10 Iconic Movie Moments The Director Didn't Understand

10. George Lucas' Tinkering Showed That He Did Not Grasp The Weight Of Darth Vader's Sacrifice

Anakin Skywalker's rise as a Jedi Knight, fall and transformation into Darth Vader and eventual redemption is one of cinema's greatest character arcs, and has served audiences with many of Star Wars's greatest emotional beats. This journey was capped off in 1983's Return of the Jedi, where we see a Force Ghost version of Anakin (Sebastian Shaw) following his return to the side of the Light and defiance of Emperor Palpatine.

Unfortunately, George Lucas saw it fit to replace Shaw with Hayden Christensen in the 2004 edition of the threequel, to the ire of many fans. His justification was that his Prequel-era visage was fitting for the scene as that was the moment Anakin died and Darth Vader was born.

Admittedly, the explanation somewhat makes sense but only if one ignores Vader's sacrifice at the end of the Richard Marquand-directed trilogy closer. Seeing an older Anakin in his spectral form holds more weight as it shows that the former Jedi Knight was indeed saved from the clutches of the Force's dark side, and died as a man far different from the ruthless Vader .

Lucas' change undermines this redemptive moment, brief as it was, as well as Luke's efforts to bring his father back to the side of the Light, which was in itself a weighty act given that the young Skywalker had nearly killed his father only moments before.