Star Wars Prequels: Art of Not Making A Movie
- Alphonso
- Jan 25, 2022
- 4 min read
"Film is a battleground."
- Sam Fuller
As you can understand from our post's quote, a film is a battleground, and we believe that the weapons are acting, directing, screenplay, editing, cinematography, plot. Star Wars Prequels clearly explained what happened before the Galactic Empire. As the audience, we understood, how Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader, how Luke and Leia grew at different places, and how Obi-wan retired from being a Jedi. But let me remind you, we are not explaining a story to a friend, we are filming a movie. And, Prequels had none of the features which make a movie good. This is why the movies lost at the "movie battleground."
First of all, the movie included lots of bad acting. Also, many actors and actresses such as Natalie Portman were wasted. It is clear that the performances were bad, but when you look at the cast you see really successful actors and actresses. So why does this problem occurs in the movies? I think there are 2 reasons behind this situation. One is because actors acted individually and they were put together with CGI like in the Marvel movies. BUT YOU CAN'T FILM STAR WARS LIKE MARVEL. This is why the dialogues are like there is a wall behind the actors. The second reason is that George Lucas thinks everyone is Harrison Ford. Prequels have lots of young actors and actresses and Lucas expected them to play hard roles such as Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala and he expected them to play as successfully as Orginal Trilogy actors (such as Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, and Mark Hammil). But, as they were amateur actors, they couldn't play as Lucas wanted. (And, now nobody knows if Hayden Christensen is a good actor or a bad one.) Despite the awful acting in a general sense, there were also actors whose acting was really good like Ewan McGregor. I still think he is a real Jedi.
The biggest thing that caused me to not like Prequels that much, was its raw screenplay. If a screenplay is a cookie, Prequels' screenplay is made of delicious ingredients, but it is definitely uncooked. The story of young Anakin Skywalker was probably the biggest thing Star Wars fans (like me) were wondering. I think that Lucas and his crew found an impressive and logical story that explains the past of the Original Trilogy. But, they couldn't structure this story. As I said before, it was like listening to the story of one of your friends. There were some "Uhh..."s and some "You know..." s in the movies. But, when we look at the general story, it was quite satisfying for me.
For cinematography, I think the movie included many aesthetic scenes, the camera perspectives were designed in a detailed way and different scenes created different atmospheres with the lighting and the color choices. Yet I can't say the same thing for the directing and editing. I liked the harmony and the order of the scenes in the original trilogy, but in the Prequels, there was chaos. Lucas wanted Steven Spielberg, Ron Howard, or Robert Zemeckis to direct the movies, but all three of them turned Lucas down, so Lucas directed the series on his own. Sorry Lucas, but the movies' directing was bad. However, Ron Howard said that "it would’ve been too daunting.", so I think it is not fully George Lucas's fault as it was hard to direct the movies.
Alright. Here comes a point I really loved in the movies: John Williams the Actual Jedi. If you don't know him, he is the master behind the successful music of Star Wars, Jaws, Indiana Jones, and Schindler's List. And his soundtracks are brilliant. That's why I call him the actual Jedi: he uses the force (notes and melodies) Many movies don't care about the soundtracks, as they seem like secondary things, but music is the thing that gives meaning to a scene. And Star Wars uses music effectively and beautifully thanks to this great man.
Another point I liked: All the characters (except Jar Jar). Prequels include lots of characters who have political, philosophical, or literary meanings. I liked the Siths as we have only seen 2 Siths in the Orginal Trilogy. The Jedi Council was also nice. Besides the characters, I liked seeing the galaxy more widely as there were tens of different planets in the Prequels. Lastly, I also liked how they used CGI which doesn't look fake. Especially CGI Yoda and some CGI Jedi s were looking realistic.
Yes, there were lots of points that I didn't like in the movies, but this doesn't mean that I completely hated the movies. As Yoda says: "Hate leads to suffering, and suffering leads to the dark side." So I tried to see the positive aspects of the movies too. (in order to stay on the light side.) I am a Star Wars Original Trilogy fan, but I also enjoyed the Prequels. Although the movies look mediocre(or worse) when analyzing, they are good if you just want to learn the past of Star Wars in an enjoyable manner.
If you liked the movies, but you think they haven't granted the rank of master (Star Wars reference), you might like these movies:
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