Why does everyone hate the prequals????

[Talvrae]

Lucas is pretty good a telling simple story, the Original trilogy is in is core a simple story, good vs evil, a farm boy grow up to become a hero...

But the prequel arent simple, and Lucas fail to tell the story, there is tell of corruption falling from grace, poulical intrigue, treason, double dealing... and Lucas is unable to get a take on thouse complex story element and make them cohesive... and the actors where poorly directed. natalie Portman make a wooden Padme... but she is great in almost every other movie she have done

[TheManicJedi]

I will keep my answer simple.

 

 

I love the Prequels, and I do not care if people criticize me. Episode III is one of my all time fave films.

[Atamosk]

its not so much that i cant sit down and watch these movies (i havent tried since i first saw them but hey) and get some enjoyment out of them, i mean who cant watch a bad movie and have fun,

 

but as a critique of cinema these movies just stink to high heaven. thats all. these movies really show how not great of a movie maker george really is. The first movies had character, and a certain grit with all the set building and location filming that is lost in a film where the characters where using green screen the entire time.

 

plus all the goofy **** in them just made them stupid.

 

but lets be honest that started in 6th movie with those ****y bears

[Tarsh]

I LOVED the Phantom Menace. Mainly cause of the end battles (Darth maul VS Qui-gon and Obi-Wan -- Gungans vs Droids) and offcourse Jar Jar.

 

The Clone Wars was "meh...", had a few good moments, but overall coudl've been better.

 

I hated The Revenge of the Sith purely cause of the actor who played Anakin Skywalker, Hayden Christopher. His acting was sub-par in The Clone Wars and in this movie was absolutely DISMAL! Also, his terribad acting dragged Ewan McGreggor's acting down.

 

The only good thing about The Revenge of the Sith was Obi-Wan vs Anakin, but it ended to abruptly by Obi-Wan utilizing the Sokan combat style (using the environment itself to gain a tactical advantage in combat.) and cutting Anakin's legs off.

 

I was like; "What the flux? That's it?"

 

you consider a 45 minute fight scene to be quote on quote "ended abruptly?"

[Aileanjeune]

The final fight scene between Obi-Wan and Anakin was horrible. That was the movie's one chance to redeem itself and it blew it. Who cares if they had to practice swinging sticks really fast for a million dollars? I would too if I was getting paid for it!

 

It was a stupid, ridiculous fight with no realism in it. That's why I like the originals' fights better- they actually look like they're fighting with swords, whereas the prequel jedi fight with pixie sticks or something. There's no believe-ability to it and so there is no tension. Its watching something we can't understand and waiting for it to be over so that we know what the outcome of the "fight" was.

 

Actually, the episode 1 fight was pretty cool.

[arkanone]

No likeable characters. We went from Han Solo, Darth Vader and Yoda to Hayden Crapenson and Jar Jar.

 

Darth Maul and Sidious were actually the closest we got...and Maul was just a minor Boba Fett type of character.

 

Sidious could have actually been a very cool character(if not the type you actually care that much about) and it's great to see SWTOR tap into the fun of being a totally evil sith.

 

But anyway mark my words, there will be more SW movies made. Hopefully Lucas will man up and let someone else take the helm and do a respectable job with the awesome universe he created.

[LotusMN]

The plot for the prequels was absolute garbage.

The dialogue was garbage.

Heck, even most of the fight scenes were garbage.

 

Personally, I think the reason for the train-wreck was three-fold (two are very similar):

 

1. No one dared question Lucas' judgment because he is the creator of the original trilogy.

 

2. Lucas got divorced from his wife who insiders say played a considerable role in editing the original movies (both literally) and from an overall creative standpoint.

 

3. Starting as far back as RotJ, the studio became far more concerned with monetizing SW to the maximum potential rather than actually making good movies. Did you know that RotJ was actually partly rewritten to include Ewoks and other misc. elements so that they could make more toys? Studio directors had complained that ESB did not contain enough material for merchandising tie-ins.

 

This trend becomes even more apparent in the prequels. We have the whole pod-racing thing (I mean seriously, ***), Gungans vs. the droid armies, the entire AotC movie, etc.

 

Think of all the random crap they can make based off of those elements?

[Vianica]

Some of the responses in this thread just make me laugh. Yes, I like the prequels - I wouldn't say they were great movies, nor are they among my "favorite" movies, but I do like them.

 

And the Jar Jar hate... have you people never heard of comic relief? That was the whole point of Jar Jar. And for me, he did the role quite well. We needed at least one character to laugh at among all the seriousness, and Jar Jar was there, begging to be laughed at.

 

As for the question of Hayden Christiansen... I will admit that I've not seen every movie he's ever made, but every movie I have seen with him in it left me with the same feeling: he's not a person, he's a cardboard cutout. He may have looked the part (as in, he passed for a grown-up version of the kid in Episode 1), but that's about it. His one and only "talent" is his pretty-boy face.

 

I had to laugh at the notion of Leonardo DiCaprio being a better Anakin because he's got a "bigger build" and would look more "Darth Vader-ish". Sure... he does NOW. But all through his 20's and most of his 30's he was just as much of a skinny twig as Hayden Christiansen. Romeo and Juliet? Man in the Iron Mask? Titanic? (Which, if you'll recall, only came out about 2 years before Episode 1.) He looks like I could snap him in half with a bear hug. He's filled out quite a lot now, of course (and funnily enough, NOW I find him attractive whereas when he was thinner he just looked perpetually 12 years old to me), but back when those movies were made he would have been just as thin as HC, so that wouldn't even enter into the argument. I do find him to be an infinitely better actor, however, so that part I'd agree with.

 

Of course the movies could have been better. I could pick apart my favorite movies and find things that still could have been done better. But personally, I think anyone that honestly hates them that much either takes the whole thing way too seriously or has their cranium inserted way too far into their rectum.

 

This is, of course, one of those topics on which people will never completely agree. It's all subjective and all of the above is my own subjective opinion thrown into the pot. Here's your grain of salt to take it with: .

[Krobon]

I am seriously so sick of everyone bashing on Hayden Christenson. I am tired of it. You are all entitled to your opinions, don't get me wrong. You all have a right to believe what you want, but I cannot look at any of this whining without knowing the root cause;

 

the character of Anakin was bad.

 

I've heard very good things about Christenson's acting in other films such as Life as a House and Shattered Glass. He does not strike me as anything like a bad actor.

 

You all hate him because he is the face of Anakin Skywalker, and the Anakin Skywalker we got in the prequels was a whining, self-righteous, pretentious kid (after Ep. I).

 

And that is solely Lucas' fault. That is solely Lucas' bad directing. He has actually gone on record, there is footage of him, telling Hayden "be whinier." He SAYS THIS. And what's Hayden supposed to do? Tell George Lucas off?

 

Please, I beg you. Watch some of the behind-the-scenes for AotC and RotS. LOOK at Hayden's face. He looks annoyed, confused, and troubled whenever Lucas gives him acting directions. This isn't because he's a bad actor, it's because Lucas told him to act badly, because Lucas didn't give anyone else creative freedom.

 

You want more proof? Natalie Portman. Please don't try to tell me Natalie Portman is a bad actress. She's gotten numerous awards. She is critically acclaimed as an actress or films like Closer and Black Swan. Then why is her character so dry, uninteresting, and just generally horrible in Star Wars?

 

I'm going to bold/underline/italicize this.

 

The Director Sucked.

 

You think you could do better spending months walking around a totally green or blue room with nothing to interact with?

 

I just.... I'm sorry. I'm asking you; hate the character, hate the films, hate what Lucas tried to do. But please don't hate the people who were forced to put up with his horrible directing skills. They tried to work with what they were given and really they were given nothing.

 

I wholeheartedly support your statement and hope people take the time to read it through like I did.

[TekaruPrime]

I'll add my 2 cents to the comments so far..

 

As one who watched the original Star Wars in the theater as a small boy, I grew up with Star Wars. I've watched the OT countless times. I own way too many toys. Like others have said, I had ideas in my head of what happened in "Chapters 1-3" long before they were ever made into movies.

 

EVEN with all my expectations, I did enjoy the prequels. I still watch them from time to time.

 

BUT, like many people, I have my own "better" versions in my head.

 

For me, you can fix all three prequels by doing ONE THING: casting Hayden in Episode 1.

 

Get rid of the young boy, and that fixes SO many problems:

 

"too old" to learn to be a Jedi? HE WAS TEN! if you want that belief to have meaning, make Anakin be 15-16 in Episode 1.

 

chemistry with Padme (and the other characters) would be established much earlier.

 

Instead of a ridiculous 9-10 year gap between Ep 1 and Ep 2 we should have a 1-2 year gap.

THAT fixes so many other problems:

 

The Jedi don't appear to be SO STUPID when they are totally duped by Palpatine OVER 16 YEARS!! it would have been much more believable if events spiraled out of control in a matter of 2-3 years, so fast even Yoda couldn't figure out what was going on.

 

by establishing chemistry/romance in Ep 1, they could have spent more time showing Palpatine's machinations so they would have made more sense - and again, made the Jedi not look SO STUPID for falling for it all.

(Really? you KNOW these clone armies were made by a former Jedi-turned-Sith and you think it's okay to USE them?)

 

and so on. see? so many things influenced by ONE decision!

 

sorry for that tangent. but I hope that helps to answer your question why people 'hate' the prequels.

[hampushampus]

 

Watch all of those. They will make you hate George Lucas, for GOOOOOD reason.

 

I saw this when he made them, and i must say he cut Lucas by the knees, with fact talent and basic cinema storytelling basic.

 

So to answer your question of "why the hate ?" , basicly is that Lucas used a big budget and told us a story about how one man went from racecar driver at the age of 5 to become pure evil because..... ?

[Arconee]

I don't hate the prequels by any means...but they are completely pointless!

 

Why were they made? To tell the story of how Anakin became Darth Vader?

 

This is a story that we didnt need to see... the 10minute scene in the cave on tatooine between Obi-wan and Luke in A New Hope tells us all we need to know about the back story, snd those few minutes are better than the entire prequel triology.

 

We learn how Vader was "seduced" to the dark side, and how Obiwan and Vader were great friends...this is not even shown in the prequals.

[Venan]

I wholeheartedly support your statement and hope people take the time to read it through like I did.

 

Thank you, really. Honestly I have been very surprised. I was expecting annoyance. I was expecting to be told off or yelled at for my statements.

 

What I was not expecting was to be completely, horribly, utterly ignored.

 

 

I like Hayden as Anakin; he DOES indeed look the part. And he could have acted the part, IF he had been given a good part to act. But he wasn't. And so..... yeah.

[Vianica]

Why were they made?

From what I understand, they were made because back in the '70-s when Lucas first approached studios with the idea of the Star Wars movies, he wanted to make the entire series. It was the studio executives that basically told him he could do the last 3 or none at all. Fast forward 20 years and Lucas has enough money and influence that he can do whatever the hell he wants, so he finally makes the movies he'd wanted to make in the beginning. (I could be wrong, but that's the story as I understand it.)

 

I was expecting annoyance. I was expecting to be told off or yelled at for my statements.

You know... that's kind of sad. I can understand expecting people to not agree with you (and I don't), but expecting people to yell at you or slag you off?

 

Don't get me wrong, I realize this is the interwebs, but sometimes I feel like I'm the last person left on the interwebs who still knows how to disagree without deliberately going out of my way to make the person I disagree with feel terrible just because we have differing opinions.

 

But I suppose that's a topic for a whole 'nother thread entirely.

[Bielduwyn]

I don't hate the prequels by any means...but they are completely pointless!

 

Why were they made? To tell the story of how Anakin became Darth Vader?

 

So basically, the prequels exist to spoil The Empire Strikes Back and RotJ. The two major reveals/twists of those films are spoiled by Episode III.

Edited January 3, 2012 by Bielduwyn

[Mortec]

Redlettermedia, as referred to earlier, is nailed on for me.

 

I think the prequels are horrible.

 

Now, you could write page up and page down about it. But I'll try to, for me, sum it up.

 

They are infested with plot-holes. There are so many 'stupid' decisions made by characters and entities that someone really, really should have stopped Lucas.

[Ghrog]

Episode 1 is by far worst out of all episodes.

 

Episode 2 is good

 

Episode 3 imo restored the series and redeemed it to level of first movies.

 

This pretty much summs it up for me (although I would call episode 2 OK rather than good)

 

Jar Jar just flat out ruined Episode 1 for me. More Maul may have gone a long way in helping, but basically, my main complain from the first 1 is purely Jar Jar. I disliked the whole midichlorians thing. I prefered the force to remain "mystical" and a thing based more on religion than science. When you take something unexplained and mystical, and science it up, it tends to ruin it... take Highlander 2 as a perfect example.

 

Episode 2 was okay, the plot wasn't bad, but the acting from Hayden Christenson and Natalie Portman (whom I usually enjoy) as well as some horrid writing of the dialogue (which may have been a major component in why the acting was so bad. After all, no matter how much Mayo and mustard you put on it, a poop sandwich is still tastes like crap.) I even give a pass on the whiney aspect, after all, this is Lukes dad, like father like son. Hammil did a much better job with it though.

 

Episode 3 was great. Practically no Jar Jar, as Anakin slipped farther and farther to the dark side, his acting and lines actually improved. Yeah, the NOOOOO was pretty cheesy, but hey, after that fight between Anakin and Obi Wan, I'll let a bit of cheese pass. ;-)

[Ghrog]

On a side note, I recently saw an article about what order to show somebody new the movies in (you know, like your kids or something)

 

I like what the author came up with. His reccomendation was to watch them in this order

 

A New Hope

Empire Strikes Back

Phantom Menace

Attack of the Clones

Revenge of the Sith

Return of the Jedi

 

 

Basically, it lets people start where most of us did with episode 4... then at the end of Empire, you get the huge reveals dumped on you about Vader and it's all a huge cliffhanger... that when you essentially "flashback" for the first three episodes to tell the story of how they all got there... then after you know how Vader came to be and the history of the emporers ascent, then you watch the finale and close up the saga.

 

Yeah, totally off topic, but meh... why not. ;-)

[Lolliipopp]

 

Watch all of those. They will make you hate George Lucas, for GOOOOOD reason.

 

Thank you so much, they were über fun to watch.

[goldsilver]

Compared to the original 3 they're just night and day, epic and ehh...what?

 

but....

 

Pod Racers for N64? Man i loved that game! And where would it be without Episode 1

(obviously not mario kart status but in its own right it was epic)

Edited January 3, 2012 by goldsilver

[alienstalker]

Ok, how come everyone hates the prequals? Everywhere I go you someone saying the same thing. Heck, if you went to Celebration VI you'd see people outside of the convention center with signs yelling "JOIN THE DARKSIDE, HATE THE PREQUALS, HATE THE PREQUALS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Quite honestly I don't see whats wrong with them. I like both the prequals and the original trilogy. I don't think they are corny (ok, maybe a few very small spots), I don't think it was bad acting, and I loved the characters (except Jar Jar)!

 

So, to get to the point, what is wrong with the prequals?

 

I totally agree with you. Infact I liked the prequels more because they had more action than the original trilogy.

[JadeBranch]

The answer to the topic is simple, "Bandwagon vocal minority nerd rage".

 

Only on the internet do you find ppl spewing the vitrol and unmitigated hate about the prequals to the point of wanting ppl to die IRL because of them. In reality these same ppl are at each SW celebration every year with an Anakin or Jar Jar costume on.

 

It's not really a bandwagon thing. If you bothered to watch the link of the youtube video given on the first page of the thread you will see a very in depth review on why it was a bad movie. It seriously is over an hour long (although the review keeps you sitting there by making the whole thing absolutely hilarious).

 

The movies have very flat characters and the first one doesn't even have a main character. The script is poorly written. There is too much boring politcal dialogue. The fight scenes themselves are sterile, just like the rest of the movies, in that it's pretty and flawless, but gives you no reason to care.

 

They are movies of pretty effects and no emotion.

[RagnarokJC]

The answer to the topic is simple, "Bandwagon vocal minority nerd rage".

 

Only on the internet do you find ppl spewing the vitrol and unmitigated hate about the prequals to the point of wanting ppl to die IRL because of them. In reality these same ppl are at each SW celebration every year with an Anakin or Jar Jar costume on.

If your answer could be taken to mean that the people who apply critical thinking skills when evaluating films are the minority, then I'll agree. Otherwise, this post is complete nonsense.

 

To the OP: this thread has existed in many forms before the mods got rid of the Films and Television forum. Basically: the PT films are devoid of any real quality in terms of character development, writing, etc. Their appeal lies solely in their ability to dazzle the audience with CGI visual effects and lightsaber fight scenes. When you get older and more experienced, I'm willing to bet that you will ask yourself how you could have thought that those films were actually good.

[JediGerad]

I haven't read through all of this since my last reply, so forgive me if this topic was already covered. Sadly... It pertains to Jar-Jar.

 

I know that everybody hates him. I honestly didn't care for the character, but I don't have the dark side red rage that some people hold for the character. At this point in time you might be asking yourself why I feel that way. My answer is really one word.

 

Ewoks.

 

Some may say Jar-Jar was a failed C3-P0, but I liken the character more to an Ewok who talks more. And I thought the Ewoks were really dumb. I'd say that if we can all accept Ewoks, there is no reason to not accept Jar-Jar.

[Captain_Failure]

There's a distinct lack of "YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO LIKE THESE FILMS!" in this thread. This pleases me. Differing opinion is fine but these threads fall apart when one person tries to make their view on the matter law.

 

Usually the people to do so didn't like the prequels. I didn't, but no one has the right to force others what to enjoy.