PT Which is more fun - the last half hour of AOTC or the first half hour of ROTS?

Both of them are non-stop action sequences that keep building and building and should be a masterclass for filmmakers on how to construct cliffhanger action scenes. I love them both for different reasons.
The final action sequence in AOTC (which I count as beginning when Padme and Anakin are wheeled out into the arena) is just an insane series of events that goes from a Ray Harryhausen style monster bash to Jedi warfare to Clones vs Droids to a lightsaber duel that is topped off with Yoda whipping it out in perhaps the most crowdpleasing scene of the whole saga.
What I love about ROTS is that it feels like the end of another movie, especially with a lightsaber duel that we'd never seen at the beginning of a Star Wars movie before. The opening shot finally matches the opening of ANH, and the fact that we get to see Obi-Wan and Anakin as friends and Anakin as a great pilot addresses two of the chief complaints about the other prequels.
Both of them are marred (in some people's opinion) by 3PO's slapstick in AOTC and R2's in ROTS, though I didn't have a big problem with those attempts to inject humour (they worked better than the Jar Jar slapstick in TPM). I still think the AOTC battle is slightly more fun, since it has more build-up and includes every character, but I can watch both of these sequences anytime and never get bored.

 

Revenge of the sith. The whole film is just amazing and a blast i think.

In hindsight i actually find the jedi group coliseum battle to be disappointing.

The jedi were only fighting together in a few shots. Most of the time they are painted into the background. If they were consistently fighting together i think it would create a more real feeling to the battle.

 

The first half hour of ROTS is more fun. It's funnier. Although, I cannot say that overall, it's better than the last half of AOTC, which seems to have a little more substance to me.

 

ROTS, by a mile.

Threepio's antics in the AOTC battle didn't really strike me as necessary or well-handled, whereas Artoo had me laughing out loud several times (how cute was he when he tried to back into the shadows and stuff the comlink away? Adorable!)

Besides the humor part, I just think that ROTS had tighter sequences. The focus was always on Anakin and Obi-wan, and the way they played off of each other was golden.

 

The first half-hour of ROTS is the apotheosis of serial hijinks Lucas began with Star Wars and almost perfected with Indiana Jones. Overall, I think it probably contains his best directing and editing, and some of the most assured deployment of digital technology -- cinematography, sound design, and visual effects -- the medium of cinema has yet seen. It is a rip-roaring, home-run of an opening sequence. Even the first shot is incredible: it begins the film in a formidable way, announcing the scale and grandeur of a galactic tragedy about to unfold, it displays a balletic prowess where the intimate and the epic are effortlessly juxtaposed, it visually embellishes the doomed relationship between two of the saga's key protagonists, and it is a stunning piece of audio-visual showmanship, engaging the heart and mind. The first shot is also consistent (an overture, of sorts) with the tonal quality of the rest of the sequence it portends: light within dark, and dark within light. The martial drums heard during this portion of the rousing score might as well be saying -- as another astute fan pointed out to me recently -- "RED RUM! RED RUM! RED RUM!" in deference to Kubrick's "horror" film "The Shining" (note also the blinding (shining) sun; and the red strip (blood) along the hull of the dagger-like juggernaut (a "Venator"-class ship: Latin for "hunter") the camera pans down to). There is much to find both horrifying and delightful here. It's avant garde, yet at once, immediate, comprehensible. And there are many gleeming ornaments to admire, as it were, from the way Palpatine plays the innocent, to the reveal of General Grievous, to the teasing between Anakin and Obi-Wan, to the design of the Jedi starfighters, to massive capital ships pounding each other into submission, elevator shenanigans, a tense lightsaber encounter, epic compositions and camera movements, and droids dying left and right. There seems to be a bit of everything; this entire sequence doesn't want for much. And I just love how the rest of the film seems a million miles away; and not. Here, the characters exist in a jaunty, mythic tier, almost beyond sorrow, beyond woe; but as they break through the atmosphere, as Obi-Wan matter-of-factly informs us when the sequence is nearing conclusion, we are soon to see that austerity follows anxiety follows calamity. The characters, in best Greek tradition, are raised high, only to be brought low. And the seeds are sown right from the start. The audio-visual hyperbole of the opening sequence masks a deeper tale that's already underway. It's one magnificent accomplishment layered on top of another. All IMO.

 

Easily Revenge of the Sith. I do like the moment Anakin and Padme are brought out into the arena though. Emotional.

But the ROTS sequences are more meaningful IMO. There is more weight to it, more going on, and a better pace. It's more believable.

 

First half hour of AOTC! Last half hour of AOTC actually hits me more in a "real war" (by Star Wars standards) way more so than pure fun, while the opening action salvo of Sith has always struck me as a bit stilted. Maybe because the film seemed to be going for a vibe similar to the Death Star hijinks of ANH, and at the risk of blasphemy that stretch of the cycle has never been my favorite.

I adore the Coruscant speeder chase, though, to the point that I hope it will turn out to be something of a stylistic back door pilot for the live action series.

 

First half hour of ROTS. The last half hour of AOTC is good, but not as good. I think it actually gets better after they leave the arena.

 

ITA, ezekial. The Coruscant chase in AOTC is very close to being on par with the opening sequence in ROTS.

 

If I have to choose: the last half hour of AOTC. It's the beginning of the Clone Wars, which I absolutely love!
The first half hour of ROTS is magic, but it also marks the beginning of the end of the Clone Wars, which makes me sad





Wars - apparently, I love them
/LM

 

The first half hour of ROTS was the most swashbuckling that Star Wars has ever been. It was the Saga at its best and a great sendoff to "lighthearted" SW before getting into Anakin's gritty story. The ending of AOTC was really good but lacked the "punch" of other battles.

 

I don't know...

It's a toss-up between:

"I truly, deeply love you"

And:

"You're only so beautiful because I'm so in love with you."



But then again, I'm just a scruffy looking nerf herder.

 

why do you dislike the rest of ROTS

 

that's perfectly understandable!

 

Gotta go with ROTS since Jango gets whacked in AOTC.

 

The opening of RotS, for sure. I love the fact that it establishes Anakin as a hero as solidly (perhaps even more solidly?) than the previous two movies did. And as has been previously mentioned, the comic relief in that sequence actually works.

 

Opening sequence of ROTS. Just an incredible sense of spectacle; AOTC had a pretty good sense of that too, but it's just more awe-inspiring in ROTS.

Only thing that's wrong is that Dooku would never do a front flip off a balcony. Ever. Even if you attempted to pay him. At which point he'd probably scoff at you and say something about little people staying in their place.

 

I would have to say the first half hour of ROTS. The begining sequence with the space war was brilliant. R2 was funny though i didn't like the voicrs of the droids. I love the banter of Anakin and Obi-wan in the elevator - No loose wire jokes. ROTS is far better but i enjoyed AOTC as well. Well half of it.

 

But the ROTS sequences are more meaningful IMO. There is more weight to it, more going on, and a better pace. It's more believable.


I don't think I agree with that assessment. Yes, the first half of ROTS is funnier. But more believable? No, I don't think so.

 

Last hour of AOTC is so underrated. Once Anakin hops on leaves Tatooine to find his mom and that music starts playing from Episode I, the rest of the movie just rocks. Maybe I'm bias as I am one of the PT fans who likes Episode II more then Episode III.

 

The last half-hour of AOTC is such a drag.

 

AOTC is more important to the plot while ROTS is more fun and it actually shows Obi and Anakin as friends.

 

Care to elaborate?

I was really speaking about the two movies in general. Maybe it's just me, but I believe that the characters are experiencing what is on screen more in Revenge of the Sith. When the humour falls flat it kind of takes me out of the movie. For example, compare R2's interaction with the Jedi and his antics in the ROTS opening, with Threepio's head-swapping scenes. More believable if you ask me... the AOTC scenes feel forced, you buy R2's exchanges more, and get a sense that he and the Jedi have been through stuff together.

The dialogue in AOTC is less convincing generally. Very random stuff happening in those arena scenes, where Revenge of the Sith is more focused.