The Galactic Republic is in crisis.

A separatist movement (secretly led by

former Jedi Count Dooku) has threatened the peace. Senator Padmé
Amidala, former Queen of Naboo, returns to the Galactic Senate to offer a
vote of support on the creation of a Republic Army, as there are no longer
enough Jedi to maintain peace and order in the galaxy. Upon her arrival at
Coruscant, she narrowly escapes an assassination attempt. As a result,
Chancellor Palpatine requests that Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi and his apprentice,
Anakin Skywalker protect her.

That night, a mysterious bounty hunter makes another attempt on Amidala's

life, and the Jedi Council asks Obi-Wan to track down the killer. Meanwhile,
Anakin is given the assignment of protecting the Senator and escorting her
back to her home planet of Naboo. Anakin welcomes the opportunity, as he
often becomes angry and frustrated by Obi-Wan's criticism, and is glad to
have an opportunity to be on his own. Representative Jar Jar Binks assumes
the Senator's duties in her absence.

During the investigation, Obi-Wan is led to a mysterious planet called

Kamino (missing from the Republics's archives), where he discovers a secret
clone army being developed for the Republic. He is told by the natives that
the army was ordered some ten years ago by a Jedi named Sifo-Dyas--
believed by the Jedi Council to have died around the same time. A bounty
hunter named Jango Fett was hired to be the template for the clones. Obi-
Wan meets Jango on Kamino, and believes him to be the killer he has been
tracking. After unsuccessfully trying to capture Jango Fett, Obi-Wan places a
tracking device on his ship and follows him to the planet of Geonosis.

On Geonosis, Obi-Wan overhears conversations between Count Dooku and

the Trade Federation, and learns that they are behind the separatist
movement and have built up a new droid army. He also learns that it was the
Federation that ordered the assassination of Amidala, as revenge for the
Battle of Naboo (see Episode I). Obi-Wan sends a recorded message to the
Jedi Council to inform them of his recent findings just before being
captured.

Meanwhile, Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala have been spending

much time together on Naboo, and Anakin reveals his deep love for her.
However, Padmé resists, explaining that it would be impossible for the two
of them to be together, since she is a Senator and he is a Jedi. Anakin is
angered by this, and experiences inner conflict between his strong desires for
her and his duties as a Jedi.

Anakin is also troubled by a newfound sense that his mother is in grave

danger, and he beckons for Padmé to accompany him to his home planet of
Tatooine (disobeying Obi-Wan's orders to remain on Naboo). Upon arriving,
he learns that his mother was kidnapped a month ago by local Tuskens. He
travels through the night, and finds her in very poor condition. Within
moments, she dies in his arms. In a fit of rage, he slaughters the entire
Tusken community. Back at Coruscant, Yoda senses a terrible darkness in
the Force, coming from Anakin. Anakin then brings his mother's body back
to her home, where her funeral is held.

Now that the Jedi Council knows of Dooku's army, Jedi Mace Windu leads a
team to Geonosis. Unbeknownst to them, Anakin and Padmé also make their
way to rescue Obi-Wan. Meanwhile, Representative Binks calls for
Chancellor Palpatine to be given emergency powers, with which he can call
the recently discovered clone army into battle.

Back on Geonosis, Count Dooku tries to persuade Obi-Wan to join him,

warning him that Darth Sidious is now in control of the Senate. Obi-Wan
refuses to believe him, saying that the Jedi would have known if that was the
case.

Anakin and Padmé arrive on the planet, but are quickly captured and
sentenced to death, joining Obi-Wan in an arena-like complex where three
huge monsters are unleashed on them. During their struggle, Mace Windu
arrives with his Jedi, and they battle Dooku's droids on the field. Even
though Windu kills Jango Fett, defeat for the Jedi seems imminent. Mace
Windu, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, Padme Amidala, Ki-Adi-
Mundi, Plo Koon, Kit Fisto, Saesee Tiin, Shaak Ti, Agen Kolar, Luminara
Unduli, Stass Allie, Aayla Secura Bultar Swan, Tarados Gon, Sora Bulq,
Joclad Danva, and Roth-Del Masona are marched into a circle. Luckely
Yoda unexpectedly arrives with the Republic's new clone army.

A large battle ensues between the Republic's clone army, and the Separatist's
droid army. Count Dooku attempts to escape, but Obi-Wan and Anakin track
him to a secret hangar, where they engage him in combat. Unfortunately,
they are no match for Dooku's mastery of the Force and the lightsaber, and
he injures Obi-Wan and cuts Anakin's right hand off. Yoda appears just as
Dooku is about to finish them off, and the two masters of the Force go head
to head in lightsaber combat. Dooku attempts to topple a large pillar on Obi-
Wan and Anakin, and while Yoda uses the force to divert the pillar, Dooku
escapes. He meets up with his master, Darth Sidious, who is pleased that the
war has begun as planned.

Back in Coruscant, Obi-Wan informs the Jedi Council of Dooku's warning

that Darth Sidious is controlling the Senate. Yoda is hesitant to believe this,
stating that the Dark Side is capable of creating fear and mistrust. He and
Windu agree that they should nevertheless closely monitor the Senate.

Back at Naboo, Anakin (with a new mechanical hand) and Padmé hold a
secret wedding, with only C-3PO and R2-D2 as witnesses.

[edit]

Selected plot elements

[edit]

Anakin's mechanical hand

Anakin has his right forearm cut off by Count Dooku, just as Luke has his
hand cut off by Darth Vader (who is Anakin) in The Empire Strikes Back.
This dual hand severing becomes important later on in Return of the Jedi,
when Luke fails to kill Vader when he sees they both have a cybernetic hand.
It is worth noting that Luke's electronic hand is far more sophisticated than
Anakin's, which is perhaps due to development of technology between the
two movies, although it seems that most major medical advances would
have been made long before during the 25,000 year history of the Republic.
The artificiality of Anakin's hand may have at least partly been a personal
choice. The composition of the group of C-3PO, R2-D2, Anakin and Padmé
on the balcony at the end of Attack of the Clones is similar in nature to the
end of The Empire Strikes Back.

[edit]

Political atmosphere

The political atmosphere in Attack of the Clones is similar to the Cold War,
except that it eventually escalates to a real war. Since the original drafts for
Star Wars were written in the 1970s, this could have been a political
statement as to what a nuclear war would mean.

Other observers believe that Palpatine's power grab is very similar to Hitler's
climb to power in Nazi Germany, since he, as Chancellor of Germany, was
granted "emergency powers" like Chancellor Palpatine of the Republic.
Parallels also exist to Octavian, who became Augustus, the first emperor of
Rome. Octavian was responsible for the deaths of several hundred political
opponents well before he was granted tribunician powers, and the civil war
between Palpatine and the Republicans in the Galactic Senate vaguely
resembles the civil war between the Triumvirs, although the former is less
morally ambiguous.

[edit]

Geonosian style execution

Within the movie, Geonosian style execution is a form of capital

punishment practiced on the planet Geonosis. The origin of the term is that it
was originally employed by the Geonosians. The scene depicting this
method takes place in the Geonosian arena with the condemned chained to a
pole, awaiting execution. The beastlike creatures approach from the arena
door, and attack and eat the condemned persons in the manner of a wild
beast. (This scene appears to reference an execution method employed by
the ancient Romans at the Colosseum where lions and other dangerous
predator animals were permitted to have their way with condemned
prisoners.) Count Dooku sentenced Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker,
and Padmé Naberrie Amidala to be executed in this method. However, the
executions were nullified by the timely arrival of Jedi reinforcements, led by
Jedi Master Mace Windu.