What Attack of the Clones Could Have Been

Cafe Society
1

Note: this entire thread contains spoilers. Read at your own risk.

I just got back from seeing Attack of the Clones, and I am deeply, deeply disappointed.

Not in the computer graphics. That was slick.

Not in the dialogue. It was pretty stilted, but dialogue has never been Lucas’ strong point.

Not in the actors. They have my sympathy.

But the plot, which in theory had to do with Annakin’s Fall, failed utterly.

Annakin is supposed to be evil in the making. He has some besetting sin, or some swarm of besetting sins, that cause him to turn from his masters, break from the Jedi, and join the Dark Side.

But what is it? What makes him evil? Was it killing the Tuskan raiders who killed his mother? No, kicking evil ass is what Jedi do. Was it being a whiny, irritating brat? Maybe, but as besetting sins go that one’s pretty pathetic. It seems like Lucas wants to cast Annakin’s love for Padme as the error that forces him away from the Light Side, but what the hell does loving people have to do with becoming the embodiment of evil? It’s stupid, sure, but hardly Vader-esque.

(aside: According to AOTC, Annakin spent his ten years apart from Padme thinking about her every day. Did that seem creepy to anyone else, especially since he was about eight when he saw her last?)

To me, the essence of the Dark side of the Force is that it uses the Force to take whatever it wants. So if we want to show Annakin falling to the Dark side, then let’s show Annakin falling to the Dark side!

Here’s how it should have gone.
Annakin returns, praises Padme’s beauty, and starts flirting with her as in AOTC. He tells her that he’s thought of her every day for ten years. She considers this a bizarre and spooky obsession.

Annakin uses the Force to change her mind.

Just a little. Not much. Hardly any at all, when you come down to it. And all he’d be doing is correcting an unreasonable prejudice of hers…just like telling Death Sticks dealers to re-examine their lives. Besides, it’s important that she like the person assigned to her safety…so influencing her behavior, just a little, is practically required.

After he’s taken that first step, the rest of the script practically writes itself. Annakin would be a much darker figure, and his eventual fall would, IMHO, be much more comprehensible.

Thoughts?

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From Star Wars, I always figured Obi-Wan just found this great star pilot named Anakin and wanted to train him on his own. Obi-Wan didn’t do a great job and Anakin was seduced to the dark side.

Obi-Wan realized his mistake and didn’t want to train Luke, instead sending him to Yoda, the Jedi Master.

Ooops.

So much for the clues from ANH.

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I was thinking somewhat along these lines when I left the theater tonight. But there’s a part where Anakin says something along the lines that Jedi are supposed to give up possessions. And everyone’s urging him to put aside his feelings (we get this in the original trilogy, too).

So taking those into account, it seems that loving someone is okay. As long as you can put aside your feelings when you need to. And posessive love is no good at all (and we’ve seen how posessive Anakin can be). Which is why I think Jedi are supposed to live monkish lives.

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If you thought Anakin was supposed to fall to the dark side in this movie, well you were wrong. He is supposed to go to the dark side in episode III. It wouldn’t make much sense to have Padme fall in love with Darth Vader, but it makes sense if she falls in love with Anakin. We also know that Padme dies sometime between now and episode IV. Perhaps her death also pushes Anakin to the dark side. Or perhaps he kills her? I’m pretty sure that he’s gonna do some very Veder-esque things in the next movie, like killing all the rest of the Jedi.

Also:

  1. The Jedi Mind Trick[sup]TM[/sup] only works on the weak minded.
  2. I think killing Tusken Raider children in revenge is pretty evil.
  3. You could interpret Anakin saying that he thought about Padme every day as meaning “many times in the past few years” not literally every day for the last ten years.

I thought the plot was a strong point of the movie and it was the dialog that was sub-par, even for Star Wars.

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Anakin specifically tells Padme that the mind trick only works on the weak, with the impication that she isn’t weak.

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I thought they did a wonderful job in showing Anakin’s eventual path to the dark side. It’s no doubt that he originally wants to be a good jedi…but he’s power hungry. And he can’t put away his feelings. Not for Padme, not for his mother, or anything. He is a very scared individual, and as Yoda said, “Fear is the path to the dark side.”

We see that his is power hungry, most of which I believe come from Chancellor Palpatine whispering suggestions in his ear, boosting his ego. He knows that if he plays Anakin right, he will be able to turn him. A good Jedi would never have slaughtered the entire Tuskan camp…they’d be able to control their feelings. That was a trip to the dark side.

Also, the dark side of the force is not stronger (as evidenced by Yoda’s incredible ability), but easier to master…it’s a shortcut, but has dire consequences. Anakin gets too involved in his own feelings, wants to be powerful NOW, and doesn’t have the patience needed to wait until his skills develop. Throw in his anger and fear, and you’ve got a perfect making for the transition to Sith lord.

Palpatine is the only person who complements Anakin on his patience…telling him what he wants to hear, not what ne needs.

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I think the whole point is that evil doesn’t have to come about just by people who are naturally evil, or those who are evil throughout their lifetimes – evil things can come about out of ordinary indiscretions like being possessive and overly attached (particularly when said individual is a powerful Jedi who can manipulate the Force). As the saying goes – “the road to Hell is paved with good intentions”. In Anakin’s case, he falls to the Dark Side – he doesn’t seek it out. He’s tormented by this and he is torn between dark and light (even as Vader).

I think it’s very interesting to think about how even good things like love aren’t infallible. If love makes you possessive, jealous, angry, or violent, that’s not necessarily good just because love is good.

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Great point, fluiddruid,

I agree with the overall gist of the OP - as far as the actual story of Anakin’s Fall, I was left wanting more. IMHO he seems 75% there already - I’m not particularly drawn to his character, and I was hoping to be. To have “spun” the character such that he’s really likeable, really intending to be good (with minor bursts of frustration, anger, impatience, fear) would make his decent to the Dark Side in III that much more powerful.

As is he just came across angry, impatient, and generally creepy. I didn’t have any sympathy for his character.

Other than that, HOLY SHIT!

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I think one thing this movie showed is how Anakin can be consumed by ditterness. How he lacks forgiveness, and compassion in dealing with failures (his own and the failures of others). For example, he looks on his step-father with bitterness, even though there is no way he (the step-father) could have personally helped his mother, and 12 men died trying to save her.

I do agree it was a fult of the movie that Anakin was a very creepy, unsympathetic character. I hope they would show how he could be charming and persuasive. Instead, he just whined. Oh well.

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Yes he killed the Tuskan Raiders, but out of hate, which is not what a Jedi is supposed to do. If he was defending himself that is fine, but it was made clear that he did it simply for revenge.

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Nobody has yet grasped the concept that this isn’t where Anakin falls to the Dark Side. He is still young and arrogant. Episode 3 is when he learns and is converted to the Dark Side.

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You’re of course right, d12 - My point is that he doesn’t have far to fall in EP III, and it might have made for better drama if he was at least somewhat likeable in II.

For example, would Luke have turned to the Dark Side in VI, it would have been tragic: by that point he was fairly likeable - Brash, impulsive, passionate, but with an innocence about him. With Annakin it’s a no-brainer that he’s gonna turn. While we as the audience know he’s gonna turn, it could be more powerful if in watching him throughout II (where we really get to know him) we see someone who we don’t want to turn.

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I don’t know, when he wasn’t killing innocent Tusken Raiders or losing his temper while interrogating changelings, I thought Anakin came across as a charming, if cocky, guy. He would sometimes flash this little smirk with a glint in his eyes that was exactly what I was expecting from what one would think he’d be like. He also fits the mold of that charming, if tormented, guy that nice girls (or Senators) hook up with thinking then can change them for the better.

BIG mistake, Padme. :smiley: