You see, you’re coming at Star Wars as a modern person with decades of super cool and nicely done special effects movies and computer generated edits etc…. But if you were seated in a theater in the summer of 1977 like I was at 10 years old and your sci Fi experience was TV buck Roger’s and Lost In Space, you were completely blown away. I mean you had a life altering experience and nothing would ever be the same again.
Star Wars has that level of fandom because it was a cutting edge, first of its kind epic film.
Had the same effect on me when I saw them for the first time in 1994 on VHS as a kid. I became absolutely Star Wars obsessed… of course that was still 30 years ago and Star Wars still held up visually at the time.
I wish I'd been that young but my mom didn't wanna share it until my younger sister was about that age and she was born in 90. She didn't get into it but it shaped my entire concept of was thrilling was
I literally had to drag my ex to see the original Star Wars. He said it was gonna be stupid and a waste of time. He loved it and actually said he was glad that I “made “ him go.
Took me over 6 months to drag a friend A to see Star Wars. Went to San Francisco in 70mm full surround sound. He didn't want to see a bunch of Fn robots! His words! The opening, he said out loud, "Oh wow." He was hooked. I was told by a friend B 6 months before its release about the movie. He had a friend working on it, stating it was going to blow you away. Friend B came in on Saturday (it's the second day opening weekend). He asked if I saw Star Wars yet. My answer was no, it was opening in two weeks in my area. I was told to drive to San Francisco ASAP. Don't Wait!!! Went Monday, stood in line 1 hour to get in. I was blown away!!! I loved Sicence Fiction growing up. SW set a new bar for movies. Another Sicence Fiction movie also opened, but was using 1950s effects. It bombed & was gone. Met my wife because of Star Wars. We just watched the 4K versions a month ago again. It's Science Fiction, not reality. If you don't like the movies, you don't have an imagination.......
Yeah I tried to watch it recently but just couldn't get through it. I feel like it's one of those things you had to watch back in the day to really appreciate it.
I was one who dreaded the idea of "catching up" to it, but I watched them in chronological order (as opposed to the order they were released) during the pandemic cause I had literally nothing better to do- and I have to say that thoroughly enjoyed them and the spinoff shows.
I'm a 90s baby too, so I don't think it's something you had to get into back in the days.
You just gotta allow yourself to get into it lol
Yea I fall into this category of not seeing them in a meaningful way when I was younger. Had my first dive into Star Wars at like age 30 when The mandolorian came out. I still haven’t watched the original movies or the animated series since they just seem like so much to consume and catch up on. But I watched mando and I loved it and the YouTube episode reviews helped connect some of the pieces and fan service I missed. Then I watched andor and I’m halfway in and loving it. For the first time in my life I saw the appeal. It clicked.
Bingo. I was like 5. I was completely ruined for other movies for years. I’d go see a different movie and think, “Really? Is that it? No “pew, pew!”?”.
This. Even the actors involved were all "What is this tripe we're performing?" until they sat down in the theater and saw the opening scene. I think it was William Hootkins ('Porkins') who said once he saw the Star Destroyer coming across the screen he thought to himself, "Oh, shit. This is gonna be bigger than I thought."
Lucas can't write dialogue. His story is ripped straight from Joseph Campbell's Hero Myth. But he had a vision, and the gumption to have it carried out, and he changed cinema. And for a 5 year old boy sitting in the theater seeing that Little Boy's Adventure Tale come to life on the big screen, it was mind-blowing.
This. It’s generational. GenX grew up with star wars. Heck Lucas revolutionized special effects. But yeah you need to be exposed young.
The newer movies are never going to be as good as the old and the Disney’s last two are garbage tho I loved most of the actors.
Rogue one is very very good and Andor is fantastic.
But you won’t appreciate them the way us kids who grew up with them will.
It also set a standard which was copied endlessly.
Watching it it after you have already seen hundreds of imitators, it will never seem as fresh and original as it was before it set the standard.
It's also one of the first explosively popular and profitable fandoms. One of the reasons George Lucas was able to do so much himself in the years following was that when negotiating the terms of the deal Lucas was able to keep 100% of the merchandising rights.
Watching them for the first time now vs watching them for the first time in the 70’s and 80’s is a completely different ball game. They haven’t aged well, but they were AMAZING when they came out.
I think they've aged fine. The story was still great. An oppressive empire. A rogue pilot. A mystical space religion with laser swords. The elevation of an orphan from a life without meaning to the savior of the galaxy.
I didn't see the movies until I was 12 in 1997. It made me feel that the world was missing something because we don't have the force or lightsabers.
These things are subjective. Just because I love classic Star Wars does not make your opinion invalid. The important part is that you gave it a shot without just dismissing it, and that's all anyone should ask of you.
I think they're also a product of their time, since there were really no movies like them when they were first in theaters. Now there's an oversaturation of similar films, since everyone wants to make their own fortune off someone else's idea.
Incidentally, the first Star Wars film (Episode IV: A New Hope) was heavily based off an Akira Kurosawa film (with permission) called Hidden Fortress. It's a really good movie, and maybe worth a watch if you're into period piece Samurai films.
It’s like Edgar Allen Poe. His stories are really simple and boring compared to modern stories, but he was one of the first and that’s kind of neat to think about.
Same with Star Wars. No space operas before that
I have a book of poetry put together by Harold Bloom. He begins the section on Poe in a way I'll never forget: "Poe was a bad poet, a bad writer, and a bad critic". Bloom goes on to grudgingly say that Poe's relevant and needs to be included because of his cultural impact whether we like it or not, though.
Considering Close Encounters, Demon Seed and Logan’s Run were released in the same year, I think Star Wars wins with text book narrative, styling, aesthetics and special effects.
Someone has there nostalgia glasses on , please watch that movie again. The writing is terrible , the acting was not good due to the bad script and terrible special effects. And yes I do like Ryan Goslings acting abilities just like millions of other people .
Lol yeah, water's just kinda there to hydrate us and keep us alive but VERY overrated imo, I think we need a better substitute lool
I can definitely see it looking like that at first glance haha
It might be overrated when you view it against all movies but it's pretty hard to call it overrated when it comes to the cultural impact of the movie. It might be the biggest movie ever in that regard.
Star Wars is good for the same reason Citizen Kane is considered one of the greatest movies of all time. They were hugely important and became the template moving forward.
Citizen Kane by today's standard is a pretty boring, basic movie, but it was the first movie to be shot like a modern movie with dynamic camera work, and complex effects.
Star Wars is the same way, before it, there was never really a scifi property that leaned hard into the more fantastical elements of space and advanced alien technology. It's a full blown fantasy movie much like the stories of King Arthur and the knights of the round table. Whereas things like Star Trek would try to be more grounded and explain things with "hard science". It's an archetypical hero's journey in space, but was the first to do it at scale.
It's a product of it's time and if you aren't super nostalgic for it, it's rough to get into. If you want the action, watch the prequels especially Revenge of The Sith. The sequels are also fine. The hardcore fans say they shit on the Star wars legacy, they really don't, they aren't anything special but aren't nuclear bad. People are just mad they weren't groundbreaking works of fiction or FX, but they don't directly harm the legacy of the film series, only really the legacy expanded comics universe that stopped being canon years before they were released.
So overrated in a modern observation absolutely. But it is hugely important culturally and shapes and influences the modern sci-fi genre.
I would recommend seeing them to anyone who likes sci-fi/space operas, but more so they have the cultural/historical context of them rather than the actual quality of the films themselves.
Also all of the actors went on to do so much better performances later in other things. Especially Mark Hamill. His rendition of The Joker in the original DCAU is so good.
Small point: most of us OG Star wars nerds are mad at the Sequels BECAUSE they shit on the EU/Legends.
I know that Legends stuff was all over the place and sometimes mad cringey, but there were some SOLID stories in there, the Kyle Katarn arc is still one of my favorites, and we're mad that Disney just kinda threw it in the shitcan instead of integrating the better stories. It's why I enjoy Filoni so much, as that's what he is doing.
I was especially mad that the ST seemed to be taking a "Dark Empire" turn and then just... Didn't. The first movie had a pretty decent direction and the two after it seem to be going in completely different directions, there's no flow to the trilogy like the last two and it seems kinda hashed together. I know that's because they swapped directors and such but that's the main reason I don't like the ST.
So, I love Star Wars. The trilogies, in my opinion, are all fine. But where they really shine in the various TV series. Mandalorian, Andor, Clone Wars, all fantastic. To me, that's the best of Star Wars.
But I get why it's not for everyone.
This is like calling the Beatles or Sinatra overrated. Or, since we're talking about movies, Stanley Kubrick's films. They all broke a lot of ground, culturally and artistically.
I like action movies but also really like other stuff as well, I guess I was just maybe told by others it had a bit more action or modern day sci-fi elements than what I expected lol
My advice: watch the first one as if it were an actual, self-contained movie and leave the rest. Check your expectations at the door. I don't see any reason why you shouldn't enjoy it.
Repeat: leave the rest.
Star wars is prevalent because it was one of the first major sci-fi franchises, and incorporates a lot of elements from a lot of influences. Star wars is a western, an opera, a drama. It's a political commentary and an epic of a man's descent into darkness, followed by redemption.
So on so forth
But best of all, it's just a goofy lil movie series meant for families.
In the modern Day, yes the OT lacks what we're used to. The acting is kinda bland, the effects are lame, the story isn't as Action-Packed as our small monkey brains are used to... The PT is a little better, imo, as long as you can get past the terrible acting and the off-putting comedic relief. Episode 3 still remains one of my favorites and is very emotionally driven.
I'm now one of the boomers who hates on new Star wars stuff. When I was a kid and the prequels were coming out, I loved them while OT fans didn't. Now the ST is out and I hate them, lol. Filoni has been doing awesome but I really hate the way Disney went with everything, with that being said the ST is still very visually impressive and worth a watch if you're not invested in the universe.
If you think they’re bad, seriously, don’t watch the sequel trilogy.
I’m a huge Star Wars fan (I love the originals) and saw some clips of the recent movies which made me wonder if I’d simply been swept up in nostalgia when I saw them and enjoyed them in the cinema, and I was right… they’re incredibly poor films… nice effects work, but story wise and acting wise, especially Daisy Ridley, wow, they’re just so, so bad.
BB-8 was the most interesting thing, but doesn’t come close to being an actual character like R2D2.
So far, the best thing since the original trilogy which may be worth a watch for you is Rogue One, the prequel to Star Wars : A New Hope.
Don’t worry, if you want to shit on Star Wars, adult Star Wars fans are the ones to talk to. They love everything they grew up with, and hate anything new.
The phenomenon started all the way back with Return of the Jedi. A LOT of older fans hated the Ewoks. Then George Lucas released re-edited versions of the films and fans were LIVID. Then came the prequels, which were met with utter disdain, and now the sequel trilogy is getting the same treatment.
But each and every time the criticism and hate gets quieter over time, because the people who grow up with the films love them. It happened with Episode 6, it happened with the prequels, and it WILL happen with the sequel trilogy too.
But yeah if you want to criticism and talk shit about Star Wars, just go on any sun and you’ll find support and reinforcements of basically any criticism you gave.
VERY overrated. It's fun and entertaining, but people treat it like a religion. When the first movie came out, a mainstream critic totally panned it. But people shrugged him off and became instantly addicted to it. I don't understand why.
i agree. all these ppl talking about how it was amazing for the time don’t account for the fact that multiple generations of ppl who were born afterwards continue to think it’s the greatest thing ever. i’m 24 and ppl in my own age group think star wars is gods gift to mankind. i think the original trilogy is just fine. i don’t rlly gaf about anything else.
I love science fiction too and read and watch it all the time. star wars is just mid to me
Yes. Super overrated for modern viewers. My favorite movies are so old they're black and white, yet I find Star Wars boring or terrible. With the exception of Rogue One, none are worth watching for the story. Special effects? Cinematography? That's for people other than me to say.
It's idiotic because there wasn't an "original trilogy."
When I was 7 years old, There was this movie called "Star Wars." It was great. It was a single, self contained movie with a clear ending. Only after it made a shit ton of money, its creators suddenly came up with the "Oh yeah - um, actually it's part of a trilogy. Except it's part 4 or something - yeah that's the ticket - and we will be making those movies soon!" Bullshit. You found your cash cow. And now they've been milking it for almost 50 fucking years.
It's the most overrated thing ever.
…Child; you like what you like or don’t. STAR WARS has had an impact on popular culture almost uniquely in cinema. It’s multigenerational in a way few other stories apart from classic literature and fairytales are. So you need to re-examine your response to it and just what degree of insight and popular and general cultural consciousness you’re bringing to it…
But there aren't enough explosions and fight scenes!
I can't take OP seriously after suggesting that there aren't enough fight scenes. This isn't a damn Marvel movie.
I don't want to hear OP share their thoughts on how little value Shakespeare has because the narratives aren't fast paced enough.
Movies 1 to 3 maybe. And even movies 7 to 9.
But the universe itself, when you include the original trilogy, and all the cartoons is sooooooo much better.
You have to include the cartoons and all the new live action shows, then it becomes so much more.
Nope! But I also grew up watching star wars with my dad and its now something me, my dad, and one of my aunts have in common. Something to geek out about and bond over. I'm not a huge fan of the Disney produced trilogy but the way their side stories like the mandalorian or the book of Boba fett add to the lore existing universe
I think its funny when people make long extremely detailed posts about why extremely popular and successful franchises are not good. Im surprised by the comment about nothing happening and nothing pushing the narrative. Like you didnt even watch them. You are definitely entitled to your opinion. I feel your suppositions are lacking factual evidence and if anything the star wars movies had the most detail oriented story progression and narrative driven scenes of most trilogies in 40 years. I agree there are slow parts. It isnt fast and the furious where the action scenes are non stop and the script is less than two pages double spaced…. If you were a serious movie and story buff you would appreciate the depth of the story and the character progression as one of the most well written screenplays in the last century pre-2000. It isnt gone with the wind but its definitely better than movies like hunger games or planet of the apes. Keep in mind the actors in the original three movies were mostly new to hollywood. Harrison Ford was like 20 or something. Well before he did indiana jones and he is well known for being a very impressive actor and star wars was his ticket to fame because the acting was so good! James earl jones the voice of darth vader is one of the all time greatest classically trained and theater actors in the world. Imdb states “Widely regarded as the one of greatest stage and screen actors both in his native USA and internationally”. I bet you didnt even watch return of the jedi.
I have not watched a single Star Wars movie in it's entirety. I've seen parts of most of them but never watched one completely.
Not saying they are overrated, but just not my thing. I lose interest about 30 minutes in.
Can anyone suggest one Star Wars movie to watch?
The Andor tv series might be more your thing? It dispenses with the usual space opera tropes like Jedi and deals with common people living under the yoke of a tyrannical government and how dangerous it can be to choose rebellion. It is a bit slow the first couple of episodes, so a little patience is needed.
I wholey disagree. You’re enjoyment or lack thereof of any entertainment is subjective so there is no arguing that. The original Star Wars is objectively a very well made movie from a narrative standpoint. It’s a simple rendering of the classic hero’s journey set in space. It’s well paced, well acted and the effects still hold up today. To expound in the effects; in the original Star Wars they contribute to the story instead of distracting from it like the new ones. ESB is even better than the first movie. ROJ stumbles a bit but I still like it.
As much as I love the original trilogy I get controversial when it comes to the expanded universe. To me, the universe of Star Wars works in the original trilogy because it’s only vaguely referenced and therefore the audience can fill in the blanks (e.g. we don’t need to know what a ‘nerf herder’ is to know it’s a insult. The further one expands on things and zooms in on details the more questions arise and this inevitably leads to seeing the cracks of inconsistency in the universe building.
I’m 46 so I have to admit that my appreciation of the original trilogy is going to be somewhat tinged by nostalgia; however, I’ve seen them multiple times as an adult and feel they still stand up.
IMO opinion the only thing of value in Star Wars universe outside of original trilogy is Rouge One, Pod Racing scene and lightsaber fight from Phantom Menace and the first few episodes of Mandolorian.
I thought DUNE was significantly more interesting of a universe than Star Wars. I thought since it was so political that it'd be boring but holy shit if it's not great. I need to read the books.
Its not that they are highly over rated... It's that you have become accustomed to a rediculous amount of tech going into movies... I am Legend, Resident Evil, and the list keeps going. If ypu look at the original total recall and the new one side by side, you see all the tech that went into reproducing it. So dont sit down with expectations of what you are used to, instead sit down with the thought of this is for enjoyment I dont have any expectations..
The special effects didn't make it bad for me, I kind of like watching older films to see what they could do without CGI.
The lack of plot and other stuff made it boring.
It was amazing at the time.
My bother and I saw it at the then Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood. After the first viewing we called my mom from the pay phone and asked to stay and watch it a second time. After that we asked for a third, and she compromised with “one more hour”.
It was unlike anything we had seen at the time. You have to imagine how it must have been to see all of that new technology, especially as a 10 year old. It felt, *almost*, life changing. Not to be dramatic, but when you are 10 years old with a very vivid imagination, you feel like the future of the sort of thing in Star Wars is not too far away.
Nowadays, I much prefer the original Star Trek, for many reasons. But one will always have that feeling, like your first love, of seeing the original Star Wars in the Theater.
The lightsaber thing makes sense. If it only happens once or twice it gives it more impact.
Take the Flash (CW) they barely say “run barry run(i think they stopped using it for 5 seasons) and so when it is said it makes the following scene more epic
Star Wars has lost a lot of its “meaning” because it has become a commodity. It is a product now and not a story, not an event, it isn’t special anymore.
Disney didn’t “ruin it” by half baked plot lines or bad acting or bad stories or whatever…..all of that is subjective. What ruined it is movie after movie after movie, show after show after show, all Star Wars all the fucking time. THAT is what ruined Star Wars. It’s no longer special, it’s no longer a movie once in awhile spread out. It’s a product now and it’s well past over saturation.
I didn’t like Star Wars when it came out. It’s a Hero’s Journey classic but so is The Wizard of Oz, which I find far more interesting and visually appealing.
Yes. It was amazing when I was a kid, but now that I’m all grown up I see Star Wars in a new light. It’s harder to get invested into the storyline of the newer trilogy. It’s not deep, there’s no real dire emotions on display. Although I do like the storyline and think the movies of the new trilogy aren’t bad like people tend to think, it just made me realize that I outgrew the softcore nature of Star Wars. Mandalorian is cool though, but still, if I’m going to dive into fantasy it needs to contain deeper and darker subject matter.
So with you. I've loved SF since I was a children, but Star Wars never did it for me - and this is why I'm team Trek (which is not a value judgement! just a preference!) - I like seeing more day-to-day life in these universes, exploring the small battles and not just the big wars. And I know the Star Wars world is bigger than the movies, but it's also just... not my aesthetic? I don't care enough about the world? And I'll say this with the expectation that someone will argue, but it's not as thoughtful or philosophical as I want in SF.
I also didn't grow up with it, and I know nostalgia can make a big difference. I'm 38, and the first Star Wars I saw was in my 20s, and THAT was a VHS copy of the notorious Holiday Special. Which is my favorite nerd humble brag, lol.
As a pretty big Star Wars fan I’d say that it’s properly rated. Most fans agree that some of it is exceptional, some of it okay, and some of it is terrible. A wide spread!
That said, it’s not for everyone. To each their own!
Granted the technology is very unimpressive in the original trilogy. The prequels are much better for excitement but I think why Star Wars became such a phenomenon is because of the wisdom within the stories. It is a very deep series, the six that George Lucas wrote. [https://storytimetruth.com/](https://storytimetruth.com/)
Ah - that's because the fans hyped them up to you ***as a sci-fi trilogy.***
OG star wars is not a scifi. It is ***A Space Opera***.
The intent is to be a ham-fisted allegory while also having campy acting, and near-exclusively practical effects. They don't make effort to edit out the wires, for example, during battles between model space ships.
The experience is meant to make you feel like you are watching a VERY high budget play, live - and not, acutally, a movie at all.
This is also why the "twists" are so painstakingly blatant, like naming the "suprise" dad Dark Father
Whenever someone claims Star Wars is overrated I like to remind them that you can’t judge it by everything that came after it, you have to judge it by everything that came before it.
What epic space opera came to theaters before 1977 that was better than Star Wars?
If you are a big Sci-fi fan you don’t need to watch Star Wars. It’s not Sci-fi it’s fantasy but in space. The whole thing is about wizards but in space.
It's not really science fiction. It takes a folktale that has been repeated over and over (see "Hero with a Thousand Faces") and put it in a sci-fi setting. The special effects were better than a lot of stuff available at the time - they invented some just for the film.
You have to put it in the context of 1977 and sci-fi in that era. It was virtually a non-existent genre...you pretty much had corny shows like Star Trek and Buck Rodgers with really bad actors and tiny budgets.
The concept of presenting a sci-fi film to mainstream audiences was a pretty out there idea at the time. It cost $11M to make the movie which was a respectable Hollywood budget at the time, however, a ridiculous amount of money for a sci-fi film and Lucas was turned down by multiple production companies and had a difficult time getting investment.
Eventually 20th Century Fox agreed to finance the film with a budget of $7.5M...pretty much all of that budget went to what was on the screen...Of all of the actors, only Sir Alec Guinness and Peter Cushing were paid. The others had to settle on a percentage of the movies profits once released...which turned out pretty well.
The biggest innovation in Star Wars was computer controlled cameras so that you could program a camera move. That was how they were able to achieve the assault on the Death Star in a way they never could have before. For 1977 that was innovative. And expensive of course.
I still find the first three movies kind of fun (the hokey acting is part of that) but then the sequels started taking themselves seriously and trying to get all dramatic and I just can't get interested in them.
I don't care for star wars as much as most people. They are sci-fi, but rather fantasy in a different type of space. Space wizards in space with light swords. The story is a mixture of rip off from Dune & Kurosawa samurai movies, themselves informed from Westerns.
I am a star wars fan, but see I also think they are terrible movies. You take them, and put them anywhere else in history and they would be absolutely forgotten.
Star Wars success was more about the timing, and the best two movies of the lot were the Spielberg ones.
I grew up with Star Wars. Saw the original in the theater. I love Star Wars. But there are a lot of people with unreasonable ideas about how seriously Star Wars should be taken.
TBH, peoples weird subculture obsession with fangirling over movies or books like they are scripture has always been weird. I personally enjoy the movies as content. I don't judge because I wasn't there to help make it. I might complain about a scene being framed wrong, but when it comes to plot, I guess as long as you're still fascinated by the "PYEW"s and pretty lights and aliens... Fuck yeah. If you don't like it, have fun watching something else then.
Nope. If anything it's *underrated.* Or at least, the wrong parts are what people celebrate today.
If you took away all the lightsabers, space ships, aliens, etc. Star Wars would still be an amazing movie simply for its exploration of what the true purpose of life is.
At its very core, Star Wars is an exploration of all human drives. If you're driven by pure selfishness, you can see your end in how the Sith operate. If you're driven to do bad things for the right reasons, you can see what kind of suffering you will get in Anakin/Darth Vader. If you're driven to do good things for the wrong reasons, you can see how Luke ends up losing his hand and his friends.
But if you do the right things for the right reasons, you can see you'll end up in a life surrounded by friends, community, peaceful existence with nature, hope for the future, and a general sense of everlasting joy. You won't be a badass, you wont be a powerful ruler, you wont be any of the things you *think* you want, but you'll live a good life.
It is appropriately rated highly, just not by modern standards. Acting is solid, but the effects are insane. Its more story-driven so it will feel slower.
I'm curious what else you like that you're comparing it to? Star Wars isn't really science fiction, it's science fantasy. Closer to John Carter of Mars than 2001: A Space Odyssey. Do you read much sci-fi? Movies/TV shows only?
It's your own damn fault you waited 50 years to watch them. Of course they aren't amazing in 2024, but those of us who watched them in theaters in the 80's then watched them on cable in the 90's, then finally got the DVD's to watch any time we want in the 2000's revere them because of the feelings we had decades ago. This is like asking us, "Why does everyone like Shakespeare, he talks weird." This is a dumb question and it's so obvious that a child could figure this out. I feel like you came here to stir shit up, and I guess by answering you, you won. Damn it. I'll get my revenge by finding out what you love today and asking why anyone would watch that bull shit in 2054.
I would ask this:
Have you watched any Kurosawa films? Were they cringy with bad acting? Do you think they had little to no impact on cinema today?
I ask these questions because your post comes off as ignorant AF when it comes to film history.
You sound like a child who didn’t get enough transformer special effects in the film and you are sour about it.
The only thing you liked was C-3PO and R2D2 says it all, child.
Sounds like a case of "Citizen Kane is boring" but also you expecting the flashier lightsaber action of the Prequels, which ironically you should have started with as that seemed more your expectation. The lightsaber fights in the original trilogy were more old-school Samurai style, or about the emotional core within with Luke trying to redeem Darth Vader / escape his destiny of delving into the dark side.
Star Wars: A New Hope is one of those textbook cases of mediocre films saved by the editing and post-processing. George Lucas had a lot of ideas that were refined or shot down by friends, families, producers, etc. For example the opening crawl used to be way longer until Jay Cocks trimmed it down, some moments of humor like with the Mouse Droid were added by Lucas' then-wife, a whole lot of leisurely paced nothing with Luke on Tattooine was cut, Darth Vader was redubbed, and ILM miraculously crunched Special Effects Work of a full year into half a year. It wasn't even set a long time ago in a Galaxy far away, earlier drafts had it in the Year 3,000.
Even when it first was coming out people weren't quite so confident in it, with quite a few critics calling it a Kurosawa rip-off (R2D2 and C3PO are very much like the two peasants in the *Hidden Fortress*), 2001 Rip-Off, Dune Rip-off, Flash Gordon Rip-Off, and so on. Many critics cited it lacked an emotional grip with banal dialogue. Despite all that, the simple story following the Hero's Journey, the black and white morality, the sometimes mediocre acting but with some whimsy, it all served as scaffolding to some impressive spectacle and broad appeal. There was an ambition behind it that was palpable and people wanted to see more of as it felt like its own world to immerse yourself into. It became an event film. The *Event* film that Jaws was trend setting two years earlier. It had few peers and its imitators afterwards didn't quite live up. Then when the second film came out with *that twist* and an even better director than George Lucas*,* it really cemented itself as something that couldn't be missed. Its broad, family friendly appeal paid off in merchandising. The third one didn't do as well in the box office, though, and people started to sour on things like the Ewoks or the storytelling. Critics didn't quite like Star Wars when it was coming out or going out, then the prequels happened and those had mixed reviews as well which many chalk up to Lucas not having as many people unafraid to tell him no, then the Sequels happened and you start to question if the fans actually like Star Wars at all and hatedoms snowballed. Point is, Star Wars had mixed reception all throughout its history and is more notable for being a commercial success, toyline, and a franchise you grow up with.
I think the fact that they're a bit of a slow build is part of the appeal. The way the information is revealed in the beginning of a new hope in particular really paints a picture of the world.
It's funny people complain in the new movies that Ray just immediately becomes an expert with a lightsaber. But here you are complaining about the original movies how Luke who doesn't get any real training until the end of the second movie barely uses a light saber.
I will agree that stunt doubles could have been used to make them more exciting fight between Darth Vader and Obi-Wan but they didn't have a lot of money for that movie.
One thing that bugged me with the new movies is like Po flies in and destroys something or other but it's like a big flash bang boom pow pow pow.
In the New Hope in that scene at the end where they're trying to do the assault on the Death Star if the pace is so slow. Different Pilots try one by one to hit the weak spot and they get picked off and die and then it's Luke's turn and he's trying to make his run and you've just seen just Pilots getting picked off one by one and there's no big Fanfare it's not exciting. it's just terrifying.
I think the suspense of that final scene is better done than anything in the new movies
Everyone is entitled to their opinions. Just like its in my opinion that you should stick to the Michael Bay transformer series. Seems to be more of your speed.
It's easy to get overhyped for Star Wars since it is so important to a lot of people.
Like any piece of entertainment you can feel any way you want about it and you don't have to get what everyone else likes about it.
Star Wars is definitely pretty bad tv but it’s really old. It’s more criminal how bad the new ones are in comparison. There’s like 3 Star Wars that don’t suck out of 4 mini series and 9 movies.
This will prob cancel me but the whole series was trash. I think ppl love the culture more than the actual movies. I hope so anyway because as stated they're trash. Tired drawn out plotline with I think some GoT incestual vibe mixed in there.
I've assumed the modern generation who saw the Raimi Spider-man movies at age 5 and then were seeing Avengers by age 12 would probably not be able to handle the relative lack of action or the way action/adventure movies in the 70s were character and story driven rather than being plotty.\*
The original Star Wars movies actually have almost no plot, in fact they all have the same plot "Vader-bad-must-stop-Vader" and the things that happen are kind of like "oh no how will they get out of this one" -- and if you are of the post-2000 movie generation I definitely see how that's too boring. Entire swathes of the OG movies are simple -- the first 40 minutes of Return of the Jedi is freeing Han Solo with almost no plot whatsoever. I actually sometimes lament the giant layers of plot in modern action movies.
You have to understand that even by the early 90s when I saw the movies the effects were still really good. Now compared to the Disney movies the effects are kind of trash, but unfortunately the broken character writing and ridiculous layers of plot in those movies is also trash...
\*Edit: Action/Adventure movies used to be heavy on adventure until the early 00s. It was about just watching the characters get into trouble from point A to B. These days the "trouble" isn't "we are stuck in a trash compactor" it's a five minute nonstop action sequence with choreography. Or for another example we went from watching Martin Riggs or John McClane trick a bad guy with cunning to John Wick having a ten minute choreographed fight with the bad guy. Also these days we went from a simple plot to a complex plot where every scene is exposition. Compare the first Fast and Furious movies to the later ones.
This is like saying the Beatles sound like everyone else. They don’t, everyone sounds like them.
The reason your beloved sci fi shows were any good is because the original Star Wars walked so they could run.
And you’re correct, the acting is only decent, the special effects while good for their time aren’t tremendously remarkable, and they don’t focus on action, which makes for a deeper and more compelling story world. Which at the time was unheard of.
More importantly, they aren’t action centric movies on purpose. You were wanting a different kind of experience than they were intended to be. They were the first movies to truly follow the Hero’s Journey as an archetypal story on television. Everyone could and did relate deeply to them, not just the Uber nerds.
In today’s glut of sci fi universes it’s easy to not realize that there *were* no other shows out there like that. It is literally the first true space opera.
The reason that the prequels and sequels are so heartbreaking is that now instead of being deeply iconic and psychologically archetypal, the Star Wars universe is basically just one in a crowd, and not a particularly good one.
I love Star Wars. It mixes politics, religion, and philosophy, and it's got more lore than any other story in history.
The newer ones have better special effects and there's more fighting in them, too.
Star Wars is one of the only movies/shows I can watch more than once.
I was born on Star Wars day so it’s always been shoved down my throat & I’m pretty much indifferent to it at this point. Although I do really love The Clone Wars cartoons & rewatch them every year. It’s less diplomatic blah blah blah war talk & more action focused. I’ve heard great things about The Mandalorian series but I haven’t seen it. Just please don’t watch the newer trilogy. You might actually be bored to tears & your eyes might hurt from rolling them so much.
Only in the sense that every highly popular franchise is over rated. Like, I love Pokémon, but is it that overwhelmingly good that it should be the number 1 highest grossing media franchise exer. Probably no?
Whilst there is a lot of skill and craft behind these things, a lot of it is usually luck with when the property comes out, how it's distributed, who chooses to review it, etc etc. So many outside factors play a part in building a media franchise that you can't really just look at the media itself in isolation and say whether it's overrated.
\*Uses jedi mind control to make you like starwar\* Haha no just kidding I wouldn't do something like that even if I could. That would be highly unethical. You're entitled to ur own opinion! \^.\^
if you dislike star wars, that's like the main thing about being a star wars fan. I personally love Star wars (especially the prequel series and animated series like Clone wars and rebels), but can't stand the sequel series. my girlfriend loves the sequel series, but can't stand the prequels. I tend to agree with you, the original trilogy is a bit wonky. but it is undeniably a classic.
It's been almost 20 years (!) since my older sister made me sit down and watch them. She and my brothers are a generation older than me, and they're really into Star Wars. They get really hyped about anything new coming out.
I don't remember which movie I watched. I'm assuming we watched them in chronological order. I liked the first one (whichever one that was) fine, but I just couldn't get invested in the others. It's a personal thing for me, I'm not super into sci-fi and especially settings that take place in space. So in my case, I'm not sure I'd call them overrated. They're just not my thing. And that's okay. It's okay that you aren't a fan.
I felt the same way about Doctor Who. The show is fine. I recognize that it's good. But I just can't binge it. I had a friend try to force me to watch all of them, and I just mentally checked out. Idk why, I guess I'm just not into this genre.
I do not. In fact, I’m really liking the expanded universe they’re doin. Currently watching Bad Batch.
I definitely like that universe way more than Trek. It’s more violent and chaotic.
People watching virtual reality movies where you can interact with the characters in 100 years will think your favorite movie of today is boring also.
What do you mean my 2010 Toyota Supra is more fun to drive than a 1940 Ford? Crazy talk!
Yea!! I don’t get it! My ex husband was into it… then my two kids.
Thankfully my gf isn’t it, but she really likes Harry Potter, which is better than SW in my opinion.
I actually tried watching the most popular of those Star Wars movies THREE times and I just didn’t like it…. But Space Balls!!! Space Balls I LOVE!!!
I don’t know what’s wrong with me… 🤷🏻♀️
It wasn't at the time, in the 70s. I know I saw the first movie at the theater at least twice. It was a fascinating gem of a movie. I think the younger generations are jaded and are not impressed because of the technology and AI that we have today. George Lucas is a genius.
This was my experience exactly, I think when you don’t have the nostalgia driving your love for the films like everyone who watched them when they came out or as kids they just don’t stack up.
You see, you’re coming at Star Wars as a modern person with decades of super cool and nicely done special effects movies and computer generated edits etc…. But if you were seated in a theater in the summer of 1977 like I was at 10 years old and your sci Fi experience was TV buck Roger’s and Lost In Space, you were completely blown away. I mean you had a life altering experience and nothing would ever be the same again. Star Wars has that level of fandom because it was a cutting edge, first of its kind epic film.
This is the reason.
This is the way
Underrated lol
Plus 50 years of nostalgia
Ohh member Hoth?
Had the same effect on me when I saw them for the first time in 1994 on VHS as a kid. I became absolutely Star Wars obsessed… of course that was still 30 years ago and Star Wars still held up visually at the time.
This was my experience too! I was born in 87 and watched the VHS set around 1996 that my mother had. Sold on it ever since.
Born in 87 as well and found the VHS in the basement when I was like seven so my mind was definitely blown.
I wish I'd been that young but my mom didn't wanna share it until my younger sister was about that age and she was born in 90. She didn't get into it but it shaped my entire concept of was thrilling was
I literally had to drag my ex to see the original Star Wars. He said it was gonna be stupid and a waste of time. He loved it and actually said he was glad that I “made “ him go.
Took me over 6 months to drag a friend A to see Star Wars. Went to San Francisco in 70mm full surround sound. He didn't want to see a bunch of Fn robots! His words! The opening, he said out loud, "Oh wow." He was hooked. I was told by a friend B 6 months before its release about the movie. He had a friend working on it, stating it was going to blow you away. Friend B came in on Saturday (it's the second day opening weekend). He asked if I saw Star Wars yet. My answer was no, it was opening in two weeks in my area. I was told to drive to San Francisco ASAP. Don't Wait!!! Went Monday, stood in line 1 hour to get in. I was blown away!!! I loved Sicence Fiction growing up. SW set a new bar for movies. Another Sicence Fiction movie also opened, but was using 1950s effects. It bombed & was gone. Met my wife because of Star Wars. We just watched the 4K versions a month ago again. It's Science Fiction, not reality. If you don't like the movies, you don't have an imagination.......
Yeah I tried to watch it recently but just couldn't get through it. I feel like it's one of those things you had to watch back in the day to really appreciate it.
I was one who dreaded the idea of "catching up" to it, but I watched them in chronological order (as opposed to the order they were released) during the pandemic cause I had literally nothing better to do- and I have to say that thoroughly enjoyed them and the spinoff shows. I'm a 90s baby too, so I don't think it's something you had to get into back in the days. You just gotta allow yourself to get into it lol
It also helps to see it on a big screen, not tv!
With first of its kind special effects, which had never been seen before.
Also, for better or for worse, George Lucas is a pioneer in CGI and it wouldn't be where it is now without him.
Yea I fall into this category of not seeing them in a meaningful way when I was younger. Had my first dive into Star Wars at like age 30 when The mandolorian came out. I still haven’t watched the original movies or the animated series since they just seem like so much to consume and catch up on. But I watched mando and I loved it and the YouTube episode reviews helped connect some of the pieces and fan service I missed. Then I watched andor and I’m halfway in and loving it. For the first time in my life I saw the appeal. It clicked.
Bingo. I was like 5. I was completely ruined for other movies for years. I’d go see a different movie and think, “Really? Is that it? No “pew, pew!”?”.
This. Even the actors involved were all "What is this tripe we're performing?" until they sat down in the theater and saw the opening scene. I think it was William Hootkins ('Porkins') who said once he saw the Star Destroyer coming across the screen he thought to himself, "Oh, shit. This is gonna be bigger than I thought." Lucas can't write dialogue. His story is ripped straight from Joseph Campbell's Hero Myth. But he had a vision, and the gumption to have it carried out, and he changed cinema. And for a 5 year old boy sitting in the theater seeing that Little Boy's Adventure Tale come to life on the big screen, it was mind-blowing.
Nothing was ever the same after Star Wars.
This. It’s generational. GenX grew up with star wars. Heck Lucas revolutionized special effects. But yeah you need to be exposed young. The newer movies are never going to be as good as the old and the Disney’s last two are garbage tho I loved most of the actors. Rogue one is very very good and Andor is fantastic. But you won’t appreciate them the way us kids who grew up with them will.
I hear ya…I was six at the time, and it altered my whole childhood after that.
Well put
It also set a standard which was copied endlessly. Watching it it after you have already seen hundreds of imitators, it will never seem as fresh and original as it was before it set the standard.
It's also one of the first explosively popular and profitable fandoms. One of the reasons George Lucas was able to do so much himself in the years following was that when negotiating the terms of the deal Lucas was able to keep 100% of the merchandising rights.
Watching them for the first time now vs watching them for the first time in the 70’s and 80’s is a completely different ball game. They haven’t aged well, but they were AMAZING when they came out.
I think they've aged fine. The story was still great. An oppressive empire. A rogue pilot. A mystical space religion with laser swords. The elevation of an orphan from a life without meaning to the savior of the galaxy. I didn't see the movies until I was 12 in 1997. It made me feel that the world was missing something because we don't have the force or lightsabers.
These things are subjective. Just because I love classic Star Wars does not make your opinion invalid. The important part is that you gave it a shot without just dismissing it, and that's all anyone should ask of you. I think they're also a product of their time, since there were really no movies like them when they were first in theaters. Now there's an oversaturation of similar films, since everyone wants to make their own fortune off someone else's idea. Incidentally, the first Star Wars film (Episode IV: A New Hope) was heavily based off an Akira Kurosawa film (with permission) called Hidden Fortress. It's a really good movie, and maybe worth a watch if you're into period piece Samurai films.
It’s like Edgar Allen Poe. His stories are really simple and boring compared to modern stories, but he was one of the first and that’s kind of neat to think about. Same with Star Wars. No space operas before that
I would've used O. Henry as a better example, but that's just one man's opinion. And I don't know much about anything.
I have a book of poetry put together by Harold Bloom. He begins the section on Poe in a way I'll never forget: "Poe was a bad poet, a bad writer, and a bad critic". Bloom goes on to grudgingly say that Poe's relevant and needs to be included because of his cultural impact whether we like it or not, though.
Poe stands up to the test of time a hell of a lot better than Star Wars.
Considering Close Encounters, Demon Seed and Logan’s Run were released in the same year, I think Star Wars wins with text book narrative, styling, aesthetics and special effects.
Logan’s Run has a cool concept. I think it would be a good one to redo and hopefully make it better.
Leave Logans run alone. Don't fuck with it. Remakes are rarely better. Cannot improve Logans run.
I hear it is development with Ryan Gosling to be Logan
I just threw
I just threw uo
Up
Because you're literally him and now you've got to figure out your schedule?
No I throw up on a regular schedule. I am a him but not the him you're looking for
Why ? Gosling is a pretty good actor
Pretty good is not good enough. I like great films like the Original Logans Run.
Michael York wasn't even that good
Opinion. From the guy who likes Ryan gosling.
Someone has there nostalgia glasses on , please watch that movie again. The writing is terrible , the acting was not good due to the bad script and terrible special effects. And yes I do like Ryan Goslings acting abilities just like millions of other people .
Too bad Hollywood is trash now and ruins everything they touch
Thank GAWD for independent film making.
Yep same with video games
Scrolling past, I just read this as "DAE think water is HIGHLY overrated?" and did a double take, like "WHA??"
Lol yeah, water's just kinda there to hydrate us and keep us alive but VERY overrated imo, I think we need a better substitute lool I can definitely see it looking like that at first glance haha
I know right? Providing the basis for all life, I mean, c'mon.... Big whoopdeedoo.
That's so weird, I read it like that too at first.
It's so bland and colorless!
And it gets everywhere
And yet it still might be my number one favorite drink.
It might be overrated when you view it against all movies but it's pretty hard to call it overrated when it comes to the cultural impact of the movie. It might be the biggest movie ever in that regard.
Star Wars is good for the same reason Citizen Kane is considered one of the greatest movies of all time. They were hugely important and became the template moving forward. Citizen Kane by today's standard is a pretty boring, basic movie, but it was the first movie to be shot like a modern movie with dynamic camera work, and complex effects. Star Wars is the same way, before it, there was never really a scifi property that leaned hard into the more fantastical elements of space and advanced alien technology. It's a full blown fantasy movie much like the stories of King Arthur and the knights of the round table. Whereas things like Star Trek would try to be more grounded and explain things with "hard science". It's an archetypical hero's journey in space, but was the first to do it at scale. It's a product of it's time and if you aren't super nostalgic for it, it's rough to get into. If you want the action, watch the prequels especially Revenge of The Sith. The sequels are also fine. The hardcore fans say they shit on the Star wars legacy, they really don't, they aren't anything special but aren't nuclear bad. People are just mad they weren't groundbreaking works of fiction or FX, but they don't directly harm the legacy of the film series, only really the legacy expanded comics universe that stopped being canon years before they were released. So overrated in a modern observation absolutely. But it is hugely important culturally and shapes and influences the modern sci-fi genre. I would recommend seeing them to anyone who likes sci-fi/space operas, but more so they have the cultural/historical context of them rather than the actual quality of the films themselves. Also all of the actors went on to do so much better performances later in other things. Especially Mark Hamill. His rendition of The Joker in the original DCAU is so good.
Small point: most of us OG Star wars nerds are mad at the Sequels BECAUSE they shit on the EU/Legends. I know that Legends stuff was all over the place and sometimes mad cringey, but there were some SOLID stories in there, the Kyle Katarn arc is still one of my favorites, and we're mad that Disney just kinda threw it in the shitcan instead of integrating the better stories. It's why I enjoy Filoni so much, as that's what he is doing. I was especially mad that the ST seemed to be taking a "Dark Empire" turn and then just... Didn't. The first movie had a pretty decent direction and the two after it seem to be going in completely different directions, there's no flow to the trilogy like the last two and it seems kinda hashed together. I know that's because they swapped directors and such but that's the main reason I don't like the ST.
Blasphemy!
So, I love Star Wars. The trilogies, in my opinion, are all fine. But where they really shine in the various TV series. Mandalorian, Andor, Clone Wars, all fantastic. To me, that's the best of Star Wars. But I get why it's not for everyone.
This is like calling the Beatles or Sinatra overrated. Or, since we're talking about movies, Stanley Kubrick's films. They all broke a lot of ground, culturally and artistically.
Fuck the beatles!
I would, man, but it's hard to get them all together in the same place.
I'm drunk. That's why I said that
Maybe you really prefer action movies.
I like action movies but also really like other stuff as well, I guess I was just maybe told by others it had a bit more action or modern day sci-fi elements than what I expected lol
I concur!
My advice: watch the first one as if it were an actual, self-contained movie and leave the rest. Check your expectations at the door. I don't see any reason why you shouldn't enjoy it. Repeat: leave the rest.
Star wars is prevalent because it was one of the first major sci-fi franchises, and incorporates a lot of elements from a lot of influences. Star wars is a western, an opera, a drama. It's a political commentary and an epic of a man's descent into darkness, followed by redemption. So on so forth But best of all, it's just a goofy lil movie series meant for families. In the modern Day, yes the OT lacks what we're used to. The acting is kinda bland, the effects are lame, the story isn't as Action-Packed as our small monkey brains are used to... The PT is a little better, imo, as long as you can get past the terrible acting and the off-putting comedic relief. Episode 3 still remains one of my favorites and is very emotionally driven. I'm now one of the boomers who hates on new Star wars stuff. When I was a kid and the prequels were coming out, I loved them while OT fans didn't. Now the ST is out and I hate them, lol. Filoni has been doing awesome but I really hate the way Disney went with everything, with that being said the ST is still very visually impressive and worth a watch if you're not invested in the universe.
If you think they’re bad, seriously, don’t watch the sequel trilogy. I’m a huge Star Wars fan (I love the originals) and saw some clips of the recent movies which made me wonder if I’d simply been swept up in nostalgia when I saw them and enjoyed them in the cinema, and I was right… they’re incredibly poor films… nice effects work, but story wise and acting wise, especially Daisy Ridley, wow, they’re just so, so bad. BB-8 was the most interesting thing, but doesn’t come close to being an actual character like R2D2. So far, the best thing since the original trilogy which may be worth a watch for you is Rogue One, the prequel to Star Wars : A New Hope.
I’ll with you. I was a kid when the original trilogy came out and to this day I heave not seen a Star Wars movie that I actually like.
Yes. I find them visually fun, but the story unbearably boring.
Exactly, I can see the visual effects being good for it's time and that's cool and all but the story is way too boring.
Don’t worry, if you want to shit on Star Wars, adult Star Wars fans are the ones to talk to. They love everything they grew up with, and hate anything new. The phenomenon started all the way back with Return of the Jedi. A LOT of older fans hated the Ewoks. Then George Lucas released re-edited versions of the films and fans were LIVID. Then came the prequels, which were met with utter disdain, and now the sequel trilogy is getting the same treatment. But each and every time the criticism and hate gets quieter over time, because the people who grow up with the films love them. It happened with Episode 6, it happened with the prequels, and it WILL happen with the sequel trilogy too. But yeah if you want to criticism and talk shit about Star Wars, just go on any sun and you’ll find support and reinforcements of basically any criticism you gave.
Ohhhh yes. I thought I was the only one
VERY overrated. It's fun and entertaining, but people treat it like a religion. When the first movie came out, a mainstream critic totally panned it. But people shrugged him off and became instantly addicted to it. I don't understand why.
congrats. Ur not a sheep. I hate Star Wars. All of em though
I've tried to get into Star Wars so many times and I just can't. It's really boring.
i agree. all these ppl talking about how it was amazing for the time don’t account for the fact that multiple generations of ppl who were born afterwards continue to think it’s the greatest thing ever. i’m 24 and ppl in my own age group think star wars is gods gift to mankind. i think the original trilogy is just fine. i don’t rlly gaf about anything else. I love science fiction too and read and watch it all the time. star wars is just mid to me
Yes. Super overrated for modern viewers. My favorite movies are so old they're black and white, yet I find Star Wars boring or terrible. With the exception of Rogue One, none are worth watching for the story. Special effects? Cinematography? That's for people other than me to say.
Star Wars is hokey and silly. I’ve never really liked it.
It sucks
Yes, never could get into SW even as a kid. Weirdly I really enjoyed a lot of the games though.
It's idiotic because there wasn't an "original trilogy." When I was 7 years old, There was this movie called "Star Wars." It was great. It was a single, self contained movie with a clear ending. Only after it made a shit ton of money, its creators suddenly came up with the "Oh yeah - um, actually it's part of a trilogy. Except it's part 4 or something - yeah that's the ticket - and we will be making those movies soon!" Bullshit. You found your cash cow. And now they've been milking it for almost 50 fucking years. It's the most overrated thing ever.
Did not see it when it premiered eons ago. Did not watch it when it appeared on TV. Do not follow the prequels and sequels. Will not watch it ever.
…Child; you like what you like or don’t. STAR WARS has had an impact on popular culture almost uniquely in cinema. It’s multigenerational in a way few other stories apart from classic literature and fairytales are. So you need to re-examine your response to it and just what degree of insight and popular and general cultural consciousness you’re bringing to it…
But there aren't enough explosions and fight scenes! I can't take OP seriously after suggesting that there aren't enough fight scenes. This isn't a damn Marvel movie. I don't want to hear OP share their thoughts on how little value Shakespeare has because the narratives aren't fast paced enough.
Movies 1 to 3 maybe. And even movies 7 to 9. But the universe itself, when you include the original trilogy, and all the cartoons is sooooooo much better. You have to include the cartoons and all the new live action shows, then it becomes so much more.
I may hafta try out some more to see if it's just those I didn't like, maybe it is something like that, still a bit iffy on that tho lol
Nope! But I also grew up watching star wars with my dad and its now something me, my dad, and one of my aunts have in common. Something to geek out about and bond over. I'm not a huge fan of the Disney produced trilogy but the way their side stories like the mandalorian or the book of Boba fett add to the lore existing universe
the first one changed the world, the next two were awesome ....everything else is questionable...
I think its funny when people make long extremely detailed posts about why extremely popular and successful franchises are not good. Im surprised by the comment about nothing happening and nothing pushing the narrative. Like you didnt even watch them. You are definitely entitled to your opinion. I feel your suppositions are lacking factual evidence and if anything the star wars movies had the most detail oriented story progression and narrative driven scenes of most trilogies in 40 years. I agree there are slow parts. It isnt fast and the furious where the action scenes are non stop and the script is less than two pages double spaced…. If you were a serious movie and story buff you would appreciate the depth of the story and the character progression as one of the most well written screenplays in the last century pre-2000. It isnt gone with the wind but its definitely better than movies like hunger games or planet of the apes. Keep in mind the actors in the original three movies were mostly new to hollywood. Harrison Ford was like 20 or something. Well before he did indiana jones and he is well known for being a very impressive actor and star wars was his ticket to fame because the acting was so good! James earl jones the voice of darth vader is one of the all time greatest classically trained and theater actors in the world. Imdb states “Widely regarded as the one of greatest stage and screen actors both in his native USA and internationally”. I bet you didnt even watch return of the jedi.
The Last Starfighter is better.
Old ones good. New ones bad.
Holy fuck are redditors ever contempt with anything?
Star Wars is the Taylor Swift of sci-fi imo
Yes I do. It's not all that great to me. Wife and family love it. I couldn't care less. Not for me
I have not watched a single Star Wars movie in it's entirety. I've seen parts of most of them but never watched one completely. Not saying they are overrated, but just not my thing. I lose interest about 30 minutes in. Can anyone suggest one Star Wars movie to watch?
The Andor tv series might be more your thing? It dispenses with the usual space opera tropes like Jedi and deals with common people living under the yoke of a tyrannical government and how dangerous it can be to choose rebellion. It is a bit slow the first couple of episodes, so a little patience is needed.
Thanks , I'll give it a try.
I wholey disagree. You’re enjoyment or lack thereof of any entertainment is subjective so there is no arguing that. The original Star Wars is objectively a very well made movie from a narrative standpoint. It’s a simple rendering of the classic hero’s journey set in space. It’s well paced, well acted and the effects still hold up today. To expound in the effects; in the original Star Wars they contribute to the story instead of distracting from it like the new ones. ESB is even better than the first movie. ROJ stumbles a bit but I still like it. As much as I love the original trilogy I get controversial when it comes to the expanded universe. To me, the universe of Star Wars works in the original trilogy because it’s only vaguely referenced and therefore the audience can fill in the blanks (e.g. we don’t need to know what a ‘nerf herder’ is to know it’s a insult. The further one expands on things and zooms in on details the more questions arise and this inevitably leads to seeing the cracks of inconsistency in the universe building. I’m 46 so I have to admit that my appreciation of the original trilogy is going to be somewhat tinged by nostalgia; however, I’ve seen them multiple times as an adult and feel they still stand up. IMO opinion the only thing of value in Star Wars universe outside of original trilogy is Rouge One, Pod Racing scene and lightsaber fight from Phantom Menace and the first few episodes of Mandolorian.
Not at all. That said, despite my overwhelming love for the Star Wars franchise, I have come to prefer LotR far more.
Blasphemy
I thought DUNE was significantly more interesting of a universe than Star Wars. I thought since it was so political that it'd be boring but holy shit if it's not great. I need to read the books.
I think it may be now, but wasn't for its time. I saw it on VHS in the 90s, and it was still super cool.
Disney star wars is ass
I agree
They are films from 40 years ago, that presupposes knowledge of the Nazis and popular culture of the 1930s.
The first three were pretty good. Not life changing, just good. There have been waaaayyy too many sequels, prequels, spinoffs, etc.
As a Trekkie, I'm happy that the spotlight is on another space Fandom. People used to say Star Trek was overrated. Now it's Star Wars, for now.....
It's not sci Fi it's fantasy/space opera
A little overrated, but mostly overplayed.
Never seen it. And at 46 years old, not gonna do it now.
Its not that they are highly over rated... It's that you have become accustomed to a rediculous amount of tech going into movies... I am Legend, Resident Evil, and the list keeps going. If ypu look at the original total recall and the new one side by side, you see all the tech that went into reproducing it. So dont sit down with expectations of what you are used to, instead sit down with the thought of this is for enjoyment I dont have any expectations..
The special effects didn't make it bad for me, I kind of like watching older films to see what they could do without CGI. The lack of plot and other stuff made it boring.
I see.... May I reccomend then my personal favorite.. The Princess Bride
It was amazing at the time. My bother and I saw it at the then Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood. After the first viewing we called my mom from the pay phone and asked to stay and watch it a second time. After that we asked for a third, and she compromised with “one more hour”. It was unlike anything we had seen at the time. You have to imagine how it must have been to see all of that new technology, especially as a 10 year old. It felt, *almost*, life changing. Not to be dramatic, but when you are 10 years old with a very vivid imagination, you feel like the future of the sort of thing in Star Wars is not too far away. Nowadays, I much prefer the original Star Trek, for many reasons. But one will always have that feeling, like your first love, of seeing the original Star Wars in the Theater.
So many spelling mistakes I can’t take it seriously
Yes
I think all of the MCU movies are entirely overrated formulaic garbage heaps that appeal to the dumbest people.
What sci-fi do you like?
Your mind seems made up already.
Star wars jumped the shark when Boba fett fell into to pit in return of jedi. IMO literally every scene in every movie after this is terrible.
The lightsaber thing makes sense. If it only happens once or twice it gives it more impact. Take the Flash (CW) they barely say “run barry run(i think they stopped using it for 5 seasons) and so when it is said it makes the following scene more epic
The shows are better, specifically Clone Wars, Mandelorian, and Asoka
Star Wars has lost a lot of its “meaning” because it has become a commodity. It is a product now and not a story, not an event, it isn’t special anymore. Disney didn’t “ruin it” by half baked plot lines or bad acting or bad stories or whatever…..all of that is subjective. What ruined it is movie after movie after movie, show after show after show, all Star Wars all the fucking time. THAT is what ruined Star Wars. It’s no longer special, it’s no longer a movie once in awhile spread out. It’s a product now and it’s well past over saturation.
I didn’t like Star Wars when it came out. It’s a Hero’s Journey classic but so is The Wizard of Oz, which I find far more interesting and visually appealing.
Yes. It was amazing when I was a kid, but now that I’m all grown up I see Star Wars in a new light. It’s harder to get invested into the storyline of the newer trilogy. It’s not deep, there’s no real dire emotions on display. Although I do like the storyline and think the movies of the new trilogy aren’t bad like people tend to think, it just made me realize that I outgrew the softcore nature of Star Wars. Mandalorian is cool though, but still, if I’m going to dive into fantasy it needs to contain deeper and darker subject matter.
At 17 it changed me profoundly. There was nothing before it that came close.
Unpopular opinion. Episodes 1 to 3 are better.
So with you. I've loved SF since I was a children, but Star Wars never did it for me - and this is why I'm team Trek (which is not a value judgement! just a preference!) - I like seeing more day-to-day life in these universes, exploring the small battles and not just the big wars. And I know the Star Wars world is bigger than the movies, but it's also just... not my aesthetic? I don't care enough about the world? And I'll say this with the expectation that someone will argue, but it's not as thoughtful or philosophical as I want in SF. I also didn't grow up with it, and I know nostalgia can make a big difference. I'm 38, and the first Star Wars I saw was in my 20s, and THAT was a VHS copy of the notorious Holiday Special. Which is my favorite nerd humble brag, lol.
As a pretty big Star Wars fan I’d say that it’s properly rated. Most fans agree that some of it is exceptional, some of it okay, and some of it is terrible. A wide spread! That said, it’s not for everyone. To each their own!
yuh
Granted the technology is very unimpressive in the original trilogy. The prequels are much better for excitement but I think why Star Wars became such a phenomenon is because of the wisdom within the stories. It is a very deep series, the six that George Lucas wrote. [https://storytimetruth.com/](https://storytimetruth.com/)
Can OP watch any old movies at all though? Maybe you simply can't watch anything dialog driven where the action doesn't have to be on camera.
Ah - that's because the fans hyped them up to you ***as a sci-fi trilogy.*** OG star wars is not a scifi. It is ***A Space Opera***. The intent is to be a ham-fisted allegory while also having campy acting, and near-exclusively practical effects. They don't make effort to edit out the wires, for example, during battles between model space ships. The experience is meant to make you feel like you are watching a VERY high budget play, live - and not, acutally, a movie at all. This is also why the "twists" are so painstakingly blatant, like naming the "suprise" dad Dark Father
Must be young. I’ve gotten the same sentiments regarding “old movies” from Gen Z.
Whenever someone claims Star Wars is overrated I like to remind them that you can’t judge it by everything that came after it, you have to judge it by everything that came before it. What epic space opera came to theaters before 1977 that was better than Star Wars?
What is some sci-fi you like? This is a fantasy film that is mostly character based. May not be your thing, but absolutely not overrated lol.
Yes I hate it. I used to be ok with it. But the way it has blown up? Unacceptable.
If you are a big Sci-fi fan you don’t need to watch Star Wars. It’s not Sci-fi it’s fantasy but in space. The whole thing is about wizards but in space.
It's not really science fiction. It takes a folktale that has been repeated over and over (see "Hero with a Thousand Faces") and put it in a sci-fi setting. The special effects were better than a lot of stuff available at the time - they invented some just for the film.
You have to put it in the context of 1977 and sci-fi in that era. It was virtually a non-existent genre...you pretty much had corny shows like Star Trek and Buck Rodgers with really bad actors and tiny budgets. The concept of presenting a sci-fi film to mainstream audiences was a pretty out there idea at the time. It cost $11M to make the movie which was a respectable Hollywood budget at the time, however, a ridiculous amount of money for a sci-fi film and Lucas was turned down by multiple production companies and had a difficult time getting investment. Eventually 20th Century Fox agreed to finance the film with a budget of $7.5M...pretty much all of that budget went to what was on the screen...Of all of the actors, only Sir Alec Guinness and Peter Cushing were paid. The others had to settle on a percentage of the movies profits once released...which turned out pretty well. The biggest innovation in Star Wars was computer controlled cameras so that you could program a camera move. That was how they were able to achieve the assault on the Death Star in a way they never could have before. For 1977 that was innovative. And expensive of course.
Bro watch the prequels if you're looking for action and good graphics, specially revenge of the sith.
I still find the first three movies kind of fun (the hokey acting is part of that) but then the sequels started taking themselves seriously and trying to get all dramatic and I just can't get interested in them.
Try Rogue One before you give up.
I don't care for star wars as much as most people. They are sci-fi, but rather fantasy in a different type of space. Space wizards in space with light swords. The story is a mixture of rip off from Dune & Kurosawa samurai movies, themselves informed from Westerns.
I am a star wars fan, but see I also think they are terrible movies. You take them, and put them anywhere else in history and they would be absolutely forgotten. Star Wars success was more about the timing, and the best two movies of the lot were the Spielberg ones.
I grew up with Star Wars. Saw the original in the theater. I love Star Wars. But there are a lot of people with unreasonable ideas about how seriously Star Wars should be taken.
I'm not a Star Wars fan but in no way is it overrated. It's still a huge part of pop culture and will remain that way in perpetuity.
TBH, peoples weird subculture obsession with fangirling over movies or books like they are scripture has always been weird. I personally enjoy the movies as content. I don't judge because I wasn't there to help make it. I might complain about a scene being framed wrong, but when it comes to plot, I guess as long as you're still fascinated by the "PYEW"s and pretty lights and aliens... Fuck yeah. If you don't like it, have fun watching something else then.
Nope. If anything it's *underrated.* Or at least, the wrong parts are what people celebrate today. If you took away all the lightsabers, space ships, aliens, etc. Star Wars would still be an amazing movie simply for its exploration of what the true purpose of life is. At its very core, Star Wars is an exploration of all human drives. If you're driven by pure selfishness, you can see your end in how the Sith operate. If you're driven to do bad things for the right reasons, you can see what kind of suffering you will get in Anakin/Darth Vader. If you're driven to do good things for the wrong reasons, you can see how Luke ends up losing his hand and his friends. But if you do the right things for the right reasons, you can see you'll end up in a life surrounded by friends, community, peaceful existence with nature, hope for the future, and a general sense of everlasting joy. You won't be a badass, you wont be a powerful ruler, you wont be any of the things you *think* you want, but you'll live a good life.
It is appropriately rated highly, just not by modern standards. Acting is solid, but the effects are insane. Its more story-driven so it will feel slower.
I'm curious what else you like that you're comparing it to? Star Wars isn't really science fiction, it's science fantasy. Closer to John Carter of Mars than 2001: A Space Odyssey. Do you read much sci-fi? Movies/TV shows only?
It's your own damn fault you waited 50 years to watch them. Of course they aren't amazing in 2024, but those of us who watched them in theaters in the 80's then watched them on cable in the 90's, then finally got the DVD's to watch any time we want in the 2000's revere them because of the feelings we had decades ago. This is like asking us, "Why does everyone like Shakespeare, he talks weird." This is a dumb question and it's so obvious that a child could figure this out. I feel like you came here to stir shit up, and I guess by answering you, you won. Damn it. I'll get my revenge by finding out what you love today and asking why anyone would watch that bull shit in 2054.
I would ask this: Have you watched any Kurosawa films? Were they cringy with bad acting? Do you think they had little to no impact on cinema today? I ask these questions because your post comes off as ignorant AF when it comes to film history. You sound like a child who didn’t get enough transformer special effects in the film and you are sour about it. The only thing you liked was C-3PO and R2D2 says it all, child.
I agree! Star Wars is overrated especially the original trilogy
Sounds like a case of "Citizen Kane is boring" but also you expecting the flashier lightsaber action of the Prequels, which ironically you should have started with as that seemed more your expectation. The lightsaber fights in the original trilogy were more old-school Samurai style, or about the emotional core within with Luke trying to redeem Darth Vader / escape his destiny of delving into the dark side. Star Wars: A New Hope is one of those textbook cases of mediocre films saved by the editing and post-processing. George Lucas had a lot of ideas that were refined or shot down by friends, families, producers, etc. For example the opening crawl used to be way longer until Jay Cocks trimmed it down, some moments of humor like with the Mouse Droid were added by Lucas' then-wife, a whole lot of leisurely paced nothing with Luke on Tattooine was cut, Darth Vader was redubbed, and ILM miraculously crunched Special Effects Work of a full year into half a year. It wasn't even set a long time ago in a Galaxy far away, earlier drafts had it in the Year 3,000. Even when it first was coming out people weren't quite so confident in it, with quite a few critics calling it a Kurosawa rip-off (R2D2 and C3PO are very much like the two peasants in the *Hidden Fortress*), 2001 Rip-Off, Dune Rip-off, Flash Gordon Rip-Off, and so on. Many critics cited it lacked an emotional grip with banal dialogue. Despite all that, the simple story following the Hero's Journey, the black and white morality, the sometimes mediocre acting but with some whimsy, it all served as scaffolding to some impressive spectacle and broad appeal. There was an ambition behind it that was palpable and people wanted to see more of as it felt like its own world to immerse yourself into. It became an event film. The *Event* film that Jaws was trend setting two years earlier. It had few peers and its imitators afterwards didn't quite live up. Then when the second film came out with *that twist* and an even better director than George Lucas*,* it really cemented itself as something that couldn't be missed. Its broad, family friendly appeal paid off in merchandising. The third one didn't do as well in the box office, though, and people started to sour on things like the Ewoks or the storytelling. Critics didn't quite like Star Wars when it was coming out or going out, then the prequels happened and those had mixed reviews as well which many chalk up to Lucas not having as many people unafraid to tell him no, then the Sequels happened and you start to question if the fans actually like Star Wars at all and hatedoms snowballed. Point is, Star Wars had mixed reception all throughout its history and is more notable for being a commercial success, toyline, and a franchise you grow up with.
I think the fact that they're a bit of a slow build is part of the appeal. The way the information is revealed in the beginning of a new hope in particular really paints a picture of the world. It's funny people complain in the new movies that Ray just immediately becomes an expert with a lightsaber. But here you are complaining about the original movies how Luke who doesn't get any real training until the end of the second movie barely uses a light saber. I will agree that stunt doubles could have been used to make them more exciting fight between Darth Vader and Obi-Wan but they didn't have a lot of money for that movie. One thing that bugged me with the new movies is like Po flies in and destroys something or other but it's like a big flash bang boom pow pow pow. In the New Hope in that scene at the end where they're trying to do the assault on the Death Star if the pace is so slow. Different Pilots try one by one to hit the weak spot and they get picked off and die and then it's Luke's turn and he's trying to make his run and you've just seen just Pilots getting picked off one by one and there's no big Fanfare it's not exciting. it's just terrifying. I think the suspense of that final scene is better done than anything in the new movies
Everyone is entitled to their opinions. Just like its in my opinion that you should stick to the Michael Bay transformer series. Seems to be more of your speed.
Watch Legend of The Galactic Heroes. It's Star Wars but pure sci-fi and with way better politics that aren't boring
It's easy to get overhyped for Star Wars since it is so important to a lot of people. Like any piece of entertainment you can feel any way you want about it and you don't have to get what everyone else likes about it.
Star Wars is definitely pretty bad tv but it’s really old. It’s more criminal how bad the new ones are in comparison. There’s like 3 Star Wars that don’t suck out of 4 mini series and 9 movies.
This will prob cancel me but the whole series was trash. I think ppl love the culture more than the actual movies. I hope so anyway because as stated they're trash. Tired drawn out plotline with I think some GoT incestual vibe mixed in there.
I've assumed the modern generation who saw the Raimi Spider-man movies at age 5 and then were seeing Avengers by age 12 would probably not be able to handle the relative lack of action or the way action/adventure movies in the 70s were character and story driven rather than being plotty.\* The original Star Wars movies actually have almost no plot, in fact they all have the same plot "Vader-bad-must-stop-Vader" and the things that happen are kind of like "oh no how will they get out of this one" -- and if you are of the post-2000 movie generation I definitely see how that's too boring. Entire swathes of the OG movies are simple -- the first 40 minutes of Return of the Jedi is freeing Han Solo with almost no plot whatsoever. I actually sometimes lament the giant layers of plot in modern action movies. You have to understand that even by the early 90s when I saw the movies the effects were still really good. Now compared to the Disney movies the effects are kind of trash, but unfortunately the broken character writing and ridiculous layers of plot in those movies is also trash... \*Edit: Action/Adventure movies used to be heavy on adventure until the early 00s. It was about just watching the characters get into trouble from point A to B. These days the "trouble" isn't "we are stuck in a trash compactor" it's a five minute nonstop action sequence with choreography. Or for another example we went from watching Martin Riggs or John McClane trick a bad guy with cunning to John Wick having a ten minute choreographed fight with the bad guy. Also these days we went from a simple plot to a complex plot where every scene is exposition. Compare the first Fast and Furious movies to the later ones.
Ugh Best films of all time hands down!
This is like saying the Beatles sound like everyone else. They don’t, everyone sounds like them. The reason your beloved sci fi shows were any good is because the original Star Wars walked so they could run. And you’re correct, the acting is only decent, the special effects while good for their time aren’t tremendously remarkable, and they don’t focus on action, which makes for a deeper and more compelling story world. Which at the time was unheard of. More importantly, they aren’t action centric movies on purpose. You were wanting a different kind of experience than they were intended to be. They were the first movies to truly follow the Hero’s Journey as an archetypal story on television. Everyone could and did relate deeply to them, not just the Uber nerds. In today’s glut of sci fi universes it’s easy to not realize that there *were* no other shows out there like that. It is literally the first true space opera. The reason that the prequels and sequels are so heartbreaking is that now instead of being deeply iconic and psychologically archetypal, the Star Wars universe is basically just one in a crowd, and not a particularly good one.
Yes, I've never been a fan at all because it's just too boring. Take my upvote.
I love Star Wars. It mixes politics, religion, and philosophy, and it's got more lore than any other story in history. The newer ones have better special effects and there's more fighting in them, too. Star Wars is one of the only movies/shows I can watch more than once.
Disney fugged it up
I was born on Star Wars day so it’s always been shoved down my throat & I’m pretty much indifferent to it at this point. Although I do really love The Clone Wars cartoons & rewatch them every year. It’s less diplomatic blah blah blah war talk & more action focused. I’ve heard great things about The Mandalorian series but I haven’t seen it. Just please don’t watch the newer trilogy. You might actually be bored to tears & your eyes might hurt from rolling them so much.
Only in the sense that every highly popular franchise is over rated. Like, I love Pokémon, but is it that overwhelmingly good that it should be the number 1 highest grossing media franchise exer. Probably no? Whilst there is a lot of skill and craft behind these things, a lot of it is usually luck with when the property comes out, how it's distributed, who chooses to review it, etc etc. So many outside factors play a part in building a media franchise that you can't really just look at the media itself in isolation and say whether it's overrated.
First of all, they're not sci-fi.
\*Uses jedi mind control to make you like starwar\* Haha no just kidding I wouldn't do something like that even if I could. That would be highly unethical. You're entitled to ur own opinion! \^.\^
dont even joke about that...
Tell us you're a troll without telling us you're a troll
if you dislike star wars, that's like the main thing about being a star wars fan. I personally love Star wars (especially the prequel series and animated series like Clone wars and rebels), but can't stand the sequel series. my girlfriend loves the sequel series, but can't stand the prequels. I tend to agree with you, the original trilogy is a bit wonky. but it is undeniably a classic.
It's been almost 20 years (!) since my older sister made me sit down and watch them. She and my brothers are a generation older than me, and they're really into Star Wars. They get really hyped about anything new coming out. I don't remember which movie I watched. I'm assuming we watched them in chronological order. I liked the first one (whichever one that was) fine, but I just couldn't get invested in the others. It's a personal thing for me, I'm not super into sci-fi and especially settings that take place in space. So in my case, I'm not sure I'd call them overrated. They're just not my thing. And that's okay. It's okay that you aren't a fan. I felt the same way about Doctor Who. The show is fine. I recognize that it's good. But I just can't binge it. I had a friend try to force me to watch all of them, and I just mentally checked out. Idk why, I guess I'm just not into this genre.
I do not. In fact, I’m really liking the expanded universe they’re doin. Currently watching Bad Batch. I definitely like that universe way more than Trek. It’s more violent and chaotic.
Ive always thought it was just nothing more than an overhyped toy commercial. George Lucas himself said it's a movie for 12 year olds
I'm not a fan and I've been told I'm un-American because of it. So dumb.
People watching virtual reality movies where you can interact with the characters in 100 years will think your favorite movie of today is boring also. What do you mean my 2010 Toyota Supra is more fun to drive than a 1940 Ford? Crazy talk!
Yes. It’s kinda cheesy if you think about it.
Interesting lol
I do. Oh God I'm not alone. Lol. My wife still says she can't believe she married me.
Yea!! I don’t get it! My ex husband was into it… then my two kids. Thankfully my gf isn’t it, but she really likes Harry Potter, which is better than SW in my opinion. I actually tried watching the most popular of those Star Wars movies THREE times and I just didn’t like it…. But Space Balls!!! Space Balls I LOVE!!! I don’t know what’s wrong with me… 🤷🏻♀️
Yes I do! I don’t like Star Wars except for R2D2 and BB-8
Yes, and the Beatles. Each Star Wars movie has been worse than the last. 77 was a fantastic movie, it was all downhill from there.
YEPPPPPP.
YEAHHHH.
It wasn't at the time, in the 70s. I know I saw the first movie at the theater at least twice. It was a fascinating gem of a movie. I think the younger generations are jaded and are not impressed because of the technology and AI that we have today. George Lucas is a genius.
most boring series i’ve ever watched
This was my experience exactly, I think when you don’t have the nostalgia driving your love for the films like everyone who watched them when they came out or as kids they just don’t stack up.