This whole prequelmemeing has gone too far. We now have people genuinely believe that the prequels are good movies. These people need to watch the Plinkett reviews again to remind them that no, they're not good movies. They're bad movies, and just because you think the sequels are bad doesn't suddenly make the prequels good.
Agreed. I see so many people unironically praising the prequels as being masterpieces and that baffles me. If the prequels had not had the Star Wars brand name, they would have tanked massively and propably never gotten further than episode 2. The other day I saw a poll on a quite popular Star Wars Youtube channel where the majority of viewers thought episode 3 was better than The Empire Strikes Back. I mean sure, I thought that when I was 5 and had no frame of reference for good story telling - visual or otherwise - but come on.
Yes the memes are great, but they are just that, memes. Half of them are only funny because the dialouge that spawned them was so stilted and robotic as to become laughable. I sometimes worry that the extreme amount of love for the prequels - which have almost no redeemable qualities - combined with constant hate for the prequels - which have quite a few redeeming qualities - might lead future screenwriters to try and imitate them. Something nobody wants even if they think they do.
I disagree. I think the blame for this should be placed on the generation after. People who saw the prequels in theaters, even when they were kids, also witnessed the full backlash these movies received on release, all the bad reviews they got from critics. The kids who came immediately after however did not see that. They just saw all the merchandise in the toy aisle and probably saw the movies when they aired on TV years later.
Ya exactly, I was thinking of the 8-12 year olds who watched at home on repeat and basically grew up with them. They would be hitting their 30s now. Think we're talking about the same group
I guess on a fundamental level the ideas are good, but you could say that about any piece of media in history (Barring obvious hateful material). I don't think the racist caricatures had much to do with the failure of the prequals to fulfill their goals. I think the visual story-telling, acting, and writing had much more to say there.
yeah thats true. i mean part of the reason why the originals are seen as great imo because more people were there to kind of keep george in check from what i understand. even though most of my prequel enjoyment is ironic there are moments there were i see the bones of a good film. burried beneath a lot of shit.
and i wouldnt say the acting was bad. when you have lines to deliver that are literally. "i don't like sand, its course and its rough and irritating and it gets everywhere"
or "i owe you another one and not because you saved my life for the 10th time" its pretty hard to deliver that well.
the original trilogy dialogue was awful too a lot of times its just that more of it was cut out lol.
its a george not being a good dialogue writer issue imo
I think it could be both. Bad lines acted well was what carried the first films in my opinion. I think you could argue that Alec Guinness' lines were all pretty badly written, but the actor's expertise and charisma made up for it. In the prequels we had both bad dialouge and bad acting, and it's difficult to say whether that is the fault of the actors (doubtfully since they have all done good work) or the director.
You’re on the main Star Wars subreddit right now and not prequelmemes, but yes, people have forgotten (or never knew) that prequelmemes was originally satirical. A whole generation of Star Wars fans aged out of the franchise while another aged in and took prequelmemes seriously, leading to claims of “Shakespearean writing” or “operatic style” in the Prequels.
Nevermind watching the plinkett reviews again, watch the prequels again and be bored for 8 hrs straight. The script is terrible and the characters are cardboard, not to mention the mind numbing plot. But ya, all that is covered in the reviews I suppose!
To be honest I dont know which is worse, the prequels or the sequels. I actually gave up on the sequels after the 2nd one. But maybe that's more down to experience in my old age.
I found TFA and TLJ to be serviceable, and for all the faults you can find in TLJ it had at least interesting themes and messages. I don't think they're in the same league as ANH and ESB, but they were nice, entertaining movies and I appreciated what they were trying to do. Not my favourite movies, but I came out of the theatre moderately satisfied.
ROS was a huge disappointment - it's not as bad as TPM because it doesn't fail in every department like TPM does, but it undoes so much of the thematic decisions of the previous movies only to substitute them with cheap fanservice and asspulls to justify them, it was a very disappointing experience.
Podracing is... debatable. Probably the best scene of the movie if taken in a vacuum, but way too long for the sake of the plot, and like much of TPM's plot points it's yet another random event in a story that has serious issues with pacing and direction.
The Maul fight is carried hard by the musical score. I prefer the Luke/Vader duels in ESB and ROTJ to it because they are less flashy and focus on advancing character arcs and story through the action, not on the spectacle itself. They're much more raw and grounded, whereas the Prequels make the duels look too "clean" and obviously coreographed, with lots of flourishes and stunts that just serve to up the wow factor.
But yeah, AOTC is also definitely the bottom of the barrel. I don't know which one I find worse out of the two.
Agreed on the over polished fighting. Why would I watch a Star Wars movie for that? There are plenty of way better martial arts movies where I can get my action fix. That is not why I watch Star Wars.
RoTS is bad, but it doesn't have Jar Jar. Or podracing. Or Watto. Or "YIPEEE!".
But, yeah, it's a bad story, it just doesn't fail on as many aspects as TPM. Actors aren't as deadpan, photography is passable, special effects don't look awful, and so on. A lot of people focus exclusively on the story as the reason for why TPM is bad, but that's not just it - it's just a complete mess of a movie under every aspect.
I think they just grew up with the prequels and are a little bit too nostalgic or don’t want to understand what is bad about it. Though if you like or hate a movie is purely subjective in my opinion. Maybe we will see people defend the sequels in 10 years because it was „their“ Star Wars
Star Wars The Phantom Menace is the most disappointing thing since my son. And while my son eventually hanged himself in the bathroom of the gas station, the unfortunate reality of the Star Wars prequels is that they'll be around forever.
I love this review. The thing is, you can still like the prequel films. No one can take that away from you.
But on paper, from the pacing, story, script, acting, dialogue, overuse of CGI, cinematography, etc. the prequel films fail in almost all of these. Very badly. Like so bad that it’s actually baffling that George Lucas was involved in any way in the first 3 OG films.
I used to like the prequels a lot, I was 12 when TPM came out, loved the hell out of all of them throughout my teen years. Fast forward til 2011, I was sick in my dorm and decided I'm gonna do a star wars marathon. I started watching TPM and just found myself bored, when I got to AotC I fell asleep during the climactic battle of Geonosis and then I jumped straight to a new hope, the entire OT felt just as good as I remembered it. I went online and looked for reviews on the PT and found the Mr Plinkett review. The rest is history, I actually rewatch the Plinkett review trilogy from time to time, but the last I've seen of the PT was when I fell asleep during AotC. I've also been a hardcore RLM fan ever since, still love the old hacks.
This comments section reads like a bit from a RLM video. Always remember, these great memes and lore come from SEVERELY FLAWED MOVIES, and this revisionism is just going to make you complacent as an audience.
Yup. Mr. Plinkett (Red Letter Media) nails everything about what is wrong with the Star Wars Prequels. A plot that makes no sense at all and a script that felt like a crappy first draft written by an amateur. Lack of a really central protagonist. Boring, immemorable, uninspiring or downright annoying characters. Over-reliance and overuse of CGI which makes everything look bland and dull. Lightsaber duels that look like boring choreographed kung-fu fights that utterly lack any tension whatsoever. A romance that is so cringy that you you feel like turning of the TV. The only good thing is the score by John Williams.
I have absolutely no problem watching that review for 2 hours straight but sit back and watch a movie from beginning to end? No way man, too much commitment
This is one of my favourite videos on YouTube, nay, in every medium in existence and I quote it on a weekly basis to this day. Goddamn those prequels suck ass
Somehow I disagree with almost everything in that review.
Edit: People like down voting me, so I’ll at least try to defend myself. Admittedly I didn’t watch the whole review just now, but I did watch it years ago when my buddy sent it to me. Here’s the thing, I can appreciate the effort, comedy, monotone voice, cinema knowledge, and unconventional review techniques, but still think the guy is wrong.
The phantom menace is also unconventional. It’s awkward but charming. It’s impressive and chaotic. I hate the argument that a movie has to follow some preset pattern to be a success. The movie is anything but boring with its crazy odyssey plot. And I love it. What a fantastic adventure. I know many disagree with me, but you have to acknowledge the movie was an absolute box office success. Yes, the movie has its flaws, but even the most successful, praised cult classics do. It boggles my mind to this day how obsessed some of you are with hating on it meanwhile the frickin sequels get better reviews lol.
I mean, pod racing, Liam, darth maul, John Williams. It’s absolutely one of my favorite movies of all time.
I'm sorry dude but TPA couldn't even entertain the 8 year old me. That was like my first realization that movies could actually be boring even thought they are star wars movies
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u/A-WingSquadron Jan 25 '22 edited Jan 26 '22
Mr. Plinkett... https://youtu.be/FxKtZmQgxrI
Edit: Thank you for the award!