Saga Least Favorite Film of the Saga and Why (Locked-Use New Thread)

My least favourite film is easily TFA. It doesn’t really even feel like a Star Wars movie to me.

 

How was Anakin uber strong at everything? Just curious.

 

AOTC. i can barely sit through it and rarely do. cheesey tone, awful dialogue, bad humor, stale acting...way too much reliance on CG. Hayden Christensen in this movie is far more cringeworthy than Jake Lloyd in TPM, but i mostly blame the writing - he was more solid in ROTS

just my opinion, but the best part about the yoda-dooku saber fight was yoda using the force to pull his lightsaber out of his cloak - it rapidly deteriorated from there...

 

Obi-Wan vs Jango Fett?

 

Don't forget about the seismic charge

 

That might be the coolest space scene in the whole PT. Either that or the Battle over Coruscant.

 

I'm an old-timer (49 this month) and have seen all of the films first run, read all of the novelizations, etc.

I chose AOTC as my least favorite. it is not BAD, just my least favorite.

The biggest flaw for me in this one was the love story just struggled too much, especially given its utter importance to the Saga. This alone really brings it down for me when I watch it.

When I got the DVD and saw the 'Dinner at Padme's" deleted scene, I really felt (pacing be damned!) that this NEEDED to be in the film desperately to bolster the romance. It felt so much more natural and believable, and 'helped' the other romance scenes quite a bit.

Good stuff in AOTC....I loved the action scenes and Obi Wan Sherlock, Jango vs Obi, and the Sandpeople scene as a driver for Anakin's eventual fall. I think Obi Wan was supposed to be a bit more uptight in this, in particular with Anakin; I mean, just look at how Anakin acts and reacts in situations and this has been going on for some time. Obi Wan is doing his level best to manage and teach him, but damn it looks taxing as hell, and that is character appropriate.

I also like Natalie's turn here much better than ROTS. She was strong and engaging, and seemed to hit the right beats and was Anakin's 'match.'. In ROTS she seemed....less of herself and certainly less a 'match' with Anakin.

 

deleted

 

No need for that, come on.

 

You're right. My apologies.

 

AOTC. No matter how hard I try to enjoy the romance it just ends up being to corny n cheesy for me. There was even 1 scene that was awkward when padme rejected him.

 

The film isn't shying away from this:

"I wanted to write a love story in a style that was extremely old-
fashioned, and frankly I didn't know if I was going to pull it off.
In many ways this was much more like a movie that from the 1930s than
any of the others had been, with a slightly over-the-top, poetic
style-and they just don't do that in movies anymore. I was very happy
with the way it turned out in the script and in the performances, but
I knew people might not buy it. A lot of guys were going to see this
movie, and most guys think that kind of flowery, poetic talk is
stupid--'Come on, give me a break.' More sophisticated, cynical types
also don't buy that stuff. So I didn't know if people would laugh at
it and throw things at the screen or they would accept it. Let's face
it, their dialogue in that (couch) scene is pretty corny. It is
presented very honestly, it isn't tongue-in-cheek at all, and it's
really played to the hilt. But it is consistant with the over all
Star Wars style. Most people don't understand the style of SW. They
don't get that there is an underlying motif that is very much like a
1930s western or Saturday matinee serial. It's in that more romantic
period of making movies and adventure films. And this film is even
more of a melodrama then the others."--GEORGE LUCAS "Behind the
scenes AOTC" book

 

Seems like a bait, but i'll take it anyway :
Anakin built from scratch his own Droid and his own Pod Racer. He won his first ever Pod Race (despite it being impossible for humans), and took down the Confederation flagship all by himself the first time he ever flew a space fighter. All that at the advanced age of 9...

Not to mention he is the "Chosen One Space Jesus", and is so strong with the Force that those damned Midichlorians had to be introduced in the movie, just so we could measure how ridiculously over the top he is.

 

I switch between The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones (but usually reserve the spot for TPM).

 

The Phantom Menace for me.

The negative:
I found Jar Jar Binks to be very annoying.
I was no fan of Jake Lloyd. Yippee...
Hated the politics and trade negotiation talk. It was a like an episode of Star Trek TNG but without the good writing/direction to make it work in the film.
Demystification of the Force AKA... Midi-chlorians.
Queen Amidala- I found her character to be flat and uninteresting. What was up with her voice?
Lastly was I felt the overall tone of the film just didn't feel like a Star Wars film to me. No charisma or personality in any of the characters. Except for Jar Jar and um...yeah.
Nemodians with their asian stereotype voices. Just awful


The positives:
I found the Darth Maul vs Qui Gon/ Obiwan to be entertaining.
The Pod Race was decent.
Great visuals. The overall film is gorgeous.
John Williams "Dual of the Fates" score was excellent.


Just my opinions

 

Nope, that wasnt bait. I was simply curious why you thought he was "uber powered".

I disagree, but thats not what this thread is for.

 

TFA. Not that I think it was a bad movie, It was very fun, it had great actors, the effects were cool. But for some reason, it lacked the soul of the other six movies. It didnt feel entirely like star wars.

 

A New Hope is by far my least favorite. It bored me to sleep when I was a kid and I still tune out quite a bit when watching it. I appreciate it for it's historical significance but it just doesn't work for me as a whole.

The Vader/Obi-Wan duel was just pitiful in my opinion (in fairness I understand the limits of the technology at the time and the evolving concept of the "weight" of a lightsaber).

I've also never been a fan of the sparseness on Tatooine but did enjoy how they fleshed it out in TPM.

All of this said, Attack of the Clones is almost as bad in my opinion due to the horrible set up of the romance plot line and how fake it felt. The only thing that saved that movie in my opinion is the awesome Jedi gladiator pit and seeing Yoda light up his saber for the first time.

 

If I had to pick one, it would probably be TPM. After 16 years of hype, my expectations were way up there. And it wasn't what I expected. (I really don't know what I expected, to be honest.) Since it was the first movie of the PT, I understand it had to set up for the other two movies so it's not unenjoyable, but one thing that got me was how quickly Maul was done in by Kenobi, I said to myself."Really? That's it?" He was a cool character the should have had a better ending, in my opinion. (Besides his appearance in TCW)

 

TFA no brainer. A complete ripoff of the OT and terrible villains. Fast empty plot and just a shell of a movie. Don't get me wrong it was action packed and had some cool scenes just the overall movie was just , there. AOTC is my number 2 also.

 

I completely get this and understand what George was trying for stylistically, and I maintain (and Rick McCallum would probably agree based on his comments on the DVD) that including the dinner scene would have made all the other scenes relating to the romance work better.

Also, this 1930's style did not seem to carry over to TFA so much, which is a part of what may be missing...why that film (as good as it is) didn't quite feel as 'Star Wars' to me.

 

Like the majority, Episode 2: Attack of the Clones is my LEAST favorite because the first 80 percent of the movie seems like it's endless talking scenes and not enough fast-paced action. I love all episodes and the ending of AOTC is very exciting but it still doesn't belong above any other episodes IMO

 

AOTC. Don't hate it but it's just not that fun to watch.

 

TPM. I recall monumental hype for this film too. After my initial viewing (at the midnight show), I felt slightly disappointed. The movie has certainly grown on me since then, and the pros outweigh the cons. Alas, I have to rank it #7.

As much as I enjoy the flick, it's the one I'd skip if I had absolutely no choice (Gamma626's tactic). Adoring all the films, I find it hard to view them without wearing 'saga goggles'. They're each a piece of the grand story, so I leave Episode I out only due to the question being posed.

So... why TPM?
The easy answer is simply because of its score on my personal scale (7 out of 10). The other six just rank higher.

That being said, I believe the visuals and soundtrack are fantastic. Qui-Gon, Darth Maul and Duel of the Fates are welcome additions to the saga. As far as common gripes go, the casting and midi-chlorians were never an issue for me. Also, with the exception of Binks, I have no problem with the dialogue.

To address the issue of Anakin's age, I don't believe GL's choice damaged the tale as much as another popular complaint... a lack of interaction between Ani and Obi. IMO, Obi-Wan should have traveled into Mos Espa with the others. Regardless, the nature of their relationship between TPM and AotC can be inferred, so I can forgive the omission.

Unneeded exposition? The dialogue was fine. It's the opening crawl that I found a bit inefficient. That text baffles me to this day, and I think it was a missed opportunity to reel in the viewer.

Now, I don't want to say this because it's so cliche, but it proves to be the truth... for me. Every cringe-worthy moment in Episode I involves Jar Jar. I have no problem with his existence, but all the antics took me out of the movie.

So, Binks is the main reason I knocked TPM down to a score of 7 / 10. My gripe with the opening crawl isn't much of a factor, and I can only list one other con. The sense of wonderment and mystery produced by the locales was lacking, at least for me. Of course that's in comparison to the other episodes.

I don't want to end without reiterating my affinity for this flick. It's quite possible that many people fail to acknowledge the difficulty GL faced when constructing TPM. I always imagined that writing the script was a gargantuan task. So much had to be considered, and I take that into account. Episode I feels original, yet still explains much of the galactic history already alluded to. GL had more on his plate than ever before. Holding true to previously established lore must be quite a challenge. Ultimately, I'm impressed with what we received.

 

I agree. It's my girlfriend and I's least favorite by far. It's hard to watch until the very end. Then the action really gets good.