Critical Perception of the Prequels

Originally posted by sithsaber408
No your opinion is valid. I respect it.

I'm just saying that most posters thought Episode II was great when it came out, and now they change their tunes.

I digress... I only started this thread because of the review Ebert gave Episode I, what he liked and didn't like, and then the review he gave Episode II which seemed to totally contradict his earlier review.

I had always thought that most StarWars fans liked II better (I guess because of all the b*tching I heard over I) but alas, it appears that I am batting 1,000 today. 🙁

I also think the other issue is they type of fan. Most Star Wars fans that are infatuated with the series, and Natalie Portman 😱 , think AOTC was better than TPM. I mean, let's face it...it has more 'Star Wars' feeling to it....plus they hate Jar Jar, which is their main reason for hating TPM.

Then there are movie fanatics who see AOTC for the weak film it is, and say so. These people may reluctantly say AOTC is worse than TPM.

Then there are people who like fantasy, and see TPM as a fantasy...which it really is...because like Fantasy stories (ala Fellowship)...the journey is more important than the story.

Then there are a few people, like me...who can somehow look past Jar Jar...and actually like TPM. These people maybe like it better because they critically see that AOTC is weak, like the fantasy aspect of TPM...or whatever.

However, I think MOST fans recognize that the OT is very superior, except the younger crowd can't get past the flashy graphics of the the PT, and see the OT as antiquated

Originally posted by tlbauerle
I also think the other issue is they type of fan. Most Star Wars fans that are infatuated with the series, and Natalie Portman 😱 , think AOTC was better than TPM. I mean, let's face it...it has more 'Star Wars' feeling to it....plus they hate Jar Jar, which is their main reason for hating TPM.

Then there are movie fanatics who see AOTC for the weak film it is, and say so. These people may reluctantly say AOTC is worse than TPM.

Then there are people who like fantasy, and see TPM as a fantasy...which it really is...because like Fantasy stories (ala Fellowship)...the journey is more important than the story.

Then there are a few people, like me...who can somehow look past Jar Jar...and actually like TPM. These people maybe like it better because they critically see that AOTC is weak, like the fantasy aspect of TPM...or whatever.

However, I think MOST fans recognize that the OT is very superior, except the younger crowd can't get past the flashy graphics of the the PT, and see the OT as antiquated

Excellent thesis indeed, TL.

I fall into the middle I guess.

I know the OT is better than the PT. I wouldn't dispute that with anybody, and I've said so on the boards.

I still like the PT, though.

I figure it's because

1.) I'm a fantasy fan. I saw all the LOTR in the theatre, along with the Matrix trilogy, and Narnia. (even Zathura surprised me!), and I enjoyed them all.

2.) I'm a StarWars fan. So the PT was a great trilogy to me because it was a fantasy, and it was about Darth Vader.(over all 3 movies, of course... some of it is drivel 😉 )

I also liked TPM... I never thought it was crap, and I don't suspect I ever will.

AOTC was different, and while more StarWars-y, I'll grant that the acting was poor.

I guess Ebert is strictly a fantasy fan(judging by his LOTR/Narnia reviews), since Episode I was a fun journey/great adventure to him, but Episode II was a let-down. ✅

Without a doubt I think the OT is superior. But with regard to the PT I think I fall into the fourth category... I like TPM. It used to be, when it first came out, that I liked it for the fantasy, for the adventure, for the action, and for the journey back to a galaxy far, far away. But that was when I was 12. Now I have a more critical eye, I think. And, perhaps, I appreciate it more. In fact, I think TPM is a film that, for me, only gets better with age. I never hated Jar Jar... not when I was a kid, not now. He's only annoying as you let him be... and to me that's not much. Sure he's a bit too much sometimes, but I think the film wouldn't have been as good without him... This film IS a kids film.

Episodes II and III on the other hand, are only getting worse with age...

AOTC does have a more Star Wars feel to it, but it's just not enough. There's no emotion, no heart, no adventure and worst of all: no realism. Nothing in the film looks real. The acting doesn't bother me too much... it just serves as another reason to dislike it. None of the Star Wars films have had good acting. These films are soap operas in the stars, there is an art to the performances (nobody can be as bad as Natalie is in ROTS and then give a Golden Globe winning performance in Closer without doing so purposely). But the dialogue in Episode II is beyond soap-opera level. It really is god awful. I believed Han and Leia's romance in ESB. I can no longer even bring myself to watch the romance of Anakin and Padme in AOTC. It's really that bad.

Add to that the fact that nothing happens in the film that is exciting, intriguing or even relevant save the few scenes on Tatooine (which I actually really, really like).

[/rant]

^ ✅

That fireside conversation is very painful to watch, it just doesn't seem like Anakin means it. On top of that, Anakin just lacks the mackdaddy quality that Han posesses. "You like me because I'm a scoundrel." sounds a lot mo' pimp than "Then you do feel something!".

And I agree with you about Tatooine; when he found his mom and whacked those sand people---that was some damn good acting.

Have you ever tried to woo a girl who was more interested in her career than her personal life? Sounds a LOT like the Anakin and Padme dialogue in the fireplace scene. Completely accurate and dead-on to real life.

Plus, Anakin is not Han Solo, it's an unfair comparison like apples to oranges. If Lucas and the other screenwriter wrote it so that Anakin sounded like Han, Lucas would be boiled in oil for ripping off 'Empire." The way Anakin & Padme fell in love HAD to be different because it was a 'forbidden love' type thing.

Of course it shouldn't have been exactly like the Han/Leia romance, I'm just saying there's a quality in those scenes in Empire that don't make me want to hurt people, unlike AOTC...

Completely accurate and dead-on to real life? "We live in a real world, come back to it.... If you follow your thoughts through to conclusion, they will take us to a place we cannot go"...? I don't know what kind of girls you go out with, but I've never had anything remotely like that said to me...

Come on, it's just terribly written. "I wish I could just wish away my feelings."... My six year old niece could wirte better love lines than this.

"You are asking me to be rational,...that is something that I know I cannot do." 😆

Oh well, TPM had "yippeee", "Yes,sir!", and "Their here." " Good, they made it."(Totally pointless dialouge scene, the last one)

None of them are terribly brilliant.

However, I don't think it is the dialouge that has a major effect on the reviews/perceptions of the movies.

(Episode III got great reviews across the board) 😉

Well, comparatively, I think Episode III had much better dialogue... or should I say, much less bad dialogue. That is, if you don't count the "It's because I'm so in love" "No, it's because I'm so in love with you" scene. And I think dialogue has a great effect on the reviews... I think I remember one critic saying that there's no line in Episode II you could quote with any pleasure and that the love scenes are just old, tired cliches which is absolutely true.

TRUE.

I dunno...I find myself quoting OBIWAN: "Possibly..." almost all the time. I think that's just about as great of an Alec moment as "Hello there..." in SITH.

I love watching AotC for many reasons. It's got a different feel to it than the other trilogy films. At least 75 percent of AotC is really a mystery, a who-dunnit:

Who's trying to kill Padme, who killed Zam, where's the dart from, what's Kamino, why were the files erased, what clone army, who is master Syfo-Dyas, who's Jango Fett, who recruited Jango, who's Tyrannus, why are the Jedi blind, what happened to Shmi, why is Dooku trying to recruit Obi-Wan to destroy the Sith, and on and on until the climax. Each revelation opens a door which opens another which unwraps an enigma, then the whole thing explodes in the end with the final battles.

I like the fireplace scene because it's got a lot of heart to it. Anakin opens up about his feelings, tortured that they are. I love how Padme acts with her body language as Anakin pours out the feelings, she is just incredibly uncomfortable. Even so, Padme is such the "career girl" that she lets it slip out that she feels something toward Anakin, after denying it. Anakin pounces on that, "then you do feel something!" And yes I have gone out with girls like that who deny their feelings and think they have to put career before personal life; doesn't mean they don't exist! It's like in the movie "Hitch" when the freshprince says "When a woman says she's too busy for a relationship, she's lying." When you've lived through relationships which have hit the skids thanks to that "career vs family" type of thinking, the dialogue ain't so bad.

A who dunnit eh? So Jango and Zamm are hired by Tyranus, who works for Sidious (who is the Chancellor but we're not supposed to know that yet) who has promised Nute Gunray to kill Padme for that stuff on Naboo.... But then Jango lives on the planet where they've made clones out of him, so killing Padme is just a side job since he doesn't seem to be doing much there in the water except raise his son. Holy crap! That IS so complex, I prefer Agatha Christie had written that one.

And WHO is Syfo-Dyas? A question NEVER ever answered. AOTC DOES have a different feel: it feels like crap!