I’ve shared this story before:
Like everyone else, I was super excited about the prequels. I made a big deal about having to get tickets in advance since the buzz was so strong with the movie. I was afraid that the movie would be sold out for weeks so I needed to be sure I would get a chance to see it at least during the first week. Then, in the weeks leading up to the premiere, it seemed like the LFL were trying to temper expectations by saying that the movie, and all SW movies, were geared towards kids. I think even Kevin Smith’s positive early words were a bit guarded as well. Well, once I got to see the movie, I saw what they were all hinting at. Even with a little bit of tempered expectations, I was still massively disappointed. But mostly I was embarrassed at just how bad that was! It was my (then) girlfriend’s (now wife) first real foray into SW and I just felt terrible that this was the franchise I had devoted most of my life practically worshipping. My friends and I never really talked about them either. I think we were all too disappointed to really address them.
I felt the next 2 movies got progressively better, but still had some real problems.
I’ve never had a problem with them feeling or not feeling like SW, or the CGI, or the stories dealing with dry subject matter like trade routes and politics. Personally I probably wouldn’t have gone that way, and have imagined dozens of better scenarios of young Anakin and how he became Vader. But I was able to set all of that aside and whether I personally liked or disliked those ideas in favor of being open minded. I was very willing to “go with it”. And I think Lucas had some decent ideas.
The issues I have with all of them is that they are so poorly executed, with non existent character motivations, inexplicable character decisions, bland one-dimensional characters, non-sensical plotting, horrible dialogue, infantile humor, bad acting, etc.
The prequels have ok broad strokes of stories, but needed some major rewrites before they ever made it to screen. They feel like story outlines and needed significant fleshing out. “Obi Wan encounters a young slave boy who is strong with the force and decides to train him. Slave boy secretly falls in love with a queen. Palpatine, who is a secret Sith Lord, manipulates his way to become emperor of the galaxy and convinces the slave boy to join him. Slave boy betrays Obi Wan and the Jedi and becomes Vader” Sounds fine to me. But it’s the details, or lack thereof, or the details Lucas did try to create, that make the execution so bad for me.
They are excruciating for me to watch. Believe me, I tried to like them. I really really did. And I was very kind to them for many years. I may not have watched them much, but I tried to remember them for their better parts.
Now that I’m older I don’t feel the need to give them so much slack. And, I know I’m going to get flack for this, with the new sequels I see how much better the prequels COULD have been. Watching how good the sequels are so far makes me dislike the prequels even more because I can see how much potential they had.
However, I can understand why the prequels are now currently enjoying a renaissance of sorts. I think those who watched the prequels at a young age and grew up with them are much more forgiving of them and their faults. Just like us older fogies who grew up with the OT and are forgiving of their mistakes (or are forgiving of other movies we might have seen in our own youth). I know there are older fans who like the prequels, but I think the ones who *really* like them probably watched them when they were young and probably also watched the Clone Wars which I hear helps flesh out the characters.
As an aside, I’m amused at how clueless I am about the clones. I see people here on the board get excited about HT venturing into clones and saying they hope HT makes X character or Y character or Z character, and I’m thinking, “Who? Were they even named in the movies?”
Anyway, here are some things I actually did like about the prequels:
TPM:
• Maul vs Jedi
AOTC:
• Chasing Zam Wesell through Coruscant
• Obi Wan vs Jango
ROTS:
• Space battle over Coruscant
• Obi Wan vs Anakin on Mustafar
