10 Complex Movie Schemes That Actually Make No Sense

3. The Star Wars Are Sparked By Tax Evasion

Obviously there's a lot to complain about when it comes to the Star Wars prequels, to the point that the unnecessarily complex evil plot that underpins the whole thing tends to get forgotten amongst a tidal wave of terrible performances, poorly framed action sequences and unfortunate CG-augmented updates of The Black And White Minstrel Show. Seriously, though, that whole scheme of Senator (later Emperor) Palpatine's that begins in The Phantom Menace and, presumably, doesn't come to a proper end until Return Of The Jedi? It makes absolutely zero sense. It relies on a lot of luck, other people being really stupid, and he actually misses a bunch of opportunities to make his rule of the galaxy go smoother than it did. For a start, he engineers a war where he controls both sides, which seems like overkill. Couldn't he have waited for war to break out and then sneak in to take power? It's Star Wars. People are probably erupting into conflict all the time. He's not really very good at hiding his plotting, either, since his courting of Anakin to the Dark Side is pretty blatant. And pretty easy, so why didn't he try and recruit more of those young Jedis instead of, well, murdering them all in cold blood? Plus he keeps on breaking his own "Rule Of Two" thing by chilling with Anakin, Count Dooku and Darth Maul at the same time pretty much. Let's not get started on how the Trade Federation and his manipulation of tax laws plays into all this either.