We all have our favorite movie characters.
Some change real-life custodians like other people change cell phones …
But with some, it’s hard to imagine anyone else filling their shoes.
So when age catches up with an actor and their defining role, or an ongoing series needs fresh blood,
there’s one other option:
Go Young.
The movie prequel – a story following a successful film, but set chronologically earlier
– is effectively a sequel and reboot all in one.
In today’s BCU – the blockbuster-driven cinematic universe – it’s easy to view
prequels with cynicism: alternative ways to sidestep franchise fatigue and still milk
a cash cow for profits.
But if we enjoy fictional worlds, why not explore their future and past?
As in many cases, the late, great American critic Roger Ebert best summed up the prequel
challenge, in a 1979 review of Butch and Sundance: The Early Days.
He wrote that, despites its charms, “this is not a necessary film”…
That’s not just about whether young actors can match up to iconic stars…
[SOLO featurette: “You end up getting to see how this guy got to be the way he is.
It’s all part of the great expansion of the Han Solo world.”
But is anything truly essential added to these characters, and this world, by filling in
backstory?
The usual answer, frustratingly, is not really.
Typically, prequels play out as tech-infused but weaker cover versions of classic hits,
fronted by this year’s fresh faces.
Do the formative years of Leatherface, or Hannibal Lecter make them more complex, or
chilling?
Or rather, less so?
Are Dumb & Dumber’s idiots any funnier as teenagers?
A question even these doofuses could answer.
The likes of X-Men and Star Trek have paid tribute to older, future incarnations, with
some twisty time-travel trickery…
but lately, “great expansion” seems increasingly like a euphemism for cultural takeover, the
same few franchises dominant again and again.
Stretching a slim children’s novel into a prequel trilogy in which each film clocks
in around or over two and a half hours…
or transforming a fake school textbook into a planned five-part movie series.
Now that’s some serious magic…
World building is the name of the game, and the general popularity of all these expanded
universes argues that they are all quote-unquote “necessary” films.
But prequels in particular, freed from straight continuity, offer the chance to do something
more adventurous.
Take The Godfather Part II, simultaneously its own sequel and prequel, with Robert DeNiro
as the younger Vito Corleone.
DeNiro’s strand deepens the story’s parallels and themes, genuinely increasing its artistic
reach, not just its brand power.
Of course, not every movie should aspire to Godfather status.
And perhaps television’s long game flexibility offers better risk taking.
But surely it’s not asking too much for franchise prequels, to get a little cocky,
challenge their respective empires…
and dare to fly a little more solo.