Yay or nay on the new star wars movies? Personally, I enjoyed them, but I often feel like they are missing some of the magic that made the original trilogy so special.
Thoughts?
They were theatrical masterpieces the likes of which are rarely seen. Why Hollywood even continues to make movies now that everything they produce will be compared to episodes 1-3 is a mystery to me.
I think Ep. 2 was a great movie that unfortunately had a crappy movie stuck in the middle of it.
Darth Maul was cool.
That’s about it.
Sparing the details, 1-3 lacked the elemental, mythic components that gave the first three (or the first two and bits of #3, er, #6) real resonance. #1-3 were just some movies about some space dudes doing some space stuff.
Whaddaya think Starbuck’s midichlorian (?) count is?
I like them well enough, though the more I watch them, the more I see their faults. Part of it is also that I wasn’t even alive when the first two Star Wars movies came out, so it was cool to have the new Star Wars movie viewing experience - Mom and I would always go to the midnight showings together, I swear we were the only mother-daughter pair there.
I absolutely adore John Williams’ scores, they made possible my suspension of disbelief so that I could ignore the not excellent acting and terrible dialogue. I also enjoyed the effects, because, well, pretty flashing lights in space make me happy. And Hayden Christiansen is kinda hot, so that didn’t hurt.
So I guess I’m a yay, though not as enthusiastic as I would have been a few years ago.
For me, the prequels are pure eye candy. They are more enjoyable as a silent film with the Williams score thrown over them. Anakin’s story is less interesting than his son’s and I blame Lucas for that.
All George needed to do was, create the framework and allow others to use their talents. If he were to post jobs for screenwriter or director for those films, the line would have been around the corner with some of the best in the business and these people would have worked for free. Imagine Christopher Nolan or Tarantino or David Fincher or even Spielberg behind the camera and I’m not even gonna list the ton of writers he could have had at his disposal.
Arguably the best Star Wars film, ESB had two great screenwriters (Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan) and a director (Irvin Kershner) who worked with the actors to make a great piece of cinema. For the prequels George had no filter. He was a kid in a candy shop. Should we blame Rick McCallum for this? The great tech involved in the films allowed them to see the dailies live. Someone needed to step up and say, “Looks great on the page but you can’t say this shite, George” or something to that effect.
For the original trilogy, the movies’ framework was filled with mythological archetypes and themes. This made the story interesting and accessible. All of that is missing in the prequels. It is a Faustian descent into darkness which ‘Apocalypse Now’ proves is obscure at best. I’m not saying it couldn’t be done or that it couldn’t be done well either. All the directors I mentioned earlier are perfectly capable of making a dark character and story accessible to the masses. Lucas is not. I believe he is a genius storyteller. He’s just not good at expressing it. We all have great ideas but try expressing them in a character driven story. Not so easy.
Lucas was telling his own story. Power corrupts absolutely. No one opposed his reign except the powerless fans. The fun that could have been suffered.
I agree completely with everything 'talos said.
Hits the nail on the head.
Lucas was obsessed with visual effects and the outcome was three very childish movies.
I like it that you mentioned Apocalypse Now, which was based on Joseph Conrad’s novella “Heart of Darkness” and this is exactly what the prequels could have been: a journey down the Kongo River of Anakin’s soul. What they turned out to be was, to be consistant to my metaphor, a water slide ride.
I agree with Frakkintalos’ post completely, especially his last statement. To focus on the positive, here are three things I enjoyed from each of the first three films:
Phantom Menace
[ol]
[li]The opening moment when through the smoke two lightsabers suddenly appear[/li][li]Darth Maul fight[/li][li]-[/ol]Attack of the Clones[/li][ol]
[li]Anakin post Sandpeople encounter. “I killed them all”[/li][li]Jar Jar binks gives Palpatine emergency powers, creating the Empire.[/li][li]Everything in the “fourth reel” after the line, “This party’s over”[/ol]Phantom Menace[/li][ol]
[li]Yoda fight[/li][li]General Grievous fight[/li][*]Jedi uprising and betrayal[/ol]
Being an old fart and one who saw episodes 4-6 on the “big screen” when they were originally released, I vote “meh” on episodes 1-3. They were somewhat entertaining and it was good to see Anakin’s “back-story” and his conversion to the dark side even if it wasn’t the best story-line ever. The rest - “meh”. 
One other thing, I agree with the comments on how they messed up Anakin’s back-story. I think it could have been even darker, but I understand that wouldn’t have appealed to some of the target age groups. It almost felt like Lucas didn’t understand that people who liked Luke, liked him in spite of his whininess, not because of it. So, we end up with whiny Anakin also. “Like my father before me…”
I liked most the battle scenes, but I will admit I did like the pod race scene—I am probably in the minority on that one.
Oh yeah, a webisode with the last couple of minutes where they put him in the suit would have done nicely.
As another old fart who saw the originals on the big screen, I actually don’t mind the prequels at all. They’re a lot of fun, light entertainment with tons of eye candy and the occassionally interesting moment (mostly in episode III). I think the biggest problem most fans of the originals have with these prequels is that it accentuates the fact that the originals are movies intended for children and young adolescent boys. Even Empire, which, granted, is the most interesting and complex of all six films, is a children’s fable (though, like a lot of classic fables before they were sanitized by our Puritan and Victorian forebears, an extremely dark one). Which is not to say that they are bad films (though they are not GREAT ones either, at least from a technical standpoint) or not always profound (most children’s fables are, by necessity, extremely profound). I think this bothered many in my generation, but it’s fine by me.
I do think it would’ve been interesting to see what other directors and writers would do when left to play in Lucas’ world, though.
I totally agree, Armando. I hope I’m not coming off as a hater because I love all of the Star Wars films. My point was and still is that the original trilogy was a children’s fable yet the prequels were a trade dispute Ben-Hur chariot race, From here to Eternity war romance, and a confusing Faustian downfall (wait what happened there? Oh he’s Vader now. What did I miss?). I just thought with all the cash allocated for the project, it coulda had better execution on the story front.
as a young fart who was 10, 13, and 16 when the prequels came out, they’ll always have a special place in my heart. yes, upon building a more mature appreciation for the art of filmmaking and screenwriting, i’ll concede that they are not the most masterfully crafted films of all time, but i’ll always love them.
Hey, all the cash in the world doesn’t buy one talent.
(That’s a bit unfair, though, since George Lucas is obviously talented. What he should have spent his money on was a support staff that wasn’t made up of a bunch of yes men. Had he had some real critical voices reviewing his script, like he did back when he wrote the first film, he could’ve pulled off something spectacular and astounding.)
Maybe he’ll fix that when he makes the Special Editions of Eps 1-3.
Totally agreed.
As funny as that is claps hands that is the only thing you can’t fix.
I can’t find much good to say about 1-3, as far as script, acting, storylines, frankly, in that regard I almost wish they’d never been made.
I did enjoy seeing Liam Neeson as a Jedi, I like the actor. Having said that, the only other things I enjoyed were the technical aspects. The Darth Maul on Jedi fight sequence in “1” was phenomenal, took the whole lightsaber thing to a new level, stunning! Seeing Yoda in his prime, well, sort of, and kicking some major butt…again, special effects just awesome! And the finale Anakin/Vader on Kenobi lava-brawl…it was the stuff of legend for fans of 4, 5, and 6, and HAD to be filmed. And it was pretty darned good too.
Count me a solid fan of the original 3. The sequels…not so much.
I wish I were kidding about a remake of Eps 1-3. There was talk that Lucas’s plan is to re-edit all 6 of the films.
If he were smart, he’d get the guy who did “The Phantom Edit” to do them. (If you haven’t looked at that story in a while, click through. The creator is now identified (and it’s not Smith.))