I was 6 years old when I went with my father to see the original Star Wars film in 1977 (maybe 1978 in Australia) and have been a fan ever since. When the prequels were announced I was excited at the thought of another three Star Wars films, but never in my life have I been as disappointed as I was after watching the first episode. While they second and third episodes were improvements they were all terrible in comparison to the original three. I can say the same thing about the three sequels, but they were an improvement on the prequels. For a start they had a really likable lead character in Rey and there were no truly obnoxious characters like Jar Jar Binks. I thought the stories in the sequels were more interesting, although there were moments that felt overly familiar, the actions sequences weren't overly long and the dialogue wasn't as cringe-worthy. For me, the worst parts generally involved the original characters, Leia, Han and Luke, who I loved when I was a kid, but in these films they were over sentimentalised (is that a word?) and their scenes meandered a little, frustrating me and detracting from the quality of the films. I would rate the films as follows: Episode 1 - 0 stars. Episode 2 - 1.5 stars Episode 3 - 2.5 stars Episode 4 - 5 stars Episode 5 - 5 stars Episode 6 - 4 stars Episode 7 - 3 stars Episode 8 - 3.5 stars Episode 9 - 3.5 stars
In the early to mid 1980s George Lucas took a break from movies to raise his children: maybe he should have let J. J. Abrams do it.
Surprised nobody's told you "real fans aren't afraid to criticize things they supposedly love". Saw that zinger of an argument on Twitter recently.
Absolutely not. JJ has the scripting and plotting abilities equal to my cat. He's very keen on putting out mysteries - and terrible at resolving them. One of the least capable storytellers on the planet.
Wish JJ had gotten the chance to make the second movie in the ST and tell the whole story, but he's by far a better filmmaker than Lucas was when was he made the prequels. There's no contest for me that the sequels, despite their acknowledged flaws, are better made and better acted films than the prequel trilogy. They will hold up better over the long term.
Idiocy happens a lot when talking about Star Wars. If you only like the original trilogy; praise that and move on. When you pontificate about the others, you lose all credence. A good portion of the people in this thread have done that.
Prequels by a wide margin. The story is more unified and despite some awful dialogue and poor casting choices, I feel that Lucas' heart was in the right place. He was attempting to tell an original story about how this magical boy turned into someone so evil. And while most everyone agrees that Jake Lloyd, Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman were bad in these films, let us not forget the ones who made them work: Ewan McGregor and Ian McDiarmid. I also enjoyed Liam Neeson and Sam Jackson although their screen times were fairly limited. The sequels are just slimy movies made for slimy reasons. When Han Solo appears onscreen, I am not cheering for the return of an old hero. I feel I am being manipulated and that some clown in a suit is dangling a bone in front of me. Yes, they are technically better made than the prequels but I'm not sure what that even means when there are so many awful things about them. The best things about the sequels as I've said all along are the performances and on screen chemistry between Adam Driver and Daisy Ridley. If we could somehow go back in time and recast them as Anakin/Padme and rewrite some of the dialogue and scenes, the prequel trilogy would have been amazing.
I'm about at this level. The prequels are the equivalent of trying to turn the Silmarillion into a movie, while the sequels are like fan fiction.
I feel like the sequels have been simultaneously better and worse than the prequels. At least in the case of the former, you had George Lucas quixotically realizing his own vision, however weird and disappointing that turned out to be. In the case of the latter, you had predictable, cliched filled, recycled plotlined, modern Hollywood movies made by a corporate committee headed by a cut-rate Spielberg for episodes 7 and 9. At least Rian Johnson tried to do something interesting with episode 8, however weird and disappointing that turned out to be. If all three prequels had been as good as the last ten minutes of Revenge of the Sith (excepting Vader’s NOOOOO, of course) they would have been great. Lucas should have let Irving Kerschner direct them all. For the record, I haven’t seen episode 9 yet. I’ll wait until it’s on Disney Plus. I just don’t care enough to go see it.
Hal9000's Prequel Trilogy fanedits are actually quite good. And he even renamed the films too (I. Cloak of Deception / II. The Approaching Storm / III. Labyrinth of Evil). Also watched a Force Awakens edit where they made film more compelling during the 3rd Act. On that planet where Maz Kanata's bar was, a Star Destroyer in orbit replaced the those blasts coming from Starkiller base. Instead, they pushed those blasts right from the moment Kylo Ren kills his father Han Solo. This change brings a more darker climax to the film which actually does work. Oh, and regarding The Last Jedi. Leia Poppins got trimmed down significantly and the Canto Bight subplots got omitted. Even the Rose-block at Finn on Crait got rearranged cleverly in order to delete the forced love thing. Also, those caretakers on Ach-Too were removed altogether.
Abrams was a teen back then. Also, I don't understand why Abrams would be the one to raise Lucas's kids...
The sequels. Both are flawed at times, however when it comes down to it I find the sequels both more consistent and better acted overall. I like some moments from especially Revenge of the Sith, but man those prequels had some incredibly cheesy dialogue lol
For me, the prequels are far, far better (with their warts and all, which are many). I'll never watch any of the sequels again and have only seen them in the theater; the prequels I throw on every once in a while.... I have to admit, that perfectly articulates how I feel (about a thousand times) whenever I'm watching anything directed by J. J. Abrams...
It’s a joke. Or a way to say that the prequels (directed by Mr. Lucas) are not as good as Episodes 7&9 (directed by Mr. Abrams). I’m sorry I said it really. I never meant it as a lousy anti-religious thing. If I said television should have raised Lucas’s kids I might have got away with it.
Neither. The Prequels were wrong-headed, while the Sequels are third-rate agenda-driven fan-fiction. The Prequels are just pathetic, while the Sequels are pathetic and objectionable. The originals rule.
The "problematic" Devin Faraci makes a nice case for the prequels here: STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER Taught Me To Love The Prequels
For me people who love ‘Rogue One’ just don’t want a “Star wars’ movie with the skywalker trappings. So be it, but I don’t consider Rogue One really a Star Wars movie. You can offshoot all you want, it’s just some weird variation of Star Wars sharing the same dumb names Wakko Mandoloarian, or whatever. And I thought that female lead actress of Rogue One had all the charm of some brat from Newsies.
