10 Things You Learn From Re-Watching Star Wars: Episode II - Attack Of The Clones

The Star Wars prequels are very much having a moment currently.

Even before Episode I - The Phantom Menace burst back into theatres earlier this year, fans who'd grown up adoring the rise and fall of Anakin Skywalker, many an acrobatic lightsaber duel and even that silly Gungan legend Jar Jar Binks had taken it upon themselves to start giving George Lucas' divisive trilogy the flowers they felt it always deserved.

However, if you were to ask even the most vocal of prequel lovers which of those three films was the undisputed weakest of the bunch, there's a solid chance most would point to Episode II - Attack of the Clones.

Following on from unpacking all of the fascinating things learned when taking in that aforementioned 1999 effort, it felt like as good a time as any to fire up the 2002 follow-up and see whether this tale of forbidden love, bounty hunter chasing, and the beginning of a galaxy-changing war had actually aged like a fine wine or a cup of blue milk.

These are all the weird, wonderful, and surprising things discovered from a 2024 rewatch of George Lucas' prequel middle child.

One of the biggest criticisms of Episode II back when it first arrived in theatres all those years ago was how George Lucas handled the central romance of Anakin Skywalker and Padme Amidala.

A combination of a lack of electric chemistry shared between actors Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman and some of the most agonising dialogue the Star Wars creator had ever put down on paper (and that is saying something!) made for a rather painful early stage of forbidden love.

But watching everything from Anakin's awkward chat about his disdain for sand, to the pair's frolicking in the fields of Naboo in 2024 actually brings with it an unexpected wave of nostalgia.

That's right, we've now seemingly hit the point - likely thanks to the many glorious memes these scenes inspired down the road - where Anakin "joking" about dictatorships, floating pears to his future wife, and 'The Chosen One' being haunted by the pair's smooch doesn't leave you wincing in your seat. 

Instead, don't be surprised if you end up occasionally becoming Rick Dalton, pointing and celebrating each and every time a wonderfully terrible piece of flirting or an overly intense profession of love occurs.

And you also realise on a rewatch that there are actually a few genuinely sweet moments sprinkled in there, too - the heavily ad-libbed floaty pear scene is rather lovely - which suggests that the clearly talented Christensen and Portman could have clicked with some stronger text to work with.