When George Lucas unleashed the Star Wars prequel trilogy on the moviegoing public, the fanbase that it was made for didn’t exactly embrace it. Kids who grew up with the original trilogy hated the prequels for not matching their sky-high expectations, but kids who grew up with the prequels fell in love with them and now, that generation has turned The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith into beloved cult classics.
The confusing mess of the sequel trilogy has proven that the prequels weren’t as bad as people made out at the time, but there are still plenty of disappointing moments in those movies.
Most Disappointing: Trade Disputes
After the original trilogy told the triumphant story of a rebel force taking on the evil empire that had a stranglehold over the galaxy, it was a let-down when the opening text crawl of The Phantom Menace mentioned border control and trade disputes.
The opening scene of the movie does eventually show Jedi Knights at the height of the order’s powers, battling droids with their lightsabers, but the political context was an ominous sign of boring monologues to come.
Most Satisfying: Duel Of The Fates
For the most part, The Phantom Menace is a mixed bag. There are things about it that are great, like Qui-Gon Jinn, and things about it that miss the mark, like Jar Jar Binks. But the one thing that all fans can agree on is that the “Duel of the Fates” sequence is spectacular.
From the revelation of Darth Maul’s second lightsaber blade to Obi-Wan’s glorious bisection avenging his master’s death with his own weapon, this set piece is Star Wars at its best — and it’s arguably the most significant event in the entire story timeline.
Most Disappointing: Midi-Chlorians
One of the biggest disappointments in The Phantom Menace was the introduction of midi-chlorians into Star Wars lore. In the original trilogy, the Force was a mystical entity that bound the galaxy together.
But in The Phantom Menace, all the mysticism is explained away when Qui-Gon measures Anakin’s midi-chlorian count and determines exactly how Force-sensitive he is as easily as checking his cholesterol.
Most Satisfying: The Battle Over Coruscant
There are plenty of great scenes of space combat in the prequel trilogy, from R2-D2 risking life and limb to repair the hull of Padmé’s ship mid-battle to Obi-Wan dropping a seismic charge on a pursuing Jango Fett, but arguably the greatest is the perfectly crafted opening set piece of Revenge of the Sith.
The visuals in the Battle over Coruscant are dazzling. The whole opening act of the movie plays like a gorgeous live-action episode of The Clone Wars.
Most Disappointing: Anakin Doesn’t Like Sand
George Lucas is the first to admit that romantic dialogue isn’t his strong suit. In an attempt to flirt with Padmé in Attack of the Clones, Anakin says, “I don’t like sand. It’s coarse, and rough, and irritating, and it gets everywhere.”
Prequel apologists have defended this dialogue with everything from Anakin’s history as a slave on a desert planet making his hatred of sand believable to his poor social skills being realistic for a guy who’s been living in a strict religious cult. But none of those defenses account for the fact that Padmé is genuinely turned on by these so-called flirtations.
Most Satisfying: The Tragedy Of Darth Plagueis The Wise
Although it’s since been memed countless times, the scene in Revenge of the Sith in which Palpatine tells Anakin about “The Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise” is one of the prequel trilogy’s best moments.
After manipulating Anakin for years into trusting him, Palpatine toys with his young apprentice’s fear of losing Padmé by telling him a story that insinuates he’ll be able to teach him how to cheat death.
Most Disappointing: CGI Clones
There isn’t a single actor in clone trooper armor in Attack of the Clones, a movie named after the Clone Army. Every single one of the Republic’s cloned soldiers was created using CGI, and it’s glaringly obvious in almost all of their scenes.
CGI had gotten a little better in the years after The Phantom Menace’s primitive effects, but many shots of the clones in Attack of the Clones still look like a PS2 cutscene.
Most Satisfying: Battle Of The Heroes
Prequels often fall flat with shameless fan service, but the best ones, like Better Call Saul, use the inevitability of fate as a dramatic tool. Throughout Obi-Wan and Anakin’s mentor-mentee relationship in Attack of the Clones, there was a tragic overtone that it would eventually end in tragedy.
In Revenge of the Sith, that tragedy didn’t disappoint. The lava-flooded environments of Mustafar provided the perfect visual metaphor for the explosive emotions between Obi-Wan and his fallen apprentice in their climactic showdown.
Most Disappointing: Padmé Dies Of Sadness
In The Phantom Menace, Padmé is a fierce queen who fights on the frontlines with her soldiers when her kingdom is threatened. In Attack of the Clones, she gives up her royal title to make a difference in the Senate, then evades an assassination attempt and ends up taking on a nexu singlehandedly in a gladiatorial arena with nothing more for a weapon than her own shackles.
Then, in Revenge of the Sith, Padmé’s story arc is severely underserved as she spends the movie moping around her apartment before dying of sadness. The threequel is, on the whole, the best of the bunch, but Natalie Portman got seriously shortchanged.
Most Satisfying: Anakin Skywalker Becomes Darth Vader
At the end of Revenge of the Sith, after Palpatine collects Anakin’s charred remains from the surface of Mustafar, medical droids fashion a robotic black suit that will keep him alive with a side effect of agonizing pain for the next couple of decades.
The prequel trilogy is ultimately the story of how Anakin Skywalker was corrupted and became Darth Vader, and until he says, “NOOOOO!!!”, the Vader transformation scene doesn’t disappoint.