Star Wars: The Force Awakens

[Lee]

The original triology is very cartoony, the droids playing a less annoying role that JarJar fills (comedy relief).

Mark Hamill's acting in a New Hope is pretty wooden too. By Empire/Jedi it isn't.

 

[Poop Master Flex]

The Phantom Menace is truly an awful movie, Attack of the Clones wasn't too bad but nothing to write home about but Sith was pretty damn good I thought. The problem I have with the prequels as a whole is there's no real reason to care about them. For a story you know the ending to it's got to be really well done to actually care about what's going on and it wasn't nearly good enough, the emotional investment just wasn't there until Revenge of the Sith. The prequels merits all lay with Emperor Palpatine, he was by FAR the best thing the prequels had and you saw him like 10 minutes combined in the 1st 2 movies. The magic of the prequels was watching him pull the strings, getting Anakin to the Dark Side, it was really the only part of the prequels that was memorable to watch (well that and the final lightsaber battles) but unfortunately it took about 5 1/2 hours of "boring to meh" in order to get there. I get they have to set it all up but I thought the setup was awfully clunky and boring.

 

[Lee]

The first half hour of Phantom menace is fantastic. The Qui-Gon/Obi Wan fuck shit up on the ship if brilliant.

It's once they get to Gungan territory it takes a dip. The pod race is basically wacky races but then it picks up again once we have the Darth Maul fight.

Attack of the Clones is also really good if you cut out the 20 minutes love chat up mush "I hate sand" bit between Padme and Anakin. The Jedi's rock up in the arena bit is fantastic.

Revenge of the Sith. I have seen it tons of times and I still get rather emotional watching it. The bit when Dooku looks at the emperor as if to say help me, then realises he's been betrayed. The execution of Order 66 is a true rollercoaster and you were the chosen one is brilliantly executed.

All three could do with about 20 minutes of crap cut out to make them really great. To say they're truly awful is a bit far.

 

[Poop Master Flex]

To be fair I said the Phantom Menace was truly awful, the other 2 I have no problems with. Granted, I wasn't a huge fan of Attack of the Clones but for the most part I don't mind it, it's really the Anakin/Padme love stuff I don't like, the rest of the movie I can get behind. Sith was better than Jedi in my opinion, I don't like it as much as New Hope and Empire but that has nothing to do with Sith's quality, I like that movie a lot and I always get into it. Palpatine was just such a great villain and it was so great to watch him do his thing.

My deal with The Phantom Menace is I just can't get into it and it comes off like story took a back seat for the most part. At first I figured I was just expecting too much out of the movie but no matter how many times I watch it I just can't get past my original conclusion that it sucks.

 

[X]

The first half hour of Phantom menace is fantastic. The Qui-Gon/Obi Wan fuck shit up on the ship if brilliant.

It's once they get to Gungan territory it takes a dip. The pod race is basically wacky races but then it picks up again once we have the Darth Maul fight.

Attack of the Clones is also really good if you cut out the 20 minutes love chat up mush "I hate sand" bit between Padme and Anakin. The Jedi's rock up in the arena bit is fantastic.

Revenge of the Sith. I have seen it tons of times and I still get rather emotional watching it. The bit when Dooku looks at the emperor as if to say help me, then realises he's been betrayed. The execution of Order 66 is a true rollercoaster and you were the chosen one is brilliantly executed.

All three could do with about 20 minutes of crap cut out to make them really great. To say they're truly awful is a bit far.

Pretty perfect summation of my feelings on the prequels as well. I remember coming out of the theater after Sith and thinking "FINALLY they made a really good Star Wars film again" and a lot of people agreed at the time but I guess it's cool to shit on that one too now. Anakin's turn to the dark side finally coming to fruition was great and I had literal chills down my spine when he puts the helmet on at the end.

 

[The Butcher]

 

[Jane]

I think my bitterness with the prequels is that, in my opinion, they tarnish the reputation of the OT, and I can't watch any of the originals anymore without thinking of Christensen's whiny face whenever I see Vader. Like Vader used to just be this menacing, powerful former noble warrior turned evil. Now he's some kid who was conceived by the force and was fulfilling a prophecy and turned to the dark side because of some girl? And Yoda is just some tiny little flipping ball of CGI instead of a wise old master who had advanced beyond the use of a lightsaber?

I just can't help but write them off. In my mind, the prequels aren't even canon.

 

[X]

I watched the first two prequels tonight and while I stand by my statement of still liking Episode II, Phantom Menace somehow gets worse every time I see it. I still like the opening, Liam Neeson, and everything with Darth Maul but man this was the first time I actively noticed how atrocious everyone's acting in that film is.

 

[The Butcher]

Let me start by saying that if you enjoy the prequels, good! You've got at least 2 more Star Wars to enjoy than I do. Just thinking about that makes my inner child very jealous.

So basically aside from the CGI, they're just like the original trilogy then?

First, don't argue like that. It's no better than a TNA fan who uses some variant of "But WWE did it so it's okay!!!" If you can't defend something on its own merits or have to bring something else down to defend it, then what you're defending is bad. Second, no. The direction and pacing of Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back are wonderful. Return of the Jedi had fine direction but is rushed. The prequels are all over the place, pacing-wise, and the direction of the human actors is awful:

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ShotReverseShot

Because it had those last three things in abundance in all of them. We as a society have blinders on sometimes when it comes to beloved franchises like this, but the original trilogy is every bit as "soap opera" as the prequels, I mean Jesus the whole "Luke I am your father!" thing is basically a soap opera trope right out of the Days of Our Lives. Nostalgia juggernaut that the original trilogy is, there's a reason Alec Guinness thought the original was fairytale rubbish and he was only there for a paycheck.

We've all seen the special features disc, thanks.

The original trilogy are good films, but George Lucas isn't Orson Welles and Star Wars ain't exactly The Third Man. They're special effects driven fantasy films.

Should've stopped a paragraph sooner. This is all wrong.

George Lucas only directed the first of the original trilogy, and Star Wars was nominated for the Best Picture Oscar at a time when scifi and pulp fiction couldn't get a whiff at a non-technical Oscar. He was absolutely a revolutionary filmmaker, no film critic or film historian would deny that, and to take away from that just because he got fat, rich, and lazy is ignorant. To say that they're "special effects driven" rather than story- or character-driven is telling of what you see or look for and in small part explains to me why you have a soft spot for the prequels.

The original triology is very cartoony, the droids playing a less annoying role that JarJar fills (comedy relief).

All six, now seven, of them are cartoony by nature, so I didn't mean to knock or praise that. I just meant that the prequels are literally cartoons with humans inserted. Too much CGI. I'm surprised epileptics never filed a class action suit.

Mark Hamill's acting in a New Hope is pretty wooden too. By Empire/Jedi it isn't.

Agreed.

All three could do with about 20 minutes of crap cut out to make them really great. To say they're truly awful is a bit far.

20 minutes is an awful lot of time in cinema, which means that's a lot of crap. If saying that they're "awful" as-is is too far, then saying that they'd be "really great" edited down is also a stretch. The truth is always closer to the middle, which means they're probably the most polarizing mediocre movies ever made. If it weren't for the Star Wars association they'd have been quickly forgotten.

Pretty perfect summation of my feelings on the prequels as well. I remember coming out of the theater after Sith and thinking "FINALLY they made a really good Star Wars film again" and a lot of people agreed at the time but I guess it's cool to shit on that one too now.

It was cool then too. Nerds just liked it out of sheer resignation that it'd be the best they'd ever get.

Anakin's turn to the dark side finally coming to fruition was great and I had literal chills down my spine when he puts the helmet on at the end.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=douche+chill

[YOUTUBE]3K3gRzQDuV0[/YOUTUBE]

I still get them when I see this.

In my mind, the prequels aren't even canon.

I'm in this camp as well, but folks, whether you like the prequels or don't like them, consider them canon or want them fired out of one, there's one thing you can't deny and need to celebrate: The Force Awakens would not be happening if the prequels weren't shitty.

Oh, sure, Lucas might've walrus'd his fat ass into the director's chair again and pumped out Episodes VII, VIII, and IX, sure; but all this hype we've all been seeing for J.J. Abrams' effort would be considerably more muted. Off the top of my head I can point to the use of practical effects over CGI and the jettisoning of George Lucas's ideas as direct responses by the new creative team to the prequels being trash. Fan response to those particular choices has been quite positive.

So thank you, prequels. The backstory had already been seen in the mind's eye of every fan anyway, and it was awesome. Prequels, you showed fans what they didn't want to see and taught directors what they ought not do. To call back to the soap opera analogy, the prequel trilogy was the "Who Shot J.R.?" storyline, and now it's all just a bad dream. Now, with Luke, Leia, and Han coming back, the series proper can pick up. What felt unnecessary has given way to something that feels essential.

The prequels were fertilizer, and I mean that in the best way possible.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

The prequels are largely dull, but they do have highlights. There's a great film in those three somewhere.

 

[Navdeep]

May be I am the only one but I like episode 3Revenge of the sith, for me Attack of the clones is worst and episode 1 is tolerable, but original trilogy is on whole different level.

 

[Lee]

Yeah Force Awakens is brilliant.