Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002)
A Jedi shall not know anger. Nor hatred. Nor love.
Following an assassination attempt on Senator Padmé Amidala, Jedi Knights Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi investigate a mysterious plot into the heart of the Separatist movement and the beginning of the Clone Wars.
| Type | Movie |
|---|---|
| Released | 15 May 2002 |
| Genre | Adventure, Action, Science Fiction |
| Director | George Lucas |
| Starring | Hayden Christensen, Ewan McGregor and Natalie Portman |
| Runtime | 142 min |
| Rated | PG |
| Scores | Rotten Tomatoes (average) 6.7/10 · Rotten Tomatoes 62% · Metacritic 54/100 · TMDB users 6.6/10 |
| Budget | $115 million |
| Box office | $654 million worldwide |
Where to watch Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones
Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones is streaming on Disney+ ($15.99 a month) in the US. If that is the only reason to subscribe, one month of Disney+ is $15.99 at list price.
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What kind of watch this is
George Lucas directs a 142-minute adventure where the galaxy is slowly sliding into war, and everyone is too polite to stop it. The hook is the tension between a man who loves and a man who judges him for it. It is not about lasers. It is about the quiet, bureaucratic end of a democracy. The action is there, but it feels like a side quest to the main event of two people failing to talk.
What the critics said
Critics were divided, though the fracture was less about the action and more about the dialogue. Rotten Tomatoes sits at 62% as of May 2026, with an average score of 6.7. Metacritic lands on 54 as of January 2026, a score that usually signals mixed or average reception. James Berardinelli found it refreshing to see a sequel that kept its promise, a view Roger Ebert did not share. Ebert, who loved the earlier films, was amazed to realize he had not heard a single quotable line of dialogue. The acting was often called stiff, and the romance, cliché.
How it did with audiences
The $115 million budget returned $649 million worldwide, a solid return that still felt like an echo. It earned a 6.6 on TMDB. The box office records it set were impressive, yet the shadow of its predecessor was long. It wasn't the biggest film of the year, a first for the franchise. Some numbers are big, but context is bigger.
Where it left its mark
The film’s legacy stretches beyond the lightsabers. Cartoonist ND Stevenson credits the shapeshifter Zam Wesell with starting his specific love of the genre, a character so potent he built an entire parallel world around her. In the archives, the Jedi librarian Jocasta Nu sparked a debate. Some scholars see her as a confident figure mediating power, while others call her belief that unindexed information doesn’t exist naïve. One professor even uses the movie to teach calculus. It is a strange curriculum for a space opera.
If you liked this
TMDB's recommendations for people who watched Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones.
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Sources
- Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones on TMDB — synopsis, cast, ratings and recommendations
- Wikidata Q181069 — review scores, box office and awards (CC0)
- “Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones” on Wikipedia, by its contributors (history) — reception, audience figures and legacy, summarised and adapted here under CC BY-SA 4.0
- Where to watch and prices: Binge Boss, from TMDB watch-provider data (powered by JustWatch) and our own provider list
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