1) Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
The Premise: Do I even have to with this one? It’s how one of the most iconic villains of all time succumbed to the darkness.
The Failure: Darth Vader turned from being a simple villain to arguably the most complex character in the whole saga. With a twist that put seeing dead people to shame, his status humanized and ultimately immortalized him. With the prequels to the original saga being devoted to explaining Vader’s fall, all our hearts were on the verge of shattering at the thought of having to witness this innocent and gifted child turn so monstrous. I couldn’t wait for it, but I dreaded it.
What ultimately killed this film wasn’t so much how often it coasted without ever peaking, it was due to the insurmountable hype of such an epic saga. People were expecting to be blown into a new galaxy, but instead were delivered a very familiar and quite formulaic story. It wasn’t bad by any means, but it also didn’t tread into any new waters. In retrospect, we as the audience got what we should have expected – except Jar Jar Binks, who is another issue entirely. We yearned for something innovative, yet quickly threw this film under the bus when it didn’t give us that spark.
The Fix: I won’t attempt to fix Star Wars, as one change would affect ten more things that I could not possibly comprehend. Either way, the following two films wrapped up Anakin’s journey quite well, and solidified him as the true protagonist of Star Wars.