He had so much going for him. He's always been great at "big picture" stuff like the basic plot, themes, characters, cool fantasy/sci-fi elements, and building an imaginative world.
He's just so bad at the details of filmmaking to make them all come together.
He could have any director, writer, and actors that he wanted. Give them the "big picture" stuff and be the CEO of the film and let those talented people around you "cook" as the kids say.
He's got Natalie Portman and Ewvan McGregor in 2/3 main roles -- each is one of the most charming actors of their generation. Frank Oz is back. James Earl Jones is back for the end. He's added badass old dudes like Christopher Lee, Liam Neeson, and the Bad MFer himself. Ian McDiarmid is back, has aged perfectly, and gives a performance that makes me wonder why he wasn't ever a bigger name in other films.
John Williams is back. I don't think he consistently matched the OT, but tracks like "Duel of the Fates" and "Battle of the Heroes" stand up to anything heard in the original trilogy.
He just picked a bad writer (himself) and director (himself). You can have ANYBODY.
Call Lawrence Kasdan up to make a 10-15 page summary into a real screenplay. Or maybe given a young writer/director who is a total sci-fi nerd (Quentin Tarantino? Kevin Smith?) take a shot.
Director? Again, anybody you want. Maybe something like this?
Give the action-oriented opener to an up-and-comer with an eye for action pizzazz like... JJ Abrams. Yeah, you're going to have to watch him closely, but he'll kick it off with a bang. I'd loved to see his take on "the chariot sequence from
Ben-Hur... in space!" instead of Lucas' rather subdued version.
Give the finale to Spielberg. Finally time for him to direct a
Star Wars film.
Give the more discursive middle episode to a genre veteran like...
Terry Gilliam
Ridley Scott
Kenneth Branagh
Robert Zemeckis
Luc Besson
Sam Mendes
Tim Burton
(or heck Tarantino or Smith I'm sure they'd love to)
No Jake Lloyd -- what happened to him was tragic and avoid it by starting Anakin off as a teenager or young man not a child. Nobody likes child actors. No Hayden Christensen. He's not a bad actor but wasn't right for the role. Open up your checkbook and go and get Leo. He'd been perfect. Irresistibly charming and eminently capable of showing the burning emotions of Anakin Skywalker during him from the light.
Leo and Natalie prints you money from the young female audience.
And no ******* Jar Jar unless you're going to have the iron will to pull the "Darth Jar Jar" twist to blow the twist at the end of
The Empire Strikes Back completely out of the water.
https://screenrant.com/star-wars-darth-jar-jar-theory-explained/
It could have been so awesome.
But it was just so lame.
