Fun with Franchises: Favorite Images from Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones

One of the recurring features that we do in Fun with Francises (a feature within a feature) is, after we finish watching a film, we go through and pick out our favorite images from that film. These images could be anything from really famous images from the film or franchise, really beautifully composed shots, shots that are funny to us because of the facial expressions being made in them or because of what we said about them in the article in which they appeared, or simply because they have boobs in them.

What we usually do is, just how we watch the films, Colin and I go in separately and pick out about ten to fifteen shots that we really liked. Then we compare lists, and whichever ones we both picked automatically go on our final list. And everything else we talk through and discuss why we like them, and eventually we’re left with a final list of ten images we liked the best, along with ten honorable mentions, which were also as good, but just missed out on making the list proper.

It’s not very complicated (like most things we do here on B+ Movie Blog), and is just a way for us to point out shots that we really liked in the films, especially since we tend to pick stuff that’s not always on the beaten path. (We also don’t officially rank the list of shots. We just put them in chronological order. Simply picking them is hard enough. We don’t want to make our lives any harder. Plus, we’re lazy.)

That said — here are our favorite images from Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones:

What’s crackin’ bitches?

Gonna be a lot of intro shots in this one.

…….

Or rather, there were going to be, but I accidentally deleted the folder with the shots in them, so we’re just gonna have a straight 20 entries on this list. Because I’m lazy, don’t want to go back and find extra shots, and because who gives a fuck, really?

1. This face

Because Christopher Lee always comes first.

Colin:

Except with the ladies.

2.

I fucking love this layout. Any time a city is circular, I’m a huge fan.

Colin:

They took a hint. There are people walking around now, even though this looks something like 1890s Venice. But at the very least, Theed is now populated and looks a bit more real. I don’t know what this whole area is for, but the circle is one of my favorite round shapes, so I like what they’ve done here. I mean, it’s still Dinotopia. But it looks nice.

3. Obi-Wan vs. Django

The kick is just great. And then… motherfucker is holding two pistols!

Just complete badassness.

Colin:

Look at that kick! If he wasn’t wearing the suit, that would have kicked his organs out! Had to point that out for how badass it was. There weren’t too many moments in this movie that elicited an audible response [other than a groan] but this one sure did. “OH! FLYING KICK TO THE CHEST PLATE!” The second shot is just…dude’s got twin pistols and a jetpack. What do you do with that? The best you’re gonna do is a standoff. Notice that when Jango finally loses, he’s only got one pistol. Gotta have the full set.

4. This image

This motherfucker is CRISP!

And it looks nice, too.

Colin:

Colors, silhouettes, okay. I’m about this cause it’s The Searchers. This is the shot that’s clearly just trying to be that movie.

5. This shot

Colin:

He’s a ghost ghost ghost ghost ghost. I still see The Searchers, by the way.

Clearly The Searchers. Only they’re not obviously shooting day for night. Mostly because a computer doesn’t care what time it is.

6. This entance

Colin:

CORRECT. This is how badasses need to make entrances. No sneaking or nothing. Just walk up the hallway like it ain’t shit. And then? Purple lightsaber! YES! That’s the best thing ever. Lucas was gonna give him a regular lightsaber with green or blue, but Jackson was like, “I want that purple stuff.”

What he said.

Also, this smirk.

7. Motherfucker

Colin:

I feel like this was 100 percent on purpose, just so people could have this screenshot. He decapitates a man and makes this pose, like, “Yeah, AND what?” It’s perfect that Jango’s body is blocking the view of Sam’s left hand, because I like to imagine he’s dropping a mic. That little thing on the ground that you can see through Jango’s legs? That’s the mic. SEXUAL CHOCOLATE!

8. Colors

Them colors look nice.

Colin:

Dusty dusty. They learned the lesson from Harry Potter and put on plastic clothes before getting sandy. But the key here is that Lucas went back to his roots and gave us some laser blasts going through a sandstorm. The effect is to give us these fantastic reds and blues, which immediately makes it a hundred times better than any of the other boring scenes where they’re firing through…air.

9. Industrial Coruscant

Love me a good industrial area. Would be better if it were a real area.

Colin:

Oh YES. This is possibly my favorite shot here. Just, evil, industrial area. The maroon and stuff. It looks like a painting. Lucas went space age Victorian England and it looks GORGEOUS. I just wanna hang out here all the time. Different economic zones are so interesting.

10. Boobies.

Just…. lots and lots of boobies:

First — that shirt.

Goddamn.

Even the sand is spelling “titties.”

And also, for equality — here’s a nice look at that ass:

Also, now we know, right?

Colin:

I don’t know how to express myself here, so just….   :D ?

– – – – – – – – – –

So that’s our top ten.

RAHH! I EAT THOSE!

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Honorable Mentions:

• Creepy sex looks

Colin:

It’s a little unclear as to whether or not Anakin is a peahen, but he seems attracted by Padme’s get-up. Seriously, THIS is the outfit you choose to make that look at? But there is something nice about the setup of the shot; she’s beaming with complete innocence, and he’s creepin’ on it BIG time.

I’ve seen this a lot at parties.

• This location

Because it’s the only real location in the film. And it looks nice.

Colin:

I actually strayed away from these initially. But there’s something to be said for the Naboo exterior shots in this film because they’re so much better than the ones in the previous film. The waterfalls are pretty CGI, but who cares? It’s better CGI than most of the other stuff, there’s no Jar Jar in the shot and I’ll even allow the stupid, fat animals that are walking around.

I’m still thinking about what he could do with his little finger :(

And here are some more Naboo shots, because they’re just nice…

This planet is gorgeous.

Colin:

What is it about European lakes? They just look GOOD. Even better in person. But we had to include this location because it’s one of the only real places that exists in the prequels. The location is Lake Como, in Italy. It was featured in Casino Royale twice, as the location of Bond’s rehabilitation clinic and the site of Mr. White’s villa. It was also the location of Vincent Cassel’s villa in Ocean’s Twelve. I gotta hook me up a spot on this lake.

• This place

My favorite shot in the film and one of my favorites in the franchise. This shit is tight.

Colin:

Apparently the bugs are into space gothic architecture, which is cool. It all reminds me of the Chaos Sanctuary in Diablo II, where you fight the Lord of Terror. It’s good business. It’s also grimy and textured enough that it doesn’t look completely CGI.

This is clearly the place you meet Aerith. Anyone who’s played that game will immediately say the same thing.

• Tattooine

This shot was actually a Colin choice. And then I went… “Yeah, I can go with that,” once he explained it.

Colin:

I went for this shot because of the simplicity. I mean, how many wide shots do we get like this, where there’s nothing cluttering the frame? Look at that! It’s an unbroken horizon! We can see the WHOLE HORIZON! This made me happy.

• Y’all are surrounded

Colin:

Y’all are surrounded. Can’t believe I wasn’t the one to pick this shot. I always pick these shots.

It’s a really nice one, too. Normally I don’t go for one because they’re just your usual, “Y’all are surrounded” shot. But this one is fucking nice. This is the best one we’ve seen so far.

(I know, right?)

• This shot

I fucking love this shot. This is a real war movie shot. (Someone’s trying to emulate their friend’s movie. Where’s “Ride of the Valkyries”?)

It’s the camera placement and the angle the helicopter is taking in relation to the ground. Just one of my favorite shots. Put this in every war movie and I’d be cool with that.

Colin:

Might as well be in a Huey, cause this is some Vietnam shit right here. Great shot.

• War Room

Colin:

I’m so glad this made it on. It really shouldn’t have (by normal standards) but what the hell? Other than the color scheme that Geonosis has going for it — olive green and rusty red — this shot makes me immensely happy because of the command table. Commanders have been doing this for millennia. You stand around the table, talk strategy, push around pieces that represent battalions and complain to someone about how you need more Panzer divisions. That’s how war planning works. So I got super excited at this table that has floating projectors (that sort of look like dirigible plums) to project holograms of the battle in miniature so they can follow it in real time! This is one of the coolest random technological bits they threw into the prequels. Huge fan of this device.

I want to be in a war room that has one of those.

• This

Because it’s glorious.

Colin:

It ain’t easy bein’ green?

• This

I love the idea of lightsabers fighting in darkness. I’d love it if this were longer. Imagine a full on fight scene where all you could see were the lightsabers moving around. That would be so great.

Colin:

Fuck this hose! How appropriate it is, that we should have enjoyed such a dimly lit shot so much. Don’t show us a bunch of crappy CG. Turn the lights off and turn the lightsabers on and let’s do this.

• This shot

Because I like the idea of ending the list with a nice, simple image.

Despite all the craziness and complete clusterfuck that comes before it, this is a really nice and simple shot. And honestly, this final scene — it’s really not bad, conceptually. This shot, then them getting married. Granted, it shouldn’t be the final shot of the movie, and should either come before the Palpatine droid army shot or at the start of the next movie (though the more I think about it, I like it before the Palpatine shot), but conceptually, it works. Because this shot basically conveys everything about the scene in a single image.

Plus, like I said, after all the batshit crazy computer generated stuff we saw over the course of the film, it’s nice that we can end with this.

And sitting here in my swivel chair… I like that.

Colin:

I like swivel chairs. Mike likes lens flares.

That rhymed. You’re welcome.

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Tomorrow is Final Thoughts, and Monday we start Revenge of the Sith.

(See the rest of the Fun with Franchises articles here.)

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