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For all their posturing and pronouncements and cool floating podiums, it sure can be hard to take Star Wars‘ Galactic Senate seriously. The latest video from How It Should Have Ended tackles The Phantom Menace, and scores some fair — if fairly easy — points.
Is the horse dead? Yeah, probably. Is it still worth kicking it around from time to time? Well… for all the failings of the film, it’s nice to see that at least the critical community has gotten poking holes in it down to a science.
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The horse can be kicked for as long as possible, it’s a victim-less crime. We get to feel better about being so severely let down, and George Lucas gets to keep our money. Win win.
You know…… the whole bashing of the prequels thing….. It’s interesting that there is such a large majority of SW fans which absolutely spew hatred towards the prequels, whilst holding the OT in such high regard as the “real star wars”.
Has anyone actually watched the OT recently? I watched EP4 last week, and all of the stupid dialogue and plot holes which everyone throws hate at EP1 for, are just as bad, if not worse, in EP4!!! Cringe-worthy levels of it!
I love the Star Wars universe and all which it has created, and I’ll discuss it’s characters, stories and lore with anyone until the cows come home. But the movies themselves are actually all pretty terrible when you analyse them objectively.
I dunno, I think it’s a generational thing. Everyone I know who shoves praise on the OT, while loathing the PT, were all young kids when the OT was out. I think these guys need to take off the rose coloured glasses for a few minutes.
Well, the “romantic” dialogue between Padme and Anakin just goes on and on… Irvin Kershner kept the whole Han and Leia thing both acceptable and believable.
Yes, there are terrible lines in the OT but it didn’t drag on like a character like Jar Jar.
The problem was by the time of the PT, Lucas had become too powerful for his own good, surrounded by “yes” men and there was a desperate need for some constructive criticism and review. The PT characters, other than Anakin, don’t really develop much at all.
Heck, Anakin isn’t even a character to sympathize for much other than he was a slave and his mum died.
The moment Anakin became a child murderer he loses any ability to feel empathy for, even in the OT. It undermines his whole character. He becomes less of a pawn in the emperor’s grasp, less of a vulnerable man who was tricked, and more of an actual instigator or evil and murder.
Killing children was a job for the genetically loyal clones who could have unquestioningly wiped out the Jedi and the kids with Nazi like efficiency, lining them up and executing them (even their armour is designed to invoke the Nazis).
Anakin’s character should have felt so betrayed to learn of what the emperor did to the kids (and most likely lied to Anakin by saying they were spared) and could have been a great motivator for why Vader seemed so desperate to recruit Luke to overthrow the Emperor and being peace to the galaxy like he always wanted (he even says he would “learn to stop people from dying”). Instead Lucas goes for the cheap route cause he needs Vader to become the ultimate evil within the space of 3 minutes. It’s a hack job.
When Luke says “there’s still good in him I can feel it” it used to be a moving sentiment, but now I think: nope, the child murdering bastard deserves everything he gets.
The OT is pretty good. IV isn’t the greatest but V and VI are a lot stronger. That acting is hammy and the characters a archetypical. They’re just fun schlocky adventure flicks that are more fun than anything. Anyone who regards them as mythilogical or untouchable is just all nostalgic. They’re not masterpieces, but they embody the spirit of fun that is in cinema, simple ideas, simple characters and simple adventures that have a lot of joy in them.
The prequels are technically bad though. The performances, while delivered by great actors, are dull and boring. Which is a shame because the yawning, lifeless performances are in stark contrast to the vivid digital effect. The digital characters and environments burst with life and vibrance, kooky animations and sweeping dizzying camera work. Then you got the actors reading painfully bad dialogue obviously in front of green screens while looking like zombies. And the plots are convoluted and nonsensical. Galactic senate this, trade route that, treaty this, separatist that. Then Anakin says Yipeeeee.
The prequels are a mess of film making.
And for the record I don’t think Jar Jar is the worst thing about them. I don’t mind him at all really.
Yeah, I still enjoy EP1 quite a lot though, as well as most of EP2. At least as much as EP5 an 6.
Hayden Christensen just destroys everything though. I cannot fathom at all why anyone thought he was good for the role of Anakin.
And EP3? i’ll jump on board bashing the living crap out of that movie with anyone who invites me. Bad dialogue, over the top CGI, jumping more sharks than I thought possible to wrap the thing up…. bleehhh….
But, you know, I still think EP1 did a decent job of setting up Anakin/Obiwan’s relationship, as well as the origins of Palpatine. EP2 did a decent job of setting up the creation of the clone army and the gradual move to the Empire. EP3….. Well, it certainly transitioned….. I guess…..
Either way, I dunno. Valid points made all round. I just think there are just as many to be made against the OT as well, of which you hardly ever see criticism of.
Episode 1 has its moments. Child Anakin’s performance is beyond excusable, even for a child actor. Qui-Gon is super boring though. I don’t mind Obi though, but it’s a shame he misses out on a lot of the action. And Darth Maul, the greatest waste in cinematic history. In the lead up to the prequels I remember thinking: how in the world can they create a villain to rival Darth Vader both visually and force of presence. Then I saw Darth Maul and I was like: HOME RUN. Then he is promptly wasted and tossed aside. He is the greatest visual asset of the prequels. That face paint, the spectacular double edged lightsaber. He could have been the Vader of a new generation. But he was wasted., not fully exploited. Then he’s preceded by two villains which aren’t nearly as menacing or awesome. Why would you waste such a stunning asset?
I still don’t understand what happens in Episode 2. The plot is a mess. I don’t mind the ending though, once it all hits the fan, the action and CG is pretty watchable. The entire mystery/detective story felt shoe horned in because all the riddles that get posed (who commissioned the clones? Why were the clones commissioned?) never get resolved. And it’s like, who made the prophecy about Anakin? Is it all resolved in the books or cartoons or comics or something? If so, that’s bad. And the love story between Anakin and Padme is the most dry, forced, awkward thing of the PT. It’s honestly difficult to watch.
I could go on but it’s all well worn territory. But the worst part for me was articulated well by the Red Letter Media reviews (highly worth watching for the laughs and insight) in how all the scenes with actors are shot like a stagnant soap opera: over the shoulder flips, sitting on a couch or walking along and stopping to looking out a window. When you realise 90% of the dialogue is shot in the exact same way it’s jarring. Aside from the digital scenes, the prequels all just lacks passion and excitement and life.
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