George Lucas' Star Wars prequel trilogy has rightly been maligned for the past few decades. The Phantom Menace is terrible. Attack Of The Clones is boring. Revenge Of The Sith is... well that one's okay, to be honest. But that's really only compared to the two absolute trainwrecks that came before it.
And yet, there has been this weird critical reassessment of the prequels in recent years among fans. I couldn't possibly tell you why this is happening.
Maybe the divisive sequel trilogy allowed fans to look at the prequels in a new way? Maybe the kids who grew up with The Phantom Menace as their introduction to Star Wars are now old enough to argue that the prequels did exactly what they needed to for the intended audience of small children? Whatever the case, folk are far kinder to The Phantom Menace now than they were in 1999.
Among the prequels' growing army of defenders is Luke Skywalker himself. Mark Hamill recently shared his own thoughts on the prequel saga, and has admitted that there are, in fact, plenty of things to love about those movies.
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"I was impressed the prequels had their own identity," Hamill said in a new interview for J.W. Rinzler's recently published book, Howard Kazanjian: A Producer's Life.
"They were criticized because they were exposition-heavy and more cerebral and probably, like he said back in 1976, they weren't as commercial. It's a darker story. But in the age of social media, people's voices are amplified, and I'm shocked at how brutal they can be, not just in the case of 'Star Wars' films, but across the board."
So there you have it kids: if you like the Star Wars prequels but are too ashamed to admit that to your friends, just know that Mark Hamill is in your corner. I mean, you're still wrong, but at least you'll be wrong with Mark Hamill.
Featured Image Credit: DisneyTopics: Star Wars