Worst Movie Sequel Ever

[Batman]

I used to pay much more attention to
this stuff, but I remember reading that Portman had been fine during most of the filming of TPM (during which she was mostly 16-17), grew quite a tremendous attitude during AOTC, and by the time of filming of ROTS, became insufferable enough that Lucas thought long and hard about recasting her or rewriting the script to cut her scenes down to an absolute minimum.
And the character of Padme went from a dynamic action leader in the first movie to a shriveling damsel in distress in the third, whose heroic farewell to the series was to "die of a broken heart."

Lucas of course bears plenty of blame for the turgid dialogue, but Portman brought the whole series down with her steadily deteriorating performance.
Since the release of ROTS, Portman has mostly sniffed and snipped about the horrible damage Star Wars did to her career.

I suppose maybe signing on to the series may have sounded like a great idea when she was 14-15 but turned out to be a lot less fun 10 years later.

She had a similar arc with the Thor/MCU series, didn't she?
I thought that was part of why she wasn't in the Avengers movies or Ragnarok.

 

[Scout]

Maybe acting is like sports; you know who the studs are early.

 

[3_Octave_Fart]

Starman-
Portman went from studying the affectations of Lauren Bacall for her role in The Phantom Menace (and you can see this hokey accent was shirtcanned for episodes II and III) to sleepwalking through the final installment.
This is someone who'd always taken herself dreadfully seriously and once had the total lack of self-awareness to say:
"I don't care if college ruins my career. I'd rather be smart than a movie star."
That statement after making a movie that grossed $900 million.
Worst actor/actress in the franchise.

 

[outofplace]

Maybe acting is like sports; you know who the studs are early.

Portman is certainly capable of great acting and she wasn't really bad in The Phantom Menace. I didn't think she was bad in Thor, either. Like Batman said, her performance got worse as time went on in both franchises. It really is odd that they are bringing her back for Thor: Love and Thunder. I guess being more interested in the new direction for the character might get her to give a damn again, but that seems like an unsafe bet.

 

[CD Boogie]

It's amazing how deep this conversation has gone on Star Wars and its sequels. It's a forking series for children, many of whom saw it when they were kids, LOVED it, then expected it to still ring their bells when they were older. The three prequels were garbage. I tried giving subsequent ones a chance, but all I kept thinking was, "Everything has a season, and the season for this shirt was when I was 10."

 

[sgreenwell]

It's amazing how deep this conversation has gone on Star Wars and its sequels. It's a forking series for children, many of whom saw it when they were kids, LOVED it, then expected it to still ring their bells when they were older. The three prequels were garbage. I tried giving subsequent ones a chance, but all I kept thinking was, "Everything has a season, and the season for this shirt was when I was 10."

how much do u lift tho bro

 

[CD Boogie]

how much do u lift tho bro

Really? Didn't think my take was reflective of a hardo, but I guess that's your reaction. Ce la vie.

EDIT: Note to self: You can trash on any movies, except the ones centering around superheroes and fake worlds. Then shirt gets REAL!

 

[3_Octave_Fart]

It's amazing how deep this conversation has gone on Star Wars and its sequels. It's a forking series for children.

I know right, I'm amazed by the level of care granted to a bunch of amateurs playing a basketball tournament every March.

 

[clintrichardson]

Extreme minority opinion, but I think the third Star Wars prequel is kind of great. Granted, you have to take the entire Padme/Anakin romance storyline and kick it back into the fairway for Lucas to make it seems like it's playing the way the script demands, but its depiction of how an enlightened society falls into a dark age resonates even more now than it did at the time of the original release.

 

[CD Boogie]

I know right, I'm amazed by the level of care granted to a bunch of amateurs playing a basketball tournament every March.

Can ya gamble on Star Wars? Fill out a Star Wars bracket? Nevermind, ya probably can...

 

[DanOregon]

There is a question to be asked about whether anything could recapture the feeling the original Star Wars had on us as kids. There wasn't another movie to compare it to, it was BIG!, it was funny, it was exciting. You grow up, 20 years later you've seen a ton more movies including dozens that ripped off the Star Wars premise and seems like it would be impossible to regain that feeling again. Whether Marvel, Star Wars or whatever, I tend to tune out during fight and action scenes because I know that a) the hero isn't going to die, b) there isn't going to be a new plot development while the fight is going on c) there will be another fight/action scene in 20 minutes.

 

[3_Octave_Fart]

Nostalgia is big business. Although Rian Johnson and Ron Howard proved it's not always a cash cow if crappily made.