Attack of the Clones’ Legacy is marred by a poisonous fandom
The public reception of many films changes after 20 years of retrospect. From upcoming blockbusters that were unable to stand the test of time, to hidden gems brought into the limelight, it is almost impossible to guess a film’s legacy from its inception. However, there are few films whose reception has changed so drastically since they were first released as Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones.
When it premiered, The attack of the clones was slammed by both vocal critics and loud members of the public, mocked as being the new worst Star wars film, with vitriol thrown in the face of both cast and crew. Now more members of the cast will have to repeat their iconic roles for the upcoming one Obi-Wan Kenobi limited series on Disney +, and the mood could not be more different. Fans crawl out of the woodwork and have quietly done so for years to praise the actors, the score, the plot and almost everything in the film, even CGI. While there are valid reasons for this change of heart, it also does not excuse the behavior or dim the light on which the premiere shone, not only Star wars fandom, but the toxicity of pop culture as a whole.
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When I dived into the internet archives, I pulled a few selected quotes from critics, around 2002, about the film’s first release. “A tale full of sound and rage that sucks life out of the cinema” and “It may be going too far to say that it’s a movie at all” are harsh, but “fall into new depths of narrative incoherence, torturing banality and acting incompetence “may be the sharpest of all. The most profane, from a professional critic, read”The attack of the clones is shit with big SH. It’s another digital comic with terrible dialogue, poor performance. “It’s not hard to see why Ewan McGregor has publicly stated that he almost left the franchise, despite the fact that his role was one of two that even became semi-consistently praised, the other was the late Christopher Lee.
Franchise newcomer Hayden Christensen’s trip as Anakin Skywalker came hot on the heels of Jake Lloyd’s performance of the character in Phantom threat three years earlier. A performance, by a child who was so insulted that several reviews of The attack of the clones brought it up again to really twist the knife as far in as it could get. It’s no wonder Jake Lloyd stopped playing after having his performance “poetically” described as “pure torture … like having my testicles in a vise.”
Unfortunately, Christensen barely did better than his Phantom threat predecessor, where critics attacked not only his performance, but him personally. “Dud” and “angry and snotty” were tossed around, and “an annoying teenager who can’t act” was particularly critical. The romance between Christensen and Natalie Portman was praised as one of the worst parts of the film, with critics saying they seemed to “fall around like clumsy mannequins with no facial expressions or genuine emotion.” His choice to leave Hollywood after the recordings of prequels ended is easily defensible, with a handful of mostly independent features filling out his resume until Obi-wan started filming.
While these people get paid to criticize movies and other media, there is a world of difference between tactfully pointing out that an actor’s performance was not great, and trying to massacre the actual actor himself. Critics are not there to destroy art, but behavior like this crosses a line when it bypasses constructive criticism of a film and goes directly to the written response of attacking a film in a back alley with a box full of razor blades.
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The fandom around the franchise was as loud and vicious as the critics, if not more so. From accusing the movies of being solely driven by merchandise to suggesting the “true” Star wars fans would not like prequels because they were “true” fans, for those who defended George Lucas at all costs, cast and crew be cursed. “No apologies to them. They should be ashamed of themselves and not take Lucas’ vision seriously” was a comment on a fan forum in 2002. So-called fans of the series took every opportunity to knock the film to the ground, no matter who they took down along with it.
Fast forward to 2022 and people are now praising prequels, The attack of the clones among them, where people either admitted that they loved them as children or had thought they were fine movies all the time. Many developed a new appreciation for them after the disorganized sequel trilogy published by Disney in the last decade, and others claimed that the film got better just by rewatching.
While it’s nice that people are fans now, it also does not excuse the damage that was done from the first setback to the film. “They were not received very well. Every time they were released, they were hammered. And it did not feel very good,” McGregor said in a recent interview, while also admitting that he did not see any of the prequels after the release, before it was time to prepare for Obi-Wan Kenobi. He has also been very vocal in his appreciation of his co-stars, especially Ahmed Best, whose turn as Jar Jar Binks in the prequel trilogy was insulted so much that the actor has since publicly admitted that he became depressed and considered suicide an escape . .
One would think after so many years and when one sees the change in attitude towards prequels that the fandom would be less harsh in their critique of the continued Star wars universe, but if anything, social media has made it worse. The sequel trilogy and independent film Solo were both slapped, with cast Daisy Ridley, John Boyega and Kelly Marie Tran receiving huge amounts of hatred from viewers, largely on the basis of gender and race. Even though Rogue onewhich was popular enough to launch the upcoming one Andor spin-off, met vocal critics when they were first released just six years ago.
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Fandom toxicity is ultimately a cycle of hatred that must stop. Being a “die-hard” fan does not give anyone, amateur or professional critic, the right to attack people over a movie or a show that is not exactly what they want. Instead of celebrating the good elements – and there are always good elements – this toxicity encourages tearing down not only the media but also the people involved in it. To drive a man to near suicide, no matter how bad you think his character was, is unforgivable. To repeat these actions a decade later, now with misogynistic and racist undertones, is worse.
Of course, no one will ever love and agree with every single creative and artistic choice ever made Star wars, or any other medium – that’s why it’s art. But hating something no longer makes you a “true” fan, and using your professional platform to attack literal children and young adults who are not even old enough to drink alcohol is despicable. There are real people involved in making these things come to life, they are not just pulling pop culture out of a vacuum; real people, with real emotions, who have to deal with real harassment and the real fallout from this thoughtless, contagious wave of hatred.
Two decades after the premiere of The attack of the clones, people are now turning the film’s legacy into a funny prequel, a decent movie with a good cast and, yes, a lot of flaws. But what we really should take away from 20 years of hindsight is not a change in the perception of the quality of the work, but a change in the quality of the reception, and hopefully a change in the haste of hating things so fast forward.