I thought it was awesome. I was also like 13 though, so not sure I can be trusted.

TPM is better than this garbage.

You are not. There are dozens of us.

Meesa enjoyed it

It's terrible.

People at the time were so excited and starved for more SW that they were eager to label it a good movie.

Orlando Ayala Cant Read said:

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People at the time were so excited and starved for more SW that they were eager to label it a good movie.

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this was also true in 2015, 2017 and 2019 for those abortions called "the sequel trilogy."

It's a good movie for kids and tweens.

I enjoyed the prequel trilogy more as it progressed.

I enjoyed the sequel trilogy less as it progressed.

I am one who has consistently defended TPM on this site.

There was 16 years of no Star Wars other than a couple of awful TV movies and a very nice sequel trilogy in novel form. During that time, I am sure I was not alone in considering how a potential Episode I would go, and I think this contributed to the hate the movie unfairly gets. It didn't meet all those imagined scenarios, and so folks label it as garbage. My opinion, any way. I was able to ignore whatever I wanted out of Episode I and just watch the story that Lucas gave us.

I really liked the story. I liked the comparison to the formation of Nazi Germany with a political figure using the political system to attain power. The portrayal of the Jedi was pretty much what I expected. Loved Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan. Qui-Gonn Jin was a great mentor character. And both Darth Maul and Senator Palpatine were fantastic in the villain roles.

Jake Lloyd did okay as Anakin. I have read several opinions where they thought Lucas would have been better off starting with an older Anakin, but I will just say that starting with this kid gives it a lot more umphhh emotionally when he loses (leaves) his mother. There were some things that I either felt out didn't like - an immaculate conception so to speak - and the whining from time to time. But you are going to get that with a kid, especially a Skywalker kid.

Jar Jar Binks. That is an idiot character. He bumbles and stumbles his way into and out of all kinds of bad situations. He also talks/acts like a bratty teen. But this weak-minded moron was there for a very good reason, that wouldn't be known until Episode II - when this bozo is manipulated into requesting supreme power for the chancellor. You don't get an evil emperor without Jar Jar Binks.

Lots of great sequences in this movie. Starting with the droid army invasion of Naboo. The pod race on Tatooine. Then a big finale with Qui-Gonn and Obi-Wan dueling Maul while Anakin and the Naboo fighters take out the droid control ship. And I absolutely loved it at the end when Palpatine says "young Skywalker", so evocative of how he spit those words out in Return of the Jedi.

The visual effects were top notch for the most part, although a bit overly reliant on green screens and CGI. And of course, the score by the maestro John Williams was so damn good that it remains in my playlist to this day.

I like Revenge of the Sith as the best of the prequel trilogy, but this one is far and away better than Attack of the Clones, which itself is vastly superior to both The Rise of Skywalker and The Last Jedi.

Always have loved the prequel trilogy and it has only gotten better with age.

Was the best of the last 6 sequels.
Fight me.

GreasenUSA said:

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I enjoyed the prequel trilogy more as it progressed.

I enjoyed the sequel trilogy less as it progressed.

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Spot on. Another truth -- everything the sequel trilogy lacks, the prequel trilogy did right.

Sequels: no overarching story or plan, poor or even non-existent character arcs, multiple storylines and characters that go nowhere, and just a mess overall in the story department.

Prequels: one singular story that knows exactly the story it wants to tell over the course of three movies. Character arcs are intricately woven throughout the trilogy, and every character has a purpose. Hell, even Jar Jar plays a significant role in the end.

You can certainly criticize Lucas' dialogue, midichlorians, and the over-reliance on CGI that was still in its infancy. But that doesn't change the fact the prequels tell a far better story.

Side note, Williams' prequel scores are better and more memorable by a factor of 10.

I think with two changes, it would be very close to as good as the original trilogy. One is to drop Jar Jar. I don't care if he has a purpose later, he's just a bad character. The other is to age up Anakin so he's the same age as Natalie Portman. Besides getting a better actor (let's face it, 99% of actors under 10 suck), it makes the relationship with Padme less creepy. It would also make his piloting skills more believable.

Beyond that, they really nailed a lot. The score is incredible, Ewan McGregor and Liam Neason are fantastic. I would also argue that the world building in the prequels is better than any of the other movies. You really get a sense that it's a vast universe with all sorts of different people and places.

"Duel of the Fates" alone makes TPM better than anything in the sequel trilogy.

If JarJar had actually been a Sith like the conspiracy theories claim then it would have been awesome.

My senior year, going into my last week of high school, I saw it with 16 friends and a couple of our dads opening night. Everyone was beyond hyped, but the second it was over we all knew it sucked. Walking out of the theater, our entire group was just so deflated. I saw it two more times that summer, desperately trying to find the good in it, and save for a couple of incredible sequences - the pod race and the climactic duel with Darth Maul - it never got any better.

That is, until the next two movies came out.

Because now, despite its many flaws, I think it's easily the best of the prequels - even better than ROTS.

At the very least, TPM *feels* like a real movie, shot on film, on location, with the least wooden acting of the trilogy. Whereas AOTC and ROTS just look like flat, digital stage plays, with some of the worst acting I've ever seen and some of the worst dialogue I've ever heard.

If I had to choose between the three, give me TPM all day long.

I liked it a lot. The battle with Darth Maul is one of my favorite scenes in all the Star Wars movies.

** idea for future Entertainment thread topic- Top 5 Scenes from the Star Wars Movies.

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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You are not. There are dozens of us.

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IMO, this is the absolute best lightsaber battle in the main franchise. Mostly practical choreography. So much story being told with no dialogue. And freaking Duel of the Fates, man.

I'll be that guy.

Absolutely hated it when it came out. Audible groans and laughter (not the good kind) in the theater as it wore on.

I still hate it now. It's not good y'all. It's just not. Just because you think it may be better then the other prequels/sequels (a notion I disagree with) doesn't mean it's still not just a bad movie.

Jar Jar Binks was the Billy Squier "Rock Me Tonight" video of the Star Wars franchise for me. Just so unbelievably bad and "WTF" inducing that it tainted the entire catalogue for me.

I like all the prequel movies and I think ROTS is better than ROTJ. They're not perfect, there's some bad dialogue and bad acting, but the world building and story is still great. I have no desire to ever watch the sequel trilogy ever again, but will watch episodes 1-6 any time.

It was OK. At the time, the prequels were entertaining as hell, but almost universally considered supporting material and inferior to the original trilogy. To the point that there was a lot of momentum behind other franchise avenues such as the original Clone Wars animated stuff on Sci Fi (not yet "ScyFy") channel. Hell, I still have those DVDs.

However, compared to the sequel trilogy, the prequels were Dr. ****ing Zhivago.

Quote:

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It's not good y'all. It's just not.

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Opinion stated as fact.

Gee, never seen this before, especially with regard to this movie.

Rocking the TPM soundtrack while I work today thanks to this thread.

I'm still onboard with the Red Letter Media review of Episode I and the entire prequel trilogy. It's not a great movie. I put it above Episode II and Episode IX, but that's it.

There is a good movie in there. Lucas got too obsessed with galaxy-level politics for a space opera. This isn't Dune. Pick a lane. If you with the politics, the Jedi as sclerotic bureaucrats maintaining a system that benefitted them without paying attention to the shifting landscape is a cool idea, but it wasn't developed well in between Jar Jar clowning his way to winning a major battle (hope we get a scene in the upcoming Ridley Scott movie with Napoleon juggling a hot cannonball before accidentally dropping it on Alexander I to win Austerlitz) and Anakin clowning his way to destroying an enemy command ship.

If you go pure space opera with the politics sidelined (as in the original trilogy and, to its benefit, the sequel trilogy), you have to make the characters more engaging and less annoying. And you have to promote the engaging characters you have.

Obi Wan as a young, reckless Padawan is a great idea! So let's keep him on the ship the entire movie just questioning his boss. Darth Maul is a fantastic looking enemy that sticks with people far more than anyone else in the prequels. Would have been awesome to see him fight Obi Wan across the next two films as Obi Wan becomes consumed with vengeance and with Vader for their status as the Emperor's apprentice in Episode III. Could have really developed his character and complicated it. Nope. 3 minutes of screen time and he's dead (to the rest of the movies).

It's frustrating as hell that it's bad, because the pieces are there.

I take the politics in the prequels over what the sequels did, all day.

The sequels destroy the galactic capital, along with a handful of other planets, and we never so much as see the capital once before it's destroyed. We never hear about how the new Senate works, or why the First Order wants to take over, or how exactly the system is broken or corrupt.

At the very least, get us to care when multiple planets are destroyed.

It's a lose/lose situation, but it should've been Coruscant they destroyed. I hate the decision either way, and that would've felt like yet another middle finger to the prequels by JJ, but at least would've made me care.

And regarding Obi-Wan being "sidelined", I gotta disagree on that one. He was still a Padawan. Fighting Maul was his first major test, and he had to do it without his master. That duel is the reason he became a Jedi Knight.

I thought that was great. We see the moment he comes into his own.