Six Times the ‘Clone Wars’ Was a Pretty Good ‘Star Wars’ Movie
The Clone Wars movie wasn’t all bad.
Star Wars is a great franchise. In the past, we’ve taken a good, hard look at some of the things the Sequel trilogy got wrong, some things it got right, and some things it just kind of… did.
We’ve also been taking a look at some of the things Star Wars Prequel movies have gotten right, and a few things they’ve gotten wrong here or there. We’ve looked at Revenge of the Sith, A New Hope, Attack of the Clones, and more. Some silly git even had the temerity to pan The Phantom Menace.
Now with Star Wars: Ahsoka turning out to be a great show, lets take a gander back at her first appearance and what it did right.
6. The Music
Look, I think the music for this movie was actually pretty good. Like, yeah, not John Williams good sure, but good. It managed to use enough classic Star Wars music and be original at the same time. I think the Battle of Teth track is pretty good. It’s not a masterpiece, but it’s more memorable than say… Solo?
5. The Action
This is a movie that actually delivers on the action. It has a number of set pieces in it that are pretty cool. You’ve got cool lightsaber fights, some space battles, and a couple of big-ground combats. Since the Clone Wars was kind of known for the big ground fights, it was nice to see this get center stage. In particular, the Battle of Teth had some cool parts. From the landing to the interesting fight up a sheer cliff, it’s a well-designed battle scene.
4. The Clone Wars is Vietnam IN SPACE
The Clone Wars, maybe more than any era in Star Wars, draws on Vietnam for inspiration. The LAATs and deployment style of the Clones clearly mimic US Airborn Helicopter forces in Vietnam. The disillusionment with war is clearly drawn from both Vietnam and the more recent American Wars in the Middle East. With those influences in mind, it’s cool to see them come up in this movie. In particular during the Battle of Teth (can you tell I like it?) the landing and initial attack, along with the terrain make you really think of Vietnam. The Clone Wars movie did a good job of showing this.
3. Asajj Ventress
Asajj Ventress is a great villain. Star Wars has rather few female villains, and Ventress walks a great line between being both evil and occasionally relatable. She’s also pretty funny and has great banter with Obi-Wan. She was a fan favorite in the original Clone Wars series but with that series being superseded it was also great to get Ventress in the new one. Overall she’s a great character and shines in the movie.
2. The Clone Wars Voice Acting Was Good
The movie hit it out of the park with the voice acting. For some characters, such as Windu and Mace, they were able to get the movie actors to come back for the role. For others, they had to new voices actors to step in. This can be a hard task as they are being compared to iconic actors.
But the movie nailed it. Matt Lanter as Anakin, James Arnold Taylor as Obi-Wan, and Dee Bradly Baker as the Clones (to name just a few) were amazing. To many, their performances in this and the later series made them the definitive and favorite representation of the characters, outstripping the live-action movies. Ashley Eckstein as Ahsoka owned that role, and without her I doubt the character would have been as impactful. Just some amazing work that far outlived this movie.
1. Ahsoka Tano
The movie’s most lasting effect by far was introducing the character of Ahsoka Tano. Now it didn’t do a perfect job of that, as many people hated her character at first. However, the idea to give Anakin a Padawan of his own was pretty inspired and added a ton to his character and hers. Since then she’s become a fan favorite and a major character. At this point she’s more of a big deal in modern Star Wars than Luke is. In this The Clone Wars movie did good.
Let us know your favorite parts of the movie, down in the comments!
