5. A Villain With Depth
Every good movie needs a good villain, and the prequels dont exactly deliver on that end. Darth Maul looks cool, but he has very few lines in The Phantom Menace and is more a plot device than an actual character. In fact, we know next to nothing about his personality besides the fact that hes a Sith with a double-bladed lightsaber. It also doesnt help that he gets immediately killed off, ruining any chance of learning more about his character in the sequels. Count Dooku is slightly better, as we know hes a former Jedi and was once Qui-Gons master, which could have made for a very interesting moral and physical conflict. However, that idea is squandered and Christopher Lee is totally wasted, as his backstory is very rarely mentioned, and his character is little more than another evil guy. And theres no real need to mention General Grievous, as he has very little to do. The only somewhat interesting villain in the prequels is Darth Sidious, but even he has very little depth. All he really wants is power and to destroy the Jedi. In contrast, Kylo Ren is a complex villain with an interesting backstory. He is initially portrayed as a powerful figure, but as the movie progresses, its revealed that hes just a regular guy with some serious anger issues. He so desperately wants to be evil and to be like Vader, and he wears the mask and cloak to overcompensate for the fact that hes not very powerful or scary, but he is constantly being pulled back to the Light Side. He cant even win a lightsaber duel against a first-time Jedi, showing just how ill-prepared he is. Also, the fact that he reveals his face so often makes his character so much more human, something that we didnt even see from Vader himself until Empire and Jedi. And of course, his scene with Han Solo is so emotional, and even though he ends up murdering his father, Adam Driver expertly portrays the conflicted character, as a shadow of regret is seen flickering on Ben Solos young face.