To preface I never thought I'd see the day where I wrote about the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy again because the last time I thought I would be finished with them was when I reviewed them on this blog back in 2017 before The Last Jedi came out. And I will say those thoughts I had on all 3 films back then are nothing short of outdated. My viewpoints have changed on all of them and I've come to the point in my life where I've learned to appreciate any type of fictional story I experience and find the positives in how these stories were told. I don't feel the need to delete my previous reviews. I am proud of how I wrote them and it's part of my history as a writer and a creator online and I feel they certainly add to the story I'm about to tell here as well. But to start out I want to take you all back to the very beginning before this love of Star Wars all started for me. In fact, I might as well name this article "My Star Wars Story", but, really, this is all about the appreciation I have for these next few movies Lucas wanted to tell after everyone was singing and dancing to Yub Nub back in 1983.
See, most people I've heard stories from or that I've talked to said that their first exposure to Star Wars was with the Original Trilogy. Either they were fans who loved it when it came it out in '77-'83 or their parents loved it back then and they showed it to them as children on VHS. It was a different story for me. My parents had seen the movies in their youth when they released in theaters and enjoyed them at that point, but they weren't massive fans that clamored to show me them when I was a toddler. Around that age, I was more fixated on animation and didn't really care for live-action movies. I think probably because I was afraid live-action movies could get weird or scary or something? I don't know. One thing for sure was that if it involved actual people I wouldn't watch it.
However, one of my earliest childhood memories that involved Star Wars that I can still visualize was when I was no more than 3 years old and I remember being in a video store with my mom or dad and seeing in the distance near the window display some cardboard cutouts and displays for Star Wars Episode I The Phantom Menace. And I remember heavily seeing images of Anakin with his Podracing goggles on, Queen Amidala, Jar Jar Binks, and Darth Maul. I even remember being at that age going to my cousin's house, who was and still is a big Star Wars fan, and him having cardboard cutouts of Phantom Menace characters in his basement and me looking way up at a Darth Maul and Queen Amidala cutout and being low-key freaked out.
So I think at that point even though I didn't know what it was called I knew that the Star Wars franchise existed. I even remember the year Attack of the Clones came out, my extended family came over my house for a party and Phantom Menace was on TV and I watched a little bit of it and then didn't watch much of it. I remember kicking off during the scene where Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan meet Jar Jar. But hey I was still a kid, so I had no idea what was happening. I didn't think much about seeing the movies, but I do remember seeing a ton of marketing for both The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones like the different flavored Go-Gurts being different Jedi lightsabers. It was madness and even though I didn't really think about seeing any of the movies something happened months later.
I was at a friend's house and they were a little older, so they probably had seen all the movies and such, but they had just got Attack of the Clones on DVD. I remember seeing it advertised on TV and then, bam! There it was. Our parents go out on their double date and then we, and their baby sitter, watched Attack of the Clones together. And folks, yes, this was my first Star Wars movie. And while I didn't really understand the story or anything about the characters or what was happening and that Yoda looked cool, I was absolutely blown away with what I was watching. Even though I couldn't articulate it at the time, the visual effects really blew my mind and I hadn't really seen anything like it before. And I also thought it was kind of scandalous to watch at the time because I was watching graphic scenes (that were graphic to me) like Zam Wessel's face shriveling up after being shot by a toxic dart, or Padmé's back being brutally scratched by that crazy beast in the arena scene on Geonosis. I only remember thinking it was really cool when I watched it at the time
Then, another time, my parents and I were house-sitting that same house and my dad and I watched Clones on HBO the last day we were at the house. Then, that year, or maybe it was a year or two later, I stumbled across an animated video on the Lego website that recreated all the Star Wars movies at the time even though I didn't understand it. And then I poked around online another day and saw some crazy concept art on the Star Wars website, I believe, before Episode III came out. So I knew since I saw Episode II at least that would go see Episode III. I, then, remember to my surprise in March of 2005 going to see the animated movie Robots and then seeing the trailer for Revenge of the Sith and having my mind blown.
I thought maybe there was a chance for me to see another Star Wars movie, but unfortunately, Episode III Revenge of the Sith was not my first theatrical Star Wars experience. I was a little too young at the time and the film was rated PG-13 and my parents were strict with what I watched (but more about Sith later). Honestly, I couldn't be more thankful for the Prequel Trilogy because it's what got me into Star Wars in the first place. If it hadn't been for the release of Revenge of the Sith, I wouldn't have gone and watched all the films in release order before I eventually saw Sith on DVD. And while I felt all 6 Star Wars movies met all my needs with Revenge of the Sith being my favorite movie of all time back in the day, something happened when I went to high school. The general consensus I heard from upper-class men and even my film teacher at the time was that the Prequels sucked, which led me down this path that, yeah, maybe I'm wrong about liking them.
I still had a little soft spot for them since they were my childhood, but I think I was starting to be in the mindset that, "Yeah, Lucas was wrong for making them the way he did. Now the Originals, that's how you make movies!" And in those years I watched YouTube movie reviewers like Red Letter Media and though I enjoyed those reviews at the time I can't stand any review about the Prequels now because as I got older, something inside of me was changing. That critical phase I had in my teen years and early young-adult life transformed into something more. I became more forgiving with what I watched and didn't pinpoint which films were objectively directed better. I saw movies that I enjoyed and, heck, loved that received controversial backlash and I learned to love what was given to me. And since I was in more of an open mindset, it made me want to go back and watch the Prequels differently. And I can confidently say that I absolutely love these movies now and I have a deep appreciation and love for George Lucas as a storyteller.
See when I was a teenager and even up to a few years back I used to be in the mindset that the films I watched should have been made and told a certain way. There had to be some sort of logic involved so that the stories could be told better, but really a filmmaker should tell a story in whichever way they want because it's THEIR creation. THEIR story. And I love that Lucas wanted to try something different in these earlier time eras of the Star Wars galaxy while still having it feel like it's part of the same franchise. I think that the problem with how audiences react to Star Wars movies nowadays whether it's the Prequels, Sequels, or spin-offs because spiritually they feel more like older fashioned mythic storytelling. And some of the people are more of a modern audience that doesn't appreciate how the stories in these movies are told like myself and other fans do.
I love that The Phantom Menace is different in the sense that it's more of a political film in the franchise since Palpatine is causing trouble with the Trade Federation while also secretly setting himself up to become the next Chancellor and rule over the Republic. It's very subtle but hits hard because Palpatine becoming the leader of the Republic is just the beginning of how the galaxy will eventually crumble forming the Empire.
Attack of the Clones used to be my least favorite, but I love it now because I find it so interesting how Anakin started out being a flawed young person dealing with his own personal frustrations with Obi-Wan and himself wanting to be a better Jedi. Padmé gives him comfort, but since he was being raised through a totally different lifestyle as a Jedi, I mean how would you expect him to act around a woman he's in love with? Does he have to flirt like James Bond? I love that he has these awkward conversations and not because it's so bad, it's funny. To me, it's not badly written, directed, or acted. And I've heard this elsewhere and I agree with the statement that, hey, if you were standing out looking out at the water with Natalie Portman you'd say anything to her, like how you hate sand. And also why does that line have to be anti-cinema? Sand represents Anakin's former life on Tatooine where he had the bad memories of being enslaved and not having a proper childhood.
Revenge of the Sith is also a movie that I've always liked and, sure, there were times I thought it could've been told better, but I love how Palpatine twists Anakin and I don't think it's abrupt at all. I love that since Anakin's doing what he can to save Padmé he's also helping grow the Empire with Palpatine to maintain a better order in the galaxy. He thinks he's being the hero and that the Jedi were wrong for trying to defeat Sidious. And some might think Sidious is just being evil for the sake of being evil, and while the stuff he's doing is wrong like eliminating the Jedi with Order 66, he feels it's better for the galaxy and creating a better order. And speaking of Order 66 circling it back to not being allowed to watch the film when I was younger in May of 2005, I did however receive the movie on DVD as a Christmas gift and was then allowed to watch it at home as long as my dad was with me.
And I will say that the Order 66 scene and the scene when Padmé confronts Anakin on Mustafar were pretty disturbing scenes to watch as a kid and I still get emotional watching them now as an adult. The idea of these good-hearted Jedi Knights and Masters being gunned down by these former trustworthy Clones all because their brains function like a computer I think is enough to make me really get an impression out of this scene. And you even see the purity of these characters and the goodness of them when you watch The Clone Wars show, but I think the way it's played out in these movies is still very good. I also think those scenes, in particular, affected me as a child because I saw the good guys getting defeated and I didn't want that happen. Not because I thought it was a bad move on the film's part, but because I cared about the characters I was watching even though I, again, couldn't articulate it in that way back then. And because those scenes affected me the way they did at home, I'm grateful I didn't have to experience that in a heightened atmosphere like a movie theater. So thank you, mom and dad, for not letting me see it in theaters.
These were pretty bold movies in my opinion because Lucas took elements from classic cinema and even movie serials like Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers and made his own creations with it. And since Star Wars is in its own fantasy universe where the possibilities are endless for anything, I can see why it wouldn't gel with modern audiences. The dialogue isn't as natural as the Originals and it's poorly written? The acting is stiff and unconvincing? Too much CGI? Okay, first of all, how do people know there's a certain way characters have to talk and act in a FANTASY universe? There isn't a right or wrong way of doing it. The way these characters are portrayed in these movies is supposed to honor an older style of filmmaking. And I don't know about you, but the classic films that I've seen are pretty exposition-heavy like in the Prequels and, not to mention, you know another popular fantasy show that has heavy dialogue like that? Game of Thrones and people are pretty forgiving with that.
Also, if you think about it with the acting and dialogue, not only is it a specific element to make it leap out its own fantasy universe, but we're dealing with another time in the Star Wars galaxy where the way people and aliens alike acted and spoke differently. Think about it, did people in say Colonial times talk differently than others did in the Old West? Yes, because these were different time eras. And not to mention my favorite Star Wars podcaster Ken Napzok on one of his shows says he likes to look at these major events in his favorite fictional franchises like it's a historical document. And that's one of the reasons why I love watching these movies because we're peering into another reality that has its own history.
So I definitely owe it to this trilogy for bringing me into the Star Wars franchise because nowadays I just see these 3 movies brimming with such imagination. The way I felt seeing the spectacle of Attack of the Clones at a young age is what it was like for younger audiences who saw the Original Trilogy for the first time. And while I may have seen one movie out of order and then watched all the movies after that in release order, if it hadn't been for seeing little tidbits about Phantom Menace, seeing Attack of the Clones in full, and then seeing that online concept art and eventually a trailer for Revenge of the Sith, my interest in Star Wars wouldn't have peaked to where it is today. I wouldn't have had this life-long connection to Star Wars that I had because it's always had a place in my youth. And now that I'm able to analyze and enjoy every bit of Star Wars content on a whole other element as an adult, it just feels like so much more.
I'm here to say that I love the movies that George wanted to make and that as an adult I'm able to read into how he communicates his stories and to enjoy them for being the goofy space operas that they are. And crazily enough, the conversations I've had about the prequels lately have been mostly positive and sure you still get your fair share of critics no matter what, but I just find it interesting to hear people of my generation or younger who say their favorite movie is Revenge of the Sith or how much they love the prequels because it was their Star Wars growing up. And it's awesome to see that connection, but ultimately it's just great for me to have different Star Wars movies taking place in their own fictional eras, and the reasons I love each movie so much is because of how different each film is.
And I never felt gypped with the Prequel movies because of how a show like The Clone Wars filled in the gaps and took its time with characters that were fleshed out more in a show. The Clone Wars works for what it was and I feel that the magic of Star Wars is that they can introduce certain elements in the movies that may be too big to explore in the movies because there is just so much story to tell. The Prequels told their own important stories and did it well while Clone Wars filled in the gaps beautifully and made what was to me 3 rich Prequel movies feel even richer. I love that Lucas wanted to tell his story about the fall of Anakin Skywalker his own way and also created an important staple in Star Wars that felt so memorable.
Think about all the creativity and heart that went into it to make all the different types of planets look and feel different. The number of different creatures we saw. A new type of battle that had smaller implications in the Phantom Menace era and then built into something more becoming the all-out Clone Wars that we heard about in A New Hope. It's all so memorable and resonates with me just as the Original Trilogy does and even the Sequel Trilogy and spin-offs. And just because the dialogue and style of filmmaking in the Prequels is stylistically different than the Originals doesn't mean that they're lesser films to me. I love that Lucas is honoring an older style of filmmaking and showing his love of the fictional stories that resonated with him through these specific movies. Every Star Wars movie is great in its own right being a part of the larger saga and the mythology and execution of the Prequels lay the groundwork for this saga beautifully.
The way Lucas was able to enrapture audiences with his first Star Wars film in '77 is similar to how I felt watching Attack of the Clones at a young age. I used to think it was a wrong way of getting into the franchise but remember, this my dear readers. Whether it's one of the movies, an episode from one of the shows, a comic, a book, a video game, or a piece of merchandising, whichever piece of Star Wars storytelling develops this deep love you have for Star Wars, then that is the best entry. Even though I didn't watch the Original Trilogy first and thought I was wrong for not falling in love with Star Wars the first time that way, I'm just happy I had my own entry point and that we all have our own random entry points. As long as you find that entry point in whichever part of the franchise, that's what matters and no one can take that joy away from. So thank you, George Lucas, for telling the story of these Prequel movies your own way and having me fall in love with Star Wars because of them and making me fall in love with a part of Star Wars I'd never thought I'd appreciate as much as I do now.
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