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Why the Prequels are better than Force Awakens
Robb Mann wrote: Good Egg Productions wrote: I'm posting these two passages together because I think it showcases the "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation any artist (however that's defined) faces when they dare to tell the story they intended & god forbid you challenge a person's emotional investment in said art. Jan 06 16 06:31 am Link Some good points made, but still think Force Awakens is worlds better than any of the prequels, hands down. (And I believe 90% of the world's film critics agree). Nothing will ever touch the Original Trilogy for me, but I do feel that The Force Awakens got close. The prequels, however, did not even FEEL like Star Wars... I re-watched them recently, and couldn't stop thinking "this doesn't even feel like it was filmed... it feels like these technically good actors are poorly and rigidly acting; reciting terrible lines from a mediocre script in front of what is obviously not the real world or even set, but a special effects ridden green screen...." Even the scenes that had some promise were helplessly deprived of any real life-force by the grotesquely distracting special effects. At least the Force Awakens has generally good acting, strong direction, sturdy storytelling, and hallelujah, PRACTICAL EFFECTS! I'm no film critic, but I'm pretty confident in my knowledge of what "makes" a good film... not saying Force Awakens is great, but it IS good. But I can without a doubt say, the prequels are highly disappointing, both from the point of view of a Star Wars fan, and as a cinephile. Feb 18 16 05:05 pm Link the prequel storyline....the bare bones...the synopsis.... was very very good. the execution of it was terrible. young anakin....older anakin....light saber fighting yoda.....the cartoonish CGI.....the terrible dialog, embarrassing characters. honestly.....all I really remember from all 3 prequels.....was the awesome and inspired pod racing scene...darth vader coming to existence(marred by the terrible NOOOOOO). everything else is just a vague haze of jar jar and darth maul. what Im would like to see is a story told from the imperial empires side circa first star wars/empire strikes back. like a series focused on stormtroopers at various outposts around the galaxies, or imperial pilots and their war against the rebels. theres alot there. I means surely most of them joined the empire with a sense of wanting to bring order to the galaxy. they cant have all been cookie cutter bad guys. like say...finn Feb 18 16 05:53 pm Link A series based on Starkiller and Master Kotas founding of the rebellion would have been cool. Feb 18 16 07:30 pm Link Gerardo Martinez wrote: They're getting towards that w/ the new animated series, "Star Wars: Rebels." Feb 20 16 06:23 pm Link DOUGLASFOTOS wrote: Avatar didn't suck because it was a retelling. It sucked because its own logic didn't hold up. Feb 20 16 07:30 pm Link Farenell Photography wrote: Robb Mann wrote: I'm posting these two passages together because I think it showcases the "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation any artist (however that's defined) faces when they dare to tell the story they intended & god forbid you challenge a person's emotional investment in said art. This is just as much an example of 'quit while you're ahead.' Or as I suspect in Lee's case, 'don't trust people that want your money.' Feb 20 16 07:33 pm Link Nooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!FA was great. Mar 05 16 11:42 am Link Gotta admit the intro to Episode three is the best space battle in all Star Wars. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vT7vD8u … pp=desktop Mar 06 16 02:43 pm Link I dunno. I'm going to say "The Force Awakens" was better than the prequels. The prequels absolutely destroyed what was good in the Star Wars Expanded Universe. If you were familiar with that, going in and seeing what had changed was an unexpected gut punch. What do you mean, Boba Fett was a clone? Wha? And then, whatever happened in the Expanded Universe that attempted to smooth out / make the prequels make sense was jettisoned with "The Force Awakens." When it came to the Prequels actually having likable characters with dynamic backstories, I felt that the expanded universe was far superior than the movies themselves. The movies set up, as clumsily done as they were, enough of a skeleton that others could come in and fill in the gaps. In particular, I'm thinking of the Karen Traviss "Republic Commando" series that really fleshed out the Clone Army and their relationship with the Jedi. I think these reviews do an excellent job of explaining why the prequels don't work as films, let alone as a set of Star Wars movies: http://redlettermedia.com/plinkett/star-wars/ Looking at "The Force Awakens" as a money-making vehicle, it honestly just needed to be competent - not excellent. And even Mark Hamill went on record saying that audiences needed to have realistic expectations about the movie. "The Force Awakens" wasn't a cinematic masterpiece, but it served well as a new Star Wars film. It banks on a few assumptions, but ultimately is a great welcome to new fans without trying to over-extend itself. It played it safe, which is what needed to happen after the prequels. Now, will the following movies be something completely new and amazing? Possibllllyyyyy. But at the end of the day, one of the things that made the original trilogy work was that it was a collaborative effort - not just with Lucas, but with editors and story people who weren't afraid to say, "Hey, this doesn't really work," and that's missing in spades in the Prequels. Well, that and the obvious Kurosawa homages...There wouldn't be "Star Wars" without "The Forbidden Fortress." One of the best things about the original trilogy is the characters. You take them out of the space setting, and they're still strong characters. I feel like the Prequels bank solely on the audience already knowing the story / coming in with familiarity with these characters, (which is why I started with the Expanded Universe; if you were a Star Wars nerd and wanted to learn about, oh, I dunno, what Han Solo did before he met Luke at the Cantina, the books filled that gap) and so the movies don't do their jobs in letting them unfold before you. "The Force Awakens" only makes those assumptions with returning characters - and the returning characters don't drive the movie. The new ones do. I had no idea who Finn was when I sat down to see it - but over the course of the film, through his dialogue and his interactions, I learned who he was. I can't tell you anything dynamic about Obi-Wan from the prequels, other than Qui Gon was his master. I don't know where he's from. Why I should care about him other than I'm TOLD he was important. I wasn't shown this. How he relates to other people other than with a vague sense of distain and distance. And so on. But, to each their own - that's the awesome thing about opinions! I will say this, though - the prequels had some fantastic costume design. I'm always a little sad that costume design in those movies doesn't seem to get the credit that they deserve. And I'm also a huge fan of the Clone Army - it's a hell of an interesting concept, and I wish that more had been done with it. I remember getting into forum fights (because I am a giant nerd. Clearly) with people who assumed that the clones weren't human because they'd been manufactured, and somehow having the Jedi use a clone army didn't raise any sense of ethics at all, and I was like, "Uh, there's nowhere in the movie that it even suggests that the clones use droid or robot components. They're humans bred for war. And that is terrifying and sad." -V. Mar 13 16 11:27 am Link Jerry Nemeth wrote: Yes, it tells you that the price of movie tickets has gone up consistently. Mar 13 16 11:55 am Link Nice to know I'm not the only person who thought the way I did. LOL https://www.yahoo.com/movies/james-came … 46866.html Aug 10 16 06:36 am Link Even this is better than The FA. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPdJdEFilaU Aug 10 16 09:08 am Link Designit - Edward Olson wrote: Don't forget that the original star wars has had 3 releases: once in 1977, another in 1982 and another in 1997. Aug 10 16 12:47 pm Link Farenell Photography wrote:
Aug 10 16 01:03 pm Link Farenell Photography wrote: "I have to say that I felt that George’s group of six films had more innovative visual imagination, and this film was more of a retrenchment to things you had seen before and characters you had seen before, and it took a few baby steps forward with new characters. So for me the jury’s out. I want to see where they go with it.” Aug 10 16 01:21 pm Link if living within that universe, I probably would have joined the empire. I'm a company guy plus hey they were trying to restore order to the galaxy is all. nothing cool I suspect, I'd probably be a small cog in the imperial IT department on a star destroyer or somethin. I'm fairly sure they have a good dental plan. Aug 10 16 02:50 pm Link Tony From Syracuse wrote: I'd probably be a death stick smuggler using a Clone Wars era Alpha-3 Nimbus to outrun Imperial blockades. Aug 10 16 03:45 pm Link I'm not saying everyone has to like TFA but saying the prequels are better just seems insane to me. And oh course it wasn't perfect if you pick it apart but neither were the originals. I'm sure if you looked you could find plot holes and issues with this and that but it's minor points to an over all strong movie. TFA was just what it needed to be, a safe, fun, exciting movie that touched on the originals to help pump life back into the franchise and start a new trilogy in the universe. If you want more introspective thoughts on why the prequels are horrible watch these. They're obviously being super satirical in the nerdy weirdo character they put on to give the review but the points are extremely valid and well throught out. Their Phantom Mence review is their most well known and all you really need to watch about the movies to get an idea of why they really didn't work https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL59 … xKtZmQgxrI Aug 10 16 04:02 pm Link TFA was basically a retelling of A New Hope. It was designed to introduce new Star Wars fans to the original cast and to move the story forward somewhat for old ones. I thought it was okay but frankly the the three prequels weren't that good. The Empire Strikes Back is the best of the six. TFA was still fun but failed in many ways. What is good to check out are the graphic novels, books and even cartoon. Star Wars Rebels is cool. The books go into depth about the Sith and Jedi. In fact they could have gone with some of that material. Flashbacks might have been good to show Darth Vader and the empire going after Jedi because that's what he did. Not all were killed after order 66. This would have exposed new fans to Darth Vader. You need a great villain, Kylo Ren wasn't that. I enjoyed TFA but I wish it had gone in a different direction. Aug 10 16 04:34 pm Link What you talking about Tony? The retro comics and video games set between Ep3 and Ep4 were reeling in new fans like crazy. Aug 10 16 05:07 pm Link Got it out of the library. Watched 1/2 hr. Turned it off and returned it. To me, not worth watching even free. Aug 10 16 06:32 pm Link yup. I'm triggered. Aug 11 16 03:25 am Link Peter Claver wrote: Just because something makes a sh*t ton of money doesn't mean its actually good. Aug 11 16 08:31 am Link Gerardo Martinez wrote: He's talking about the animated "Clone Wars" cartoon & later "Rebels." Aug 11 16 08:35 am Link Farenell Photography wrote: Can you point to where I said that that was the case? Aug 11 16 08:44 am Link Peter Claver wrote: I thought that WAS your point? If there was something else beyond it, your intended point got lost w/ all the dollar figure earnings you listed. Aug 11 16 09:04 am Link Gerardo Martinez wrote: Games, comics, and even TV shows don't have the power of film to draw in fans. The may be reasonably popular, but even at their peak, they won't take in more than a few million people. Even the hit Clone Wars and Rebels shows only got 3-4 million people watching. Aug 11 16 10:44 am Link Farenell Photography wrote: Read it again. Aug 11 16 10:56 am Link Peter Claver wrote: Thank you for the (requested by me) Reader's Digest clarification. That is all. Aug 11 16 11:09 am Link Farenell Photography wrote: You're welcome. But you actually didn't ask for any clarification/summation. You just assumed because you misread and then blurted. Farenell Photography wrote: Farenell Photography wrote: Aug 11 16 11:21 am Link Peter Claver wrote: I was trying to be diplomatic. Aug 11 16 12:05 pm Link what sucks is you could never have a death star in this overly politically correct environment. Aug 11 16 12:13 pm Link |
