By Maxime Henry
Noooo, Nooo, Nooooooo YOU WILL DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
At the risk of producing nerd rage, I am going to publicly say that the movies were not that bad. Heck, I liked them. There! I said it.! Don’t get me wrong, the prequels had major issues but I am still extremely happy they were made.
Ok, I can hear you angry fan boys as I write this… You will say the movies had these issues:
*Contradiction of “facts” and background established in the classic movies.
*Trying to cover too much lore in the span of a movie.
*Missing character pieces (No lovable rogue like Han Solo for example)
*Jar Jar Binks
*Questionable casting and dialogue
*Too much CGI thrown in our face.
Other critics can find some more negatives to write about than the aforementioned points, but the perhaps we are being a bit too hard on these films. Sure, they had issues and of course we were disappointed on various levels. But, lest we forget, the issues which plagued the originals too are many of those same issues that are completely overlooked as the classics are instead used as benchmarks to declare the newer films failures.
The major part of what makes me forgive the prequels is how the plot is woven into the storyline with such detail to have the end of Revenge of the Sith tie in extremely nicely with A New Hope. Specifically, the way Chancellor Palpatine seizes power with such subtlety is often overlooked and taken for granted. When The Phantom Menace opened in 1999, my mother (Who enjoyed the movies but isn’t a huge sci-fi super geek) didn’t realize that the seemingly helpful and charming Senator was the same person as the sinister Emperor from Return of the Jedi. She didn’t figure it out until the last movie when Palpatine got all gross looking after fighting with Samuel L. Jackson. The subtle but sure way he affects events to turn Anakin and create the empire is both chilling and fantastic at the same time.
Another overlooked element is how wonderfully Lucas paralleled Anakin with Luke. The events of the two shadow one another. Both series introduce to the force to them in the first movie, have them lose a hand after fighting Palpatine’s apprentice (Count Dooku and then Darth Vader), and both defeat respective Sith apprentices in a grand chamber with Palpatine watching in the final installment of each film. One chooses to kill his opponent; the other chooses to show mercy. See where this is going? Lucas showed how choices made lead a person down a path. For Anakin, he fell for the trap laid out before him. But for Luke, in Return of the Jedi, redemption is made by making the right choice. The son redeems the father’s mistake thus allowing Anakin to reject the emperor.
This is just one example. The plot was intriguing. You knew what was going to happen, but it was exciting to watch the “how” and “why” rather than the result. Given how Palpatine’s plans (set over the course of three films) succeed as well as any Shakespearean schemer, I think we should give the story here some credit. We all wanted to see how an evil empire could rise from a peaceful republic; and we got just that and more. The epic plot to overthrow the republic was done in a fantastically diabolical way.
For this, I have made peace with these films. Watching these films by themselves, you will no doubt see that some things are missing. You will see the corky missteps by Lucas. But watch them as supplemental material to the original movie and the disappointment factor will not slap you in the face at all. It complements the plot in A New Hope, giving it more meaning and depth. The prequels simply enhance the classic movies and their storylines.
Another issue comes from comparison. Many people want to compare these three movies to the original three made in the 70s and 80s. With today’s technology and expectations from movies, this is a hard standard to put any film up to. Comparing any new movie (even great ones) with older classics is almost an impossible standard. A classic is so engrained in our mind as untouchable that anything made in its image can only be flawed. The prequels were destined for this fate. No film, even one made by the best fan, would come close to matching the magic of the classics. That’s why they are classics. The new films would never deliver the goods when put up against the memory of childhood Millennium Falcon play sets. We can argue about the execution, but the concept and plot of these sequels were truly great ideas.
Could the prequels have been better? Absolutely! But calling them a failure is unjustified and misguided. The question is this; Will those missteps by Lucas in execution get in the way of enjoying these movies and what they offer the franchise? For many fans, they will and will always be held to an impossible standard. For others, I hope not. These are enjoyable Science Fiction films. For me, because I loved the classics so much, I am going to give a pardon to Lucas and enjoy these films for what they are. Do yourself a favor and watch the prequels again with a less stubborn eye. Enjoy them for what they are.
Maxime Henry is a contributing writer for The Film Crusade.
I’m going to have to disagree with the article “Those Newer Star Wars Video Games” I mean “Films”. Excuse me.
Lets be blunt. The Star Wars Prequels sucked!
Lets be more blunt. If those original three films were not made, and “Phantom Menace” came out it would have made no money and no additional movies would have ever seen the light of day.
The three prequels are like horrible scars that have been put onto the “Star Wars” name and have forever damaged the original trilogy.
I was curious myself to see if Lucas still had something to say when he was coming back to direct “Phantom Menace” some 20 years after his last directing effort “Star Wars”. And the fact of the matter is he really had nothing to say. He just wanted to make a quick dollar off a franchise that had run its course. And a quick dollar he made. A few billion to be exact. Talk about milking something for all its worth. Lucas was all to willing to exploit something so precious to his financial gain that along the way he failed to realize what a damaging effect the prequels would have on the memory of the original trilogy.
After directing “Star Wars” in 1977 Lucas had a nervous breakdown and pretty much vowed he would never direct again. He should have stuck to that promise and done us all a favor. Anyone who tries to make an excuse for “Star Wars Prequels” is only in denial or they don’t realize what made the original three so special. They don’t understand that type of magic can’t be recaptured with CGI or with some hollow attempt to rehash something that shouldn’t have been brought back in the first place.
please stop defending the un-defendable. It is just sad at this point.