The Star Wars Prequels

Do you pretend the Star Wars prequels don't exist or is The Phantom Menace up there with you favourite films of all time?

They're bad. Real bad.

The only one I can get all the way through is Revenge of the Sith, and that is with some difficulty and plenty of cringing.

__________________

I like them. Nothing wrong with them. They're good films that get shat on by an overcynical film audience.

__________________
5-time MoFo Award winner.

This is the correct response(some language):

I grew up watching the prequels. I watched them before the originals. Which ended up working in my favor. I loved the prequels. That being said after I watched Empire Strikes back, A new hope and return of the jedi, I only still loved revenge of the sith (the only prequel that captured what made these films so great).

I think the people who don't like them are the older star wars fans who grew up with the originals. Of course they were going to be disappointed. The first two Star Wars films are masterpieces. But I was only seven when Phantom Menace came out so that is all I knew. It is just which generation you are from.

I rate the prequels like this.
Star Wars Episode One: Phantom Menace:
Star Wars Episode Two:Attack of the clones:
Star Wars Episode Three:Revenge of the sith: and a half.

__________________
Going 18600 miles per second.

I'm pretty indifferent to them to be perfectly honest. I recognise that they are poor films but this doesn't anger me. If I was more of a Star Wars fan to begin with their existence might evoke more of an emotional reaction, denying their existence and so forth. But other than when I was a very small child the (original) Star Wars trilogy and that extended universe just isn't important enough for me to garner much of a reaction.

So my answer: ... meh.

Even though that's probably the "best" one, it's also arguably the most exhausting, given how unapologetically oversaturated with action and effects it is. But I actually think it's the one I hate the most because it starts bleeding into A New Hope with the hairstyles and set pieces. At least the other two were operating on a plane outside of the original trilogy, but Revenge makes a big dirty splash into it.

Oh yes there is. There's everything wrong with them. They're way overblown, they're far too burdensome with thick plot lines and bland characters (the only standouts, ironically, are characters that originated in the Trilogy), but most of all, they're just badly written and badly directed. George Lucas himself has even claimed that he never intended to make the Prequel story into films.

I do think the films got "better" as they went along, but honestly, it's a lot of flash and forced complexity, and not a lot of fun. Where the original trilogy was all about fun, adventure, and a pretty simple fight for the galaxy, the Prequels are just nothing but political unrest, mind-numbing special effects, and bad acting.

Eh, I think that's part of it. Obviously, the kids who grew up with the Prequels are going to look back at the original trilogy and just see "old." But from a pure storytelling, performance, and special effects standpoint, the originals are still really strong. I can watch them today and they still hold up because they're so much fun.

^ Like your avatar Brother Blue, that's used on the cover of the Andrei Tarkovsky collection I have:

Kind of indifferent, to be honest. I don't hate them like lots of people do, but I do recognise them as objectively bad. But I've only seen them once, and I was mildly entertained for the most part, and amused more than angered by the incompetency of Hayden Cristensen/stupidity of the Jar Jar concept, etc.

They will never go away. It can never be undone.

__________________
"Don't be so gloomy. After all it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."

are they better?

Quoting Red Letter Media? If so...you are awesome.

__________________
Oxfords not brogues.

They aren't god awfully horrible. They are however:

1. Poorly thought out.
2. Poorly scripted.
3. Poorly acted.
4. Poorly directed.
5. Poorly edited.

They're a massive drop in quality compared to the original...the REAL Star Wars.

Red Letter Media does the best reviews of the prequels:

http://redlettermedia.com/

I think they are unquestionably inferior, but I can watch them and enjoy them somewhat for certain things I do like, such as Palpatine (great performance). Other than that, I wish they didn't exist.

__________________
#31 on SC's Top 100 Mofos list!!

There should be a few more options on that poll.

For nostalgic purposes, I do enjoy them, even they're not a patch on the originals. To be fair, there are a few amazing moments in each of them (the Collisseum battle in Clones is pretty damn exciting).

__________________
"George, this is a little too much for me. Escaped convicts, fugitive sex... I've got a cockfight to focus on."

Well I know this is a subject that is close to the hearts of many, many fans all over the world. Just like FilmMaker I grew up watching the prequels, so for me they were the Star Wars movies of my youth. I agree with Filmmaker that many of those who say the prequels are utter rubbish and should never have been made are older Star Wars fans who grew up watching the original trilogy and felt a bit cheated by the new episodes.

I don't see what is so bad with Phantom Menace, it was a great introduction to the series and the pod racing scene is one of my favourite movie scenes ever. Having said that, the acting by Ewan McGregor was unusually wooden but I think the supporting cast were class, with Neeson in all his majestic, "I'm the good guy" best and Pernila August was convincing as a down on her luck mother who believed in the ability of her son to do great things. The parting of Anakin and mother was quite touching. Natalie Portman however just wasn't good enough here and Jar Jar Binks was a hindrance to an other wise solid plot. Oh and who can forget Darth Maul??? He is right up there alongside Darth Vader and the Emperor as memorable Star Wars villains, featuring in only one movie that's even more impressive.

The one movie which was a real let down was Attack of the Clones, the story was flimsy at times, the relationship between Padme and Anakin seemed forced, not helped by wooden acting and cringe worthy dialogue. McGregor acted like a plank of wood yet again but Mace Windu was simply badass and the scene where Anakin and Obi-Wan fight in that gladiator pit was electric (some of the CGI wasn't too convincing though). This was a bit like Return of the Jedi, which I thought was just such a poor movie, teddy bears beating imperial walkers with wood....come on. Harrisons charisma and Han Solos chemistry with Princess Leia saved the movie for me, as did the final showdown between Luke, Darth Vader and Palpatine.

For me, Empire and Revenge of the Sith are the two best in the entire saga.

How I rate them:

Empire Strikes Back: 8.5/10
Revenge of the Sith: 7.5/10
A New Hope: 7.5/10
Return of the Jedi: 7/10
Phantom Menace: 6/10
Attack of the Clones: 5/10

I love them and Revenge of the Sith & Phantom Menace are actually my favorites in the series.

Honestly, the prequels have soured me on the entire Star Wars enterprise...I LOVED the original trilogy when I was a child, and even into my twenties, and I still have a lot of nostalgia for them, but the awful dialogue, p*ss poor directing, and plot holes of the Prequel Trilogy have just sort of thrown the flaws of the originals in my face. Same wooden dialogue, same plot holes you could drive a truck through...I have to wonder if Lucas was EVER a good filmmaker now. Empire Strikes Back still holds up...notice how little input Lucas had on that one beyond writing the plot...

__________________
"You, me, everyone...we are all made of star stuff." - Neil Degrasse Tyson

https://shawnsmovienight.blogspot.com/