Seriously, WHY Do People Consider The Star Wars Prequels to be Horrendous?

[The Wykydtron]

Hmm when I was younger and watched them a few times I was thinking about what I must be missing because the plot wouldn't be that nonsensical would it? Years later, nope! It really is just that bad.

I can laugh at how goshdarn awful they are, probably because I wasn't super into the original Star Wars films. I liked them sure but they weren't the baist filmz evar or anything.

Anyway, the Plinkett reviews are highly entertaining and they wouldn't exist without the terribad prequels. Good job George Lucas! You got some good things out of those films afterall

 

[Smertnik]

What I disliked the most about the prequels was the lack of emotions in everything - dialogues, character interactions, sword fights. It was all so superficial and shallow. And the fact that there never was even one clear protagonist throughout the movies didn't make getting invested with the characters any easier, either.

That being said, I do think that the constant bashing is rather exaggerated. The prequels are at the very least mediocre and perfectly enjoyable as popcorn movies (that is not to say that the original trilogy offered some kind of profound experience in comparison, though, they're just better popcorn movies).

 

[Something Amyss]

I'm going to totally link to other people's opinions in video format rather than offering anything personal or insightful, because that's the way the internet works.

Oh, that's been done.

For me, it's not nostalgia. Honestly, I watched a lot of crap growing up, and I'm not afraid to call it crap. There are few things from my childhood I truly cherish, and they usually stand the test of time (for me).

However:

people walked into them with the star wars trilogy in their heads. epic battles, space rogues, adventures and the first movie was released and they got a movie about a trade dispute with potentially the most annoying character ever created in film history

Nikki has a good point here. People expected Star Wars. It was called "Star Wars." These might have been fine in their own right, I don't know (nor do I really care to think about it), but they certainly were bad in terms of the Star Wars brand.

Finally, I love Darths and Droids because the only way the first movie makes sense is if it was a Roleplaying campaign where the players (possessed with the attention span of a goldfish) continued to derail the GM's plans...CONSTANTLY.

 

[kortin]

I love the prequels.

I was so unbearably bored with the original trilogy. The only good thing about it was Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford's acting.

 

[snave]

I'll actually defend the first prequel.

There was obviously a lot of space within the canon for creativity at such an early point, and it shows in the quality and tone. Everything is relatively bright and upbeat, as it should be so early on in the saga. Set design is gorgeous; from cliffside castles to rolling green hills to underwater cities, it captures the imagination in a way sci-fi movies should. And whilst CGI is overused, it is overused to great effect. Most importantly, The Phantom Menace may in fact have both the best score and best single scene in the entire franchise: namely the musically choreographed simultaneous battle scene at the climax. The enemy gimmick in Darth Maul's facial tattoos and double-ended lightsaber makes sense that it does not show up in the original three. It is a clumsy weapon, suitable only for an anarchist of sorts. Eye candy that makes sense. I'd even rank this as my second favourite film out of the entire series (after The Empire Strikes Back of course) if it weren't for one serious problem.

The problem was Jar-Jar.

No more, no less. Jar-Jar was a huge enough problem to make the entire film taste like shit as you walked out of the cinema. And by himself, he's not even that bad.

It's the context.

It's that he does not fit the narrative at all.

It's that he's a borderline offensive racial characiature.

It's that he has been designed from the ground up to be an expy [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Expy] of Chewbacca.

It's that you are given deliberate onscreen cues that instruct you, as a viwer, to like him. And yet he is stupid, meaningless, and an insult to Chewbacca. It is degrading that Lucas thinks so little of his audience's intelligence.

* * *

As for the second and third films. I'd argue they suffer from the worst of movie sins: both are utterly forgettable. Yes, there are terrible acting moments: I recall bad romance across iffy bluescreens, yet I cannot recall a single quote. Think about that for a minute. It wasn't even terrible enough to remember. What I do recall? Four lightsabers on some sort of robot/skeleton/ghoul/magical golem thingy. Gimmicky rubbish. Battles with flashing lights that could've been yoinked straight out of Erectric Soldier Porygon [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denn%C5%8D_Senshi_Porygon], obscuring any attempt to figure out what the heck was going on on screen. Terrible choreography. Not a single motion in a single battle from those two movies can be recalled. Yet I can recall most every shot from the iconic Darth Maul battle from The Phantom Menace.

I have seen each prequel movie precisely once.

To make this abundantly clear: I have watched Episodes 1, 2 and 3 once each. Each. I remember most of Episode 1, and almost nothing of Episodes 2 and 3. Note that I don't refer to Episodes 2 and 3 by title. This is because I honestly do not remember their subtitles. Seriously. I'll look them up in a moment for sure, but I feel this is a noteworthy hole in my memories.

So yeah, in summary:
Episode 1: Bad rap because of Jar-Jar.
Episode 2: Forgettable. Something about a skeleton cyborg thingy.
Episode 3: Mostly forgettable. I remember the ending that harkened back to Episode 4. And the terrible lava scene. That is it.

 

[Pink Gregory]

I flicked on Ep 3 the other day for a second.

There was a part in a sword (sabre, whatever) fight in which two characters were literally whipping the things around without connecting, I imagine just to look 'cool' and to make the vwip vwoom noise, for what seemed like quite a long period.

Think that might say a few things.

 

[Tyler Trahan]

Over-use of CGI, horrible wooden acting from one of the leading men, terrible love story. Those are all what bothered me and while I won't say other people's opinions are "wrong", I saw these movies and while I liked Phantom Menace as a kid as an adult not as much. The only things I really like about the movies are the action scenes, and that's about it, when Anakin opened his mouth in Episode II it was almost always cringeworthy, and any dialogue between Padme and Anakin made me deep sigh and hang my head. As a 13 year old. Needless to say my opinion hasnt changed much

 

[Imthatguy]

inb4 red letter media review.

I'l just post this here before anyone else to save trouble.

http://redlettermedia.com/plinkett/star-wars/star-wars-episode-1-the-phantom-menace/

Get someone to quote that mouth-breather word for word and I might take those videos seriously.

 

[Guffe]

Well Phantom Menace was the first Star Wars film I saw, so for me that started everything and as a 10 year old kid it was fucking awesome.
I think 2 and 3 are so-so. The first one was good and the three original ones were good.
aaaaaaand that's about it.
It's a matter of taste.

 

[LaughingAtlas]

Personally, I mostly liked the prequels, (except for the second one) worts and all, and I while I can certainly understand why most people don't, here's another way to remember them: The movies as a D&D campaign in web comic form. [http://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0001.html]
It's entirely possible you'll end up liking Jar-Jar, or at least his player.

 

[katsabas]

Ι cried when Qui Gon died. I memorized the choreography of the Phantom Menace final duel and the final duel from Revenge Of The Sith to the point where my muscles auto-ed the motions. I liked episode 1 and 3, not the entirety of the movies but I grew up with them.

I was only 15 when I went to see Revenge Of The Sith which I saw after the sequels. About 2 days earlier, I realized that the movie is doomed to have a bad ending. I had never been under that feeling.

Depends on the POV. I like the prequels less than the originals, of course but the prequels introduced me to the originals. So...

 

[PhunkyPhazon]

I don't really think it was nostalgia. Had these movies had been just as good as the originals (or near it) I don't think they would have been scorned much. Case in point: Beavis & Butthead. For many people, that was a nostalgic franchise. Maybe not from their childhoods necessarily, but still nostalgic. When they brought that back recently, critics adored it. It was as if the show had never left. The concept was slightly updated to accomodate modern times, but it still felt true to the episodes from the 90's. Personally, I've yet to hear anyone cry "nostalgia goggles" on this, because people think it's good.

If it could work for an old cartoon about two 90's era teenagers, it could sure as hell work for one of the most beloved film sagas of all time. So why didn't it? Well...because they weren't very good. I do agree with Moviebob though, they're not horrendous movies, they're just meh. If these movies hadn't been affiliated with Star Wars, they probably would have just been your typical summer blockbuster. The type of movies that makes a pretty good chunk of money at the box office, but everyone forgets existed a few years later.

And I think the prequels really could have worked. The concept is fine, and if you just take the main plot points and put them in an outline, it doesn't sound bad at all. Take a look:

- Small slave boy with dreams is taken into Jedi Order
- Boy grows up, but his mother is killed and he falls into a forbidden love
- Meanwhile, a Separatist army being manipulated by Palpatine is warring with the Republic.
- During war, the boy gives in to his anger out of fear of losing his wife. Leads to his downfall and birth of the Empire.

Really, this sounds FINE on paper. The problem was all in the execution. The character is written so haphazardly that he's impossible to like. As a kid, he's way too pure and innocent as well as played by a terrible child actor, and he grows up to be a whiny, self-absorbed, borderline psychotic man child that it isn't tragic at all when he officially turns to the dark side. And even THAT feels forced. One second he's all "I must stop the Sith and save my wife" and the next he's all "I'm going to kill children and the Jedi are evil because Palpatine told me they are." There's little to no actual development here, the character simply changes at the convenience of the plot.

And Anakin isn't the only problem. Palpatine's plan is way too complex and convoluted, the movies are filled with boring political debate scenes that put adults and children alike into comas, certain side-characters are really annoying and just there to sell toys, they create plot holes in the original trilogy (Leia remembers her mother, huh?), they create plot holes within themselves, and-most importantly- they just aren't very interesting or engaging. I love me some good lightsaber action too, but these movies fail plot-wise.

 

[Thedutchjelle]

I never saw the original ones. I tried to look them up on YT but what I saw felt ..outdated. I don't have the nostalgia factor for those.

I think the prequels are alright. Especially the second one - stormtroopers are cool and that fight in the end was pretty bouse.
The only thing that kinda annoys me is that Anakin isn't manly enough to just stay away from that woman but I realize that without his weaknesses there wouldnt be much of a movie.

 

[GTwander]

From my perspective:

1) The tech and general 'sterility' in environments of the prequels exceeds that of the original saga, which shows that the producers are trying to show off at the expense of being able to explain WHY. They didn't even bother to match aesthetics.

2) The acting of the prequels' main cast lacks SUBTLETY. Need I explain more? Hope not.

3) Lucas was obviously wanking during the whole filming process, and it's why he cast his own son as a kickass jedi kid that took down quite a few people before eating it. Plus, most of the films seem less of a fanservice to US, than a fanservice to HIMSELF. It was like he was blinded by his own brilliance, and we all failed to see it - in fact, wouldn't you agree with that sentiment, given the interviews with him concerning it?


Basically, the latter films lack heart, and make up for it in failed bravado. It's also why the later Indiana Jones' suck too. He moved more towards Micheal Bay's school of thought - bigger/better = winner... and the worst part is that people raised in this generation of movies, who more than likely watched the latter 3 first, are going to be more aligned with those cinematic horsedroppings anyway. Hell, they keep lining up for transformers, ain't nothing gonna stop this fad of movies that lack substance. All you need is big budget set pieces, special effects, and sexy actors with no skill whatsoever.

~Also, the younger Anakin gets, the more fucking ANNOYING he gets. The only time that character had any chops is as Vader himself.
GOD, don't get me started about how he edited in the new Anakin into Return of the Jedi, just because he could. Fuck him.

 

[Something Amyss]

Ι cried when Qui Gon died. I memorized the choreography of the Phantom Menace final duel and the final duel from Revenge Of The Sith to the point where my muscles auto-ed the motions. I liked episode 1 and 3, not the entirety of the movies but I grew up with them.

I was only 15 when I went to see Revenge Of The Sith which I saw after the sequels. About 2 days earlier, I realized that the movie is doomed to have a bad ending. I had never been under that feeling.

Depends on the POV. I like the prequels less than the originals, of course but the prequels introduced me to the originals. So...

The bad ending is a big part of the problem to a lot of OT fans. I mean, we already know he falls, so there has to be some reason to care about the prequels. But Anakin is completely unsympathetic through the entire prequel trilogy.