PT Prequel Fans Rating the Force Awakens

Interesting.

Mine would be

T2>Genisys>T1>>Salvation>>>>>>>>>>>>T3
T2 is definitely the best though.

 

1. T1: It's such a gritty movie that doesn't sell out in anyway (never liked when Arnold walks out to 'Bad to the Bone' in T2), along with the pacing being perfect. Even though Arnold steals the movie, Kyle Reece is such an underrated actor who gives the movie the humanity that so many blockbusters lack.

2. T2: While its a great sequel (probably top 10 sequel of all-time), I still don't think its as fresh as the original. What's funny is to hear all of the fans who complain that TFA is a retread of ANH, but nobody has a problem that T2 is a total retread of T1?

3. T3: It's a fun movie, but you can see it lacks the character depth without Cameron.

4. Terminator Salvation: As Luke would say about the Falcon, "What a piece of junk!" Saw it once, and never want to see it again.

5. Terminator Genysis: Didn't even bother, as the series has jumped the shark, IMO.

 

Now, i haven't seen the movies in a long time, but i dont remember T2 being a retread of T1. Can you explain, I'm curious

 

3. Saw it twice, and while I like it, it just doesn't add anything new to the saga. Not technology, plot, or anything. And the stuff it does add it barely explains, leaving us with no information and giving us a fractured viewpoint on the current galaxy. Maybe the film will fit better as a trilogy, but as it currently stands, it's just not up to par.

 

I have never seen this species of line up. Can you account for it in very few sentences? You grew up in the PT era?

 

I'm not the guy who posted this but agree with it so I will explain what I think.


My parents were SW fans before I was born so I watched the OT alot and liked the films to the extent where I could tell you who the Max Rebo band was.

I grew up with the PT.
I watched TPM on video constantly but wasn't invested that much with the mechandise, I certainly had some but it didn't take over my life. (That would be Robot Wars and Thunderbrids!).
AOTC comes along and I don't see it for a while after but collect alot of the toys and books ( love the desgins and looks but still got OT stuff)
When ROTS comes out though I grow crazy and buy huge amounts of mechandise. Most of the figures, going to the toy store before school. It took over my life.

What the PT does so well is it gives you everything. I admit they aren't perfect and some scenes still irk me and are just silly but SW isn't a serious piece of myth. All stories need some sort of sillyness. The reason I could watch TPM over and over again was because it gives you so much.
The films give you a political backdrop, characters that are relatable, mystery and intrigue (AOTC for that reason alone) , action, emotion.
The films make you think and it works on many levels.

(I really don't want an argument about this)
The OT does this to a far less extent making it more about the characters and action. It has moments where the politics and mystery are shown but it is never to the extent that the PT does.

TFA gives little but wants you to become attached to these characters and to go on "a journey". There isn't enough there for me to attach myself to so in the end it becomes like the OT a fast action film.

That is why a background is needed, to show me what is at stakes and why it matters. The OT could have done more but it is okay as it is. TFA to me failed. It didn't show me how time progressed or even why it mattered. Instead it focused on the characters and action which was okay but what I want in a film or feel SW is solely about. There has to be a balance of both backdrops and stakes and giving enough information to attach me to the world.

Show don't tell also comes to mind.

The PT does it better than most of the OT (exception being ESB) and TFA.

Can give more detail if you would like.

 

Actually I didn't grow up with Star Wars at all. I saw a portion of ESB when I was like 12, but never saw the rest of it or the other films until I was an adult and bought the whole Saga. While I will conclude that ROTS and ESB are "better" films than TPM, I feel TPM is the most Star Warsy of all the films. It literally has everything that everyone likes and hates about Star Wars in it.

 

5. I put this film up there with revenge of the sith. It has humor, action n everything people are looking for in a Star Wars movie. The movie was fast paced having no slow parts that make viewers wanna fall asleep.

 

Love it! It occupies the vast middle class of Star Wars...the ones who rotate 2-5 after Empire for me depending on mood and various factors. Star Wars, Jedi, Sith, and now Force Awakens.

I saw it for the fifth time yesterday and liked it even more than ever despite the humor starting to background some and increasingly feeling the lack of interaction between Chewie and Leia after the tragic moment is something that suits so poorly it bugs me pretty bad.
I left to kinda believe he blames her and just walked on by but I don't think that is otherwise supported nor do I particularly buy he would but it isn't outlandish either.

We then round out with the problematic in parts as a movie Clones and for me the problematic as Star Wars but minus Jar Jar a pretty good movie, Phantom Menace. I find Midichlorians the most bothersome thing in Star Wars somewhat demystifying of the force and over emphasizing genetics.

I also hate "space Jesus" Anakin. Somewhat less than Midichlorians but number two on my bugs me batty list for sure.
Add the technically well realized but something out of a different universe Jar Jar and retcons of the OT between mildly clumsy to annoying or disappointing like Obi-Wan 's relationship with Qui-Gon and Yoda or the spillover to Clones and Sith with the relationship with Owen and Beru to either Obi-Wan or Anakin a little odd and forced due to going with the baby grabbing code, time line constraints, and the Virgin birth. It does put Luke's adoptive parents in a great light but it is a little shoehorned and it makes for a frustrating as can be Star Wars movie for me that creates more problems than creates joy or tells important story content.

 

Easily the most disappointing SW movie for me, mainly for the reasons already given. There is just too little new about it. Every other SW episode brought something unique to the saga, except for this one. Sure, this time a girl is the main character, and we have a black guy as the male lead, which I liked. Otherwise there is just nothing I found innovative in any way. The Millennium Falcon moves faster, which kind of was to be expected, sure, so do the TIE fighters and X-Wings. But those things alone don't make a good SW movie. Even the new Star Destroyer was kind of underwhelming, was not even shot in a very impressive way, unlike ESB. I didn't like the new lightsaber effects that much either. I don't know what they were trying to do, maybe take some sort of "medieval" approach. The sabers look a little like flames, which we have never seen before in other lightsabers. I don't think the new look improved on the previous effects and didn't find it original. I kind of liked the "Mad Max" sort of feeling in the early scenes on the desert planet, while the other planets were too disappointing and earth-like. The environment in the last sequence where we see Luke was OK. But it would have been nice to have included at least one more "exotic" environment at some point before that. Every prequel had some (Gungan city and Coruscant in TPM, Geonosis and Kamino in AOTC, Utapau and Mustafar in ROTS). TFA seemed a little like Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade to me, trying too hard to go back to the beginning, therefore disappointing. Temple of Doom and the prequels were more daring and fresher. Too bad the conservative fanboys felt otherwise and wanted to see more of the same. TFA could have been so much better. The potential was there, but not used. There were some good ideas there, if only they could have developed them further. Hopefully the sequel will be better.

 

It's not really, just in basic beginning plot elements, but that is something that's called for in those stories. Terminator comes through time to kill some one, someone comes through time to protect them is basically a standard Terminator movie plot usually, but the full plot is different in many ways.

God bless you! God bless everyone!

 

I love all of the SW saga including TFA but I totally get where you are coming from here. There wasnt a new element or really a different type of planet in TFA like the others

 

I agree with this post, other than I enjoy Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade a lot more than Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Still, I can see how they're comparable and I do agree that Last Crusade does try to be as much like Raiders of the Last Ark as it could be. The Force Awakens definitely felt like it lacked ambition.

At least Last Crusade gave us Alison Doody as Dr. Elsa Schneider. Yay!

 

*SPOILERS OBVIOUSLY*

I really liked this movie and saw it twice in IMAX with no regrets. But then again, I'm an obsessed Star Wars fan who loves everything Star Wars related so I may be biased. I'll just point out what I liked and disliked.

Liked:

1. The visuals, pretty new and refreshing, I really liked the 2009 Star Trek by JJ so I guess I liked his directorial style here too.
2. Rey's character. Yes, her growth was a bit rushed but as a previously extremely force sensitive person with some possible Jedi training which had been suppressed, I think her growth totally fit the story.
3. The references to the Prequels like Ewan's line, 'Clones', Snoke's music sounding like the one in the Opera House in ROTS, that one Hosnian system planet looking and feeling like Coruscant.
4. The special effects and CGI and actually using it instead of backing off from it like they said they would for the sake of the prequel haters.
5. The brilliant score by John Williams as always.
6. The new lightsaber battles having their own unique feel and style which was in line with the context of the story and the times. (Just like it was in the OT and PT, each having their own unique feel to the lightsaber battles.)
7. The ships and the space scenes, especially when they jump to light speed at the end. Just brilliant with those booming thumps that JJ brought over from Star Trek, was a treat in IMAX.
8. Kylo Ren's character arc and Han Solo's arc. Nice to see a different kind of villain who seems to be a good mixture of impulsive and impatient Anakin and controlled and intimidating Vader. He truly deserves to be the legacy of Vader and I'm sure he will grow as a character and in ways that we cannot yet begin to imagine.
9. Hux. Enough said. (Ok, not enough said, I liked his over the top acting. XD)
10. Luke's reveal. Ofcouse I wanted more but it was a fitting ending. The rousing music and the beautiful scenery of Ach-to made it really epic and finally seeing Luke again was as awesome as promised.

Disliked:

1. Rathtars, they were pretty meh for me and felt like an unnecessary addition when they could have as easily been Rancors, Mynocks or some other beast we've seen before. It would have given that much more impetus to the scene and not felt like a filler scene. I liked that we saw Han back to his smuggling ways, something that was only hinted at in the OT and that we got to see Rey's technical prowess and presence of mind, but those creatures were nothing too exciting for me. And to clarify, it didn't have anything to do with them being CGI, I would have loved CGI Rancors too.

2. The First Order scenes on Starkiller base and the destruction of the Hosnian system felt a bit underused and underwhelming and would have had much more of an impact had they shown us the thriving worlds of the the New Republic on the Hosnian system. In the official novel, doesn't Leia interact with some senators or some such on the Hosnian capitol? Just seeing those planets appear out of nowhere and then be destroyed was as underwhelming as Alderaan in the OT, maybe even more since this time none of our characters were shown to have any connection to them. Either JJ was too scared to show some worlds that looked like something out of the Prequels or they cut it for time, either way it was a bad decision and left the whole destroying planets ordeal a bit meaningless and the First Order not seem so important or dangerous.

3. The fact that this movie was pretty much a retread of ANH. Could have done with a bit more of an original story, but it's fine as the first entry in the trilogy I guess. I realise they were banking hard on the nostalgia but I think they went a bit too hard. On the flip side, after seeing the "Star Wars Poetry" video I realised that this is actually just continuing the tradition set up by Lucas himself, where each new trilogy mirrors or homages the old.



So that's that then. I'd give this movie a solid 8.5 out of 10. I will admit I did tear up with joy when Han and Leia first met, with sadness when Han died and then felt super elated when I realised they were actually doing the Jaina/Jacen story with a new twist. I'm by no means an OT era guy, I'm just 23 and grew up with the PT, but I did see the OT first before AOTC came out, and so those characters mean as much to me as those from the PT.

Overall, good start to the new trilogy, new and interesting characters and has got me on the bandwagon for sure. Can't wait for the next one, I hear the new director wants to make it all happen in space! Maybe we'll see Thrawn?

 

I give TFA 4 stars out of 5.

For the sake of comparison, I give all the prequels 3.5 stars. What gives TFA the advantage, IMO, are the performances and the level of glee the film gives off while watching it. I enjoy the PT a lot, but those movies tend to be serious affairs with very little of the explosive, audience-pleasing humor the OT films had. Audiences bursting out in spontaneous laughter! ANH and TFA had this. TPM and AOTC, not so much. To me, that's what STAR WARS is about, in part.

 

I give it one star each for competent effects and performances by most of the cast. The story itself was a big put off though because it was just a thinly modified retelling of A New Hope and I absolutely hated the treatment of the original characters. Han Solo goes right back to being a petty smuggler, and apparently not a very good one. Han and Leia ditch each other when their kid goes bad. Luke hides from the galaxy when he screws up teaching one student, and through his inaction the galaxy really goes to hell. The Rebel Alliance beats the Empire and then sets up an incredibly incompetent government that doesn't take the threat of the resurgent Empire seriously and does little to prevent its own destruction. The entire plot of The Force Awakens undermines the original characters, reverses their character development and negates their accomplishments.

The Force Awakens also fails to actually gives us anything new. It's still just Rebels vs Empire, X-Wings vs TIE fighters, and a tiny group against another Death Star. I just can't support anything Disney has done so far, even the Rebels cartoon undermines Yoda and Obi-Wan by having them go into hiding while other Jedi are still running around fighting the Empire. It was one thing when they, and Bail Organa, were the only things left of the Republic and up against an entire galaxy spanning Empire, it's something else entirely when their own Jedi allies are still fighting and they're just hanging out on backwater worlds doing nothing.

 

I don't rank it as a Star Wars film. It is perhaps a 6/10 action flick, that's it.

 

I am definitely one of those people. And I liked the movie! You can't say anything bad about TFA over there without getting roasted, which is irritating because it was a good enough film that I want to keep discussing it and its sequels, but to me it was not perfect either - and definitely not up to par with Lucas's lofty standards.

 

Darkslayer. I am fighting the good fight over there now that I'm a mod in New Firlms to allow for the expression of all and varying opinions as long as the disagreements remain civil. You might consider revisiting there again.

 

I thought I'd end up this way before seeing the film, but as it turns out nostalgic stuff like Han and Chewie were pretty much the only things that kept my interest. As a pure action film I think TFA is incredibly bland.

 

Yeah, hence 6/10. 6/10 for a few decent scenes, oddly enough, none of them action.

 

Huh? At the end of RotS they both go into hiding when they know there are still hundreds or even thousands of Jedi out there. They even reverse the warning beacon to ensure some Jedi have a chance of getting away. So you can't spin it that they only went onto hiding when they were the only ones left. They reference that warning beacon in the first episode of Rebels. That's all Lucas, not Disney.

 

I think he means that its strange that Kanan is out there in the field where all the action is, while Obi-Wan just sits home at his lazy ass doing nothing (except sending hologram messages). You could argue that he has to stay on Tatooine to watch over Luke (which nobody knows is Anakin's son about except himself, Yoda and Bail Organa), but it still undermines their characters.

In my opinion, there should have been no Jedi in the Rebels show at all. It's about a group of rebels, so make them into ordinary people. The only Jedi they could have kept would be Ahsoka. If I were in charge, I would have made Kanan into an Imperial deserter who befriends Hera and Zeb. Hera would be given more action scenes instead of just being a boring pilot. The characters of Ezra and Sabine would be scrapped completely and replaced with another female character who doesnt wear stupid grafitti-girly armor.

 

Nice to see that despite what seems to be a perception that prequel fans largely dislike TFA, that's simply not true. At least not here on the JCF.

 

I gave the film 5 stars, although I give all the other 6 films 5 stars too.

Although it does have some basic similarities with ANH, it didn't bother me too much when I saw it. And I loved all the characters in it and their personal stories.