Should I watch the prequels?

[JakeWIlls92]

I never thought I would get into this series of movies but I really enjoyed The Force Awakens.

I think Poe is a bro and a total badass!

I watched the original trilogy and here is what I think.

A New Hope- I liked it.

The Empire Strikes Back- I loved it!

Return of the Jedi- Enjoyed the first half but the second half of the movie bored me.

Should I watch the prequels?

 

[The Great Goose]

Yes.

 

[emilynghiem]

I never thought I would get into this series of movies but I really enjoyed The Force Awakens.

I think Poe is a bro and a total badass!

I watched the original trilogy and here is what I think.

A New Hope- I liked it.

The Empire Strikes Back- I loved it!

Return of the Jedi- Enjoyed the first half but the second half of the movie bored me.

Should I watch the prequels?

Perhaps you should watch the prequel trilogy
to appreciate the original trilogy for what it had that the others were missing.

The Force Awakens managed to recapture some of that genuine movie magic
and integrity of the characters, where the prequels fell flat with shallow development.

For example, if you compare Rey with Queen Padme Amidala, you can see a huge difference
in development and connection.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2016/03/29/watch-daisy-ridleys-star-wars-the-force-awakens-audition

I liked the character Rey who carried a sense of back story and context without the audience needing to know.
(When I was in a theatre production of the Crucible, the director had everyone in the cast, no matter how few lines our characters had, to write out our entire history and background, create our character with family and hobbies and what we did in life or didn't like, and a story of how we got there and where we go afterwards just like a real person, so we played our part in context with a bigger framework that gave us substance.)

This was missing with Natalie Portman's Queen Amidala who spouted off battle plans
without any sense of effort or connection. I thought the least Lucas could have done to give Portman's character some credibility as a 14 year old Queen was to show a scene of her alone, praying in ritual to the elders for insight, wisdom and courage, and invoking mystical beings to intervene and lend her strength. What 14 year old girl wouldn't cry or have moments of fear that kind of pressure was too much? In the movie Elizabeth they did a better job of showing this kind of inhuman pressure on someone! Just one scene of her weeping but gaining a sense of purpose and wisdom beyond her years from a "spiritual source" might have helped make that more believable that her vision and leadership "came from somewhere."

With Rey, the show of strain on her was believable and made her endearing.

There was no emotional depth or development to Portman's character at all, just a few scenes of her crying out to Anakin that were shallow. What a shame to waste a good actress using her pretty face and name as a box office draw, and spending all the budget on designing costumes she only wore a few minutes each while doing nothing with any dialogue or script.

 

[SuperDemocrat]

I never thought I would get into this series of movies but I really enjoyed The Force Awakens.

I think Poe is a bro and a total badass!

I watched the original trilogy and here is what I think.

A New Hope- I liked it.

The Empire Strikes Back- I loved it!

Return of the Jedi- Enjoyed the first half but the second half of the movie bored me.

Should I watch the prequels?

Perhaps you should watch the prequel trilogy
to appreciate the original trilogy for what it had that the others were missing.

The Force Awakens managed to recapture some of that genuine movie magic
and integrity of the characters, where the prequels fell flat with shallow development.

For example, if you compare Rey with Queen Padme Amidala, you can see a huge difference
in development and connection.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2016/03/29/watch-daisy-ridleys-star-wars-the-force-awakens-audition

I liked the character Rey who carried a sense of back story and context without the audience needing to know.
(When I was in a theatre production of the Crucible, the director had everyone in the cast, no matter how few lines our characters had, to write out our entire history and background, create our character with family and hobbies and what we did in life or didn't like, and a story of how we got there and where we go afterwards just like a real person, so we played our part in context with a bigger framework that gave us substance.)

This was missing with Natalie Portman's Queen Amidala who spouted off battle plans
without any sense of effort or connection. I thought the least Lucas could have done to give Portman's character some credibility as a 14 year old Queen was to show a scene of her alone, praying in ritual to the elders for insight, wisdom and courage, and invoking mystical beings to intervene and lend her strength. What 14 year old girl wouldn't cry or have moments of fear that kind of pressure was too much? In the movie Elizabeth they did a better job of showing this kind of inhuman pressure on someone! Just one scene of her weeping but gaining a sense of purpose and wisdom beyond her years from a "spiritual source" might have helped make that more believable that her vision and leadership "came from somewhere."

With Rey, the show of strain on her was believable and made her endearing.

There was no emotional depth or development to Portman's character at all, just a few scenes of her crying out to Anakin that were shallow. What a shame to waste a good actress using her pretty face and name as a box office draw, and spending all the budget on designing costumes she only wore a few minutes each while doing nothing with any dialogue or script.

I totally agree. The characters in the prequel were totally unlikable. I couldn't find one that I really liked. Most were stale lifeless cardboard cutouts to me. The only really warm characters were R2D2 and golden rod. Watch the prequels in order to understand the history of Star Wars but don't expect to enjoy them. In fact, you will probably be annoyed that you had to sit through them for many hours. Prepare to pissed off afterward.

 

[SuperDemocrat]

I never thought I would get into this series of movies but I really enjoyed The Force Awakens.

I think Poe is a bro and a total badass!

I watched the original trilogy and here is what I think.

A New Hope- I liked it.

The Empire Strikes Back- I loved it!

Return of the Jedi- Enjoyed the first half but the second half of the movie bored me.

Should I watch the prequels?

Yes. It gives the Star Wars Universe more depth and history. That is the only real value they have. Don't expect to like them.

ROTJ was pretty good but it did seem divided in two halves. The first half was rescuing SOlo. THe second was about Luke confronting Vader. The momentum seemed to stop in the middle. I think that is the feeling you might get from watching that one.

 

[SuperDemocrat]

I didn't know we had the best pilot in the Galaxy. That is what Poe was thinking the whole time. He was the best pilot in the universe. He thought that even when he was being tortured. Isn't that funny.

 

[CremeBrulee]

They are a one time time watch. Good for background on the Star Wars universe. I think the Force Awakens is better than all the prequels. The only bad thing about it was the acting from Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher. It was about as good Natalie Portman's phoned in performances in I - III. At least there was no Jar Jar Binks type character.

 

[emilynghiem]

I didn't know we had the best pilot in the Galaxy. That is what Poe was thinking the whole time. He was the best pilot in the universe. He thought that even when he was being tortured. Isn't that funny.

Good points SuperDemocrat I liked BB8 the roly poly robot. Talk about funny, the ultimate irony is one critic HAD to pick that robot to criticize as unrealistic as the whole film.
When it really was designed to physically move around that way, as a remote controlled robot; and that rolling effect wasn't digitally altered by CGI.

 

[emilynghiem]

They are a one time time watch. Good for background on the Star Wars universe. I think the Force Awakens is better than all the prequels. The only bad thing about it was the acting from Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher. It was about as good Natalie Portman's phoned in performances in I - III. At least there was no Jar Jar Binks type character.

I can't repeat the term used to describe Jar Jar Binks.
That poor character ended up inspiring so many mean jokes and comments,
even the subject of a two-sentence Horror Story:
40 Horror Stories Written In Two Sentences

 

[SuperDemocrat]

They are a one time time watch. Good for background on the Star Wars universe. I think the Force Awakens is better than all the prequels. The only bad thing about it was the acting from Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher. It was about as good Natalie Portman's phoned in performances in I - III. At least there was no Jar Jar Binks type character.

I can't repeat the term used to describe Jar Jar Binks.
That poor character ended up inspiring so many mean jokes and comments,
even the subject of a two-sentence Horror Story:
40 Horror Stories Written In Two Sentences

View attachment 72474

the entire film can be summed up as The Adventures of Jar Jar Binks.