Ever since George Lucas decided to go back to the drawing board and dish out Episodes I, II, and III for Star Wars people have been more or less obsessed with prequels. It’s possible that the idea has been circulating a bit longer than that, but the popularity of it didn’t really spike until we finally got to see how Darth Vader, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and several others got to start out. The prequel is something that gets to come later and have a bit of fun with the story while being accused of not paying attention to the continuity by over-eager fanboys and girls that love to pick apart movies frame by frame, but they’re also a fun bit of cinema that allows people to see how their favorite legends really got started. In a way they’re great because they show our favorite characters in their younger years sometimes and in a time when they were less certain of themselves and not quite as established as they are when we first saw them. Ricky Derisz of Looper had a few ideas about this topic. This also makes it easier to relate to some characters that are larger than life by the time we meet them, as it reminds the audience that every character still needs to go through their arc to get to where they ended up. In essence, a prequel is a way to break the legends down just a bit and keep them humble by reminding people that even fictional characters have to start somewhere.
Here are just five movies that could have used worthwhile prequels.
5. The Godfather
Technically part 2 was part prequel and part sequel, since we were given Vito Corleone’s early years through flashbacks to see just how he came to New York and what his life was like growing up. From the point following his family’s departure from Italy however it could easily make another movie or two since he was still a relatively young man with a young wife and four children who had established himself as a major player in the city. By the time we get to that part the prequel moments are, for the most part, over. Learning how Don Corleone really came to be one of the most important men in the city and how he consolidated his business even further would be kind of interesting, plus, it would be nice to find out just how he met someone like Luca Brasi.
4. The Karate Kid
It might need a different title, but a movie about a young Mr. Miyagi would be extremely interesting since learning how he and Sato came to odds, his service in the US Army, and even that one moment from part two when he mentioned to Daniel how his father had said he was being stupid when trying out the drum technique would be of great interest. How a man like Mr. Miyagi is made would be a great way to pay homage to a fan favorite and could possibly even shed some light on how he would eventually become such an enigmatic character.
3. The Matrix
An argument could be made that we saw all we needed to see in The Animatrix when the machines and humans went to war, but another movie would be great since it could actually show how The One anomaly really started and how that spurred the entire cycle into being. It would also make the second movie come into greater focus since the Architect did go into some detail of how the code was created and utilized to keep the cycle moving forward. It’s hard to say whether Keanu Reeves would be used for this since he’s well into his 50s now and unless the de-aging software gets any better it’s not likely he could pass for a young man. But maybe he could play an older One, who knows.
2. John Wick
This might actually destroy some of the mystique behind John Wick but it’s fair to say that a good number of people might be fully behind it since the whole idea would be to find out just what makes a man like Wick and whether or not he was a problem case coming up or if he was just uniquely skilled and therefore thought to be special. Then again, there’s always the chance that he took just a much of a beating on his way up as anyone else did, since sometimes the strongest blades have to be hammered into form over and over to insure that they’re sturdy and lethal. Mick Joest of CinemaBlend had something to say on the matter.
1. Cabin in the Woods
There was just too much in this movie that left us with questions to let it go as it was, since from the wide assortment of monsters, some of which were blatant ripoffs, others which made a lot of people thing ‘wtf’, and those that were just downright laughable, it’s obvious that the goal was to put in as much as they could get. But the big bad were the ancient being that threatened to destroy the world if their will wasn’t done, and knowing more about them would have been nice. Evan Saathoff of Screen Crush had more to say on this.
So really, prequels aren’t a bad idea, as they flesh out the story a little more.
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