By re-releasing Revenge of the Sith, Disney celebrates the movie’s 20-year anniversary and gives younger Star Wars fans, who have generally appreciated the movie, a chance to see it in theaters.
Initially, when Revenge of the Sith and the rest of the prequel trilogy, “Attack of the Clones” and “The Phantom Menace,” were released, they were not particularly well received by Star Wars fans at the time. All three movies were widely criticized for their dialogue and CGI, which fans did not have issues with during the original trilogy.
According to Band Director and Star Wars fan Adam Tucker, he personally did not like the prequels.
“I am not a massive fan,” Tucker said, “and, even though it’s a hot take, I actually think they get worse as they go.”
Game programming teacher Phil Cerami agrees that the prequels are not his favorite.
“I don’t think they’re high quality films,” Cerami said. “I feel like George Lucas had become too big to say no to.”
George Lucas, who created Star Wars and directed the first movie, “A New Hope,” was given the directing job of the prequels after the original’s success.
This move has been criticized because Lucas did not direct the final two movies of the original trilogy.
According to Tucker, Lucas is “not a great director,” and what made the originals so good was how Lucas gave away control, making Episodes five and six feel more “natural.”
“I think if he had relinquished that control in the prequels like he did with ‘Empire Strikes Back’ and ‘Return of the Jedi’ then I think [the prequels] would have ended up more tolerable from a dialogue standpoint,” Tucker said.
While after initial release the prequels were not loved by fans, as new generations of Star Wars fans picked up Star Wars they generally began to accept the movies more.
According to junior Ryan Gilbert “Revenge of the Sith” was one of his favorites.
“ In my opinion, ‘Revenge of the Sith’ is one of the, if not the best Star Wars movies, especially in the second half which I think is the climax of all nine movies.”
Sophomore Graham MacArthur said that part of the reason why the prequels were more accepted by the younger generation of Star Wars fans is because they grew up with both the original and the prequel trilogy.
“The prequels came out before we even existed so they were the newest ones at the time,” MacArthur said, “and we also have access to people making content about the movies on YouTube, so we definitely get more hooked on the prequels than the originals.”
Gilbert said that because of the hype that was around the prequels when they were arriving in theaters, when the movies did not live up to that hype, it made older fans think the prequels were “a disappointment” while younger fans did not.
“ While the older generation is hypercritical of the prequels, I feel like the younger generation’s more accepting because they weren’t so highly anticipated,” Gilbert said.
According to MacArthur, the re-release offers newer fans an opportunity to see their favorite Star Wars movie in theaters.
“For people like me who didn’t see it in theaters when it was out, I can go see it on the big screen for the first time,” MacArthur said. “With how poor Star Wars is doing, it’s also a good way to get themselves back up because they know it’s a popular movie that the community has grown to love.”