Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones · reception & legacy
2002 · George Lucas
How Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones has been received, argued over, and remembered.
The arc
Savaged in 2002 for its wooden romance and green-screen sheen — widely ranked as the saga's low point — it's since been carried into a strange second life by the prequel-meme renaissance, where a generation that grew up on it defends it with total sincerity.
What's debated
The eternal fight: is this the worst Star Wars movie, or a misunderstood entry whose politics-and-melodrama ambitions fans were too harsh on?
Its footprint
"I don't like sand" is one of the most memed lines in movie history — Anakin's coarse, rough, irritating monologue basically powers r/PrequelMemes, and half the internet can quote this film without having rewatched it in decades.
Where it stands
A ranked-list bottom-dweller that's become a beloved communal joke — the rare film cinephiles pan and rewatch anyway, ironically at first and then not.