The Star Wars prequels are divisive, however the perfect film from that period is streaming totally free on YouTube. Many usually have George Lucas’ unique trilogy on the high of their Star Wars film rankings, although the prequels have been present process a interval of revisionism within the final decade or so.
The truth is, the upcoming Star Wars films of the following few years are incorporating components from the prequel trilogy in a bid to please followers of Episodes I, II, and III. For example, The Mandalorian and Grogu‘s story will embody Rotta the Hutt, the son of Jabba the Hutt, who was first launched in a prequel film, Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
This demonstrates how the prequels are being built-in into the fashionable franchise, regardless of the films being extremely controversial upon their launch. That controversy nonetheless usually hangs over the prequels right this moment, no matter how the broader opinion has modified for the reason that early 2000s.
Nonetheless, one optimistic opinion that’s shared considerations the perfect Star Wars film of the prequel period, which is now streaming totally free on YouTube.
‘The Starting: Making Star Wars: Episode I’ Provides A Fascinating Look Into George Lucas’ Thoughts
The very best Star Wars prequel film will not be Episode I, Episode II, or Episode III, however moderately a documentary movie about The Phantom Menace. The film, titled The Starting: Making Star Wars: Episode I, is over an hour lengthy and delves into the manufacturing of the primary prequel. This affords essentially the most fascinating, in-depth look into George Lucas’ thoughts through the prequel period.
Many know that the prequel trilogy was so divisive as a consequence of how totally different it was from the originals. Lucas’ insistence on pushing the boundaries of digital results was the driving power behind this, which the documentary leans into. The filmmaker explains his imaginative and prescient in a means not often seen, throughout all departments of the movie.
The Phantom Menace Documentary Is Higher Than The Film Itself
Due to this perception, the documentary about Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace is best than the film itself. Episode I is usually considered one of many weaker prequel films, alongside Episode II. Solely Episode III is counted as a really nice installment within the prequel trilogy, regardless of the few redeeming qualities of the primary two.
The Phantom Menace has lengthy been criticized for its reliance on CGI, characters like Jar Jar Binks, picket performing, and stilted dialogue. Furthermore, the movie’s plot is centered round commerce disputes, which many deemed too complicated and, to place it bluntly, boring, for Star Wars. The motion sequences work within the movie, as does the music and a few of the visuals.
Conversely, although, the documentary of The Phantom Menace is a gripping watch all through. Seeing precisely how all of those components got here to life is endlessly compelling and fascinating, particularly for these intrigued by the world of characteristic filmmaking. This makes the 60+ minutes fly by, which can not actually be stated for The Phantom Menace, which frequently appears like a slog to get by means of.
Watching The Making Of Episode I Makes You Admire The Prequels Extra
Whereas it’s true that The Phantom Menace has its weaker features, watching the way it was made definitely provides to the revisionist historical past of the prequels. It’s wonderful to witness simply how a lot effort and time George Lucas and his crew put into the film, in addition to how he innovated a number of areas of the digital results world.
All of this makes the prequel trilogy look higher looking back, particularly Episode I, on this case. Viewers can see all of the laborious work that went into each side of the movie, which, even when it would not overtly change opinions of the film itself, can result in a renewed sense of respect for Lucas and his crew.
With that in thoughts, one of many criticisms Lucas confronted, particularly when the movie was launched, was that he was being “lazy” by using digital results as closely as he did. The perception into how all of this was carried out, in addition to how a lot work nonetheless went into the sensible components, proves this criticism improper, past all doubt.
If anybody nonetheless finds themselves hating on the prequels, watching this documentary is definitely one strategy to achieve a bit extra appreciation for them, even when it’s only The Phantom Menace.
Hollywood Has Killed The Behind-The-Scenes Documentary
Past growing appreciation for The Phantom Menace, the hour-long documentary raises one other level: Hollywood has killed the style. Behind-the-scenes documentaries equivalent to this was once way more frequent, particularly within the 90s and 2000s.
The prolonged editions of Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings films are notable examples. Every one comprises 9 hours of behind-the-scenes extras detailing how every movie was made, totaling nearly 30 hours of documentary footage. Whereas the documentary for The Phantom Menace was not this in depth, it nonetheless delves into all of the complexities of crafting the movie.
These days, although, this sort of documentary is more and more uncommon. Streaming might be seen as a cause for this, provided that providers like Netflix, Prime Video, and others of their ilk don’t are likely to launch documentaries alongside unique programming. The elevated reliance on streaming has additionally meant that bodily media has develop into much less widespread.
Most behind-the-scenes documentaries of a long time previous had been discovered on bodily media releases. With fewer individuals shopping for bodily media, Hollywood is discovering fewer causes to spend the money and time to create a BTS documentary. This can be a unhappy actuality, making it all of the extra essential to look at the perfect film from Star Wars‘ prequel period whereas it’s out there totally free on-line.
- Launch Date
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Could 19, 1999
- Runtime
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136 minutes
- Producers
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Rick McCallum