Friday, April 11, 2014

A Jedi Shall Not Know Anger. Nor Hatred. Nor Love.

We have now made the jump to hyperspace and traveled by light speed 10 years into the future after the events of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace and arrived at my favorite episode in the main film series, Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, which was released in theaters on May 16, 2002.  We left off with Qui-Gon Jinn and Darth Maul dying and Obi-Wan Kenobi becoming a Jedi Knight and taking Anakin Skywalker, played by the handsome, young Hayden Christensen (who I have a huge crush on by the way) in this movie, as his Padawan apprentice with Yoda's approval.  Meanwhile, over these past 10 years, Padmé Amidala has also gone from being the queen of Naboo to being senator. 
 
 
 
She has returned to Coruscant to vote in the Galactic Senate on the creation of an army after it is discovered that former Jedi Knight, Count Dooku, is leading a Separatist movement against the Republic.  Upon arriving on Coruscant, there is a near miss assassination attempt on Padmé and Supreme Chancellor Palpatine orders Obi-Wan and Anakin to protect her.  This is the first time Padmé and Anakin have seen each other in 10 years and their relationship picks up from there. 


After finding the assassin, Obi-Wan goes to Kamino to find the bounty hunter the assassin's working for and Anakin escorts Padmé back to her home planet, Naboo.  During their stay in the isolated lake country, Anakin and Padmé share their first kiss and fall in love, even though the Jedi Code strictly forbids any romantic attachments.  Padmé does however try to explain to Anakin why they can't be together.  In the meantime, Obi-Wan discovers the creation of a clone army for the Republic cloned from the bounty hunter Jango Fett. 

 
 
 
Anakin continues to have vivid nightmares of his mother suffering and he and Padmé decide to travel back to Anakin's home planet, Tatooine.  They discover that Tusken Raiders have taken Anakin's mother and when Anakin tries to rescue her, she dies in his arms in the Tusken Raiders camp.  It is after Anakin kills everybody at the camp, when his dark side is revealed as he talks to Padmé.  All of his feelings are poured out and they are all forbidden for a Jedi.  He expresses his anger and hate for the Tusken Raiders, how he feels that Obi-Wan is jealous of him and holding him back, how he wished he had the power to stop people from dying, and how he wishes to become the most powerful Jedi ever someday. 
 
 
Padmé eventually confesses her love for Anakin and we end with two lightsaber duels, one between Anakin and Obi-Wan against Count Dooku and one between Yoda and Count Dooku.  The count manages to escape and Supreme Chancellor Palpatine uses the emergency powers given to him by the Senate to create a grand army of the Republic to counter the increasing threat of the Separatist movement.  The scene is set for the Clone Wars.  The very last scene that we witness is Anakin and Padmé's marriage back on Naboo. 

 
 
 
This is probably one of the most visually stunning movies I have ever seen as it was one of the first movies to be shot entirely in HD.  Kamino is one of the most interesting and mysterious planets I have ever seen in the Star Wars world because it's not well-known to the characters.  It is an oceanic planet located beyond the Outer Rim of the galaxy and it's constantly rainy and windy.  The stormy weather hardly ever stops. 

I especially love the dazzling waterfalls that were edited into the background of the meadow scene where Anakin and Padmé have their picnic and the filming locations in Italy are simply breathtaking.  Most of the scenes on Naboo were filmed in Italy with Villa del Balbianello on Lake Como serving as the setting for the lake country and the Palace of Caserta serving as the setting for the Naboo Royal Palace.  In the future, if I ever get to go on vacation to Italy, one of the places on my bucket list, I would definitely love to visit these filming locations. 
 
 
As in episode I, the music really resonates with me.  The love theme, Across The Stars, is my favorite song out of all the episodes.  The grand, swelling notes are so beautiful and you really get the sense that Anakin and Padmé's romance is complicated and how they are star-crossed lovers.  I just love the concept of forbidden romance even though I know it was ill-fated from the start. 

 
Episode II was supposed to be re-released in theaters in 3D on September 20, 2013, but was unfortunately postponed because of episode VII.  I am still holding out hope that it will be released because I would personally die if I got the chance to see the romantic scenes between Anakin and Padmé on the big screen.  What do you think about the concept of forbidden love and committing yourself to a greater existence?  Leave your comment below. 

No comments:

Post a Comment