Which is Worse? Indiana Jones 4 Vs. Star Wars Episode I

[JPickettIII]

Will make this short.

Indiana John IV.   

[HappyGilmore]

I'm in the minority here. I sincerely dislike George Lucas.

The only flicks with his involvement I like are: Howard the Duck, and Episode 1: The Phantom Menace.

[InformationGeek]

The only flicks with his involvement I like are: Howard the Duck...

You like Howard the Duck?!  Get out of town!  I never knew! 

[JaseSF]

For me Episode 1 was largely a colossal bore but then I don't care for politics and car racing in general. And I actually kind of liked Indy 4 on some levels even though it's not up to level of the previous films...

[Trevor]

Gee...thats like choosing  betwix the squirts or the s**ts.

+ 

Thanks, RC 

I haven't seen Star Wars Episode 1 but Indy 4 wasn't bad IMO.

Shia LePoof spoiled it a bit for me though.

[AndyC]

Indy 4 isn't so bad. Not the best of the series, but then I don't consider any of the sequels as good as the original Raiders of the Lost Ark. The whole refrigerator thing keeps getting beaten to death, but it was a fun scene, however implausible. Anyway, Indy is a tribute to the classic serials, and a few unbelievable stunts are not out of place.

The nuclear test does set the stage pretty well. Things have changed since the last movie. It's the 50s, and with that come the B-movie trappings of Commies, nukes and flying saucers. And it's the first movie in which I actually thought Cate Blanchett was attractive. It drags in spots, and there's nothing really outstanding in it, but I can watch it.

The Phantom Menace, on the other hand, is tough going. When it's not annoying, chances are it's boring, and it is full of action scenes that are too long and often serve little purpose other than to show off special effects and sell toys. And while Shia LaBeouf is kind of unremarkable, Jar Jar Binks is actively irritating. Anakin was an annoying little twerp, Darth Maul was all sizzle and no steak, Qui-Gon was kind of a prick at times, and on it goes. Not really a good character in the entire movie.

[retrorussell]

To me, watching Indy 4 in the theater felt like someone slit my skin and poured Clorox in the wound.  Phantom Menace was pretty poor but I thought Attack Of The Clones was much worse.

[InformationGeek]

Phantom Menace was pretty poor but I thought Attack Of The Clones was much worse.

At first, I was considering using Episode II instead of Ep. I, but I sticked with the first since it started all the hatred and generally most people talk about that as the biggest f**k up for the series.

[retrorussell]

Phantom Menace was pretty poor but I thought Attack Of The Clones was much worse.

At first, I was considering using Episode II instead of Ep. I, but I sticked with the first since it started all the hatred and generally most people talk about that as the biggest f**k up for the series.

I can understand.  Though I hated the Ewoks more than Jar Jar, and he's what brought a good deal of the ire directed at the first film by many SW fans.
I did like episode III quite a bit, even with Frankenvader at the end clomping out of his bonds.

[HappyGilmore]

Jar Jar isn't that bad a character.

[66Crush]

Yeah, "Clones" sucked hard! That kid in "Menace" is annoying, but Hayden Christiansen is ten times more annoying. Worst casting decision in the history of film. Darth Vader should not be a whiny wuss even as a teen.

[AndyC]

Come to think of it, Attack of the Clones was just totally forgettable.

[InformationGeek]

Come to think of it, Attack of the Clones was just totally forgettable.

To me, it suffers from that and having one of half of it uninteresting.  The romance angle, while I suppose is important, is completely dull and uninteresting to me in the slightest.  I normally just skip ahead to Obi-Wan's scenes and the battle on Gensois or something like that.

[AndyC]

Come to think of it, Attack of the Clones was just totally forgettable.

To me, it suffers from that and having one of half of it uninteresting.  The romance angle, while I suppose is important, is completely dull and uninteresting to me in the slightest.  I normally just skip ahead to Obi-Wan's scenes and the battle on Gensois or something like that.

And it already had enough strikes against it as a middle chapter. The first sets everything in motion, the third wraps it up, but the second is largely a bridge, in which little of significance is started or finished.

Lucas overcame that with Empire Strikes Back, but not so much with Clones. He's just gotten too comfortable. When Empire was made, he had one movie to follow - an unprecedented success, the highest grossing movie ever made at that point. He had the challenge of making something bigger and better than the biggest and best. If he hoped to complete his trilogy, he'd have to repeat the financial success of the first. Empire Strikes Back had to be able to stand on its own because there was no established brand for it to ride on, no lifelong fans, no guarantee that it would be another smash. Star Wars still seemed like lightning in a bottle at that time.

Empire bridges Star Wars and Return of the Jedi while being a kick-ass movie in its own right. Clones has its moments, but really just fills in the middle of the story.

That was one of my biggest complaints about the prequels. The original trilogy was made a movie at a time. The prequel trilogy was a sure thing, and planned out over three movies. As a result I didn't think the prequels delivered much of anything until the third movie. Even then it all seemed crammed in and rushed and not really satisfying. Let's spend a whole movie finding Anakin and establishing a conspiracy. Let's spend another movie developing Anakin and Padme, and starting a war that we mostly won't see. By the time it comes to the third, there are a ton of loose ends, and it still takes a while before the movie starts tying them up. Then it just seems to do it in a hurry. Gotta put everything where it needs to be, bing bang boom.

[Trekkie313]

Episode 1.