10 Movies That Tragically Wasted Their Genius Premise

The Premise: What happened before the events of the first Star Wars film? What was the relationship between ol' Ben Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker? How did Darth Vader come into being? How did the Emperor rise to power? 

What Went Wrong: George Lucas. 

Ok, let's face it, the Star Wars prequels have been torn apart, put back together and defended, and then ripped to shreds all over again more times than anyone has actually seen the films. It was seen as 'easy' or 'popular' to hate them, and maybe in the last year or two the reverse has started to happen with some prequel revisionism. 

The prequels certainly had potential: if they didn't, The Phantom Menace wouldn't have been, at the time, they most hyped movie ever. But with a heavy use of CGI, paper-thin characters, a creepy love interest angle, some terrible casting, and plotlines that don't make sense or just aren't interesting, they fail to deliver on the promise. 

This is supposed to be the story of how Anakin became Darth Vader, the greatest movie villain ever, so surely he should be a great, compelling character as we witness his fall. Instead we get an incredibly bad child actor, and by the time he's really old enough to be a hero, the decent into the darkness is already taking hold. Darth Vader is compelling and complex; Anakin is annoying. 

The Star Wars mythology is incredibly dense, and it's a wonderful world to explore - just look at the original trilogy, and The Force Awakens. The biggest problem with the prequels, aside from the many missed opportunities, is that it never feels like Star Wars. 

Agree with these picks? Which films do you feel wasted their premise? Share your thoughts down in the comments.