10 Insane Character Decisions That Totally Ruined Movies

9. Jar Jar Gives Palpatine Emergency Powers - Star Wars: Episode II - Attack Of The Clones

When you consider the facts, Jar Jar Binks (Ahmed Best) is effectively responsible for the rise of the Galactic Empire.

In Attack of the Clones, he acts as a delegate to the Galactic Senate, and his impassioned speech convinces them to grant Chancellor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) emergency powers.

This eventually leads to Palpatine overthrowing the senate, the Empire rising and democracy ending for trillions of people.

And you know what? It's one of the prequel trilogy's more fully-formed ideas...in theory. The notion of Palpatine exploiting a trusting and naive politician to his own nefarious ends makes a lot of sense, and has a ton of real-world relevance, but...did it have to be Jar Jar?

Given that the character served as nothing more than merch-bait in The Phantom Menace, integrating him into the plot in such a significant way here places an unnecessary dramatic black mark on the Empire's rise. The Sith will now forever be linked to Jar Jar's stupidity.

Defenders of the plot point argue that Palpatine would've just tricked another politician if not Jar Jar, so...why wasn't that what happened?

It's fair to say that had Lucas introduced a new politician character and had him be the pawn in Palpatine's game, it would've been decidedly easier to swallow down than the jabbering dope that is Jar Jar being in any sort of position to influence galactic policy.