1. Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace & Episode II: Attack Of The Clones
There's no denying that the Star Ward prequel trilogy had so much reliance on CGI that several sequences resemble cartoons. It's a terrible shame because the use of special effects and models looked great in the original trilogy and stand up just as well today. I would take a Star Destroyer over a Noobian spacecraft any day. That being said, I'm still a fan of all three prequel and there's a lot of fun still to be had. I haven't included the third film because it has a lot of pay off (Order 66, Anakin versus Obi Wan), though I could live without Darth Vader crying Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! For me, it's
Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones that is the worst of the bunch. Where as
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back worked with its bleak ending and failure by the heroes to win the fight, the characters of the second film fail to stand up. Hayden Christensen's Anakin Skywalker is whiny in this film (he does better in the third when he has evil to work with) but unlike Luke who admittedly had some of the same failings, its hard to get behind this hero. The love scenes are forced and cheesy - it's a shame as Natalie Portman is a good actress and does well with what she has to play with as Padme - its a million miles away from Princess Leia and her 'scoundrel' Han Solo. In terms of effects, well they are brilliant - particularly the chase sequence in Coruscant at the beginning of the film. But as fun as it might be...the special effects used to bring a lightsaber-welding Yoda to life...well it borders between cool and silly. And the clone troopers versus droids battle is equally spectacular and lifeless because we don't get that personal sense of peril we had in the battles in the original trilogy. It is two armies full of soldiers that we have no connection to. Going back to the first film, half the film feels like a showcase of the latest special effects. The speeder chase is thrilling to be sure, but it also feels like an advert for a computer game. Worse still is the battle between the gungans and the battle droids. If there was ever a sequence in the Star Wars franchise that felt like a cartoon, it was this one. Again, an example of soldiers fighting that we couldn't care less about. If fact, wasn't everyone waiting for Jar Jar to be mangled or have his head blown off? At least we had the epic three-way lightsaber battle between Obi Wan, Qui-Gon Jin and Darth Maul to make up for it. There's a reason I didn't include them in my terrible films article (and probably why no one suggested these film in the comments). They are still Star Wars. Space ships and lightsaber duels make for a thrilling viewing and there are still plenty of stand out moments. But they also don't handle a candle to the original trilogy. Three examples of special effects getting in the way of great scripts and performances. Let's hope the next trilogy (I still find it hard to believe it's happening) gets the balance right! Do you agree? Are there other films where special effects got in the way of making great films? And at the end of the day, does it matter? If there's one thing you could say about the films on this list, its that they're fun popcorn munching films on a Saturday night, when you want to switch off and escape the real world. Sometimes that is all you need...