9 Reasons Why The Star Wars Prequels Aren’t As Bad As You Remember

As anticipation for Star Wars: The Force Awakens reaches fever pitch, the release day draws nerve-wrackingly close. We're all hoping for the Episode VII we deserve, and yet secretly, at the back of every fan's mind, there's one niggling consideration: what if the film isn't everything we hope it'll be? What if - god forbid - it's anything like George Lucas' much-derided prequels? From Jar Jar to Darth Vader's unintentionally hilarious birth, there's a lot to justifiably hate the prequels for. Whether it's the wooden acting, stale dialogue, poor characterization, over-abundance of CGI, or the borderline racism of those Trade Federation aliens, you can have your fill of disappointment and then some from the Star Wars prequels. But you already know all the reasons why you hate Episodes I-III; this list isn't for more of that. This list is instead for all the things about the prequels that are actually pretty great. Because, despite what the consensus says, there ARE things to love about George Lucas' latter Star Wars movies. They can be bad, even terrible, but not all the time - the truth is more complicated than that. Here, then, are nine reasons why the prequels aren't as bad as you remember. 9) John Williams' Score Lucas may falter often in the prequels, but composer John Williams is as strong as ever, and evidently as confident as he was scoring the original Star Wars trilogy two decades previous. If anything, the naturally theatrical Williams fits the prequels - more operatic in scope and execution than the original trilogy - better even than he did the less OTT Episodes IV-VI. The introduction of an apocalyptic choir for The Phantom Menace is inspired, heightening the bombastic tone, while Williams' innocent love themes for Attack of the Clones do such emotional heavy lifting that they almost make Anakin and Padme's romance compelling. Perhaps Williams' prequels high-point, though, is saved for the Revenge of the Sith opener, with war drums and ecstatic strings helping to make one of the prequels' most uncomplicated and fun sequences so exciting. 8) Incredible Design Work There's just no faulting the invention on display in the Star Wars prequels. The fashion sense of Naboo alone warrants an entire thesis exploring the real-life background, as do the planet's WWII-like aircraft. Then check out the giant doughnut-shaped spacecraft of the Trade Federation, and its insect-like droid army, complete with clunky, chunky war machines. Look at the devil-like Darth Maul, an instantly iconic villain wielding a double-edged weapon and covered head-to-toe in tats. Look at the worlds themselves: Naboo, with its Venetian-style structures above and Jules Verne-esque bubble kingdoms that lie underwater; Coruscant, a giant, sleek metal cityscape, like cities of the Earth grown to planet-size; Tatooine, a Western-like lawless desert of crime and high-octane sports. Every one is a marvel of design - and that's just The Phantom Menace. 7) The Detail In The Worlds You can probably put this one down to the extra amount of money Lucas had on the prequels compared to what he had on the original trilogy. What's happening in the foreground may not always be compelling, but the detail in the background in Episodes I-III is on another level. Take a world like Coruscant, unseen until the prequels (a brief cameo in Return of the Jedi aside), and fully developed on first sight in The Phantom Menace, a metropolis buzzing with life from high up in the clouds down to street level. Is it the world building that Lucas focused his efforts on, when he should have been paying more attention to his scripts? If so, he at least breathed enormous life into his prequel universe, making it into a place that feels like it could be explored down at a minute level. 6) The Major Expansion Of The Universe It's a good thing that Lucas is so talented when it comes to world-building, because he sure does a lot of it in the prequels. In The Phantom Menace, you have Naboo and Coruscant, in Attack of the Clones Kamino and Geonosis, and in Revenge of the Sith Kashyyyk, Utapau and Mustafar, along with the many worlds glimpsed in the Order 66 montage. The trips to all these worlds leave the universe feeling so much better explored, with Lucas taking advantage of the extra funds and effects capabilities at his disposal, and opening his Star Wars galaxy up so much more than he did with his original set of movies. Because the design is so excellent and because the amount of detail makes the worlds feel so 'busy,' Lucas gives the impression that each corner of the galaxy is thoroughly lived-in. 5) That Cast There are some usually great lead actors in the Star Wars prequels - Liam Neeson, Natalie Portman, Samuel L. Jackson - who, unfortunately, largely appear to be phoning it in. Look down the cast list though, and you'll remember the prequels aren't just full of stars, but also supporting actors bringing flavor to characters that likely weren't nearly as interesting on the page. It's an eclectic line-up of classy veterans and eccentrics behaving like pros: Brian Blessed, Terence Stamp, Temuera Morrison, Jack Thompson, Bruce Spence, Ralph Brown - kudos goes to Lucas for thinking to bring such relatively minor performers into these gigantic blockbusters. Props go to Ewan McGregor from the main cast, too, for doing a convincing Alec Guinness impression and nailing the emotion of Obi Wan's face-off with Anakin; there aren't many actors who could draw such power from within opposite the wooden plank that is Hayden Christensen. 4) Ian McDiarmid's Great Overarching Performance As Palpatine If it wasn't for the fact that 'Darth Sidious' is quite obviously just McDiarmid under a hood, as well as the fact that he played the Emperor in the original trilogy, you'd never guess that the unassuming Senator from The Phantom Menace would turn out to be Star Wars' evil master. Ian McDiarmid renders Palpatine in subtle shades, and his three-movie arc is the single most compelling example of character development in the prequels (some would say 'only' as opposed to 'single most,' but that's by the by). It's probably the finest performance in a saga that isn't renowned for its acting, as McDiarmid sells the Lucas dialogue so well that you temporarily forget how badly the prequels are written whenever he's delivering it. Seriously, he makes the great Darth Plagueis the Wise monologue in Revenge of the Sith sound like Shakespeare from the tongue of a pro. 3) Some Amazing Action Sequences Again, it's both a blessing and a curse that George Lucas put so much effort into how his prequels looked (as opposed to saving his attention for the story). In this case it's a blessing: the action sequences in the prequels are bursting with energy and ideas, from the visceral pod race on in The Phantom Menace to the blistering battle above Coruscant that kicks off the final movie. Lucas doesn't always get it right - the duel between Anakin and Obi Wan runs for too long, while the battle of Kashyyyk doesn't last long enough - but for the most part he's as assured with the action as he was in the original trilogy. Attack of the Clones, the weakest movie of the entire saga, at the very least closes with an orgiastic clash between clones and droids that's as epic as Star Wars gets. 2) Superior Lightsaber Battles Fact: the lightsaber battles in the prequels are just better than those in the original trilogy. And for all the great and good battles, one stands out more than any as worthy of a singling out. The lightsaber duel between Qui-Gon Jinn, Darth Maul and Obi Wan Kenobi towards The Phantom Menace's climax is a masterpiece of choreography, and a series high-point (so far) for lightsaber showdowns. After the relatively rough and lumbering lightsaber fights of the original trilogy, The Phantom Menace's lightsaber battle is balletic and thrillingly fast-paced. Darth Maul sets the pace with his rapid, violent moves, turning this action scene into a kind of brutal dance to the death. Amplified by John Williams' dramatic choral score and Lucas' composed, unobtrusive camerawork, this is the one that The Force Awakens and any future Star Wars movies have to beat. 1) The Positive Additions To The Jedi Mythology So the midi-chlorians thing was a mystique-busting screw-up (George Lucas should never have tried to explain his mysterious Force away with 'science'). That aside, Lucas doesn't make many other missteps when it comes to handling the mythology of the Jedi and the Force in the prequels. He actually makes some valuable contributions. Though Episodes IV-VI offer hints, the prequels fully flesh out what it meant to be a Jedi prior to A New Hope. In Lucas' originals, the Jedi are diminished, a mere myth. In the prequels, we see Jedis - broken down into the master/padawan dynamics - acting as diplomats and influential advocates of universal peace. They have their own council, extensive life codes, and, yes, fashion sense. A thorough exploration of the Jedi, the Force and the Sith is offered, as opposed to the original trilogy's brief glimpse.