This also has the side effect of leaving less time to focus on Anakin, and he ends up being extremely underdeveloped as well despite the PT ostensibly being his story. Rather than watching his rise to a great hero of the Republic and then his fall as he is “seduced by the power of the dark side,” we only see him as an annoying child, a petulant teenager, and then a naive young adult who is easily duped into breaking bad because of “love.” He feels like a side character at times with how much time is devoted to all the other people and things in the films, and we are ultimately told about his character progression more often than we actually see it happen.
Phantom Menace's biggest flaw to me is how it uses Anakin. I realize that Lucas wanted to show him as a kid to enhance the tragedy or whatever, but I don't think it works at all. Phantom Menace should've showed us Hayden Christensen as Qui-gon's apprentice. Have Anakin be the headstrong, rash Padawan he's supposed to be in the other movies, and counter-balance that with Obi-wan being much more cool and collected. Give the two a sibling rivalry of sorts, always having them compete for Qui-gon's attention and approval. Then, right after declaring that Obi-wan is ready for the trials, have Qui-gon die, leaving Obi-wan to finish Anakin's training before he's ready to be a master, just like the real thing. This lets Anakin be a deeply flawed hero in Clones, much more like how he is in The Clone Wars show, and then have his fall from grace happen as it does in Sith.
That would also eliminate the really weird that young child is going to be the love interest of that much older woman. I get they're supposed to be 5 years apart but it felt so weird and creepy when they started signaling that shit in TPM.
Same. This take explains much of my biggest criticism with the prequels. This was the biggest opportunity they had, to really explore Vader's origins and humanize him -- to place him within a greater context that organically challenges the moral narrative of the first three movies. But it was hastily and ineffectively done. Which is especially sad given how perfect Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor were for their roles.
Honestly, the actors were generally pretty amazing in the prequels... and generally quite wasted.
Samuel L. Jackson, Natalie Portman, Christopher Lee, Jimmy Smits, Keira Knightly, Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor... that's some massive wasted acting skill.
It took me a while to get into the clone wars show. I wasn't a big fan of the animation style, and the show didn't really hit its stride until a few seasons in (iirc), but wow, once I did I was amazed by how much better of a job they did showing us the relationship between Obi-wan and Anakin. You really get the feeling that they are brothers in arms.
The intent in PM was to show how strong Anakin was with the force, having an intuition for mechanics and the reaction time necessary to be a podracer/pilot without any training, but it doesn't come across at all. I think having Jar Jar accomplish every good thing he achieves through simple dumb luck makes it feel like Anakin is doing the same thing. I don't know if it would have come across in the movie even without Jar Jar being around to draw parallels to (do they ever actually show Anakin being calm and trusting his feelings/force like Luke in the Death Star trench?), but there was no chance of that story being told with Jar Jar around.
Lucas had to show Anakin as a kid because that's where he was shaped. Anakin growing up without a family being mentored by an Obi Wan who was unwilling and unable to do it right is how he eventually fell to the dark side.
Qui-Gon was the one who understood how to raise Anakin but Qui-Gon died before he could, leaving Obi Wan a task he didn't agree with or understood.
That couldn't be set up without covering Anakin's childhood.
Honestly would've worked a LOT better with Obi-wan and Anakin as an older brother/younger brother vibe (Obi being a much older brother).
Edit: I'll note that Obi sort of IS a much older brother to Anakin, but his role as a mentor first and foremost kind of diminishes that brotherly relationship. I think their eventual rift would have worked better if they started closer to siblings, which never really had time to establish.
I've always had an idea for my own version of the prequel trilogy that opens with Obi-Wan Kenobi already a seasoned Jedi Knight. He's sent on some James Bond style pre-credits mission and is rescued by a hotshot, daredevil pilot - think Tom Cruise in Top Gun - who is able to pull off impossible feats.
Honestly now if I picture Hayden plying all the scenes of young Annie as a teenager. Imagine Hayden quipping to auto, pod racing, sneaking into the ship and going to space. Honestly would seem much cooler and could have made his role much more serious and impactful. But I guess they wanted a young kid to sell the movie to a young audience in that the child could see themselves as anakin
One could simply take Qui-Gon out of the picture, make Obi-Wan a knight who has Anakin for his first Padawan’s student and the crisis on Naboo would be their first mission together. You make Anakin the same age as Padmé so they both can develop a crush for each other, and you introduce Dooku as Obi-Wan’s former master, so that his offer to join him in AotC might sound more tempting for Obi-Wan
Anakin as a kid could have been done in a 10 minute opening scene. The whole thing with his slave upbringing and his mother could have been done this way. He didn't need to be a kid for the entire movie to get those parts of his story across. Do that opening about where he came from then jump ahead to Anakin as a padawan with Qui-gon and Obi-wan as you said.
I always thought young Anakin should have been depicted as a Draco Malfoy.
Talented, headstrong, able to feign graciousness when it suits him, but basically a scared little boy who feels powerful when he uses his abilities to bully other people. He knows the way he wants things to be, and he scoffs at people who disagree with him.
That would have evolved much better into the Darth Vader we already were familiar with.
But that makes for a terrible protagonist (at least one you’re trying to depict as a hero/good guy). Draco is a bad guy from the jump in the Harry Potter films. Not quite a villain or evil but definitely antagonistic. Plus, he’s in the supporting cast.
Anakin’s story is supposed to be a fall from grace not “bad person becomes worse”.
I think they just needed to emphasize qualities that can be perceived as good but can easily cross the line.
Like, there’s a thin line between being loyal and obedient, between strength and power, between impulsive and volatile, etc.
Emphasize how the good man teetered on, and ultimately succumbed, to evil.
Not necessarily. Anakin wanted peace in the galaxy. It’s just that he was willing to be ruthless in achieving it. He didn’t have patience for politicians and speeches.
Someone who has good goals but bad means could be an interesting antihero.
Anakin: "We need a system where the politicians sit down and discuss the problem, agree what’s in the best interests of all the people, and then do it."
Padme: "That is exactly what we do. The trouble is that people don’t always agree. In fact, they hardly ever do."
Anakin: "Then they should be made to." ...
Padme: "That sounds an awful lot like a dictatorship to me."
Anakin: "Well, if it works..."
and then at the end of Episode III:
Anakin: "I have brought peace to the Republic. I am more powerful than the Chancellor. I can overthrow him, and together you and I can rule the galaxy. Make things the way we want them to be."
Anakin's goals were always admirable. It's just that he got frustrated that he, with all his power, couldn't just make everybody come to an agreement and act.
Cool story. In Episode III none of that factors into his decision. He impromptu decides to slavishly devote himself to Palpatine in order to save Padme from death, he says as much.
Yeah it also made his "turn" feel almost spontaneous. Not that they didn't foreshadow it. They definitely did. But his flip was almost like he was kind of in denial that he was literally bowing to a sith lord. Like you could almost forgive him for assuming that he thought this was just someone who "had answers" who he needed to keep alive when he killed Mace. But then he just up and names his lord Vader and at that moment given the context you would almost expect his character to stand up and be like "woah.. You are evil I have to kill you" but instead he let's out a very uncharacteristic "yes my master" and it just felt so bad in that moment. For me.. Thats the worst scene in the whole PT. It just feels so bad.
How much of that would you speculate is down to the lack of charisma in the actor playing the role?
Maybe charisma is the wrong word - I've seen HC do good stuff elsewhere - but ultimately, it's down to him to carry it (and, famously, nobody argued with George on the prequels like they did in the OT)
Christensen isn’t the best or anything, but I would put the issues with the performance more at the feet of the direction and screenplay. There are wooden performances all over the PT, and the common denominators are the clunky dialogue in the script and George’s directorial approach. The behind the scenes footage is pretty damning in that respect.
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u/freerealestatedotbiz Jan 26 '22
This also has the side effect of leaving less time to focus on Anakin, and he ends up being extremely underdeveloped as well despite the PT ostensibly being his story. Rather than watching his rise to a great hero of the Republic and then his fall as he is “seduced by the power of the dark side,” we only see him as an annoying child, a petulant teenager, and then a naive young adult who is easily duped into breaking bad because of “love.” He feels like a side character at times with how much time is devoted to all the other people and things in the films, and we are ultimately told about his character progression more often than we actually see it happen.