Rate the Star Wars Movies

[Morrus]

Fans of the prequels very much do exist

Literally not what I said. Read it again, please.

 

[Jester David]

Literally not what I said. Read it again, please.

at
The author or the first link ranks Revenge of the Sith as their favourite,
I do think that in 20 years the 25yo who were introduced to Star Wars via the prequels might view them with the same nostalgia. And right now they might well enjoy those films like I enjoyed A New Hope prior to the prequels.
Because ANH isn't that good. Not on paper. It has terrible dialogue, poor pacing, flat characters, and is tropey as . It uses plots from radio and film serials that were already three decades old that point. It's good largely because or nostalgia. And you can see how well Star Wars does in places with out that nostalgia by looking at China, where it is crushed at the box office.

 

[billd91]

at
The author or the first link ranks Revenge of the Sith as their favourite,
I do think that in 20 years the 25yo who were introduced to Star Wars via the prequels might view them with the same nostalgia. And right now they might well enjoy those films like I enjoyed A New Hope prior to the prequels.
Because ANH isn't that good. Not on paper. It has terrible dialogue, poor pacing, flat characters, and is tropey as . It uses plots from radio and film serials that were already three decades old that point. It's good largely because or nostalgia. And you can see how well Star Wars does in places with out that nostalgia by looking at China, where it is crushed at the box office.

No, the prequels won't be viewed the same - for most kids of the 90s and 2000s I know, they fall short of that mark already. There's too much competition and they've already been eclipsed by better storytelling in The Clone Wars and Rebels animated series.

The original trilogy looms large and it's not because of nostalgia. It's because in the realm of what was possible in cinema, Star Wars came along and blew the roof off the dump. How many special effects-laden movies make use of Industrial Light and Magic or Skywalker Sound? Star Wars generated a whole branch of the movie-making industry full of ground-breaking stuff, including THX and Pixar.

 

[Jester David]

No, the prequels won't be viewed the same - for most kids of the 90s and 2000s I know, they fall short of that mark already. There's too much competition and they've already been eclipsed by better storytelling in The Clone Wars and Rebels animated series.

The original trilogy looms large and it's not because of nostalgia. It's because in the realm of what was possible in cinema, Star Wars came along and blew the roof off the dump. How many special effects-laden movies make use of Industrial Light and Magic or Skywalker Sound? Star Wars generated a whole branch of the movie-making industry full of ground-breaking stuff, including THX and Pixar.

Honestly, what my son (currently 8yo) will probably be most nostalgic for regarding Star Wars won’t be any of those things.
It will be the Lego Star Wars shorts and series. Freemaker Adventures and Yoda Chronicles...

 

[delericho]

Even the kids who liked the prequels don't rank them as classics in the way we did the originals. When they're our age, they won't be reminiscing about the Star Wars prequels with rose-covered glasses in the way we do the OT. They'll be reminiscing about something, but it won't be the Star Wars prequels. Those three films never had that cultural zeitgeist.

My guess for that "something else" would be Harry Potter - the first film in that series hit in 2001, between TPM and AotC.

Of course, JKR is now running into trouble with her own set of prequels. Maybe in twenty years Disney will buy that IP, too?

 

[Zardnaar]

Never got into Harry Potter. Shrugs.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

There will undoubtedly be fans of the prequels, but the difference to the original Star Wars then and Star Wars today is that there is much more competition that is also succesful, across all media. It leads to much more segmentation. Someone will be nostalgic for something... But they might all have different IPs they will be nostalgic for.

 

[Imaculata]

We're going to have to agree to vehemently disagree on that point. Rey's ancestry being nobodies was a fantastic choice and I hope Abrams doesn't track back on it. It's about time one of the Force-using protagonists embodies the return of the Force to being the birthright of anybody and not just a Skywalker.

My issue with it, is that it is no answer at all. The first movie sets up an expectation that there is a reason for Rey's powers... and then the conclusion to that plot hook is that there is no answer... I don't find that very compelling writing. It is a twist of a sort for sure... but was that really the best they could come up with?

And this movie flipped the table each time.
Suddenly we're out of our comfort zone and unhappy.

(And then people complain about every Marvel movie being the same.)

Sometimes when you flip the table, all you're left with is a mess.

So a double Anakin who only had a mom?
But... doesn't that just create more questions? (How? Why?) And it makes her a weird child of destiny/ chosen one.

I think I like that angle better than what they went with. Yes, it creates more questions, which could be explored in movie 3.

Why? We know more about him than Snoke and he's demonstrated a willingness to kill his parents and butcher innocents. What more do we need?

Because I feel he still hasn't made the journey to the darkside yet. TFA leaves a little doubt hanging.

Why does the origin of her Force powers have to be known? Literally no other Jedi apart from Luke has an origin for their Force powers (as there's no other Jedi bloodlines). We don't know the origin of Palpatine's power. Or Yoda's. Or Mace Windu's, and he was probably the most powerful Jedi we've seen on screen.

Because in the trailer to TLJ they make a big deal out of it, and it would explain why she is able to use her powers so quickly in TFA. In a way they set it up already, but didn't follow up on it. I think it is an interesting angle to her character.

It needs to be good vs evil.

Why? Everyone keeps criticizing Disney Star Wars about never doing anything new, and repeating beats from previous movies. And yet here is a chance to truly do something unexpected, and you don't want them to do it? Why?

Having Rey fall and be saved by Ren and the Resistance also makes the end of the trilogy focused on redeeming a fallen Jedi, which was basically the plot of Return of the Jedi. Plus, it basically means Rey is a damsel that has to be saved (albeit from herself) and makes her less morally strong than Luke and Leia, since she wasn't able to resist the pull of the Dark Side. (Plus it pretty much negates Rey's status the first real female protagonist in Star Wars by making her the end villain of the Trilogy.)

I don't think any of this is true. Having to be saved from yourself does not make you a damsel in distress. Having her succumb to the dark side does not make her morally less strong than previous characters, because the previous movies have already set up that the darkside can be very tempting, especially when it exploits feelings of fear and grief. Giving Rey a weakness in her character is good writing in my opinion, and the only way to get away from the feeling that she is a Mary Sue character. I also don't think it reduces her protagonist status. In fact, it makes her take central stage more. One of my issues with TLJ, was that it didn't seem to know what to do with Rey and her journey. It didn't seem to know how she fit into the story.

The end goal of the movie should be about stopping him.

It could have been about stopping Snoke, or the First Order as a whole.

Which is still weird as we know nothing of the Knights of Ren beyond their name. We don't really have a reason to care about them beyond them being a bunch of lesser Kylo Rens. The most interesting thing about them is really the mystery, and when you fill than in they will inevitably be less cool.
Think about it: they're former students of Luke who turned on the academy with Ren. They're basically the fallen Jedi equivalent of Crabbe and Goyle.

I think they could and should have tied them to Luke's plot in TLJ. It would have given Luke and Rey a common enemy to fight, and allowed them to better explain why Luke is in exile, while building up the threat of Kylo Ren. The big fight with Snoke's guards was nice and all, but really something they should have saved for the third movie.

Disney really should have thought all of this out before making any of the movies.

 

[trappedslider]

As someone who grew up with the prequels, I vastly prefer them over the OT. The awkward romance dialogue between Anakin and Padme is believable for me because that's how it was with my first few relationships growing up and in some cases it's still awkward lol. When I first watched ANH back in the mid 90s my reaction to the fight between Obi and Vader was basically, "that's it? oh okay."

RotS was the frist movie I camped out for.

 

[Eltab]

I'm a child of the nineties. Granted, I'm not that fond of the prequels, but being that fond of Star Wars after the 80's is not really feasible. The OT was groundbreaking and highly influential, but that is the problem, everything made after the OT is heavily influenced by it, where once it was a fresh new thing, it barely stands apart by now.

By the time the original trilogy was re-released in the mid nineties, I had been bombarded by countless parodies, shot outs and homages of it to really care. -And lets not go into the empire strikes back main plotwist that has been spoiled to death-. Then the Phantom menace came out and I got to watch something that truly stood out. By proxy it also gave me a reason to care about the OT as well. Suddenly I knew I wanted to watch the originals, to see what comes after that. Back to today, you won't see a single thing of SW parafernalia, no toys, no nothing, just a couple of old Playstation games and the six movies in Blu-ray in a single package, six movies together as a whole that I hold fondly.

I was a child during the 1970s and I approve this* message.

* suitably edited - who is Seinfeld?