"People will tell you that the success of Star Wars had nothing to do with its visual effects, and it was all down to its great story," Nolan continued. "But, I mean, clearly, that's not the case. It is indeed a great story, but it's also an incredible visual and aural experience. So this willful denial of what movies actually are has set in."

Who’s saying this? Pretty much everyone knows the first movie’s story was a basic hero’s journey drawing heavily from Kurosawa and Flash Gordon. What made it successful was the spectacle.

The Empire Strikes Back was the only movie of the original trilogy with a truly great story.