Star Wars: Episódio II - Ataque dos Clones (Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones)

Info About The Second Episode Of This Great SpaceOpera:

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. Like its predecessor, it garnered mixed reviews from critics^[2] 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 Galactic Republic is in turmoil. Following the invasion of Naboo ten years earlier, the former Jedi Knight Count Dooku (Christopher Lee) has now organized a Separatist movement against the Republic. The Galactic Senate debates 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 and now a politician, returns to Coruscant to cast her vote. Upon her arrival, she narrowly escapes an assassination attempt, and Supreme Chancellor Palpatine assigns Obi-Wan Kenobi and his apprentice Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) 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 using 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. Anakin relishes the opportunity to spend time with her, and they 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 (Temuera Morrison) as their genetic template. Realizing that Jango is the assassin's employer, Obi-Wan tracks Jango and his son Boba (Daniel Logan) 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. Despite Obi-Wan's orders to remain on Naboo, Anakin and Padmé go to Tatooine. After meeting his new stepfather, Cliegg Lars (Jack Thompson), and stepbrother Owen Lars (Joel Edgerton), Anakin learns Shmi had been kidnapped by Tusken Raiders some weeks earlier. Anakin heads out alone to rescue Shmi, but the Jedi snaps after witnessing the death of his mother at the hands of the Tuskens. He kills the tribe in a rage and buries his mother's body at the Lars homestead.
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 Darth Sidious. While Anakin and Padmé head to Geonosis to rescue Obi-Wan, Chancellor 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 sentenced to be 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 in a public execution. However, Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson) and a team of Jedi appear and lead a strong defense against the beasts and the Separatists. Windu kills Jango Fett in a brief battle, but then the Jedi find themselves outnumbered by the Separatists' droid army. As Dooku demands their surrender, Yoda arrives with the clone army and rescues the survivors of the battle. After the arena is emptyed, Boba recovers the decapitated head of his father, and swears revenge for him.
As a large battle erupts between the Republic's clone army and the Separatists' droid forces, Obi-Wan and Anakin engage Dooku in a lightsaber duel. Dooku defeats them both, injuring Obi-Wan and severing Anakin's right arm, but then Yoda arrives to challenge the Count. Unable to defeat Yoda, Dooku flees in his ship to Coruscant, taking the blueprints for an ultimate weapon with him. He is met in an isolated hangar by his Sith master, Darth 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 oversees the launching of several battalions of clone troopers. Meanwhile, Anakin– now fitted with an artificial arm– and Padmé secretly marry on Naboo, with C-3PO and R2-D2 as witnesses.

Cast

• Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi: A Jedi Knight and mentor to his Padawan learner, Anakin Skywalker, who investigates the assassination attempt of Padmé which led him to discover the makings of a Clone Army.
• Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker: Obi-Wan's gifted padawan apprentice. He is believed to be the "chosen one" of Jedi prophecy destined "to bring balance to the Force." In the 10 years since The Phantom Menace, he has grown powerful but arrogant, and believes that Obi-Wan is holding him back.
• Natalie Portman as Senator Padmé Amidala: Former Queen of Naboo, who has recently been elected the planet's Senator.
• Ian McDiarmid as Chancellor Palpatine: A former Galactic Senator from Naboo, who amasses vast emergency powers upon the outbreak of the Clone Wars.
• Christopher Lee as Count Dooku: A former Jedi Master who is now leader of the Separatist movement as Darth Tyranus, and a suspect in Obi-Wan's investigation.
• Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu: A Jedi Master sitting on the Jedi Council who warily watches the Galactic Senate's politics.
• Temuera Morrison as Jango Fett: A bounty hunter who gave his DNA for use by the cloning facilities on Kamino for the creation of the clone army. In addition to his wage, he requested an unaltered clone for himself to take as his son – Boba Fett.
• Frank Oz voices Yoda: A Jedi Grand Master of an unknown species. In addition to sitting on the Jedi Council, Yoda is the instructor for the young Jedi padawans.
• Anthony Daniels as C-3PO: A protocol droid for the Lars homestead.
• Kenny Baker as R2-D2: An astro-droid, often seen on missions with Anakin and Obi-Wan.
• Daniel Logan as Boba Fett: Jango Fett's clone and adopted son, who is created from his "father"'s DNA.
• Leeanna Walsman as Zam Wesell: A bounty hunter and partner of Jango Fett, who is given the task of assassinating Padmé. Although her appearance is human, she is actually a shapeshifter.
• Silas Carson as Nute Gunray and Ki-Adi-Mundi: Gunray is the Viceroy of the Trade Federation, who attempts to assassinate Padmé as revenge for his loss against her people on Naboo. Ki-Adi-Mundi is a Jedi Master and a member of the Jedi Council.
• Ahmed Best as Delegate Jar Jar Binks: A Gungan whom Padmé appoints Representative of Naboo.

E! Online reported that Lucas had allowed 'N Sync to film a small background cameo appearance, in order to satisfy his daughters. They were subsequently cut out of the film in post-production.^[3] The end credits erroneously list Alan Ruscoe as playing Neimoidian senator Lott Dod. The character was actually another Neimoidian, played by an uncredited David Healey and voiced by Christopher Truswell.
A large search for the new Anakin Skywalker was performed across the United States. Lucas auditioned various actors, mostly unknown, before casting Christensen. Among the many established actors who auditioned were Jonathan Brandis, Ryan Phillippe,^[4] Colin Hanks,^[5] and Paul Walker.^[6] Leonardo DiCaprio also met with Lucas for the role, but was "definitely unavailable" according to DiCaprio publicist Ken Sunshine.^[7] Co-star Natalie Portman later told Time magazine that Christensen "gave a great reading. He could simultaneously be scary and really young."^[8]

Themes

See also: Star Wars sources and analogues

Lucas has noted that Palpatine's rise to power is very similar to that of Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany; as Chancellor of Germany, the latter was granted "emergency powers", as is Palpatine.^[23] Comparisons have been made to Octavian&nbsp– who became Augustus, the first emperor of Rome&nbsp– and to Napoleon Bonaparte, who rose to power in France from 1796 to 1799. Octavian was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of political opponents well before he was granted tribunician powers; Bonaparte was appointed First Consul for life (and later Emperor) by the French Consulate after a failed attempt on his life and the subsequent coup of 18 Brumaire in 1799.^[24] Some have drawn parallels to the American Civil War, likening the Separatists to the Confederate States of America; the official name of the Separatist group is the "Confederacy of Independent Systems". The name of the government Army, the "Grand Army of the Republic", is the same in both Star Wars and the American Civil War, and both Palpatine and President Abraham Lincoln took extensive war powers and suspended many civil rights.^[24]
War journalism, combat films, and footage of World War II combat influenced the documentary-style camera work of the Battle of Geonosis, even to the point that hand-held shakes were digitally added to computer-generated sequences.^[24]
The prequel trilogy films often refer to the original trilogy in order to help connect the films together. Lucas has often referred to the films as a long poem that rhymes.^[25] Such examples include the now-famous line of "I have a bad feeling about this," a phrase used in each film, and battles, namely lightsaber duels, that almost always occur over a pit. As with Attack of the Clones, The Empire Strikes Back was the middle film in a trilogy; therefore, of the original trilogy films, The Empire Strikes Back is the object of the most references in Attack of the Clones. In both films, an asteroid field is the backdrop of a major star battle in the middle of the film. Obi-Wan escapes Jango Fett by attaching his spacecraft to an asteroid in order to disappear from the enemy sensors; Han Solo uses a similar tactic by attaching the Millennium Falcon to a Star Destroyer in The Empire Strikes Back. As a retcon, John Knoll confirms on the film's DVD commentary that Boba Fett, who would later catch Solo in the act in The Empire Strikes Back, "learned his lesson" from the events of Attack of the Clones.^[23] In another scene, Obi-Wan asks Anakin, "Why do I get the feeling you're going to be the death of me?" This is an allusion to A New Hope where Anakin, as Darth Vader, kills Obi-Wan aboard the Death Star. Also, Count Dooku cuts off Anakin's arm, similar to when Darth Vader cut off Luke Skywalker's hand in The Empire Strikes Back.

Release

After a teaser trailer premiered with the film Monsters, Inc., a new trailer for the film aired on the Fox Network on March 10, 2002 between Malcolm in the Middle and The X-Files,^[26] and was made available on the official Star Wars web site the same day. The outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas from Chicago predicted before the film's release that U.S. companies could lose more than $319 million in productivity due to employees calling in sick and then heading to theaters to see the film.^[27]
Attack of the Clones was screened out of competition on May 12th at the 2002 Tribeca Film Festival in New York City^[28]and the following week at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival,^[29] before getting a worldwide theatrical release on May 16, 2002. The film was also later released in IMAX theaters; the film had not been filmed for IMAX but was "up converted" with the digital remastering process. Because of the technical limitations of the IMAX projector, an edited, 120-minute version of the film was presented.^[30]
Before the film's release, there was a string of controversies regarding piracy. In 2000, an underground organization calling itself the Atlas Group, based in Perth, Western Australia offered a copy of the screenplay, with an asking price of US$100,000, to various fan sites and media organizations, including TheForce.Net. The scheme was subsequently reported to Lucasfilm Ltd. by the fan site.
A pirate copy was allegedly made at a private showing, using a digital recorder that was pointed at the screen. This copy spread over the internet, and analysts predicted up to a million fans would have seen the film before the day of its release.^[31] In addition, authorities seized thousands of bootlegs throughout Kuala Lumpur before the film opened.^[32]

Reception

Attack of the Clones received generally mixed to positive reviews from critics.^[33] On the Rotten Tomatoes review site, the film received a 67% favorable rating based on 218 reviews, the general consensus being "Containing more of what made the Star Wars series fun, Attack of the Clones is an improvement over The Phantom Menace."^[34] On Metacritic, the film holds a score of 53 based on 39 reviews, which indicates "Mixed or average reviews".
Critics called the dialogue "stiff" and "flat".^[35] The acting (particularly by Christensen and Portman) was also disparaged by some critics.^[36] Conversely, other critics felt fans would be pleased to see that Jar Jar Binks has only a minor role.^[37] He in fact plays a pivotal part in the story by making a motion in the Galactic Senate to grant Palpatine emergency powers– unknowingly assisting Palpatine's rise to power. Additionally, Jar Jar's attempts at comic relief seen in The Phantom Menace were toned down; instead, C-3PO reprised some of his bumbling traditions in that role. McGregor referred to the swordplay in the film as "unsatisfactory" when comparing it to the climactic duel in Revenge of the Sith as it neared release.^[38]
Roger Ebert, who had praised all of the other Star Wars films, awarded this edition only two out of four stars, noting, "[As] someone who admired the freshness and energy of the earlier films, I was amazed, at the end of Episode II, to realize that I had not heard one line of quotable, memorable dialogue." About Anakin and Padme's relationship, Ebert stated, "There is not a romantic word they exchange that has not long since been reduced to cliché."^[36] Leonard Maltin, who also liked all of the previous installments, only awarded two stars out of four to this endeavor as well, as seen in his Movie and Video Guide from the 2002 edition onward. Maltin cited an "overlong story" as reason for his dissatifaction and added, "Wooden characterizations and dialogue don't help."^[39]
In following suit with the previous installments in the series, the Academy Awards presented Attack of the Clones with a nomination for Rob Coleman, Pablo Helman, John Knoll, and Ben Snow for Best Visual Effects at the 2003 Academy Awards, but lost to The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.^[40] Natalie Portman was also honored at the Teen Choice Awards,^[41] and the film received an award for Best Fight at the MTV Movie Awards.^[42] In contrast, the film also received seven nominations from the Golden Raspberry Awards for Worst Picture, Worst Director (George Lucas), Worst Screenplay (George Lucas), Worst Supporting Actor (Hayden Christensen), Worst Supporting Actress (Natalie Portman), Worst Screen Couple (Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman) and Worst Remake or Sequel.^[43] It took home two awards for Worst Screenplay (George Lucas) and Worst Supporting Actor (Hayden Christensen).^[44]

Box office

The film grossed $310,676,740 in North America and $338,721,588 overseas for a worldwide total of $649,398,328. Though a huge financial success, it was nevertheless overshadowed by the even greater box-office success of The Phantom Menace three years earlier.^[1] It was not the top grossing film of the year, either in North America (where it finished in third place) or worldwide (where it was fourth), the first time that a Star Wars film did not have this distinction. In North America it was outgrossed by Spider-Man and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, both of which enjoyed a more favorable critical reception as well. Worldwide, it was also outgrossed by Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, though Attack of the Clones performed better than The Chamber of Secrets in North America. Adjusted for inflation, Attack of the Clones is the lowest-performing live-action Star Wars film at the North American box office, though is still in the Top 100 highest grossing films of all time when adjusted for inflation.^[45]

Home media

Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones was released on DVD and VHS on November 12, 2002. George Lucas edited or added certain elements that make the DVD slightly different from its theatrical release. The DVD features an audio commentary from director George Lucas, producer Rick McCallum, editor and sound designer Ben Burtt, ILM animation director Rob Coleman, and ILM visual effects supervisors Pablo Helman, John Knoll, and Ben Snow. Eight deleted scenes are included along with multiple documentaries, which include a full-length documentary about the creation of digital characters and two others that focus on sound design and the animatics team. Three featurettes examine the storyline, action scenes, and love story, and a set of 12 short web documentaries cover the overall production of the film.^[46]
The Attack of the Clones DVD also features a trailer for a mockumentary-style short film known as R2-D2: Beneath the Dome. Some stores offered the full mockumentary as an exclusive bonus disc for a small extra charge. The film gives an alternate look at the "life" of the droid R2-D2. The story, which Lucas approved, was meant to be humorous.^[47]
The DVD was re-released in a prequel trilogy box set on November 4, 2008.^[48]
The Star Wars films were released on Blu-ray Disc on September 16, 2011 in three different editions.^[49]


All Extracts Taken From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_Episode_II:_Attack_of_the_Clones

More Info: http://www.starwars.com/explore/the-movies/episode-ii/ - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0121765/