What Do You Think of the Star Wars Prequels ?

[BAYLOR]

What George Lucas should have done, was turn the writing and directing over to somebody else.

 

[devilsgrin]

i actually enjoyed Revenge of the Sith. Some of the characters are actually pretty well presented here. Palpatine, obviously; Obi Wan Kenobi, surprisingly; and even aspects of the Fall of Anakin were interesting.
Attack of the Clones was a disaster. It was such a shame, since i always found Hayden Christensen to be a talented actor until this - but his limitations are Director and Script related.
Phantom Menace is almost as much of a disaster, but Qui Gon Jinn keeps it just a little above the almost-star wars-Heresy that AotC is.

 

[Cli-Fi]

Attack of the Clones was a disaster. It was such a shame, since i always found Hayden Christensen to be a talented actor until this - but his limitations are Director and Script related.

I think that was the movie that turned off most people from the entire trilogy and completely and utterly ruined both Christensen and Natalie Portman's careers.

 

[Culhwch]

I don't think the prequels are particularly good movies, though they have occasional good parts - John Williams' score and Ewan McGregor as Obi Wan being chief amongst those. As a whole though they are uneven and full of questionable choices and continuity errors to the later (earlier) trilogy.

I view the prequels as opportunities missed, really. They had so much potential to be great films, if George Lucas had only been willing to work with others rather than slavishly following his singular vision. I think the success of The Force Awakens and Rogue One, and the anticipation for The Last Jedi and future movies, really demonstrate what could have been had Lucas embraced the skills of other filmmakers and storytellers. The new offerings clearly have oversight from Lucasfilm/Disney to ensure a continuity of the wider shared universe, but they seem willing to let talented, creative people play around and push boundaries within those confines.

From a personal standpoint, I'd have preferred to see Anakin introduced as a young man rather than a child (matching Obi Wan's recollection of his already being a good pilot when they met), and had more of a focus on the Jedi purge than we got with Order 66. That might have been the most underwhelming part of the the trilogy for me - the extensive, centuries-old Jedi order wiped out by clone troopers in five minutes of screen time...

 

[Lumens]

That might have been the most underwhelming part of the the trilogy for me - the extensive, centuries-old Jedi order wiped out by clone troopers in five minutes of screen time...

Especially since they are next to useless in all other situations!

There are far too many weak spots in the prequels for me to enjoy them. I wish I could just switch off my critical side and relax, but I simply can't. I guess I care too much.

 

[night_wrtr]

I enjoy them when watching, especially with my kids. The story itself is good, but I agree with others that it was the way they were done that causes some problems. I like the points Culhwch made - Anakin being introduced a little older and more focus on Order 66 would have been winners.

What I really liked though was Palpatine's rise to power, especially his thug mode in Revenge of the Sith. For me, the prequels were more about Palpatine's rise than Anakin's transition to Vader.

 

[KGeo777]

For those of us who saw the originals in first release, the prequels were almost 20 years of anticipation and then crushing disappointment because they were so different in style and substance. I think most fans expected an adult Anakin at the very least.


We also tended to have rose-tinted glasses, overlooking problems with the OT, especially ROTJ, or even the special editions, because we looked forward to having the same kind of innovative film experience the originals provided with the prequels. Not to mention, John Williams musical style was different from the 70s. That was also a significant factor since the musical scores contributed so much.

I think in the final analysis Star Wars was a cinematic novelty, the deployment of big studio assets and creative design towards a serial adventure and that made the first two films unique. But Lucas was only half-hearted into it, and more of an experimental filmmaker than someone committed to that old fashioned kind of storytelling. Without collaborators he didn't have the ingredients to replicate the originals. I also think he waited too long.
If he had started the second set of films around 1990 he could have still beaten a lot of other films in terms of innovative visuals--he did not need CGI. And the original cast would have been better utilized.
I also think the story of Darth Vader was the least interesting direction to go. Most people would have wanted sequels.

At the time SW came out, there was so much mystery. We did not know anything about Darth Vader (neither did Lucas apparently) and there was a million directions it could have gone with a sequel.
Vader could have been an alien or a robot for all we knew from the first movie.

 

[Calum]

I have at various points in the past compared them to a pile of spit and horse manure. In retrospect this was callous and short sighted on my part. Horse manure makes great fertiliser. The prequels gave us Jar Jar bloody Binks.


Unfortunately I saw these cinematic abominations at the tender age of 9, when my taste in movies was largely determined by how many explosions you could fit on the screen. I went through an unfortunate 4 year period of thinking Attack of the Clones and The Phantom Menace were the greatest achievement in story telling excellence in the history of the human race. The penny finally dropped in the years between Clones and Revenge of the Sith.

 

[Phyrebrat]

I was staying up in the North East this weekend for family stuff, and took series 1-5 of The Clone Wars animated series up with me so my sister and I could watch them in the hotel room in between appointments.

I've watched the CW series through at least three times though my sister has never seen them - we managed series 1 - and she remarked how much fun it was to revist the SW universe at the time of the prequels. To me the prequels hark back to a more sophisticated, carefree salad-days period of the SW universe and the later films (NE) support that with their nihilistic Post-Truth feel.

We remarked on how enjoyable the Jar Jar Binks episodes are (apart from the ones where Ahmed Best does not do the voice, which is kind of distracting) and how lucky we felt to be amongst the few that actually like the PT and JJB. All this gnashing and wailing about them would have really disheartened me and made me feel very low if I'd hated them, so I feel somewhat blessed that I can sit and enjoy them without trying to project my adult (45y/o) expectations on them.

That lead us on to the droid foundry scene where R2 first flies. It's a scene I've commented on recently on Chrons - and that if there was one thing we could change in the PT, it would the stupid scene with 3PO falling around the foundry, screaming puns and moving with a hyper-articulated body. For me, as a dance teacher, physicality is always something that stands out, so to go from that stilted butler walk of his, to the floppy, drop and roll of that scene, was unforgivable.

pH

 

[Heijan Xavier]

If Jar Jar was really the Ultimate Sith master that some suggest he was supposed to be it would have made things very interesting.
Medichlorians, most people hate. I appreciate the idea.

I thought the prequels were beautiful failures. As an artist, I appreciate the necessity of failure, even on the grandest scale. I get what Lucas was attempting to do, but for one reason or another, came no where near doing. Maybe three 10 part miniseries, instead of 3 films would have better done the job.

In the big picture of the Star Wars Universe though, I'm glad they were made just the way they are.

 

[opuscosmos]

They were good, it gave some simple context to what was going on at the time. My only criticism would be the casting for Anakin Skywalker. I keep trying to accept him as this major character but just when it appears to be going well I get let down.

 

[BAYLOR]

Disney has given us Two excellent Star Wars films in a Row . So far , they done a spectacular with the Star Wars Franchise.

 

[Vince W]

Disney has given us Two excellent Star Wars films in a Row . So far , they done a spectacular with the Star Wars Franchise.

You're not a true Star Wars fan @BAYLOR. A true fan bitches and gripes, and moans and snipes for all their worth.

 

[BAYLOR]

You're not a true Star Wars fan @BAYLOR. A true fan bitches and gripes, and moans and snipes for all their worth.

Im am a war Wars fan . I ll have you know I sat though all three of those prequel even though they were crap. I have the scars to prove it.

 

[Calum]

You're not a true Star Wars fan @BAYLOR. A true fan bitches and gripes, and moans and snipes for all their worth.

I guess that means I'm in the clear.

 

[lynnfredricks]

A few of the actors in the prequels did what they could, and I accept that creating prequels for such a great trilogy must be hard. And Ill even give GL credit that yes, he did actually do something a bit new (even if it wasn't very good), as compared to The Force Awakens, which was too derivative.

But in general, GL changed too much of what made the original trilogy good, and put in too much that was nonsensical or childish. I kind of feel bad for Hayden Christensen and Jake Lloyd, too. Most of the other actors had to some degree established themselves so they could 'walk off' these terrible movies, but both of these young guys got no direction and had terrible lines.

But in one way - they were a bit prescient. They exhibited about the same quality as Disney "direct to video" productions.

 

[BAYLOR]

A few of the actors in the prequels did what they could, and I accept that creating prequels for such a great trilogy must be hard. And Ill even give GL credit that yes, he did actually do something a bit new (even if it wasn't very good), as compared to The Force Awakens, which was too derivative.

But in general, GL changed too much of what made the original trilogy good, and put in too much that was nonsensical or childish. I kind of feel bad for Hayden Christensen and Jake Lloyd, too. Most of the other actors had to some degree established themselves so they could 'walk off' these terrible movies, but both of these young guys got no direction and had terrible lines.

But in one way - they were a bit prescient. They exhibited about the same quality as Disney "direct to video" productions.

The problem was that Lucas stopped directing movies after after Star Wars. Had he continued directing, things might have been a whole lot different .

 

[Biskit]

We watched the prequels and decided once was enough. Last year, when the Biskitteta was away for a few weeks and I was an unhappy Biskit minding the farm on my own, I watched them again. That was a serious mistake that made me an even more unhappy Biskit minding the farm on my own.

 

[BAYLOR]

Im looking toward to the third new film.

 

[Cathbad]

So most are dissing the new movie... again.