"Begun, the Clone War has."
- Yoda's big damn Heroes moment. Both of them.
- The arena battle. Sure, the Jedi lose it but DAMN is it awesome!
- Padmé gets special mention because she is every definition of a Badass Normal. Unlocking her bindings, climbing to the top of her execution pillar, using the chain as a whip against the nexu, keeping on going even after she's been slashed in the back, and going to town with a stolen blaster rifle, which is meant to be wielded with two hands on account of its clunkiness, from a Battle Droid.
- Anakin and Padmé have some great Back-to-Back Badasses moment as a true Battle Couple, notably when they commandeer a chariot-type thing, with Padmé driving (and shooting!) and Anakin in the back deflecting blaster bolts and chopping up droids with his lightsaber. Then they take a near hit, the vehicle is overturned, and they scramble for the cover of the chariot pod, now on its side. Padme keeps coolly picking off battle droids with her blaster while Anakin covers both of them with his lightsaber.
- Though the Jedi do end up losing, it is made clear that the only reason they do is because of sheer weight of numbers, there being only 200 or so of them against thousands of battle droids and a dose of reality since, regardless of skill and supernatural reflexes, the Jedi can only block and deflect for so long. But even though most of their number end up slain, they take down hundreds of battle droids in the course of the fighting and when given the option to surrender, none of the survivors take it despite being down to less than a quarter of their original number and are clearly prepared to die fighting. Adding to this is that none of the Jedi show any fear at all, cutting down battle droids with crisp efficiency and, in the case of one female Jedi, a loud battle cry. The Jedi might not have intended themselves as warriors, but it is clear they excel at it nonetheless. A careful frame-by-frame analysis of the battle
shows that there's elaborate choreography and even multiple dual-wielding Jedi in the background for most of the fight.- All things considered, the Jedi did very well. They held out against an army of battle droids for around an hour and managed to come out somewhat okay. The Jedi we see in the final circle of survivors weren't even all of them, a lot of the other Knights and Masters had made their stand in the tunnels around the arena.
- After dropping a battleship from the sky, the clone troopers march headlong into a sandstorm blasting apart the disoriented droids. This has been pointed out by professional VFX artists as one of the unsung revolutionary shots in the industry, with elements like the blaster bolts illuminating the dust being extremely hard to do in 2001-2002. It not only remains incredibly awesome in modern day, but is one of the most groundbreaking battles of all time.
- Both of the big fights between Obi-Wan and Jango. The first one, where they slog it out in the rain on a spaceship launchpad. And the second, where they have a dogfight in the middle of an Asteroid Thicket, and Obi-Wan only escapes by faking his death and latching onto an asteroid. The second is particularly notable for being the first time in the movies that we get to see Slave I in action—and it's awesome.
- The sound effects and ensuing destruction from Slave I's seismic charges. A second of silence, followed by...TEEEEMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!
- Jango whips out every tool in his kit to take on the Jedi Master, including his dual pistols, his jetpack, blades in his gauntlets, his wrist-launched cable, and the small missile on his back.
- Obi Wan, while he doesn't use his telekinesis,note does handily demonstrate how much of a Magic Knight he is with his Force-enhanced strength and durability in this fight. He shrugs off two large point blank explosions, jumps dozens of feet into the air, yanks Jango out of the air while his jetpack is flying the other way with solely his wrist strength, and kicks his armored opponent hard enough to launch him several meters. Not to mention being unfazed by a forty foot drop onto a metal floor. Props to Jango for adapting so well.
- Anakin jumping out of his 'stolen' speeder, and landing perfectly on Zam's. Did we mention he stuck this landing after falling for roughly one kilometer?
- After foiling the attempt on Padmé's life, Obi-Wan sees the droid that brought those two poisonous critters to kill her and immediately jumps through (not out, through) the window and grabs on so it doesn't get away. The entire chase scene following this is one long moment of awesome.
- Let's also not forget that we get to see Anakin's awesome piloting skills as he manages to navigates through the skies of Coruscant and not only find Obi-Wan but rescue him in the nick of time and immediately afterwards continue to chase down Zam Wessel.
- R2-D2 can fly. We knew he was a Do-Anything Robot, but who could have expected that he can fly!?
- Although Yoda's popularity has never waned since the original trilogy, the moment he dropped his cane and pulled out a lightsaber in Attack of the Clones forever cemented him as being as badass as he is wise. There's a moment during the duel where it looks like Yoda air-jumped! That's right: at first glance, Yoda is defying physics like a Super Smash Bros. character! He really isn't, but it's no less awesome. You never would've expected such an old, frail, and tiny little guy to be so nimble, even with the Force helping him out! Plus his signature move is summoning his lightsaber from his belt to his outstretched hand via telekinesis, pure Rule of Cool.
- "This party's over."; Mace Windu strides in, bold as brass, and announces his presence by igniting his purple-bladed lightsaber, the first one of its kind to be seen on the screen, to hold at Jango's throat, which is followed by an awesome battle between dozens of Jedi and hundreds of robots (and later clone troopers), in which Windu easily defeats another badass, Jango Fett. In fact, Windu facing down Dooku is awesome but it goes into Moment of Awesome territory when it is revealed that dozens of the spectators in the audience are Jedi, all of whom ignite their lightsabers and strike badass poses that make it clear they're here to kick ass and take names. It's here you can see why Windu has the initials for "Bad Motherfucker" on his lightsaber. Oh, and did we mention he's portrayed by none other than Samuel L. Jackson?
- Count Dooku kicked the asses of Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi simultaneously, and still had enough juice to give Yoda a decent fight. Granted that he'd probably have lost if the duel had continued, but the number of people who could last even that long has got to be awfully small, and y'know, he's played by Christopher Lee. The best part was that Yoda wasn't trying to win. He was playing around, trying to buy time for the clones to arrive and save Obi-Wan and Anakin. Size matters not, indeed. The guy salutes Yoda before the duel begins.
- The very end of the film, with the clone troops forming up for review, Palpatine standing on the balcony...cue the Imperial March. That's right, it's a Wham Leitmotif!
- In addition, the music and the marching of the clones really sells the idea that this is not just a review. It's of a Grand Army preparing to march off to war. Begun, the Clone Wars have, indeed.
- The ending of the stadium battle when the Jedi seem defeated, but refuse to surrender. Then Yoda and an entire army of troops appear out of nowhere and save them. The phrase Big Damn Heroes has rarely fit better.
- Keep in mind, this is the very first real battle for the clones in the entire series, yet they pull off a dangerous extraction mission like absolute professionals. They use their gunships' beam cannons to carve out a landing zone before deploying troops to lay down cover fire while the Jedi make an organized retreat. In doing so, they take down at least a few dozen droids, and lose only one clone trooper onscreen. In less than a minute, we learn that the clones aren't just for show - they mean business.
- Padmé proved herself awesome in the stadium battle when she climbs up the pillar she is tied to and fights off the Nexu. Even getting slashed across the back couldn't stop her. This all happens while the two Jedi look on in wonder. "She seems to be on top of things." No kidding, Obi.
- Obi-Wan's fight with Jango Fett including the Oh, Crap! moment of "Oh, not good!".
- Near the beginning: just before an asleep Padmé is about to be bitten by the kouhun worms, Anakin jumps over her and cuts both of them in half with his lightsaber, without even cutting the blanket!
- Towards the beginning of the film, when Obi-Wan and Anakin are chasing after Zam, Anakin takes a short cut. He pulls to a halt and for a few moments it looks as though they've lost her. Obi-Wan looks annoyed, but Anakin doesn't. Then Anakin gives his master a casual "excuse me" before jumping over the side of the speeder, free-falling through traffic, and landing on Zam's speeder. And he timed it just right. This scene was obviously made for anyone still in doubt that Anakin is the Chosen One. The best part: Obi-Wan looks annoyed when he does it, and simply states, "I hate it when he does that." Meaning that this isn't the first time Anakin's pulled an awesome stunt like this.
- Obi-Wan may say he hates flying, but he flies that Jedi starfighter like a true Ace Pilot against Slave I.
- Jango Fett beats one Jedi in a fistfight, that same Jedi in a dogfight, kills another Jedi with a blaster, and holds his own against a Jedi and a giant monster at the same time. He loses that last one, but that's still an impressive record for a Badass Normal.
- He wins against the giant monster, a rhino-like creature called a reek, surviving it's attempts to trample him before facing it down as it charges him and one-shots it dead with a single blaster bolt to the eye.
- He then fires on a charging Mace Windu, who deflects each one of his expertly aimed shots without breaking stride, destroys his blaster and then decapitates him in one swing of his purple blade. If one watches closely enough, it can be seen that Windu deflects the first shot into a nearby battle droid without even looking.
- The acklay, that giant reptile/praying mantis creature that Obi-Wan is pitted against in the stadium battle, gets a pretty badass moment when it yanks out a spear that Obi-Wan impaled into its side. It then proceeds to break the spear in half with its teeth and give Obi-Wan a smug Slasher Smile.
- The one unnamed Jedi (Coleman Trebor, Jedi Council member, according to Word of God) who jumped in fearlessly and tried to take Count Dooku on all by himself; true, he failed, but points for trying.
- The teaser trailer "Breathing". It's still one of the coolest trailers ever made: Aside from a building chord, it's just Darth Vader's signature breathing, and each breath brought a different film clip that briefly faded in and out. Keep in mind, this was before "repeated fade-ins/outs in movie trailers" became a cliché, and the small amount of time each clip was on the screen made it conducive to replays and WMGs.
