Star Wars prequels-why all the hate?

[Riderfan]

So been watching the marathon (here in Canada) of these movies a couple times this weekend and, as a Star Wars fan since '78 (yes '78, when the action figures came out) I don't understand why so many dislike these movies.

In fact it was only a few (several?) years ago reading stuff online that I realized that I'm not supposed to like these movies. And I sorta bought into that, for awhile.

Yup Jar Jar is annoying (as was reviewed in '99), as is young Anakin at times (and the pod racing is kinda goofy) and the Anakin/Padme love story is...well...kinda painful...

But most of the rest is all Star Wars, including some really cool light saber duels.

Anyone else out there not hate the prequels and just enjoy them for what they are?

K

[Nostalgiabuff]

i have always liked them for what they are. they all are terribly flawed but they also all have a lot of great moments. I don't even really mind Jar Jar. it's the terrible casting choices for Anikin and the stilted dialog Lucas wrote. But I can overlook all of that and still enjoy the movies

[Werewolf]

With the prequels, there's two extremist camps. The Lucas can do no wrong and the Lucas ruined my childhood. I try to avoid both of those groups. I actually think most people fall in the middle and don't hate the movies or might even enjoy them but do honestly admit they are legitimately bad.

[palitoy]

Lucas didn't ruin my childhood, I still like the originals but having been trapped with nothing but these on Showcase action all yule, yeah they're not good movies. The effects haven't aged well and the writing is just not good.

If folks enjoy them, have at it, preference is like that but to me, I have never found a way to enjoy them. Even rifftrax couldn't make them better.

[fallensaviour]

I think they suck but have some redeeming quality sprinkled throughout.
A heavy edit of all three would make 2 really good films.
Reduce phantom to about 30 minutes.
Make the second film 1 hour and take most of the third film.
If you really wanted a trilogy out of it make them each about 85 minutes.
The best way to watch the films is the machete order it excludes episode 1,
known as Machete order (4, 5, 2, 3, 6) it treats the prequel films as an extended flashback within the original trilogy.

[Bravestarr]

Why not ???

[huedell]

Wish I could like them more than I do, which is: Not much.

Take The Last Jedi, out of 10/10, I thought its story-beats were a 9 or even 10, and execution of it in plot-form was 7 or 8 at best.

The 3 prequels? I thought its story-beats was/were 7 or 8 at best (and that 8 would only be for what Revenge Of The Sith had to offer), and execution of it in plot-form was 3 or 4 at best (again, the prequels, as a whole, benefit whatever benefit can be eeked out mostly for what Revenge Of The Sith had to offer).

The worst thing about the execution of the prequels?

The dialogue... as spoken by flat characters.

Only George "independent filmmaker responsible to no one (except, in theory, the fans)" Lucas could write such deficient material and have it make it to an actual Star Wars film.

[Goblin19]

While I don't hate the prequels like a lot of people do, I think they have some good moments, but suffer from terrible dialogue, a terrible romance, and some stupid characters. I think if Lucas would have just done the treatments and let somebody else write the script, they would have fared much better.

[Hedji]

I love them, and I do not get the hate either. I think we are likely going to see more acceptance as the generation that grew up with them comes of age now.

Having said that, I cringe every time I see a Prequel discussion thread. I know it won't be good for me, but I can't help myself, like a moth to a flame.

Anyways, you can label me all you want, but I really enjoy them, and to me, they are Star Wars. A few things I'd have done differently, but I find them entertaining as heck. Also...

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I like Jar Jar.

[YoungOnce]

Star Wars: A New Hope... The movie comes along with a great story, special effects and matinee serial innocence. Becomes a phenomenon. There is mystery in the characters and the things they reference like Jedi wars and dead fathers, Kessel Run, bounty hunters and all the details of world-building are left to the viewers mind.

Empire Strikes Back is an anomaly, in that is a sequel that doesn't drop off from the original. In the pre-Internet days, the biggest secret in cinema is able to be kept and it pays off big time. Return of the Jedi is just a big party to wrap up this great ride. The story is still moving forward (not backwards) and there is not so much canon that the minefield cannot be traversed.

The prequels were never going to be able to capture the same moment in history. They made their money for sure because it's freaking Star Wars and we were all hoping to recapture that magic, but that moment of fantastic discovery was unique. Too, for me, the visions formed in my juvenile brain of the clone wars and the Jedi Order were self-romanticized to a degree that the prequels over-explanations just diminished the magic. I did learn to enjoy them in moments because the Star Wars universe is just a fun place to visit, but the magic wasn't there for me like it had been before. I had changed. The movies had too.

And now the sequels are kind of in the same boat, other than they are at least not bound to the future. But the sense of discovery has been replaced with a whole lot of meta-knowledge. Soon there will be a new Star Wars movie that will perhaps show us what Solo's Kessel Run looked like, but it's doubtful that it will live up to anyone's mind picture.

Same with Indiana Jones, Alien, Karati Kid, First Blood, or Van Halen with David Lee Roth... Going back and recapturing the magic is tough. Not impossible maybe, but tough.

[Hector]

The only thing I liked about the prequels was Darth Maul...and he was greatly and vastly underused.

[William Vafai]

So been watching the marathon (here in Canada) of these movies a couple times this weekend and, as a Star Wars fan since '78 (yes '78, when the action figures came out) I don't understand why so many dislike these movies.

In fact it was only a few (several?) years ago reading stuff online that I realized that I'm not supposed to like these movies. And I sorta bought into that, for awhile.

Yup Jar Jar is annoying (as was reviewed in '99), as is young Anakin at times (and the pod racing is kinda goofy) and the Anakin/Padme love story is...well...kinda painful...

But most of the rest is all Star Wars, including some really cool light saber duels.

Anyone else out there not hate the prequels and just enjoy them for what they are?

K

I like them. Lots of great stuff in all three of them.

[Starroid Raiders Dagon]

Yeah, I rewatched them numerous times over the past month and a half on tv. The first one is my least favorite but I enjoy them over the first 3 movies. Star Wars didnt resonate with me as a kid. I think Mantlo's Micronauts gave me a better space fantasy that was hard to outdo. I really loved how everyone in the theatre flipped out when Yoda came around the corner to fight Dooku. I would love to see a solo Kenobi movie with Ewan Mcgregor.

[thunderbolt]

The thing with the prequels to me is I knew where they were going, Anakin was screwed and you knew who was going to do it to him. There was no twist like Vader is daddy or Leia is sis. Just going straight on thru to the rise of the emperor and the fall of the Jedi. All those wise Jedi could not see how Anakin was going to bring balance to the force, by getting it down to two dark lords and two Jedi. Lucas should have thrown some kind of curveball in there as a surprise.

[palitoy]

The curveball had to be in the performance, Anakin should have been your favourite character.