Movies Star Wars Episode 1 turns 25.

[CastletonSnob]

Star Wars Episode 1 turned 25 yesterday.

How do you feel about the movie after all this time? Was Jar Jar really that bad?

[Best]

I remember seeing it with friends in HS. I was a junior. It sucked then and sucks now. 

[thewhyteboar]

I know there has been a movement to claim the prequels are secretly good, but they are garbage. Gar-bage. Lifeless action, horrible acting and line reads, and some of the worst dialogue ever put down on paper.

[CastletonSnob]

5 minutes ago, thewhyteboar said:

I know there has been a movement to claim the prequels are secretly good, but they are garbage. Gar-bage. Lifeless action, horrible acting and line reads, and some of the worst dialogue ever put down on paper.

Hayden Christensen gets criticized for his acting in the prequels, but Laurence fucking Olivier couldn't make "I don't like sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere." work as a line.

Some of the dialogue in the prequels makes me wonder if Lucas has ever actually had a conversation with another human being.

[silentbob]

Sadly Phantom Menace is the strongest of the 3 prequels. I was surprised to see that it was release back into theatres. I would still like to be able to see it in 3D along with AotC (which was officially done) Remember seeing it with buddy at one of the local theatres (not the one I would work at) and seeing The Matrix also showing in 2 theatres at the time. 

[TheLeon]

I was eight years old when this movie came out, so of course it was the greatest thing ever. I was still several years away from realizing that movies could be bad. 

[GeneticBlueprint]

Liam Neeson and Darth Maul keep this movie entertaining and engaging for me. Podrace sequence and Maul duel still slap. 

[TwinIon]

I do think it's worth remembering the positives. Maul is great, dual of the fates is awesome, the podracing is fun. There is a ton of design work that is really good and vastly expanded the Star Wars universe.

 

Still, it's just not a good movie. The script is serviceable at its best and downright miserable at its worst. The same can be said of the acting. Jar Jar should never have made it to the screen. Way too much time is spent on intergalactic politics and it's still not very clear. Most of the action is sloppy and uninteresting.

 

It also made some major missteps for Star Wars lore that I don't think should have made it through. Midichlorians is the big one. Everything about the prophecy of bringing balance to the force is rubbish. Why did they decide to take Obi Wan's "I'm a fugitive hiding from the law on a desert planet" outfit and turn it into the standard uniform for all Jedi? 

[skillzdadirecta]

Nuts... it's crazy that for better or worse, Phantom Menance reintroduced Star Wars to a whole new generation. Before its release, there was whole generation that grew up without any new Star Wars media since return of the Jedi. That's most of the 80's and 90's  Like 16 or 17 years.

 

26 minutes ago, silentbob said:

Sadly Phantom Menace is the strongest of the 3 prequels. I was surprised to see that it was release back into theatres. I would still like to be able to see it in 3D along with AotC (which was officially done) Remember seeing it with buddy at one of the local theatres (not the one I would work at) and seeing The Matrix also showing in 2 theatres at the time. 

 

 

I disagree... I think ROTS is the strongest of the prequels personally. 

[cusideabelincoln]

Being in middle school at the time, what I cared about most from the movie was Padme 

 

As for a critique of the movie itself, I honestly cannot remember what I originally thought about it. But going back to it as the years go on, it certainly disappoints me of what the movie could have been. If George had somehow made the political aspect (trade disputes, begging for favor scenes) more engaging (with better dialogue) that would have helped. Obi-Wan being sidelined the entire time was also a mistake, despite how cool Qui-gon was. Wasted an entire movie of building up his friendship to Anakin, which we actually never get to see (they just tell us they're friends).

 

However, the green screen scenes get so much worse over time. They look so ugly.

[osxmatt]

It was my first Star Wars movie in theaters. It released on my 11th birthday. I still have the ticket too. I loved it then and I love it now. It’s probably the ‘easiest’ of the Skywalker saga to watch.

 

About 7 years ago, my parents sold our childhood home. They gave me tons of totes with stuff in it, but I was too busy at the time to go through them so I just put them in my attic. Last year I decided to spend a day or two and sort through them. My son (then 4 years old, now 5) said he was going to help me. A majority of what my parents had saved were my Star Wars toys. Hundreds of action figures, about 75% which were opened and well played with, but about 25% that had never been opened. We bought the full line of Phantom Menace toys when I was a kid, keeping them in the original packaging, because it was the 90s and my parents were convinced they would be worth something. There were also blaster rifles and lightsaber toys,  with AA batteries that were somehow still working after all those years.

 

I had tried introducing my son to Star Wars previously, but it never really took. He started sifting through the totes asking what all these toys were. It was pretty much game over at that point. He’s been obsessed with Star Wars ever since. Star Wars movies, shows, LEGOs, clothes, toys, books, stickers, cups, plates. You name it, he has it. A mix of stuff from my childhood but things we’ve purchased for him. We even hired a local Star Wars cosplay group to attend his birthday last December in character. He still hasn’t stopped talking about it. How ‘the real Darth Vader’ came to his birthday party.

 

I had no idea it had been 25 years since Phantom Menace, but was looking at movie listings a few weeks ago and saw it at our local mom & pop theater. We had to go. He loves the Phantom Menace. He loves Anakin as a boy.

 

It wasn’t my intention, but 25 years later, my first Star Wars move in theaters, was also his first Star Wars move in theaters.

[EternallDarkness]

The original trailer was promising and as a huge star wars nerd I couldn't have been more excited. In fact I won open ing night tickets in a trivia contest...damn did I leave disappointed. The acting was and remains horrid, especially the dialogue and 'love' story in episodes 2 & 3. That being said I've mellowed a bit on prequels. 

[Greatoneshere]

There's no question that, as others in this thread have said, great designs, podrace scene and Darth Maul final fight both slap, but the rest of the movie is abysmal. 

[thewhyteboar]

The midichlorians or whatever were such a stupid idea. George turned something romantic and mystical into a blood test. What a misstep. 

[Reputator]

1 hour ago, osxmatt said:

It was my first Star Wars movie in theaters. It released on my 11th birthday. I still have the ticket too. I loved it then and I love it now. It’s probably the ‘easiest’ of the Skywalker saga to watch.

 

About 7 years ago, my parents sold our childhood home. They gave me tons of totes with stuff in it, but I was too busy at the time to go through them so I just put them in my attic. Last year I decided to spend a day or two and sort through them. My son (then 4 years old, now 5) said he was going to help me. A majority of what my parents had saved were my Star Wars toys. Hundreds of action figures, about 75% which were opened and well played with, but about 25% that had never been opened. We bought the full line of Phantom Menace toys when I was a kid, keeping them in the original packaging, because it was the 90s and my parents were convinced they would be worth something. There were also blaster rifles and lightsaber toys,  with AA batteries that were somehow still working after all those years.

 

I had tried introducing my son to Star Wars previously, but it never really took. He started sifting through the totes asking what all these toys were. It was pretty much game over at that point. He’s been obsessed with Star Wars ever since. Star Wars movies, shows, LEGOs, clothes, toys, books, stickers, cups, plates. You name it, he has it. A mix of stuff from my childhood but things we’ve purchased for him. We even hired a local Star Wars cosplay group to attend his birthday last December in character. He still hasn’t stopped talking about it. How ‘the real Darth Vader’ came to his birthday party.

 

I had no idea it had been 25 years since Phantom Menace, but was looking at movie listings a few weeks ago and saw it at our local mom & pop theater. We had to go. He loves the Phantom Menace. He loves Anakin as a boy.

 

It wasn’t my intention, but 25 years later, my first Star Wars move in theaters, was also his first Star Wars move in theaters.

 

It came out one day after my 12th birthday. I think I saw it that weekend or something. It's incredibly nostalgic, though I'll never claim it's a great movie.

 

Great story btw!

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

I'd like to think that Lucas's heart was in the right place to tell a very different type of story from the nobility and heroism of the OT, perhaps as a type of "warning" of the fragility of democratic institutions (which is really quite prescient for our particular time) as well as to "demystify" the Jedi to show that even these paragons of virtue were imminently fallible which again is a worthy narrative aspiration.

 

However, I'll never forgive him for midichlorians nonsense and he went so damned far with demythologizing the Jedi that they came off a dumb as bricks!

 

Edit: upon further reflection, I regret that analogy as it's an insult to bricks which are actually useful unlike the Jedi in the PT!

[Greatoneshere]

6 minutes ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

I'd like to think that Lucas's heart was in the right place to tell a very different type of story from the nobility and heroism of the OT, perhaps as a type of "warning" of the fragility of democratic institutions (which is really quite prescient for our particular time) as well as to "demystify" the Jedi to show that even these paragons of virtue were imminently fallible which again is a worthy narrative aspiration.

 

When people refer to Lucas as being more of a really good "story" guy or an "idea" guy rather than being an actually good writer/director, my mind goes to things like this. What you described sounds great. That's clearly the story (thematically) that Lucas wanted to tell in The Phantom Menace. But in actual execution, the actual writing and directing of those ideas was a complete failure for the most part. A lot of potential though.

[Reputator]

1 hour ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

I'd like to think that Lucas's heart was in the right place to tell a very different type of story from the nobility and heroism of the OT, perhaps as a type of "warning" of the fragility of democratic institutions (which is really quite prescient for our particular time) as well as to "demystify" the Jedi to show that even these paragons of virtue were imminently fallible which again is a worthy narrative aspiration.

 

However, I'll never forgive him for midichlorians nonsense and he went so damned far with demythologizing the Jedi that they came off a dumb as bricks!

 

Edit: upon further reflection, I regret that analogy as it's an insult to bricks which are actually useful unlike the Jedi in the PT!

 

Episode 1 and the prequel trilogy in general will always stand as a series of good/interesting ideas cobbled together in a script that needed more hands and eyes and less auteur singular vision.

[Jason]

I didn't watch it until something like 2009, so I was well aware of Jar Jar Binks going into it.

 

Somehow I had managed to miss hearing that there was an entire race of Jar Jars who played a pretty big role in the movie. I still remember feeling my heart sink when I found this out at the first big Gungans scene.

[Mercury33]

Quality of the movie and how it’s aged aside. I was a freshman in HS when this came out and I will NEVER forget the experience of seeing this on opening night. Core memory for sure. 

[Keyser_Soze]

This scene should be studied for generations to come because of how awesome it is:

 

 

 

As for the movie, I saw it twice in theaters and it only got worse after each viewing. Even the "good" scenes are bad. The podracing scene goes on for way too long. The battle at the end is way too short. Darth Maul was a shitty character that looked cool, he never had any lines so he was wasted. I know people like to say he's cool but he did NOTHING. Come at me bro!

 

Movie sux.

[GoldenTongue]

11 hours ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

I'd like to think that Lucas's heart was in the right place to tell a very different type of story from the nobility and heroism of the OT, perhaps as a type of "warning" of the fragility of democratic institutions (which is really quite prescient for our particular time) as well as to "demystify" the Jedi to show that even these paragons of virtue were imminently fallible which again is a worthy narrative aspiration.

 

However, I'll never forgive him for midichlorians nonsense and he went so damned far with demythologizing the Jedi that they came off a dumb as bricks!

 

Edit: upon further reflection, I regret that analogy as it's an insult to bricks which are actually useful unlike the Jedi in the PT!

This is pretty close to what I've come to believe.  On the whole, I think that TPM gets to about 70% of being a quality SW film overall.  There seems to be a solid premise, a very solid score (including one of Williams' most memorable tracks), some excellent set pieces, and a few moments that totally enervate my inner Star Wars geek.

 

I say 70% (using the 80/20 axiom) because there are some major mis-steps, and a dizzying array of examples of poor writing and even poorer direction.  You had a rock solid cast capable of so much more than what the final product gave us, that it just feels as though there's a very serviceable (potentially) great movie that might have emerged in the hands of a more capable director.  Personally, I would love to have seen what Spielberg might have done with something like this, even if his track record isn't as solid when it isn't something entirely new to work with.

[CitizenVectron]

Yeah, I'd agree that TPM is 70% of a good Star Wars film.

 

Pros:

• Great design and physical sets
• Fantastic music
• The Maul fight
• Overall story is interesting enough

Cons:

• Jar Jar and kid Anakin just aren't good
• Goes too far in demystifying stuff, as others have said (intention was good, but not handled well)
• Dialogue is bad

TPM is the best movie of the TPM on just the performances and design alone, but also have the worst parts (Jar Jar stuff). AOTC is the worst for the obvious reasons, and ROTS is okay but not good (better made than TPM in general, but missing any Star Wars magic).

 

I've warmed on TPM over the last 25 years, but I still wouldn't say it's good. I can watch it now and appreciate the good parts (which it has), but it's still not good. I have to wonder...will people in 25 years think Rise of Skywalker is redeemable? lol

[ort]

See, this really makes me feel old.

 

I remember just how excited the world was for this. At the time it felt like a lifetime had passed with zero Star Wars content... but looking back, the gap between RotJ and Phantom was only 16 years. A long time, sure... but feels like much less time now.

 

This was the first movie I can remember downloading a trailer for on my computer. I had a little QuickTime video of the trailer that I probably watched like 100 times. It was probably like 320x180 resolution, but it still felt like magic.

 

I went with several of my friends to an event just to buy tickets. I remember we got there at like 6 in the morning to line up and had a pretty good spot... but the time they started selling I think there were like 3,000 ish people there. Multiple news and radio trucks were there to cover the event... this was weeks before the movie came out... and I was pissed because they announced it was going to be a lottery instead of simply going by who was in line first... but I lucked out and got tickets for opening night anyway.

 

We also had to line up like 4 hours early for the movie itself so we could get good seats. I remember watching it and feeling completely numb... like, I realized at the time just how bad it was... but my brain just couldn't accept it. How could it be bad? How could it be that bad? What was even happening?

 

After the movie a group of us went to Denny's and literally talked about it for like 4 hours straight.

 

After the initial lottery, but before I had seen it... I went back and bought two more sets of tickets for opening weekend, so I ended up seeing it 3 times in a week or so. It was upon the second viewing when the reality really sunk in. All of my initial hype was channeled into hatred for the movie and disappointment. Most of my friends all hated it. I think it was the younger crowd who ended up growing up with fond memories, because as a guy in my early 20s, who grew up on the originals, it felt like an abomination.

[ShreddieMercury]

The prequels were always great, and the absolutely disastrous sequel trilogy shows us exactly why.  These films are the product of an uncompromising singular artistic vision, which is always going to be more interesting and entertaining than a polished, focus-grouped studio experience.

 

It's obvious why people don't enjoy these movies, with their stiff acting, bloated run times and specious special effects, but they are visionary in a way that mainstream entertainment simply isn't allowed to be.  The fact that this movie pauses for 25 minutes for the pod race, which is an idea that could probably sustain its own spin off, is a perfect example of how radical these films are in comparison to other contemporaneous and especially contemporary entertainment.  I'm happy that they're being somewhat re-examined in light of the newer trilogy.

 

I consider Revenge of the Sith to be the best movie in the entire series.

[MarSolo]

George Lucas did the impossible with these movies: “I’m going to make Samuel L. Jackson the most boring person in the galaxy.”

Yeah, this is the least offensive of the trilogy. I can’t wait to revisit ROTS on it’s 25th and everyone realizes how shitty THAT movie was.

 

[Greatoneshere]

3 hours ago, ShreddieMercury said:

The prequels were always great, and the absolutely disastrous sequel trilogy shows us exactly why.  These films are the product of an uncompromising singular artistic vision, which is always going to be more interesting and entertaining than a polished, focus-grouped studio experience.

 

It's obvious why people don't enjoy these movies, with their stiff acting, bloated run times and specious special effects, but they are visionary in a way that mainstream entertainment simply isn't allowed to be.  The fact that this movie pauses for 25 minutes for the pod race, which is an idea that could probably sustain its own spin off, is a perfect example of how radical these films are in comparison to other contemporaneous and especially contemporary entertainment.  I'm happy that they're being somewhat re-examined in light of the newer trilogy.

 

I consider Revenge of the Sith to be the best movie in the entire series.

 

This entirely depends on what matters to you in the movies you watch. You're willing to set aside hours of stiff acting, terrible dialogue, boring camera framing, dry two shots of people walking and talking, or sitting and talking because there's a thrilling 15 minute pod race sequence (I checked, it's 15 minutes not 25 minutes) and a cool two Jedi vs. Darth Maul fight out of a 2 hour and 15 minute film? The film has to work in its entirety, plucking out one or two great scenes doesn't compensate for having to sit through an otherwise mostly dry, boring, banal film with little dramatic thrust and hardly any urgency to the proceedings. Transformers: Dark of the Moon has two really good action scenes yet I'd never recommend the movie to anybody. What are you getting excited about when watching the rest of these films? Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith are worse in this regard as they don't offer anything close to either the pod race sequence or the Darth Maul fight (save for a few short scenes in each film). With the OT trilogy, there's a naturalism to the filmmaking and acting that, despite some bad one liners, are delivered with verve and sincerity by the cast that make those work. There's a reason the criticisms laid at the prequel trilogy aren't made towards the OT because they don't have these deep problems. Between the fake looking CG and corny dialogue, it creates an almost uncanny effect with the prequel trilogy by comparison. Also, ROTS has this which is so stupid. 

 

 

 

[Keyser_Soze]

I'm with @ShreddieMercury on this.

 

The Phantom Menace was a breath of fresh air. You had never seen such a living world when you witnessed Naboo. Intricately detailed, the gungans were so expressively animated, it was like nothing you had ever seen. This is way before Avatar BTW (There's always a bigger fish indeed).

 

George lucas tossed out the old ghetto x wing shit and gave us organic looking star fighters. He brought in top tier actors that gave their all. Ewan McGregor, Liam Neeson, Natalie Portman - All award winning actors. Imagine doing Schindler's List and bringing that gravitas to Star Wars. Amazing stuff. And it had plenty of diagonal wipes to satisfy anyone.

 

It also had the best Yoda before they changed him into a cartoon character. Every scene was an intense build up to the ejaculation that was the pod racing scene, if you were in the theater it was possibly one of the most intense movie going experiences ever. Then the light saber battle at the end was some of the best fight choreography of the '90s. To say this movie was anything less than 9 is insane.

[ShreddieMercury]

18 minutes ago, Greatoneshere said:

 

This entirely depends on what matters to you in the movies you watch. You're willing to set aside hours of stiff acting, terrible dialogue, boring camera framing, dry two shots of people walking and talking, or sitting and talking because there's a thrilling 15 minute pod race sequence (I checked, it's 15 minutes not 25 minutes) and a cool two Jedi vs. Darth Maul fight out of a 2 hour and 15 minute film? The film has to work in its entirety, plucking out one or two great scenes doesn't compensate for having to sit through an otherwise mostly dry, boring, banal film with little dramatic thrust and hardly any urgency to the proceedings. Transformers: Dark of the Moon has two really good action scenes yet I'd never recommend the movie to anybody. What are you getting excited about when watching the rest of these films? Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith are worse in this regard as they don't offer anything close to either the pod race sequence or the Darth Maul fight (save for a few short scenes in each film). With the OT trilogy, there's a naturalism to the filmmaking and acting that, despite some bad one liners, are delivered with verve and sincerity by the cast that make those work. There's a reason the criticisms laid at the prequel trilogy aren't made towards the OT because they don't have these deep problems. Between the fake looking CG and corny dialogue, it creates an almost uncanny effect with the prequel trilogy by comparison. Also, ROTS has this which is so stupid. 

 

 

 

 

But see, that gif you posted rules.

 

To me it's more the unwavering conviction of George Lucas to tell this grand story of political erosion all wrapped up in this kind of hyper-populist fantasy world that he created.  It's an insane direction to take the saga, and I have nothing but respect.  When it comes to these kinds of movies, I am not particularly drawn to performances or acting as much as I am the arc of the story, music, and visuals, so while I can recognize that the performances are wooden, I don't mind and still find the films fascinating and fun to watch.  In fact, I find Lucas's complete disregard for acting in these movies borderline punk rock and incredible.  I also don't agree that it's boring.  I singled out the pod race because it's one of the most thrilling things in the entire series (same with the Darth Maul fight), but those scenes only work because the stakes are so well established by everything preceding them. 

 

I also think the pod race is emblematic of how visionary these movies are.  George Lucas imbued this universe with wildly interesting and unique ideas that make these films worth still watching and celebrating.  There is a tendency to overrate the OT (Return of the Jedi is by far the weakest of any of the GL movies) and underrate the prequels even though I'd say their highs are equally high.  I'd say Attack of the Clones is my least favorite, but it still has absolutely thrilling sequences, while Revenge of the Sith is my favorite Star Wars movie and is incredibly strong front to back.

[Greatoneshere]

Just now, ShreddieMercury said:

 

But see, that gif you posted rules.

 

To me it's more the unwavering conviction of George Lucas to tell this grand story of political erosion all wrapped up in this kind of hyper-populist fantasy world that he created.  It's an insane direction to take the saga, and I have nothing but respect.  When it comes to these kinds of movies, I am not particularly drawn to performances or acting as much as I am the arc of the story, music, and visuals, so while I can recognize that the performances are wooden, I don't mind and still find the films fascinating and fun to watch.  In fact, I find Lucas's complete disregard for acting in these movies borderline punk rock and incredible.  I also don't agree that it's boring.  I singled out the pod race because it's one of the most thrilling things in the entire series (same with the Darth Maul fight), but those scenes only work because the stakes are so well established by everything preceding them. 

 

I also think the pod race is emblematic of how visionary these movies are.  George Lucas imbued this universe with wildly interesting and unique ideas that make these films worth still watching and celebrating.  There is a tendency to overrate the OT (Return of the Jedi is by far the weakest of any of the GL movies) and underrate the prequels even though I'd say their highs are equally high.  I'd say Attack of the Clones is my least favorite, but it still has absolutely thrilling sequences, while Revenge of the Sith is my favorite Star Wars movie and is incredibly strong front to back.

 

But if the visionary's execution is poor, it doesn't matter what the vision is. Is Uwe Boll's disregard for acting incredibly punk rock? Is Ed Wood's? Is Tommy Wiseau's? You're giving George Lucas the most charitable interpretation of everything that's poor with the prequel trilogy and spinning them into potential positives. You find all the banal talking scenes throughout the rest of the movie not boring? The visuals in the film are ass when it's not an action scene and you think two force users twirling lightsabers for no reason like that rules? How or in what way? It's silly looking, so it's not for cool factor. 

 

Obviously, you do you, but I can't imagine what you think is a bad movie when you don't care about acting, performances, dialogue, camerawork, emotional or dramatic urgency, etc. It just sounds like poorly executed but good ideas can win the day no matter what you have to sit through.  

[Keyser_Soze]

21 minutes ago, Greatoneshere said:

 

But if the visionary's execution is poor, it doesn't matter what the vision is. Is Uwe Boll's disregard for acting incredibly punk rock? Is Ed Wood's? Is Tommy Wiseau's? You're giving George Lucas the most charitable interpretation of everything that's poor with the prequel trilogy and spinning them into potential positives. You find all the banal talking scenes throughout the rest of the movie not boring? The visuals in the film are ass when it's not an action scene and you think two force users twirling lightsabers for no reason like that rules? How or in what way? It's silly looking, so it's not for cool factor. 

 

Obviously, you do you, but I can't imagine what you think is a bad movie when you don't care about acting, performances, dialogue, camerawork, emotional or dramatic urgency, etc. It just sounds like poorly executed but good ideas can win the day no matter what you have to sit through.  

 

The racist aliens are timeless as well!

 

(Edit - I should clarify, and you know a movie has too many racist aliens when the one you were referring to isn't THE racist alien, I meant the racist Asian ones "now there are two of dem!" and Watto - kind of slipped my mind that Jar Jar was the go to)

[CitizenVectron]

39 minutes ago, ShreddieMercury said:

 

But see, that gif you posted rules.

 

To me it's more the unwavering conviction of George Lucas to tell this grand story of political erosion all wrapped up in this kind of hyper-populist fantasy world that he created.  It's an insane direction to take the saga, and I have nothing but respect.  When it comes to these kinds of movies, I am not particularly drawn to performances or acting as much as I am the arc of the story, music, and visuals, so while I can recognize that the performances are wooden, I don't mind and still find the films fascinating and fun to watch.  In fact, I find Lucas's complete disregard for acting in these movies borderline punk rock and incredible.  I also don't agree that it's boring.  I singled out the pod race because it's one of the most thrilling things in the entire series (same with the Darth Maul fight), but those scenes only work because the stakes are so well established by everything preceding them. 

 

I also think the pod race is emblematic of how visionary these movies are.  George Lucas imbued this universe with wildly interesting and unique ideas that make these films worth still watching and celebrating.  There is a tendency to overrate the OT (Return of the Jedi is by far the weakest of any of the GL movies) and underrate the prequels even though I'd say their highs are equally high.  I'd say Attack of the Clones is my least favorite, but it still has absolutely thrilling sequences, while Revenge of the Sith is my favorite Star Wars movie and is incredibly strong front to back.

 

I could perhaps get behind the idea that ROTJ is overrated...but it's still a far better movie than any of the PT. The emotional highs of the triple climax (especially the throne room scene) are unmatched in SW.

[ort]

Some wild takes in this thread.

 

All the prequels are a giant bowl of festering rancid turtle diarrhea. I agree that RotS is the best, kinda, but it still is hot garbage. It may be the best executed with the best action scenes and best story overall, but it also take a giant sloppy shit all over all pre-existing Star Wars lore. Anakin's turn to the dark side is so comically terrible that it defies all logic. It's just so ham fisted and shitty. So poorly executed. Never before has someone shit the bed as hard as George Lucas shit the bed with the prequels. He was sitting on a 25 story high mountain of shit with a bed underneath it by the end.

 

Here's my ratings...

 

Star Wars 10/10

Empire 10/10

Jedi 9/10

Phantom 2/10

Clones 2/10

Sith 3/10

Awakens 6/10

Last Jedi 5/10

Skywalker 1/10

 

That said, I do admit to enjoying watching the prequels... but I enjoy them for just how totally bizarre they are. Not because they are quality films. I enjoy them in the same way people enjoy a movie like The Room.

[MarSolo]

Hottest of takes: the lightsaber fight between Anakin and Obi-Wan sucks because it’s the same glorified spot fest that everyone claims they hate in modern wrestling. It’s MOVES for the sake of MOVES.