Solo: A Star Wars Story

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

Revenge of the Sith was on tv last night. JFC is it ever awful. Maybe not I and II awful but still one of the worst movies of the year awful. First time I’d seen it in at least 10 years. Maybe since release. Although I never bothered to see III in the theatres.

Yeah, the prequels are on TV right now. Ugh....I had more or less successfully forgotten of their existence but I made it right up to Jar Jar of the first one and then watched the rest of the Manchester United game.

I cant tell which was more painful. Watching Man U win or Jar Jar. Its seriously tight.

It should not be that tight.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

As if punishing me with the prequels wasn’t enough, now the god awful special editions are on tv. Must resist urge to watch. Maybe I’ll boot up the despecialized versions. So very perfect they are.

[FireGilbert]

Yep Episode III is so so bad. The dialog is cringe worthy, the Anakin/Obi-wan relation ship is poorly developed with McGregor wasted on a stupid side quest, and the epic final battle is an unnecessary OTT CGI mess. My theory on why some people like this movie is because it is marginally better than I and II and the final 5 minutes pulls the nostalgia strings. Solo and TLJ are masterpieces compared to this turd.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by FireGilbert

Yep Episode III is so so bad. The dialog is cringe worthy, the Anakin/Obi-wan relation ship is poorly developed with McGregor wasted on a stupid side quest, and the epic final battle is an unnecessary OTT CGI mess. My theory on why some people like this movie is because it is marginally better than I and II and the final 5 minutes pulls the nostalgia strings. Solo and TLJ are masterpieces compared to this turd.

The opera house scene and the conversion of Vader was awesome and the opening sequence was good too. Were there cringeworthy parts, of course but Palpatines scenes save it to be a good movie

[Locke]

Originally Posted by FireGilbert

Yep Episode III is so so bad. The dialog is cringe worthy, the Anakin/Obi-wan relation ship is poorly developed with McGregor wasted on a stupid side quest, and the epic final battle is an unnecessary OTT CGI mess. My theory on why some people like this movie is because it is marginally better than I and II and the final 5 minutes pulls the nostalgia strings. Solo and TLJ are masterpieces compared to this turd.

Episode I needs to be taught in film schools the world over as the epitome of:

"Never do this. Ever. Under any circumstances. Ever."

I mean, the story was hackneyed and choppy, the acting was so terrible that t ruined that poor child's life and they didnt even get to whatshisface yet, the dialogue was brutal....midichlorians were dumb and the obnoxiously excessive CGI really doesnt hold up.

And we're not even getting into the racist stereotypes yet!

Or 'slavery is okay....for reasons.'

You could teach a class about how that movie checked every box of 'suck.'

[FireGilbert]

^Completely agree.


I honestly find Episode II to be worse though. At least I has the fun pod race, the best light sabre fight in the series, and Portman is actually trying to act. There was some potential here and I feel if they removed Jar Jar and made Anakin a teenager it would have been improved to mediocre.



In Episode II we get even cringier dialog and the least believable romance in the history of cinema. Nothing happens for a good chuck of the movie with the big pay off being a messy blurry CGI battle and one of the worst light sabre fights in the series.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

II is worse than I, for sure. And III is also pretty bad. But is it worse than TLJ? I dunno. I honestly don't think there's anything redeeming about TLJ at all. At least ROTS had a decent light saber duel between Anakin and Obi Wan.

[blankall]

I actually quite liked the light saber dueling in the Phantom Menace. It was based around practical effects and choreography than the later light saber duels, which seem to be all CGI based. The bits in the Phantom Menace with Qui Gon, Obi Wan, and Darth Maul, were all pretty good. It was the rest that stunk.

The overall story line of Palpatine slowly taking over with Darth Maul as the enforcer was pretty sound. If they took out the CGI, including all the CGI characters, they could've had a decent movie.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

II is worse than I, for sure. And III is also pretty bad. But is it worse than TLJ? I dunno. I honestly don't think there's anything redeeming about TLJ at all. At least ROTS had a decent light saber duel between Anakin and Obi Wan.

The lightsaber duel was pathetic and lame.

If TLJ is unremarkable with no redeeming qualities then III is offensive to not just movies but humanity as a whole.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

The entire prequels had about 10 good minutes and it was the lightsaber duel at the end of I. Plus duel of the fates is up there with the best Star Wars music ever.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by blankall

I actually quite liked the light saber dueling in the Phantom Menace. It was based around practical effects and choreography than the later light saber duels, which seem to be all CGI based. The bits in the Phantom Menace with Qui Gon, Obi Wan, and Darth Maul, were all pretty good. It was the rest that stunk.

The overall story line of Palpatine slowly taking over with Darth Maul as the enforcer was pretty sound. If they took out the CGI, including all the CGI characters, they could've had a decent movie.

So out of like 7 hours of footage there was about 8 minutes of it that you found acceptable?

Sounds about right.

[Locke]

And again, anyone comparing TLJ to the prequels really needs to check themselves before they wreck themselves.

The Prequels were unapologetic hot garbage.

TLJ wasnt ideal, but still 'Parsecs Ahead.'

[Inglewood Jack]

Ep I - generally good looking, well-lit, nice moves although on the border of being over-choreographed. but it could have meant so much more if Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan actually had any meaningful connection to Maul. their first encounter was a quick sand scuffle on Tatooine and they were like, who the hell was that, eh let's not bother looking into the fact that a Sith warrior just confronted the Jedi for the first time in like a thousand years. and then when they see Maul again on Naboo, they didn't even ask where he came from, who his master is, what he's up to. instead they just immediately launch into the sword fight because the movie literally has 4 confrontations happening simultaneously and therefore there's no time to waste on character development.

Ep 2 - Obi and Ani get smoked so fast it's barely worth remembering, plus it's so stupidly dark you can't see what's going on anyways. and my younger self enjoyed watching Yoda bounce off the walls like a green super ball on cocaine, but in my old age I realized how stupid that was when you consider him and the Emperor were so powerful and wise they should have been above simple swordplay, like they were in OT.

Ep 3 - Dooku duel was ok I guess. Obi-Wan way too confident given that he got his ass handed to him the first time, and then again this round as well. Palpatine vs Yoda, see Ep 2 comments. Anakin and Obi-Wan at least had some emotional background, but the fight was way way over-choreographed, it feels like a half hour of just flawlessly rehearsed perfection. I get that they're Jedi and it should look somewhat supernatural, but taken to the extreme doesn't make for an exciting sequence. and neither makes any progress at all during the fight, no injuries or fatigue right up to the end. they could have started that duel by the lava river and Anakin would have done the same stupid jump and the fight would have been 3 seconds long in total.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by Inglewood Jack

Ep I - generally good looking, well-lit, nice moves although on the border of being over-choreographed. but it could have meant so much more if Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan actually had any meaningful connection to Maul. their first encounter was a quick sand scuffle on Tatooine and they were like, who the hell was that, eh let's not bother looking into the fact that a Sith warrior just confronted the Jedi for the first time in like a thousand years. and then when they see Maul again on Naboo, they didn't even ask where he came from, who his master is, what he's up to. instead they just immediately launch into the sword fight because the movie literally has 4 confrontations happening simultaneously and therefore there's no time to waste on character development.

Ep 2 - Obi and Ani get smoked so fast it's barely worth remembering, plus it's so stupidly dark you can't see what's going on anyways. and my younger self enjoyed watching Yoda bounce off the walls like a green super ball on cocaine, but in my old age I realized how stupid that was when you consider him and the Emperor were so powerful and wise they should have been above simple swordplay, like they were in OT.

Ep 3 - Dooku duel was ok I guess. Obi-Wan way too confident given that he got his ass handed to him the first time, and then again this round as well. Palpatine vs Yoda, see Ep 2 comments. Anakin and Obi-Wan at least had some emotional background, but the fight was way way over-choreographed, it feels like a half hour of just flawlessly rehearsed perfection. I get that they're Jedi and it should look somewhat supernatural, but taken to the extreme doesn't make for an exciting sequence. and neither makes any progress at all during the fight, no injuries or fatigue right up to the end. they could have started that duel by the lava river and Anakin would have done the same stupid jump and the fight would have been 3 seconds long in total.

A lot of the prequels were just a huge waste of potential. Like I said before the main story line was solid, but all the random side stuff was just awful. George Lucas had obviously gone full Ewok.

Instead of a layered story building tension between Qui-Gon and Darth Maul, we get a pod race and some racist CGI characters. Episode I could have been so bad-ass if Darth Maul was the focus, and the relationship between him and Palpatine's larger plot wasn't revealed until later.

I also don't get what the bizarre obsession Lucas had with explaining the political and economic bodies was. It was quite bizarre. We had several films that were 20% boring politics, 60% CGI, and about 20% actual good screen time. And that CGI did not age well.

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by Locke

And again, anyone comparing TLJ to the prequels really needs to check themselves before they wreck themselves.

The Prequels were unapologetic hot garbage.

TLJ wasnt ideal, but still 'Parsecs Ahead.'

Disagree. Maybe my expectations changed over the years but TLJ was the most disappointing Star Wars movie I’ve seen.

[#-3]

Originally Posted by Flames Draft Watcher

Disagree. Maybe my expectations changed over the years but TLJ was the most disappointing Star Wars movie I’ve seen.

I don't know why I keep coming back to these threads, but the cognitive dissonance here is just wild.

TLJ is the most disappointing Star Wars movie ever?
Its just not a credible statement.

Cable TV thanked us this weekend by just pretending the prequels didn't happen for the Thanksgiving Star Wars marathon, they understand it is a disappointment we need not bear anymore.

[Igottago]

The prequels were terribly made films, without question. But TLJ was more of a slap in the face to the overall saga, and seemingly intentionally so. That movie has no redeeming qualities and I can honestly say I will never watch it again. I can watch a few (very few) scenes in the prequels and get at least some level of enjoyment from them. At least they attempted to tell a cohesive story that fit in with the norms of the saga. TLJ was a terrible story that actively damaged the legacy of the brand and derailed an entire modern trilogy.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by #-3

I don't know why I keep coming back to these threads, but the cognitive dissonance here is just wild.

TLJ is the most disappointing Star Wars movie ever?
Its just not a credible statement.

Cable TV tanked us this weekend by just pretending the prequels didn't happen for the Thanksgiving Star Wars marathon this year, they understand it is a disappointment we need not bear anymore.

There’s a bit of a disconnect. The post he quoted was comparing the movies straight up. And the prequels are rightfully judged as historically awful.

But he changed the criteria and said most disappointing. That’s a big change. If you went into the prequels knowing they’re hot garbage you might not be disappointed when they turn out to be hot garbage. If you thought TFA and R1 set a new gold standard for modern Star Wars movies then TLJ could be way more disappointing. That’s way different than saying the prequels were better movies than TLJ. Anyone who says that is clearly a psychopath.

[Ashasx]

Originally Posted by #-3

I don't know why I keep coming back to these threads, but the cognitive dissonance here is just wild.

TLJ is the most disappointing Star Wars movie ever?
Its just not a credible statement.

Cable TV tanked us this weekend by just pretending the prequels didn't happen for the Thanksgiving Star Wars marathon this year, they understand it is a disappointment we need not bear anymore.

I guess for me it's the contrast of Episode 1 vs Episode 7.

While Episode 7 was very much a retread of Episode 4, it did it relatively well. It felt more like Star Wars than any of the prequels, and made me excited for Episodes 8 and 9. It left me with hope for the future of the franchise for the first time in so long.

And then Episode 8 undid all the good Episode 7 did to set up a trilogy while spitting in the faces of the fans.

So while the prequels may have bottomed out harder than Episode 8, the fall from Episode 7 to Episode 8 was far greater than any of the disappointment of the prequels.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

I definitely didn’t get spit on when I saw TLJ, so you probably shouldn’t go back to that theatre.

And what’s your comparison for episode I? What’s its lead-in? Jedi? Because Jedi was the weakest of the original trilogy and it was still awesome. Episode I fell off a cliff compared to the original trilogy. Way, way, way further than TFA to TLJ.