W_Z wrote:
24_Guy, I'm judging ALL of the movies on the merits of them as films, not as a fan of "Star Wars" SOLELY. Yes of course, I grew up with the original trilogy, but when you say "Take away Han Solo and Darth Vader" you are making my point exactly.
THAT is the reason these films WORK, and why the prequels DON'T. It's called storytelling. You must have an antagonist. You must have a window character. You must have a macguffin. Hell you need a PROTAGONIST. Why are they starting this story with Anakin as a freakin toddler? Where can there be drama strained from that? You could say Obi-Wan is the main character of the three films (which I would more agree with) *but*, his character is drawn so thinly, and HE has no window character (qui-gon jin, weak; mace windu, weak; yoda, don't get me started). The antagonist is hinted at in the first prequel.
By the third film, Palpatine and Vader should exist throughout. Anakin should've turned to the darkside in the second film. Get. The. Plot. Moving.
"The Phantom Menace" is not a story. It's a prologue. You cannot have a two hour friggin prologue.
"Attack of the Clones" should have been part one. And should've been written better.
"Revenge of the Sith" should have been part two, and elements being in part three.
The plots of these films become so dragged down by useless subplots (blockades, please), and just horrid characters (jar-jar and the gungans), and winds up looking more like a commercial for a toy line rather than a movie.
"Star Wars", Episode IV: the best as far as simple storytelling.
"Star Wars", Episode V: you're right, outweighs ALL the films in terms of quality and depth. But it's not my favorite of the three originals.
"Star Wars", Episode VI: a nice conclusion, still keeping the depth in perception but going back to the first movie with its simplicity and action-driven drama. It's still solid. It's still a *story*.
It's not about regression and progression, either. Luke progresses to a Jedi Knight; obviously that works as a character arc.
Anakin regressing into an evil sith--that CAN work, but he cannot be the focus; or at least, he needs to have something to lose. He needed to have the galaxy by the balls before turning to the dark side. Just having a stupid melodrama of Padme dying (that story was not developed NEARLY enough) doesn't even work as a bandaid.
The prequel trilogy was at best a missed opportunity, and at worst, 3 of the worst films made in the last 10 years.
Let's duke it out W_Z!
You're right, the prequels lack a strong protagonist and antagonist, and they suffer because of it. No doubt. It's almost as if all three films are one big prologue to the original trilogy (which in fact, is what they are born of). I suppose the story could have been rewritten to make, say, Obi-Wan the hero and someone like Darth Maul the villain, but I guess you risk losing focus of the main character Anakin then. I don't know. But your points are right on.
I don't mind the story starting with Anakin as a toddler, because it establishes the fact that he's not just born "evil" and demonstrates his relationship with his mother, which is important. But yes, two and a half hours was too much of it, and in fact, Lucas has admitted as much. In one of his more honest moments, he admitted he really only had two films worth of story, stretched into three. He even stated he considered skipping the 10 years within episode one, but that the tone of the film wouldn't be consistent then. But then as it turns out, the story is thin in each of the first two films, then too much is crammed into the third.
I'm not sure I like the idea of a movie with Palpatine and Vader. This part of the story ends when Anakin falls. I think anything after that would be an indulgence.
Episode IV is surely the best example of storytelling out the the six, as it was intended to be able to stand alone and pretty much followed the hero's journey. After that obviously, the scope kept expanding.
I think the story of Anakin's fall is perfect, but you're right in that it wasn't presented well. As presented in the film, it happens way too fast. It's not demonstrated that Anakin's inability to let go, his compulsion to try to control things that are not controllable, and his mistake in letting his compassion become confused with self-absorption. It's all there, but you have to look for it; the film, on the surface, makes it seem as if he turns because the Chancellor tricks him and because Mace Windu fell out a window. The Padme angle is actually meant to just be poetic justice, that Anakin's own actions to protect her, his selfish notions of keeping her to himself, turn out to kill her. But rather it's explained that she is dying because "she lost the will to live". I don't understand that line, and I wish it was made more clear that Anakin does in fact kill her, physically and emotionally. That's one of the reasons he suffers so much for the next 20 years, until his son redeems him. The story arc is great, and I wish an accomplished screenwriter could have helped get the points across better.
But I think it's too harsh to dismiss them as among the worst films in a decade.
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and posted about silly girl stuff.....sorry. 
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