4th September 2011, 1:44 AM
I'd forgotten how much you hate the PT, GR. It's sad, but you're so wrong about it... :(
Did I respond to that '09 thing at the time? Which thread's it from?
As for Jar-Jar, I've said before that I like the character concept, but dislike the stupid, not often funny humor he's stuck with all the time. That is what I think of him.
And even beyond that, each film has some great action scenes. They're Star Wars movies, so they're action movies first, and each is full of memorable action. Ep. 1 has the Podrace, the journey through the sea, etc, ep. 2 has that great Coruscant chase scene and the arena/clone v. robot battle, Yoda fighting... and ep. 3 of course has the opening battle (I don't know why you say it's bad, but it isn't), lots of great lightsaber fights, etc. I just don't agree at all that they are badly shot or something.
But beyond that, the Tatooine segment pointless? What? How could it be pointless? It's the backstory of one of the series' central characters, and it's important to the story of the episode too... sure, it is true that TPM isn't as good as the other movies (I like TPM, but it is the weakest of the six films), and it is a somewhat less exciting movie than the others, but still it's mostly a reasonably entertaining movie, if not as good as it perhaps "should" have been as the first new Star Wars movie in such a long time.
As for that deathsticks dealer thing, that was just a short joke scene, and I'd say it was kind of amusing.
Did I respond to that '09 thing at the time? Which thread's it from?
Great Rumbler Wrote:Young Anakin destroying that Trade Federation ship by accident was still pretty painful to watch, though.All Star Wars movies have a million accidents or cooincidences that are key to the plot, that's nothing special about just ep. 1...
Quote:What hurts those last two PT films is the way Anakin is made to be a whiney self centered bitch rotten from the start, his contrived love story with Padme is just painful to watch, The little Anakin of the Phantom menace is annoying too but tolerable compared to his adolescent stage & Jar Jar binks .I agree that Anakin was a whiny teenager in the second and third movies, and his motivations were kind of stupid, but that was the whole point... he wasn't thinking things through, and he was a teenager and made some stupid decisions that he then had to stick with. It's not entirely implausible. I guess the issue is just that people wanted Vader to be cooler than that, but eh, Anakin was in fact a powerful Jedi, etc (see the Clone Wars cartoon for instance, as well as the movies)... I mean, sure, Anakin could have been better, but could have been worse too.
As for Jar-Jar, I've said before that I like the character concept, but dislike the stupid, not often funny humor he's stuck with all the time. That is what I think of him.
Great Rumbler Wrote:1. Trying Too Hard [repeating memorable phrases from the OT, lots of obvious OT references everywhere, and the humor]They're prequels, and some of the same characters appear, there should be references!
Quote:2. The Humor [in TPM it was Jar Jar being horribly clumsy all the time, in AotC it was C-3PO suddenly spouting puns for no reason; in general just a lot of slapstick humor that was rarely present in the OT aside from a little bit in Return of the Jedi and the added Mos Eisley scene in A New Hope]You are right that the PT isn't as funny as the OT. There are bits that are, but overall the PT just isn't as funny. And yes, it is a failing of the trilogy. I also would agree that the attempts to put in more "child-friendly" humor like Jar-Jar were bad ideas. Even though eps 2 and 3 mostly dropped that, they didn't add enough humor to make them as funny as the OT movies. However, they are good movies anyway.
Quote:3. No Memorable Action Scenes [the battle with Darth Maul and the pod race are pretty good, as well as some scattered scenes in the other two movies; overall the action scenes are just flat, devoid of impact. They're poorly paced, poorly set up, and lack for imagination and sense]That's completely insane... First, the PT has FAR superior lightsaber fights to the OT. I mean, in comparison to the PT lightsaber battles, the few, short lightsaber fights in the OT are completely pathetic. They're short, light on action, not nearly as acrobatic and exciting, and more. And each PT movie ramps it up from the second one. The climactic Obi-Wan/Anakin battle in episode 3 was quite impressive for instance, but so was the Darth Maul fight in ep. 1...
And even beyond that, each film has some great action scenes. They're Star Wars movies, so they're action movies first, and each is full of memorable action. Ep. 1 has the Podrace, the journey through the sea, etc, ep. 2 has that great Coruscant chase scene and the arena/clone v. robot battle, Yoda fighting... and ep. 3 of course has the opening battle (I don't know why you say it's bad, but it isn't), lots of great lightsaber fights, etc. I just don't agree at all that they are badly shot or something.
Quote:4. Bloated [there are way too many scenes and lines of dialog that only exist to pad out the movie or to simply state the obvious; scenes range from minute, like the deathsticks dealer in Attack of the Clones, to massive, like the Tatooine segment from The Phantom Menace which took up nearly a third of the run time but served no purpose other than to introduce Anakin]I like the political aspect to the movies. I think that the PT benefits from setting the series more clearly in a working universe -- one of my complaints about A New Hope is that it's just too simple, it's just this adventure film but doesn't have the greater context that the other movies have. So I do like things like setting the scene, having scenes in the Senate showing what's going on there, etc. They make the movies better.
But beyond that, the Tatooine segment pointless? What? How could it be pointless? It's the backstory of one of the series' central characters, and it's important to the story of the episode too... sure, it is true that TPM isn't as good as the other movies (I like TPM, but it is the weakest of the six films), and it is a somewhat less exciting movie than the others, but still it's mostly a reasonably entertaining movie, if not as good as it perhaps "should" have been as the first new Star Wars movie in such a long time.
As for that deathsticks dealer thing, that was just a short joke scene, and I'd say it was kind of amusing.