/the beginning formation of The Rebellion. It's a full subplot so either all of the scenes are kept or none of them are.
@@ToughMartinhat's because Lucas' universe isn't as power-creeped as EU media and new canon. He keeps the Force working the same as it did in the OT. So Force-lightning remains the only high-tier ability in the movies.
The one thing I know I would've changed is that I wouldn't have had Anakin obsessing over Padme at the beginning. That made him come off as creepy right from the start. Then, during his and Obi-Wan's discussion of how best to protect her, he should've showed some maturity that would impress her -- the transition from seeing him as a little boy to seeing him as a man would start then, and it would culminate in the bedroom rescue: When Anakin leaps on the bed and deals with Padme's assailants, she gets to see him in full growth as a Jedi, and even better, he gets to see her as an attractive woman rather than as the "angel" of his youth. This would lay the foundation of their relationship to come.
Yeah Anakin's got major creep vibes right off the bat. I always thought it was odd how blatant he was about it, considering the doctrine on attachments. You'd think he would've tried to conceal it more.
10:10-10:50 oh wait this brings up the question of *were* the jedi supposed to find the clones, and was the kaminoans telling obiwan about the clones why jango tried to kill him before he was able to contact the jedi council with what he learned. Like were the clones initially supposed to be even more forces for the separatists, if the fact that there was a clone army being made for the republic was such an obfuscated fact? (it's been a while since i've watched aotc, so those answers could be obvious, but i never thought about that before this video)
I recently read that, apparently, Hayden Christiansen and Natlie Portman hit it off so well, they went on a couple dates. There was a rumor that some of the outtakes on Naboo got a little too suggestive because of how flirty they got. How the hell you end up with a wooden romance between two actors with actual in-person chemistry is beyond me, but there *had* to have been plenty of footage to work with.
I think it be cool if episode 2 had more action scenes there could be a 3rd bounty hunter introduced after Jango and Zam who follows Anakin & Padmé to Naboo the 2 lovers would have a couple close calls and two eventually kill the 3rd assassin and that would bring anakin & padme closer and right in time for them to leave for tatooine
A lot of your points are valid, but the solutions you give have a flaw that arguably is shared with one of the biggest flaws of the prequels itself: relying on dialogue, and telling instead of showing. So if it were up to me I would follow these suggestions but take them further and have us experience these rather than hearing about them in dialogue, which may have required structural adjustments, but all the better for it imo.
a detail not many people initially realize is that George Lucas purposely wrote Jango Fett’s allegiance to be a mystery. in the scene where the separatists have their meeting on geonosis, jango was planned to be present, but George decided against it for the above reason. to me, jango doesn’t care about the politics and just has the “a job is a job” mindset. i also believe that he had no idea about order 66 (unless there’s something from the comics or books I don’t know about). i imagined if he survived the battle at the end of aotc, he would eventually ditch the separatists and just focus on raising his son. maybe he’d even go off the grid or fake his death, idk. even if he has to die for the sake of the overall story, i would’ve love to see atoc and tcw give more clues regarding his true allegiance
Ive always had my own ideas on how I would approach the prequels story. Obi wan should have been the main character, already a Knight in his 30s and have gone through a character arc through the three movies, from a dedicated Jedi who can see so fault with the council, to someone who realizes...the Jedi are behind in their views (ex. restricting attachments/romantic love/failing to stop Palpatines rise. Luke later allows attachments in the EU Jedi Order when he marries Mara) The Death Star would also have way more of a backstory, and the Clone Wars would happen between I and II. Luke and Leia would be born at the end of II and not III. Anakin would also be older in Ep. I (around 18-20) and has a more gradual fall to the dark side. The Trade Federation would not exist in my version either.
Re: "Accidentally using a mind trick on somebody" - My wife had only ever seen Phantom Menace growing up, so when I showed her Episodes 2-6, she watched Attack of the Clones and legitimately thought "No woman could actually fall for this creepy guy . . ." and asked "Anakin is using the force to make Padme fall in love with him, right?" My mind was kinda blown. I think that one change along could do so much to improve this movie and completely alter the vibe of it, building towards Anakin's corruption. Perhaps even explaining why the Jedi forbid romantic relationships: Because someone with a powerful connection to the force, when fueled by passion, can easily lose control and unintentionally effect the thoughts of those around them.
This is the movie that to me, in its full-on cheese and design and dialogue and story from the start, most resembles the cornball Flash Gordon serials from the 1930s that originally inspired Star Wars. All of that makes this the most difficult Star Wars movie for me to take seriously. Still enjoyable in its own way, but undoubtedly my least favorite.
Changes I would make: The overall outline of the story is good. The execution and dialogue not so good. Bottom line Lucas should be the producer not the director. Lucas' best films have been ones where he was the producer and there was a capable director handling the shooting. With Empire you had Kirshner directing and Lucas producing. With Indiana Jones you had Spielberg directing and Lucas producing. Those were great. The Anakin / Padme romance should have been handled better. If our new "director" doesn't specialize in romance Lucas should have brought in a different writer/director who specializes in romance movies just to handle this part of the film. Anakin should be less whiny / more capable. His portrayal in ROTS is much better. More of that. Not a fan of the acting of SL Jackson, Portman, and Hayden in this one. I think a good director could get the most out of their performances. Some adjustments in dialogue as well. A big problem with the prequels is Lucas having too much control. As I said Lucas' best movies have been with him as producer and a capable director. The prequels could have been fantastic if Spielberg and Lucas teamed up again as director and producer. If not Spielberg another good/capable director like James Cameron or Ridley Scott. Yes those guys usually have more control but it's Star Wars man. Who wouldn't want to do that?
As much as I enjoy the memes, I just can't bear the “I have the high ground” dialogue between Anakin and Obi-Wan. It is meant to be the climax of the whole trilogy and the dialogue seems like a joke… I love the overall storyline behind the prequels, but jeez… the DETAILS!
I feel like most of the details you have been wanting to add are already in the movie. At one point I thought you were being sarcastic by SHOWING the scenes that made all of these details evident. The only exception would be of course Obi Wan killing Jango, then I realized you were serious. I would first point out Jedi do not "close circles", they simply let go and follow the path that is traced by the will of the force. Obi Wan is not constantly thinking about defeating or killing Jango during the movie. And that there is already a line where Yoda asks for Obi Wan to capture the clone template and bring him to Coruscant for interrogation. Mace agrees cause OF COURSE it would serve no purpose to kill him. Mace even regrets killing Jango cause at that point that source of information is gone forever. He only killed Jango cause this guy wouldn't stop shooting and killing others. Tales Of The Jedi shows a Dooku that disagreed with the Senate AND WITH THE JEDI, which I think is one of the best examples of why the show is flawed. In the movies, the Jedi and the Senate are two opposite forces (and also in The Clone Wars show). Jedi are never asked to do anything by the Senate , anything they do is either a petition from the Chancellor o the Council, when both come to an agreement. Tales also shows that Dooku displayed violent behavior in front of other Jedi, undoing what Episode II had established; that the Jedi consider "killing is not in Dooku's character" and that "he is an idealist, not a murderer". Dooku's real motivations in the movies are not political idealism, or Qui Gon's death. Realize some clones are older than 10 years and Jango was recruited by LORD TYRANNUS. So he has been a Sith since before The Phantom Menace. That's way too INVOLVED with the Sith ideology and agenda by the time of the war. That is his real motive. The movie shows The Jedi knew from the beginning that the army and the separatist were connected. They simply could not interfere as this is not their army. As Lama Su says, it is for the Republic. Palpatine on the other hand expresses he does not want war, so the fact that he embraces war so quickly takes everybody by surprise, BECAUSE he played it cool for 10 years. This movie is not about the villains, is about Anakin. Although Dooku is the final boss, the real villain is the dark side. Aside from that, you have the best analysis for this movie that i've seen on youtube in a long time and I'm glad to know that it is mostly intelligent people who like it. And I do think that the movie is too complicated for the general audience and this is its most important flaw. But I also know there was no other choice. Ep I and II both walked so that Revenge Of The Sith could run. Attack Of The Clones has been my favorite movie the longest however.
While AoTC is my favorite, due to nostalgia as well as music and the set designs, I do acknowledge some of the flaws, and I believe it’s a few steps from being truly the best Star Wars film.
Lucas should have stuck with the original idea that Zahn used in 1991 and make the clones the bad guys. Have the chancellor conscript an army of core worlders to push back an invasion by outer rim cartels using disposable clones. Maybe give the clones an orcish look. But having a war of clones vs droids was just stupid writing.
George Lucas is someone who definitely needs to be held accountable when making his movies. I understand not wanting anyone to touch them but it’s like he want to accept any critique either. If he had others who were on his level of filmmaking and editing, then maybe attack of the clones could’ve reached it’s full potential, and so could phantom menace and revenge of the sith. I love this movie, but it definitely could’ve been better. I think George is also someone who makes the entire story and then cuts out stuff only because he has to to keep the movie shorter. He would benefit from director’s cuts and extended editions of his movies greatly (why disney hasn’t made extended editions already is beyond me)
I agree with the Marvel observation wholeheartedly. I'm not as sold about Anakin being meant to be awkward, but I'm open to being persuaded. I think if Lucas was more "actor friendly" he could've conveyed that more, and it would've been awesome.
@@ToughMartin Yea Lucus seems like sort of an Introvert and can't really express his vision that well onto others around him without long form discussions.
@@refugeehugsforfree4151 Yeah exactly. When you see footage of him explaining what he's going for, it's awesome. But a lot of it stays in his head somehow, rather than making it into film
@@ToughMartin "I'm not as sold about Anakin being meant to be awkward" I don't see how you can't buy this. He was raised by monks who teach detachment, he's a 19 year old who's had zero flirting experience, and it's what happens in the movie. What is there to not believe?
Jango Fett’s plot line in Attack of the Clones is one of the weakest plot points in any Star Wars movie. Convoluted and makes almost no sense from this peasant’s perspective.
Nobody rationalizes that Anakin was supposed to be petulant "because he's supposed to be an annoying teenager," it's literally a part of his arc, it's in the context clues. It's media literacy my friend. Anakin goes from an altruistic slave who was the center of his mother's world to a neglected tool for an uncaring institution. The Clone Wars made Anakin into a loose cannon psycho but he wasn't meant to be like that in the movies. He's a deeply traumatized man driven back to his roots as a slave because he felt safe within that paradigm and felt constant moral unrest throughout his service to the Republic. Being admired by everyone sounds a little too much like Rey Skywalker to me. I get it, Darth Vader was an imposing presence in a lot of the EU, but in the movies, Vader is supposed to be this guy who got trapped by his need for approval and sense of pride. Obi-Wan in Episode II is a huge reason for that, because he resents Anakin for being abandoned by Qui-Gon, so he belittles him in front of everyone and expects to be able to effectively teach him patience when never had any patience for Anakin. By Episode III Anakin manages to earn Obi-Wan's respect as a Jedi until the Dooku incident threw his self-image into chaos. Anakin eventually learns patience on his own, but then sees that the Jedi don't operate by the same moral standard they impose on him. The thing about Vader is that he isn't reckless and imposing, he's incredibly rational. He patiently parses the conflicting rationales of the Jedi and the Sith and the conclusion he came to is a compromising Jedi is no different from a Sith. But the Sith won't be trying to wage war by talking things out, they'll impose peace through force, which worked for Anakin's childhood, when Sebulba didn't squash him because he knew that if he damaged a slave, he was damaging property in circulation within a Hutt economy, which would just be asking for his own squashing. Vader in the movies and in the comics are two completely different characters. Same goes for the novels for that matter. Anakin in Episode II isn't some glory hound, he's not seeking admiration, he's seeking acceptance, which is why he gravitates toward Padme, who proves herself rational and accepting of things Anakin can't reconcile about himself. Anakin didn't jump out of a car to show that he's reckless, that's Obi-Wan's toxic criticism of his success, insisting that it's a tainted success. Anakin could only have calculated jumping out of a car and falling several hundred feet to land on his target's speeder if he was perfectly calm and rational, but Obi-Wan is genuinely unfair in trying to teach Anakin patience. In Anakin's mind, it makes no sense to try to lecture him on patience when they're in the middle of a mission in hot pursuit of an assassin. There's nothing Anakin could have done to prevent losing his lightsaber in the chase, it was a fluke, and Obi-Wan acts as if it's the result of a character flaw in need of more work. Of course Anakin is right about being held back. The more important point is that Anakin's also being held back emotionally by Obi-Wan. The Jedi teach to ignore emotion and to push it out of consideration, so of course Obi-Wan can't teach Anakin how to control his emotions, he doesn't even realize he is teaching Anakin out of his own emotional turmoil and not meeting Anakin where he's at. What Anakin really needed was a more emotionally balanced teacher who could offer useful advice without failing completely to acknowledge his successes. Without that, all that was left of Anakin in Episode II was the same petulance that Obi-Wan exhibited toward him, but without the same authority to justify it. "In a lot of ways, I'm actually ahead of him." Qui-Gon was certainly more impressed with Anakin as a child than he ever was with Obi-Wan. Even in Episode III, Obi-Wan can't praise Anakin without claiming ownership of Anakin's progress. "I've trained you since you were a small boy and taught you everything I know." Anakin is momentarily swayed by the flattery of Obi-Wan admitting his superiority, but he still knows Obi-Wan just wants him to shut up and still sees him as a glory seeking egomaniac and Obi-Wan was just in a good mood because he didn't have to take Anakin and share the glory of a successful mission. You can see it in Anakin's face, their last friendly interaction is weird considering the next time they see each other Anakin is raging about Obi-Wan turning his wife against him. Anakin can't resist giving Obi-Wan the twisted version of himself that always existed in Obi-Wan's mind, because in between these encounters it all clicks that Anakin has only ever been a useful tool to the Jedi. That failure to acknowledge Anakin's success is exactly what drives him to rely on Palpatine's praise, which is what has always kept Vader loyal to Palpatine, despite the eventual revelations of the lies about his children. Vader says it's too late for him to Luke exactly because he knows he can never be accepted by anyone other than Palpatine for his crimes. Obi-Wan only ever rejected Anakin, the Jedi rejected him, and that's why the worst thing Padme could have done is reject him. And that's why Vader chooses Luke over Palpatine, because Luke is literally being abandoned and rejected in front of Anakin, and he's still reaching out to his father begging for acceptance and that glimpse of himself in his son sways Anakin. Luke accepted Anakin, and Anakin was willing to throw away his empire and die to show his son the same gesture.
I wish Anakin hadn't talked with Padme about wanting a dictatorship, then it ruins the whole character arc. What's the point of turning our hero to the dark side if he apparently already thinks like a Sith, even when he's not blind with rage?
All the stuff you're mentioning here are really allready integreted parts om the major plot line for Episode 2, it¨s just not shown directly in the film, and mostly happens behind the scenes.....
![กี่หมื่นฟ้า | Your Sky Series EP.1 [1/4]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/vLGjxFL6U_I/mqdefault.jpg)
One thing I wish they made more obvious to the viewer is that count Dooku was responsible for choosing Jango fett as the template for the clone army so that the twist at the end had more impact. Perhaps yoda saying "or should I say Darth Tyrannus" when confronting dooku at the end would have primed the viewer for the end when sideous says "you have done well tyrannus"
Definitely. As it is now, the viewer could easily forget the name Tyrannus entirely by the end. Maybe making that the name of the person who ordered the army instead of Sifo-Dyas would've helped? I dunno.
@@ToughMartin I like that Dooku being Tyrannus is only offhandedly revealed at the end actually. Gave it rewatch value. You really have to pay attention to have it confirmed what the exact plot was. Till then, it's this really interesting mystery I think.
Great that you do such a fresh take on the movie though. I like the romance and the dialogue though. Fittingly awkward. Realistic. Unlike the characters in the Disney sequel films, some people, especially those who have little experience with being in love, do talk like this. I kinda did... got the girl though! Good times. Sweet, sweet Gabr... what was I saying?
"I like sand."
"It's all Obi-Wan's fault! He's JELLO! I ATE him!"
I think the greatest failure of the prequels was anakin and padmes romance. If George Lucas was able to fix it it could’ve been the glue that held the prequels together and the heart of it all.
So true. The whole trilogy would have been so much more compelling had they stuck the landing on their romance.
Insisting he start as a kid was a bad move imo.
If he was already a young adult when they met, you could have kicked things off in the first film.
Tbh I always liked the romance, I like that it's kinda corny and awkward, that's how people actually are, especially ones like these two. I also LOVE that Star Wars never gets remotely sexual at all, it's much more subtle and mature. When they split apart in Revenge of the Sith it always hits me really hard, especially when she's telling Obi Wan there's still good in him.
@@ToughMartin I agree. I wouldn't have bumped it out as I feel including it added more to their relationship and saying that Anakin tried to be with Padame whenever he could which is good but the execution does fall a bit flat.
there are a lot of young men marrying older women but i agree, lucas should fix the romance stuff like talk with those men on how they got older women to love them
Attack of the Clones is already great, but these tiny tweaks could make it even better! Nice job! I like the fact you don't try to change Lucas's vision, and instead enhance it further.
Thanks! Yeah Lucas is already a great storyteller. I think just about every movie can be tweaked to be made even better just because the movie making process knocks most visions off course a little
@@ToughMartin I should also point out, the Attack of the Clones Novelization goes into more detail on Anakin and Padme's relationship, and also Padme's pov on Anakin.
I also think it's VERY easy to dunk on how the movie looks from where we stand now (the same will inevitably happen to the sequel trilogy, I can assure you of that) because it was made two decades ago and the medium has evolved with new technological standards etc. but being a kid in the 2000's and seeing this movie for the first time, whether in theater or on my tiny little CRT TV at home, it was magical.
I think what I liked the most was how, sure they used plenty of CGI but compared to movies from the past ten years, there were actual set pieces built for this series of movies and they also went to different locations around the world to find environments that look like the places on these far away planets. I can go to Italy and see the places that inspired Naboo, I can go and look at the landscapes that shaped other movies from this era like Lord of the Rings in New Zealand. Where do I go if I want to experience a little slice of the sequel trilogy or an MCU movie? Oh yea, that's right, Disney's newest attraction at their parks because that's all those movies will ever be. A bunch of CGI slop dumped onto a soundstage filled with blue screens, rendering the theme park experiences ironically more realistic than anything the actors in these scenes ever experienced.
I love some of the world building decisions that Lucas made in the prequels as far as literally building the actual world was concerned. There are so many new locations we had never even heard of before which were so masterfully crafted. There are the chasms of Coruscant which are contrasted by the glowing futuristic interior of senate chambers, luxury apartments but also yet again contrasted by shady alleyways and grimy bars. Perhaps one of the best examples is what they did with Kamino and the cloning facility. It's so overly clean, so sterile, it's a lab, a hospital and yet also the place where the people who will fight our wars will be raised and taught. I think Clone Wars (the series not the movie, lol) did a great job at expanding on these things from a lore perspective but even that couldn't match the kind of atmosphere that segments of the prequels had. I have never met a single Star Wars fan who has never pretended to be Obi Wan standing on the dock on Kamino in the rain making a call with his hood up while waiting in the rain somewhere. Literally not a single one, like as irrelevant of a scene as it is from a plot perspective, the cultural impact it had and not for ironic reasons, can not be overstated and was very real.
That is something that has yet to be replicated by the new movies and perhaps most importantly, while we perhaps cringe at it from time to time, there is a sincerity these movies had that could not come out of todays post-post-post-meta-irony era in Hollywood. Everything needs to be a self referential joke, everything needs to laugh at itself. Here's a movie that is, for better or worse, just trying to tell a story and bring you the sci-fi vibe that made the original trilogy so special to begin with. People tend to forget that if there is one person who knows Star Wars, it's George Lucas.
Imagine if we had the stuff we have today all the way back then. Light-up lightsaber props that glow in-camera. Unreal-Engine 3D rendered backgrounds in rear-projection making blue/green screens obsolete, photorealistic CG environments, and ofc still blending practical effects with CG to make everything look better. Part of me wishes I could see an alternate version of the first 6 films made with this new technology, still with the original actors, as if you just transported them to 2024 and started filming.
@@MarioTheLiopleurodon I think the original trilogy should probably remain untouched because there's practically no digital VFX in there to begin with while it would be more interesting to see for the prequels because those do have digital effects and those effects specifically happen to be their weakest aspect (out of the stuff that's not related to writing). I don't consider the aged effects of parts 4, 5 and 6 as a weakness, I actually marvel at how well they aged all things considered. we have seen time and time again that there is a quality to those effects that just can't be digitally replicated. even though movies like Rogue One have similar set pieces and do look pretty good and the "volume" on Mando sure doesn't ruin immersion in viewers, I will always love the practical approach of the original films. go on site, anything you can't do there you do in miniatures and anything you still can't do and can't fathom a way to do, maybe you don't need to do. maybe those elements don't necessarily improve the movie. I think the endless possibilities are exactly where a lot of modern filmmakers go wrong because they allow themselves to get tempted.
I think these ideas are really cool. I think Mace should be the one to kill Jango as there’s an arc in the Clone Wars where Boba tries to get revenge on him
If Jar Jar proposing emergency powers to Palpatine bothers you, consider this.
Naboo was under siege a short time ago and the Republic failed to act. As a whole the republic failed one of its members and the only reason Naboo overcame its crisis was because the indigenous peoples who weren’t even being represented in the senate, joined the fray and sacrificed its own military. Padme became a hero and the members of the senate allowed an innocent indigenous community to pick up the tab. So now you have a member of the before shunned indigenous population from the planet whose tragedy everyone felt guilty about, making a plea to the senate and not only does the senate agree but they do so enthusiastically because they don’t want to appear as racist and uncaring in the face of the peoples they once ignored. The senate literally virtue signals it’s way into a dictatorship.
Lucas knows what he’s doing here. This is how our world has got itself into all sorts of conflicts. Palpatine knows how sympathetic not just Jar Jar but the Gungans are in the eyes of the Republic. Naboo was a false flag operation and it’s finally paying off. It’s brilliant.
The Senate was woke before it was cool. Well played, Mr. Lucas.
Which is even funnier because 9/11 happened during the production of Attack of the Clones, and almost immediately the US congress ratified the Patriot Act (spying under the guise of protection), and justifying massive war against Afghanistan & Iraq.
@@taufiknuryahyamdWait so Palpatine is woke???? He is the senate!
Whats really missing in this film for me is the actual reason for the separatist crisis. It just looks like "generic evil/greedy systems wanna leave the republic", but as we know, the issues between the Outer Rim and Core Worlds are centuries deep and even slightly mentioned in Episode 1. I just think we need to see more flaws of the Republic, even without Palpatine having emergency powers in order to understand why a neglected part of the galaxy decided to leave and form an alternate galactic government - and also give them another reason for creating a Droid Army besides "evil guys doing evil things".
Like just have a character like Senator Organa mention that leaving the Republic is a bureaucratic hell, basically impossible without bribing tons of officials and if the Planet decides to ignore it and still go with it, they would be forcefully re-integrated. That would be a good (pseudo) reason for the Droid Armies that could be propagated to the separatist public while behind the scenes serving the Sith, just like the Clone Army did to the Republic.
I still think that the prequel films suffer from this simplified black-white painting of the conflict, making it far less compelling than it actually was, especially compared to all the depth it got within the EU. That flaw even persisted within "The Clone Wars" series and was only slightly broken up in the later seasons. But the Clone Wars era being morally grey is one of its most unique and tragic aspects within all Star Wars and it baffles me how the movies just didn't use this asset properly, especially since the whole point of the prequels was to lead into the ultimate Greek Tragedy.
I love how back in the day a common complaint from OT purists was that the prequels had too much politics but i'd say it needed even more politics. The guys who just wanted the OT 2.0 were hating the prequels anyway so its no point in trying to pander to them, instead embrace the different setting and tone of this era to its fullest. And "more politics" dosen't have to mean more senate scenes. You can introduce politics trough characters, dialogue, war, and even implications.
More suggestions to make Attack of the Clones better:
Sabé dies at the beginning, raising the stakes by killing an established character from the previous movie
Anakin jumps out Padmé's window to grab the probe droid instead of Obi-Wan, better fitting his characterization as brash and obsessed with Padmé
Zam shapeshifts into someone else to try to excape the bar (there's no narrative reason for her to be a changeling in the actual film)
Restore the deleted scene of Obi-Wan looking at the bust of Dooku in the Jedi Archives and talking to Jocasta Nu about him
As someone who struggles with wanting to over explain everything, I have great respect and admiration for writers (and editors) who can convey great depth with just a few smart choices. That’s what you’ve done here.
The scene in the beginning of Episode 8 of Luke throwing the lightsaber over his shoulder should have been the last shot of Episode 7. It would have turned it from a disappointing moment of anticlimax to a shocking and interesting cliffhanger for the fans
Nah, all it would have done was make the hate-boners come out two years earlier. And they'd be MUCH harder, because all they'd have to go on is that one scene without any of the context around it.
In either case, having Luke hand it back to Rey would be the better choice.
The problem was that 8th episode was written by a different guy than 7th and 9th and both of them had other visions.
@@USpatriot741776watch the Ivan Ortega cut
@@gabiusz1375 that’s the real issue of it all they had diff ppl write diff stories with diff visions and it was all run by a corporation with a huge agenda and wanted to insert their own self righteous moral beliefs over telling a compelling modern myth which was georg Lucas’ intent. It all screams inauthentic. And it’s sad for ppl who grew up with the lessons of star wars and the battle for good and evil in our own hearts :(
I always thought Lucas missed an amazing opportunity during the Dooku/Kenobi conversation. If Dooku had actually been a legit good guy, a true independent agent like he made himself out to be, the Jedi would have been the architects of their own downfall by fighting and killing the only person who saw the truth: that the Sith were rising. You could have done this with barely any change at all, even down to his execution at the hands of Anakin, and it could have been an even bigger step down Anakin's path to the Dark Side, when he realized he had been tricked into killing the only actor who was actively trying to stop the Sith.
This is somewhat how the Proxy Edits do Dooku. Through changing the lines of alien characters such as Poggle, it changes the context of the separatists as a whole to be more sympathetic, and Dooku doesnt have a red lightsaber even
@@shoyahaaruni Where/how can I view the Proxy Edits?
I really liked the one about Mace being quick to kill. I feel it really adds a lot!
And also kinda goes with Sam L. Jackson's character from Pulp Fiction 😂😂😂
I’ve been saying this for years 😂 Watching
Obi-Wan being a hard boiled detective is truly a treat
this film is very underrated, especially if you add all the deleted scenes to the final cut
Mace is one of the most devoted Jedi, he wouldn't set out to assassinate Jango like that.
Evidence: "We're keepers of the peace, not soldiers." Also he is the only Jedi that wanted to save the Zillo beast and used killing as a last resort. Also he forgave Boba for trying to kill him because holding grudges is not the Jedi way.
Honestly this one was my favorite one from the first day I saw it on opening day. Still is my favorite
I like your ideas TM. Interesting observation about the galactic size army developed on one planet unnoticed. And the comment about a little more development of the Anakin-Padme relationship. Great job!
I'd add a simple exchange of dialogue between two imperial officers in Ep. 5 about how the rebel energy shield HAS to be destroyed by a ground attack because the coldness of Hoth prevents a bombardment from overheating the shield.
That doesn’t make sense considering lasers burn really hot. A better explanation would be the rebels are jamming the imperial ships and their gunners cannot find a firing solution
Palpatine staying in office too long is a good idea but instead of him having another turn against the law or having the rules changed for his term to be longer by delaying an election maybe it could violate a precedent. Like in the US, after Washington there was a precedent that no president would serve more than 2 terms, and when FDR broke that by running for office again in 1940 it made people nervous even though there was no law against it. The 22nd amendment formally imposing a 2 term limit came right after during the Truman administration, largely as a response.
Totally agree, the clone army appearing out of thin air not being questioned by ANYONE is absolute bonkers. loved your tweaks!
I would've made Anakin 5 years older in Phantom and beyond to make the romance in Clones more believable. It also would've given him more believable teenage angst, and perhaps some of said angst in Clones and Revenge could've been spread out a bit more into Phantom, to make it less... full-on and more digestible by the audience. In addition, I would've had Clones take place 5 years after Phantom instead of 10, making the fact that Palpatine is avoiding elections more of a plot point in Revenge, as well as making the ages of the characters line up a bit better.
Those are great ideas. Ageing up Anakin and shortening the time between films would've gone a long way. There's a reason Lucas' filmmaker friends told him not to make Anakin a kid in TPM.
This ^
And protecting Jake Lloyd from all of the hate Star Wars fans gave him after the fact.
George Lucas is a brilliant ideas man but he needed:
- a good screenwriter to filter those ideas into a concise final screenplay.
- a great editor to take the raw footage and shape it into a much tighter final cut.
- a brave producer who will fight and push for a better film even when George is saying "meh, good enough".
In other words, what he had on the Original Trilogy (or the first two instalments thereof anyway!)... and look how they turned out!
George needed excellent collaborators to bounce ideas off and rein him in. He has brilliant ideas, good instincts... but lousy judgement. 'Clones is the living embodiment of that dichotomy; compelling in concept, deeply flawed in execution, alas...
But even as flawed as 'Clones is, I'm still convinced if you brought in the best editor you could find to re-edit that film from scratch, trim the very considerable amount of fat from its bones, and deliver a much tighter, more focused, more concise final cut of around 127-129 minutes in length, you'd have a really, really solid SW film right there! When it's good, it's very, very good...
I’ve said this before, Lucas was the greatest sci fi novel writer that never was.
@@didncozosksma4466 The man was a fantastic cinematographer: he lined up shots in A New Hope that defined cinema for decades. But he couldn't direct actors to save his life.
I know that you dont want to rewrite anything just tweak it, however i think one rewrite would be instead of the whole jango fett assassination plot leading to a trail to kamino, have anakin have visions about a mandalorian army on a planet called kamino and a great war is about to happen, obiwan doesnt take it too seriously but he gives in after anakin predicts the assasination attempt on padme and that it would be from a mandalorian and does research on the lead. He goes to the archive where he finds that kamino doesnt exist like in the movie, but due to anakin saying it is a mandalorian army, he goes to mandalore where he meets up with satine and inform satine about a potential threat to her pacifist government as well as getting access to government archives of mandalore since if mandalorians are on kamino a map must exist on mandalore. After that the movie continues on how it was before. This could help play in anakins visions in rots as he knows that the visions that he sees will come true, but the jedi council ignores him like obiwan did.
That's an AotC I would watch. I particularly like the theme of Anakin being a sort of oracle. Plus, having a live action Satine...c'mon, that would've been great.
I appreciated this, rewriting with tweaks. Still telling George’s episode 2 just brushing up on dialogue and motivation
A point could be made to make the Separatists more sympathetic. The Loyalist Committee should have been seen acknowledging the Separatist claims of corruption and a broken system by arguing for reforms along with a stronger response. Moreover, it shouldn't feel like a triumph when the Republic attacks a sovereign system to rescue two Jedi Knights and a Senator caught literally committing acts of espionage. There should have been some serious reservations by the Loyalist Committee and the Jedi to starting the war with such a flagrant act of aggression. There should have a great deal of soul-searching on the side of the Jedi, representing a split in opinion, with a decent plurality of Knights openly expressing agreement with Dooku, not unlike the split in the Galaxy at large.
"it shouldn't feel like a triumph when the Republic attacks a sovereign system to rescue two Jedi Knights and a Senator caught literally committing acts of espionage"
Do you remember when they played the imperial march at the end?
1. I would have Anakin be knighted in the beginning of the film after he stops the padme assassination attempt (obi stays with her and gathers Jedi to help but ani does it himself).
2. Anakin and padme have had a secret romance for years and padme leaving during the vote is a positive for Anakin since they finally are alone and this causes conflict.
3. For Anakin and padme to go to tatooine off the bat instead od Naboo. Allows more focus on shmis death since Anakin now had the freedom to go where he wants but is too late.
4.The idea of Sido Dyas not being scrapped and Palpatine using a fake Jedi name to make the army (which allows the Jedi to be even more confused and not trust the clones).
5. Anakin kills dooku in anger in this movie. Obi is knocked out early in the battle and after losing his mother the attempt on padme and what he thinks is obi wan killed he goes dark side and defeats dooku. This leads Palpatine to having him secretly be in the inner circle and his “secret chancellor mission” is to hunt down any future rogue Jedi that pose a threat to the republic (this leads to a suspicious Jedi shortage and really plays into them being spread in the outer rim in ep 3)
This is great stuff keep up the good work!
Thanks! That means a lot, I appreciate it
That was fun to watch!
Nice video!
If I was going to change something from the prequels in a relatively minor way I would change TPM to my prediction from the trailers. I thought Qui-Gon was a Jedi out travelling with his companions Padme and Jar-Jar. Jar-Jar would be the series equivalent of Chewie. Obi-Wan was a young Jedi Knight who they encounter. Anakin is the same but just a quiet little boy who barely talks who the Jedi and Sith are looking for because of his potential. I would amp up the sass on all of them.
Such an amazing plot + amazing character and vehicle designs + great CGI for the time with 2000s aesthetics akin to the Halflife 2 Citadel on Kamino. So glad my childhood and life was shaped by this movie! ❤
"Nothing changed under Palpatine after 10 years of him being in the office"
Bullseye! And I wanna bring that up. Why a 10 year gap between ep 1 and 2? To make Anakin grow up! But that raises another question; why make Anakin a kid rather than a 20-something, in ep 1? I mean it was pretty clear, in the OT, that Anakin was a grown up when he and Obi Wan met ("When I first knew him, your father was already a great pilot"). And on top of that, meeting his love interest as a kid, while she's practically a grown up is pretty awkward.
But there is a simple answer to why George made Anakin a kid - merchandise! If Anakin Skywalker is the same age as the toy buyers, his toys will sell even more
Which is ironic, because I have never known a kid who wants to play as a kid, they want to play as a grown up. I completely agree, he should have been at least 15, or older, while Padme should have been a year or two older at the most.
@@hartfartpoptart Exactly! Most kids don’t wanna play as Robin, but Batman. It seems George simply assumed a child version of Anakin would appeal more to the kids, which doesn’t make sense! I wasn’t born in 1977, but as I understand, the kids absolutely adored Luke, already back then!
And yes, Padmé should def be around the same age.
Brilliant analysis, and well said. I like your improvements, and it's only a shame that this isn't what the original film was. Lucas needed that solid editor.
Thanks! And yeah, isn't it amazing what a solid editor can do? Editing is what made the original trilogy as remarkable as it turned out to be.
@@ToughMartin Something that Lucas was sadly lacking with the prequels. But Lucas had turned things around with The Clone Wars, he was on his way to back to form when Disney unfortunately happened. The Lucas-Filoni sequels would have been epic.
I’ve always liked this one, I know it gets hate but it’s so full of the suspense about Anakin’s future. Just watching it the other day.
Me I would have just focused on the clones more
All great points. I'd love anything to fix the giant glaring weakness that is the romance. Maybe have Anakin back off a bit after Padme says no the 3rd time. But then have her pursue HIM so it doesn't seem so one sided and icky.
So last year actually went through the prequels again for the first time in many years I was pleasantly surprised at how good actually Phantom Menace was and I do think the attack of the Clones was actually the weakest of the three. Attack of the Clones was actually better than the phantom menace but I do not think that now
As I've ALWAYS said... the prequel trilogy, most noticeably Eps. 1 and 2, had GREAT storylines, sense of cohesiveness and compelling characters, but the final screenplay and final execution leaves much to be desired. That's sad because, in the essence, those are VERY good "movie ideas", not so very good "final movies".
Episode 3, in the other hand, fixes most of these errors, making it one of the best films of the whole saga. Is a very high point. Just imagine if eps 1 and 2 were on par!!!, specially the Phantom Menace which is the weaker one.
Attack of the clones is waaaaay weaker than phantom menace, the worst of the lucas films by far
you should do a video like this for all the films in the prequel trilogy. I'm planning to do a fan edit for AOTC that makes edits that you have suggest by using clips from the kenobi and tales of the jedi show along with some ai voices
I still think it's much better than The Phantom Menace.
While i love the prequels. I belive they all suffee from the same problem. Good outline. Bad execution
A little disappointed you didn't bring up any of the Deleted Scenes especially since you used footage from some of them.
While not a vast improvement, scenes like Anakin meeting Padme's family would've helped the romance plot as there'd be more footage or Anakin & Padme interacting with each other.
Considering that Phantom Menace got multiple deleted scenes added back in future releases (most of them in the Podracing, there's cool comparison video on TH-cam), I've always wondered why Attack of the Clones didn't as there are multiple scenes that should be in the movie.
Maybe it's a pacing thing, this movie does have a lot of switching between storylines so maybe it was too hard to reintroduce scenes. I do know it's common to cut all scenes related to side characters if you can't keep their introduction & exit so that's likely why Padme's family is completely cut. Be weird to meet them and then Anakin & Padme go straight to that private island since there's multiple scenes at their house. It'd also be weird to skip the family's introduction and just keep scenes like Anakin talking to the parents, so it was an all-or-nothing scenario but still a shame to lose those scenes.
Similar thing happened with Revenge of the Sith where Padme talks with a group of senators to try to get Palpatine to give up his emergency powers/the beginning formation of The Rebellion. It's a full subplot so either all of the scenes are kept or none of them are.
attack of the clones has always been my favorite star wars movie
The thing about Anakin’s power is much more realistic to Anakin being a person conceived in the force.
Yeah they talk about him being powerful a lot, but don't make it that palpable for the viewer
@@ToughMartinhat's because Lucas' universe isn't as power-creeped as EU media and new canon. He keeps the Force working the same as it did in the OT. So Force-lightning remains the only high-tier ability in the movies.
The one thing I know I would've changed is that I wouldn't have had Anakin obsessing over Padme at the beginning. That made him come off as creepy right from the start. Then, during his and Obi-Wan's discussion of how best to protect her, he should've showed some maturity that would impress her -- the transition from seeing him as a little boy to seeing him as a man would start then, and it would culminate in the bedroom rescue: When Anakin leaps on the bed and deals with Padme's assailants, she gets to see him in full growth as a Jedi, and even better, he gets to see her as an attractive woman rather than as the "angel" of his youth. This would lay the foundation of their relationship to come.
Yeah Anakin's got major creep vibes right off the bat. I always thought it was odd how blatant he was about it, considering the doctrine on attachments. You'd think he would've tried to conceal it more.
10:10-10:50 oh wait this brings up the question of *were* the jedi supposed to find the clones, and was the kaminoans telling obiwan about the clones why jango tried to kill him before he was able to contact the jedi council with what he learned. Like were the clones initially supposed to be even more forces for the separatists, if the fact that there was a clone army being made for the republic was such an obfuscated fact?
(it's been a while since i've watched aotc, so those answers could be obvious, but i never thought about that before this video)
I recently read that, apparently, Hayden Christiansen and Natlie Portman hit it off so well, they went on a couple dates. There was a rumor that some of the outtakes on Naboo got a little too suggestive because of how flirty they got.
How the hell you end up with a wooden romance between two actors with actual in-person chemistry is beyond me, but there *had* to have been plenty of footage to work with.
I think it be cool if episode 2 had more action scenes there could be a 3rd bounty hunter introduced after Jango and Zam who follows Anakin & Padmé to Naboo the 2 lovers would have a couple close calls and two eventually kill the 3rd assassin and that would bring anakin & padme closer and right in time for them to leave for tatooine
A lot of your points are valid, but the solutions you give have a flaw that arguably is shared with one of the biggest flaws of the prequels itself: relying on dialogue, and telling instead of showing. So if it were up to me I would follow these suggestions but take them further and have us experience these rather than hearing about them in dialogue, which may have required structural adjustments, but all the better for it imo.
a detail not many people initially realize is that George Lucas purposely wrote Jango Fett’s allegiance to be a mystery. in the scene where the separatists have their meeting on geonosis, jango was planned to be present, but George decided against it for the above reason. to me, jango doesn’t care about the politics and just has the “a job is a job” mindset. i also believe that he had no idea about order 66 (unless there’s something from the comics or books I don’t know about). i imagined if he survived the battle at the end of aotc, he would eventually ditch the separatists and just focus on raising his son. maybe he’d even go off the grid or fake his death, idk. even if he has to die for the sake of the overall story, i would’ve love to see atoc and tcw give more clues regarding his true allegiance
Ive always had my own ideas on how I would approach the prequels story.
Obi wan should have been the main character, already a Knight in his 30s and have gone through a character arc through the three movies, from a dedicated Jedi who can see so fault with the council, to someone who realizes...the Jedi are behind in their views (ex. restricting attachments/romantic love/failing to stop Palpatines rise. Luke later allows attachments in the EU Jedi Order when he marries Mara)
The Death Star would also have way more of a backstory, and the Clone Wars would happen between I and II. Luke and Leia would be born at the end of II and not III.
Anakin would also be older in Ep. I (around 18-20) and has a more gradual fall to the dark side. The Trade Federation would not exist in my version either.
Re: "Accidentally using a mind trick on somebody" - My wife had only ever seen Phantom Menace growing up, so when I showed her Episodes 2-6, she watched Attack of the Clones and legitimately thought "No woman could actually fall for this creepy guy . . ." and asked "Anakin is using the force to make Padme fall in love with him, right?"
My mind was kinda blown. I think that one change along could do so much to improve this movie and completely alter the vibe of it, building towards Anakin's corruption. Perhaps even explaining why the Jedi forbid romantic relationships: Because someone with a powerful connection to the force, when fueled by passion, can easily lose control and unintentionally effect the thoughts of those around them.
I would watch the crap out of the movie you explained
This is the movie that to me, in its full-on cheese and design and dialogue and story from the start, most resembles the cornball Flash Gordon serials from the 1930s that originally inspired Star Wars.
All of that makes this the most difficult Star Wars movie for me to take seriously. Still enjoyable in its own way, but undoubtedly my least favorite.
I would fix Revenge of the Sith by making it longer. There's not enough of that movie.
Changes I would make:
The overall outline of the story is good. The execution and dialogue not so good.
Bottom line Lucas should be the producer not the director. Lucas' best films have been ones where he was the producer and there was a capable director handling the shooting. With Empire you had Kirshner directing and Lucas producing. With Indiana Jones you had Spielberg directing and Lucas producing. Those were great.
The Anakin / Padme romance should have been handled better. If our new "director" doesn't specialize in romance Lucas should have brought in a different writer/director who specializes in romance movies just to handle this part of the film.
Anakin should be less whiny / more capable. His portrayal in ROTS is much better. More of that.
Not a fan of the acting of SL Jackson, Portman, and Hayden in this one. I think a good director could get the most out of their performances. Some adjustments in dialogue as well.
A big problem with the prequels is Lucas having too much control. As I said Lucas' best movies have been with him as producer and a capable director. The prequels could have been fantastic if Spielberg and Lucas teamed up again as director and producer. If not Spielberg another good/capable director like James Cameron or Ridley Scott. Yes those guys usually have more control but it's Star Wars man. Who wouldn't want to do that?
As much as I enjoy the memes, I just can't bear the “I have the high ground” dialogue between Anakin and Obi-Wan.
It is meant to be the climax of the whole trilogy and the dialogue seems like a joke…
I love the overall storyline behind the prequels, but jeez… the DETAILS!
I like how it's meant to reference Obi-Wan's defeat of Darth Maul, but yeah it's definitely not done in the best way.
I feel like most of the details you have been wanting to add are already in the movie. At one point I thought you were being sarcastic by SHOWING the scenes that made all of these details evident. The only exception would be of course Obi Wan killing Jango, then I realized you were serious.
I would first point out Jedi do not "close circles", they simply let go and follow the path that is traced by the will of the force. Obi Wan is not constantly thinking about defeating or killing Jango during the movie. And that there is already a line where Yoda asks for Obi Wan to capture the clone template and bring him to Coruscant for interrogation. Mace agrees cause OF COURSE it would serve no purpose to kill him. Mace even regrets killing Jango cause at that point that source of information is gone forever. He only killed Jango cause this guy wouldn't stop shooting and killing others.
Tales Of The Jedi shows a Dooku that disagreed with the Senate AND WITH THE JEDI, which I think is one of the best examples of why the show is flawed. In the movies, the Jedi and the Senate are two opposite forces (and also in The Clone Wars show). Jedi are never asked to do anything by the Senate , anything they do is either a petition from the Chancellor o the Council, when both come to an agreement. Tales also shows that Dooku displayed violent behavior in front of other Jedi, undoing what Episode II had established; that the Jedi consider "killing is not in Dooku's character" and that "he is an idealist, not a murderer".
Dooku's real motivations in the movies are not political idealism, or Qui Gon's death. Realize some clones are older than 10 years and Jango was recruited by LORD TYRANNUS. So he has been a Sith since before The Phantom Menace. That's way too INVOLVED with the Sith ideology and agenda by the time of the war. That is his real motive. The movie shows The Jedi knew from the beginning that the army and the separatist were connected. They simply could not interfere as this is not their army. As Lama Su says, it is for the Republic. Palpatine on the other hand expresses he does not want war, so the fact that he embraces war so quickly takes everybody by surprise, BECAUSE he played it cool for 10 years.
This movie is not about the villains, is about Anakin. Although Dooku is the final boss, the real villain is the dark side.
Aside from that, you have the best analysis for this movie that i've seen on youtube in a long time and I'm glad to know that it is mostly intelligent people who like it. And I do think that the movie is too complicated for the general audience and this is its most important flaw. But I also know there was no other choice. Ep I and II both walked so that Revenge Of The Sith could run. Attack Of The Clones has been my favorite movie the longest however.
While AoTC is my favorite, due to nostalgia as well as music and the set designs, I do acknowledge some of the flaws, and I believe it’s a few steps from being truly the best Star Wars film.
Lucas should have stuck with the original idea that Zahn used in 1991 and make the clones the bad guys. Have the chancellor conscript an army of core worlders to push back an invasion by outer rim cartels using disposable clones. Maybe give the clones an orcish look. But having a war of clones vs droids was just stupid writing.
That would've been a cool idea. I wonder if Lucas wanted to play with people's expectations by making the clones the good guys.
Oh Plinket, where art thou?
George Lucas is someone who definitely needs to be held accountable when making his movies. I understand not wanting anyone to touch them but it’s like he want to accept any critique either. If he had others who were on his level of filmmaking and editing, then maybe attack of the clones could’ve reached it’s full potential, and so could phantom menace and revenge of the sith. I love this movie, but it definitely could’ve been better. I think George is also someone who makes the entire story and then cuts out stuff only because he has to to keep the movie shorter. He would benefit from director’s cuts and extended editions of his movies greatly (why disney hasn’t made extended editions already is beyond me)
Disney is no touching the prequels cause they are too coward to relate their name with something so divisive as these films
Ep6 shouldn't have used a 2nd death star
It should. It makes sense logically and it emphazises how luke's conflict is internal rather than physical
@timewarpdrive77 wait what?
@@wizard_of_poz4413 End of quote. Repeat the line
Prequels have better writing and dialogue than any marvel movie in the last four years. Anakin is and was supposed to be awkward literally.
I agree with the Marvel observation wholeheartedly. I'm not as sold about Anakin being meant to be awkward, but I'm open to being persuaded. I think if Lucas was more "actor friendly" he could've conveyed that more, and it would've been awesome.
@@ToughMartin Yea Lucus seems like sort of an Introvert and can't really express his vision that well onto others around him without long form discussions.
@@refugeehugsforfree4151 Yeah exactly. When you see footage of him explaining what he's going for, it's awesome. But a lot of it stays in his head somehow, rather than making it into film
@@ToughMartin I can relate being an Introvert myself lol, I often talk like the people around me Know what I'm thinking.
@@ToughMartin "I'm not as sold about Anakin being meant to be awkward"
I don't see how you can't buy this. He was raised by monks who teach detachment, he's a 19 year old who's had zero flirting experience, and it's what happens in the movie. What is there to not believe?
Jango Fett’s plot line in Attack of the Clones is one of the weakest plot points in any Star Wars movie. Convoluted and makes almost no sense from this peasant’s perspective.
Nobody rationalizes that Anakin was supposed to be petulant "because he's supposed to be an annoying teenager," it's literally a part of his arc, it's in the context clues. It's media literacy my friend. Anakin goes from an altruistic slave who was the center of his mother's world to a neglected tool for an uncaring institution.
The Clone Wars made Anakin into a loose cannon psycho but he wasn't meant to be like that in the movies. He's a deeply traumatized man driven back to his roots as a slave because he felt safe within that paradigm and felt constant moral unrest throughout his service to the Republic.
Being admired by everyone sounds a little too much like Rey Skywalker to me. I get it, Darth Vader was an imposing presence in a lot of the EU, but in the movies, Vader is supposed to be this guy who got trapped by his need for approval and sense of pride.
Obi-Wan in Episode II is a huge reason for that, because he resents Anakin for being abandoned by Qui-Gon, so he belittles him in front of everyone and expects to be able to effectively teach him patience when never had any patience for Anakin. By Episode III Anakin manages to earn Obi-Wan's respect as a Jedi until the Dooku incident threw his self-image into chaos.
Anakin eventually learns patience on his own, but then sees that the Jedi don't operate by the same moral standard they impose on him. The thing about Vader is that he isn't reckless and imposing, he's incredibly rational. He patiently parses the conflicting rationales of the Jedi and the Sith and the conclusion he came to is a compromising Jedi is no different from a Sith.
But the Sith won't be trying to wage war by talking things out, they'll impose peace through force, which worked for Anakin's childhood, when Sebulba didn't squash him because he knew that if he damaged a slave, he was damaging property in circulation within a Hutt economy, which would just be asking for his own squashing.
Vader in the movies and in the comics are two completely different characters. Same goes for the novels for that matter. Anakin in Episode II isn't some glory hound, he's not seeking admiration, he's seeking acceptance, which is why he gravitates toward Padme, who proves herself rational and accepting of things Anakin can't reconcile about himself.
Anakin didn't jump out of a car to show that he's reckless, that's Obi-Wan's toxic criticism of his success, insisting that it's a tainted success. Anakin could only have calculated jumping out of a car and falling several hundred feet to land on his target's speeder if he was perfectly calm and rational, but Obi-Wan is genuinely unfair in trying to teach Anakin patience.
In Anakin's mind, it makes no sense to try to lecture him on patience when they're in the middle of a mission in hot pursuit of an assassin. There's nothing Anakin could have done to prevent losing his lightsaber in the chase, it was a fluke, and Obi-Wan acts as if it's the result of a character flaw in need of more work. Of course Anakin is right about being held back.
The more important point is that Anakin's also being held back emotionally by Obi-Wan. The Jedi teach to ignore emotion and to push it out of consideration, so of course Obi-Wan can't teach Anakin how to control his emotions, he doesn't even realize he is teaching Anakin out of his own emotional turmoil and not meeting Anakin where he's at.
What Anakin really needed was a more emotionally balanced teacher who could offer useful advice without failing completely to acknowledge his successes. Without that, all that was left of Anakin in Episode II was the same petulance that Obi-Wan exhibited toward him, but without the same authority to justify it. "In a lot of ways, I'm actually ahead of him." Qui-Gon was certainly more impressed with Anakin as a child than he ever was with Obi-Wan.
Even in Episode III, Obi-Wan can't praise Anakin without claiming ownership of Anakin's progress. "I've trained you since you were a small boy and taught you everything I know." Anakin is momentarily swayed by the flattery of Obi-Wan admitting his superiority, but he still knows Obi-Wan just wants him to shut up and still sees him as a glory seeking egomaniac and Obi-Wan was just in a good mood because he didn't have to take Anakin and share the glory of a successful mission.
You can see it in Anakin's face, their last friendly interaction is weird considering the next time they see each other Anakin is raging about Obi-Wan turning his wife against him. Anakin can't resist giving Obi-Wan the twisted version of himself that always existed in Obi-Wan's mind, because in between these encounters it all clicks that Anakin has only ever been a useful tool to the Jedi.
That failure to acknowledge Anakin's success is exactly what drives him to rely on Palpatine's praise, which is what has always kept Vader loyal to Palpatine, despite the eventual revelations of the lies about his children. Vader says it's too late for him to Luke exactly because he knows he can never be accepted by anyone other than Palpatine for his crimes.
Obi-Wan only ever rejected Anakin, the Jedi rejected him, and that's why the worst thing Padme could have done is reject him. And that's why Vader chooses Luke over Palpatine, because Luke is literally being abandoned and rejected in front of Anakin, and he's still reaching out to his father begging for acceptance and that glimpse of himself in his son sways Anakin. Luke accepted Anakin, and Anakin was willing to throw away his empire and die to show his son the same gesture.
Tweaks like these could’ve enhanced all three prequel movies tbh. The stories in the prequel trilogy are amazing but they were executed very poorly
6:27 min Donald Trump
Oh but it ALREADY IS the best SW film. Fight me.
I wish Anakin hadn't talked with Padme about wanting a dictatorship, then it ruins the whole character arc. What's the point of turning our hero to the dark side if he apparently already thinks like a Sith, even when he's not blind with rage?
All the stuff you're mentioning here are really allready integreted parts om the major plot line for Episode 2, it¨s just not shown directly in the film, and mostly happens behind the scenes.....