Movies sure are fascinating beasts, because while they don’t physically change once they’ve been released, it can be argued that they don’t really “belong” to the filmmaker once they’re out in the wild – at least on a philosophical level.
At that point films become something unwieldy to be dissected and discussed ad nauseum over years, even decades, and the public perception of a given movie can vary wildly over time.
And so it’s not uncommon for films to enjoy an uptick or downturn in perceived quality as the years pass, and in the case of these 10 films, each of them seemed to actually get better years after they were originally released.
Quality is of course completely subjective, but it’s easy to argue that these movies have all enjoyed a whole new lease of life more recently.
Perhaps another entry into the franchise retroactively made them feel more relevant, they benefited from an unexpected parallel with real life, or they’ve managed to remain maddeningly prophetic far beyond anyone’s expectations.
Whatever the reason, it truly does feel like each of these movies got better years after they came out…
Though the release reception to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was relatively solid, it was far from universally loved, with many feeling that it was ultimately pretty thin in the character development department, and a two-hour canvas simply wasn’t enough to deliver a fully satisfying lead-in to Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope.
But it’s difficult not to view Rogue One in something of a different light today with the recent conclusion of the brilliant Disney+ series Andor, whose two-season story arc leads directly into Rogue One.
Across these two seasons, Andor significantly fleshes out the morally complex plight of the rebellion and especially deepens the character of Cassian (Diego Luna), even enough that Rogue One’s real protagonist, Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), seems rather one-note by comparison.
Andor also makes characters like Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker) and Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelhson) considerably more interesting, and expands the world-building of Star Wars as a whole in a rich, meaningful way.
As a result, the journey from Andor to Rogue One to A New Hope ends up feeling like one of the strongest arcs in the entire franchise to date.
Considering how many rolled their eyes when Andor was first announced, convinced that it’d be yet another piece of disposable Content in the Star Wars sausage factory, what an outcome this was.