Star Wars: Attack of the Clones 'Sanded Down'

Ladies and gentlemen, it's finally here: the edit that transforms AOTC into a GOOD Star Wars movie. Yes, you read that right. Octoroxx's edits are so seamless, the alteration of the narrative structure so perfect, that I believe this is the absolute *best* possible version of this film given the available source material. And not only that...let me say it again: This is now (finally) a *good* enjoyable Star Wars movie (by no means an easy feat).

Spoiler warning!

From the opening crawl, to the inclusion of a much-appreciated deleted scene, we start off with a real sense of Padme's fundamental importance in the political drama of the burgeoning Republican-Separatist fight...and that she is the leading figure trying to prevent war. A deleted scene shows the "important vote" she was to attend after the assassination attempt, though the visual quality is regrettably low. I assume that it's theoretically possible to greatly improve the visual quality of this scene (using technology not yet widely available), nevertheless it's a minor concern next to what the scene adds to the story. Excellent choice. Right off the bat, we have much more dramatic context, and the assassination attempts and her protection by Obi-Wan and Anakin carry that much more narrative heft.

Octoroxx's editing is so seamless that you barely remember just how ridiculous, pushy, wooden, and stilted Anakin's creepy obsession with Padme was; it's GONE! Instead, we have the perfectly relatable, realistic situation of a teenage boy with a crush on a beautiful young woman. The dialogue is edited to perfection: subtlety and realism are the key here (or at least as much as can be wrung out of the material). To say that the progression of the romance is improved would be a vast understatement. Deleted scenes in which Anakin meets Padme's family are shown, and the viewer is gradually eased into the situation in which Anakin and Padme are falling in love...

As others have mentioned, the "moonlight" effect during the altered first kiss scene is not believable, but neither was the entire romance in the original film; another minor issue easily forgiven since the scene is so perfectly done: it's their first kiss, as simple as that (none of that horrifically bad dialogue or vomit-inducing wooden acting). Even better, it's implied they're in bed together when Anakin has the vision of his mother and decides to leave (I don't remember that being the case in the original, but I might be wrong); they're now officially in love and have bonded, making Padme's choices in the rest of the film much more understandable. Well done.

One quibble I originally had was the fight between Obi-Wan and Jango on Kamino was greatly cut down...but once the movie ended, I came to the conclusion that this greatly helped the pacing and believability of the film; the original fight was definitely over the top.

Anakin *doesn't* tell anybody about the slaughter of the sand people; no more whiny confession scene. PERFECT!

No more cartoonish droid factory scene: Instead, this sequence has miraculously been made obsolete, replaced with a far superior deleted scene. Padme has been the leading voice for diplomacy, she's not giving up yet. While she and Anakin obviously fail in their negotiation with Dooku, it continues to add importance and narrative weight to Padme's character (sorely lacking in the original films, in which Padme felt like nothing but a cardboard cutout with no reason to exist except for the sake of Anakin's story).

Another minor complaint: We still get Padme's laughable "Uh huh" when asked if she's okay after she falls out of gunship. I think it would have been much better to have her simply remain silent, ignoring the question, and then leave the rest of the dialogue as is.

Overall, the edit is damn near close to perfect. Indeed, this edit is so good, I found it amazing that I ever hated this film so much to begin with. I can't stress enough; this really is a GOOD, enjoyable Star Wars movie now. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

Attack of the Clones is a pretty bad SW film. Not as bad as Phantom Menace but not really that good. There was definitely more fan service going on but Anakin's story was weak while Obi-Wan was the more compelling character to follow. With that said I really dig what octoroxx did with Episode II. Much of Anakin's whining and complaining was toned down, the romance with Padme was made a tad more believable, and the narrative was streamlined enough to skip over boring and pointless scenes (younglings? ugh). The editing was also done in a very clean way and I love when that's the case. Great job given the material you had (and took out)!

Brilliant work. Definitely the best AOTC edit I've seen. Love the new opening with the deleted scene. Padme needs to be seen addressing the senate or why should we invest in all this hub-ub over her coming to Coruscant to speak? Instead of delivering all this exposition through formal speeches, now at least we get it first in an empassioned plea from a protagonist we already know. Excellent. Oh, also Anakin is likeable, and Obi Wan can be charming instead of seeming like a dick all the time. Imagine that! The video quality is also stunning. Only criticism would be the love scene feels too abrupt. I'd cut it and go straight to Kamino, and let it all be implied.

This was my least favorite Star Wars movie (I find Anakin annoying in this one) but this edit makes it tolerable enough to watch again (and again). Gone in my opinion are the most terrible bits and alot of the cringe-worthy moments. The pacing is fast and near perfect. Another excellent edit! Highly recommended!

Octoroxx has previously produced my personal favorite Phantom Menace fanedit. By combining great ideas from past faneditors, they had found what for me was Goldilocks's choice. In fact, I had been in the process of doing the same thing myself when I heard of their Faster, More Intense and learned that someone else had already done the work for me. So I was quite excited to see what they had accomplished with Episode II.

Overall, I'd say this edit lives up to its predecessor. It looks and sounds great except for a couple places. The love montage is a fantastic idea and finally gets rid of that cg fruit bite nightmare, but the music transition to the lake at night is noticeably harsh. The Battle of Geonosis seemed to lack a bit of umph musically in a few spots as well.

It's hard to say if this one will push out my current favorite Episode II edit, L8wrtr's The Republic Divided, but it's definitely up there. Great work, octoroxx.