So, the summary of your criticism is this: in the first two Prequel films there is not much story to tell, so you lose a lot of time behind secondary things. Am i right? If so, then great, it’s a very acceptable critique. But my reply is this: not every movie in a Saga has to be fundamental to understand the Saga itself. In my opinion, sometimes it’s nice to have movies where the plot is a little calmer, without necessarily having action and important things happening all the time.
At the expense of giving Anakin a more gradual fall to the dark side, showing him and Obi-Wan being friends, Anakin being heroic, more manipulation of Anakin from Palpatine, or maybe even more time with Darth Vader in the suit?
There’s a reason people love The Clone Wars. There’s a galaxy of potential in this era.
It was enough for me. That scene was really enough to make me feel that they are good friends. Especially because being friends doesn’t necessarily mean not arguing or having a good chemistry all the time.
Good for you. But for a lot of people, the arguing felt too antagonistic to the point where it felt like Obi-Wan couldn’t stand Anakin. Which is where the popular interpretation of “Obi-Wan wasn’t a good master/father figure to Anakin” came from, even though it wasn’t Lucas’ intentions.
It’d be a lot better if it was spread out between healthy banter, but in AOTC there’s none of that except for the elevator scene.
Do you realize that without the assassination attempts there’s no investigative plot, that without the investigative plot there’s no Clone Army, and that without the Clone Army there’s no Clone Wars, right? How do you think they should have used the screan time instead? The movie shows exactly what it’s supposed to show: the beginning of the Clone Wars, and Anakin and Padmé falling in love. The investigative plot leads to the beginning of the Clone Wars and the romance leads to…the romance.
There’s a very different way to plot it that could lead to a much more streamlined story. You could have a cool James Bond-esque Obi-Wan investigation, but it doesn’t have to be so dragged out. It takes 3 whole scenes just to find the planet. And maybe even have Anakin be with him (this would ideally take place in the first movie) to show their friendship. Or you could have Palpatine just introduce the clones without any mystery plot and show Anakin-Obi-Wan friendship in a different way.
Furthermore, you could have Anakin and Padme fall in love in the midst of the clone war. The Separatists are attacking Naboo, Anakin and his troops are sent to intercept on his first solo mission. Allows us to have the love story, gives the opportunity to showcase Anakin being heroic while also allowing us to show Anakin giving into the dark side more in battle. Maybe even throw Tarkin in there as a military commander. Now that I think about it, the love story would be better for the second film.
It is not “a part”, it is the whole movie! Again, without the Trade Federation blockade there is no Naboo crisis, and without the Naboo crisis there is no Palpatine’s election. How do you think they should have used the screen time instead? The movie shows what it’s supposed to show.
I can think of another way to streamline it. The Separatists are introduced in the first movie as a secessionist group. The surface level reason to blockade a planet is blackmail for independence (of course they’re actually doing it because Palpatine told them to). Palpatine’s able to make the Chancellor look weak because he doesn’t want to go to war, and because of that he’s able to get elected. By the end of the movie the clone war begins.
Starts the clone war earlier, more consistent villainous organization through the trilogy, and less of a need to explain space taxes.
You can do this alongside some other subplot. Maybe you do think we need to see Anakin found on Tatooine and his background and keep Qui-Gon. Maybe we just start with Obi-Wan and Anakin already master and apprentice and they’re the ones that try to negotiate instead of Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan. Include a subplot of Obi-Wan and Anakin uncovering the clone army, or maybe they’re too busy with something else and some other Jedi like Mace Windu, Plo-Koon, or even Yoda does that, allowing us to flesh out one of the other Jedi characters a bit. There’s a lot of ways you can retool the plot to be better structured.
If you prefer the Prequels just as they are, that’s excellent for you. I’m glad you find them fulfilling where I don’t. These are just my ideas and my opinions.