Review Detail

While the original movie's world building and deeper theming are worth a watch, the rest of Attack of the Clones has always made it very tedious for me to sit through. From the insufferable whining of Anakin, the uncomfortable romance shoehorned in, the convenience of a Clone army appearing out of thin air just when the Republic needs it, I could count on one hand the the number of times I had sat through the theatrical cut. Then, I came across DsqrDStudio and his wonderful edits while browsing Revenge of the Sith content. Deleted scenes have always been a fascinating subject for me, and the promise of glimpsing these alternate story beats, cleaned up to match the rest of the film, as well as restructuring the story to address my gripes with the original hooked me.
I could not recommend Shroud of the Darkside enough. The angle of Anakin and Padme's love story is made far more convincing with her thinking she would have settled down by this stage in her life, her family's prodding, and Anakin being portrayed as much more level-headed and mature. When he snaps and slaughters the Sand People like animals, it is made far more suspenseful, as a confused young man that has always bottled his emotions suddenly finds that bottle full and breaking.
This will be my preferred method of viewing Attack of the Clones going forward. Already, I have watched it three times since November 2023. Once with my younger brother who grew up unabashedly loving the Prequels and the 3D Clone Wars cartoon, once by myself for drafting this review, and then once more at a holiday gathering with family friends and EU aficionados. The result has been unanimous praise each time.
While it could be argued that no work deserves a perfect 10, the audio, soundmixing, scripting, and retention of Anakin's line about sand elevate this work to the highest score in my eyes. I eagerly await the next viewing of this fan edit, as I know there will be and additional ones after.