I've always been late to the game on pretty much any review or thought out criticism as it pertains to media. Especially TV shows, movies, and generally any visual medium. Now that doesn't mean I won't have strong opinions on the subject, because I will. Instead, that means my opinion will fall on deaf ears or be expressed way past a "reasonable" time period. Now, I'm about 15 years late to the party in jotting down some of my biggest thoughts on one of the most controversial trilogies of all time. The Star Wars Prequels.
For all intents and purposes I will assume that anyone reading this has seen all three films and has a fair understanding of the plot. In short, the Prequels follow Anakin Skywalker's transformation into Darth Vader as the Sith assume a position of power to establish the Empire. That seems like a pretty straightforward story. Compared to the originals, the basics are already present and the ending to each story line is known well ahead of time. We know which characters survive because they're present in the Original Trilogy. We also know what they turn out to be, but because they're such interesting characters in Episodes 4-6 we're keen to hear their backstory. How did Anakin go over to the dark side? How did the Sith rise to power? Why was Obi-Wan conveniently living on the same planet as Luke? What happened to the Jedi Order? These questions are what compel us to watch the Prequels, and while all these get answered, the execution is so muddled and confusing that no wonder people are pissed.
In recent years, there's been a lot of historical rewriting to make these movies seem passable either due to nostalgic bias, faux intellectual apologists, or Disney's backdoor marketing campaign to drum up additional hype for the newest installments in the franchise. These movies were a big part of my childhood. It became a bonding experience with my dad (whose nickname was Obi-Wan and even named his new dog after the character), and we've watched every main line movie together. While that means I have an affinity for the series, that doesn't mean I'm going to excuse poor film making in an obvious attempt to exploit that nostalgia. I do think making these movies was less about money and more about Lucas trying to create an artistic follow-up to Episodes 4-6, but his complete control and unrivaled first draft ideas are what led to a lot of the creative problems.
I'd also like to make another point clear: No other media should be taken into consideration. The movies are the primary vehicle for these stories and everything else is expository. The movies are what the people come for, and where the bulk of every primary plot line should begin and end. Sure, fan boys go and read all the books and comics, but every time I hear the argument that to understand a plot point I should consume some random piece of media they just slapped the franchise name on; the argument's mute. It's bad story telling. Look no further than a series like Kingdom Hearts that's so complicated and such a fucking pile of incoherent babble that the main games are virtually impossible to follow unless you play everything else. Even when they try to explain what the player missed in the side installments, it comes off as a lecture killing any experience the consumer is having. But, I need to quell that rant to focus on this one about the Star Wars Prequels.
The first problem I have is the essence of humanity is largely non-existent. In the Original Trilogy, it's the Empire v. the Rebels or simply people (or aliens) v. people (or other aliens). Stormtroopers are humans. Even without dramatic scenes we can see their humanity through interspersed conversations, the way they interact with core characters, and simply because we assume they're human. At no point in the original trilogy do we believe that Stormtroopers are truly disposable. It's an understandable military structure with human superiors that order simple soldiers around, reinforced with characters like Grand Moff Tarkin that provide a face to the organization.
We can empathize with the Rebels and understand their struggle to overthrow the Empire. During the final assault on the Death Star in A New Hope, even if you can't remember a single other Rebel's name buzzing about, they still participate in the conversation with Luke. As they engage in aerial combat, we feel their tension because they're apart of the squadron and with each death we feel the rising desire to win the battle. Those minor characters serve the overall plot and emotional weight of the scene with only a few lines and minimal screen time. This happens again at the beginning of Episode 5 with the battle on Hoth and the ending to Episode 6 when they return to destroy the Death Star. Not only do we sympathize with their cause, but we can relate to it because of their visible humanity.
Now contrast this with the Prequels and who's fighting who most of the time? Well it changes, but the central idea is the same. In Episode 1 it's the Gungans v. robots, and after that it's clones v. robots. Nobody gives a shit about either of these camps. In Episode 1 there could be an argument that the Gungans display some humanity, but it's weak. They're not central to either side. Acting as a third party dragged into a conflict they don't care about before disappearing after the end credits. Their spokesperson is also Jar Jar Binks, which I'm not going to harp on, but he immediately makes us annoyed with the species as a whole. Then in Episode 2 it switches to Clones. Soulless bodies only meant to die after proving time and again that they are disposable tools with no allegiance to either side. They were just created in a factory with no belief system we can relate to. We rarely see any actual faces from the clones because they all literally have the exact same face. Contrast that with the Stormtroopers in the Original Trilogy that we don't see the face of, but we still see the human faces of their superiors. We know they're human. We know that these are people. Their lives have a meaning and they wholeheartedly believe in their cause even if we don't agree with it. That's where the sense of tension comes from. A battle of ideologies, the struggle between Good and Evil. Meanwhile, the clones are just mindless husks that only serve whoever made them to fight robots we don't give a single shit about.
In the Original Trilogy, Droids are present, but they don't fight the wars. They are tools meant to aid them in battle. The human element is still present, and therefore the tension of conflict. Then in the Prequels they say fuck it and just use robots that have no independent thinking or justifications for their cause. One side is simply clones that believe in nothing, while the other is robots programmed to fight. Where is the source of conflict again? Why are they fighting each other? Why do we care when any of them die? Also, from a consistency standpoint why would the empire not continue to just use Droids in taking over the galaxy? Biological soldiers require food, rest, lodging, and other necessities for survival compared to a robot that needs none of that, and won't have the potential to disobey orders or require you to justify the loss of human life in combat to your constituents. It would be much cheaper in the long run to just continue using robots, especially since the means of production are already created.
What these large swaths of Droids and Clones are used for is to establish sweeping battle sequences that have no purpose other than looking cool, which doesn't even hold true with the passage of time obliterating early CGI renderings as cheap and fake. When crafting a battle sequence, there must be some meaning that the audience can relate to, otherwise it's just boring. Killing means nothing when the people being killed have no emotional connection with the audience. We become ambivalent because we can't relate to either group in any meaningful way. When the characters on the screen don't believe in their cause why should we?
Translated to the movies, the audience is left with long, seizure inducing battles that become hollow transitions between plot points. This doesn't just plague the "war" scenes, but the light saber battles too. Crisp and clean choreography is great for the first minute as it's exciting, and then that quickly fades as the audiences is left waiting until we know who will win, wins. The final battle between Anakin and Obi-Wan is the embodiment of that as we watch them twirl around for 20 minutes to get to the fucking point.
Episode 1 is even worse with the fight between Darth Maul, Qui-Gon Jinn, and Obi-Wan. These characters don't talk during the fight. They just fight and fight and fight until we feel like the ones beaten to death. Darth Maul barely says a word the whole movie we're just told "man who look like Devil bad." He has no actual characterization beyond his looks. The entire battle takes five minutes and during that time only one word is said. "No". That's it. That's what Obi-Wan yells as Jinn dies. Then Obi-Wan kills Maul and that's the end. At least in the rest of the Prequel fights they talk a little to give some half-assed attempt at delivering meaning even if it falls short. Then you compare those fights to the Original Trilogy where each battle means something. Episode 6 Luke is being tempted by Sidious, Episode 5 the revelation that Darth is Luke's father, Episode 4 the initial presentation of Sith v. Jedi ideology comes forward when Obi says, "You can't actually kill me mother fucker."
And that's a glaring problem with these films. Any supposed action is just a bloated CGI, dance scene that kills off any interest in the first two minutes and then continues for another ten. Can a movie pretty much just rely on cool action scenes and still be considered good? Yeah. John Wick is the prime example of that. Those movies have the most basic plot in the world and only serve as a loose skeletal structure to watch Keanu Reeves murder an entire city, but that's why it works. It knows what it is and we very easily understand why Reeves does what he does. Making all those action sequences have some basic meaning is what makes it fun. Theon Greyjoy's arrogance and growing panic as he realizes exactly what he's done, the fathers acknowledgement of his son's mistake and still choosing to protect him, and the turning assassins interested in killing the fabled Boogeyman give these action sequences the contextualization necessary to keep the audience engaged. Each killing spree takes us one step closer to seeing justice delivered, and ultimately, is why the final encounters, where Greyjoy and his father are killed, are so satisfying. What hinders these action scenes in the Prequels is difficulty in understanding what's happening or why.
For whatever reason, Lucas decided to try and tell a political thriller during a galactic war. The plot of each Prequel is so disjointed from each other as Palpatine's horribly complex plan involving the senate and the essence of democracy is lost among a large amount of characters with varying plot lines that don't work together. When telling a story of this size simplicity is weirdly key. The Original Trilogy had few diverging plot lines. Episode 4 is just the entire team joining the rebellion and then going together to destroy the Death Star. Episode Five splits in two with Luke training and the rest of the group headed off to Cloud City. Episode Six starts diverging a little too much with Luke fighting Vader, Lando and gang blowing up the Death Star again, and Han and Leia on Endor; but it's still easy enough to follow. Each of those movies keep the plots simple and to the point for the most part. Now you get into the Prequels and every fucking person has some sort of weird agenda.
Episode 1 has 4 battles happening at once, but prior to that we are assaulted with trade law and convoluted political discourse. Episode 2 has Anakin and Padme off making hanky panky; Obi-Wan playing detective; Palpatine plotting shit in the background; and Mace-Windu, Yoda, and the rest of the Jedi council dicking around saying cryptic bullshit that has no meaning. Episode 3 continues that exact same trend, except because Anakin gets moody and kills a bunch of kids people call it the best one when all three are just a mess. Each movie is needlessly complicated, and there's no tension to reward anyone that follows along because we already know what happens to each character in the end. Palapatine being Sidious is about as much a mystery as playing "I got your nose" with a baby. We already know Padme dies. We already know Mace dies. We know that every single Jedi we see dies. Otherwise, these people would've been present in the Original Trilogy.
The hardest part about writing a story for the Prequels, or any before story, is creating a source of tension. When you tell the middle part of your chronicle first, the audience is left with the knowledge of what's to come. This limits the types of stories you can tell because why would the audience invest time in learning something they already know happens? Often, these origin narratives become a technical roadmap to reach the audience's source of knowledge laying out plot point after plot point to fill the space of several installments without trying to tell a unique storyline. Typically, the best way to approach a story of this nature is either through a character study or having completely independent characters set in a time virtually unrelated to the original setting. Even though The Hobbit came first it's still a great example of a prequel story. Most of the characters have no major significance to The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and the story is largely independent from what happens in the later books. You discover how Bilbo came into possession of the ring, but his journey with the dwarves is their own tale with a distinctive source of tension.
This is where I'm going to suggest a basic overall plot for the Prequels that I think would've made these movies more passable. First, get rid of all the political bullshit that weighs down this "kiddie" movie. People will remark that these movies are for "kids," and I think that's a cop out. What kid wants to watch a political conspiracy made by a senator to assume control and create a dictatorship, while several characters have emotional conflicts about the morality of murder and what constitutes good and evil? Fucking none that's who. The kids watch the action scenes or see Jar-Jar Binks on screen and think "oh that's cool."
Meanwhile, anyone who's still conscious is subjected to a tonally confused movie cycle attempting to appeal to as wide of an audience as possible. As a side note, I've always felt that the Prequels looked too technologically advanced than the originals. I know that these movies were made during two separate times in film making, but if you're going to have a story set like 20 years before the Original Trilogy you can't have all these sleek looking ships, cities, and technology that don't appear later. So, the aesthetic look of the Prequels would be much more in line with the Original Trilogy for consistencies sake, making some things more rudimentary to coincide with the natural evolution of technology. With that out of the way the plot I propose is...
If the Jedi are tasked with keeping the peace of the universe and "bringing balance to the force" then let that be the case. Don't have them be some awkward hippie circle that makes vague prophecies and has no real effect on anything. The problem with having a senate and a Jedi Order is why the fuck would the Jedi give any shit about random law makers debating tax funds? The answer is they wouldn't. It also brings up awkward questions like does the Jedi serve the senate? What constitutes a Jedi matter and what constitutes a normal police or army matter? Who polices the Jedi if they exist outside the Senate control? And all of this just starts getting too complicated from the get go. The idea of the Jedi was inspired by Kurosawa samurai films, so a feudal structure reminiscent of 13th century Japan or Medieval class structure is more appropriate. The Jedi are akin to the Knight Order that serve under a head Monarchy or work directly with them to handle disputes over the reigning territories.
The Jedi Order will still be somewhat independent from the established nobility/feudal government. The Emperor sees the Jedi as a great asset to ensure peace is maintained throughout the Empire, and the Jedi work with the Empire to push for the greater good. Yoda is the head of the Knights and Palpatine is actually the second-in-command, which gives more credibility to him being a Sith Lord and not just some normal politician. In the beginning, the Sith are believed to have been defeated long ago by the Jedi. With Yoda focusing on the Jedi Council and solving disputes within the Federation, he's unaware that the Sith threat has returned. This gives Palpatine the opportunity to scheme undetected, and justifies Yoda's self-isolation on Dagobah and reluctance to teach Luke in the ways of the force during the The Empire Strikes Back because of his failure to stop the Sith in the prequels. Palpatine would better serve as a Jedi in this story because this adds to his mentorship over Anakin more than just "I have a vague story about not letting your wife die in child birth so you should murder people."
Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan are tasked with going to Tatooine to help protect villages that are being raided frequently. Before leaving Jinn discusses with Obi-Wan about needing to take on a pupil of his own. Obi-Wan is hesitant to accept the responsibility, but Jinn reassures him that he's ready. Once they arrive on Tatooine, they begin asking around the village for any information that can help identify the leader of the raid groups. They meet Anakin's mother who's able to help them unravel the details of the situation and offers lodging for the night to introduce Anakin. The weight of the raids along with the revelation about the treatment of slaves in the area pushes his mother to beg Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan to take Anakin with them so he can live a better life. Jinn takes an interest in the boy, but Obi-Wan informs her they are only here for the mission.
Jinn and Obi-Wan have a private conversation later that night where Jinn brings up the possibility of Obi-Wan taking Anakin under his wing. Obi-Wan is reluctant, but Jinn mentions how the force works in mysterious ways and it could be saying something with this boy. They finish the discussion with no affirmative action before going to bed. They are all awoken in the middle of the night as a large-scale raid takes place. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan run out to protect the villagers. As they fight off several of the raiders Anakin enters the scene in search of his missing mother. Qui-Gon tries to protect Anakin from one of the raiders, but is fatally wounded causing Obi-Wan to go into a rageful fit where he kills the last of the raiders. Sadly, the village is decimated and very few survivors are left. Anakin's mother is revealed to have died in one of the fires, and with the words of his deceased master ringing in his ears Obi-Wan decides to take the newly orphaned Anakin with him. Then you time skip that shit because no one wants to watch the dumb kid stuff. So far, we're about thirty to fourty-five minutes into the first movie and we've already accomplished everything Episode One attempted to create.
After the time leap, Anakin is shown to be a competent pupil but his desire to save everyone leads to an idealistic nature that fuels his arrogance and emotional fragility. Him and Obi-Wan have gone on several missions that improves their bonds and sets them on equal footing as the master-pupil relationship is dissolved. This sets the grounds for the main mission of Episode One, to rescue a prominent family of nobles from a recent rebellion where they are being held captive. The rebellion is threating to blow up a major production facility, that if destroyed would cause massive problems and cause doubt of the current emperor's regime. The destruction of the plant would also result in the surrounding area being destroyed and killing a bunch of people and their families that operate the plant. This is where we get introduced to Padme, who is something like a Duchess.
Padme would embody the same strong willed woman that Leia was because for God's sake she's her mother. Padme while initially saved by Anakin also saves his ass as they flirt, giving us a call back to Episode 4 and presenting us with an opportunity for the pair to bond outside of the coarseness of sand and awkward field rolling. While Anakin is off saving her, Obi-Wan encounters Darth Maul who has been tasked with ensuring the destruction of the facility. Their duel ends in a draw as the plant reaches critical status before Darth Maul escapes; believing his mission has been accomplished. The group is able to divert some of the reactors power to prevent any casualties, but part of the plant is still destroyed.
On their return, Obi-Wan discusses the return of the Sith with Yoda and Palpatine who now believes the mastermind of the Sith is Darth Maul instead of the wrinkly boy. The Emperor is still furious with Anakin and Obi-Wan for allowing part of the plant to explode. Anakin is frustrated that his good deed of protecting the villagers is overlooked for the Emperor's personal image. His idealistic self is at odds with the Emperor's reaction, and Obi-Wan does little to smooth things over. Instead he opts to lecture Anakin about understanding different perspectives and where his focus should lie. This mistake along with the return of the Sith gives Palpatine the opportunity to instill doubt in the Emperor's mind that Yoda will be able to confidently navigate the problems ahead. Finally, we have the reveal of Darth Maul working for Palpatine the whole time as they plan their next course of attack to destabilize the Jedi. Palpatine also chastises Maul for not killing Obi-Wan and nearly letting the plan fail.
The next two movies flow into each other. Instead of the Clone Wars meaning jack shit other than a poor vehicle to get us to Count DooDoo, the wars can be located on another planet and be representative of some power struggle against the elites. Anakin and Obi-Wan can meet some of the Clones and start to question whether they deserve to die. As Anakin wrestles with this dilemma, some of those Clones die and that further cracks Anakin's view of the world reflecting his own experience on Tatooine. I don't know kill a clone kid that'll add some emotional weight.
Palpatine sees the conflict and confusion within Anakin's heart and starts to persuade him to the dark side that he's been a part of all along. That way, we as the audience can really start to see and understand his transformation into Darth Vader. There's also one large point about Anakin in the Prequel's that I think is overlooked by Lucas and most criticism. Anakin is supposed to be redeemable. Episode 6 tells us that. Even throughout the Original Trilogy as Vader kills rebels he never truly does anything that we may consider irredeemable. Then when he sacrifices himself to save his son and kill Sidious, effectively "ending the Empire," in the eyes of the audience he has atoned for his sins. But, when you have him murder a bunch of innocent children you throw that all away. It's needlessly cruel, and fucking stupid. Now, don't think I'm sitting here saying "my god how could you have kids die in a movie." A few sentences ago I said go ahead and murder clone children if it serves the plot, but Anakin playing reverse orphan on a bunch of pointless kids makes it hard for a lot of audiences to see him as redeemable in the end even when he blew up a whole fucking planet.
Now I want to take a quick moment to compare those two scenes and how they affect Vader's redemption arc. When he blows up the planet he is the embodiment of the Empire. He doesn't give a shit at that point and only the strong hand of the Empire is what matters, but we as the audience understand that. That scene really portrays the power and ruthlessness of the Empire as a whole, instead of just Vader. It's an act of war in a time of war.
Meanwhile, Anakin kills those kids for basically no reason. Palpatine makes some vague mention of saving Padme from dying at child birth and so that means Anakin needs to kill a bunch of kids? Then we as the audience watch him do it... kind of. The scene doesn't really make any statement since we have a hard time understanding why he does it. It leaves a sour taste in your mouth and allows people to say "how dark the film really is." That's horseshit and bad writing and tarnishes Vader's personal journey throughout the Original Trilogy.
Instead, just have Palpatine go "oh yeah war totally sucks brah and the only true way to prevent suffering is through absolute power, and you know what can give you that? The Dark Side." Anakin goes no, but then witnesses more bad shit and comes to Palpatine for guidance. Honestly, the real push over the edge for Anakin should be Padme dying. Not trying to prevent it, but because he couldn't prevent it and he wants to ensure that it never happens to his children. Maybe Padme joins them on a mission and gets killed from a bomb or something. Anakin blames himself and sees how powerless he is in the universe so he's actually seduced by the Dark Side. Then have him try to recruit Obi-Wan since they're friends, but Obi-wan refuses and conspires with Yoda to escape with the children. Obi-Wan defeats Anakin and they flee. Now Anakin completes his transformation into Vader and sets out to control the galaxy and find his kiddos. Wam bam thank you ma'am.
Mace Windu gets to play detective under orders from Yoda who has become slightly paranoid that there could be a Sith amongst them. Palpatine has slowly turned the Emperor against the current Jedi Order by sowing mental doubt and using it as an opportunity to easily influence him with force powers. Palpatine plans to seize the throne after poisoning the Emperor to imitate a natural death, but Windu discovers the poison in a confrontation with Palpatine and the Emperor. Palpatine kills both, but uses Windu as a scape goat to cast the Jedi in a negative light and pins the blame on Yoda by saying he ordered Windu to assassinate the Emperor in a plot to control the throne. With Palpatine now in control he orders the execution of any remaining Jedi.
As Palpatine was seducing Anakin, Darth Maul became increasingly jealous at his master abandoning him for another pupil. He vows to kill Obi-Wan to bring about redemption in Palpatine's eyes, but during their inevitable showdown Obi-Wan kills him. The Jedi destroyed, and Yoda and Obi-Wan escaping, the technical details are finalized for the original trilogy with a character focus on how one man turns from good to evil. Now, does any of this matter? Not at all. Unless they remake the Prequels in twenty years and use this essay as a baseline for the script, but it does bring me to my larger point with these movies.
One thing I see as a series becomes successful and new iterations are added is the attempt to explain things that should never be explained. We as the audience just accept them for what they are. When you start trying to explain those things with no clear direction it only spells destruction. Look at how the Prequels handled The Force.
The Force should not be picked apart scientifically. There should have been no dumb ass mention of Midi-chlorins (which just sounds like George misheard the joke "Mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cell" and put it in the script). The Force constantly defies what's "scientific." It's why Luke puts away his targeting system. It's why Obi-Wan makes Luke practice blind in the millennium falcon. It's all the lines Yoda quotes during training that my dad has said to me more times over than I can count.
When you take something like "the Force," which for years is assumed to be a natural feeling inside each of us, and discount it as "oh the psychic bullshit I came up with is just because you have enough Mitochondria in your body" you really fuck up. The Force was great because theoretically before the first Episode anyone could picture themselves using it. Everyone could be a Jedi master because they simply had to be in tune with the world around them. What makes a story great is a main character that we as the audience can relate to, and when you just reduce the hero's journey (and more accurately our journey) to just whoever has the higher arbitrary cell count you kill what makes "The Force" so special.
And that's probably the hardest thing with these movies. It's not the inhuman experience, loss of tension, boring characterization, barely understandable plot, or retrospectively some of the outdated CGI work. It's that these movies feel so disconnected from the world that we know, real or fictional. I think in some ways no matter what happens every Star Wars film after the Original Trilogy will have problems among fans or reviewers, but I believe this is a two-way street. On one hand, the rabid fan base demands perfection, but on the other, studio executives are so clueless as to what made people fall in love with the Originals in the first place.
I've seen people blame actors like Hayden Christiansen, but honestly, they did the best they could with what they had. No matter how good an actor is, the performance can never outweigh the story. In fact, nothing can outweigh the story. Not CGI, abundant sex scenes, multiple twists, or elaborate design. If the story is a loosely pieced together first draft then the audience will see it for what it really is. An act of manipulation. In trying to be the flashiest, eye-catching thing that garners as many people as possible they exclude long term gain for short term compensation. I'm not saying it's easy, but to capture as many people as possible and to have a lasting effect on an audience (and if you're a studio on the overall cultural sphere that gives you more money) then invest in a strong story that appeals to our humanity. You do that and people won't give a shit what kind of toys, clothes, or monopoly set you produce because they will have the joyful connection to the source material. Why else do you think the Original Trilogy has been such a cultural force for 40 years?