Saga Least favorite Star Wars film and Why (Revised)

This was tough for me between TLJ and TROS, but have to go with TROS because of the pathetic revelation about Rey. When Lando turned up near the end and the Superman theme kicked in I walked out of the theatre. Didn't see the end until months later.

 

TROS

Its a bad movie, its a bad SW movie, its a bad ending to a trilogy and its a bad ending to a 9 movie saga.

The whole thing is an incoherent mess.

 

I haven't seen the last two of the Disney sequel trilogy, and have no desire to. I suspect one of those is the worst, from what I hear of them. I didn't like The Force Awakens, particularly, it was a fairly forgettable pseudo-Star Wars. That said I don't know I wouldn't rate it marginally above The Phantom Menace. There is much that is disagreeable or cringeworthy about TPM. The set up in TFA is confusing and poorly conceived, but at least you can tell who is supposed to be the bad guys (even if you can't tell what they are about, where they came from or how they got to be so powerful). Ambiguity is not always bad, but in the case of TPM it makes it tedious, since you don't have any particular reason to root against the Trade Federation, aka 'sepratists'. Sepratists are by definition fighting against imperialistic regimes that refuse them self-determination. Wouldn't that make them the underdog and the default good guy? The battle droids are lame. They make no particular impact. I like Darth Maul, but he's the only interesting and imposing villain. Of course he gets killed after very little screen time and hardly has any lines, which is a disappointment.

A lot of stuff happens that makes no sense, such as the two Jedi stowing away with the invading army so that they can warn the people being invaded. Having C-3PO be home-made by little Anakin (to help with his mother's housework) was also something that I disliked about that film. It doesn't fit with anything previously established about the droid. And I couldn't take seriously the child Anikin being in the pod-race, let alone the space battle. It was a bad idea full stop to have Anakin as a child and not a young adult (ideally someone the same age as Natalie Portman then was). I also dislike the idea of the Jedi recruiting children at an early age, or the fact that they took Anakin off and left his mother in slavery to some bug creature who runs a scrap yard. That's a swanky temple the Jedi have got there, and as an institution they obviously aren't short of a spare cash, the least they could do is liberate Ani's mum. If Jedi are supposed to be indifferent to the fate of family members to that extent then it makes them look callous and cult-like, some might conclude. Makes them seem to be OK with slavery, too, which is perhaps a tad problematic. Truth to tell I didn't like making Anakin start off as a slave, either, I never imagined Lord Vader having humble origins.

 

I agree with all of that. Don't forget Palpatine actively trying to stop the queen from reaching Coruscant even though he needs her to overthrow the chancellor. He literally spends half the movie actively trying to thwart his own plan lol. All he needed to do was let the Jedi take the queen to Coruscant, there was no need to try and kill the Jedi at the beginning and imagine if they'd all been killed by the blockade leaving Naboo. He would have no way of becoming chancellor anytime soon. Same thing with sending Maul after them....why? What would have it achieved if he killed them all?

God the amount of things in that movie that make no sense lol.

 

The idea of Naboo (which looks quite verdant) suffering immediately as the result of a blockade is also questionable, when you think about it. Presumably a planet like that would be self-sufficient. If the earth got blocaded, no one would notice.

To be fair the Emperor (as he somehow becomes) has a tradition of making overly elaborate and unecessesarily risky plans, which involve a fair amount of potential self-sabotage. That's a valid criticism of RotJ.

 

Palpatine's original plan was to use the sympathy he would gain in the Senate if the Queen was killed to be elected Chancellor. Same goes if the Trade Federation would keep control of Naboo and oppress its population. He would then be playing the "leader-in-exile" role to gain support.

Naboo was dependent on trade for its economy. The blockade was not causing famine on the planet, but economic crisis. Similar to if you would blockade a country on Earth that relies heavily on export when it comes to its GDP.

 

While probably true (I'm no expert in background fluff), I think it's an excuse for bad writing. Any innocent movie goer watching it at face value can rip it to shreds. I don't remember people on the door of the theatre handing out background source material to movie goers to prepare them.

 

None of what I wrote comes from "background fluff". Its all in the movie if you're paying close attention and connecting dots.

 

It doesn't change the fact he would have gotten the same result quicker and without fuss by just letting the Jedi bring the queen to Coruscant. It's bad writing, they just needed an excuse for action and to end up on Tatooine to meet Anakin.

 

I dunno how much Palpatine's plan and Naboo state "make sense" or how "realistic" it all is, but I figured Palpatine was playing with what he had and reacting as events happened. Getting rid of the queen works, but if she lives that can work for him too.

 

If killing her was his primary goal why didn't he when she was in custody? Instead she was allowed to walk around with a minimal droid escort with 2 known Jedi on the loose.

 

^I think that quote answers that.

 

Impossible to argue such delusion.

I have spoken.

 

TPM definitely feels like a rough draft that skipped the editing phase. With that being said, it's so close to being my least favorite in the series but darn childhood nostalgia makes it much more rewachable for me compared to TROS which as a result ends up as my least favorite. I imagine if I was older when the prequels came out I would have mostly dismissed them in the way that I do with the sequels.

 

Palpatine didn't know the Queen very well. He underestimated her capabilities and her resolve. He thought she'll be easy to manipulate and push around. He said as much to the Neimodians.

Once she proved she's capable, he altered his plans. In the end he got what he wanted plus the Chosen One got discovered as well.

He did lose Maul, but his longterm plan was on track.

And again, all of that is in the movie.

 

This I can agree with. TPM being worse than TFA.... not so much.

 

The Phantom Menace. It had a lot of potential. Great ideas, but not executed well. The script felt like a first draft. Lots of instances where the drama wasn't very....dramatic. Lots of instances that were just plain confusing. Lots of instances where we are told and not shown. The antagonists weren't interesting and neither were the protagonists. No chemistry between the characters. Acting poor.

 

I chose TLJ because I've seen it, but what I've heard about TROS is so bad I didn't even see it, not even for a pessimistic "just watch it so at least I can talk about it" reason like I did for TLJ. It's the only SW film I haven't seen. So in some ways it might actually be the worst for me.

 

I dislike it based on what I know about it, and I think that's valid. My opinion, my own basis on judging. I did say I chose the film I did see anyway.

 

Call me old-fashioned, but I am sure that by any reasonable standard, you have to have actually first seen a movie to pass any kind of judgment on it.

 

You don't really. People pass judgement on films or shows they haven't seen all the time. Ever see a commercial or trailer or read a summary and thought it looked dumb? I know I have. And I know enough about the story and character decisions in TROS to know I dislike them. That stuff won't change whether I watch the movie or not.

But it probably depends a lot on what in a film matters most to a person.

 

I actually had expectations for TROS below the floor and I was pleasantly surprised. Palpatine coming back is dumb and there are tons of stupid plot points if you think too hard, but I actually found the film entertaining and the main character dynamics a lot more enjoyable than the previous two films. It's not as competently made as TLJ but it isn't aggressively boring and for entertainment purposes I'll take TROS every day of the week. TLJ is still my easy least favorite.

 

When is any of this stated in the film?