Poll: Why all the hate on star wars prequels?

[Astoria]

I'm firmly in the they were good but could have been better camp. Bar far the worst part of the prequels is the Anakin-Obi Wan relationship. In II they basically hate each other and then in III they're apparently brother like? Yeah I don't think anyone brought it. But almost every other character is really well acted and who didn't get a little excited when Yoda pulled out his lightsaber.

 

[Gypsyssilver]

Other than these there are many other minor and major flaws but I can honestly say I am on the fence on this topic
I mean I don't think the prequels were evil or really terrible but I can't say they were good or worthy of the Star Wars License...

but thats just me what do you guys think?

I think for me it came down to expectations versus reality.

If the original movies had never existed, then I would have gone to see episode 1, thought it was terrible and then gone about my life, never thinking about it ever again.

But the original movies DID exist.

I remember watching them as a child and being blown away. The characters were insanely memorable, the plots well-scripted. Quotes from the movies passed into cultural lore. You couldn't go 6 months without hearing a Star Wars reference, or having someone talk like Yoda. I remember watching them again as an adult and marvelling that they still held up after so long.

I was so excited when I heard that episodes 1-3 were coming out. Wow, I thought. How amazing would they be? What new characters would we get to meet? would we see any of the old characters? I knew that whatever happened, it would be the highlight of the year.

The Phantom Menace finally came out. My brother, father and I entered the cinema smiling. We left the cinema with blank faces, pretty depressed. What was there to say?

The characters were one-dimensional, mere caricatures of actual characters, utterly devoid of personality. The 'plot' was execrable. And then there was Jar Jar Binks. Sigh.

I was angry at the time. Now I'm just disappointed - thinking of what could have been. I pretty much just pretend they don't exist. Star Wars started at episode 4. Prequels? What prequels?

For a more thorough (and thoroughly awesome) analysis of the three movies - check out Plinkett's reviews on Youtube. He gives a pretty spot-on diagnosis of what went wrong.

One thing that really stood out is the experiment he ran in the first video, near the start. He asked people to describe some of the characters from the different Star Wars movies - without mentioning anything too specific.

The people interviewed had no trouble with the characters from the original movies:

Han Solo - dashing, cocky etc
C3PO - effeminate, prissy etc

They had quite a lot of trouble coming up with descriptors for anyone from the prequels:

Amidala - uhhh
Qui Gon Jinn - uhhh, he was... uhhh.

That experiment pretty much sums it up for me.

 

[launchpadmcqwak]

i think what you are misinterpreting, is that the prequels had some really cool concepts, (dooku is one of my favorite sith lords of all time) but it was just executed poorly and seemed to be written by a toaster. it also RUINED the backstory of the original trilogy, like how Darth Vader turned evil because he was in love and fell in lava, and how obiwan and anikin hated each other the whole time even though they were set up as lifelong friends ect ect.


...oh and darth vader built c3po...oh and darth vader was the chosen one.


in fact Anakins whole arc was the most insulting thing since paheel.net [/quote]

 

[VoidWanderer]

The prequels are completely pointless. Everyone knows what is going to happen, so why watch it?

That and I am not a big fan of the midi-chlorians 'explanation'. I would accept them if they augmented peoples natural force capabilities, but not the ONLY reason for them.

 

[Gameguy20100]

I love them some of my favorite Movies.

And Anakin is one of my favorite Characters of all time I would go into detail but thanks to this guy I don't have to.

 

[Dangit2019]

Am I missing something, or has nobody mentioned the RedLetterMedia reviews in a star wars prequels thread?

OT: I grew up with them, and they're really just boring and unemotional. The characters are siphons at best and laughable at worst (especially 'i hate the sand' Skywalker). The action is cool to look at, but completely forgettable due to Lucas forgetting that the most important part of any fight is the emotions involved.

How about I put it this way:

The originals were about an intergalactic rebellion fighting against the oppressive Empire with a ragtag group of lovable characters.

The prequels were about Palpatine easily fooling trained Jedi and politicians into doing his bidding by starting a war with little to no actual casualties (unless you count engineered carbon copies of a single man as individuals) and creating one of the most iconic villains of our time by convincing him that he may or may not have the ability to save his wife who he didn't know for sure was going to die in the first place (seriously? Futuristic technology still hasn't figured how to prevent death during childbirth for a healthy young woman?).

Buth that's just my opinion (which is absolutely correct).

 

[Aeshi]

When Lucas made the originals he was still the scrappy underdog.

 

[King Billi]

To be perfectly honest these movies just keep looking better and better every time I see them.

Not because I feel they're underrated masterpieces or anything, certainly not. It's really just because the sheer weight of rage and bile alot of fans display when they talk about this film just serves to make their criticisms seem pointless and stupid. I just can't take it seriously anymore, the overblown hostility so many people still hold for these films over a decade now since they first appeared is ridiculous and only serves to undermine whatever argument they're trying to make.

Do you honestly think that people watching these films 50 years from now are going to look back to the critics of today and say "Yep, this reaction was totally understandable and justified" or is it perhaps going to be more likely that they're just going to say "Why the hell was everybody so worked up over this?"

 

[senordesol]

The prequels lacked humanity -- lacked grit. All plot developments were discussed in dry, corporate boardroom settings and tones. They talk about planetary invasions in such a dry and completely passionless manner that they might as well be talking about soft drink packaging. Where were the Jedi screaming and shouting at each other over which planet was more important to save? Why wasn't Amidala begging Chancellor Volorum to send help when her planet was invaded - bureaucracy be damned? What were Dooku's, Grievous' and Gunray's stakes in Palpatine's plan?

"Commander, tear this ship apart until you've found those plans and bring me the passengers - I want them alive!" When Vader said that, there was NO mistake that fucking up was not an option for the Stormtroopers. He felt like a genuine threat - a bad guy to be loathed.

When Lando performs his...triple cross? Chewie starts choking him out, and Leia's just fine with watching him do it. She's got this smug look on her face, and you really get the sense that unless Lando came up with a way to talk himself out of this; he was screwed.

When Vader was taunting Luke in the throne room, we see him snap and just start wailing on Vader -no complex choreography- he was just beating him into submission; filled with rage. For a moment we, as the audience, begin to wonder if he will finally give in to the Dark Side as he mercilessly hacks at his own father until he cuts Vader's hand off. Now consider when Maul killed Qui Gon...did Obi do ANY of that? No! Just more dry, flashy choreography.

See, poorly written plots and nonsensical motivations can be forgiven if there is an audience connection to the characters. We are made to feel the slightest twinge of sympathy for Vader -the bad guy- because before the Throne Room scene, he admitted to Luke that he didn't really want to surrender him to the Emperor but was compelled by the overwhelming power of the Dark Side. We feel sympathy for Luke because we saw his suffering when he lost his family to Imperial guns. We admire Solo because he came back to help Luke destroy the Deathstar -even though he didn't have to.

Throughout the Prequels, Anakin went from stupid kid to a pissy Jedi to an evil Sith Lord for no real reason. He agrees to slaughter the entire Jedi Order based on some vague allusion to the possibility of MAYBE saving Padme from inexplicable murder by pregnancy. Near as I can fathom, his only reason for doing so was simply because the plot required him to become Darth Vader in order for the stories that had already been told to be told.

Sense. The prequels make none.

 

[Images]

OP, Mr. Plinkett needs to teach you some valuable lessons about why they're as bad as people say they are. They're pretty much required watching for any prequel discussion. http://redlettermedia.com/plinkett/star-wars/

 

[Lionsfan]

I can't stand any prequels. I mean, you already know the outcome so there's no real danger for the heroes. Sure, maybe a secondary character or two might bite the dust, but the main cast is even more safe than ever before

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

The undoing of what the force meant in the originals to a stupid scientific explanation was horrible. Giving Yoda a lightsaber and having him 'equal' in the force to Count Dooku which meant he had to resort to lightsaber flailing... That killed it for me.

Spoiler

The prequels lacked humanity -- lacked grit. All plot developments were discussed in dry, corporate boardroom settings and tones. They talk about planetary invasions in such a dry and completely passionless manner that they might as well be talking about soft drink packaging. Where were the Jedi screaming and shouting at each other over which planet was more important to save? Why wasn't Amidala begging Chancellor Volorum to send help when her planet was invaded - bureaucracy be damned? What were Dooku's, Grievous' and Gunray's stakes in Palpatine's plan?

"Commander, tear this ship apart until you've found those plans and bring me the passengers - I want them alive!" When Vader said that, there was NO mistake that fucking up was not an option for the Stormtroopers. He felt like a genuine threat - a bad guy to be loathed.

When Lando performs his...triple cross? Chewie starts choking him out, and Leia's just fine with watching him do it. She's got this smug look on her face, and you really get the sense that unless Lando came up with a way to talk himself out of this; he was screwed.

When Vader was taunting Luke in the throne room, we see him snap and just start wailing on Vader -no complex choreography- he was just beating him into submission; filled with rage. For a moment we, as the audience, begin to wonder if he will finally give in to the Dark Side as he mercilessly hacks at his own father until he cuts Vader's hand off. Now consider when Maul killed Qui Gon...did Obi do ANY of that? No! Just more dry, flashy choreography.

See, poorly written plots and nonsensical motivations can be forgiven if there is an audience connection to the characters. We are made to feel the slightest twinge of sympathy for Vader -the bad guy- because before the Throne Room scene, he admitted to Luke that he didn't really want to surrender him to the Emperor but was compelled by the overwhelming power of the Dark Side. We feel sympathy for Luke because we saw his suffering when he lost his family to Imperial guns. We admire Solo because he came back to help Luke destroy the Deathstar -even though he didn't have to.

Throughout the Prequels, Anakin went from stupid kid to a pissy Jedi to an evil Sith Lord for no real reason. He agrees to slaughter the entire Jedi Order based on some vague allusion to the possibility of MAYBE saving Padme from inexplicable murder by pregnancy. Near as I can fathom, his only reason for doing so was simply because the plot required him to become Darth Vader in order for the stories that had already been told to be told.

Sense. The prequels make none.

Also THIS.

 

[thewatergamer]

The prequels are completely pointless. Everyone knows what is going to happen, so why watch it?

That and I am not a big fan of the midi-chlorians 'explanation'. I would accept them if they augmented peoples natural force capabilities, but not the ONLY reason for them.

Good god I completely forgot about that "Explination"...

yeah I can DEFINETLY see why people hated em

 

[Silvanus]

I agree with you, to an extent, OP. Episode 1 isn't too bad, and Episode 3 is pretty good until Grievous dies, at which point it becomes godawful. Terribly-written romance destroyed Episode 2, but I'd be lying if I said there weren't one or two enjoyable scenes.


Honestly, with Star Wars, I think there's an incredible example of selective remembering going on. Episode 4, really, was not a great film, and it doesn't stand up in the harsh light of day. Episode 1 outclasses it. Episodes 5 & 6 are pretty damn great, certainly.

(Of course, the prequels do contain the very worst the series had to offer; Midichlorians, Jar Jar, terrible romance, irritating angsty Anakin. But, if people are remembering Episode 4 as great modern cinema, they need to take a step back).

 

[Rylingo]

The prequel movies were pretty bad. There was serious errors made in their creation. Combine this with huge expectation and fan excitement and you have a perfect storm of hatred.

But my opinion is that the movies were awful. I've seen worse though.

The original movies just completely outclass the prequels in terms of characters, plot, pacing, atmosphere and in some surprising cases special effects (thanks to some pretty bad blue screen).

 

[Clowndoe]

Almost everything covered in the Harry Plinkett reviews really. If you're from some other planet go look it up on Youtube, it's worth your time.

I think the biggest stand out for me was when I watched it in a marathon with some friends some months ago. If asked to think of a typical scene from the middle of the prequel movies, you're bound to see 2-3 bland characters from a slightly elevated camera in a big CG room, talking about plot development while walking slowly towards the camera, stopping halfway through the scene (presumably because they ran out of blue-screen) before finishing their discussion, next scene. Viewer is flacid.

If I do the same exercise in Empire Strikes Back for example, I find they make the most hum-drum scenes awesome. Like that time Admiral Piett reports to Darth Vader while he's changing his helmet. Vader is sitting in a scary meditation room thing with jaw-like doors, and you barely catch a glimpse of the dark lord in his "vulnerability" from a lower angle. Piett looks super nervous since he doesn't have much good news and he caught Vader at an awkward time, and in a scene that's essentially just plot advancement and exposition they managed to give you both tension and striking and tantalising visual evidence of what Vader really is beneath his armored suit. That gets me pumped.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Hate the prequels. The Jedi Council blabbering, the Coruscant Senate blabbering, the Trade Federation blabbering, the Midichlorians blabbering, Hayden's acting skills and character overall, the obscene amount of chroma-key and CG which already looks like crap compared to the classy puppets...

 

[verdant monkai]

Because of this slimey little fucker

Phantom mencae is in my top 50 ten boring-est films list. Kid Anakin couldn't act. Darth Maul looked cool but said nothing. And there was way too much emphasis on the Naboo crap, rather than Jedi stuff.

The second film is pretty bland but is saved by the awesome end battle. And I actually really liked the revenge of the Sith. I think its almost as good as the old ones.

 

[Jamieson 90]

I'd rank them like this from best to worst.

1. Empire Strikes Back.
2. Return of the Jedi.
3. Revenge of the Sith.
4. A New Hope.
5. The Phantom Menace
6. Attack of the Clones.

So yeah the prequels weren't exactly great films but then they weren't terrible either, however I think people often forget that they most likely watched the originals as kids and loved them, yet they were adults for the prequels whereas that generations of kids most likely loved them too, and considering that I've found that if you look back at the originals that some of the scenes just don't hold up, hence why A New Hope was relegated to 4th on my list under Revenge of the Sith which in comparison had some amazing lightsaber battles whereas ANH was a bit boring on reflection to be honest, yes great when it came out but not so much these days.

 

[Nomanslander]

Just go watch Red Letter Media's reviews of the prequels.

Never has there been a more well conceived lamentation and criticism of anything - ever created. Not only does he explain, point by point, in detail, everything that's wrong with them; he also does something most critics don't do and explains what could have been done to save them, and he's concepts are on point.

http://redlettermedia.com/plinkett/star-wars/