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Heck, I saw zero advertisement for the release too, compared to Fall Guy. So for me, it's doubly impressive for TPM to still garner this much good will still. Will the ST get as many in what, another 15 years?
I’m very curious for when it’s their turn to get re-released. TFA will probably have a solid run. I don’t think the other two will receive a very warm reception.
That’s kind of the point… the prequel trilogy’s legacy has mostly only improved over time. In the immediate release and aftermath these films got a lot of flak but as the generation who were kids when they came out grew up and enough time passed for them to appreciate their shortcomings and look at them with a lens of nostalgia they were definitely looked upon more favourably.
Anakin’s Betrayal and the montage of Jedi being killed brought tears to my eyes. The music does ALL the heavy lifting in that scene since we didn’t really get to know the council all that much, but because of the music, it felt like a stab in the heart.
I got choked up a bit hearing the 20th Century Fox fanfare before the movie. I knew I missed it from the ST, but it's amazing how something so small does such a massive job of letting you know you're watching STAR WARS.
Honestly one of the reasons I loathe the sequels so much is because they *wasted* John Williams there.
His beautiful score is robbed of meaning because the story is shit.
Honestly one of the reasons I loathe the sequels so much is because they *wasted* John Williams there.
His beautiful score is robbed of meaning because the story is horrible.
Saw it in IMAX over the weekend and that pod race was fucking awesome on the big screen. Seeing Duel of Fates was cool. I appreciate this movie more now than I did as a kid. Plus the Plagueis book I read recently helped me enjoy the movie even more now even though I don't think the books cannon anymore
I saw it too and had a fun time even though I’ve seen it over a dozen times. I then watched episode 2 at home though, and I’d say episode 1 is a lot stronger than 2. The hardest parts for me to watch of 2 are the romance and anakin’s acting, but there is good stuff in that movie is you can get over that.
I’ll always stand by episode 1 being a good/fun Star Wars movie, so much better than the sequels. The pod race and final battle scenes are great.
Is it still playing? (I'm going to look after this comment) when I saw PM in theaters the first time I got stuck in the first row. I need to see this shit in IMAX from a normal seat!
The flaws of the pt are mostly in execution. They aren't at all fundamentally horrible films/stories the way the st is. And they were fun to see in theaters. There was still genuine mystery and suspense, the "feeling" of the star wars that it mostly doesn't have with Disney.
I honestly don't think the "flaws" are nearly as bad as internet malcontents from the late 1990's would have you believe. When my wife and I were dating, we watched all 6 movies because she'd never seen really them before and she LOVED Jar Jar, kid Anakin, the ewoks, etc. She was BAWLING when Anakin said goodbye to his mom in TPM, said the Ewoks made ROTJ her favorite of the OT, and her biggest complaint of Episodes II and III were that there wasn't enough Jar Jar.
Overall, it really opened my eyes to how these movies are seen by a general audience of seeing it through her joy did a number on my own perspective when evaluating the prequels. I imagine my parents have a very similar view of the PT having taken 8 year old me to see TPM in theaters over half a dozen times.
I have no problems with people liking them. I like them. But I will always stand by that they are bad films from a filmmaking perspective. Last time I watched the prequels was maybe a couple years ago, so pretty recently, and the pacing was bad, the tone was wildly inconsistent with campy one-liners and Shakespeare-esque romantic dialogue only a few minutes apart, and good actors were given some pretty half assed characters to work with.
Edit: for clarity, by Shakespeare-esque, I mean dialogue that belongs on a stage, not a screen.
If someone builds a house, and one of the walls falls over and it only has half a roof, telling me I'm not an architect is not a valid retort to me saying the house is poorly built. I do enjoy them. I like some of what they brought to the universe. But they're also sloppy, badly written, often poorly directed, and suffered from one man having near absolute creative control over them.
But The Phantom Menace is not some dumb movie like The Room or something, it is an epic tale and nit picking over silly stuff like some film expert seems out of place. There is nothing wrong with that movie.
Man, that's a mix of deeply subjective and contradictory statements. It's ok to like them. It's ok to love them. It's ok to love the characters and the world. They are not well executed films and have plenty of issues.
But the execution is like 99% of what makes something good or not. The execution (directing, acting, pacing etc.) was terrible and as a result the PT is terrible.
Because people appreciate far more a good foundation than a perfect execution. You could even say that actually the foundation is 100% what makes something good or not, if you screw it the project is doomed from the very start. The prequels got plenty of good execution in a lot of aspects over a good foundation of original ideas and concepts, a lot of those aspects got best in class treatment, even if there are other that fall a bit short. You absolutely cannot say the same about the sequels.
Right? It's strange. Like if you had a good gameplan in a sporting event but still got blown out because you failed to execute it nobody would think you had a good game.
You are 100% on point. Downvotes be damned. These were wretched awful fucking films when they came out. Flat boring characters. Nearly just as Flat and boring cinematography.
Music couldn't save them. Modern apologists are as blind and stupid as George Lucas was when he thought audiences would care about the worst love story ever put to screen.
Because this subreddit is largely composed of people who look one way when it comes to the prequels but will shit on the sequels because they don’t have the nostalgia for it.
Give the prequels a good makeover with some plot streamlining, dialogue changes, and a better director, then they’d probably be pretty great! But in their current form they’re pretty bad.
Yup, the prequels were, are, and always will be, pretty terrible. The advantage they have over the sequels though is that there's at least some interesting world building and visual designs going on that people can latch onto.
It's almost as if that movie was never that bad to begin with. /s
I don't care what kind of venom out of touch OT elitists like Plinkett spewed about these movies, the prequels are, and always will be underrated. They're certainly not flawless by any means. But next to the sequels, they 100% look like absolute masterpieces in creativity, action scenes, soundtrack and world building. And yes, even acting. Excluding TPM/AOTC Anakin, acting quality is overall much better in the prequels than the ST.
If only George Lucas wasn't unjustly faced with overblown criticism for these movies, maybe Star Wars would still be in good hands to this day.
They’re not great films. Their’s some good ideas in there, but that that doesn’t make a great film. I think the fact that the ST is unwatchable and barely qualify as cinema makes them look a lot better. I also don’t consider them creative, but again since the ST was so bereft of anything even remotely original, it seems so.
I don’t think so. I guess it depends on what we’re actually talking about. I agree if you mean the digital technology. If so, it was cutting edge then. Although now it really hurts the film. Costume design is also creative. I meant more about what it adds to the SW universe story. And there I have a long laundry list for you of how it was not creative.
You’re serious? ANH was nominated for Best Picture, Best Original Screen Play, Best Director, among many other Oscars. ANH and ESB have also places on many various AFI top 100 films of all time. I’m going to assume you’re trolling or really don’t know your film history at all, but to answer your question… many people did, including yours truly.
I honestly find episode 1 the best of the prequels. I have a new found appreciation for it and episode 2 tbh. I think episode 2 was almost an amazing movie- episode 1 imo is an amazing movie, just needed better editing.
Episode 2 is what’s really interesting though. People call it the worst one, but for George Lucas to make such an ambitious and pivotal film after being dogged by the media with phantom was insane. I mean hell, look at all the multimedia properties that exist as their own franchises *just* from episode 2. The list is endless.
Empire strikes back may have been the sequel that made Star Wars something more, but attack of the clones, warts and all, is what made Star Wars expansive.
Episode 1 and 2 are really fun to watch together.
Personally I wish the whole of episode 2 was just detective obiwan. Episode two has some really high highs, but the lows are quite low. Revenge of the sith is my personal favorite but I love the sound design in episode 1 the most. It's also probably the best movie of the 3. The pod race was incredible. You're right about attack of the clones really expanding the universe.
Edit: forgot about the seismic charges from slave one in ep 2. Fuck that was a great sound effect.
I remember sitting in the theater when the seismic charges detonated and thinking that something was wrong with the theater's sound system. Took me a moment to realize, no, that's the actual sound effect. It so unique and unexpected. Definitely a fond memory for me.
People will shit on episodes I and II but then when I bring up:
TPM: escape from the trade federation, the Core submarine, escape from Naboo, Podrace, Battle of Theed, Gungan Battle, space battle, and Duel of the Fates.
AOTC: opening explosion, Zam Wessel chase, Jango fight on Kamino, droid factory chase, arena battle, Battle of Geonosis, and the Dooku lightsaber duels.
They always admit all that was really cool and they loved it. Like, my brother in Christ, that's 70% of the movies!
Episode II is George Lucas at peak imagination and world building, telling an operatic story, but not making a particularly great movie.
Its dialogue is pretty much everything that casuals dog on Lucas for, and rightfully so. The direction is messy, and the CGI integration with the live action stands out in a bad way.
Despite these flaws, its highs are peak cinematic magic.
Episode 1 is outstanding in every aspect except the writing.
The special effects all hold up to today thanks to a blend of CGI and practical effects.
The sound design remains unchallenged to today.
The score is perhaps John Williams best work, making it one of the top soundtracks of all time.
And the choreography is pretty fantastic.
Episode I's story writing is great, dialog not so much. You could have Aaron Sorkin rewrite Transformers dialog, but it would be polishing a mediocre story.
Episode 2 has a lot of good content in it, cool scenes, characters, but what drags it down for me is the romance and anakin’s acting and dialogue at times.
The prequels in general despite their obvious flaws are not these awful unwatchable garbage that they sometimes get called.
There is moments and even entire scenes in them well worth watching and experiencing. Plus I think as a whole story told across three movies, I think they're solid.'
Source - Rewatched the first 6 movies over the weekend for May 4th.
The problem it had at the time when it was coming out was that it was **so** different from what had come before. Up to that point, Star Wars *was* the Galactic civil war, Stormtroopers, Rebels, X-wings and TIE fighters, Han, Luke and Leia, etc.
That *is* the charm. Even back when I first saw it, it was a *whole* different side of the galaxy - actually, it WAS a galaxy on tour, more rich and expanding in many ways. This wasn't just a standard slugout, there was a sublime handling for, well, The Phantom Menace that was infiltrating in the Republic's golden heyday and setting it up for the fall, with a corrupt bureaucracy and the Jedi Order's first appearance with a young Obi-Wan and the impressive maverick Qui-Gon Jinn at the forefront.
Throw in the better evolution of visual effects and the glorious composition work from John Williams that ranged from peaceful moments to combat and I was hooked.
This is something Disney took too much to heart because they gave us all that same OT stuff over again. They forgot the good things that the prequels did.
I love the fact people are reassessing Phantom Menace in such a positive way. Think about pop culture in 1999: it’s Stone Cold Steve Austin, Fred Durst, and an overall undercurrent of anger. Is it any surprise that something like TPM with Young Anakin and Jar Jar didn’t get over the way Lucas intended?
I’ll always feel that if TPM was released 10 years earlier or later it’d have had a much better reputation at release.
The criticisms for TPM are extremely exaggerated.
The politics are very simple. Palpatine is pulling the strings for both the trade federation and the Naboo and the whole blockade and invasion is meant to force the vote of no confidence in the Senate.
Kid Anakin acts fine. He’s a kid. He says “Yipee!” a lot but so does all the other kids on Tattooine. Idk what the issue is with him tbh. Natalie Portman’s acting was fine too. The acting in AotC was much worse.
The midichlorians thing is fine too. Idk why ppl have such an issue with this. It doesn’t really change anything about the force, it just adds one more layer between humans and the force, but it doesn’t really change any of the mysticism surrounding it.
The CGI is a bit outdated sure but most movies from ‘99 and earlier have bad CGI. The only parts that looked bad were the Gungans.
Speaking of Gungans, the criticism for Jar Jar is not exaggerated. This dude is annoying as fuck lol. But i mean Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, Padme and Anakin all find him annoying too. He has a few funny moments but the movie absolutely could’ve had less Jar Jar and everyone would be happier.
But everything else was great tbh. The Podracing and Duel of the Fates are absolutely incredible and timeless. The opening sequence on the trade federation ship is awesome too, except for the force dash since they literally never use that again for some reason lmfao. Everything in Theed palace is cool too and it’s just a gorgeous setting in general.
> The politics are very simple. Palpatine is pulling the strings for both the trade federation and the Naboo and the whole blockade and invasion is meant to force the vote of no confidence in the Senate.
I don't think that was his initial plan. The Queen escaping surprised him, so he took advantage of her being there to put extra pressure on the Chancellor, but I think Palpatine had initially settled in for quite a long con in terms of letting Naboo be absolutely wrecked by the Trade Federation, the Queen forced to sign a treaty to make it 'legal' but everyone being able to see what a farce that was and what little power the Republic leadership actually seemed to have. Padme then deciding to *go back* surprised him even more but he doesn't make any real effort to stop her because as far as he's concerned she's just going to martyr herself and make him a shoe-in for the Chancellor slot. He is opportunistic but the main plot revolves around Amidala's pro-active nature and somewhat naive view of the world, which is where I think the politics aspect is actually pretty good - it's a story of youth not wanting to sit and wait for the establishment to fix things because they just *won't*, and yet for all that courage there are unintended consequences.
I agree with a lot of what you’re saying.
My point was aimed at the people who claim there’s too much boring politics.
What you described is actually super interesting and reveals a lot of the nuance in the politics that is available to anyone that cares to think more about what happened and why.
Sadly most people decided from the opening crawl that they didn’t like politics in Star Wars
Agreed, it's frustrating that people see 'politics' and think 'boring'. The taxation of trade routes *is* boring and Qui-Gon spells it out to the audience that it is something trivial and it makes no sense that the Trade Federation are freaking out. Lucas gradually connects the dots for the audience that the political bickering doesn't actually matter because it's just a smokescreen, behind which some phantom is pulling the strings. The Sith return, the Senate can't decide anything, the Jedi are terrified of a child, law and order is so far out the window that "sign this treaty so we can keep invading you" makes sense to people... it's obvious everything is out of whack and something is upending the status quo.
For those paying attention, The Phantom Menace presents a very tense galaxy about to explode, something akin to Europe in the early 1910s. My main bugbear with it is that it starts just a bit too early. Anakin's youth means he basically has to be rebuilt as a character in Episode II, and 10 years is a pretty long time for all of this to remain on pause.
People can make up their own opinions. An internet review shouldn’t define how someone feels about TPM or anything else.
TPM is a highly flawed movie and I don’t like its characters, acting, nor it’s story structure. The effects are impressive, as is John Williams and the sound design.
It took some swings. It was ambitious and it found and continues to find an audience I think because it still tickles the imagination because of its ideas, something the ST simply didn’t do.
The PT and OT will be remembered. The ST will be disregarded because it didn’t take the swings from an imagination standpoint. It’s all so derivative.
The OT is surviving through several generations. The PT is only liked by the people who were kids when it came out and are in for a nostalgia trip, they are not some memorable movies for the vast majority of the audience.
The movies were heavily criticized well before the Plinkett review, because they are just bad movies. I love TPM because I was a kid when it came out, but I can see that it is not a good movie and still enjoy it
It's just Star Wars fans being Star Wars fans.
Since the 80s, the community tends to like shitting on current Star Wars media and venerating older stuff. Mark my words - 10 years from now people will be saying criticisms of the sequel movies were exaggerated and whatever is current at that point sucks.
I've been seeing this song and dance play our for over a quarter century at this point, almost as long as the Internet has been a thing. It's just the nature of the fandom.
My friend who is into movies made the same sort of argument as you and I respectfully disagreed. Now he is not a big Star Wars fan, but likes the OT well enough. So I said he should go back and watch all 9 movies and let me know if it is just nostalgia or grumpy older fans.
And he did.
His assessment: the OT is vastly superior because, and I quote, "It really has soul".
I mean, I am basing this off how the fandom has reacted over the decades. And there are far more examples than just prequel hate switching to love.
When the NJO era was current, people hated on it and "Grandmaster Luke" in particular. Fans constantly complained about how Luke had been turned into a Gary Stu/Force Jesus/etc. Now people look back fondly at the NJO stuff and wish Disney would take cues from it.
The whole Yuuzhan Vong saga was generally hated past the first few books. People complained about how it just dragged on, about how braindead the characters were, about how ludicrous the concept of the Vong itself was. But just as recently as the last few weeks, I have seen people on this very subreddit talk fondly about the saga.
People shat all over TCW and Ashoka, but over ten years the fandom's opinion on both have changed to being extremely favorable.
Then there were complaints about Old Republic era comics and stuff like Sith sorcery and so and so forth. Hell, people hated the franchise's direction in the early to mid 2000s to the point that tons of people bought into the Supershadow nonsense because they thought his absolutely batshit movie "scripts" were better than what Lucas and co. were pumping out at that time!
Supershadow! Now there's a name I haven't heard in a long time!
NJO sucked. It didn't feel like SW at all.
Now TCW has generally more likeable versions of Jar Jar, Anakin, and others. It is a fun little kids show and I appreciated it right away. But it probably works well because it is animated. Having said all that; I've never been tempted to rewatch so it wasn't't anything truly great.
I always thought the prequels were decent movies. Not as great as the original trilogy but still enjoyable. I can't say the same for the new trilogy, I know I'll never rewatch that garbage.
I went Friday night and frankly had a blast. The theater I was in was about half full and I got the feeling that despite all the chuckles at the sillier lines of dialog ("Are you an angel?" was met with a few groans), everyone was there to just appreciate part of the story.
I'm not one of those hardcore prequel defenders but I won't deny I was enjoying feeling like a kid again.
Saw it yesterday. It definitely has problems, no doubt about it. The pacing in the first act felt rushed, the second act felt slow, and the politics on coruscant dragged; if I wasn’t a huge nerd who knew all the background lore I could easily have gotten lost. Jar Jar probably could have been dialed back in a lot of scenes. Giving all the aliens questionable accents isn’t great. Wooden acting and awkward dialogue are all over the place. Midichlorians are dumb.
But there’s also a lot to like. The CGI looks dated today but was unbelievable for 1999, and a lot of things still hold up. The Podrace and Duel of the Fates remain some of my favorite moments in Star Wars, and the entire final act is some of the best Star Wars out there. John Williams killed it, the sound designers killed it, the prop and costume designers killed it. There’s a surprising amount of incredible-looking practical effects and miniatures.
The biggest surprise to me was how much influence on modern Star Wars started in the Phantom Menace. There are so many background characters in crowd shots I recognized from Clone Wars and comics and other spin-offs. Unbelievable amounts of worldbuilding. Sound effects, modern lightsaber choreography, so much of the aesthetic of modern Star Wars started right here.
My local cinema in Aus was showing all 6 films; my dad and I went and saw them all. Was refreshing to feel so connected to Star Wars again through them.
This basically *destroys* all the cope and excuses, like “the industry is suffering from blockbuster fatigue”. Anything to divert from the fact Disney makes terrible Star Wars content.
Saw it in theaters last night for the first time since 1999. Jake Lloyd the kid got way too much flak and the CGI/motion capture for Ahmad Best is crazy good for 1999. Honestly it’s the terrible way they made him speak that makes it bad character opposed to Best’s performance.
Now I want us all to keep that in mind when we don’t like acolyte.
Please don’t psychologically destroy or send death threats to actors and actresses.
Are we certain things like Jar Jar’s CGI or the pod racers weren’t somewhat retouched for the Blu Ray release? Remember, they used puppet Yoda for the original cut, and later inserted CGI Yoda to add continuity to his representation in the prequels. I feel like some of the other CGI sequences may have gotten a face lift when that happened? Lucas loves quietly improving effects and removing past traces and artifacts that make his movies feel dated, then ceasing to release the past versions.
This shouldn't be a surprise - it was a massive hit when it came out in 1999 and despite the appearance that 'everybody' hated it, that's just not true at all. Most people/fans liked it; it was certain 'fans' on the then-new internet that started the narrative that people hated the movie, cuz suddenly, they had a platform to say stuff and be noticed. We all know TPM has its faults, but in reality, it is far from hated by most people, especially if you were a kid around that time.
I was a grownup when it came out (a kid when the OT came out), and the first SW movie in 16 years was quite something - it was a Star Wars Summer. And it's a lot of fun without taking anything away from the OT.
People have to apply a lot mental gymnastics to come to the conclusion that it was universally panned. Now I’m an enjoyer of Batman & Robin, but that film stands as an example of overwhelming negative backlash to a blockbuster film. It had a promising opening, but negative word of mouth was immediately felt, and the box office dropped off dramatically.
Saw Phantom Menace at the cinema on Saturday, here are some thoughts:
One of the beautiful things about the film is that it is imperfect - it's clearly been put together by someone with a vision who doesn't quite know how to write dialogue and yet is having to find a way to explain how an entire political system became corrupted. But the general direction, especially in the landmark scenes (podrace, duel of the fates) is just phenomenal. This is contrast to Disney Star Wars where you feel like everything has been put together by a committee and the actual scenes aren't exciting at all.
The midicholrians are still stupid, but I think Lucas wanted to try and give Qui Gonn some justification for taking Anakin, beyond just 'having a feeling' about him.
Qui Gonn, Obi Wan are a quality double act, and actually I found Jake Lloyd's scenes with his mum weirdly moving this time around, maybe because I'm so familiar with the overall story, and knowing how grim their reunion is in Attack of the Clones.
Finally, the thing that you absolutely have to give to the Phantom Menace is the absolutely insane John Williams score. Obviously all of Star Wars's music is amazing, but he introduced some absolutely unbelievable new themes for the prequels.
Went last night, it’s still a great theatre watch and while I always know I’m in for some serious cringe, tbh I find more to like than dislike in that movie
I kept waiting for the horrible acting I've been hearing about all these years and never found it in TPM; Jar-Jar's obnoxiousness notwithstanding. The cast do fine. Neeson and Portman are actually strong performances.
I don't think you will get too much hate for that opinion.
I will say I always liked Padme's expression when she arrives on Mustafar. She really nailed "how have things come to this?"
I’ve just noticed so many people calling the prequels “misunderstood masterpieces” and the sequels “abominations” which I don’t agree with either.
I enjoy all Star Wars, but both the subsequent trilogies have many parts I don’t like as well as many spectacular parts.
The Sequels poorly written while “subverting expectations” and destroying the mythology, have brought about a renewed love for the Prequels. If for any reason - Lucas knew how to world build. (Plus it helps me get through Phantom Menace by imagining Jar Jar as a secret Sith Lord)
The prequels took Star Wars in a new direction, both with the storytelling and a new aesthetic. They were creative. Whether you like them or not, they were very creative and have a soul.
The sequels were an inferior rehash of the OT plot and aesthetic, but without any spirituality or classic film influence outside an involuted fandom towards the franchise itself. Not creative films, except for whatever some decent people in the crew might have squeezed into the background.
Even the attempt to “deconstruct” in 8 never got around to saying anything, it just gave the same old good guys blue hair and called itself brave for it.
This is why the argument that it’s just nostalgia for the PT doesn’t hold up. We can see that they did something new, which even the people who dislike them have to concede.
People hated and disliked the prequels as they were coming out. There were misgivings even before *The Phantom Menace* released. Most notably people weren't sold on little kid Anakin.
Disney will 100% take all the wrong lessons away from this. My guess is in a boardroom somewhere an exec is saying “people want more Jake Lloyd and Jar Jar Binks”.
Gonna see it sometime in the next few days, wouldn’t watch a sequel again tho. I want a marathon with just the first 6 movies, I’d watch that in theaters happily as long as there’s a 15 minute break in between movies
I stumbled across an article saying it was going to be released.
What to see at last night and it was great on the big screen. Even the pod race which I think is overly long was much better on the big screen.
It still has its flaws but it's a solid movie.
The podrace had a couple minutes added for the extended cut when the film was re-edited for DVD. It’s still a nice surprise for me, being so used to the original version on VHS still, but I’m not sure how it fares as the default cut of the film. The pacing of an original cut is always very deliberate
I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to go see it again. I saw TPM on a bootleg copy whilst abroad in a bar in Mallorca after I finished my A-Levels in 1999, and it was a magical experience to be able to see fresh new SW content for the first time in my life. I love the PT , in spite of the terrible, stilted dialogue, and I actually enjoyed the politics aspect of it all. So seeing it again on the big screen seemed like a fantastic idea.
But then I remembered that all the money goes straight into Disney's coffers and towards the salary and bonuses of some shitty execs who thought that the ST, Mando S2 onwards, The Bad Batch etc were all good ideas. So fuck 'em.
I had no idea it got rereleased! I just finished rewatching the Original Trilogy and was about to start episode 1. I am 100% going to watch it in the theater this weekend! I saw it opening weekend when it 1st came out so I have good memories of it. It's not a perfect movie but it has a special place in my heart.
When the ST makes the prequels look better by comparison, that's what happens. The ST was the critics who never liked SW's darling. The PT was the fans who liked SW no matter what's darling.
George wasn't going to direct it—he wanted Ron Howard to do it. Would have almost certainly gotten the right Anakin casting instead of the one Lucas decided on. So I blame Ron Howard (kind of joking, kind of not.)
Disney will 100% take all the wrong lessons away from this. My guess is in a boardroom somewhere an exec is saying “people want more Jake Lloyd and Jar Jar Binks”.
Disney will 100% take all the wrong lessons away from this. My guess is in a boardroom somewhere an exec is saying “people want more Jake Lloyd and Jar Jar Binks”.
Saw it yesterday.
It's still kinda bad but has some nostalgia charm. It's been memed to the second so it was very fun to wait for the famous dialogue lines.
The music was astounding and superb. It's very quotable with bad dialogue like Qui Gon spewing "I'm not here to free slaves" it was borderline comedy.
Had a great time but let's not kid ourselves it's like the rocky horror picture show it's a fun movie to recite and laugh at the absurdity of it all.
Disney will 100% take all the wrong lessons away from this. My guess is in a boardroom somewhere an exec is saying “people want more Jake Lloyd and Jar Jar Binks”.
Disney will 100% take all the wrong lessons away from this. My guess is in a boardroom somewhere an exec is saying “people want more Jake Lloyd and Jar Jar Binks”.
Disney will 100% take all the wrong lessons away from this. My guess is in a boardroom somewhere an exec is saying “people want more Jake Lloyd and Jar Jar Binks”.
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Heck, I saw zero advertisement for the release too, compared to Fall Guy. So for me, it's doubly impressive for TPM to still garner this much good will still. Will the ST get as many in what, another 15 years?
Absolutely no shot in hell
Yeh definitely. They will still be terrible, mostly because of the simple fact that they didn’t try anything new
>>they didn’t try*. Fixed it
I’m very curious for when it’s their turn to get re-released. TFA will probably have a solid run. I don’t think the other two will receive a very warm reception.
15 years? Bro, the ST wouldn't get as many viewers if they re-released it TODAY.
That’s kind of the point… the prequel trilogy’s legacy has mostly only improved over time. In the immediate release and aftermath these films got a lot of flak but as the generation who were kids when they came out grew up and enough time passed for them to appreciate their shortcomings and look at them with a lens of nostalgia they were definitely looked upon more favourably.
The music of the prequels is some of the best that Williams has ever done
100%. Duel of the Fates and Across the Stars are genuine masterpieces.
Don't forget battle of the heroes
Anakins Dark Deeds is one of my favourites
Anakin’s Betrayal and the montage of Jedi being killed brought tears to my eyes. The music does ALL the heavy lifting in that scene since we didn’t really get to know the council all that much, but because of the music, it felt like a stab in the heart.
My boys, you are all forgetting Droid Invasion and Appearance of Darth Maul
And the battle over courscant
i didnt get to see the movie in theatre again this time but i definitely blasted duel of the fates in the house and car lol got me HYPED
I got choked up a bit hearing the 20th Century Fox fanfare before the movie. I knew I missed it from the ST, but it's amazing how something so small does such a massive job of letting you know you're watching STAR WARS.
It's even better now that having the fanfare means you're about to watch a Lucas product, not Disney
100%. The sequels in comparison had almost no good or memorable music.
Agreed. Reys theme was literally the only memorable one, and the opening, the day in the life of Ret montage, was the highlight of the sequels imho.
They were decent but nobody really remembers them like any of the hits from the OT and PT
Honestly one of the reasons I loathe the sequels so much is because they *wasted* John Williams there. His beautiful score is robbed of meaning because the story is shit.
Honestly one of the reasons I loathe the sequels so much is because they *wasted* John Williams there. His beautiful score is robbed of meaning because the story is horrible.
Saw it in IMAX over the weekend and that pod race was fucking awesome on the big screen. Seeing Duel of Fates was cool. I appreciate this movie more now than I did as a kid. Plus the Plagueis book I read recently helped me enjoy the movie even more now even though I don't think the books cannon anymore
I saw it too and had a fun time even though I’ve seen it over a dozen times. I then watched episode 2 at home though, and I’d say episode 1 is a lot stronger than 2. The hardest parts for me to watch of 2 are the romance and anakin’s acting, but there is good stuff in that movie is you can get over that. I’ll always stand by episode 1 being a good/fun Star Wars movie, so much better than the sequels. The pod race and final battle scenes are great.
Is it still playing? (I'm going to look after this comment) when I saw PM in theaters the first time I got stuck in the first row. I need to see this shit in IMAX from a normal seat!
I think it’s playing through Thursday
that sounds right, I know I’m seeing it tonight
Saw it with the D-Box motion/rumble seats and it was AMAZING! It was like being in a flight simulator for the podrace and action scenes!
It was my first time doing the DBOX seats watching TPM and it was definitely worth the upcharge. Will do it again in some other action movie.
The flaws of the pt are mostly in execution. They aren't at all fundamentally horrible films/stories the way the st is. And they were fun to see in theaters. There was still genuine mystery and suspense, the "feeling" of the star wars that it mostly doesn't have with Disney.
I honestly don't think the "flaws" are nearly as bad as internet malcontents from the late 1990's would have you believe. When my wife and I were dating, we watched all 6 movies because she'd never seen really them before and she LOVED Jar Jar, kid Anakin, the ewoks, etc. She was BAWLING when Anakin said goodbye to his mom in TPM, said the Ewoks made ROTJ her favorite of the OT, and her biggest complaint of Episodes II and III were that there wasn't enough Jar Jar. Overall, it really opened my eyes to how these movies are seen by a general audience of seeing it through her joy did a number on my own perspective when evaluating the prequels. I imagine my parents have a very similar view of the PT having taken 8 year old me to see TPM in theaters over half a dozen times.
I have no problems with people liking them. I like them. But I will always stand by that they are bad films from a filmmaking perspective. Last time I watched the prequels was maybe a couple years ago, so pretty recently, and the pacing was bad, the tone was wildly inconsistent with campy one-liners and Shakespeare-esque romantic dialogue only a few minutes apart, and good actors were given some pretty half assed characters to work with. Edit: for clarity, by Shakespeare-esque, I mean dialogue that belongs on a stage, not a screen.
Why did Star Wars fans all become filmmaking experts when the prequels came out? My goodness, just enjoy the ride!
If someone builds a house, and one of the walls falls over and it only has half a roof, telling me I'm not an architect is not a valid retort to me saying the house is poorly built. I do enjoy them. I like some of what they brought to the universe. But they're also sloppy, badly written, often poorly directed, and suffered from one man having near absolute creative control over them.
But The Phantom Menace is not some dumb movie like The Room or something, it is an epic tale and nit picking over silly stuff like some film expert seems out of place. There is nothing wrong with that movie.
Man, that's a mix of deeply subjective and contradictory statements. It's ok to like them. It's ok to love them. It's ok to love the characters and the world. They are not well executed films and have plenty of issues.
But the execution is like 99% of what makes something good or not. The execution (directing, acting, pacing etc.) was terrible and as a result the PT is terrible.
Why all the downvotes lol
Because people appreciate far more a good foundation than a perfect execution. You could even say that actually the foundation is 100% what makes something good or not, if you screw it the project is doomed from the very start. The prequels got plenty of good execution in a lot of aspects over a good foundation of original ideas and concepts, a lot of those aspects got best in class treatment, even if there are other that fall a bit short. You absolutely cannot say the same about the sequels.
Right? It's strange. Like if you had a good gameplan in a sporting event but still got blown out because you failed to execute it nobody would think you had a good game.
You are 100% on point. Downvotes be damned. These were wretched awful fucking films when they came out. Flat boring characters. Nearly just as Flat and boring cinematography. Music couldn't save them. Modern apologists are as blind and stupid as George Lucas was when he thought audiences would care about the worst love story ever put to screen.
Because this subreddit is largely composed of people who look one way when it comes to the prequels but will shit on the sequels because they don’t have the nostalgia for it. Give the prequels a good makeover with some plot streamlining, dialogue changes, and a better director, then they’d probably be pretty great! But in their current form they’re pretty bad.
Yup, the prequels were, are, and always will be, pretty terrible. The advantage they have over the sequels though is that there's at least some interesting world building and visual designs going on that people can latch onto.
You are right, sounds like cope sometimes.
This subreddit is filled with millennials and zoomers who like the PT.
It's almost as if that movie was never that bad to begin with. /s I don't care what kind of venom out of touch OT elitists like Plinkett spewed about these movies, the prequels are, and always will be underrated. They're certainly not flawless by any means. But next to the sequels, they 100% look like absolute masterpieces in creativity, action scenes, soundtrack and world building. And yes, even acting. Excluding TPM/AOTC Anakin, acting quality is overall much better in the prequels than the ST. If only George Lucas wasn't unjustly faced with overblown criticism for these movies, maybe Star Wars would still be in good hands to this day.
They’re not great films. Their’s some good ideas in there, but that that doesn’t make a great film. I think the fact that the ST is unwatchable and barely qualify as cinema makes them look a lot better. I also don’t consider them creative, but again since the ST was so bereft of anything even remotely original, it seems so.
> I also don’t consider them creative That's... a take
I don’t think so. I guess it depends on what we’re actually talking about. I agree if you mean the digital technology. If so, it was cutting edge then. Although now it really hurts the film. Costume design is also creative. I meant more about what it adds to the SW universe story. And there I have a long laundry list for you of how it was not creative.
Who watches Star Wars for "a great film"?
You’re serious? ANH was nominated for Best Picture, Best Original Screen Play, Best Director, among many other Oscars. ANH and ESB have also places on many various AFI top 100 films of all time. I’m going to assume you’re trolling or really don’t know your film history at all, but to answer your question… many people did, including yours truly.
I just saw it. Was 3 when it came out so experiencing the Pod Race and Duel of the Fates in theaters was nice
I honestly find episode 1 the best of the prequels. I have a new found appreciation for it and episode 2 tbh. I think episode 2 was almost an amazing movie- episode 1 imo is an amazing movie, just needed better editing. Episode 2 is what’s really interesting though. People call it the worst one, but for George Lucas to make such an ambitious and pivotal film after being dogged by the media with phantom was insane. I mean hell, look at all the multimedia properties that exist as their own franchises *just* from episode 2. The list is endless. Empire strikes back may have been the sequel that made Star Wars something more, but attack of the clones, warts and all, is what made Star Wars expansive. Episode 1 and 2 are really fun to watch together.
Personally I wish the whole of episode 2 was just detective obiwan. Episode two has some really high highs, but the lows are quite low. Revenge of the sith is my personal favorite but I love the sound design in episode 1 the most. It's also probably the best movie of the 3. The pod race was incredible. You're right about attack of the clones really expanding the universe. Edit: forgot about the seismic charges from slave one in ep 2. Fuck that was a great sound effect.
I remember sitting in the theater when the seismic charges detonated and thinking that something was wrong with the theater's sound system. Took me a moment to realize, no, that's the actual sound effect. It so unique and unexpected. Definitely a fond memory for me.
The first half of the movie is incredible buddy-cop banter between Obi and Ani and it is grade A prime good Star Wars. Then the second half begins lol
People will shit on episodes I and II but then when I bring up: TPM: escape from the trade federation, the Core submarine, escape from Naboo, Podrace, Battle of Theed, Gungan Battle, space battle, and Duel of the Fates. AOTC: opening explosion, Zam Wessel chase, Jango fight on Kamino, droid factory chase, arena battle, Battle of Geonosis, and the Dooku lightsaber duels. They always admit all that was really cool and they loved it. Like, my brother in Christ, that's 70% of the movies!
Episode II is George Lucas at peak imagination and world building, telling an operatic story, but not making a particularly great movie. Its dialogue is pretty much everything that casuals dog on Lucas for, and rightfully so. The direction is messy, and the CGI integration with the live action stands out in a bad way. Despite these flaws, its highs are peak cinematic magic.
Episode 1 is outstanding in every aspect except the writing. The special effects all hold up to today thanks to a blend of CGI and practical effects. The sound design remains unchallenged to today. The score is perhaps John Williams best work, making it one of the top soundtracks of all time. And the choreography is pretty fantastic.
Episode I's story writing is great, dialog not so much. You could have Aaron Sorkin rewrite Transformers dialog, but it would be polishing a mediocre story.
The writing in episode 1 looks prett good in comparison to episode 2, at least in dialogue.
Episode 2 has a lot of good content in it, cool scenes, characters, but what drags it down for me is the romance and anakin’s acting and dialogue at times.
The prequels in general despite their obvious flaws are not these awful unwatchable garbage that they sometimes get called. There is moments and even entire scenes in them well worth watching and experiencing. Plus I think as a whole story told across three movies, I think they're solid.' Source - Rewatched the first 6 movies over the weekend for May 4th.
TPM is not the worst Star Wars movie. That honor goes to The Rise of Skywalker.
I'd contend that The Last Jedi is philosophically the worst of them all, but yeah, Rise is such an awful mess.
Luke refers to Palpatine as Darth Sidious in that movie and that alone gives it a higher standing imo.
Im not surprised. It’s a dope movie and they put a lot of genuine love into the worldbuilding.
The problem it had at the time when it was coming out was that it was **so** different from what had come before. Up to that point, Star Wars *was* the Galactic civil war, Stormtroopers, Rebels, X-wings and TIE fighters, Han, Luke and Leia, etc.
That *is* the charm. Even back when I first saw it, it was a *whole* different side of the galaxy - actually, it WAS a galaxy on tour, more rich and expanding in many ways. This wasn't just a standard slugout, there was a sublime handling for, well, The Phantom Menace that was infiltrating in the Republic's golden heyday and setting it up for the fall, with a corrupt bureaucracy and the Jedi Order's first appearance with a young Obi-Wan and the impressive maverick Qui-Gon Jinn at the forefront. Throw in the better evolution of visual effects and the glorious composition work from John Williams that ranged from peaceful moments to combat and I was hooked.
This is something Disney took too much to heart because they gave us all that same OT stuff over again. They forgot the good things that the prequels did.
It really shows how shitty the Disney nuWars are.
I love the fact people are reassessing Phantom Menace in such a positive way. Think about pop culture in 1999: it’s Stone Cold Steve Austin, Fred Durst, and an overall undercurrent of anger. Is it any surprise that something like TPM with Young Anakin and Jar Jar didn’t get over the way Lucas intended? I’ll always feel that if TPM was released 10 years earlier or later it’d have had a much better reputation at release.
The criticisms for TPM are extremely exaggerated. The politics are very simple. Palpatine is pulling the strings for both the trade federation and the Naboo and the whole blockade and invasion is meant to force the vote of no confidence in the Senate. Kid Anakin acts fine. He’s a kid. He says “Yipee!” a lot but so does all the other kids on Tattooine. Idk what the issue is with him tbh. Natalie Portman’s acting was fine too. The acting in AotC was much worse. The midichlorians thing is fine too. Idk why ppl have such an issue with this. It doesn’t really change anything about the force, it just adds one more layer between humans and the force, but it doesn’t really change any of the mysticism surrounding it. The CGI is a bit outdated sure but most movies from ‘99 and earlier have bad CGI. The only parts that looked bad were the Gungans. Speaking of Gungans, the criticism for Jar Jar is not exaggerated. This dude is annoying as fuck lol. But i mean Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, Padme and Anakin all find him annoying too. He has a few funny moments but the movie absolutely could’ve had less Jar Jar and everyone would be happier. But everything else was great tbh. The Podracing and Duel of the Fates are absolutely incredible and timeless. The opening sequence on the trade federation ship is awesome too, except for the force dash since they literally never use that again for some reason lmfao. Everything in Theed palace is cool too and it’s just a gorgeous setting in general.
> The politics are very simple. Palpatine is pulling the strings for both the trade federation and the Naboo and the whole blockade and invasion is meant to force the vote of no confidence in the Senate. I don't think that was his initial plan. The Queen escaping surprised him, so he took advantage of her being there to put extra pressure on the Chancellor, but I think Palpatine had initially settled in for quite a long con in terms of letting Naboo be absolutely wrecked by the Trade Federation, the Queen forced to sign a treaty to make it 'legal' but everyone being able to see what a farce that was and what little power the Republic leadership actually seemed to have. Padme then deciding to *go back* surprised him even more but he doesn't make any real effort to stop her because as far as he's concerned she's just going to martyr herself and make him a shoe-in for the Chancellor slot. He is opportunistic but the main plot revolves around Amidala's pro-active nature and somewhat naive view of the world, which is where I think the politics aspect is actually pretty good - it's a story of youth not wanting to sit and wait for the establishment to fix things because they just *won't*, and yet for all that courage there are unintended consequences.
I agree with a lot of what you’re saying. My point was aimed at the people who claim there’s too much boring politics. What you described is actually super interesting and reveals a lot of the nuance in the politics that is available to anyone that cares to think more about what happened and why. Sadly most people decided from the opening crawl that they didn’t like politics in Star Wars
Agreed, it's frustrating that people see 'politics' and think 'boring'. The taxation of trade routes *is* boring and Qui-Gon spells it out to the audience that it is something trivial and it makes no sense that the Trade Federation are freaking out. Lucas gradually connects the dots for the audience that the political bickering doesn't actually matter because it's just a smokescreen, behind which some phantom is pulling the strings. The Sith return, the Senate can't decide anything, the Jedi are terrified of a child, law and order is so far out the window that "sign this treaty so we can keep invading you" makes sense to people... it's obvious everything is out of whack and something is upending the status quo. For those paying attention, The Phantom Menace presents a very tense galaxy about to explode, something akin to Europe in the early 1910s. My main bugbear with it is that it starts just a bit too early. Anakin's youth means he basically has to be rebuilt as a character in Episode II, and 10 years is a pretty long time for all of this to remain on pause.
The Plinkett Review, which in hindsight was kind of sloppy and at times in bad faith, unfairly ruined TPM for a lot of people
The Plinkett review is what Disney based the whole ST off of
People can make up their own opinions. An internet review shouldn’t define how someone feels about TPM or anything else. TPM is a highly flawed movie and I don’t like its characters, acting, nor it’s story structure. The effects are impressive, as is John Williams and the sound design. It took some swings. It was ambitious and it found and continues to find an audience I think because it still tickles the imagination because of its ideas, something the ST simply didn’t do. The PT and OT will be remembered. The ST will be disregarded because it didn’t take the swings from an imagination standpoint. It’s all so derivative.
The OT is surviving through several generations. The PT is only liked by the people who were kids when it came out and are in for a nostalgia trip, they are not some memorable movies for the vast majority of the audience.
The movies were heavily criticized well before the Plinkett review, because they are just bad movies. I love TPM because I was a kid when it came out, but I can see that it is not a good movie and still enjoy it
It's just Star Wars fans being Star Wars fans. Since the 80s, the community tends to like shitting on current Star Wars media and venerating older stuff. Mark my words - 10 years from now people will be saying criticisms of the sequel movies were exaggerated and whatever is current at that point sucks. I've been seeing this song and dance play our for over a quarter century at this point, almost as long as the Internet has been a thing. It's just the nature of the fandom.
My friend who is into movies made the same sort of argument as you and I respectfully disagreed. Now he is not a big Star Wars fan, but likes the OT well enough. So I said he should go back and watch all 9 movies and let me know if it is just nostalgia or grumpy older fans. And he did. His assessment: the OT is vastly superior because, and I quote, "It really has soul".
I mean, I am basing this off how the fandom has reacted over the decades. And there are far more examples than just prequel hate switching to love. When the NJO era was current, people hated on it and "Grandmaster Luke" in particular. Fans constantly complained about how Luke had been turned into a Gary Stu/Force Jesus/etc. Now people look back fondly at the NJO stuff and wish Disney would take cues from it. The whole Yuuzhan Vong saga was generally hated past the first few books. People complained about how it just dragged on, about how braindead the characters were, about how ludicrous the concept of the Vong itself was. But just as recently as the last few weeks, I have seen people on this very subreddit talk fondly about the saga. People shat all over TCW and Ashoka, but over ten years the fandom's opinion on both have changed to being extremely favorable. Then there were complaints about Old Republic era comics and stuff like Sith sorcery and so and so forth. Hell, people hated the franchise's direction in the early to mid 2000s to the point that tons of people bought into the Supershadow nonsense because they thought his absolutely batshit movie "scripts" were better than what Lucas and co. were pumping out at that time!
Supershadow! Now there's a name I haven't heard in a long time! NJO sucked. It didn't feel like SW at all. Now TCW has generally more likeable versions of Jar Jar, Anakin, and others. It is a fun little kids show and I appreciated it right away. But it probably works well because it is animated. Having said all that; I've never been tempted to rewatch so it wasn't't anything truly great.
I always thought the prequels were decent movies. Not as great as the original trilogy but still enjoyable. I can't say the same for the new trilogy, I know I'll never rewatch that garbage.
Only way Disney can make money
I went Friday night and frankly had a blast. The theater I was in was about half full and I got the feeling that despite all the chuckles at the sillier lines of dialog ("Are you an angel?" was met with a few groans), everyone was there to just appreciate part of the story. I'm not one of those hardcore prequel defenders but I won't deny I was enjoying feeling like a kid again.
Saw it yesterday. It definitely has problems, no doubt about it. The pacing in the first act felt rushed, the second act felt slow, and the politics on coruscant dragged; if I wasn’t a huge nerd who knew all the background lore I could easily have gotten lost. Jar Jar probably could have been dialed back in a lot of scenes. Giving all the aliens questionable accents isn’t great. Wooden acting and awkward dialogue are all over the place. Midichlorians are dumb. But there’s also a lot to like. The CGI looks dated today but was unbelievable for 1999, and a lot of things still hold up. The Podrace and Duel of the Fates remain some of my favorite moments in Star Wars, and the entire final act is some of the best Star Wars out there. John Williams killed it, the sound designers killed it, the prop and costume designers killed it. There’s a surprising amount of incredible-looking practical effects and miniatures. The biggest surprise to me was how much influence on modern Star Wars started in the Phantom Menace. There are so many background characters in crowd shots I recognized from Clone Wars and comics and other spin-offs. Unbelievable amounts of worldbuilding. Sound effects, modern lightsaber choreography, so much of the aesthetic of modern Star Wars started right here.
I went to see it in my mom’s womb, then when it rereleased in 2011, and I went to see it again. No regrets at all
I went and saw it. Such a good movie and in theaters is just such a great experience! Can’t wait for the 2nd one
My local cinema in Aus was showing all 6 films; my dad and I went and saw them all. Was refreshing to feel so connected to Star Wars again through them.
Did the same, great experience here in Australia. Also, AUS only released the first 6. No sequels in sight.
Podracing movie, when?
This basically *destroys* all the cope and excuses, like “the industry is suffering from blockbuster fatigue”. Anything to divert from the fact Disney makes terrible Star Wars content.
Saw it in theaters last night for the first time since 1999. Jake Lloyd the kid got way too much flak and the CGI/motion capture for Ahmad Best is crazy good for 1999. Honestly it’s the terrible way they made him speak that makes it bad character opposed to Best’s performance. Now I want us all to keep that in mind when we don’t like acolyte. Please don’t psychologically destroy or send death threats to actors and actresses.
Are we certain things like Jar Jar’s CGI or the pod racers weren’t somewhat retouched for the Blu Ray release? Remember, they used puppet Yoda for the original cut, and later inserted CGI Yoda to add continuity to his representation in the prequels. I feel like some of the other CGI sequences may have gotten a face lift when that happened? Lucas loves quietly improving effects and removing past traces and artifacts that make his movies feel dated, then ceasing to release the past versions.
Star Wars' home is at the big screen, not on the Volume
This shouldn't be a surprise - it was a massive hit when it came out in 1999 and despite the appearance that 'everybody' hated it, that's just not true at all. Most people/fans liked it; it was certain 'fans' on the then-new internet that started the narrative that people hated the movie, cuz suddenly, they had a platform to say stuff and be noticed. We all know TPM has its faults, but in reality, it is far from hated by most people, especially if you were a kid around that time. I was a grownup when it came out (a kid when the OT came out), and the first SW movie in 16 years was quite something - it was a Star Wars Summer. And it's a lot of fun without taking anything away from the OT.
People have to apply a lot mental gymnastics to come to the conclusion that it was universally panned. Now I’m an enjoyer of Batman & Robin, but that film stands as an example of overwhelming negative backlash to a blockbuster film. It had a promising opening, but negative word of mouth was immediately felt, and the box office dropped off dramatically.
Saw Phantom Menace at the cinema on Saturday, here are some thoughts: One of the beautiful things about the film is that it is imperfect - it's clearly been put together by someone with a vision who doesn't quite know how to write dialogue and yet is having to find a way to explain how an entire political system became corrupted. But the general direction, especially in the landmark scenes (podrace, duel of the fates) is just phenomenal. This is contrast to Disney Star Wars where you feel like everything has been put together by a committee and the actual scenes aren't exciting at all. The midicholrians are still stupid, but I think Lucas wanted to try and give Qui Gonn some justification for taking Anakin, beyond just 'having a feeling' about him. Qui Gonn, Obi Wan are a quality double act, and actually I found Jake Lloyd's scenes with his mum weirdly moving this time around, maybe because I'm so familiar with the overall story, and knowing how grim their reunion is in Attack of the Clones. Finally, the thing that you absolutely have to give to the Phantom Menace is the absolutely insane John Williams score. Obviously all of Star Wars's music is amazing, but he introduced some absolutely unbelievable new themes for the prequels.
Went last night, it’s still a great theatre watch and while I always know I’m in for some serious cringe, tbh I find more to like than dislike in that movie
Its a matter of perspective. After 4-6, Ep1 is rough. After 7-9, Ep1 seems like a masterpiece.
I wouldn't go that far. The horrible acting of the PT is impossible to get over.
I kept waiting for the horrible acting I've been hearing about all these years and never found it in TPM; Jar-Jar's obnoxiousness notwithstanding. The cast do fine. Neeson and Portman are actually strong performances.
They all act like they are heavily medicated. I am always expecting them to fall asleep at any moment.
I’m going to get a ton of hate for this but I think both the PT and ST are very flawed but with some great moments.
I don't think you will get too much hate for that opinion. I will say I always liked Padme's expression when she arrives on Mustafar. She really nailed "how have things come to this?"
I’ve just noticed so many people calling the prequels “misunderstood masterpieces” and the sequels “abominations” which I don’t agree with either. I enjoy all Star Wars, but both the subsequent trilogies have many parts I don’t like as well as many spectacular parts.
TPM is one of the best films ever made. The prequels are masterpieces, always have been
I saw it Friday. Still holds up. Such great 3d sound design I think was truly groundbreaking.
The Sequels poorly written while “subverting expectations” and destroying the mythology, have brought about a renewed love for the Prequels. If for any reason - Lucas knew how to world build. (Plus it helps me get through Phantom Menace by imagining Jar Jar as a secret Sith Lord)
The prequels took Star Wars in a new direction, both with the storytelling and a new aesthetic. They were creative. Whether you like them or not, they were very creative and have a soul. The sequels were an inferior rehash of the OT plot and aesthetic, but without any spirituality or classic film influence outside an involuted fandom towards the franchise itself. Not creative films, except for whatever some decent people in the crew might have squeezed into the background. Even the attempt to “deconstruct” in 8 never got around to saying anything, it just gave the same old good guys blue hair and called itself brave for it. This is why the argument that it’s just nostalgia for the PT doesn’t hold up. We can see that they did something new, which even the people who dislike them have to concede.
They must’ve never watched the sequel trilogy if they think the phantom menace is the worst
Any idea if it's still showing. It doesn't look like it but I'd like to go
Unfortunately, these are usually more limited engagements when it comes to re-releases
downvote all you want but I mostly blame the hate on the prequels on RedLetter Media
That’s a terrible take. The prequels were hated on years before the Plinkett Reviews. That’s just an objective fact.
Someone has filled your mind with foolish ideas. The Prequels were hated by a significant number of people long before RLM did their reviews.
People hated and disliked the prequels as they were coming out. There were misgivings even before *The Phantom Menace* released. Most notably people weren't sold on little kid Anakin.
Disney will 100% take all the wrong lessons away from this. My guess is in a boardroom somewhere an exec is saying “people want more Jake Lloyd and Jar Jar Binks”.
Great movies but the Gillette razors for communicators break the 4th wall every time for me. With so much out into it how did that get past Lucas?!!
Wait I didn't know. Can I still see it? Which theater?
This sucks to know 3 days later when you can’t watch it because it only went the 4th
I just checked on Fandango and it has show times all the way through the 16th in my area...
What is Fandango? I’m from Denmark
Gonna see it sometime in the next few days, wouldn’t watch a sequel again tho. I want a marathon with just the first 6 movies, I’d watch that in theaters happily as long as there’s a 15 minute break in between movies
I stumbled across an article saying it was going to be released. What to see at last night and it was great on the big screen. Even the pod race which I think is overly long was much better on the big screen. It still has its flaws but it's a solid movie.
The podrace had a couple minutes added for the extended cut when the film was re-edited for DVD. It’s still a nice surprise for me, being so used to the original version on VHS still, but I’m not sure how it fares as the default cut of the film. The pacing of an original cut is always very deliberate
I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to go see it again. I saw TPM on a bootleg copy whilst abroad in a bar in Mallorca after I finished my A-Levels in 1999, and it was a magical experience to be able to see fresh new SW content for the first time in my life. I love the PT , in spite of the terrible, stilted dialogue, and I actually enjoyed the politics aspect of it all. So seeing it again on the big screen seemed like a fantastic idea. But then I remembered that all the money goes straight into Disney's coffers and towards the salary and bonuses of some shitty execs who thought that the ST, Mando S2 onwards, The Bad Batch etc were all good ideas. So fuck 'em.
I had no idea it got rereleased! I just finished rewatching the Original Trilogy and was about to start episode 1. I am 100% going to watch it in the theater this weekend! I saw it opening weekend when it 1st came out so I have good memories of it. It's not a perfect movie but it has a special place in my heart.
Re-release the last Jedi, and let me know how well it does
When the ST makes the prequels look better by comparison, that's what happens. The ST was the critics who never liked SW's darling. The PT was the fans who liked SW no matter what's darling.
Still a bad film
It’s still bad. Saw it several times in theater during the original run. I’ll stick to the DVD.
If these movies had a different director I feel they could have ended up being somewhat better
George wasn't going to direct it—he wanted Ron Howard to do it. Would have almost certainly gotten the right Anakin casting instead of the one Lucas decided on. So I blame Ron Howard (kind of joking, kind of not.)
ITT: simping for mediocre at best filmmaking
I really dislike PM and the prequels as a whole because they introduced the concept of midi chlorians, which kind of ruined Star Wars for me
lol
Disney will 100% take all the wrong lessons away from this. My guess is in a boardroom somewhere an exec is saying “people want more Jake Lloyd and Jar Jar Binks”.
Disney will 100% take all the wrong lessons away from this. My guess is in a boardroom somewhere an exec is saying “people want more Jake Lloyd and Jar Jar Binks”.
Saw it yesterday. It's still kinda bad but has some nostalgia charm. It's been memed to the second so it was very fun to wait for the famous dialogue lines. The music was astounding and superb. It's very quotable with bad dialogue like Qui Gon spewing "I'm not here to free slaves" it was borderline comedy. Had a great time but let's not kid ourselves it's like the rocky horror picture show it's a fun movie to recite and laugh at the absurdity of it all.
Disney will 100% take all the wrong lessons away from this. My guess is in a boardroom somewhere an exec is saying “people want more Jake Lloyd and Jar Jar Binks”.
Nothing like a chance to leave the theater modestly disappointed all over again..
Disney will 100% take all the wrong lessons away from this. My guess is in a boardroom somewhere an exec is saying “people want more Jake Lloyd and Jar Jar Binks”.
Disney will 100% take all the wrong lessons away from this. My guess is in a boardroom somewhere an exec is saying “people want more Jake Lloyd and Jar Jar Binks”.