Why don't I like Star Wars? (no spoilers)

[drunkenshoe]

<Adult mode on>
It's perfectly suitable to define Star Wars as a fantasy 'soap opera' with space action, considering it has nothing to do with science fiction or real 3d characters. It's a space opera to be exact. And a toy machine.

I think you either like it or not, it doesn't grow on you. If I didn't love it as little kid, highly likely, I would feel nothing or even get annoyed by the hype.

In my opnion, the basic reason is design of the original script. There has never been enough material to stretch it this far, even the first ones barely covered it. And then it was something new -I was a toddler then though- it was brilliant, it introduced a genre, but as OP said, the characters and relationships has always been pretty much like a soap opera ones. Other than that the action, spaceships, sabre light, space actions, galactic empire concept...geek heaven of the times and never died. But the story has no space to built new solid characters in it and the new generation of the movie tradition doesn't accept this any more. The bar has been raised a long time ago. The second batch was so dissapointing, while this helped a lot to the current one, it definitely killed a lot too.
<Adult mode off>

Having said all that...

[Sargon The Grape]

I detect a pattern here ... you are better able to tolerate American acting and less able to tolerate British acting? ;-)

Of course. Why should we, as Americans, be expected to accommodate some gosh darn foreigners in this great country? /s

[Draconic Aiur]

You are dead to me.

Indeed.

[TomFoolery]

I detect a pattern here ... you are better able to tolerate American acting and less able to tolerate British acting? ;-)

Harry Potter and Narnia are British. :) Game of Thrones has an American author but most of the actors are British.

I think the American/British divide is pretty balanced. I'm trying to think of every scifi/fantasy series I like and the list is pretty extensive when you open it up to books.

[josephpalazzo]

Sorry, but I will never buy a movie ticket to subsidize the leading actor who is making $15 million/movie ( and neither a ticket to a sport events - baseball, football, basketball, hockey, whatever - with the leading superstar jock making $30 million a year). I'd rather spent my money in other ways...

[FaithIsFilth]

You are not alone OP. I've never seen Star Wars or Lord of the Rings. Any of them. I used to watch Star Trek on tv, but that's because we were poor as fuck and that's the only tv channel I had. I didn't mind it though. Star Trek is ok. I don't really care much for movies. I only go to the theatre if there is a movie with Chloe Moretz playing.

I don't really care for any sci-fi or superhero crap. Don't know what Game of Thrones is. Don't watch the Batman movies. Salem is an awesome show though. Witches are cool.

[trdsf]

Never seen LotR -- no interest.  Most boring book I ever read outside of assigned reading in high school.  Oh, beautifully written, but when I say Tolkien is the Dickens of fantasy fiction, I can't say I mean it necessarily as a compliment.

As for Star Wars -- my interest ended the first frame of film that showed an Ewok.  I pinpoint that as the moment it became explicitly a franchise to protect rather than a story to tell.  The first two movies were great -- and I still like A New Hope better than Empire Strikes Back.  It was a more honest movie: Lucas had no idea if he was making a movie that was going to be a hit or not, he was just trying to make a movie as best he could.  After that, it was more a phenomenon than it was a story.

And for the record, my favorite Batman movie was the one with Adam West.  :)

[Hydra009]

And for the record, my favorite Batman movie was the one with Adam West.  :)

What about the cinematic masterpiece that was Batman Forever?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ebPoGE-9JM

[trdsf]

What about the cinematic masterpiece that was Batman Forever?

Funny you should mention.  I co-wrote a fan MSTing of a pre-production script.  :)

[pato15]

I think one's opinion of Star Wars depends a lot upon which movie you see first, and when you first see it. If you first see Episode IV in your formative years, you'll be hooked. It definitely hits all the Joseph Campbell checkboxes.
If you see Episode I first, well, god help you. It's basically CSPAN in space. Or is that Episode II? The first three all blur together in my mind...

[gentle_dissident]

In my opnion, the basic reason is design of the original script. There has never been enough material to stretch it this far, even the first ones barely covered it.

Rebellious tomes of the past seem lacking because we are always evolving the rebellion. We're evolving pretty fast, exponentially, at this point. Yesterday's inspiration is literally "so yesterday."

[gentle_dissident]

Sorry, but I will never buy a movie ticket to subsidize the leading actor who is making $15 million/movie

I don't mind. I know they suffer for their art. It's also worth the ticket price to me. I also know by observing behind the scenes and interviews, the cast and crew were very protective of this story. The money just seems to be the payment they deserve for doing an excellent job. But then, I've only taken my family once, so they haven't raided my pocket book other than what's been on my shelves and my family's future 3D experience. I know I've pumped loads into Star Wars since 1977. I always defend that commercialized consumerism with, "It's for the rebel alliance."

[JBCuzISaidSo]

::blank stare::

You think marketing made Star Wars what it is, then you're a freakin' hermit of at least my entire 41 ( and a half!) years of life.

Don't love it, or LotR, or the Matrix, or any other monumental Sci-Fi of the new millennium, that's fine. But please don't under-value the rest of the world for their admiration of anything related to the same, like Disney or Bad Robot to keep on thread. GODS goddammit.

[stromboli]

Hayden Christopher's stellar career speaks directly to the role he played in episodes 2 and 3. Also Jake Lloyd the little shit twerp loser actor that played young Anakin Skywalker. The arc of their career best resembles that of a high angle mortar round.

As to the descriptive, insert the words "petulant" and "innocuous" wherever you like.

[JBCuzISaidSo]

Hayden Christopher's stellar career speaks directly to the role he played in episodes 2 and 3. Also Jake Lloyd the little shit twerp loser actor that played young Anakin Skywalker. The arc of their career best resembles that of a high angle mortar round.

As to the descriptive, insert the words "petulant" and "innocuous" wherever you like.

1, 2, & 3 were total shadows of what they could have been, thanks entirely to Hayden Christensen and his younger self. But that discounts  Ewan McGregor, Liam Neeson, Natalie Portman, just to name the big guns. Yes, I think the franchise had to be seized from George Lucas at this point, and who better than Disney that proved themselves with Pirates of the Caribbean? Disney went one (or ten) up when they signed on JJ Abrams.

As a fan of the franchise, as die hard as I am of my own beloved Boston Bruins hell or high water, I must say; "they" (Disney) could not have picked better than Abrams. Bad Robot! House, Lost, Alias, Super 8, Mission Impossible, Fringe, et all, this was the way to go hands down. To no disappointment.

Not a Star Wars fan, fine! Good for you. I am, though, and I hardly care if it was marketing instead of free will that put that Boba Fett sticker on my windshield. But don't pretend like you might have liked it 'if only', the best had it and you got what you got. Oh well!