series George Lucas says ESB is the worst film in the series.

Possible PREQUELS SPOILERS below.

I haven't watched them for a while now. Someone I borrowed them to is sitting on my copies. :P So I can't go and rewatch them. And I'm finding that I'm having trouble keeping the prequels straight.

I love that you referred to the Ewoks as Care Bears, Beatlesfan. :lol: Probably forevermore will I think of them and refer to them as Care Bears. Love that.

Things that were pretty cool in Attack of the Clones:

The assassination attempt on the ship transporting Padmé. Disturbing, but dramatically effective.

Tion Medon. What a fricking cool makeup and wardrobe job. And cool acting by a cool actor.

A bit of Obi Wan's investigation of the clone factory. Particularly his ship and how that worked.

The chase of Obi Wan through the astroid field.

And then the third act, pretty much. I remember, perhaps wrongly, that the CGI creatures in the arena were actually pretty effective.

And I love, love, love Christopher Lee as Count Dooku. Really, for me, Christopher Lee as Count Dooku might be the highlight of the entire prequel trilogy. I mean, of all the many bad choices made for the prequels, it's like, how did that brilliant stroke even happen?

The beheading of Jango Fett by Mace Windu. Now that was @!#$%^&*%. Oops, did I say that? Sorry. But true.

The Jedi-Sith fight.

And then the, I guess, beauty shot of the Clones' (and Emperor's) forces massing at the very end. And, like I already said, with a good surround sound system, that really sounds awesome.

****

The opening battle sequence of Revenge of the Sith did get pretty tiresome, particularly the "my padawan this," and the, "yes, Master, that."

Ug.

But the crash to Coruscant sequence was pretty excellent.

The final duel between Obi Wan and Anakin was pretty well done from a technical standpoint, I suppose. But I'm not as moved by it as you are, Beatlesfan. I'm left fairly cold by it on an emotional level since I really haven't bought into the story, even by then. That is, they haven't really sold me.

However, Ewan McGregor does do a fine job of imbuing that final exchange with some emotion and life. But he must have busted a nut doing it. What I mean is, if not for his strenous effort, that sequence would have remained even more DOA than it really is. Okay, but the action was pretty cool.

The brief scene in which Vader assassinates the Trade Federation/Separatist leaders (?) in the room on the Emperor's order is pretty cool, well done. Effectively sinister.

I find that the fight between Yoda and Sidious is pretty outstanding. It has some real feeling, some real entertainment value. It almost smacks of Original Star Wars. And like one reviewer said, Sidious is the only one in the whole film who's having any fun. And about the only fun for me, too.

*****


Maybe the biggest disappointment about the prequels for me is Anakin's backstory. So, the entire series is supposed to be about the fall and redemption of Anakin. Interesting. But boy, I wish it had turned out more compelling. I'm not saying I could have figured out anything better. And I think it was just a very tall order to come up with anything satisfying. And respect to Lucas for taking it on. But gee. Yeah.

But if I were to, with humility, make some suggestions on how it might have been better, first off, I would have said, let's not make him so whiny. But seriously. I'm not sure how, but I would have tried something a bit different.

I like to think that, anyway.

I'm pretty sure I'd ixnay the "Anakin foresees Padome's death and the portent drives him batty" stuff. I think what was needed to convince me that he would "go over" to the emperor's service was to do more establishing work showing us that he had an authoritarian personality, or other personality traits that would more naturally draw him to the dark side. Padmé is his lefty, hippie, or at least liberal girlfriend and foil. Yeah, I know there's that one scene which plays that a bit and briefly.

Or, possibly I'd keep it for the sake of making him more susceptible to being turned to the dark side on an emotional, very personal level. But with modifications.

But yeah. I just have not felt satisfied with how it turned out. But it was a really tough one to pull off convincingly. I guess I have warmed up to it a little more over the years, though.

*****

And for the love of God. Really? "The Prophecy?" And, "the Chosen One?" It's got to be one of the biggest, most annoying clichés by now, hasn't it? Oh, hate to say it, but I can imagine myself resorting to it too. I'll have to eat my words. Or maybe I should bite my tongue. I guess it's an easy convention to turn to. Yeah, it's easy. The least work. Path of least resistance. Shorthand.

And very, very tedious.

How many movies have resorted to this lazy convention?

Ug.

*******

Not much to say about Phantom Menace.

I'm a Liam Neeson fan. Cool character but misused in a disappointing story.

And Darth Maul's makeup and wardrobe were cool.

Yeah.



Boy, it's easy to go and on about this stuff.
 
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Thanks for all the responses!

I think I am going to watch the prequels if only to learn more about the Star Wars universe and see what happens with the stories. I actually saw Episode III when I was really young and parts of Episode I but I don't remember much about them.

I've heard of the 'Machete' order and I thought it was interesting, but for me that would only work assuming that the films were all of pretty similar quality, but after reading that the prequels were significantly weaker films I decided to just watch the original trilogy and see if I like it, and then decide whether to watch the prequels or not.
 
For me, it would be ESB at the very top of the list, New Hope second, and, well, Return way down at number 3 (reluctantly No 3). The prequels 1&2 are awful and deserve no ranking, but #3 is good after midway, but, with the first two leaving such a bad taste in my mouth ...
 
I'm sorry, but if you don't think the end fight between Obi Wan and Anakin isn't cinematic gold

I'm of the opinion that part was more style over substance. It felt like they got the pacing wrong when shooting and tried to rush the story when they got to editing. Yes it was pretty and all bit it didn't feel right to me.

Maybe it was due to Anakin's conversion to the dark side was so "convenient" that in hurt the story. "Hey dude, come join the Sith." "Oh, ok dude... lets go hack up Jedi" Not quite, but what was drawn out over Empire and Return seemed like it was rushed as an afterthought in ROTS to tie in with the other movies.
 
I'm of the opinion that part was more style over substance. It felt like they got the pacing wrong when shooting and tried to rush the story when they got to editing. Yes it was pretty and all bit it didn't feel right to me.

Maybe it was due to Anakin's conversion to the dark side was so "convenient" that in hurt the story. "Hey dude, come join the Sith." "Oh, ok dude... lets go hack up Jedi" Not quite, but what was drawn out over Empire and Return seemed like it was rushed as an afterthought in ROTS to tie in with the other movies.

That's how I feel about ROTS. :(
 
George Lucas says ESB is the worst film in the series.

Mr Lucas was using & inspired by The Force, when he came up with that statement.
smiley_colbert.gif


... and by "The Force", I mean large rocks of crack.
 
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