Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
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Actor: Ewan McGregor, George Lucas, Hayden Christensen, Ian McDiarmid, Natalie PortmanBrand: Fox Home Entertainment
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: AC-3, Box set, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, THX, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 418 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-11-04
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: 20th Century Fox
DVD Reviews of Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
DVD Review: Let's have a global vision of the full series
Summary: 5 Stars
To present the six episodes is of course a challenge. I will not present them one after another in any order (historical or chronological). I will make a few general remarks. First, why did the last three episodes come first? It was necessary for the suspense to remain intense about the only important element which is that Dark Vader is the father of both Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia Organa, both on the side of the rebellion against the Empire. These three episodes were more naturalistic and they did not need the special effects, not possible at the time, necessary for the conception and shooting of all the artificial and very strange creatures of the first three episodes. The happy ending would have been ruined by our knowing the genetic filiation between the two young heroes and the arch-enemy of freedom and democracy. Dark Vader had to be black and dark right to the end for the surprise effect of his fathering the two young heroes to be effective. Then the first three episodes arriving afterwards in time did not have the same function they can have today when we watch the six episodes in chronological order. They created a frame of reference. It is the demonstration that the Republic can only fall because it is totally engulfed in corruption, red tape bureaucracy, the incapability to take a fast decision and to act promptly, the constant waste of time because of political maneuvering. On the other side, that of evil, swift and surprise attacks and violence are the rule. The Republic has been infiltrated to the top and the Force itself embodied in the Jedi order has been drowned in bureaucratic impotence. Then the dark side of the Force can easily convince and capture those who are suffering from that impotence and are frustrated by the refusal to act straight away. It is also necessary to think that those first three episodes that came last needed a technology that was not available before and that is the technical justification of the inverted order, though then the director plays on it and with it. Some of the scenes of these three chronologically anterior films are absolutely breathtaking and only because they use the full array of computerized effects. The race in the first film is amazing, the underwater world is fascinating and the clones and their war against the strange giraffe human species is phenomenal and were not possible without the late 1990s and early 2000s technology. And the battles would never have been that impressive without these special effects. Then we can wonder about the meaning of the whole series back in chronological order. A Republic dies in red tape bureaucracy and corrupted calculation and is taken over from the inside by the main leader who is an infiltrated putsch maker and his military coup is based on the full destruction of the only protection the Republic had, the Jedi order though this one had been made impotent by the red-tape dictatorship of the democratic Republic. The Empire that takes over is based on effectiveness, swiftness and the absence of any waste of time due to useless discussions. To the point of any decision taken by one man. Then you can speak of efficiency. But that Empire that is going to impose an absolute one-person dictatorship is not able to control the grass roots movements and the local dynamisms of all the planets and peoples of this galaxy. That's what the rebellion against this Empire needs to be effective in its turn. Underground rebellion and resistance. Yet they cannot succeed if they do not re-conquer the Force because the Empire is founded on the dark side of that Force and is embodied in the father of the main heroes and leaders of the rebellion. The Force has to be re-learned by Luke Skywalker in order to be able to face his father and defeat the emperor who is manipulating Luke's father. This Force is the only real defense and conquering power of any resistance against any dictatorship. Without a Force of that magnitude no resistance can succeed. But then the meaning changed completely from that of the last three episodes that came first and could appear as a simple metaphor of the rebellion against a dictatorship, hence a metaphor of the defeat and disintegration of the Soviet Union for one. Later on when the first three episodes that came last were available, the meaning was no longer the same because history had changed in the mean time. The meaning then is that any democracy when it forgets it has to be fast and courageous in its decisions that should refuse red tape and bureaucracy will automatically fall in the hands of potential potentates or dictators. That is a common myth and political theme in the USA: the Roman Empire died after two centuries. Unluckily the Roman Empire was not the Republic of Rome and here Lucas is playing with our references. Are the USA a target of that decay of democracy? Yes indeed. That's the message today of this set of six beautiful films with great actors, even the perambulating carpet.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne, University Paris 8 Saint Denis, University Paris 12 Créteil, CEGID
Description of Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Features include:
?MPAA Rating: PG
?Format: DVD
?Runtime: 418 minutes
Episode I, The Phantom Menace
"I have a bad feeling about this," says the young Obi-Wan Kenobi (played by Ewan McGregor) in Star Wars: Episode I, The Phantom Menace as he steps off a spaceship and into the most anticipated cinematic event... well, ever. He might as well be speaking for the legions of fans of the original episodes in the Star Wars saga who can't help but secretly ask themselves: Sure, this is Star Wars, but is it my Star Wars? The original elevated moviegoers' expectations so high that it would have been impossible for any subsequent film to meet them. And as with all the Star Wars movies, The Phantom Menace features inexplicable plot twists, a fistful of loose threads, and some cheek-chewing dialogue. Han Solo's swagger is sorely missed, as is the pervading menace of heavy-breather Darth Vader. There is still way too much quasi-mystical mumbo jumbo, and some of what was fresh about Star Wars 22 years earlier feels formulaic. Yet there's much to admire. The special effects are stupendous; three worlds are populated with a mélange of creatures, flora, and horizons rendered in absolute detail. The action and battle scenes are breathtaking in their complexity. And one particular sequence of the film--the adrenaline-infused pod race through the Tatooine desert--makes the chariot race in Ben-Hur look like a Sunday stroll through the park.
Among the host of new characters, there are a few familiar walk-ons. We witness the first meeting between R2-D2 and C-3PO, Jabba the Hutt looks younger and slimmer (but not young and slim), and Yoda is as crabby as ever. Natalie Portman's stately Queen Amidala sports hairdos that make Princess Leia look dowdy and wields a mean laser. We never bond with Jedi Knight Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson), and Obi-Wan's day is yet to come. Jar Jar Binks, a cross between a Muppet, a frog, and a hippie, provides many of the movie's lighter moments, while Sith Lord Darth Maul is a formidable force. Baby-faced Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd) looks too young and innocent to command the powers of the Force or wield a lightsaber (much less transmute into the future Darth Vader), but his boyish exuberance wins over skeptics.
Near the end of the movie, Palpatine, the new leader of the Republic, may be speaking for fans eagerly awaiting Episode II when he pats young Anakin on the head and says, "We will watch your career with great interest." Indeed! --Tod Nelson
Episode II, Attack of the Clones
If The Phantom Menace was the setup, then Attack of the Clones is the plot-progressing payoff, and devoted Star Wars fans are sure to be enthralled. Ten years after Episode I, Padmé Amidala (Natalie Portman), now a senator, resists the creation of a Republic Army to combat an evil separatist movement. The brooding Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) is resentful of his stern Jedi mentor, Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor), tormented by personal loss, and showing his emerging "dark side" while protecting his new love, Amidala, from would-be assassins. Youthful romance and solemn portent foreshadow the events of the original Star Wars as Count Dooku (a.k.a. Darth Tyranus, played by Christopher Lee) forges an alliance with the Dark Lord of the Sith, while lavish set pieces showcase George Lucas's supreme command of all-digital filmmaking. All of this makes Episode II a technological milestone, savaged by some critics as a bloated, storyless spectacle, but still qualifying as a fan-approved precursor to the pivotal events of Episode III. --Jeff Shannon
Episode III, Revenge of the Sith
Ending the most popular film epic in history, Star Wars: Episode III, Revenge of the Sith is an exciting, uneven, but ultimately satisfying journey. Picking up the action from Episode II, Attack of the Clones as well as the animated Clone Wars series, Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) and his apprentice, Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen), pursue General Grievous into space after the droid kidnapped Supreme Chancellor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid).
It's just the latest maneuver in the ongoing Clone Wars between the Republic and the Separatist forces led by former Jedi turned Sith Lord Count Dooku (Christopher Lee). On another front, Master Yoda (voiced by Frank Oz) leads the Republic's clone troops against a droid attack on the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk. All this is in the first half of Episode III, which feels a lot like Episodes I and II. That means spectacular scenery, dazzling dogfights in space, a new fearsome villain (the CGI-created Grievous can't match up to either Darth Maul or the original Darth Vader, though), lightsaber duels, groan-worthy romantic dialogue, goofy humor (but at least it's left to the droids instead of Jar-Jar Binks), and hordes of faceless clone troopers fighting hordes of faceless battle droids.
But then it all changes.
After setting up characters and situations for the first two and a half movies, Episode III finally comes to life. The Sith Lord in hiding unleashes his long-simmering plot to take over the Republic, and an integral part of that plan is to turn Anakin away from the Jedi and toward the Dark Side of the Force. Unless you've been living under a rock the last 10 years, you know that Anakin will transform into the dreaded Darth Vader and face an ultimate showdown with his mentor, but that doesn't matter. In fact, a great part of the fun is knowing where things will wind up but finding out how they'll get there. The end of this prequel trilogy also should inspire fans to want to see the original movies again, but this time not out of frustration at the new ones. Rather, because Episode III is a beginning as well as an end, it will trigger fond memories as it ties up threads to the originals in tidy little ways. But best of all, it seems like for the first time we actually care about what happens and who it happens to.
Episode III is easily the best of the new trilogy--OK, so that's not saying much, but it might even jockey for third place among the six Star Wars films. It's also the first one to be rated PG-13 for the intense battles and darker plot. It was probably impossible to live up to the decades' worth of pent-up hype George Lucas faced for the Star Wars prequel trilogy (and he tried to lower it with the first two movies), but Episode III makes us once again glad to be "a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away." --David Horiuchi
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