Pirates of the caribbean (dead mans chest)

[A Black Falcon]

Pirates of the Carribean books that go beyond the events in the movies? I don't think there are any, actually. Star Wars, in comparison, has dozens and dozens. Absolutely no comparison.

But really, the Star Wars movies just aren't all that deep.

The first Star Wars movie wasn't, but the others are.

And yes, I'm including "Empire Strikes Back". So it ends with "da revelation" that the bad guy is his dad. Why is he all that horrified by that? It's mere genetic lineage. This is coming from someone who has never really learned the idea of "pride of lineage", nor was it ever really taught. I just never cared and really it doesn't matter. So what if someone a long time ago who did something great, or bad, just so happens to have squirted some DNA fragments that eventually led to my existance? What bearing does that have on my persona? Eh, I guess that's why that particular scene always wrang hollow with me. I guess I can see him screaming because his hand was just cut off, that had to hurt.

Wha... HIS FATHER IS DARTH VADER! If that's not something to scream at, nothing is...

Star Wars just isn't "grand epic that spans ages" material.

If you read the books you wouldn't be saying that (at least in comparison to other similar movie/book serieses), I'm sure. Star Wars IS deeper than you suggest... even if you do restrict yourself to the films. I know that the depth of Star Wars has been argued about here over and over, but my position that it IS deep and complex has not changed one bit. If you were interested enough to look into it more, I bet you'd agree.

but taken as just movies, everyone is 2D except Anakin, and he wasn't all that impressive as a character.

That's just not true. There is plenty of character depth and change...

(Lucas says he DID unite the force, WITH HIS VIOLENCE, yay?)

He did great damage to the dark side and destroyed the ancient line of Sith masters... and in so doing helped both the good and evil sides of the force, despite his earlier evil actions. So yes, Anakin did end up uniting the force.