In Star Wars Episode II, the character Jango Fett was executed by Jedi Mace Windu in the final battle. There is a long version of this sequence, but not finalized. An artist completed the work. It’s impressive… And brutal!
Three years after having suffered criticism – sometimes harsh – on the Phantom Menace and its sometimes unbearable Jar Jar Binks, but defended tooth and nail by George Lucas to the point of making him his favorite character in the saga, Attack of the Clones hit the ground running on screens in 2002.
With, here too, its share of criticism; this time concerning the romance scenes between Anakin Skywalker and Padme and their dialogues considered very (too) cheesy. Lucas once again stepped up to defend his film. The latter explained that he had wanted an approach for the dialogues that was largely misunderstood at the time: “It’s very honest, not at all ironic, and it goes all the way. But it’s dialogue that’s consistent, not just with the rest of the film, but with the overall style of Star Wars.” commented the progenitor of Star Wars.
With a more benevolent look, Attack of the Clones offered beautiful moments, such as the duel between Count Dooku impeccably played by Christopher Lee facing a 100% CGI Yoda, a first in the saga. The film also lifted the veil on the origins of a central character (and yet rarely appearing on screen) of the first trilogy: the mysterious Boba Fett. This bounty hunter, a child in this second part (Daniel Logan) is accompanied by his father, the mercenary Jango Fett (Temuera Morrison).
In the final battle of the arena located on the planet of Geonosis, Jango Fett is finally killed by a lightsaber strike from Jedi Mace Windu, who decapitates him after parrying his blaster blows.
For fun, here is the sequence below…
Jango Fett’s execution was significantly slimmed down in the theatrically released version of the film. In the deleted scenes, which were not finalized, we can see that Mace Windu also gives him a saber blow to the kidneys.
An artist gifted in VFX by the name of StayBombastic completely completed the special effects of this sequence, even adding a severed arm before the saber slash in the kidneys, then the decapitation of Jango Fett. The result really gives another flavor to combat, revealing the brutality and dexterity that a Jedi can demonstrate in combat.
Judge instead:
We imagine that if this version did not end up in the final cut, it was perhaps because it was considered too violent and could have jeopardized the film’s PG rating.