Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones

Den Galaktiska Republiken står på randen av ett inbördeskrig efter att Greve Dooku organiserat en separatistisk rörelse för att störta Senaten. Tusentals solsystem hotar att lämna Republiken och senatorn Padmé Amidala utsätts för ett mordförsök. Dock är hon listigare än så och klarar sig utan en skråma. Däremot bestäms det att hon ska få livvakter, vilket hon motvilligt går med på. När det visar sig att det är två Jediriddare hon kände under sin regeringstid som Naboos drottning. Anakin Skywalker och hans mästare Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Anakin är fortfarande lika betagen av Padmé som för tio år sedan och det tar inte mer än några minuter innan han envist svär på att hitta den som försökt att mörda henne. Men show more samtidigt lider han av mardrömmar, mardrömmar om sin mamma som han lämnade bakom sig för att kunna bli en Jedi. Någonting är fel och varje liten cell i kroppen säger att att han måste skynda sig hem...

Enligt mig har episod två alltid varit den sämsta av i serien vilket har bidragit till att det är filmen jag har sett om minst gånger och därför knappt kommer ihåg. Men berättelsen återfår värdighet och intresse i bokform. Den ger läsaren mer information och mer djup än vad tittaren får; vi får ord på det som inte riktigt kommer fram i filmen och man förstår karaktärernas handlingar bättre. Dessutom är det enklare att knyta an till karaktärerna då författaren lyckas ge dem alla otroligt mycket mer liv än det som blev slutresultatet på George Lucas' försök.

Jag har alltid älskat Anakin men jag förstår och gillar honom mer i episod två nu när jag har läst boken och förstår hans motiv och tankar – det är knappast något som framkommer i filmen. Det var en liknande känsla när jag läste episod ett som bok men flera gånger om. Bokversionen av episod ett kändes som en komplettering till filmen, lite som en guide som går in på djupet. Däremot blev denna bok mycket mer än filmen med samma handling och karaktärer någonsin kan bli. show less

I’ve never been partial to the works of Mr. Salvatore, until now.

While the Attack of the Clones novelisation lacks the dramatic music and framing of the movie, it does a superior job at character writing and making sense of the plot. Extra dialogue and entire scenes are added, fleshing out the story. It’s a noteworthy improvement.

What stood out to me in particular is the chemistry between Anakin and Padma. Something infamously absent in the movie. I likewise appreciated the deeper look into Anakin’s character at this point in time, which the novelisation provides. It makes his inevitable fall more understandable, and more tragic as a result. I understand the Revenge of the Sith novelisation continues these trends. We’ll see once show more I reach that book; for now I’ll delve into the numerous stories contained in the original Clone Wars Multimedia Project.

Stories written between the release of episode II and III back in the day. Before The Clone Wars animated series muddied the Expanded Universe timeline. show less

The novelization of the second prequel film Attack of the Clones hit shelves a few weeks before the film hit theaters, written by noted fantasy-science fiction author R.A. Salvatore based off the script of the film.

From a script to page perspective, Salvatore does a wonderful job in adaptation especially with action scenes and doing his best in lessening the cringe factor in some of the romantic dialogue between Anakin and Padme. The decision by Salvatore to create subplots for the Lars family and Jango & Boba Fett to not only give context to what happens on screen but create more rounded characters. The addition of Padme’s family—which was cut from the film—and adding internal monologues for her made the romantic subplot a whole show more lot better than on screen, though overall the subplot still had issues which due to the script Salvatore couldn’t overcome.

Attack of the Clones is definitely a novelization that is better than it’s film source material, which is a testament to R.A. Salvatore’s talent. show less

Better than The Phantom Menace though not anywhere near the caliber of the original trilogy. The novels for episodes I, II and III read like above-average fan fiction, and I deplore that this series is considered cannon.

How about a reboot since they are all the rage now? Let's toss the prequels in the garbage compactor and start over.

Attack of the Clones. If you've seen the movie, you've read the book. Except....you haven't. Of course, the book follows along pretty closely with the film. It's great to visualize and hear the voices of the film cast in your head as you read. That was very enjoyable.

What set this book on the next level for me was the inclusion of Shmi Skywalker/Cliegg Lars family life on Tatooine, as well as the Padme family scenes on Naboo. These were so well done and I had no problem believing they could easily have been slipped into the film.

If you're looking for a fun revisit to the film, look no further.

Like its predecessor, this book is an improvement on the film it novelizes. Primarily this is due to the fact that it includes a lot of scenes where minor characters get fleshed out, such as Shmi and Lars and Jango and Boba Fett, as well as some deeper insight to Anakin's relationship with Obi-Wan. Presumably these were in early scripts but were cut to prevent the movie being 5 hours long. There are scenes that I wish had made the cut in the film, such as when Padme brings home Anakin to meet her family. It is much better at developing their relationship than any of the scenes that made it into the movie. Unfortunately, all that painfully bad dialogue of Padme and Anakin expressing their anguished love is also present in the book (plus show more the author seems creepily obsessed with describing Padme's beauty). So this is no masterpiece of literature but it does offer some things that you don't get from the movie. show less

As for the novelisation of its predecessor The Phantom Menace, and indeed to an even greater extent, this novelisation expands on characters' background and motivations for their behaviour in a way that adds considerable depth to the film storyline. Again this is at the hands of a published author of fantasy novels. This deepening helps particularly in the case of the romance between Anakin and Padme, which was unconvincing on screen. Anakin's mother Shmi is also given a bit more "airtime" here prior to her tragic demise at the hands of the Tusken raiders, as are Jango and Boba Fett. Mercifully, Jar Jar Binks was in this one much less than its predecessor anyway. The battle and fight scenes are perhaps rather too protracted, though, and show more difficult to recapture the visual impact from the screen. show less