Easily the Star Wars prequels, starting with Jar-Jar and going rapidly down hill from there.
This doesn’t mean I have any love for the Matrix sequels either, that was a whole lot of suck also.
The Star Wars prequels are much, much, much worse movies, and I’m honestly surprised this even came up for debate.
There’s a lot not to like about the Matrix sequels, but Reloaded was, at least, a STORY, with CHARACTERS. It wasn’t a terribly good story, and they didn’t work the characters as well as they could have, but it had the fundamental elements of a real movie. When they had that battle on the freeway, you actually cared about what happened to some of those people.
“The Phantom Menace” had, in effect, no characters at all. There were people playing roles, but none of them had any discernable personality except Jar Jar. Most of the major players were either completely devoid of personality or weren’t even consistent enough in their own behaviour to establish who they were. There was no villain with a clear motive. Furthermore, the story simply didn’t make any sense, and “the Phantom Menace” is rendered almost totally irrelevant by “Attack of the Clones,” which is effectively the same story told again (or more precisely, “Phantom Menace” is the same story told without the love affair.)
You really should watch this fantastic review of Episode 1. It’s an hour long, but it’s hilarious, and really demonstrates that Lucas did in fact get substantially worse over those 20 years (or, at the least, there was no one this time to intervene):
NO IT WASN’T!
This was part of the whole point of choice, and specifically the choice that Neo was destined to have to make in Reloaded (the One was after all something that was engineered by the machines to be part of their larger program). The choice the One would face when he/she reached the core in each iteration of the Matrix was whether to feel a strong enough love for humanity in general to pick the door on the left, and restart the next cycle after the anihilation of the current Zion, or pick the door on the right and end it all even though it could lead to the death of the human race.
The love between Trinity and Neo wasn’t intended to be a standard romance trope, it was something engineered by the Oracle between then. Because Neo loved Trinity so passionately when it came to make a choice in the core he chose her, breaking the cycle, even though it meant potentially the system unravelling (hence the conversation she had with him where she said “You’ve already made the choice, now you have to understand it”). Of course the other difference in this particular iteration of the Matrix was that Smith had been unleashed and was spreading like a virus through the Matrix and eventually the only one who would be able to stop him was Neo. The Oracle also knew this, it meant that he would be in a position to bargain with the machines to end the conflict for good if he could stop Smith.
You’re telling me this is all a stupid story? It’s pretty good in my book. I don’t think you could even begin to compare what is purported to be a love affair between Padme and Annakin in the SW prequals, they’re in love purely because the script demands it of them.
I’d go for the Star Wars prequels as the worst. It’s arguable whether they are worse films in their own right but their context makes the failure so much worse.
Being sequals I’m perfectly happy to just ignore the existence of the latter Matrix films. ‘The Matrix’ just works beautifully as a single stand-alone film. They were always going to have trouble writing a longer story arc because the backstory of The Matrix is bullshit, but that doesn’t hurt a single film (especially one so kick-ass) as much as trilogy. That’s still no excuse for where they took it though :rolleyes:
So while I can happily ignore the tarnishing of the latter Matrix films, because the Star Wars prequels are prequels it’s more difficult to forget the abuse to the franchise. They will forever mar the enjoyment of the good films because they come before them, and so are unavoidably related.
For instance:
How can Darth Vader - the ultimate scary bad-ass - have actually been such a twat?
Why don’t they use the cool double-ended lightsabers in the future and now fight like crap?
How did Yoda, who is supposed to be 900 years old go from being able to jump around like a mentalist to barely being able to walk in 20ish years?
Where did all the robots go?
Yeah, the prequels are worse just because of what they are. There’s a reason why nobody does prequels - they inherently suck. A good arc of drama builds more awesomeness gradually with the spectators not knowing the end. A prequel just can’t fit that whichever way you show the most awesome stuff. That’s also why a bad sequel just sucks as a sequel. A bad prequel makes the whole series suck.
Matrix
Actually yes. Making Neo just one of a long line of Ones (and thus, all part of the Machines’ plan) makes a rampaging Agent Smith a stupendously stupid plotline. Was there even a reason for why Smith came back?
Hitler or Stalin?, U2 or Coldplay? A bucket of shit or another, identical bucket of shit?
Although all five of the films in question were atrocious, I think the Matrix sequels were worse.
The Star Wars prequels were doomed from the outset, as they attempted to cater to two entirely different demographics: the now-30-something nerds who had grown up with the originals and the current generation of kids who had no investment in the story.
Speaking as a member of the former group, I thought the sequels started bad and got progressively worse, but if I’d been a member of the latter group I might have enjoyed them. As a source of flashing lights, explosions and whizz-bang, they’re no worse than any load of old toss that passes for a kid-friendly action movie. I’d cite the popularity of the Clone Wars cartoons as evidence of their success with at least one of their target audiences.
The Matrix sequels, on the other hand, were so smugly pretentiously awful that they became utterly infuriating. Watching them was like having the film sitting across from you stroking it’s metaphorical chin and saying “aaah do you see, you thought I was a dumb action movie but I’m actually making very important philosophical points am I not? Hmmm? Aaah”.
It was like being at a party with a bunch of first year philosophy students, but the doors are locked. And there’s no booze left. shudder
Next week in Battle of The Shit: Pirates Of The Caribbean sequels Vs The Police Academy films.
I disagree. While there are two distinct demographics, both want the same thing: a trilogy that lives up to the legacy of the original movies. They might want it for different reasons, but doing it right would have satisified both groups.
Is there no 1 hour long video “review” on the Matrix sequels? That’s what is needed to prove they are bad.
The spectators know the end of LOTS of great movies. You knew how “Apollo 13” was going to end. If you knew your history, you knew how “Braveheart” was going to end. Hell, in most cases you know how it’ll end even i it’s not history; everyone knows John McClane’s going to kill the bad guy and save the day at the end of a “Die Hard” flick. You know that at the end of “Kung Fu Panda,” Po’s going to beat Tae Lun. If you hop on a rollercoaster you know it’s going to end 70 seconds later by coasting back into the station.
What compels you to sit through a formulaic movie, even knowing the result, is that if it’s well told, you’ll find the characters compelling, root for the hero, and enjoy the ride along the waves of the story.
The Star Wars prequels had no hero with whom you could identify (especially the first one; later they sort of tried to make Obi-Wan the hero, kind of) and ddn’t have a coherent story.
Confused Matthew did some, but not Crazy Basement Guy, as far as I know. And Confused Matthew’s Matrix sequel reviews are a lot better than his Star Wars prequel reviews, in my opinion.
I did not know that William Wallace was going to sleep with a French princess since that never happened in real life.
Hey, your link goes to part three and the still is the “What’s wrong with your face???” guy. Is it me or does Crazy Basement Guy sound like a serial killer version of Steven Wright?
The problem with prequels isn’t so much knowing what’s going to happen at the end. - as you point out this isn’t uncommon in cinema. IMO the problem is more that the audience has already formulated their own version of how the events of the prequel pan out. Naturally this is difficult to live up-to, which isn’t helped by prequels usually beng poorly thought-out franchise extenders. I think you can get away with this better if the prequel covers stuff not directly mentioned later (chronologically), but maybe I’m just telling myself that in order to retains some hope for the upcoming Alien prequel 
Have there ever been films that were made in reverse order by design? It would be an interesting experiment in story-telling.
Oh please, at least the Police Academy films knew they were shit!
Part of the Godfather II was a prequel to the original. It showed Vito when he was young.
Hell, the title didn’t make any sense. Phantomy menaces? Menacing phantoms? Meaningless doubletalk? :o <—This is the snooze smiley, I don’t care if the board calls it “embarrassment”, okay?
Hmm? All 7 parts show up for me. Try this link instead though:
http://www.redlettermedia.com/phantom_menace.html
Great - you would ask me a question I can’t [del]fanwank[/del] answer wouldn’t you?
