PT Why all the hate for Phantom Menace?

That is why I have so much trouble to deeply review every movie in the saga.

 

I love the whole prequel trilogy and the third film (which I watched about 10 minutes ago) really got to me and I was really sad at a lot of moments.

 

Revenge of the Sith is definitely the most devastating Star Wars movie.

 

Revenge of the Sith is definitely the most devastating Star Wars movie.[/quote]

Devastating as in bad film or devastating as very depressing and soul crushing?

 

I always thought AOTC was the most hated.

 

I use to consider AOTC the worst of the PT.
ROTS is on the bottom for me now.

 

But it doesn't mean it isn't awesome .
I was browsing on these forums and found reactions of many fans who saw the movie
in 2002.AOTC got really much praise .In fact some said it was the second best movie of the saga.(behind ESB,and we know how high regarded ESB is)

 

This post, I feel, is a very eloquent response to the opening query -- my favourite response, I think, in the whole thread.

Now, since answers to the question are (purely) speculative, and theoretically invite opprobrium, I have little desire to offer any speculation of my own.

I just want to say how much I enjoy the construction of TPM, its wonderful colour palettes and design work and the different environments, its coterie of goodies and baddies, the music, the sound design, the way the plot itself sort of goes in a circle (Naboo, a couple of other planets, back to Naboo >> nicely punctuated by Jar Jar's "Wesa goin home!" (yes, really)), the new and gloriously controversial plot elements it introduces to the wider saga (persistent negativity be damned), the slightly stuffy quality it has mixed with zanier elements, and just the whole texture of the piece: it capturing something bright, warm, and innocent, with some darker tones underneath, and having (for me, at least) the authentic flavour of a pre-history of the Star Wars galaxy, "before the dark times, before the Empire".

TPM is really, in the best tradition of its own racing sequence, a turbo-injected bucolic fantasy picture, with rich allusions to spectatorship and empire, scheming nobility and the simple humanity of honest common-folk, and a sense of exoticism forever skirting the edges of the mundane. It's a strange film. A little bit torpid in parts, but also generously woven, lively, poetic, and formidably assembled. It delights equally in its own conflagrations, its interweavings, the jarring ( ) artefacts it puts out. It's a pretty brazen work -- and just quite pretty in general. It's the sort of bold, operatic piece that movie houses are built for; that couldn't rightfully be done the same in any other medium. I think there's a lot to drink up and admire about the picture, personally.

Hate? Or even "why hate"? I don't feel I even have the energy to go there one way or the other. I don't even want to touch it. In the immortal words of Kurt Vonnegut: "Hate, in the long run, is about as nourishing as cyanide."

 

Devastating as in bad film or devastating as very depressing and soul crushing?[/quote]

Very Depressing of course and it is a masterpiece.

 

I just wish i could bring peace to those that walked out of The Phantom Menace with their worlds destroyed. If only i could send them back to a pre-1999 world. A world of ...Armageddon, Godzilla, Deep Impact, Independence Day, Twister, The Rock, Batman and Robin,

 

aotc definitely had eye rolling love story parts and jar jar was cringeworthy at times in tpm but those things don't affect the movies as a whole.

 

I think this sums up most of my feelings for the film. I went in to really looking forward to it and obviously wanting to like it.

In addition to the points made above, I think the fact that Anakin is a child is one of the major stumbling blocks for me. It limits the scenes in which hes in, and the fact he is a child in TPM means that the next 2 films feel rushed to me. Add in the Jar Jar slapstick, which in the final act especially (pardon the pun) jars against the power of the lightsaber duel and the immense soundtrack. It seemed to veer from child orientated action and humour to serious action and dialogue. I think its tone is different to the OT and is not how I think of SW films to be. Add all that together and I can see why it doesn't get great reviews.

There are some very good aspects to the film and a lot on screen thats impressive, but overall as a story I don't particularly think its very good and even though it did great box office, that shouldn't be a pointer to how good a film is. It was the first SW film for 16 years so I think it was a guaranteed hit.

 

I have realized that with my friends they have no logical reason to hate TPM but I realized they must Hate it because everyone else hates it and i think thats the same with a lot of people.

 

Conclusion of very high expectation from the beginning of the legendary saga, otherwise I don't see why...

 

The thing about people is that they will hate no matter what. For some reason people hate CG and criticize these films for using too much of it, but when I linked them to the Practical sets topic they changed their argument to, "even if they weren't CG the sets all still looked fake." People are stubborn about things. If they don't like the movies out of personal preference that's fine, but they have to stop pretending its the movies fault for that.

 

For some I think it started with the SE's then with TPM they realized that Star Wars never actually belonged to them in the first place and that it could get along very well without them. Rather than go along for the ride and have a hell of a good time like so many others they decided that they'd rather spend year after year venting about how everything was ruined.

It's like come on! At the end of the day it's a bunch of movies. Does it really give them pleasure to complain for 16 years now?

When TFA comes out and it isn't exactly what they want what will they do then?

Spend years pretending that it was?

 

I just start my viewings of the Saga with Attack of the Clones. Can't hate what you don't watch!

 

that's sad.

 

For me The Phantom Menace gets an edge over Revenge of the Sith. An unsatisfying conclusion after six years of speculating and anticipating isn't as much of a letdown as the befuddlement of just what in the heck was in mind when TPM was plotted out. The Phantom Menace had the allure of newness that introduced us to this world of the Council, the Senate, padawans, Sith being Darths, the return of Star Wars to theaters, and groundbreaking photorealistic visual effects. I don't get the CGI bashing just because it is CGI. That is not the problem with it, other than the times when it was clearly used to serve as a demonstration of what ILM could do.
There's something about Attack of the Clones that makes it my favorite Prequel (sights and sounds, music and Coruscant life, what could have been major surprises had I not spoiled myself), but I almost never watch any of them, partly because I watched them a lot. I watch episodes of The Clone Wars for a Prequel-era fix.

 

I do agree that The Phantom Menace is the weakest overall of the saga. Pacing is inconsistent, the characters (for the most part) aren't as defined and have less depth than the rest of the saga, Jar Jar's antics wear out their welcome - so I understand the hate, although in recent years AOTC has become much more hated - some people have even come to consider TPM the best of the prequels.

I think there's enough good stuff to make it a great experience, and I think it feels the most like Star Wars out of the trilogy, and aesthetically it's my favorite, but I get the disdain (I get the disdain for anything though - most people have valid reasons for liking or disliking something).

 

part of that is the setup for the rest of the trilogy, not to mention the saga.

 

I can't take credit for this idea, but I remember someone pointing out that what needed to happen with Jar Jar was to have all of the supporting cast around him be more exasperated and annoyed with his antics, kind of how Han and Leia reacted to C-3PO in ESB. The only real instances of this in TPM that I can think of come from Qui-Gon saying, "The ability to speak does not make you intelligent," as well as when he grabs Jar Jar's tongue at the dinner scene.

I think with a bit more of that type of dialogue to put him in his place, Jar Jar might have been more palatable to general audiences.

 

I also can't fathom how anyone sees ROTS as the least successful prequel. That film more than any of the others is the definition of SPACE OPERA.