Brack

I think we're to assume from their quick deaths that Palpatine is super fast. Otherwise Windu should've been able to strike him down any of the times he was taking out the other Jedi.

arga

Last 3 episodes were kind of differentiated of using rich CG's yet their event development and action effects were not much dramatic and refreshing as prior 3 episodes supposedly did in their times.

From many other scifi's that released at same time with last 3 ep's I can see almost same space ship or alien creatures or other regular scifi elements which means they were not flashy thing that how first episode watchers might likely experienced at that time. But overall I like them.

Maxflier

I watched Ep III this weekend since I hadn't watched it since opening night at the theater. And now I realize why, it just wasn't very good. The "humor" that George tries to add is just retarded. Like in the beginning where the droid in the hangar goes "ughhhhh" as he falls over dead. And a little later when the droid hands over the lightsabers to Grievous and gives a sarcastic "you're welcome!". He should have stuck to a serious tone for the whole movie and left out the kiddie humor.
IMO Ep III should have been more about Anakin hunting down the jedi and killing them, instead we see the jedi get shot and killed by blasters....WTF? All of a sudden they can't deflect blaster shots anymore?
Overall I don't hate the Prequel trilogy or anything, but it could (and should) have been a lot better.

chanster

Whenever I need a Star Wars fix, I pop in the free "Musical Journey" DVD that came with the ROTS soundtrack.

I think its the best thing that bears a Star Wars name since Empire, John Williams' great music with 2 hours of Star Wars highlights from the 6 movies...with just a little of the cringe inducing dialogue of the PT

mike2

I'd also like to add that if you want a good SW collectors book...go on amazon and look up The Star Wars Vault. It's got loads of great stuff in it!

Rival11

I thought the first was decent, the second was a mess (I really, really, tried to get into it), the 3rd was fucking outstanding and the best in the series.

Artman

Oh wow, I forgot I had that. Will have to revisit.

One argument for TPM storyline being the first movie - if Obi-Wan knew Anakin since he was a boy (and about 12 yrs total) before his turn, that makes it more dramatic - vs if he had met Anakin when he was twenty-something and only knew him for a few yrs. But you couldn't very well start the new movies with them already being best friends could you? Just a thought...

Michael Corvin

Why not? A few dramatic flashbacks would have worked a lot better than a 2 hour film about nothing.

coli

Exactly, Batman Begins was able to give a brief history of Bruce Wayne as a kid, and then get right to the meat of the movie, without it being a 2 hour setup like TPM is.

The problem with having a 10 year old Anakin is that he is essentially the lead in the movie, and that is too much for a 10 year old actor to carry, especially the kid who will be Darth Vader! Having flashbacks would have made his role less demanding, because you would care about whoever was playing the 20 year old Anakin instead of the 10 year old Anakin who would have had about 3-4 flashback scenes.

You could have still had the podrace, and a few introductory scenes to show that Anakin was a good kid, but Lucas could have essentially started with Episode II storyline as Episode I, and made Episode III into 2 movies then.

Artman

Lucas doesn't use flashbacks folks, and kids headline movies all the time.

AGuyNamedMike

I dug them, and have multiple versions of everything SW in my video library.

milo bloom

While I'm generally against Lucas' CGI fiddling after the fact, maybe adding some motion blurs to this scene might help show that ol' Palps is running on high-test in that scene.

coli

He didn't in the OT, who's to say he couldn't have used one in the PT? The PT was suppose to tell a different story, and Lucas had every right to have a flashback if he wanted to. Just look at the cave scene in ESB, there is nothing like that in the OT, a slow-motion scene that is totally about foreshadowing, and not what is real when the viewer first sees it. Is that out of place in the OT movies?

Yes, kids do headline movies all the time, but you better make sure he is a good actor like Haley Joel Osmond, or the movie can turn laughable real quick.

Brack

since nobody was moving besides him, I thought that it was clear.

megashock5

This gets to the meat of it. It's not that they're horrible or that I hate them, but I was hoping for more - especially in a few key areas.

Your point about the killing of the Jedi is spot on. They were hunted down and murdered, and it shouldn't be easy to take out a Jedi. What we got in the film was so lightweight that it just didn't hold. Similar to the slaughter of the Sand People in Ep. II. Now, I'm not saying that we needed to actually see physical slaughter or graphic death scenes - I'm saying that these scenes needed to have more weight emotionally. He did *terrible* things, but they didn't come across as terrible as they should have.

At one point Lucas said something along the lines of the viewer being heartbroken when Anakin finally falls from grace. I wish this were the case. Unfortunately, for that to happen the viewer would have needed to fall in love with him before his turn. Sure, Luke was a bit whiney, but Anakin came across so bitchy and bratty in AOTC that it was hard to genuinely love the character. If Vader had successfully recruited Luke at the end of Empire, it would have been heartbreaking. Admittedly, part of this is that we knew it was coming - but once again, it just didn't have the emotional weight behind it that it should have.

arga

On the bright side I really enjoyed seeing brief glimpses of future cities yet that nice scenes usually lasted only 2-5 seconds in all last 3 ep's.

Brack

^^^ don't you mean old cities?

Michael Corvin

On the flipside I think the look Hayden gave the camera during that scene(right before the swipe) was the best thing he did in the PT. It was so menacing and convincing that it gave me hope for Ep.III and almost made me forget about the bitching and lovey-dovey crap.

coli

I was actually one of the few fans who defended Episode I & II before seeing Episode III and was totally disappointed by ROTS. Sure it was a more entertaining, essentially cause it had all the red meat, but the story, including Anakins turn was so lame, and just totally unconvincing.

After Episode II, I was a PT defender, and thought Lucas was on the right track, even though I thought the movies were definitely weaker then the OT movies. I didn't mind Anakin slaughter Tuskens cause they killed his mom, that was a motive someone could relate to. If someone killed your parent, who knows what I would do.

Then the whole dream in ROTS being the ONLY motive for Anakin turning, after Palpatine essentially lied to him and the jedi for 10 years, and then he goes from being good to evil within seconds, and then goes and kills a bunch of kids in the next scene? It just had no weight to it, no build up, and sadly the novel does such a better job of showing Anakins inner struggle as he questions Palpatine, and grapples for awhile before pledging himself. In the movie, it was like a bell went off, "OK, I am Darth Vader....." Why? Because it says so in Episode IV-VI.

arga

yes u r right blame Lucas who confuses all of us.

Trevor

I only occasionally say that I hate the prequels because of their wasted potential.

Taken on their own, the 2nd two aren't that bad, and the first one is bearable.

I'd give TPM a C- and the other two a B-/C+.

Context: I'm not a huge Star Wars fan, but do feel that the original trilogy are great films in the A to B range.

JeremyM

This thread made me sit down and rewatch the prequels when I had a chance. I have to say Episode II is just killed by the romance stuff, but I actually really enjoyed III. Sure, there were flaws (the Anakin-Padme I'm beautiful because you love me scene, the previously mentioned droid "jokes", Padme giving up on life-come on!- and Anakin's WWE-style instant heel turn) but overall I really liked it. Ewan McGregor was perfect as Obi Wan. I guess you could explain the Anakin/Vader turn with the idea that he knows he's f-ed after helping kill Windu and knows his only way out is to align himself with Palpatine now. Once the Emperor is revealed, the movie really works for me.

I do see why people are complaining about Palpatine killing the three Jedis, he was practically moving in slow motion when he did it! They really should've touched that up.

Artman

I also wouldn't have had Palpatine physically transform...besides looking ridiculous and laughable (anyone else get a Marlon Brando vibe when he's first talking to Anakin?), I just like the idea of him slowly decaying over the years to what we see him as in ROTJ. Of course, I suppose the idea is still there...since Ian seems to be about 40lbs heavier in ROTS.

Ephemeral_Life

I liked II and III when I first saw them, but they just don't hold up well with repeat viewings. You finally get an interesting plot element or some plausible action, just to have the next scene be something positively cringe-worthy like "and not just the men. The women and children, too".

Maybe I need to find myself some of those fan edits and see how they improve the whole thing.

The Bus

I had a lot of fun watching Episode 1 in the theatre, but the movie never really held up well. Episode 2, however, I thought was just "OK" in the theatre but then proceeded to see about a dozen times once I got the DVD. Episode 3 I really liked but it has way too many talky parts.