Ok, it’s no secret that I am a massive Star Wars fan! I do a lot of research on both canon and legends. I am one of those people who didn’t mind the prequels, in fact I rather enjoyed them on first viewing. All-star casts, one of the biggest franchises of all time, awesome lightsaber fights, what could go wrong. Then I re-watched them to see if they really were as bad as everyone was saying. I will be addressing both the good and bad in these films, but be warned, there is a lot of bad.
We start off with what is probably the weakest in the trilogy, and it seems nobody’s favorite Star Wars film, The Phantom Menace. First off, Liam Neeson does really well in the role of Qui-Gon Jinn, and this is a perfect example of a massive waste of a legendary actor and an awesome character. I highly recommend that any Star Wars fan go read up on Qui-Gon. You will see that if they had kept him alive, there would have been so many more awesome story arcs they could have used. Then Darth Maul, he is an incredible villain and is another example of a wasted character. Yes, he comes back in Clone Wars and Rebels, but I am only addressing the movies and the lightsaber fight between Maul, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan is iconic for a reason - this is a stunningly choreographed battle.
So, now we get into the bad. First off, where the hell is Obi-Wan throughout this film? He is one of the franchise’s main characters and in this film the comic relief and annoying child get most of the screen time. The script itself is poorly written, in that, for the most part they just stand around explaining what they are doing. The acting is appalling from almost everyone, even Natalie Portman! And don’t bring up the pod racing scene which is far too long. Jar Jar Binks was created to sell toys and make this film more kid friendly, but please can someone just kill the character. Overall, this film is a lot worse than you remember.
Rating: 2/10
Next was probably my favorite of the trilogy, Attack of the Clones. Now the acting is not bad. Everyone has stepped up their game since the previous film. Christopher Lee’s Count Dooku is awesome, anyone who denies it please go read up on the Count and watch Clone Wars. The lightsaber fight between Yoda and Dooku is awesome and we finally get to see Yoda as a badass. I also want to address Ewan McGregor’s Obi-Wan Kenobi - this man is incredible, and he genuinely looks like the only one who is having fun. This further pushes the fact I want to see him alongside Liam Neeson’s Qui-Gon Jinn and see what the two of them can do. Hell, if you made the entire trilogy about them, I would be happy.
Now to address the bad. The writing is appalling. George Lucas cannot write dialogue… at all. Just saying, the best film in the original series was the one where he was the least involved in, there is a reason for that. I dare anyone to try pick up anyone with some of the lines that Padme and Anakin say to each other. Who talks like this? Lucas also doesn’t direct his cast well and you can see it. Watch when cast deliver lines and then when they are meant to react to them. It is not bad acting, just bad directing. The editing in this film is also pretty shoddy, try watch the Dooku, Anakin fight. You will have no idea what is going on. I mean come on, Star Wars is all about lightsaber fights, let me see the fight. This one was worse than I remember but to be fair, not as bad as everyone makes it out to be.
Rating: 4.9/10
Right, so now onto the best in the trilogy, and that is not saying much, Revenge of the Sith. I am happy to say that there are now two people who look like they are actually having fun, McGregor’s Obi-Wan and Ian McDiarmid’s Senator Palpatine. The chemistry between Anakin and Obi-Wan is great to see, like seriously, let’s just have these films showing them kicking butt for two hours and you would have made loads more. Anakin’s character is finally made to be more than just winy, immature child on a power trip. He actually makes jokes and feels like a more likeable character. General Grevious is also a really enjoyable part of the film. The editing in this one is good and the acting better than the second. The lightsaber fights are incredible and much better than the sequels series, fight me.
Now on to the bad. Dooku is killed off way too early and joins Maul in the wasted potential section. Once again, not talking the series, I mean the movies. Anakin’s fall to the dark side feels very out of left field and that is mainly due to the fact they only decided to actually give him a character in the third film, so it was way too late. The dialogue is once again bad, like really bad. Go watch the Anakin, Padme scenes and try not to cringe. No people in a relationship talk to each other like this. There are some really stupid scenes, but those are to be expected. Overall, all this film is marginally better than the last one and thanfully a lot better than the first.
Rating: 5.1/10
So, to wrap this up, I would say the prequels have a rounded feeling of being both worse and not as bad as one remembers. If they had been done right, they would have been classics. The lightsaber fights were the strongest part of the films and they at least felt like a Star Wars film. Sorry to say the sequels do not feel like Star Wars films and the lightsaber fights looked like a two year old smashing two action figures into each other. I would recommend a re-watch if for nothing else than to remember those awesome fight scenes.
Overall Rating: 4.5/10
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