STAR WARS: EPISODES I, II, AND III.

• Author: Soave, Robby
• Position: MOVIES

During the climax of Revenge of the Sith, the third Star Wars prequel film, an angst-ridden Anakin Skywalker snarls at his former master, Obi-Wan Kenobi: "You underestimate my power!" (Obi-Wan proceeds to sever three of Anakin's limbs, burn off all his skin, and leave him for dead. Anakin later becomes the cyborg villain Darth Vader, dark enforcer of the Galactic Empire.)

To hear the critics tell it, people disliked this origin story. The three prequels--The Phantom Menace (1999), Attack of the Clones (2002), and Revenge of the Sith (2005)--were largely written off as disappointments.

If you saw these movies in the theater as a kid, you might have felt differently. While the expert consensus dwelt obsessively on the admittedly clumsy dialogue and certain CGI excesses, who can deny the sheer coolness of Yoda--tiny, green, hobbling Yoda--mowing down clone soldiers with a light-saber? Pretty awesome, it was.

The idea that the prequel trilogy's focus on trade disputes, Senate intrigue, and the subtle manipulations of cloaked tyrants is somehow boring never made much sense. And the prequels bear a lot of thematic weight: The...