The Star Wars prequels are among the most despised movies in history, and while they certainly have their fans, the majority of Star Wars lovers dismiss them as being an insult to the franchise. There have been endless debates about what George Lucas did wrong while telling the story of the young Anakin Skywalker, but regardless of whatever your stance on them may be, one person who delights in expressing his hatred for this trilogy is Simon Pegg.
The Star Trek actor and friend of Star Wars: The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams is set to make a brief appearance in the movie as an alien. Asked in a recent interview why he feels the way he does toward the prequels, he offered a very brutal assessment:
“I don’t really have any respect for anyone who thinks those films are good. They’re not. (They’re) a monumental misunderstanding of what the (original) three films are about. It’s an exercise in utter infanticide… (like) George Lucas killing his kid. Jar Jar Binks made the Ewoks look like f***ing Shaft!”
Ouch! That’s pretty damn harsh, though it’s easy to understand where he’s coming from. Thankfully, Pegg does seem to at least have a lot more faith in Abrams:
“To knock out ideas with (director) J.J. (Abrams), and every single day, whether you were on the set of something you recognized or a set that was brand new, it just felt like ‘Star Wars’ in a way that I hadn’t felt in 32 years. It was genuinely magical.”
Seeing as Pegg is such a huge Star Wars fan, it’s fairly easy to take him at his word here. Time will tell whether or not Abrams has made up for Lucas’ past mistakes with Star Wars: The Force Awakens of course, but December 17th really can’t get here soon enough.
