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Post #1068653

Author
Disco_Lobot
Parent topic
Are The Prequels That Bad?
Link to post in topic
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/1068653/action/topic#1068653
Date created
22-Apr-2017, 11:46 AM

Compared to the OT (esp ANH/TESB) the Prequels are pretty bad (and part of this is because they are inconsistent with the OT).

Compared to movies in general I think the Prequels are mediocre. I another thread I recently remarked that I see them as kind of similar to the Hobbit movies in some ways.

Here’s the truth - I think the main reason that many people just don’t care that much for the prequels are the characters. If people cared about the characters more then they’d be much more willing to overlook other issues (I personally think the CGI thing is way overblown. I’ve seen plenty of great movies that use tons of CGI).

Here are (IMO) the main issues with the prequels:

  • Characters/Characterizations: The characters repeatedly behave in stupid and unbelievable ways just because the plot says they have to. Anakin’s turn is a great example of this. He has some bad dreams so he decides to murder some kids? It’s just silly. Padme’s behavior in ROTS is also completely absurd. Honestly the only character I gave a crap about by the end was Obi-Wan (and I think a lot of that was Ewan doing an awesome job despite the material he had to perform).

  • Tonal Inconsistency: This is my other HUGE issue with the prequels (and unfortunately it actually started with ROTJ, although it’s not as bad there). How can I take a scene seriously of the characters don’t? Throughout the PT we have our heroes treating the battle droids like jokes… which completely ruins any tension and makes me not care about the action. We also repeatedly have action scenes broken up by stupid/childish humor (c3PO on Geonosis being a great example of this… the buzz droids in ROTS being another). It’s bad because throughout the PT I’m repeatedly pulled out of the movie by jarring changes in tone. If you think about ROTJ this happens in some spots there also (mostly on Endor with the Ewoks, Chewie’s Tarzan yell, etc). Luckily ROTJ was not completely infected by this and the other two parts of the climax (space battle and throne room) strike a good consistent tone. I’m not saying a movie has to be completely serious… just more consistent. IMO TESB has a more serious tone than ANH, but both films work because the tone is farily consistent throughout (which is why some of the SE changes are bad… the Jabba insertion in ANH is horribly tonally inconsistent with the rest of the film). As a final word the PT seemed like it could never decide whether to take itself seriously or not and that includes a lot of the characters inside the film.

Plotting issues: I think this would be less of an issue if the characterizations were better and the tone more consistent (see TFA, which definitely has plot issues, as an example of this). AOTC in particular simply doesn’t make any sense. What’s funny is I’ve had several PT fans tell me I just don’t understand AOTC and need to think about it more… but that’s actually the problem. The problem isn’t that the movie is complicated… it’s that it doesn’t actually make sense when you DO think about it. There’s problems in some of the other films also… like in TPM why is Sidious trying to get the Queen to sign the treaty? If she signs the treaty there’s no invasion and his plan to use the crisis to become chancellor falls apart!!! It DOES NOT MAKE ANY SENSE.