10 Cringiest Moments In The Star Wars Prequels

5. Anakin's Tusken Raiders Rant

Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones
Disney

In Attack of the Clones, a much older Anakin learns that his mother, Shmi, has been killed by Tusken Raiders. In response, he slaughters the entire Tusken Raider camp - and not just the men, but the women and the children too - which was a major turning point in his gradual fall to the dark side.

Upon bringing Shmi's body back to the Lars homestead, Anakin bursts into a fit of rage and confesses his slaughter to Padmé, and while this could've been a powerful, tragic moment in Anakin's journey, it's instead more laughable than anything else.

Hayden Christensen's acting isn't the best, and this is one of the many prequel moments where Anakin comes off as whiny and annoying rather than sympathetic and remorseful. Lucas' clumsy writing also strikes again here, at one point having Anakin repeat the same basic thing four times in a row:

"I killed them. I killed them all. They're dead. Every single one of them."

With better writing and acting, this scene could've been terrific, but those two things were in short supply where the prequel trilogy was concerned.

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!