Started going through all the Star Wars movies, now that Ep 9 is out on Disney+.
Ep I is not terrible apart from Anakin. Ep II & III are dire. Actually, underlying story isn't bad, but the acting,directing and editing is *awful*.
Solo isn't out on Disney+ yet, so will watch Rogue One next.
Surely Jar Jar Binks is the worst thing about Phantom Menace? That and the whole tiresome trade wars plot.
As for 2 & 3... I can only assume Hayden Christensen got the part because he has some compromising pictures of George Lucas.
Retrofitting origins stories is always going to be a bit clunky, and the real problem with the Star Wars prequels is that there’s no compelling narrative need in the original films to fill in the gaps in Darth Vader’s back story. In fact, doing so totally undermines the dramatic impact of the key revelatory moment in Empire Strikes Back - I still recall being gobsmacked by that when I saw it in the cinema for the first time as a kid.
I've not been brave enough to venture into the
Star Wars prequels. I just remember the cringing of the first one, the annoying kid vs. Jar Jar. After that it was a journey into the pointless. I can't remember much about II and III other than that pointlessness, did we need a laboured origin story for Darth? No.
The new batch aren't much better and a missed opportunity. The final one wasn't awful, but the first was a fairly pointless retread of the original Stars Wars and the middle was terrible, some kind of completely suspenseless space chase with an entirely pointless side plot cribbed from the
Empire Strikes Back (where it had a point).
We watched
Justice League which, as I had vaguely remembered, a lot better than the laboured
Death of Superman. They're finally starting to cut back on those ponderous, dragging scenes and introduce some humour into the mix.
