Episode I & II's mediocrity, and why I'm okay with it...

Greetings, folks...just my opinion, here; I could be totally wrong...

I've watched TPM & AOTC each over the last week or so, and it struck me that, bereft of all of the hype that surrounded these movies at their theatrical release, these movies aren't as bad as I remember...

...that being said, however, I don't think these movies were very good; particularly the last 15 minutes or so of each. I don't want to dissect the movies frame for frame...that's not my point.

However...I can't think of a single scene where I thought to myself, "Wow, THAT could have been better". Why? Because we're merely watching a story unfold, at this point. We know the ending of the saga...we've seen the greatest bits of eye candy that mankind can deliver...we've had a love story already, epic space battles, a grand cliffhanger (between V & VI), etc; with I & II, we were forced to endure the painstaking task of being pummeled with politics. It was time to pay the piper.

There's no way around it, however...it's a crucial part of the story. I happen to enjoy political situations & banter; however, not everyone else does. These two movies must have been difficult to make, because they very easily could have been introduced merely as novels, and the net effect would have been the same (I'm not much of a reader of fiction, so for ME to say that, is a big deal). Interweaving such a complex story with the necessary mix of eye candy and "comedy" must have been difficult for GL, who has always had "something to say" with Star Wars, as opposed to something to show us "for the hell of it".

In truth, I & II actually had me longing for more...politics. The setup for III needed to be HUGE, and luckily, it sounds like III manages to do so on its own, thank you, before the big payoff. That being said, I still purchased "Labyrinth of Evil" a few days ago, and will finish it before the 19th. In the coming months, I'm sure I will read the novelization for all of the movies, in order. I'll do that before I watch the movies again.

This is getting lengthy, so...my point is that, I've seen a lot of people bashing the first two movies on this board, which is fine; but considering much of the depth of the story had to be sacrificed for a sufficient amount of eye candy in order to pacify the market segments that want to keep seeing a rehash of TESB, I'm not sure these movies could ever have satisfied all parties. And that's okay.

At least they got me reading books again.

Strilo edit: We have enough threads about what went wrong with TPM and AOTC.

 

The only way that i can say that the "mediocrity" of 1&2 is okay is in the fact that they lowered expectations thus making ROTS an even greater film that it is.(Not to say that it isn't great already).

 

Everyone has their own theory about why the prequels are lest than stellar. Here are mine.

1.We already know what is going to happen, so there isn't much suspense.

2.The newer films are set in the older days yet everything is far more advanced, we all know why this appears so.

3.The casting was not very well done for both actors who portray the central character. Watching Jake Lloyd deliver those lines was pure toture, it was almost like having my testicles in a vice grip, everytime he said a word that grip became more and more firm. Hayden Christensen isn't as bad as the kid, but he isn't great either. He really didn't portray the conflicted Anakin Well, instead he looks as if he is confused by the character and which emotion to display when.

4.Because the older heads say the first movies were better. Let's face it. Episodes IV, V, and VI are not the greatest films. The acting was not perfect nor was the cinematography. It's a classic because of what it did at the time and how well it did it. When it comes to the fans of those movies nothing will ever be better. When GL (THE CREATOR) got the chance to remaster the films to suit his vision, they complained. This is what the man wanted to do with HIS films. Lets not abuse the newer films unless we have a real reason.

I personally prefer the newer films. But I can appreiciate the older ones too. They all come together to give a great story.

 

Granted after all a film is just a film and i have to agree with jericho the more i now watch the films the more i like them more..its just some odd moments that do cringe that could so easily have been corrected, simpler plot devices to explain the politics, better dialogues, and more direction for the actors who to be honest cant really be plamed for there wooden performances, they have to deliver awful dialogue and are probably lucky if they even see half a prop to interact with nevermind an actor they are suppose tobe speaking to..

 

I actually think the last fifteen minutes of TPM and AotC are their best parts...

 

Me, too. The last half hour, forty minutes of TPM is actually an EXCELLENT movie, right up there with the OT. Same with AOTC. It's their middles (and in TPM's case, the first half) that drag.

That being said, I still love AOTC and try to love TPM.

 

Everyone has their own theory about why the prequels are lest than stellar.

Except that not everyone agrees that they are less than stellar.

 

Here's my theory:

I DON'T THINK THAT THAT EPISODES I & II WERE MEDIOCRE. Nor do I think they were not as good as the Original Trilogy.

I refuse to join the Prequel-bashing bandwagon. I find it infantile.

 

Oh no no no no no no no no no. Let's get technical folks. The OT is better edited, better acted, better directed, even ANH, ANH? YES ANH. Ahmed best went WAAAYY further than he should have been with jar jar and Lucas didn't direct him to take it to a level audiences could tolerate. The scenes aren't faster more intense anymore. The linger as if there's more for a character to say but then their bad acting seeps in and becomes more apparent. Great editing can turn even the worst performances into brilliant thespian type stuff. It kills me to see people complain about Hayden and Natalie, but not Ewan because he has some sort of magic ability to make anything he does worth watching, when they actually are great actors outside of star wars. Why is this so? Well, I believe it's because the genius that edited their performances together doesn't have a clue what he's doing. How many times do we need to see Anakin and Padme starring into space or licking their lips, looking bored with themselves. FASTER, More intense. Make whatever point you want to make with that shot and then move on, your audience is falling asleep.

Note that this has been rectified in RotS. So it's all good now.

Look at the Padme family scene. If the whole love story was edited that well, it would have been a "damn, that was impressive" moment instead of a "Well, it's ok.." moment.

It's been 6 years and most of us have heard it all by now about all the great (john william's score, action scenes) things in the PT thus far and all the not so great (editing, pacing, character development)things so I'll say no more about that.

I enjoyed the action scenes & Ian's, Liam's, and Ewan's characters as well as the interesting story so when I listen to the AotC commentary and hear GL say that TPM was 90% experimentation and AotC was far less about experimenting more about the story, I nod my head and say "Yeah, Ok.. that's cool," because I know it's 100% story as top priority in RotS; so maybe it'll have benefited from all of TPM and AotC's success' and failures. I certainly wouldn't want GL to make the last PT film with the same mindset he had when making the first. (then greedo would cause Anakin to turn to the dark side)

 

The thread title should be renamed. It is extremely one-sided and will spark anger in many(I know I was startled--I hate it when opinion is stated as fact).

 

I think one of the biggest flaws is having no likable characters to draw the audience into the films.

Anakin has had two horrible actors play him, plus his dialogue is atrocious close to 50% of the time. He's totally unlikable and has no redeemable qualities.

Everyone hates Jar Jar Binks.

The jedi knights show absolutely zero emotion and have essentially monotone deliveries. If the characters on screen can't get excited, how the hell is the audience supposed to get excited.

No everyman to identify with ala Han Solo.

No great character to strive for ala Luke Skywalker.

Some other flaws that lead to mediocrity, imo:

Not working out the transitions between major plot points effectively.

Everyone knows what the major plot points are. The only reason to make the prequels is to show what goes on inbetween and leads up to these plot points. This you must do well or the movie will fall apart. The prequels have become - cover plot point 1, insert SFX demo reel, cover plot point 2, insert SFX demo reel, etc...

The substandard writing/acting. Everyone knows with this type of movie, summer/blockbuster/event/star wars, you're going to have lots of great eye candy and action scenes. What must be done to stand apart from a hundred other of the same type of movie is to get the acting and writing down.

That's what made LOTR effective, imo. If the action and eye candy was all it had, it would have been good enough, but forgettable. But b/c quality acting/writing was added to the mix, it stood out and became memorable.

Ultimately, it will be the writing and acting that will hurt ROTS just like it has the first two prequels.

Another thing that somewhat annoys me about the overall story is that there are a lot of things implied, but not shown. I agree with all the people who feel that having to read all the expanded universe novels/books to get the whole story is a huge mistake. Lucas should have included everything we needed to know about the movies in the movies and left it at that.

I mean, entire plot lines disappear from the movies and are finished off in the books, wtf?????

In the end, Star Wars is like sex. Even when it's bad, it's still good!

 

I believe the Prequels could of been so much better, but George Lucas knew he didn't have to exert himself. After all, most Star Wars fans will lap up anything with the Star Wars Logo on. The special effects are there. The story is almost there. The characters are the weakest part of the Prequel Trilogy. Jar Jar Binks might of been over the top, but considering how dull and boring most of the other characters were it was a welcome sight. His lack of presence in Episode II and III sadden me as he is my favourite character out of the Prequels.