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My thoughts on the prequel trilogy are actually the opposite of the poster for this thread, I think the story that it tells is pretty good, and it’s the bad acting and dialogue that I can’t get past. I grew up when the prequels were coming out, Phantom Menace came out when I was 6, and I watched the original trilogy around the same time that movie came out. As a kid, I loved the Star Wars Prequels and the Original Trilogy, I must have watched both dozens of times as a kid, and it wasn’t until I went to college that I learned that people hated the prequels. By that time, however, I hadn’t seen the prequel trilogy in years cause I had over-watched them and I kind of fell into the hating the prequel bandwagon. I hadn’t watched them in years so I kind of just chalked up my loving them as just me being a kid who wasn’t discerning enough to realize they were bad. I’ve since rewatched the original versions of the prequels, and also dozens of fan edits of them, and now I’ve come out as in the middle on my thoughts on the prequels. I legitimately like the theatrical versions of the prequel trilogy while recognizing that they’re not really good movies, but I do think the hatred of them is massively overblown. A lot of people acted like these were abominations or some of the worst movies ever, and they’re mostly just kind of mediocre.
As for my thoughts on each movie, for Phantom Menace, I think the film is well structured and the story it tells is quite good, but it’s brought down by the bad dialogue and mediocre acting from the majority of the cast who are usually pretty good actors. I also find that pacing wise this is the closest to A New Hope than any of the other Star Wars movies in that they both move pretty slowly. However, while A New Hope is often slow but never boring, The Phantom Menace is slow and often boring as well. The biggest problem with this movie is that the direction for most of the actors is really bad so most of them can’t give out a good performance. However there are high points in the film, the pod race is really fun and engaging, Anakin’s bond and farewell with his mom are legitimately well written and well-acted, and the climax is really good. The Gungan battle is the only time in the entire franchise where Jar Jar is legitimately funny, and the lightsaber duel between Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon, and Maul is fantastic. Is it over-choreographed? I guess so but it looks really cool and it’s really hard to notice unless I’m specifically looking for it.
I think Attack of the Clones is a more solid movie than Phantom Menace. The plot is more engaging, the mystery behind the clones is well developed, and there are quite a few exciting action set pieces throughout the movie. However, there is one huge downside to the film and that’s Anakin. George Lucas does such a bad job at writing the character and his romance in this film that he singlehandedly tanks the entire prequel trilogy in one movie. I don’t blame Hayden Christensen for this as almost no one could convincingly say some of the lines he’s given. Lucas also makes the character especially annoying and whiny, and the romance between him and Padme is both embarrassingly awkward but portrayed as quite creepy at times. The deleted scenes really would have helped with this subplot but unfortunately, George Lucas keeps making the decision to cut the best scenes from the movies while leaving bad scenes in there. But what saves Anakin’s character is the entire sequence on Tatooine which I have virtually no problems with except for the scene where he tells Padme how he massacred the Tusken Raiders. But the rest of the movie was quite entertaining so it balances out by the end of the movie. The fight with Jango Fett is quite exciting the climax is really thrilling. It also has some of the best music in the entire franchise Across The Stars just might be one of my favorite music themes from the series.
Revenge of the Sith is the one movie amongst the prequels that I think is actually good. The biggest problem is that the previous movies poisoned the well when it comes to Anakin’s character arc. Even though all the elements needed for his character fall are there in the film, and executed quite well because he was so unlikeable in the previous movie a lot of people aren’t able to believe his journey in this film. His visions of losing Padme and everyone he talks to about this just telling him either not to worry or train himself to let go, the council constantly not fully trusting him, and also ordering him to do something directly against the code of the Jedi in spying on the Chancellor. Not to mention Palpatine’s subtle manipulation of him throughout this film and the previous one. Him being kind and favorable towards him in the previous movie, the Palpatine putting the idea in Anakin’s head that he’s incredibly powerful, using his frustrations with the Jedi council by convincing them that they’re scared of his power, and being the only one sympathetic to Anakin and giving him the idea that he can save Padme. All of this is fantastically set up by the film and pays off immensely during the climax.
The biggest problem is that the dialogue is still not that great throughout a lot of the film, some of the attempts at humor really bring down the film, and cutting out Padme’s scenes does a real disservice to the narrative. People usually talk about how bad Hayden Christensen is as Anakin, and while I do agree he doesn’t do a great job with his dialogue usually being bad he is an incredibly good physical actor. What I mean by that is when he doesn’t have any dialogue he does an excellent job. He’s really good at portraying lots of subtle shifts in his emotions when he isn’t speaking. His acting when his mother dies in movie two, the scene in ROTS where he and Padme are just looking out over Courascant, when he finds out that he’s going to be a dad, and when he’s killing the Separatists on the lava planet his acting is fantastic. But then they make him speak and the direction and dialogue just are not good.
I think the climax of this film is truly fantastic. The acting mostly improves, order 66 is fantastically shot, Obi-Wan and Padme’s confrontation is great, Obi-Wan and Yoda realizing Anakin has been turned to the dark side, and Palpatine gives his speech while he declares himself the emperor, culminating in one of the best lines of dialogue in the franchise, “So this is how liberty dies. With thunderous applause,” and the lightsaber battle between Obi-Wan and Anakin is probably one of the best ones in the entire franchise, although I think Luke vs Vader in ROTJ is still the best one. Sure there are things that bring it down a bit, the scene where Palpatine gives Anakin the name Darth Vader and Anakin’s acting when he’s talking to Padme on the lava planet isn’t that good, Palpatine screaming “Unlimited Power” when he kills Mace, and Yoda’s fight with Palpatine can be a bit too silly, Padme losing the will to live is the most stupid thing ever, the line about Obi-Wan having the high ground is too silly and Vader’s No is really bad and cringe. However other than that I think the finale is near perfection and when people ask me why ROTS is the best of the prequel trilogy this is why.
One last thing, I highly recommend the novelizations of the prequel trilogy as they are fantastic. They don’t suffer from the same problems as the movies do, it included the character’s inner thoughts which does a good job of characterizing them, includes some really excellent deleted scenes, and even scenes that are unique to the novels. It actually makes the politics work. I’d say they are the definitive way to experience the prequels and as a whole are a much better experience than watching the movies are. I can say without reservations that the novelizations are the best versions of the prequels story and are legitimately good.