Does the Star Wars series have only one good movie?

[Set Harth]

A New Hope, even though it's classic, suffers from a lot of things that the prequels suffer from as well. Bad pacing, bad directing, some very bad dialogue and to much focus and long spaceshots.

None of this is true. This is a film nominated for Best Picture we're talking about.

Oh, come now. "Best Picture" isn't a synonym for "perfect movie."

I never used the words "perfect movie". My point is that the "bad pacing, bad directing, bad dialogue" description is way off. But to imply that goes to "perfect movie" is to construct a false dichotomy. The "bad pacing" thing could be a symptom of the current zeitgeist. In 1977 nobody really had a problem with the pacing. And I don't even understand the "long spaceshots" complaint. These sound like complaints of someone who hasn't seen any classic science fiction.

 

[Terran_Empire]

the pacing confusing/childish, and the various conflicts(the wars, the politics, the themes) juvenile

Yeah, it's almost as if young people were the target audience.

I am afraid that was the case, that or George Lucas thinks we are all sappy idiots.

I mean it is pretty weak sci-fi(somehow it doesn't even feel right to call SW sci-fi...), and it kind of gives off the wrong impression to the average person who doesn't really watch sci-fi. I mean there are episodes of every sci-fi show that are just silly and sappy but with SW.....it is the whole thing.

 

[Harvey]

Well, to be fair, I don't understand those complaints either. The whole thing moves at a breakneck pace. It only allows the whole thing to breathe a single time (the dual sunset scene), something Pauline Kael criticized when the movie came out.

Having said that, I think "bad directing" and "bad dialogue" are perfectly reasonable complaints.

 

[Set Harth]

Well, to be fair, I don't understand those complaints either. The whole thing moves at a breakneck pace. It only allows the whole thing to breathe a single time (the dual sunset scene), something Pauline Kael criticized when the movie came out.

Some of today's audiences seem to find the R2/3PO material on Tatooine to be too slow, but that's by comparison with the restless ADD-like approach of many modern films, and it's based on a sequence from Lucas' inspiration The Hidden Fortress anyway.

 

[cooleddie74]

At least the original trilogy spends a decent amount of time on certain scenes like Luke with his aunt and uncle, the conversation and kiss between Han and Leia and Luke's discussion in the Ewok village about his shared heritage with Leia. The original films seemed to care more about character-building dialogue. The prequels don't devote a whole lot of time to scenes like those and are shifting back and forth between different locations a lot more frequently, hence the accusations(sometimes warranted)that the prequel characters aren't as interesting or well-developed.

 

[Enterprise is Great]

I recently saw the OT and some of the dialogue and acting is as bad as some of dialogue and acting in the prequels. I think that the OT is better but a lot of complaints I've read over the years about the prequels can be applied to the OT. It's just that they're not as prevalent in the OT and those films are better in quality. The prequels don't do enough character development. It's mainly a lot of non stop action or sill stuff like Jar Jar stepping in poodoo. In the OT the character actually took time to talk to each other. That's a little rare in the prequels.

 

[Set Harth]

In the ROTJ era, poodoo meant "fodder". As depicted in the KOTOR game, bantha fodder is a food that bantha eat. It's only with the advent of the prequel era that poodoo now seems to mean "shit".

 

[cooleddie74]

Are you sure about that? As far back as 1983 when Jabba the Hutt calls the freshly unfrozen Han "bantha poodoo" the implication seemed to be waste/excrement. At least that's what 99% of the audience both then as well as now think. I remember being an eight- or nine-year-old kid and thinking that it meant "poop." So did other kids and adults I knew.

 

[Set Harth]

Are you sure about that? As far back as 1983 when Jabba the Hutt calls the freshly unfrozen Han "bantha poodoo" the implication seemed to be waste/excrement. At least that's what 99% of the audience both then as well as now think. I remember being an eight- or nine-year-old kid and thinking that it meant "poop." So did other kids and adults I knew.

I guess they were all ignoring the subtitle that said fodder.

 

[cooleddie74]

Are you sure about that? As far back as 1983 when Jabba the Hutt calls the freshly unfrozen Han "bantha poodoo" the implication seemed to be waste/excrement. At least that's what 99% of the audience both then as well as now think. I remember being an eight- or nine-year-old kid and thinking that it meant "poop." So did other kids and adults I knew.

I guess they were all ignoring the subtitle that said fodder.

All we heard was "poodoo," which sounded like "poop." It doesn't help matters that Lucas chose a word that sounds like it might be a synonym for excrement. I guess he wanted to make people in the audience chuckle a little.

Say what you will about the poodoo thing, but it's a lot classier and more entertaining than Jar Jar stepping in shit and smelling a Tatooine eopie fart in PHANTOM MENACE. Those moments were just lame.

 

[Set Harth]

All we heard was "poodoo," which sounded like "poop." It doesn't help matters that Lucas chose a word that sounds like it might be a synonym for excrement.

Good thing it was translated for the audience.

 

[MacLeod]

I think the biggest Issue with the first 3 films is the script needed a polish, V and VI had co-writers credits if memory serves. Which I think helped to create a tighter script.

 

[cooleddie74]

All we heard was "poodoo," which sounded like "poop." It doesn't help matters that Lucas chose a word that sounds like it might be a synonym for excrement.

Good thing it was translated for the audience.

Maybe so. But it still sounds dirty.

While we're on the subject, who here knew that the banthas in the original movie were created using a couple of rented Indian elephants with shaggy fur, leather saddles and fake horns draped over them? Their trunks were nestled comfortably(we hope, anyways) inside the facial shell of the bantha costume.

 

[Dream]

People need to realize Lucas never set out to make some kind of masterpiece. He wanted do a Flash Gordon remake, but was denied the rights so he did SW instead.

Star Wars was always suppose to be a homage to those old black and white Sci-Fi serials like Flash Gordon, which had bargain-basement production values, meh acting, dated music, and terrible visual effects.

Just because Star Wars did everything better, doesn't mean people should forget what genre this belongs to.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

While we're on the subject, who here knew that the banthas in the original movie were created using a couple of rented Indian elephants with shaggy fur, leather saddles and fake horns draped over them? Their trunks were nestled comfortably(we hope, anyways) inside the facial shell of the bantha costume.

Me, I knew that! *raises hand* (I mean, I knew they were elephants.) I remember reading (probably in a Starlog, back in the day) that they were specially trained to hold their trunks in their mouths, but don't know whether that's really so.

 

[JediKnightButler]

I would argue that ESB is the most solid and best written and best-acted of all of the movies and I really can't find any fault in it other than some of (unnecessary IMHO) changes made for the following special editions. All of the rest of the movies had some very good and some not-so-good moments though the amounts varied between them all. Aside from most of the Ewok scenes during the middle part of the movie, I loved Jedi and nearly all of Sith except for its flimsy handling of Padme (and her relationship with Anakin). I don't rewatch TPM or AOTC much though both had some very memorable moments in them and ANH, well, that's almost in a class of its own really as it was the first movie and set the stage for all of the others. It is truly a classic no matter how cheesy some parts of it might seem to us now.

 

[cooleddie74]

AOTC has some of the series' best action sequences, but the movie is weighed down too much by the painfully wooden romantic scenes and dialogue between Hayden and Natalie. These are supposed to be the parents of the future heroes of the galaxy, and they emote like two Vulcans. Only without the believability. I cringed in the theater almost ten years ago when those scenes came on the screen and I cringe now. Ewan McGregor and Ian McDiarmid almost single-handedly carry that entire movie on their shoulders, because Christensen had all the range of a box of Goobers from the concession stand.

 

[Dream]

ANH is great because it started it all. Pretty much everything from SW lore was first introduced in this movie. It is also the only film in the series that can stand alone, none of the sequels or prequels are needed to understand the story.

ESB is better made, and also my favorite, its biggest weakness is that it has no beginning or ending. You only care about the characters because they were introduced so well in ANH.

 

[Gojira]

I am a bigger Star Trek fan that a Star Wars fan but I do own all the movies on DVD. I have yet to see Clone Wars.

I think there are flaws in all of the movies but that certainly doesn't prevent me from enjoying all of them either. These movies were never intended to be high art. They are B movies with good actors (for the most part) and excellent special effects.

I saw A New Hope in the theaters when I was 13 and it still stands up well today. The thing that made the original trilogy work so well was the chemistry between the three main characters Luke, Han & Lia.

I actually like the prequels. Anakin is the biggest problem in all three. In Phantom the kid is a real bad actor but Liam Neeson and Ewen McGreggor really carry the movie. I really love the pod racing scenes.

Attack of the Clones is my least favorite because it is too bogged down in politics and goes on a bit too long even though the climax of the film is pretty good. But Anakin is portrayed poorly. He is whinny and complaining too much. They should have made him more likable. Don't know what the heck Padme sees in him!

I enjoy Sith very much. Although I would have liked to have seen Anakin become Vader earlier in the movie so we could see more of how Vader truly became more evil.

Those are some of my complaints but all in all I find all movies enjoyable.

 

[Klaus]

2 and 2/3 plus a podrace...