An Uphill Battle, or, The Time I Watched the Prequels
Since we got off to a rather slow start, SURPRISE, double post!
Episode I: The Journey Begins
Before: What could I possibly say about this film that hasn’t already been said a billion times? The world has had 17 years to spew hatred and disdain at this film. I personally, hadn’t watched the film in its actual entirety since about 2000 thanks to the guys that made the Phantom Edit. I may have mentioned indifference as a teen earlier, but for me, as for a lot of people, the film just didn’t age particularly well.
After: The intention of the experiment was to get real time reactions as I watched and thus, I took copious notes as I watch this movie for the first time in about 15 years, or so. I’m usually the first to acknowledge errors in my way and although Episode I wasn’t a great film, I did find that I didn’t hate it nearly as much as I remember. The pacing was slow, but I’ve learned to appreciate that in my older years, especially after having tried to read Tolkien. I noticed some loose World War II parallels between the Trade Federation and the Naboo that I appreciated. The pod race sequence, although pretty useless to the plot, was kind of exciting to watch. I also noticed a few pearls of wisdom thrown in there for good measure, which was nice.
There were, of course, flaws in the movie. I thought the Viceroy’s accent was way too Asian and that he kind looked like Rita Repulsa from the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers when his mouth moved. Jar Jar ripped off at least two groan worthy 90’s catch phrases, “Exsqueeze me,” and “How rude.” And everyone knows that the trigger for weapons is always on the control yoke! However, I was able to overlook the faults in the interest of objectivity. I even realized that Jar Jar as a plot device kind of works and is even kind of crucial, despite the fact that he really doesn’t work as a character. He’s still not nearly as bad as I remember though. At this point, I had high hopes that my romance with Star Wars could be rekindled, but I knew that the greatest challenge lay immediately in front of me. Could my upward motion survive Episode II?
Episode II: The Potential Romance Killer
Before: I mentioned previously the emotionally scarring experience of watching Episode II so many times in such a short period of time so naturally, the greatest of my ire is geared toward this film in particular. I remembered this film plodding along at a snail’s pace and having some over-the-top cheese moments. And who could possibly forget all of the whining that Hayden Christensen does in this film! I was not looking forward to this viewing, but in the interest of objectivity, I tried to turn my hatred off and give it a good honest go.
After: There were a lot more notes involved in watching this film than with Episode I. It was definitely a great bit more difficult to find positive things in this movies that in the previous film, too. It plodded along just as slowly as I remember and Hayden Christensen whined a lot. Jar Jar was just as annoying during his screen time and the romance still felt half baked. However, removed from the mindset of outright loathing, I realized a few key things about this movie that had escaped me in the past.
First, the plodding felt much more deliberately done this time around than in viewings past. Lucas really took his time developing this part of the story. Perhaps he overdid things just a bit, but at least it didn’t drag on for the sake of it. Christensen’s whining seemed a lot more premeditated and focused. He did an excellent job portraying emotional conflict and arrogance than I originally gave him credit for. I was especially surprised by the dictatorship/democracy scene with Padme. He did a really good job helping me feel the uncertainty of his two diametrically opposed points of view. I could tell that his heart was in the right place, but that he lacked the wisdom to see the prudence in free will and choice. I’ll swear on a stack of Bibles that I saw the man shed real tears… TWICE! I can’t cry on cue so bravo!
The romance still felt kind of forced, but once I was able to get my head around Anakin, I could see why it was that way. He was a guy with no social experience outside of his Jedi master and a few people he knew as a slave trying to exist in the fancy sophisticated world of Padme and politics. He was having a series of Icarus moments so of course it would feel awkward!
I was pleasantly surprised by how much of the plodding I enjoyed. I found myself really engrossed in the mystery and the build up surrounding the assassination attempt on Padme. Indeed, the ensuing mystery over the clone army was really engaging. However, it did kind of reach a point where that was resolved and I found that I started to progressively lose interest after that.
Speaking of gripes, let’s jump in, shall we? I feel like my complaints about this film are better defined than they were, even though they deal with broad strokes things. The main plot and story seem to be driven by the story. Besides the Anakin/Padme relationship subplot, I just didn’t feel like there was an adequate lense provided through which I could watch the film. I feel like films really need a strong POV character to provide the audience commentary and substance, and to give them something to invest in as they watch. This movie missed that. Point in case, the final battle suffered from this arrangement. It was gargantuan in scale and there was a lot of action taking place, but we were bouncing between characters perspectives so much that we only got the gloss over. It felt like receiving sitreps instead of an exciting film that I could invest in. This could easily have been fixed if more was shown of the characters in the fray as opposed to off doing other things. There was less Jar Jar in this film, but the tradeoff was that we got more C3PO. Some of his one liners were actually worse than anything that comes out of Jar Jar’s mouth during the trilogy.
It wasn’t entirely unenjoyable, but due to poor delivery, I felt kind of lukewarm during the experience by comparison to Episode I. Still, I didn’t feel an overwhelming desire to end my own life as slowly and brutally as possible, so that’s something. But at this point, I was really hoping that Episode III could turn things around.
Episode III: The Story Regurgitation
Before: Everyone has always said that this is the best film of the prequel trilogy. Far be it from me to disagree, but, hello, contrarian over here. I’ve always felt that there was too much story going on during this movie. I think the entire trilogy would have been better if Lucas had taken some of Ep. II out and replaced it with some of what was going on with Ep. III. That way the story has a little time to breathe in an organic way without throwing too much at the audience too quickly. That being said, I tend to tolerate this one the best. My only major complaints about this film are that Vader sounds like a woose at the end and Padme breaks my heart by going down a path that I cannot follow, but maybe time has eased those complaints a little.
After: I really enjoyed the ride I got from this movie! I officially retract some of the things I said previously. There was a lot of story being delivered, but it all played out very smoothly. I can see where the threads that were laid in the previous films we used to tie things up in this one. The whole experience was really intense. With only a few exceptions, the acting was top notch and unlike EP. II, the focus was, once again, on the characters, which really helped me get into things. In fact, it was done well enough that I think I’m willing to describe the experience as enjoyable. I thought that the visual effects were slick. I liked that the design aesthetic was moved towards that of the original trilogy. It was dark! I think it might be the darkest film in the entire series and I liked that.
I didn’t have many complaints coming out of this viewing. Padme still delivered the line that broke my heart and she couldn’t even muster any tears while doing it. Mace Windu’s death was super cheesy and over acted. But I really can’t think of anything else to complain about. I feel like my appreciation for Star Wars is growing at this point and I can be okay with this. Besides, we’re headed into the beloved Original Trilogy so it should be smooth sailing from here, right?
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