- Post
- #1661130
- Topic
- What do you think of The Prequel Trilogy? A general discussion.
- Link
- https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/1661130/action/topic#1661130
- Time
I think Anakin would have worked better if he was portrayed differently. He is so unlikable. So unrelatable. A problem of the prequel is there no Luke Skywalker to latch onto. No real central protagonist, even though Anakin is supposed to be that. Is he supposed to be an Anti-hero? Lucas didn’t seem to know where he wanted to go with the character.
Hayden acts like he is portraying dark and conflicted/selfish and arrogant. But where is the good friend and star pilot. Damn fool who follows old Obi-Wan on an idealistic quest.
You don’t have a believable through line of the Anakin who wants to use power to restore order to the galaxy, because he has zeal for justice, but the ends justify the means. And the more he uses the dark side, the more he digs himself into a place where he can’t escape and The Emperor is waiting to grab a hold of him.
That is what I wanted to see the Shaw Anakin become Darth Vader. The Horror Gargoyle in the Mask, the machine man.
He is a slave to the Sith as much as he was a slave on Tatooine and a slave to the Jedi. He really is an undeveloped person and a pathetic and pitiable wretch. Frankenstein’s monster, and a terror to the galaxy.
And Padme’s dreams and Anakin’s ambitions they all are manifest in their children.
People dislike that, but apparently that was what George wanted a scared kid trapped in a machine body. A young man who lost his mother and his wife. And his true sin was not in his evil acts, it was his desire to hold onto them selfishly.
Condemned to live as Darth Vader because he tried to change fate based on a vision of the future. Like Oedipus trying to outsmart the oracle. If he accepted the nature of things and dispassionately let them fade into the force, he would have been a good Jedi or so the films attempt to say. Letting people stay slaves is fine too, it’s not the mandate of the Jedi to free them.
So like what. Anakin finally accepts his role and becomes a true Jedi when he kills the Emperor in Return of the Jedi. He dies and saves his son, does something loving and unselfish. And that is fulfilling the prophecy of doing away with the Sith? Bringing Balance to the Force.