Attack of the Clones is a sweeping and tremendous epic, effortlessly combining mystery, romance, political intrigue, tragedy, comedy, drama, action, and adventure all into one astounding package that runs like clockwork. I first saw the film on May 16, 2002, its opening day, and I can remember it almost like it was yesterday. I was a high school senior and we were having our finals. After we finished our exams, my friends and I drove to the movie theater to see the latest Star Wars film. It would become the greatest experience I have ever had in a movie theater. Even though I'm a relatively shy person, I was so wrapped up in the story and the action that I actually cheered in the theater (twice). It was the first and only time I have done that.

I'm not proud of the language I used, but when the credits came up at the end, I was so enthralled by what I had just seen that I said to my friends, "That was f**king awesome!" I don't think I've ever felt more pumped-up leaving a film. I could hardly contain my excitement for the rest of the day. I saw the movie four more times that summer, loving it more and more. The summer of 2002 wound up being one of those "magical summers" for me, the kind that you consider to be the best summer of your life. The summer of 2002 has earned that distinction with me for many reasons, and one of them is Attack of the Clones. I wasn't born until after all of the films of the original Star Wars trilogy came out, so I have only read about what it was like to get blown away by the first viewing of a new Star Wars movie in the theaters. I imagine that my first viewing of Attack of the Clones was exactly like that. Along with Return of the Jedi, it is the Star Wars film that I hold the closest to my heart.

The movie opens with a royal Naboo starship landing on an ominous, mist-shrouded platform, only to be destroyed moments later by an unexpected explosion. This brilliantly sets up the mysterious and danger-filled tone of the story. The fog in this scene is not only a metaphor for the mysteries/conspiracies surrounding the film's narrative, but also the Dark Side clouding the vision of the Jedi (which is mentioned no less than three times throughout the movie). Unlike the other Star Wars films, Attack of the Clones has a mystery story. Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) serves as the detective who must follow the clues and uncover the truth about the assassination attempts against Senator Padmé Amidala (Natalie Portman). His discovery of a labyrinth conspiracy explodes into the first battle of the monumental Clone Wars. Plot-wise, this is the most intricate and convoluted of the Star Wars saga, ingeniously setting up the dark, climatic events that will play out in the next episode, Revenge of the Sith.

There are touches of the film noir genre to be found everywhere in this movie. There is, of course, the whole mystery plot. Obi-Wan and his Jedi apprentice Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) follow Padmé's would-be assassin into a noir-esque gambling club in the seedy underbelly of the capital planet Coruscant. Obi-Wan has an underworld contact, a common character in film noirs, in the form of a four-armed alien/cook named Dex (voiced by Ronald Falk). (In a fun reference to one of his early films, director George Lucas has Dex working in a diner similar to Mel's Diner from American Graffiti.) Obi-Wan's investigation leads him to a stormy, rain-soaked planet called Kamino. Heavy rain is another frequent trait in these types of movies. Several scenes are cast in the shadow of Venetian blinds, which suggest, as in film noirs, that the characters are "trapped." This connects into the pathway of doom that the characters are treading upon. This shadow motif is carried over into Revenge of the Sith.

Indeed, there is an unmistakable sense of foreboding that permeates Attack of the Clones. In this film, practically all of the characters make pertinent decisions that will lead to the destruction of the Galactic Republic, the Jedi Order, and themselves. The use of darkness and shadows are in most of these instances. For example, when Padmé temporarily relinquishes her senatorial powers to Jar Jar Binks (voiced by Ahmed Best), they are draped in darkness. This decision leads to Jar Jar unwisely proposing that Supreme Chancellor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) be given the emergency powers that he will need to form the Galactic Empire. There's also the scene, using the aforementioned shadows of Venetian blinds, when Yoda (voiced by Frank Oz) and Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson) become aware of the Jedi's dwindling powers but don't really do anything about it.

The most forbidding scene of the film, however, is the sequence in which Count Dooku (Christopher Lee) flies through Coruscant in his spaceship to meet up with his Sith Master, Darth Sidious, near the end of the movie. The score here, by composer John Williams, is nothing short of eerie. The harshly decayed part of the city where Sidious is lurking, as well as the prophetic sunset (as if the sun is setting on the Republic itself), makes for a very unsettling sight. The music and visuals come together so effectively to create one of my favorite parts of the entire film. Soon afterwards, there's a scene in which we see Chancellor Palpatine looking from a high balcony over his amassed clone army going off into war. The playing of the "Imperial March" theme signifies that the Empire has unofficially begun. This is strikingly reminiscent of a similar scene in the famous Nazi propaganda movie Triumph of the Will, in which Hitler is looking over his amassed army from a high balcony and then gives them a rousing speech.

CONTINUED IN PART 2...