Star Wars. Episode II: Attack of the Clones

In the Galactic Senate restless. Several thousand star systems announced their intention to leave the Republic.

The separatist movement led by the mysterious Count Dooku created difficulties for small Jedi to preserve peace and order in the galaxy.

Senator Amidala, the former queen of Naboo, returns to the Galactic Senate to vote on a matter of principle: the creation of the ARMY of the REPUBLIC in aid of unbeaten Jedi ...

Original Text (Eng.)

There is unrest in the Galactic Senate. Several thousand solar systems.

It has been a great deal to make it possible to keep peace of mind.

Senator Amidala, The Adventure of the REPUBLIC to assist the overwhelmed Jedi ....

- Entry

The Galactic Republic is sinking deeper into the crisis. The world in the galaxy is threatened by the separatist movement , led by a renegade Jedi, Count Dooku , it provides everything necessary for the development of capitalism and guarantees complete non-interference of the state in the internal affairs of the planets. Senator Padme Amidala , former queen of Naboo, returns to the Galactic Senate to vote against the creation of the Great Army of the Republic, which aims to help the Jedi Order, whose numbers and moral principles do not allow to turn from peacekeepers into soldiers.

During the arrival of Senator Amidala’s ship to Coruscant , an explosive device is activated on the ship. The senator remains unscathed, as for security reasons and at the insistence of the chief of her security she was hiding under the guise of the pilot of the escort ship, but her bodyguard, Kordeya, was killed. After a brief conference with High Chancellor Palpatine, representatives of the Loyalist Committee and numerous members of the Jedi Council (including Masters Yoda and Windu), it was decided to place Amidala under the protection of the Jedi familiar to her from the events on Naboo - Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and his apprentice Padawan Anakin Skywalker , who was extremely excited about meeting Amidala.

That same night, Zem Vesell , the bounty hunter, attempts to kill Padme. The attempt again fails, Obi-Wan and Anakin catch Wessel, but they don’t have time to interrogate - she is struck by a dart of an unknown assassin. The Jedi Council instructs Obi-Wan to investigate the assassinations, and Anakin to guard Amidala during her return to the home planet of Naboo. They return under the guise of refugees, by public transport, to keep the senator’s departure in secret. In the absence of Amidala, the duties of the senator from Naboo are assumed by Ja-Ja Binks .

Anakin is pleased with his first independent assignment and shares this with Padme - according to him, before he only had to listen to criticism of Obi-Wan, who tried to restrain the pupil’s violent nature and limited it to a large extent, recognizing, however, remarkable intelligence and strength in Anakin. Besides, now Anakin, after ten years of separation, may be near Padme.

An investigation leads Obi-Wan to the planet Kamino, where he learns that an army of clones for the Republic has been prepared here for a long time. Supervising the creation of clones, the Minister of the Planet informs him that an order to create an army was placed by a Jedi Master named Sifo Diaz ten years ago. The Mandalorian bounty hunter Django Fett became the genetic model for creating clones and asked him to also create a special clone as part of the payment, without speeding up his growth and change of consciousness, which he called Bob Fett . Obi-Wan suspects that Django is the killer and shares his suspicions with Yoda and Windu. Masters are very concerned that they missed such a significant and lasting event as the creation of an army of clone soldiers. Obi-Wan, by order of the Council, is trying to deliver Django for interrogation to Coruscant. During the pursuit, the Mandalorian manages to escape with a battle on his ship, but Obi-Wan manages to install a bug on the ship, the signal of which leads him to the orbit of the planet Geonosis.

At the same time, Anakin and Padme are on Naboo. After an audience with Queen Jamillia Padme and Anakin, they go to the Lake District, to the family mansion Amidala. Here Anakin’s children's sympathy for Amidala gradually develops into a very strong attraction. However, Anakin, according to the Jedi Code, cannot have any attachments, and too much depends on Padme's career in the Senate. After listening to Anakin’s confession, Padme urges him to be careful and reminds them that their duty to the Republic is above any feelings.

A few months before meeting Amidala, Skywalker began to suffer from constant nightmares in which he saw his mother die. On Nabu, nightmares are gaining momentum, and in the end Anakin, beside himself with anxiety for his mother, asks the senator for permission to go to Tatooine to find Shmi. Padme agrees and goes with him. After landing, Skywalker finds Watto, the former owner of Shmi, and learns that farmer Kliegg Lars bought Shmi from slavery, freed her and married her. However, arriving at Kliegg’s house, Skywalker learns that his mother was captured by Tusken brigands . The young Jedi immediately goes to the desert in search of the bandit camp and discovers him that night. Using his instincts and tracker's skills, Anakin finds and releases his mother, but Shmi Skywalker, exhausted and crippled, dies in his son's arms, barely regaining consciousness. Falling into a rage at the loss of a loved one, Anakin cuts out all the inhabitants of the camp, including children and women.

In orbit of Geonosis, Jango notices the Kenobi fighter and tries to destroy it in the space of the planet's meteorite ring. The Jedi ship is damaged, and Fett, having decided that he destroyed the pursuer, no longer hides landing on Geonosis. Kenobi follows him. Having landed on the planet, he secretly penetrates into the complex of the Geo-Rosians and uncovers a conspiracy of the inhabitants of a huge number of star systems who decided to leave the Republic and create their own state unit - the Confederation of Independent Systems under the leadership of Count Dooku.

By sending a message about what happened to Anakin (the distance to Coruscant was too great), Kenobi is attacked by droids and captured. Dooku visits Kenobi in the detention cell. He promises to get Kenobi, who was arrested “by mistake,” as soon as possible, and tries to convince him to go to the side of the Confederation, recalling Qui-Gon Jinn, a former student of Dooku, who would undoubtedly follow the teacher. In addition, the Earl reports that now Lord Sith Darth Sidious governs the Galactic Senate, hoping to convince Obi-Wan to join him. Obi-Wan denies his accusations, considering them ridiculous and unlikely.

Meanwhile, Anakin returns to the Lars farm with the body of Shmi in his arms. After the funeral, the young Jedi shares with Padme what happened in the bandit camp. Upon returning to the ship, Skywalker receives a message from Kenobi and sends him further to Coruscant, while learning from its contents that Count Dooku was involved in an attempt to kill Amidala and that Obi-Wan was in danger. Here comes the answer from Coruscant. Master Windu gives Skywalker a strict order to stay with the Senator and guard her. Seeing the confusion of Anakin and his desire to help his mentor, Amidala decides to take responsibility for himself and personally sends the ship to Geonosis.

After receiving a message from Kenobi Ja-Ja Binks, in the absence of Padme and under pressure from the loyalist committee, he was forced to submit to the Senate a proposal to grant Supreme Chancellor Palpatine emergency powers to create the Great Army of the Republic. Those in the Senate Chamber Yoda and Windu decided to separate: Windu gathered the knights and masters of the order to help Obi-Wan, and Yoda went to Kamino to assemble clone soldiers for the Great Army of the Republic.

Arriving on the planet, Amidala and Skywalker are captured by the Geonosians, received espionage charges and sentenced to public execution. Before the overwhelming evidence of his death in the arena of Petranaki Padme, finally, he confesses his feelings for Anakin. After that, they, together with Obi-Wan, destroy the monsters of the arena and make an attempt to break through the defense of the Dzhenosians. At the peak moment, reinforcements from 212 Jedi, led by Master Windu, arrive. A fierce battle begins, during which Jango Fett is killed at the hands of Windu. Nevertheless, the army of droids gradually crowded the Jedi, many of the newcomers fell. Everything changes again with the arrival of the Great Army of the Republic, led by Master Yoda.

Between the army of clones of the Republic and the separatist army of droids, a great battle, later called the First Battle of Geonosis, flares up. Realizing that the advantage is on the side of the clones, the leaders of the separatists command a general retreat. Count Dooku takes the blueprints for the “new secret weapon” (which guesses the Death Star ) and tries to escape, but Obi-Wan and Anakin follow him to his hangar, where they fight with him. Dooku inflicts serious wounds on Obi-Wan and chops off Anakin with his right hand. At this moment Yoda arrives and enters the fight with Dooku, his former Padawan. Dooku, realizing that he cannot defeat Yoda, drops Anakin and Obi-Wan on the hangar pillar as a diversion and Magister Yoda has to stop the battle and use the Force to drop the support and thereby save the wounded Jedi. Taking advantage of the hitch, Dooku escapes on a personal solar sailboat from Geonosis to Coruscant, to a secret refuge and a Sith base, where he reports the start of the war to Darth Sidius, who responds to him: "Everything is going according to plan, Lord Tyranus ."

The rescued Obi-Wan warns Dooku that the Dark Lord of the Sith is ruled by the Jedi Council, but the Council, including Yoda, cannot believe this, insisting that the Dark Side is trying to bring fear and distrust into the Republic. However, Yoda and Windu agree that the Dark Side is advancing, and they should look after the Senate. Obi-Wan says that the clones helped them achieve victory, but Yoda replies that everything has only become worse. After healing in the Halls of Healing in the Jedi Temple, Anakin accompanies Padme Amidala on Naboo. In the Lake District, they secretly marry in a ceremony witnessed only by C-3PO and R2-D2 . This step becomes the first on the way to the darkest events in a far-away galaxy - events that turn the life of Amidala and the Galactic Republic.

At this very time, Palpatine and the Loyalists are watching as millions of clone troopers march on transport starships, marking the official beginning of one of the worst conflicts in the history of the Galaxy - the Clone Wars .

The Star Wars Saga was written by George Lucas in the early 1970s as one big sketch with a brief plot of all 6 films. In 1999 and 2000, Lucas co-wrote the sketch for episode II in script with Jonathon Heiles. The title of the episode was very negatively received by the fans, who compared it with the title of the movie “ Attack of the 50-foot Woman ” ^[2] . Many people thought for a long time that the name would be “Formation of the Empire”. During the work on the film with the working title, in the light of negative reviews about one of the characters in Episode I , the “Great Adventure of Ja-Ja” was chosen.

The main shooting took place between June 26 and September 20, 2000 at the 20th Century Fox studio in Australia . The filming was also carried out in the Tunisian desert, in the square of Spain in the Spanish Seville , in Italy at the Villa del Balbianello at Lake Como and in the palace of Caserta. At the personal request of Samuel L. Jackson, the color of the lightsaber of his character Mace Windu was made purple, thereby dispelling the myth that the blue and green colors belong to the “good guys” and the red to the “bad” ^[3] . According to rumors, “BMF” is also engraved on the hilt of the sword, in memory of his work in “ Pulp Fiction ”. After Lucas decided that the film had too low a pace of development of the action, in March 2001, additional shooting took place, after which a new scene was added, developing in the droid factory ^[4] .

Like The Lurking Threat, The Attack of the Clones promoted the technological development of cinema, bringing Hollywood to the digital age. The film was shot on a HDW-F900 digital camera, developed by Sony and Panavision , using a 24-frame / s frame rate . Despite the controversial opinions about digital cinematography, more and more directors are starting to engage in digital shooting. Contrary to Lucas's fears, in the Tunisian desert the camera was able to function even at temperatures above +51 ° C. Lukas claimed that he wanted to remove the “ Lurking threat ” to a digital camera, but by that time Sony did not have time to make the necessary number of cameras ^[5] . In 2002, Attack of the Clones was the second film shot on a digital camera ^[6] (the first was Vidoc ^[7] ). Despite Lucas’s best efforts to convince cinemas to switch to digital projectors for better viewing of Episode II, few followed his advice.

Instead of standard storyboards in the film, digital animations were used — roughly computer-generated digital scenes nevertheless allowed the actors to more accurately understand the scene that they played against the blue screen. Unlike most of the episodes, neither the digital animation technique nor the usual storyboards were used in the filming of the battle for Geonosis. Instead, each footage episode was sent to the animation department, where the scene was filled with various kinds of action inserts. The task was to make a lot of small events unfolding during the battle, which the viewer could not even notice, but at the same time they created a picture of the saturation of the action. The animation department was free to create such events; Lucas chose the most appropriate scenes and added them to the film ^[4] .

In addition to innovations in digital photography, Attack of the Clones used “digital doublers” —computer-generated models that duplicated actors in certain stunt scenes. This technology also allowed the use of a completely computer model of Yoda . Rob Coleman and John Knoll created two test animated Yoda, using the sound from Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back . The appearance of Yoda from Imperia was also used to create computer Yoda; Lukas sought from the animation department to make computer Yoda seem like a puppet, as in the early episodes of the saga. Frank Oz (the puppeteer and Yoda's voice in the original trilogy and The Hidden Threat) was shocked; he represented Yoda very old and calm ^[8] . Coleman later said that his team had to make the ears wince during Yoda's sudden movements to bring Yoda's computer model closer to the puppet: “When Frank (Oz) turned his head, his ears shook slightly. If we had not added this effect of the computer model, it would have been no longer Yoda ” ^[9] . Since Christopher Lee was already quite old, he could not perform the whole scene of the battle with Yoda. Understudy replaced him in some scenes, and then Lee’s face was added to the body of the replacement using a computer. Lucas often told the animation department that the duel scene with Yoda is very important, as it has the potential to become both dramatic and humorous ^[8] .

The film was released on May 16, 2002 . Before the premiere, the creators had big concerns about possible piracy. In 2000, one of the fans sold a copy of the script for $ 100,000 ^[10] .

A pirated copy of the film, possibly recorded during a private viewing, was sold online, allowing millions of fans to see the film before it was officially released. ^[11]

DVD Edition

"Star Wars. Episode II: Attack of the Clones ”was released on DVD on November 12, 2002 . George Lucas supplemented and redesigned various elements of the film to make the DVD different from the movie version shown in cinemas. The DVD included comments from Lucas, producer Rick McCallum, sound engineer Ben Bert, ILM animation director Rob Coleman, and ILM visual effects masters Pablo Hellman, John Knoll and Ben Snow. Eight cut scenes were also added to the DVD, and stories about creating digital characters, sound effects, and animation appeared in additional materials.

In addition, the DVD contains a commercial for the short film R2-D2: Under the Dome .

3D reprint

September 28, 2010, it was announced that all six films will be converted to 3D- format. They were planned to be republished in the order of internal chronology, starting with the first episode, which was released in February 2012 . “Attack of the Clones” was planned to be re-published in September 2013 , however, due to the purchase of The Walt Disney Company by Lucasfilm on October 30, 2012 and the announcement of the release of the new Star Wars episode in 2015 ^[12] , it was decided to abandon this idea and put all your energy into work on the new trilogy ^[13] .

The film received mixed reviews. At Rotten Tomatoes, the film received a rating of 66%, while its predecessor, The Hidden Threat, was rated 63% ^[14] . Reviewers admired action scenes and special effects, and more were criticized episodes with traditional dramatic elements, such as scenes that reveal the relationship between Padme and Anakin ^[15] .

Critics called the dialogues "hard" and "flat" ^[16] , condemning the play of actors as well (especially Christensen and Portman) ^[15] . On the other hand, many people liked to see Ja-Ja Binks only in a cameo role ^[17] . Ewan McGregor said the movie has a “ terrible, just awful title ” in Empire Magazine.

The film collected 310,676,740 dollars in the United States and 338,721,588 overseas — a tremendous success, which, nevertheless, did not overshadow the even greater success of the “Hidden threat” ^[18] . And for the first time, a Star Wars film did not become the best-selling film of the year ^[19] . Spiderman and The Lord of the Rings: Two Fortresses had much higher sales.

Attack of the Clones was nominated for an Oscar for best visual effects (Rob Coleman, Pablo Helman, John Knoll and Ben Snow) in 2003 ^[20] . Natalie Portman was also honored at the Teen Choice Awards. The film also received an award for the best battle from the MTV Movie Awards .

Not without the Golden Raspberry nominations:

• Worst movie
• Worst Supporting Actor
• Worst director
• Worst case scenario
• Worst pair
• Worst remake or sequel

The Attack of the Clones won two awards: for the script (George Lucas) and the supporting actor (Hayden Christensen). ^[21]

• Hayden Christensen ( Anakin Skywalker ). A student of Obi-Wan Kenobi. A number of Jedi believe that Anakin is the "Chosen One" and should "bring balance to the Force."
• Ewan McGregor ( Obi-Wan Kenobi ). Jedi Knight and teacher Anakin Skywalker.
• Natalie Portman ( Senator Amidala ). Former Queen of Naboo, who became a member of the Galactic Senate from this planet
• Ian McDermid ( Chancellor Palpatine ). Former Senator Naboo, is optimistic about the future of the Republic and believes in victory over the Separatists, even at the cost of war.
• Samuel L. Jackson ( Mace Windu ). A Jedi Master sitting on a Jedi Council and closely monitoring political changes in the Republic.
• Christopher Lee ( Count Dooku ). Former Jedi Master, now Lord of the Sith, head of the Separatists.
• Frank Oz (voice of Yoda ). Yoda is one of the oldest and most respected members of the Jedi Council, one of the best in possession of the lightsaber. Yoda also teaches young Jedi.
• Liam Neeson ( Qui-Gon Jinn ). Qui-Gon Jinn appears in the film in the form of a spirit (you can hear his voice and see his incorporeal embodiment during Yoda's meditations).
• Temuera Morrison ( Django Fett and the clone army). Former bounty hunter, who gave his DNA to create an army of his clones. He asked him to make a special clone to take him as his sons - Bob Fett .
• Anthony Daniels ( C-3PO , cameo at a nightclub ). The C-3PO is a protocol droid working for Lars.
• Kenny Baker ( R2-D2 ). R2-D2 is an astrodroid, inseparably following Anakin.
• Daniel Logan ( Boba Fett ). Boba is a special clone of Jango Fett, who took him as his sons.
• Silas Carson (voice of Chickpea Gunrey and Ki-Adi Mundi ; cameo).
• Ahmed Best (voice of Ja-Ja Binks ; cameo at a nightclub). Ja-Ja becomes a senator from Naboo after Amidala leaves.
• Jimmy Smits ( Bale Organa ). Senator from Alderanna.
• Matt Sloan ( Plo Koon ; cameo). One of the Jedi.
• Zechariah Jensen ( Kit Fisto ). Jedi, can swim under water.
• Oliver Ford Davis ( Sio Bibble ; cameo). Governor of Teed, the capital city of Naboo.
• Body Taylor ( Clones ). The first historical appearance of the clones.
• Jack Thompson ( Clegg Lars ). Farmer with Tatooine. He bought Shmi Skywalker (mother of Anakin) from slavery and married her. Owen Lars father.
• Amy Alain ( Ayala Secura ; cameo, not indicated in the credits). Blue Jedi Woman
• Lily Niamvasa ( Stass Aliya ; cameo, not indicated in the credits). Black Jedi Woman
• Orly Shoshan ( Shaak Ti ; cameo, not indicated in the credits). Jedi woman, participated in the battle of Geonosis.

E! Online reports that Lucas shot the group 'N Sync in one short episode at the request of his daughter. Later this episode was cut from the final version ^[22] (inaccessible link) .

For the role of Anakin Skywalker, Lucas was looking for an actor across the United States. In addition to Christensen, the role of Anakin could be played by Ryan Phillippe , Jared Padalecki , Colin Hanks and Paul Walker ^[23] . Lucas also proposed the role of Leonardo DiCaprio , but he refused ^[24] .

• Andrei Zaitsev - Anakin Skywalker
• Evgeny Ivanov - Obi-Wan Kenobi
• Julia Nikolayeva - Padme Amidala
• Arkady Volgin - Count Dooku / Darth Tyranus
• Sergey Vorobyov - Mace Windu
• Boris Smolkin - Yoda
• Vadim Yakovlev - Supreme Chancellor Palpatine / Dart Sidious
• Svetlana Sheychenko - Shmi Skywalker
• Valery Solovyov - Django Fett
• Igor Semenov - Boba Fett
• Andrei Tenetko - Senator Bale Organa
• Alexey Guriev - Kliegg Lars / Dexter Jettster
• Alexander Zavyalov - Dzha-Dzha Binks
• Rafik Kashapov - Watto
• Vadim Guschin - captain Typho
• Valery Kukhareshin - C-3PO
• Igor Lifanov - Nout Gunray
• Sergey Dyachkov - Owen Lars
• Vadim Nikitin - Ki-Adi-Mundi
• Boris Ulitin - Lama Soo
• Elena Pavlovskaya - Ton Wee
• Maya Blinova - Madame Jocasta Nu
• Vladimir Maslakov - Lieutenant Nabu , Alan Slysebaggano

The film was dubbed by the Nevafilm company upon the request of the Gemini Kinomir company in 2002.

• Dubbing director - Maria Solovtsova
• Translator - Olga Voeikova
• The author of the synchronous text - Elena Stavrogin

Sources: ^{[25] [26]}

Some believe that Palpatine’s rise to power is similar to Adolf Hitler’s coming to Germany; becoming Chancellor, he was given “extraordinary powers”, as was Chancellor Palpatine ^[27] . Palpatine is also compared to Octavian Augustus , who became the first Roman emperor, and Napoleon Bonaparte, who came to power in France ^[28] . Parallels are being drawn with the American Civil War : both Palpatine and Lincoln accepted “emergency powers” ​​to stop the war with the separatists ^[28] .

The clone armies are marching, plunging into their ships, just like the Nazi troops were marching through the streets of Nazi Germany ^[28] .

The geonosians in the film have their own special death penalty system. Obi-Wan, Anakin and Padme are hung on pillars in a huge arena, where terrible animals are later released. This is very reminiscent of the Roman Coliseum , where lions and other predatory animals had to fight prisoners ^[29] .

The disc with the soundtrack of the film was released on April 23, 2002 . The music was written by John Williams , and performed by the London Symphony Orchestra . The soundtrack contains fragments of the "Imperial March" from the movie "The Empire Strikes Back." Especially for DVD, a video was shot for the main theme - “Across the Stars” ^[30] .

A book based on the film was written by Robert Anthony Salvatore . It contains unique scenes written by Salvatore himself. In the prologue, Anakin, flying with Obi-Wan on Ansion, sees a nightmare about his mother. Next comes the story of how she was captured by the Tusken brigands and how Lars lost his leg trying to regain Shmi.

It also tells what happened before Padme flew to Coruscant. She talks with her sister about politics and personal life. The book also deepens the relationship between Django and Boba Fett.

• " Star Wars. Episode II: Attack of the Clones ” (Eng.) On the Internet Movie Database   (Checked November 27, 2012)

• "Star Wars. Episode II: Attack of the Clones " on StarWars.com
• Star Wars. Episode II: Attack of the Clones on Wookieepedia: A Star Wars Wiki
• "Star Wars. Episode II: Attack of the Clones " on MovieMistakes.com
• Introduction to episode II on StarWars.com
• Interview with George Lucas on the role of digital filming in episode II