5 Things The Star Wars Prequels Did Better Than The Force Awakens

The prequel trilogy’s many action sequences can be described as hit and miss, at best. When they missed, they were over-choreographed, overly-long, often featured terrible special effects and were generally emotionless and pointless in a Bay-esque fashion. When they hit, though, they could be truly incredible.

Scenes like the Duel of the Fates or the pod-race from Episode I, or the opening space battle from Episode III, pushed the boundaries of what was considered possible in film-making. It’s no surprise, then, that some of these have become iconic.

The Duel of the Fates is a highly memorable scene. It’s a game-changer. Lightsabre duels in the original trilogy had been slow and methodical affairs; great in their own way, but this was something completely different. It was fast and flashy and exhilarating.

Of course, this style was abused in later films, but nobody can listen to John Williams’ incredible score to this sequence and not feel and remember the brilliance of this action scene. The Pod-Race, whilst entirely narratively insignificant, is similarly important in how it pushed what was considered do-able on screen in the late 1990’s.

The Force Awakens, meanwhile, lacks a key action sequence or scene which will be remembered for years to come. This makes sense; the film is far more driven by the characters than by meaningless explosions or overly-fancy lightsabre duels, but it’s no exaggeration to suggest that the action found in The Force Awakens could be found in any modern blockbuster.