Rian Johnson is about to step into the crosshairs of very opinionated STAR WARS fans once again. Johnson directed what some consider the most polarizing STAR WARS film of the franchise, THE LAST JEDI. His time dabbling with The Force has made him the target of many pointed criticisms from fans and now the director is defending a series of STAR WARS films that have been the topic of much debate since their initial release.
Johnson found himself defending George Lucas' STAR WARS trilogy which began over 20 years ago with the release of THE PHANTOM MENACE. This all began on Twitter when Scott Malthouse prompted his followers to "Say genuinely nice things about the Star Wars prequels." In the flood of replies to his question, Johnson jumped in to defend the films and praised the storytelling and technical achievements accomplished by George Lucas. Here is what Johnson had to say about the prequels:
"Lucas made a gorgeous 7 hour long movie for children about how entitlement and fear of loss turns good people into fascists, and did it while spearheading nearly every technical sea change in modern filmmaking of the past 30 years."
I will say that I respect Johnson's passionate defense of the prequels, especially since his opinion is bound to be dissected by hardcore STAR WARS fans. I can also respect anyone that sees a deeper meaning in films that others may overlook. That being said, I have never warmed to the STAR WARS prequels, other than THE REVENGE OF THE SITH which sticks the landing after a bit of a rough start with THE PHANTOM MENACE and ATTACK OF THE CLONES. THE PHANTOM MENACE has the saving grace of Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, and the epic "Duel of the Fates" sequence but I find myself struggling to get through it otherwise. Things don't get much better in ATTACK OF THE CLONES which is, in my opinion, the low point of any of the films to date. REVENGE OF THE SITH does rectify a lot of what came before it and while the film has flaws, it still manages to resonate on a pretty emotional level. As for the technical achievements of the prequels, they do look great but some of the sequences are so polished that they come off looking like big-budget video games. I've always had the opinion that Lucas spent so much time building the local and visual effects for the prequels that he forgot to put time into the writing and properly directing his talented cast.
Do YOU agree with Rian Johnson's assessment of the STAR WARS prequels?