9 Movie Prequels That Revealed Genuine Surprises
The story you already knew may still have some surprises.
Since we’re living in an era dominated by sequels, reboots, spin-offs and reboot-quels audiences tend to get a little fatigued with it all. Prequels might be the most maligned of the bunch, since few franchises benefit from exploring the past. Does The Thing become any better because the prequel showed how that axe got stuck on the wall, or does Wolverine become more a badass because his memory got wiped by adamantium bullets?
In most cases, prequels are made solely to milk more pennies from a franchise, but that’s not to say they all suck. A few prequels have actually tried to expand on the original films, presenting fresh twists on old characters and showing a new angle on events.
Of course, it’s still debatable if these films need to exist at all, but at least these surprises go some way towards justifying their existence.
Let’s take a look at some of the biggest surprises contained within these prequels, and how they impact the original movies.
9. Order 66 - Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge Of The Sith
We knew major sh*t was going to go down in Episode III since it had a lot of ground to cover. We had to see Anakin become Darth Vader, the rise of the Emperor, the birth of Luke and Leia and the fall of the Jedi, all in one movie. No small order.
For movies aimed at kids, there’s no shortage of darkness in the Star Wars series, and the Order 66 scene could be one of the bleakest. Watching the noble Jedi order can wholesale slaughtered is a rough watch, with most of the unsuspecting warriors getting shot in the back.
The roughest moment is when the younglings (seriously George, could you not think of a better term?) run to Anakin for help, and he activates his lightsaber. It’s a chilling scene and confirms there’s no heading back for the character.
In a prequel trilogy full of contrived nonsense – Anakin building C-3P0 comes to mind – the Order 66 scene manages to be a genuine shocker for its brutality, and it delivers on the darkness of the premise.