A widely criticized ‘Star Wars’ prequel is finally getting a second look from fans

A recent discussion online is encouraging Star Wars fans to take another look at Attack of the Clones, which some believe is unfairly derided. Sandwiched between Episode 1 — The One With Darth Maul and Episode 3 — The Part We’ve Been Waiting For, it’s true that Attack of the Clones often feels like a forgotten entry in the Star Wars canon.

Reddit user Oilersfan78 seeks to rectify this with a post to a Reddit fan community, claiming that the prequel “doesn’t deserve the hate it gets.” And judging from the responses, they aren’t alone in that opinion. Various fans joined the discussion to defend Attack of the Clones, with some praising John Williams’ score for the second prequel, others noting how active Padme is in the plot this time around (not true of the rest of the prequel trilogy), and even a few people discussing the remarkable sound design — specifically the seismic charges that Jango Fett’s Slave 1 ship hurls at Obi-Wan’s Jedi Starfighter.

Still, some Reddit users doubled down on the movie being an inferior chapter, criticizing its dialogue, the lightsaber sequence where Yoda won’t stop flipping, and Obi-Wan merely stumbling onto clues during his detective story rather than actually detecting them. Others complained that the plot to assassinate Padme is laughable and that Count Dooku is too much of a Bond villain when he explains his plot to Obi-Wan. Also, within the context of just this movie: Why not explain who Sifo-Dyas actually is? He sounds important.

While it’s true that Attack of the Clones is remembered more for its memefication than for its artistic accomplishments — people can’t even say the word “sand” anymore without thinking of Hayden Christensen — it’s still a stalwart example of an artist delivering a unique, comprehensive vision without a committee focus-grouping the entire enterprise into some kind of bloodless cultural artifact. Like it or not, Attack of the Clones is art. And if you fall into the “not” category because of the dialogue, you can always take xmmdrive’s suggestion:

If you want to give Attack of the Clones another try, the film is available to stream right now on Disney Plus, alongside all of the other Star Wars Skywalker Saga entries.