I’m honestly kind of surprised by how many people have come into this thread with guns blazing. I wasn’t aware that passions ran this hot when comparing the prequels with each other. I agree with Harmy; the bones of something more compelling than the other two are there, but the pacing is so abysmal that they’re easy to miss. The upswing of that, though, is that whenever I give it another chance and try to watch it I usually get so bored I turn it off before I can get angry at the droid factory and the Yoda fight. So that’s . . . good?
Yeah I should probably calm down lol. I just can’t see how this movie can be more compelling than ROTS. It’s the one where Anakin becomes Darth Vader! It’s what we’ve always wanted to see! The way Palpatine entices Anakin is very cleverly done and not a lot of people give Lucas credit for that. Even if the opening scene is poorly executed, at least it feels like Star Wars. I don’t understand how the Phantom Menace’s boring monotoneness can be seen as Star Wars-y. Unless you find Jar Jar funny. The best thing in the prequels is Palpatine not Darth Maul. At least it requires some acting, and Ian McDiarmid is a great actor. You can see it in Return of the Jedi and in Revenge of the Sith. He’s the one character besides Jar Jar who acts like a human being with personality and emotion. He loves being evil, and you gotta respect that.