Once the object of criticism, I find that the political scenes are the best parts of the prequels. Ian Mcdiramid's performance is so good it is so fascinating watching him manipulate the Republic. It provides a valuable lesson in how democracies tend to crumple from within. Palpatine tells people what they want to hear. They are so happy to get what they want, they fail to see what the ramifications are.
shareI think the political scenes are the boring parts of the prequels. Give me more spaceship fights, laser battles and light saber duels
shareSpace ship fights, laser battles, and lightsaber duels don't have emotional impact if you don't have context that led to them. If a movie was filled with those without much story to back them up it would get boring very fast. Less is more.
shareWhen I watch a Star Wars movie, I prefer more action scenes and couldn't care less about the political talking scenes
shareWell IMO the prequels weren't real Star Wars movies, so it's OK.
shareThank you. I will now sleep better tonight
sharelulz. I agree with them about the politics in it tho. I have posted the "thunderous applause" scene at times recently simply because it's real life version is so similar.
shareYes, people here in America are brainwashed by our media. They vote democrat as a result. They don't care or not aware of open borders, free healthcare to illegals, war on fossil fuels, inflation, defunding the police or having to show photo ID to vote. Whats funny is reading how people to this day still defending the democrat party. They are brainwashed
shareIndeed, but it isnt funny at all. Governments have been trying to get this sort of unquestioned loyalty from their subjects for millennia, but finally got it by pushing the 'morality' of getting the clot shots. People couldn't give up their perssonal responsibilities to themselves and their loved ones fast enough after that. I don't claim to understand it all, and it would seem that there is more than meets the eye to make this sort of thing happen. Some of these dems actually have high IQs, but are unable to apply them.
shareThe bottom line is simple. If you believe in small govt, and self reliance you vote republican. If you believe in big govt, then you vote democrat and you cherish the thought of open borders, inflation, defunding the police and high taxes. Yo
shareMan I wish I had come to this realization sooner and avoided poly-sci. Those classes made politics seem so complicated. =)
shareI agree with the general sentiment, but I don't think the political scenes were handled terribly well here. Maybe it's just years of watching stuff by Aaron Sorkin, or my love of the machinations of Shakespearean villains, but Palpatine's movements in the prequels just don't rise above a level of perfunctory - to me, anyway.
Now, when you say that Ian McDiarmid's performance is impeccable, you'll get no argument from me. I just think the material he's working with is subpar, and unfortunately it contributes to the hodge-podge of jarring tonal shifts that permeate the prequels generally, and the Phantom Menace in particular.
You mentioning Aaron Sorkin on the same page with the politics scenes in Episode I cracked me up and I was laughing far longer than I should have...
shareIs it unfair to hold a space opera to Sorkin's standards of crackling, political dramas? I don't think so. I'm not asking for the same tone, but Star Wars is a top-tier film, why not expect subsequent movies to hit that top-tier?
Although, yes, I am now picturing Palpatine striding through the halls of Coruscant with Padme, doing a West Wing walk-and-talk while aides and Jedi and strange aliens come over with folders and important things to sign.
No, you misunderstood my reaction - yes, it is fair, of course! Politics can be eloquent and interesting, just like in Sorkin's works. And politics should have been way better scripted in Episode I (and subsequent prequels) than it is.
I was merely amused by the huge gap between quality in Sorkin's output and EP I as it is now - is all :-))
Yes, that makes sense. Thanks for clarifying.
Lucas has such wonderful ideas, and he's pretty good at executing them, but he clearly needs somebody to buffet his work into better shape. A producer who can get a second or third draft, a co-writer to polish dialogue and help craft the narrative, and an editor who can smooth out any roughness in the first cut. He had those things on Star Wars (Gary Kurtz producing, Marcia Lucas in the editing room), and Empire (the now-quite-famous Lawrence Kasdan).
He probably shouldn't have hired Sorkin to take a pass at his dialogue (although "wrong tone" didn't seem to be a problem he cared about in the prequels...) but he should have fleshed out the story with somebody and, yeah, probably gotten a dialogue polish from somebody, too. Joss Whedon, maybe?
Joss Whedon writing (or writing and directing) a Star Wars movie had been on my wishlist for a long long time... until you know what happened, so it's out of the question nowadays, but still - what could have been!
But anyways, I agree with the rest: the prequels are clearly suffering from Lucas' "I have the best ideas" syndrome and yes, Sorkin's tone would not have fit SW, but these films are in dire need of polished dialogue - that's 100% agreed!
It's a pity that Whedon got so pilloried and/or is such a jerk. It's hard to tell, but there do seem to be quite a few actors with stories against him.
It's hard to think of good writers for Star Wars because it has such a particular tone and vibe. Consequently, a lot of great writers are out of the question. You don't really want Quentin Tarantino on it, for instance, because he doesn't have the right flavour.
You know what might interest me in a new Star Wars movie? Luc Besson. Give the Fifth Element guy the reins. But that would only work if they truly let him do as he pleased. Heck, declare it an alternate universe and just let him go. See what happens.
Guillermo del Toro feels almost cliche at this point, but I'd watch a del Toro Star Wars.
Funny you mentioned TFE, I recently rewatched it, and I remembered it to be... better.
https://moviechat.org/tt0119116/The-Fifth-Element/62bac3ca1af64e033d85979e/Had-potential-but-goes-downhill-in-the-second-half
Nevertheless, Besson would have my support for a series / movie.
It's a shame that really good writing for Star Wars only happens in the field of Video Games. So maybe we could get some talent from the creators of KOTOR, Fallen Order, etc. to create some 40 minute long cutscenes and release those as a series? I don't know, I'm desperate for good cinematic content, and it's a shame we don't get it, because the univese has so much potential, yet Disney refuses to leave the "safe" points of the timeline...
Besson's work, to me, is always about the ride as much as anything, and it's about entering his world on his terms. Everything ain't gonna make sense. I'm not saying you don't have fair criticisms (you do), but I always find myself taken with Besson's madness.
Lucy is maybe the best example of this, actually, where I thought it was a great sci-fi full of crazy, wacky stuff, cool fight scenes, and yes, the concept doesn't make scientific sense, but it did get me thinking about ascension and evolution and where we're headed, all while giving me a great Scarlet Johansson butt-kick movie, so I walked away happy.
I agree with you that the War thing wasn't great and the archeologist stuff doesn't make any internal, logical sense. But I differ a bit with Zorg's motives. He's anarchic and a servant of Chaos, and he doesn't care what mayhem goes on or when the world ends, he's just in it, and that kind of bizarre villain is Besson to the walls.
That's no excuse for poor plotting, and again, I do think you raise good points, but I'm saying that, for me, Besson is about sitting there with popcorn and just letting the madcap world take you where it wants to go.
All that "disagreement", but I still think your review is pretty accurate, performances and the feel of the film being amazing and all, and I'd rate it around the same - 7 or 7.5/10. I just wasn't as bothered by the zaniness of the plot.
I did find Ruby Rhod annoying, though. I agree that Tucker is doing a brilliant job, but the character just grated on me.
If I were producing Star Wars, I'd give the KOTOR guys a chance, sure.
I do suspect that there kinda isn't a way to live up to the nerds' headcanons and expectations, though, and that Star Wars fans are a brutally-hard audience to please. Even when something is liked, it's often hated later (The Force Awakens and Rogue One, for instance, both were praised on release but dumped on later. Even The Mandalorian doesn't seem to be as lauded anymore).
I found the political story line ill-conceived and laughably simple minded. Like it was written from the perspective of a Stage-One-Thinker or someone who never really paid attention to nor understood politics.
However, it is the only one of the prequels that I like at all (which is to say, not much).
Star Wars was written for kids after all, not people who majored in political science.
sharestar wars fan dont want politics. they want starship dogfight, huge ground battle, and military theme.
shareOne of the funnier ironies of Palpatine in the prequels vs. Palpatine in ROTJ is, Ian McDarmid was younger when he played the evil, decrepit old emperor in the 80s; whereas in the prequels, he's older, and yet playing a "younger" version of the character, hehe.
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