How is the story bad?

I'm still waiting for Ewoks to give us some insight into why his opinion is what it is.

 

The Clone Wars are too predictable. I always held out hope that the "Clone" in Clone Wars referred to something other than the obvious: A bunch of clone Stormtroopers fighting. I wanted it to be clever and surprising. "Oh, so THAT'S what they meant by 'Clone.' Cool, I never thought of that." And no, the surprise of seeing Stormtroopers fighting for the Republic didn't do much for me since I always expected them to serve Palpatine and gradually replace the Jedi.

Other than the Clone Wars, I was bothered by the amateurish love story, the lack of Palpatine, Kenobi's implausible discovery of the clones and the implausible results of that discovery, the use of Yoda in a lightsaber duel, the return of the comical Battle Droids serving as the enemy foot soldiers instead of an army of dreaded Mandalorians serving Dooku, the contrived and unimaginative issues Anakin has with Kenobi, and Anakin's unimaginative descent into the dark side thus far. The PT story just feels half-assed to me. It's like Lucas died and some hack filmmaker came along and stole the rights to Star Wars in court.

 

sdj, you want some insight into why MY OPINION is what it is? Okay then, but keep in mind that this is MY OPINION.

1. After TPM came out, I heard a ton of rumors about Natalie Portman apperaing nude and semi-nude...alas, she nver did.
2. Clones Wars: Thought it should've been Jedi clones vs. Sith clones, but, again, that's ME.
3. Love story...'nuff said. Again, MY OPINION. Do not take me so serious as to bash me. I am one fan that has a few gripes. (Even though there's a million of me out there )

 

Yeah, leave Ewoks alone! He's just stating his opinion. And believe me, he's a lot more tactful about his criticisms than some of these other pompous bashers on the boards.

 

the story is not bad, we all died hard fans knew that Anakin had 2 kids, so he had to have fallen in love with somebody,

also lucas said in 97 he was going to show how everything happened to anakin and the empire formed.

i really enjoy the bashing on the PT, LATER IT WILL ALL COME TOGETHER.


may the force be with you

 

ok Ewoks I wasn't bashing you. I seriously wanted an answer. Now while I disagree with your answers at least it is an answer and not just a vague complaint.

 

Son of Lucas, saying the OT was absurdly simplistic is absurd in itself. It went deeper than good v. evil

It's not absurd at all. The stories had a very simple hook that anyone above the age of 4 could understand. There might have been elements that required greater cognitive thought...but not to the detriment of the small minded.

The Prequels are different. At their heart the Prequels are a tagedy. Hence the need for a character like Jar Jar for the kids.

Unfortunately adults can be small-minded too; and Jar Jar doesn't make up for the simplicity of the originals.

 

Insightful post,son of lucas,most of my friends prefer a "black vs white" story,that's why they dislike AOTC.

 

Oh no, please stop this nonsensical talk about "The PT films are complex masterpieces of storytelling that most people are too stupid to understand". I have news for you - AOTC is not The Brothers Karamasov. It's a Multi-Billion-Dollar soda and toy franchise. Please stop pretending that it's anything but a silly little space story (for the record - there's nothing wrong with silly space stories - I love them and we need them. I just have brains enough to realise that SW isn't anything more than that)
The story is not the problem. It never is (in any film). It's the execution!!
and throwing a lot of half-baked ideas around that are never explained or followed through is NOT good storytelling.

 

I think the story is pretty good for the most part although there are a few things about the love story that I think don't make sense. Like, why is Anakin so obsessed with a girl he knew 10 years ago for only a few days? Also, why does Padme stay with Anakin and fall for him after he kills an entire group of people, most of whom were innocent? But I guess those can be argued away by saying that love doesn't make sense or something like that.

 

The story is neither a complex masterpiece nor a toy commercial.

It's a strong story that's better than 90% of what comes from Hollywood though.

 

I believe the overall story, themes, and mood of AOTC are very good. Lucas' saga is one of the most compelling ever created. However, in my opinion, the problems with AOTC come from the craft of the movie. Like I said, in a broad scope, the story of AOTC is a good one, but there are flaws in the details in the telling of that story that take away from the movie as a whole.

 

The story is not bad, it is simply non-existent in my eyes.

AOTC is jsut a lot of plot points woven together (the success of which is open to debate). But I don't think there is any story at the heart of it.

 

AOTC indeed reminds me of a soap opera - lots of little plot points, none of them followed through to an artistically satisfying conclusion and a total lack of overall story.

 

Overall, the reason I enjoyed AOTC so much is because it's not complex. It's simple, comprehensible and keenly entertaining. In short, the traditional Star Wars film through and through.

 

The problem with the story is that it's a bunch of half-baked ideas thrown at the screen willy-nilly in hopes of being meaningful. Instead it's just confusing. Confusing movies can work, but only if they say something interesting or if they have engaging characters, neither of which happens in the PT.

 

"The problem with the story is that it's a bunch of half-baked ideas thrown at the screen willy-nilly in hopes of being meaningful. Instead it's just confusing. Confusing movies can work, but only if they say something interesting or if they have engaging characters, neither of which happens in the PT."

Exactly.

 

Just commenting on something AOTE said on the first page:


""At last we will have revenge." Why do they want revenge? George Lucas hints at great things in the movie, but never shows them."

And, of course, nothing like this was ever done in the OT, right? Nothing like the Clone Wars, Anakin's fall to the Dark Side, the rise of the Empire before the "Dark Times", the prime of the Jedi as guardians of peace and justice, the Old Republic and a more civilized age, how or why Obi-Wan was a General, how/why Bail Organa knows Obi-Wan, how Palpatine rose to power and slowly desolved the Old Republic until, finally, in ANH it's completely gone?

If I remember correctly, these things, and many more, were "hinted at but never shown" in the OT.





I think I'll just let the irony slowly sink in on its own.

 

Yes, hinted at. But none of the details you listed had any forward action in the story they were mentioned in. The Clone Wars, Palpatine taking over the Republic, etc. were spoken as the past. It already happened. Darth Maul said "we will have our revenge." Which brings up the question "Why?" Which suggests a future event will take place based on that information. IMO, I would better see the context of that future event if I knew what Maul wanted revenge for.

 

The storyline is what I like the most about AotC. I think it has the best storyline of all the SW movies

Agree. I love the politics, the romance, the subplots, the clouded atmosphere, etc. AOTC has the most intriguing storyline in all 5 movies IMO.

 

I think Aotc is the best SW movie ever. I also think that # 3 will be better then it. I like the PT story alot, just as much as the OT ones. I also find the PT more fun. I like the fact that the PT is not Black and White like the OT mostly is till ROTJ.

Andrew

 

The PT story just feels half-assed to me. It's like Lucas died and some hack filmmaker came along and stole the rights to Star Wars in court.

How so very true. You should post here more often. I mean it.

 

I think everyone talks trash on the PT becouse they feel they have too. Or they feel that they are not really SW fans if they like the PT more. I think it is foolish. The story is better in the PT mesa thinks.


Andrew

 

Don't assume why others say the things that they say, because it will only cause problems.

 

AOTC does have a confusing and somewhat badly executed story, however it is no more a simple 'series of events' than ESB or ROTJ.

Or rather it is just as much a 'series of events' as Empire or Jedi.

When they were planning Empire do you think they sat down and thought-

Luke has to find out Vader is his dad at the end of the movie? But he has to be strong enough to face him. We'll add Yoda to train him.

But why does he meet Vader- we'll have Han and Leia as bait.

You can bet they did. certain things had to happen, the same as in AOTC. The story is what happens in between, and if anything AOTC is too dense in this department. It has too much story.