Star Wars Rewatch

[Hussar]

Well I find myself laid up for a while with some back issues. So I decided that I am
Going to watch a lot of the Star Wars series in chronological order. Not all of it mind you. Six seasons of Clone Wars is a bit much. I’m not quite that laid up. I hope.

So I just finished watching Phantom Menace. I’d seen it years ago and never watched it again- mostly on the feeling that the movie was terrible.

It’s not. It’s nowhere near as bad as critics make it out to be. Lots of action, visually stunning and a decent story. Sure there’s some pretty bad acting, but, it’s not like I watch Star Wars for the acting.

Yup some of the accents and whatnot are definitely pretty cringeworthy these days. But y’know what? Jar Jar isn’t all that bad. Pretty standard goofy Star Wars fare. And hes not actually in all that much of the movie.

Fight scene with Maul is still one of the best lightsaber scenes ever. Music score is fantastic.

Is it the best movie ever? Of course not. But it’s also nowhere near as bad as I remember. I think I bought into the general fandom wankery a bit too much

Interested to see how Attack oftheClones holds up.

 

[TerraDave]

It was disappointing all those years ago, and it has multiple issues, but it looks better after watching the sequels.

 

[billd91]

I feel Phantom Menace is the best of the three prequels, but there are areas it distinctly suffers. The pod race is too long. Anakin’s space antics are too cheesy. Jake Lloyd needed a better director to get a better performance out of him. And the Gungans are too uncomfortably cringey/racist.

Absolutely the best lightsaber fight in the prequels.

 

[Zardnaar]

Heh had this conversation last night. Think my last rewatch was 2004 for the OT.

On rewatch TPM isn't as bad as AotC or RoS. Disappointment fades a there's worse.

 

[Deset Gled]

I have also had the experience of re-starting on Star Wars as I watch it with my kids. If had to describe The Phantom Menace in one word it would be: goofy.

I'll agree that the spectacle of Star Wars was definitely upheld in TPM. The special effects mostly hold up. Pod racing is exciting. Lots of lightsabers. But part of the magic of A New Hope was that it wasn't just a splashy special effects romp. Under the veneer, it was a solid adventure story. OTOH, when you look under the shiny bits and at the fundamental story of The Phantom Menace its just, well, bizarre. Lots of jumping around to random locations. People show up and disappear. The tone is all over the place. Things happen in TPM because the narrative demands they happen, not because it makes any logical sense in terms of a plot.

But it really is the goofiness that stood out to me. Young Anakin pulls some Little Rascal hijinks to wind up in a starfighter and does "fun tricks" that end up accidentally blowing up a trade federation mothership. Jar Jar took takes down battle droids by stomping his feet around in random directions to fire lasers with deathly precision. Tatooine is a tough world of slavery, but it's the fun kind of slavery where kids still build hot rods in their garage with friends. And as fun as pod racing is, it's basically on par with Speed Racer in terms of realism.

Comparing that to the drama of Luke blowing up the Death Star or the battle of Hoth, TPM is barely in the same genre. Even compared to the ewoks in Return of the Jedi, TPM is a joke (that's somehow built around complex intergalactic politics).

The funny thing is that the kids were first introduced to Jar Jar and other elements of The Phantom Menace from Lego Star Wars before the movie. The were viewing it from a POV of slapstick and cartoons. And from that POV, it was exactly what they expected to see. So they took the goofiness in stride without question.

 

[Hussar]

It was disappointing all those years ago, and it has multiple issues, but it looks better after watching the sequels.

Y’know, I have to say that after watching a bunch of the other stuff, a lot of this makes more sense to me. I think the first time around I mostly had no idea who most of the characters were.

Watching it now seems to make a lot more sense to me.

 

[Hussar]

Ive just finished Attack of the Clones. Yeah imma binge watching this. Next up according to Disney Plus is the final season of Clone Wars. Figure that’s not a bad idea.

AotC is … not great. Again gotta hand it to Lucas. It’s freaking gorgeous. Say what you like but that guys can frame a scene like nobody’s business.

But wow does he blow large steaming chunks trying to do a live story. Yeesh. Planks are looking at these actors and saying, “dude that’s pretty wooden”.

I get the idea of Vader as petulant teen bothered people. Fair enough.

I really do think that StarWars actually does abut better on the small screen with a longer format. More time to fit stuff in.

Like why the heck are r2d2 and C3PO in this movie. Serve no purpose at all. Totally not needed.

There’s an awful lot of stuff going on and not much explanation.

 

[Deset Gled]

AotC is … not great. Again gotta hand it to Lucas. It’s freaking gorgeous. Say what you like but that guys can frame a scene like nobody’s business.

But wow does he blow large steaming chunks trying to do a live story. Yeesh. Planks are looking at these actors and saying, “dude that’s pretty wooden”.

...

There’s an awful lot of stuff going on and not much explanation.

Watching AotC in the theater reminded me of watching Aliens Vs Predator in the theater.

Compared to the source material, pretty low quality story and acting. But you walk out loving the ludicrous final fight where [Yoda lightsaber fights Dooku]/[a predator fights a xenomorph]. Does it make any sense? Of course not. Is it fun? Of course. You walk out of that theater loving it, until you think about it again the next day.

 

[MarkB]

I tried a rewatch a couple of weeks ago. Crashed out of Phantom Menace on first exposure to Jar Jar, and skipped straight to Revenge of the Sith. That one I got through just fine simply by skipping every single scene between Anakin and Padme.

 

[Imaculata]

I remember Revenge of the Sith being decent. It has a few cringe moments, but a stellar opening that feels more Star Wars than The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones combined.

Is it a good movie though? No, not really. But it is entertaining.