Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones is often considered the weakest of the three Star Wars prequels, but the plot of the movie is much more complicated than it initially presents. The movie begins with a literal bang as “someone” is attempting to assassinate Senator Padmé Amidala. And while an assassination sounds like a simple task in the Star Wars galaxy, almost everyone involved in the plot to kill Padmé avoids dirtying their own hands. Furthermore, if any of the culprits had actually gone out to do the deed themselves, then Padmé may have actually died long before her premature death in Revenge of the Sith.
The assassination plot serves to strengthen Padmé and Anakin’s relationship, ultimately driving them to fall in love and get married. But despite Anakin’s zeal in finding Padmé’s killer at the beginning of the film, he quickly leaves that task to Obi-Wan in favor of pursuing his mother. As soon as the Jedi Order takes their eyes off him, he wanders off to break numerous rules. And much like Anakin, the plot to kill Padmé tends to wander throughout the film from one potential perpetrator to the next.
Attack Of The Clones' Assassination Plot Is Ridiculously Convoluted 
It all begins with Palpatine, who wants to kill Padmé in order to drive Anakin closer to the dark side. He wisely tasks Count Dooku with taking her out because Palpatine doesn’t want her death tied back to him. Of course, Dooku takes a leaf out of Palpatine’s book and decides to task Jango Fett to kill Padmé instead. Rather than take Padmé out himself, Jango hires Zam Wesell. And even though Zam Wesell is a Clawdite shapeshifter who could easily fake another’s appearance while killing Padmé, she too decides to send a remote robot. And finally, the robot sends poisonous kouhun bugs rather than attempt to kill Padmé itself.
The entire plot of Attack of the Clones hinges on a string of cowards who are too afraid to come out and openly kill Padmé, which is probably why they all fail to complete their task in the first place. It should be noted that Wesell did attempt to kill Padmé twice. But her first attempt involved a remote bomb, proving she was too afraid to tie herself to the murder. And even though all the members of the plot tried to leave no trace, the Jedi were still able to tie the assassination attempt back to Count Dooku.
