But midi-chlorians…
Who is pushing Alien as “hard SF”. It’s a horror movie that happens to take place in space.
No one is ‘pushing’ it, but imo it creates that vibe up to a point and compared to, say, Star Wars or Flash Gordon.
If you don’t like my example, forget I brought it up.
So this seems as good a place as any to put this.
I recently rewatched the prequels with my 4 year old son. He’s seen the OT, and I thought I’d show him these, since I don’t think the Rogue One or TLJ are something I want to show him yet. A couple of years from now, sure.
But it had been probably 11-12 years since I had watched them either. I was curious if I still disliked them as much, particularly The Phantom Menace, which had grown to an impressive monument of hate in my mind.
Short answer? Two of the three were better than I remember. And having seen The Clone Wars TV series, I think the story is actually a pretty good setup, but flawed and failed in execution.
The Phantom Menace, long my most hated, is actually significantly buoyed. It’s not good, and is frequently quite dull and pointless, but the things I hated most were largely mild nuisances. Jar Jar excepted. And perhaps it is unfair to talk about the story in context of a 6 season TV show that came out a decade later, but I will anyhow. At the time I thought the political setup was a stupid and pointless setup, one that made no sense. In retrospect I judge it not as the story, but rather the failure in presentation. Nit picking? Perhaps, but I can now see the merits of the idea behind the trilogy, and they are quite strong, but criticize them as flawed in direction, writing, and acting in principle. It’s still not good, but better than I remembered.
Attack of the Clones. This one approached almost decent at times. It has some interesting scenes, and actually does the most with its plot of any of the trilogy. It actually gives a sense of the machinations and deceptions going on, and almost provokes some relevance in themes. The plot also moves briskly, and has characters being proactive. Probably the best of the entire trilogy, though still only 3/5 stars at best. And dear god is the Anakin dialogue painful. His whole story is the emotional core of the trilogy, but it fails on every level. He’s supposed to be impetuous and frustrated, but instead comes across as petulant and whiney. We’re supposed to buy into this bad emo kid as some ultimate badass of destiny that Padme falls in love with, instead I just wonder why she doesn’t just ditch his mopey ass.
Revenge of the Sith. This one fell most in my eyes, and might be the worst of the trilogy. And it all comes down to the Anakin bits. It uses action alright, but several storylines are abrupt. The opening kidnapping in particular. I dunno, it’s hard to evaluate since the whole Anakin to the dark side just irks me so much. Others squandered their stories too, perhaps no less than this, but since this is the payoff, the ultimate turn, the failure to execute on that is most unforgivable.
Now from my perspective as a parent? My son was bored at times with TPM, though loved (unsurprisingly) the podracing. He most enjoyed 2. And 3 kept his attention, but the climax had him scared due to intensity. So he watched from my lap. I think he still prefers the OT though, just judging by enthusiasm levels during the movies.
Other scattered thoughts: John Williams score is leveraged fantastically, particularly in 2. As terrible as the Anakin Padme romance is, that musical theme is great. And echoes of duel of the Fates and Imperial March at points is exceptional. If nothing else, the music holds up.
So prequels, not as bad as I remembered, still not very good.
Wow, you guys are terrible at this poll.
Amen.
I’m glad you’ve seen the light! Attack of the Clones is definitely the best of the prequel trilogy (although the romance bits are among the worst crap you’ll see in any movie), and Revenge of the Sith is a mess and often just unpleasant. Phantom Menace is elevated a bit because of the world building that was redeemed by the Clone Wars show - making it easier to “read-in” the missing connective tissue to make the world building and overall plot work. Still hate the “whoops” ending and baby Anakin in general - they should have started the story with him Luke’s age.
Ugh, really?? Attack of the Clones seems a series of setpieces where I keep thinking, “Oh, it’s going to get better now…oh wait, there’s this terrible scene first.” Easily my least favorite of the prequel trilogy.
Obligatory recommendation for the Machete Order: IV-V-II-III-VI. Skip Phantom Menace and start Luke off as a teenager.
How old was Luke in A New Hope?
I felt that way at the time. Nice to know my positive reaction may not be entirely Stockholm syndrome.
Sorry, I meant Anakin. I read “Luke” in the quoted post and just had that in my brain.
(Although if you want to start watching with Luke as a teenager, that’s a totally valid way too. IV-V-VI.)
I saw Attack of the Clones three times in one week when it opened (long story, completely unavoidable), and by the third viewing, when Padme and Anakin were rolling around in the fields of Naboo, my small intestine crawled up my spinal cord and tried to throttle my brain.
I just blanked out the romance scenes, I think.
“I killed them all. They’re dead. Every single one of them. Not just the men! But the women and children too!”
“Oh dang yo. That’s rough, but imma be cool about your murder spree.”
I watched the prequels again a few years, and I agree that Attack is the best. But, it’s damning praise. When Phantom came out, my now-ex wife and I were so thrilled a new Star Wars movie was out we bought a ton of tickets over the first weekend. It did not improve with multiple viewings. Likewise, Revenge felt like it should have benefitted from an R rating. I think the biggest problem with the prequels is it is hard to get a line from Anakin as a whiny kid to Darth Vader. I think they would have been better with them starting Anakin in his teens, turning to Darth Vader at the end of the 2nd, and the 3rd movie him being the Vader that was a bad ass.
I definetly think the Disney movies are better than the prequels.
Because it’s fun to start internet fights:
- A New Hope
- Return of the Jedi
- The Force Awakens
- Empire Strikes Back
- Revenge of the Sith
- The Last Jedi
- Rogue One
- Attack of the Clones
- Phantom Menace
If I ignore the last 20 minutes of Rogue One, it jumps to #5. I don’t like sad endings :(
Wow, most people here put Empire Strikes Back as #1, and Return of the Jedi nearer the bottom, I think.
Personally, I can’t pick a favorite from among the OT.
The LotR trilogy peaked with #2. Star Wars, uh, valleyed?
I have said earlier, I like Rogue One. The tropical planet just ruined the last third for me. :(
The lava planet in Ep 3 was just as bad.