I think the idea that we will get a well made Star Wars film in the future is wishful thinking. This is a brand name that they want to sell to children. I'm setting my expectations at Jar Jar Binks - but I'll be hoping for something better.
Great points. Billy Shakespeare managed to do a pretty good job with the "good and heroic guy turns evil" plot. (Yes, of course I picked the Patrick Stewart one).
I think one problem with the prequels that isn't often brought up is that we all knew what would happen. To make it captivating becomes much more difficult. The first time I watched Star Wars: A New Hope I had no idea what would come and the twists that followed were great. There was no way to have any of that in the prequels. When we saw young Anakin when knew exactly where his story would end and what was around every corner. It left us completely free to focus on the bad acting, the awful story, the 2 dimensional characters, and so on. In many ways it makes those things become more obvious. I don't doubt the 3 part arc could have been made a lot better, but even if fantastic movies had been made I struggle to think that fans of the original would have been completely satisfied. You already knew what happened and in your mind you probably had imagined something else.
This franchise will likely never die. There is too much money to be made. I still to this day have never seen any of the Star Wars movies and probably never will.
I actually thought 1-3 were okay to varying degrees. I loved 4-6. For me personally though, there were two major negatives in the prequels that really hurt the entire series: 1) The original movies created an incredible setting. There was a real sense of scale to it. You were watching an epic story and huge events in this galaxy, but while the story was very engaging, you also felt like you were just getting a glimpse of this universe. The fact that Boba Fett was something of a side character, who had a role to play, but whose life we knew little about, is a great example of how it caused you to imagine many characters and worlds that could exist apart from the main protagonists. Lucas lost that concept with the prequels by trying to make too many nods and too many ties to the original movies. For example, in R2D2 and C3PO, we see two characters who seemed to simply get drawn into the original. Two simple service Droids who in a way (especially in 3PO's case) acted as the viewers substitute in the film by tagging along and following the story. Then we are given the "twist" of C3PO being Darth Vader's childhood construction project. Boba Fett should not have been part of the main story anymore than he already was. Making him such a central component (especially as the genetic blueprint of the Stromtroopers) robbed him of the very mystique that made him such a draw. Suddenly, all those glimpsed characters and events are so interwoven that the scale is dramatically diminished. We're half expecting Bib Fortuna and that robot with the pointy head to be revealed as Jimmy Smits frat brothers, or for a correllian named Nigel Solo to appear as Qui Gon Jinn's barber. 2) The dismembered Vader is taken away by Palpatine. We catch glimpses of his reconstruction. From offscreen, that unmistakable breathing begins. Then we see him. Darth Vader in all his iconic glory and for a split second, I'm genuinely geeking out. The kid in me is going nuts. Jar Jar Binks, Yoda going from saying the occasional backwards phrase to having it as his permanent speech pattern, Christensen... it was all worth it just to get to see this moment. Then he finds out Padme is dead. "Noooooooooooooooooo!!!!". Scene irretrievable ruined. I genuinely believe that this was a moment that was exceptionally difficult to foul up, yet they did it to an epic degree. Even the way he said it sounded as cheesey as it possibly could. It didn't even need the shaking fists and the sparks and small explosions behind him. What should have been an iconic moment became easily the worst in six long movies.
Has there actually been a worse acting performance than Hayden Christensen (the worst of a bad bunch) in the prequels? Big movie wise, I'm struggling to think of one.
I'm the same age (well a year older), and I thought everyone my age grew up on the original Star Wars, guess not.
I remember kids my age being really into it but I never was. I didnt get into sci-fi anything until I was older. I remember in the last day of like 3rd grade they were going to show one of the movies but we also had a choice to go outside and nearly our entire class watched the movie but I elected to go outside with like 2 other kids and kick a soccer ball around. I was much more interested in watching and playing sports than watching movies.
I don't blame him at all. There was no decent motivation for him to create a character, and the lack of flow in the dialog hurt him on a tactical level. It was the most terribly written, terribly directed character in a sea of terribly written, terribly directed characters. All acting in front of a green screen.
That's around my age. Are you telling me you grew up without ever once seeing Empire or Jedi on TV? Those were on like half a dozen times each Summer over here. For some strange reason (I assume it had to do with licensing?) Star Wars itself was almost never on. My memories of those Summers when I was 9-12 years old were of playing soccer until we had to go home, around which time there always seemed to be either an Indy Jones, Star Wars or one of the Gendarmes films (with Louis De Funes) on. Still have a soft spot in my heart for those corny comedies. That whistled theme song still brings a smile to my face.
Both actors who played Anakin in those films were beyond excruciating. I think that falls squarely on Lucas and his cartoonish vision of the storyline and the role. Compare that with Portman and McGregor -- quality actors who had to recite equally dreadful lines. But whereas I pitied them, I was infuriated by the other two. Christopher Lee and the dude who played Palpatine are really the only two who rose above the material. Samuel Jackson fell somewhere in between.
Agree with all of that. Anakin from menace was terrible as well...but he's just a kid, and apparently the casting directors though he was the way to go. I still think Christensen was worse. His angst lines...I was embarrassed for him. On another note, I've just finished watching Empire strikes back (they've been showing 1-6 every Saturday over here), and I still think it's a really good film...apart from the lame lightsaber skills.
I disagree, looks like they're actually fighting with weapons that would cut them to pieces instantly. The prequels had light saber fights that were basically visual masturbation, lots of flashy shit, no ********ing action.
I must be the only person around who thought Empire Strikes Back sucked. God, I hated that movie. I got off the Star Wars bandwagon a looooong time ago. Thankfully, my kids will be out of the house before any more SW movies come out, so I should escape this life without having seen any more.
Nah, I could have beat Vader after 10 pints. His sword play looked exactly as it was.....an old guy, half blind, in a hot suit, swinging a sword.
No. It started explaining things that were better left unthought from the first movie. I didn't really - I just switched to the anti-Star Wars bandwagon. But Star Wars is one of the defining things of my generation. I can't ignore it.
That's actually one of the few things that was justified by Lucas and made some sense. The lightsaber battles in the original trilogy are between an old man who is half machine and a half-trained kid. Of course, that doesn't justify why they took it completely over the top in the prequels.
One possible side-effect of this deal might be that Dark Horse comics loses their Star Wars titles to Marvel. It would make sense for Disney to let their own comics company handle that aspect of the universe.
No, just Marvel getting the Star Wars-verse comics. Like they did in the 80s, I believe. Which was very much a mixed bag in terms of writing quality. Whereas much of Dark Horse's work has been better (considerably so) than the recent cinematic outings. The prequels certainly never offered anything as dark, grim and nihilistic as "Last stand on Jabiim".
It's not a possible side-effect, it IS going to happen. Dark Horse released a statement saying that it was maintaining the SW license "for now".