The original Star Wars trilogy was one of the great masterpieces in all cinema.
I love Star Wars.
As far as I'm concerned, only the six movies made by George Lucas himself are canon.
And I think people do not understand why the Star Wars prequels are dissappointing for so many.
Many people assume it is because they were not well made.
Only the sequels, with the exception of the first, are made even worse..
No.
As far as I'm concerned, the prequel trilogy was very well made.
Maybe it had a couple of minor flaws.
But Jar Jar Binks is not that prominent a character, and there were so many things about those movies that were so well done.
But the prequel triogy had to tell of the fall of good and the rise of evil.
That is why it is dissappointing.
It has to tell how we got to the point where we were when the original trilogy began.
It had to tell of the fall of something good and beautiful, and the rise of evil.
It could not tell the thrilling magical story of the rise of a new hope and new light in the face of darkness, like the original trilogy did.
But for a trilogy that had to tell the gloomy story of the fall of something beautiful and good and the rise of evil, despite a few minor flaws, the prequel trilogy is just so well done.
Given the gloomy subject matter we can forgive George Lucas for thinking the prequel trilogy needed more comic relief and creating a character in jar Jar Binks to do just that.
The sequel trilogy, on the other hand...
The first sequel movie was great.
I have not seen the other two sequel movies.
I have not seen them because everyone says they are terrible.
And people tell me some of the things that are wrong with them.
And some of them are, well, just the complete opposite of what the first sequel movie was trying to set up.
You see, the script of The Force Awakens, the first Star Wars sequel, was written by the great Lawrence Kasdan, who wrote the script for two thirds of the original Star Wars trilogy, including The Empire Strikes Back.
J. J. Abrams had Lawrence Kasdan's story to work with in that.
But Lawrence Kasdan had already done three Star Wars scripts, and did not want to do two more.
Without him, J. J. Abrams and the rest just had no clue what to do with the prequel trilogy.
Lawrence Kasdan set up several things for the rest of the trilogy that were not followed up on.
Finn was all set to have a great character arc.
Finn and Rey were all set to be the new Han and Leia, the new two people against the world to save the galaxy.
Rey was to have been so strong not because she learns everything so easily, but because she had such a hard life back on that junkyard planet. Maybe she was untrained in formal training, but she had been using her force abilities to survive for many years on that planet, and that is why she could stand up to Kyo Ren at the end of the movie like that.
But J. J. Abrams and the filmmakers did not catch those hints.
Did not follow up on those things that Lawrence Kasdan was trying to set up in The force Awakens.
Somehow, Rey goes from being a character who is super relatable in The force Awakens because she has struggled all her life, who is obviously so strong despite being untrained for exactly that reason, to being a superwoman who never struggles and for whom everything comes easy to.
This was certainly not who she was in The force Awakens!
There, the biggest characteristic of Rey was that she had struggled all her life, and that had made her tough!
Lawrence Kasdan knew that he would not be there to write the rest of the trilogy, and so he pointed hints at the direction the rest of the sequel trilogy should go- and they simply did not pick up on the hints!
Anyway, this is my critical thing on the Star Wars prequels and sequels!
May the force be with you!
Sincerely,
David S. Annderson
P.S. Lawrence Kasdan also wrote Solo: A Star Wars Story!