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Which film was worse...The Phantom Menace or Attack of the Clones?
- Thread starter SpaceWolf
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MilkyJoe
Member
They are both diabolically shit, even a photo finish cannot separate the shitiness of these turds. And RotS is just as bad, no, in fact, that piece of shit is the worst of the lot!
?
Into Darkness is nothing like Wrath of Khan in the way you're talking about though.
I think comparisons between TFA and ANH get a little overdrawn but that's just plain silly.
TheRedSnifit
Member
Attack of the Clones is such a fucking terrible movie. It has literally no redeeming qualities.
SomedayTheFire
Member
attack of the clones is insultingly bad. tpm is just really bad.
I still can't believe that George got Christopher Lee to play a fallen Jedi and then wasted him so utterly, he doesn't even appear until halfway into the movie. If Dooku had been on the council in Episode 1 then perhaps it might not have been a complete waste of a movie, we could have seen another Jedi fall to the dark side for similar reasons to Anakin, Qui-Gon's master no less. What could have been...
DragonSworne
Banned
This is me. Even putting aside that TFA gives déjà vu the whole way through, it took away the happy ending from the end of RotJ.
Not only do things not end up ok, the protagonists end up having down right miserable lives after singing with the woodland creatures. Han and Leia are separated and Luke is off living by himself after his school ending up being a royal fuck up. It just gave me this feeling of "I waited all this time for this?" It felt like JJ pissed all over these characters I loved. And it is weird saying this because the prequels sort of do the same thing, but at least they never touched Luke, Leia and Han.
There are no happy endings, just where you decide to end the story and when to begin the new one.
There are many happy things that happened in their lives after dancing with the woodland creatures. But you don't need to start a 3 movie epic showing how wonderful everyone was doing in the last 20 years.
Youre right, the way the reused half of the plot of Kahn wasn't even as blatant as TFA, which is saying quite a lot. (Luckily the rest of TFA is a lot better).
I mean...the clue is in the name. Star Wars. Like Maz said in the movie, the fight against the dark side will never end, this franchise will roll on until the end of time.
Monocle
Member
GOOD
If there's anything to trust about JJ Abrams it's that he always pays off on the ideas that he throws into the opening acts of his shows/films
Ray Wonder
Founder of the Wounded Tagless Children
Attack of the clones for sure.
I watched it for the first time last year, I preemptively knew it was gonna be bad. Not from hearing opinions, but because the opening scene.
"I guess I was wrong, there was no danger at all."
*explosion*
I watched it for the first time last year, I preemptively knew it was gonna be bad. Not from hearing opinions, but because the opening scene.
"I guess I was wrong, there was no danger at all."
*explosion*
Dandy Lyin
Member
Attack of the Clones, I think. YA Vader was painful.
There is in fairy tales, star wars is the exact type of story that suits 'and they lived happily ever after'
PeskyToaster
Member
Each one has a great story and interesting stuff covered in shit. It's tough to parse out but there's a cool and mysterious detective Obi Wan part that should have been explored more brought down by a uhhhh awkward love story.
Probably a good thing that JJ isn't directing the sequels to TFA then.
You men Space Seed right? That I could see.
I think I saw TPM when I was 10 or 11, and then Attack of the Clones a few years later. When I was that young, I thought TPM wasn't all that bad of a movie - yes, there were bad parts (Jar Jar) and I felt the whole queen switcharoo was more complicated than it needed to be, but I liked the rogue's gallery of other podracers and thought the final fight with Darth Maul was great.
However, even at a young age I found the Anakin/Padme love story insufferable. I'm pretty sure I cringed through the whole thing in the theaters.
However, even at a young age I found the Anakin/Padme love story insufferable. I'm pretty sure I cringed through the whole thing in the theaters.
Michael F. Assbender
Banned
Because nothing makes for an interesting opening act of a trilogy like "Everything's cool. Nothing to see here."
Extra Sauce
Member
Why don't I remember the space potato riding scene at all? That image rings no bell whatsoever.
DragonSworne
Banned
Que explosion.
Dash_Riprock
Member
Perhaps your brain suppressed it like other traumatic memories.
That's only because there is billions of dollars to be made. Let's not fool ourselves.
Curious to know most of the folks here are old enough to remember these movies when they first came out, and how opinions have changed since. I don't remember the disappointment kicking in for quite awhile.
Phantom Menace got made fun of a bit right off because of Jar Jar and the cutesy Anakin, but the effects were pretty incredible and there were enough fun action sequences and new characters (Darth Maul at least) to warrant multiple viewings. Also the soundtrack was awesome because of Duel of the Fates.
Attack of the Clones was also extra hyped because in the trailer they showed Yoda wielding a light saber. It was a big deal to finally get to see Yoda do battle. I tried to watch the movie but I fell asleep half an hour into it and haven't finished it to this day. However, at the time I recall people thinking pretty highly of it.
Phantom Menace got made fun of a bit right off because of Jar Jar and the cutesy Anakin, but the effects were pretty incredible and there were enough fun action sequences and new characters (Darth Maul at least) to warrant multiple viewings. Also the soundtrack was awesome because of Duel of the Fates.
Attack of the Clones was also extra hyped because in the trailer they showed Yoda wielding a light saber. It was a big deal to finally get to see Yoda do battle. I tried to watch the movie but I fell asleep half an hour into it and haven't finished it to this day. However, at the time I recall people thinking pretty highly of it.
Warm Machine
Member
My problem with TFA is that the enemy could have been fucking anyone besides a dredge. A mandalorian splinter planet with a standing army in boba fett looking gear would get you troopers with a storm trooper/clone look but with totally different motivations and not ruin the ending of Jedi. You want imperial looking ships? They took over secret imperial shipyards abandoned after the last war. You want a bad guy? A person who discovered ancient old republic Sith holocrons and taught herself the ways of the dark side (initially thinking they were something altogether different)
Or maybe you want X-Wings and so on but don't want them attributed to the good guys anymore so they repurpose tech from a airplane style bone yard.
Does the big bad ship at the end have to be bigger than a Death Star and if it does, does it have to explode at the end? If the heroes simply wipe out much of their fleet but the command ship escapes that would be satisfying.
Instead they just hit the do over button which flattened the series out and undid the three previous movies. Fuck Han shot first when group didn't destroy the empire being the far bigger sin.
Star Wars has been about selling toys for 40 years, just like all children's film series. No major film studio is making films for a love of the craft, if people want to keep spending money on Star Wars then why wouldn't they keep going?
Henry Jones Jr
Member
When it first came out, I thought Clones was a better movie, but as the years pass I think Phantom Menace is actually better. It has the cringe worth child acting but it is an overall more entertaining movie. Clones is largely boring.
That's because Padme was a freak.
Padme was smoking in that dress. Dude takes on celibacy to become a Jedi and she comes to dinner like that! Its like taking the pope to a strip club with a suitcase full of $$$ and he's the only customer there, how's a man gonna resist?
Forerunner
Member
The dark side is tempting for sure!
lmao I always loved this scene, Padmé dressed in a skin-tight dress with a choker telling Anakin they can't be together after they've had dinner together by the fire. She was just as messed up as he was lol.That's because Padme was a freak.
Well, Attack of the Clones made me feel like a 9 year old boy again when things like kissing and loving a girl were cringey and disgusting....but wait, Phantom Menace made me hate a child movie character more than T2 made me hate John Connor. Tough call, but I think the lizard ride sequence and those stupid insecticons elevate the shittiness of AofC
slightly above the PM snorefest.
slightly above the PM snorefest.
Michael F. Assbender
Banned
Me, my brother, and a friend went together to see TPM opening weekend. We're all middling Star Wars fans (I'm probably the biggest fan of the three of us). We went in pretty excited to see where the story was going to go; to see the amazing backstory of one of the most famous bad guys in cinema history. When the movie was done, we left the theater in total silence and drove home. My brother and I have talked about it once or twice since, but my friend has never discussed it.
With AOTC, it was just my brother and I. As we were walking out of the theater room, we were talking about how stupid the "Padme/Anakin rolling down the hill" scene was. All of a sudden, from behind us, we hear "Well that was fucking shit!" as this big burly dude (not fat, just solid) pushes past us, simultaneously stripping off his Jedi robe, then Michael Jordan-slams it and his lightsaber toy into the garbage can just outside the theater door. We were dying.
But yeah, I don't remember them being well loved at all. The best I heard about AOTC was from a few random people here and there who thought the Yoda fight scene was cool.
Ugh, the space prophecy, I still don't know where that even came from.
I don't remember divination ever being a part of Star Wars before the prequels.
I saw them all when they were new, and I definitely remember them being regarded a little more highly than they are now.
I think it's mostly due to age and just getting caught in the moment; me and my highschool buddies were so excited to see Yoda fighting with a lightsaber and all the other special effects, none of us actually cared about the story until we stopped to reflect on the movies after the fact.
Michael F. Assbender
Banned
Personally, I would've found the far more egregious error to be if the Empire had been totally wiped out following ROTJ.
The death of an emperor rarely results in the death of an empire. If no succession plan is in place (and sometimes even if there is one) it usually just creates a power vacuum that gets filled by the most powerful of the several factions vying for that spot. Which I'm going to assume is what the First Order is. I'm betting the rest of the trilogy will give us some of those answers.
Dash_Riprock
Member
I liked TPM went it came out. Looking back though, I realized that I was only being entertained whenever a lightsaber/podracer was on screen, and otherwise was just waiting with baited breath for the next one of those. The opening crawl went over my head, as did everything on Courascant. I didn't loathe Jar Jar but after the first 5 minutes of his minstrel buffoonery I wasn't laughing anymore, either. But DARTH MAUL, LIGHTSABERS, POD RACING, SPACESHIPS was enough to keep my stupid kid brain entertained. I didn't end up realizing how bad it was for a couple years afterwards.
AotC, on the other hand I knew was bad from day 1. The opening set up seemed decent enough moment Anakin opened his mouth it all went down hill. I was only like twelve, but even still the love scenes had more groaning. Then came the Yoda fight which every trailer and tv spot hyped. Yeah. I didn't cheer. but I didn't laugh either (I recall my theater being split on those who did one or the other). I just sat in silence trying to process wtf I had just seen.
Then came Episode III. I was in high school by then and loathed the prequels by this point but DARTH VADER and my dad offering to let me skip school to see it convinced me to go. It started so cool, best opening crawl of the PT, great opening shot and action scenes, actual good banter between Obi-wan and Anakin. But then the moment those fucking droids started speaking with their mickey mouse voices I knew what I was in for. Worst of all, I stared finding it boring in between the actions scenes. By the time of Anakin and Obi-wans fight at the end I just did not care anymore. I didn't care about these characters, Padme getting choked elicited nothing from me but slight bemusement over how bad the acting was. Nothing excited me.
Michael F. Assbender
Banned
I always considered Attack of the Clones to be the worst. I was 13 when I saw The Phantom Menace and liked it, for the most part. At the time, it was just new Star Wars and Jar-Jar aside, I liked the characters. it wasn't until probably around the time Revenge of the Sith came out that I went back and watched the first two that I realized how bad The Phantom Menace was, despite some nice effects and art direction. Still, Attack of the Clones was much, much worse.
I enjoyed the Coruscant chase and some of Obi-Wan's banter. Even in the second movie, I realized Ewan McGregor was great in the role. Hayden, however. Good lord, as soon as he started talking, I was thinking to myself, "What the hell is this kid and why is he Anakin?" The investigation story was kind of interesting but just didn't really gel with me and that whole love story just brought the whole film to a complete stop. Everyone hyped up the Battle of Geonosis and I was somewhat impressed, but it just seemed stupid to see a bunch of faceless Jedi get gunned down by random droids. That's not even broaching the Looney Tunes shenanigans in the droid factory. But the real sin of the movie was Yoda's lightsaber fight. Like so many other ridiculous things in the prequel trilogy, George Lucas seemed to throw logic out the window because it looks cool. Seeing Yoda fight with a lightsaber might have looked cool -- at least the first time you saw it -- but it was so stupid to see him jumping around like that. Yoda battling another Force user should have been a battle of the mind, rather than with dumb lightsaber shenanigans. There were so many things they could have done with that sequence, but instead chose the dumbest, flashiest thing they could. Terrible. I'll never appreciate that movie because of that.
I enjoyed the Coruscant chase and some of Obi-Wan's banter. Even in the second movie, I realized Ewan McGregor was great in the role. Hayden, however. Good lord, as soon as he started talking, I was thinking to myself, "What the hell is this kid and why is he Anakin?" The investigation story was kind of interesting but just didn't really gel with me and that whole love story just brought the whole film to a complete stop. Everyone hyped up the Battle of Geonosis and I was somewhat impressed, but it just seemed stupid to see a bunch of faceless Jedi get gunned down by random droids. That's not even broaching the Looney Tunes shenanigans in the droid factory. But the real sin of the movie was Yoda's lightsaber fight. Like so many other ridiculous things in the prequel trilogy, George Lucas seemed to throw logic out the window because it looks cool. Seeing Yoda fight with a lightsaber might have looked cool -- at least the first time you saw it -- but it was so stupid to see him jumping around like that. Yoda battling another Force user should have been a battle of the mind, rather than with dumb lightsaber shenanigans. There were so many things they could have done with that sequence, but instead chose the dumbest, flashiest thing they could. Terrible. I'll never appreciate that movie because of that.
Barry Burton
Member
Attack of the Clones is a terrible film. Just a completely boring slog, paired with some of the worst dialogue ever put in a script.
The Phantom Menace wasn't much better, but it was at the very least an entertaining movie for 13-year-old me in 1999. As a popcorn flick, I thought it was fine for what it was.
The Phantom Menace wasn't much better, but it was at the very least an entertaining movie for 13-year-old me in 1999. As a popcorn flick, I thought it was fine for what it was.
I'm not talking about cloning, just simple genetic engineering. With everything that Lucas has introduced, showing the extent of amoral genetic tampering and making it clear that the force is genetic, his universe doesn't make sense. There's no real way that this wouldn't have happened if the force were just measurable cells in blood. And I really doubt he had a plan in place for Palpatine to be a decoy... He wouldn't set up something like that and neglect the payoff altogether. He was just trying to reveal something about the force, and ended up overshooting it.
Netherscourge
Banned
Attack of the Clones was the most horrible excuse for a Star Wars movie ever made.
Horrible script, horrible acting, horrible story.
Phantom Menace was bad too, but the Darth Maul vs. Qui Gon & Obi Wan Lightsaber battle saves the movie.
Horrible script, horrible acting, horrible story.
Phantom Menace was bad too, but the Darth Maul vs. Qui Gon & Obi Wan Lightsaber battle saves the movie.
Nah, I don't believe you. *returns to watching 4 minute comparison video of TFA/ANH
Great post. This is one of the many reasons why TFA is so incredibly rewatchable.. there are so many subtleties that pass you by during the initial viewing. I've been saying for months how Ren's decision to murder Han is a direct inverse of Vader's decision to save Luke; both events define who those characters are and solidify their destinies. Unfortunately for Ren, his heart isn't even fully in it but he's gunna learn the hard way that there's no turning back once he finishes his "training" (which will consist of a total ass kicking delivered by Snoke for his many failures and weaknesses before his decent into darkness).
But.. wait.. no.. must.. resist critical thinking.. Kylo is just a pussy Vader! What a little pansy man!
Wait.. you actually believe the bolded but are bitching this much about TFA? And Disney had absolutely nothing to do with the creative decisions that went into creating EP7.
Considering what was done with the prequels, which cannot be undone or erased, who cares? As long as they're attempting to make good films and putting forth the effort that went into creating EP7, this is fine by me. It's as win win.. they get money we get good-fantastic SW films. As far as I'm concerned the SW universe has already hit rock bottom with what we saw in EP1-3.
There's nowhere to go but up, even if every film doesn't prove to be excellent.
There.. weren't original actions scenes? This has gotta be trolling right? The opening sequence with the Stormtroopers/village and ending battle between Kylo/Rey is worth the price of admission alone if all you're after is classic action.
CopperPuppy
Member
If I'm being honest, I used to think it was TPM. I think this mainly stemmed from an unwillingness to acknowledge that, yes, things did get worse after Episode I. In time, I have come to realize the truth: AOTC is actually worse.
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