STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE (1999), STAR WARS EPISODE II: ATTACK OF THE CLONES (2002), AND STAR WARS EPISODE III: REVENGE OF THE SITH (2005)
— RANKING: 89 (THREE-WAY TIE) —
STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE (1999)
IN PRAISE OF STRONG WOMEN: George Lucas listened to feminists’ complaints that the females in his original films hadn’t displayed equal strength to the men. As this publicity image makes clear, the prequel trilogy remedied any such problem. From left to right, Samuel L. Jackson as Mace, Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan, Natalie Portman as Padmé, and Hayden Christensen as Anakin. Courtesy: Lucasfilm/20th Century Fox.
CREDITS
Lucasfilm/Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation; George Lucas, dir.; Lucas, scr.; Lucas, Rick McCallum, pro.; John Williams, mus.; David Tattersall, cin.; Ben Burtt, Paul Martin Smith, ed.; Gavin Bocquet, prod. design; Phil Harvey, Fred Hole, John King, Rod McLean, Peter Russell, art dir.; Trisha Biggar, costumes; Shaune Harrison, animatronic effects design; Maria Boggi, Monique Brown, animatronic model design; Nick Dudman, creature effects; Geoff Heron/ILM, Brenda Hutchinson, Peter Hutchinson, F/X; Maurice Bastian/ILM, Andrew Hardaway/ILM, digital effects; Christophe Hery/ILM, Euan K. MacDonald/ILM, computer graphics; Jeffrey B. Light/ILM, motion capture; Dennis Muren, Amanda K. Montgomery/ILM, visual effects; 136 min.; Color; 2.35:1.
CAST
Liam Neeson (Qui-Gon Jinn); Ewan McGregor (Obi-Wan Kenobi); Natalie Portman (Queen Amidala/Padmé); Jake Lloyd (Anakin Skywalker); Ian McDiarmid (Senator Palpatine); Pernilla August (Shmi Skywalker); Oliver Ford Davies (Sio Bibble); Hugh Quarshie (Capt. Panaka); Ahmed Best (Jar Jar Binks, voice); Terence Stamp (Chancellor Valorum); Brian Blessed (Boss Nass, voice); Andy Secombe (Watto); Ray Park (Darth Maul); Sofia Coppola (Saché); Keira Knightley (Sabé).
MOST MEMORABLE LINE
Fear is the path to the dark side. . . . I sense much fear in you.
YODA TO YOUNG ANAKIN
No sooner had Star Wars (1977) arrived in theaters than the Big Rumor spread: Lucas would mount two sequels to what, in retrospect, had been subtitled “Chapter Four: A New Hope.” Each, word had it, would arrive every three years and, following them, sequel and prequel trilogies. These in due time would sandwich the originals for a sprawling saga that would carry still-youthful fans through their entire lives.
Yet, the years passed and, while the Star Wars Expanded Universe rippled ever further into international pop culture via video games, comic books and graphic novels, TV specials, animated series, toys, and other merchandise, a vast silence loomed so far as more theatrical films were concerned. Meanwhile, the re-release of the originals with enhanced effects split devotees. Roughly half of the fans were convinced that Lucas had been justified in adding the visual verisimilitude he could only dream about in 1977, owing to a tight budget and the limited state of the art for imagery at that time. Just as many others, with a religious devotion to what they accepted as cinematic gospels, allowed no room for departures. When Lucas at last announced that there would indeed be three more films, the initially ecstatic reaction soon turned to widespread anxiety: what if the prequels did not live up to the perceived perfection of the originals?
THE PLOT
There could be no finer Jedi knight than Qui-Gon Jinn, which explains why he’s picked for a sensitive mission at a time of crisis for the Republic. Difficulties in the great peacekeeping organization’s economic system necessitated taxation of trade routes. This has angered the increasingly powerful Trade Federation, which dares to openly challenge the decision by blockading the planet of Naboo. Hoping for a solution, Chancellor Valorum sends Qui-Gon and his gifted young padawan, Obi-Wan, to meet Nute Gunray and negotiate a compromise. But Nute has been ordered by his superior, Darth Sidious, to kill these ambassadors. Endangered, the heroes hurry away to Naboo, where they encounter Jar Jar Binks, an amiable goofball who agrees to serve as their guide. After saving Naboo’s queen, Amidala, they land on Tatooine and, in the spaceport of Mos Espa, come in contact with a brilliant child slave, Anakin.
THE FILM
Whereas in the original trilogy Lucas revealed a true genius as a Walt Disney–type overseer, sparking others to do their best work, he now planned to write the films entirely on his own and personally direct each. Not surprisingly, the result disappointed as many members of the fan base as it delighted. In particular, the addition of Jar Jar so enraged devotees that one viewer used advanced home production devices to prepare an alternative cut in which the character was eliminated. Politically correct types argued that Jar Jar, with his Caribbean accent, could be considered a racist portrait. Ironically, Lucas had been responding to the complaint that his films were not racially diverse enough.
THEME
Though Lucas has always identified himself as a liberal, some observers find conservative values in his work. The portrayal of the Trade Federation as evil was perceived by several critics as an attack on unions. Others, however, argued that the Trade Federation’s resistance to necessary taxes by a strong central government portends the Tea Party, as a coterie of rugged individualists insist that the sorely tested old government should do as little as possible.
Political interpretations aside, what clearly works here is the effective setup of Anakin as the Star Wars equivalent of the legendary Uther Pendragon, the father of King Arthur. Uther was the great man who might well have become England’s once and future king were it not for the hubris that, despite his gifts, eventually brought him down, leaving the epic challenge to his savior-like son. According to Joseph Campbell, Arthur and Luke can be interpreted as variations on “the hero of a thousand faces”: the universal warrior-philosopher king who rises from his obscure surroundings to full greatness.
TRIVIA
The film marked a turning point for Hollywood productions in general and sci-fi cinema in particular. Lucas announced that, for several scenes, he had employed the most advanced form of digital video, rather than celluloid film, daring anyone to locate where one left off and the other began. As had been the case with computer-generated effects before Spielberg embraced them for Jurassic Park (1993), a once derided form suddenly won industry acceptance and public respectability.
STAR WARS EPISODE II: ATTACK OF THE CLONES (2002)
ADDITIONAL CREDITS
Jonathan Hales, scr.; Lorne Orleans, pro.; Kristelle Gardiner, Sean Genders, special makeup effects; Gab Facchinei, creature effects; Geoff Heron/ILM, F/X; Lleslle Aclaro/ILM, visual effects; Jeffrey Arnold/ILM, digital effects; 142 min.; Color; 2.35:1.
ADDITIONAL CAST
Hayden Christensen (Anakin); Christopher Lee (Count Dooku/Darth Tyranus); Samuel L. Jackson (Mace Windu); Temuera Morrison (Jango Fett); Daniel Logan (Boba Fett); Jimmy Smits (Sen. Bail Organa); Jack Thompson (Cliegg Lars); Leeanna Walsman (Zam Wesell); Ayesha Dharker (Queen Jamillia).
MOST MEMORABLE LINE
He still has much to learn. . . . His abilities have made him . . . well . . . arrogant.
OBI-WAN, DESCRIBING ANAKIN TO YODA
BACKGROUND
Aware of the criticism directed at Episode I, Lucas pulled back from his decision to write as well as direct each of the prequel films by enlisting Jonathan Hales (1937–) to collaborate. The British-born author had successfully written the majority of the made-for-TV movies broadcast under the blanket title The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones.
THE PLOT
Padmé Amidala now represents her planet as senator. She is dedicated to doing all she can to help hold the increasingly threatened Galactic Republic together. That time-honored system has been challenged by Count Dooku, who abandoned his status as a Jedi to lead a separation movement. When Amidala dares speak out against the coming chaos, an assassin attempts to silence her. The Jedi respond by assigning young Anakin Skywalker, mentored by Obi-Wan, to be her bodyguard. Even as their world threatens to become engulfed in the Clone Wars, the vulnerable young woman is swept into a romance with the boy-man.
THE FILM
Over the three years between the release of Episode I and this follow-up, computer-generated effects improved so vastly that Lucas was able to realize a dream by presenting Yoda through the CGI process. Digital video was used, thanks to rapid improvements at Sony and Panasonic. Lucas could now shoot 24 fps with a high-definition progressive scan camera. These cameras functioned in Tunisian desert locales, the extreme heat of which likely would have destroyed traditional 35 mm film.
THEME
Politically, Attack proved prescient as to the movements within red states to secede following the election of Barack Obama. The film served as a cautionary fable of the potential disaster of such a move—here, of course, dramatized in the context of a fantasy film. In terms of a mythic vision, Lucas furthers the comparison of Anakin to Uther by having the potential hero destroy his possibilities for greatness by falling in love with a woman forbidden to him. Likewise, by having Padmé be notably older than Anakin and serving as mother surrogate to the boy, Lucas also invokes the Oedipus myth that will reach full fruition in the third prequel film.
TRIVIA
The massacre of the Tusken Raiders by Anakin, who knows his mother Shmi is held captive in their camp, closely resembles a scene at the end of John Ford’s The Searchers (1956) in which the character played by John Wayne attacks a Comanche village to rescue his niece (Natalie Wood).
The prequel films, while highly popular and financially successful with an international mass audience, did not engender the same devotion as the originals. Attack of the Clones failed to take the number one box-office spot for the year in which it was released.
STAR WARS EPISODE III: REVENGE OF THE SITH (2005)
GOOD THINGS COME IN SMALL PACKAGES: The old adage fits Yoda of the Jedi Order, a Clone Wars hero and later (in narrative time, though earlier as to release dates) mentor to Luke Skywalker. Originally a Frank Oz puppet, Yoda morphed into a CGI creation. Courtesy: Lucasfilm/20th Century Fox.
ADDITIONAL CREDITS
Roger Barton, ed.; Ian Gracie, Peter Russell, art dir.; Katherine Brown, prosthetic makeup artist; Robbie Clot, F/X (model unit); David Young, F/X; Janet Lewin, John Knoll, David M. Gray, Ritesh Aggarwal, Rob Bonstin/ILM, visual effects; Jeffrey Benedict/ILM, digital effects; Doug Griffin, motion capture; 140 min.; Color; 2.35:1.
ADDITIONAL CAST
Keisha Castle-Hughes (Queen of Naboo); Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca); Silas Carson (Ki-Adi-Mundi/Nute Gunray); Matthew Wood (Gen. Grievous, voice only).
MOST MEMORABLE LINE
You’ve become the very thing you swore to destroy.
OBI-WAN TO ANAKIN
BACKGROUND
Lucas’s three-month shoot took him and the team to such remote locations as Australia and Thailand, as well as Italy. On release, the last chapter won over the critics, diehard fans, and the public, setting box-office records once word spread that here was a fitting finale.
THE PLOT
After Obi-Wan sets out to track and destroy General Grievous, Anakin finds himself falling under the cunning spell of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. The threatened youth is too self-involved to grasp that the power offered him by this false father figure has the potential to destroy not only Anakin but also his world. Yet, as Padmé has become pregnant with twins, the would-be hero finds himself drawn to the dark side after Palpatine insists that he possesses the ability to guide Anakin toward a future in which the will of the young Jedi can triumph.
One way of justifying Episodes I and II, despite their uneven quality and narrative flaws, is to posit these as necessary stopgaps on the way to a successful payoff in the third installment. With Anakin’s tie to Uther established in The Phantom Menace, Lucas set up not only an Oedipal-like desire for the mother in Attack of the Clones but also the eventual Laius-like killing of Obi-Wan when Anakin insists he sees this mentor not as an older brother but as a father figure. Episode III allows Lucas to add to the mix a third iconic tragic hero, Shakespeare’s Macbeth, who turned to the dark side less out of ambition for the throne than for the sake of the wife he loved deeply, if not wisely.
THEME
Like Macbeth, Anakin sets into motion the invisible machinery of his own destruction by attempting to prove that a man’s free will can overcome a destiny set in the stars. Anakin is the latest in a long line of self-doomed figures who do all the wrong things for all the right reasons and fail to see that attempting to avoid one’s fate will automatically bring it into being.
TRIVIA
To the surprise of many observers, Lucas—who with the prequel trilogy had exerted more power over the vast project than any other filmmaker in history—did an abrupt about-face in 2012. He sold Lucasfilm to Disney and hence the rights to produce the other three stories that Lucas, in 1977, had implied should be told.
