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Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones is a 2002 American epic space opera film directed by George Lucas and written by Lucas and Jonathan Hales. It is the fifth film to be released in the Star Wars saga and the second in terms of the series's internal chronology. At 142 minutes, it is the longest film in the series.
The film is set 10 years after the events in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, when the galaxy is on the brink of civil war. Under the leadership of a renegade Jedi named Count Dooku, thousands of planetary systems threaten to secede from the Galactic Republic. When an assassination attempt is made on Senator Padmé Amidala, the former Queen of Naboo, Jedi apprentice Anakin Skywalker is assigned to protect her, while his mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi is assigned to investigate the assassination attempt. Soon, Anakin, Padmé, and Obi-Wan are drawn into the heart of the Separatist territories and the beginning of a new threat to the galaxy, the Clone Wars.
Released on May 16, 2002, Attack of the Clones was one of the first motion pictures to be shot completely on a high definition digital 24-frame system. It garnered mostly mixed to positive reviews from critics and was a financial success; however, it also became the first Star Wars film to be internationally out-grossed in its year of release.
Plot
The film begins with an opening crawl explaining that ten years following the invasion of Naboo by the Trade Federation, the Galactic Republic is in turmoil. Anakin Skywalker is now an apprentice to Obi-Wan Kenobi and the former Jedi Knight Count Dooku has organized a Separatist movement against the Republic, and the Galactic Senate is debating a plan to create an army for the Republic to assist the Jedi against the Separatist threat. Senator Padmé Amidala, the former queen of Naboo, returns to Coruscant to vote. Upon her arrival, she escapes an assassination attempt, and Supreme Chancellor Palpatine assigns Obi-Wan and Anakin to protect her. Obi-Wan and Anakin subdue the assassin, Zam Wessell, during another assassination attempt. However, before she can give them any information, the assassin is killed by her employer with a poisonous dart. Obi-Wan learns that the dart was manufactured on the remote ocean planet of Kamino, and is assigned to investigate, while Anakin is assigned to escort Padmé back to her home planet of Naboo, where he and Padmé fall in love. In investigating Kamino, Obi-Wan discovers that it has been removed from the navigation maps of the Jedi archives. Yoda reveals that such a thing could only have been done by a Jedi, suggesting that a conspiracy is afoot.
Obi-Wan heads to Kamino, where he discovers that an army of clone troopers is being secretly produced for the Republic, using a bounty hunter named Jango Fett as their genetic template. Realizing that Jango is the assassin's employer, Obi-Wan tracks Jango and his son Boba to Geonosis, a rocky planet where a new droid army is being created. Meanwhile, on Naboo, Anakin becomes troubled by premonitions of his mother Shmi in pain. Against Obi-Wan's order, Anakin and Padmé travel to Tatooine. After meeting his new stepfather Cliegg Lars, as well as his stepbrother Owen, Anakin realizes that Shmi was kidnapped by Tusken Raiders some weeks earlier. Anakin arrives at the tribe's campsite to rescue Shmi, only to discover too late that his mother was tortured to death. After Anakin kills everyone at the campsite, he returns with Shmi's body and reveals his crime to Padmé, who comforts him.
Having learned that Count Dooku authorized the assassination attempt on Padmé and that the Separatists are developing a new battle droid army, Obi-Wan relays this information via hologram to Anakin, who transmits it to the Jedi Council. However, Obi-Wan is captured by Dooku mid-transmission. Dooku unsuccessfully attempts to make an ally of Obi-Wan, and reveals to him that the Republic is being secretly controlled by a Sith Lord named Darth Sidious. While Anakin and Padmé head to Geonosis to rescue Obi-Wan, Palpatine is granted emergency powers to organize the clone army and send them into battle. Shortly after arriving on Geonosis, Anakin and Padmé are captured by Jango and ordered to be publicly executed along with Obi-Wan. Anakin and Padmé profess their love before being led into a large gladiatorial arena where they and Obi-Wan are pitted against gigantic beasts. However, Mace Windu and a team of Jedi appear and lead a strong defense against the beasts and the Separatists. During the almighty battle that follows, Windu kills Jango Fett but then the Jedi find themselves outnumbered by the Separatists' droid army. As Dooku demands their surrender, Yoda arrives with reinforcements- the clone army.
As a battle erupts between the Republic's clone army and the Separatists' droid forces, Obi-Wan and Anakin follow Dooku to try and prevent his escape. In a lightsaber duel, Dooku defeats them both, injuring Obi-Wan and severing Anakin's right arm, but then Yoda arrives in time to save them and challenges the Count himself. Unable to defeat Yoda, Dooku flees in his ship to Coruscant, taking the blueprints for a superweapon with him. He is met by Sidious, who states that everything is going as planned now that the galaxy is at war. As the Jedi gravely acknowledge the start of the Clone Wars, Palpatine supervises the launching of several battalions of clone troopers. Meanwhile, Anakin – now fitted with a robotic artificial arm – and Padmé secretly marry on Naboo, with C-3PO and R2-D2 as witnesses.
