STAR WARS Icon Mark Hamill Defends The Prequel Trilogy: "[They] Had Their Own Identity"

STAR WARS Icon Mark Hamill Defends The Prequel Trilogy: "[They] Had Their Own Identity"

Mark Hamill has been critical of the recent Star Wars sequels, but the legendary Luke Skywalker actor had some good things to say about the George Lucas' much-maligned prequel films in a new interview.

By MarkCassidy - Sep 27, 2021 07:09 AM EST
Filed Under: Star Wars
Source: Via Indie Wire

Luke Skywalker star Mark Hamill has never been shy about voicing his criticism of the recent Star Wars sequel trilogy - particularly when it comes to their portrayal of his iconic character - but the actor did have some positive things to say about George Lucas' prequel films.

Though financially successful, The Phantom Menace, Attack of The Clones and Revenge of the Sith received a lot of backlash from fans and critics alike at the time  - although many Star Wars aficionados have re-evaluated the movies since the release of the sequels.

Hamill was asked about the prequels during an interview for J.W. Rinzler's biography about The Empire Strikes Back and Raiders of the Lost Ark producer Howard G. Kazanjian.

“I was impressed the prequels had their own identity,” he said. “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.”

To be fair, the movies were criticized for a number of other reasons, and many would likely cite the woeful dialogue and less-than-stellar performances as being bigger issues than the things Hamill mentions here.

What do you guys make of Hamill's take? Do the prequels deserve a reappraisal in the wake of the recent sequel films? Drop us a comment down below.

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Ahhh
Ahhh - 9/27/2021, 7:14 AM
It sounds more like he's impressed they had their own tone and story, rather then the movies themselves. I think that's fair.
Spidey91
Spidey91 - 9/27/2021, 7:22 AM
@PsychoBatemen - that's because it was a single vision, for better and worse.
mastakilla39
mastakilla39 - 9/27/2021, 7:47 AM
@PsychoBatemen - The new trilogy was made to soft reboot the SW universe to be more "inclusive" so it just substituted a similar story line with surviving actors. Its biggest failure was not presenting anything new and lack of direction for the franchises future.

Star Wars Visions is where the franchise needs to go. Somewhere completely different and off-canon too with bad ass characters and styles. Visions is more unique and refreshing than anything made recently including Mandalorian.
ShimmyShimmyYA
ShimmyShimmyYA - 9/27/2021, 7:57 AM
@mastakilla39 - Idk if you’ve seen but Star Wars fans are already complaining about visions, there’s no winning here
mastakilla39
mastakilla39 - 9/27/2021, 8:36 AM
@ShimmyShimmyYA - didn't know that. the critical reception has been so high, I thought die hards were onboard too. For me, Mandalorian is just "ok". I think people like Mandalorian and Rogue 1 better because it just fits in with the OT and doesn't try to change anything or go beyond whats been established. Even visually and stylistically it just feels like high budget fan fiction or disney trying to train directors to copy Lucas's filmmaking style.

I prefer different styles and a fresh direction, so if Christopher Nolan or Jackie Chan directs a Star Wars film/episode it has to feel like their film rather than a knock off George Lucas or fan film.
ShimmyShimmyYA
ShimmyShimmyYA - 9/27/2021, 8:46 AM
@mastakilla39 - yeah it’s a bunch of well it’s non-canon so I don’t like it and fighting against the anime studios putting some Japanese influence in what was something that’s supposed to creatively free. But they did kinda try a new style / story idea and we saw how that went. I guess just fan service is the only thing that’ll work even though that flamed out as well
TanukiTrooper
TanukiTrooper - 9/28/2021, 12:00 AM
@mastakilla39 - Nah, you can see on Rotten Tomatoes the user rating for Visions is 76% compared to What If... 94%. I think I would have loved it more in my teens or early twenties but I am a bit over anime outside of some classics like Cowboy Bebop and old school Ghibli. I have also noticed a lot more love for What If on Facebook from the general audience, they are totally loving the idea of seeing their MCU faves take on bizarre alterations.
Spidey91
Spidey91 - 9/27/2021, 7:20 AM
it's so f*cking bizarre that even with all of the prequels faults (and they do have A LOT of them) time has been more favorable to them in terms of understanding what they tried to do. visual aesthetic aside, you can polish some of the more infamous aspects of the scripts into something that has real weight. and from a base story standpoint the story of the prequels is amazing, how the hubris of the jedi led to their our downfall, the rise and fall of Anakin, his broken friendship with Obi-Wan, the tragedy and miracle of Luke's and Leia's birth.
if you were to take the story of the prequels with the technical aspects of the sequels you'd have the greatest Star Wars trilogy ever.
Itwasme
Itwasme - 9/27/2021, 7:22 AM
@Spidey91 - I think that might have to do with someone's age while watching them. For my generation, the prequels aren't as favorably liked as the new ones - generally speaking of course.
OmegaDaGrodd
OmegaDaGrodd - 9/27/2021, 7:27 AM
@Spidey91 - it is almost unexplainable how there can be so much good within the prequels when you also look at how bad they are for long stretches.

It really is a true trilogy in structure unlike most film series we get now, is solely dedicated to its arc and broke all kinds of new ground in filmmaking, and was simultaneously awful in some of the most important and foundational places as a work of filmmaking

And even with that, the movies have been memed to death for so long that the pendulum has swung back in their favor
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