The Mandalorian

[Voor]

Why is nobody prepared to admit that Star Wars sucks?

Bad acting, even worse scripts...

Anakin Skywalker masterfully acted by Hayden Christensen. Mark Hammil cannot act his way out of a paper bag, he is only barely, by the skin of his teeth, a superior actor to Emilia Clarke of Daenery's fame. Seen better acting and scripting in 1980's porn.

Nonetheless I am prepared to admit I have seen every film and am watching the Mandalorian

Sarcasm right? I think Christensen is a decent actor (I like him in other movies) but man, was he awful in the prequels. Of course, the script was bad, but he was laughably terrible.

[ActRaiser]

Why is nobody prepared to admit that Star Wars sucks?

Bad acting, even worse scripts...

Anakin Skywalker masterfully acted by Hayden Christensen. Mark Hammil cannot act his way out of a paper bag, he is only barely, by the skin of his teeth, a superior actor to Emilia Clarke of Daenery's fame. Seen better acting and scripting in 1980's porn.

Nonetheless I am prepared to admit I have seen every film and am watching the Mandalorian

Sarcasm right? I think Christensen is a decent actor (I like him in other movies) but man, was he awful in the prequels. Of course, the script was bad, but he was laughably terrible.

Yeah, definitely. Although Revenge of the Sith was freaking awesome with Obi Wan laying waste to Anakin. That was a great movie. Palpatine making Vader think he killed Amadala. Money, I tell you that was pure Money.

[ThePixelatedGenocide]

It's a welcome change from people breaking their spines trying to figure out a reason why Rey can't lift boulders if she's chosen by the force and has absolute faith in what it can achieve. "She's making Luke look bad when he just whined instead!" <--- the real reason, along with "That's not how the force works in the games!"

Wait, what? "Chosen" by the Force? Have I completely missed something, I thought the strength of the force in any one individual came down to nothing more than their "midichlorian" count?

Midichlorians are like moths attracted to a flame. Beyond that, it gets really silly. Lucas was considering writing a trilogy entirely about the microscopic adventures of the creatures that rode in them. Surprisingly, Disney vetoed this Disney-fied version of Star Wars...

Another factor to consider is how much someone's personality limits their potential. For example, Anakin and Darth Maul each have a much higher midi-chlorian count than Obi-Wan Kenobi, but he was more than able to keep up with them. And Luke's failure to lift the X-Wing out of the swamp disappointed Yoda, who saw the many problems he shared with his father.

I suppose it helps to think of it like IQ? There are many stupid geniuses out there, wasting their potential, and there's still no way to accurately measure wisdom.

[Stalvern]

The easiest and best way to think of it is to accept that the prequels have nothing to do with the original trilogy artistically and often contradict it textually, so they can be safely ignored altogether if you want a coherent idea of the Force.

[DrLitch]

I am okay with Midi Chlorians, think of it as sperm count.

Objectively, outside of the original Trilogy, Solo, and Rogue One (which I thought was excellent), I have to cherry pick my way around the films in order to keep my enthusiasm for the series going. Ep 3 was tolerable, if not rather excellent in parts.

The novelization of most of the films was superior.

In regards to that I preferred the EU.

Of course, the script was bad, but he was laughably terrible.

Portman won an oscar in a different film and is not a terrible actress but her role in SW gave the impression she was a B movie actress. Hayden could have been held up by the horrible script - hard for me to say since I do not believe I have ever seen him in another film.

Yeah, definitely. Although Revenge of the Sith was freaking awesome with Obi Wan laying waste to Anakin. That was a great movie. Palpatine making Vader think he killed Amadala. Money, I tell you that was pure Money.

ROTS had some epic moments. Yoda squaring up to Sids. Mace tackling Sids. The Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise... Suited Vader at end, a glimpse of pre OT Moff Tarkin...

[ptdebate]

Guys, I just signed up for the free trial of Disney Plus so I could watch ROTS in 4k.

This is a beautiful film. Sure, the acting is a little stiff but on this rewatch I was too caught up in the sweeping drama and INCREDIBLE sound and visuals to really care. I don't know how anyone thinks Episode 3 is anything but pure genius.

[Voor]

Finished episode 5, which felt pointless aside from the last few seconds. Acting felt weak and script felt childish.

Still enjoy the series though.

[ThePixelatedGenocide]

Guys, I just signed up for the free trial of Disney Plus so I could watch ROTS in 4k.

This is a beautiful film. Sure, the acting is a little stiff but on this rewatch I was too caught up in the sweeping drama and INCREDIBLE sound and visuals to really care. I don't know how anyone thinks Episode 3 is anything but pure genius.

At the time, the biggest complaint was that Anakin goes from "I reluctantly surrender to the darkside." to "Now to murder all these kids!" in no time flat. Three movies, and that's the answer they're giving us? The sense of crushing disappointment was genuine.

It makes more sense if you think of the darkside as possessing him, and realize the horror they're aiming for.

But at the time, we had the EU, which Lucas's head of marketing assured us was canon. (It would later turn out, he told Lucas the exact opposite.) In the EU, leaving the darkside is a simple change of philosophy - anyone can do it, at any time. Yoda's warning to Luke about how dangerous it is in episode VI? He's just wrong. Obi Wan making a distinction between Vader and Anakin? Nonsense.

It's also what led to the belief that Luke had overcome darkside temptation forever, when he refused to kill Anakin.

Other noteworthy complaints included turning Grevous into a mustache twirling joke, and "Heroes on both sides"? Where?

[Stalvern]

Whatever its other qualities, I can't take the movie seriously when the whole thing revolves around a twerp like Anakin. He's too petulant to be sympathetic, too juvenile to be menacing, and too damn clunky in script and performance to even come off as human. The "drama" of his "fall" to the dark side is torpedoed at every turn by these inescapable aspects. I remember thinking in the theater that it all felt like bad fanfiction, and that hasn't changed a bit today.