Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker

[Spock 20,290]

5 hours ago, Gov Hooka said:

I have so many thoughts still that I need to flesh out. But above all else, it is absolutely unforgivable that Palpatine came back out of the ass cracks of the Sith to be the villain of this trilogy. They couldn’t think of anything??? Rey is a Palpatine??? But also was a nobody??? I’m just so confused. They ****ed up the whole Vader/Anakin redemption arc that made this precious series in the first place. Vader/Anakin died in vain. Snoke could have just continued to be the villain or something idk. They really ****ed up hard. You guys can **** on the prequels all you want but I hope people appreciate that overarching plot more now that we see there clearly isn’t one with this trilogy. 

That being said I teared up when I heard the voices of all the old Jedi. My nostalgia and love for Star Wars is rooted in the Prequels, with the Jedi Order at their prime and the many Jedi masters using the force in cool non-fan-fiction ways and fighting for the Republic. (I high key don’t feel anywhere near the same love for Luke, Leia, and Han lol). Hearing the voice of Samuel L Jackson (Master Windu) and Liam Neeson (QuiGon)was awesome even if Rey was fighting Palpatine (FACEPALM).

well in the sequel trilogy's defense, JJ HAD left an outline of where the story should go after TFA. It was Rian who chose to completely ignore it and do whatever he wanted to "subvert" expectations, and he openly admitted to this. I guess once JJ came back, he took the story to where he wanted it to end originally except that with TLJ in the middle it feels a bit off. I think it's definitely going to be a "Justice League Snyder Cut" type situation where information is going to come out over the years of how the story would have gone had he not changed everything.

Snoke was probably meant to be the villain across all episodes but then Rian killed him off, left the franchise and left them all with their dicks in their hands (and tbh this is Kathleen's fault because I can't believe she didn't foresee this, her being so controlling and stuff). I like the Emperor being back because the character is so cool, but I agree the execution and ties to the characters was a bit forced. I did like that they didn't make Rey a Skywalker because that would have been boring af even if, hot take, I did like her deciding to be one. It ties with the whole thing of taking charge of your destiny and not letting your past stop you from becoming who you are meant to be

My only issue with the Sith is if the force is meant to be about balance, how didn't an army of Jedi also rise to counterbalance the dark side.

Personally, Attack of the Clones is always going to be the worst SW movie. I think only a very small portion of the fanbase HATES the prequels, the rest kind of troll and make fun of them because it's impossible not to. Yes they did have a clear overarching plot, but they also had horrible acting, even worse writing and a couple of really unforgivable decisions. I can totally see why people have problems with the sequels but overall imo they aren't as bad as the prequels

[Fresco 1,688]

I've had an opportunity to rewatch many of the Star Wars movies this weekend. I must be one of the few that liked the prequels, and I liked them better after seeing the movie in the theatres today, because now I could see what they were doing with the story arc. Like little Anikin in episode 1 is an incredible arrogant brat. We don't need to like him, he becomes Darth Vader, we should not like him.  And the droid war is pretty incredible visually.  Jar Jar Binks is funny. It has been suggested that Jar Jar was actually strong in the force but untrained.  In episode 2, Anikin is an arrogant, rude bratty teenager. Again, we don't have to like him, he becomes Darth Vader. The cgi was beautiful, and the scenes with the clone army were visually huge. The plot is well-designed. They kept pushing Anikin and Padme to spend time together like Grandma's that want babies. The jedi world view would have been better off if Anikin had become a Daddy instead of a sith, instead of both, oh well. The 3rd episode where Anikin actually takes the name Darth Vader is so dark, and yet perfectly shows his transition to the dark side.

There are only 2 sith, so to bring balance to the force, the huge number of jedi would have to be destroyed.  There was so much use of the Force in episodes 2 and 3. When you then watch episodes 4, 5 , 6 (the earliest produced) they seem to barely even use the force by comparison. To go from so much Jedi strength back to almost none was difficult to watch. Sad actually.

Then, the same thing happens with Kylo Ren. Kylo Ren turns to the dark side and wipes out all the gains training Jedi that were made by Luke Skywalker.  The overarching plot, now, has decided that there should only be a couple sith and a couple jedi.

But I personally liked the prequel episodes where there were lots of jedi and they had a formal younglings training school and they were always using the Force for something.  

I don't know why the plot writer decided to limit the number of sith and jedi. It's like writing Harry Potter and then deciding that there can only be 2 slitherin and 2 gryffindor and no hogwarts and no Dumbledore.

It's also a little odd that the force works best when calm, so the characters battling using the Force don't show emotion. Rather strange compared to other action movies we get.

 

[gagzus 15,712]

Finally saw the film and I feel good but annoyed, it wasn’t the best end to a 9 film saga. Palpatine being the ultimate villain DID make sense to me BUT because of what Rian did with TLJ this film felt like it rushed to correct stuff in the first hour, they really should’ve made another film to correct everything because some of the dialogue was cringey (like Kylo back tracking on his “you’re a nobody” line, or the early reveal of palpatine or him saying he was Rey’s grandfather).

They should’ve made an Episode IX and X, IX could’ve focused fixing Rian’s meddling because I think JJ always planned for palpatine to come back and his VIII would’ve set him up for return likely. They never even explained Snoke or WHY palpatine made him at all. I rewatched the other movies beforehand and the beginning of IX feels like I’ve missed a movie because it doesn’t setup for Kylo to look for the wayfinder or anything in TLJ 

I would’ve had Snoke be revealed to be Plaigeus (sp?) and made him the ultimate enemy. I also think Rey was gonna be Luke’s child tbh.

[Glittertinks 12,390]

Well I saw it Yesterday and I have a lots of thoughts... I will probably get into detail when I have more time after the holidays but my basic thought is this:

Spoiler

I am very upset at Ben and Leia dying. All I wanted is Leia to hold her son again and Ben... Poor Ben. Poor Adam. They did him so dirty. Like is this how the very last Skywalker is treated??? Like, I would have accepted his death if it would have been much more better, more heartfelt... More everything. Basically the 10 minutes Ben Solo content were the best of my life and Adam looked SO GOOD, his best ever, during these minutes and then he was yeeted into that pit and I... A Visual representation of how his character arc was treated. I literally came home, went to bed and cried the whole night. 

I could have lived with Rey Palpatine, if it would have mattered thematically, together with Ben, being the Balance, bringing back life to the Galaxy, two sides of the same coin something like that, unleashing the true potential of the force... I just. I see the potential, even tho it was catering to the upset fans that Rey was a nobody. But they wasted that potential spectacularly. 

Finn reduced back to his "Rey Rey Rey Rey" days we—

Also, Finn and Poe had like, such a strong chemistry oh my God... Oh my ****ing God. And then... Then... They do not kiss. Frustrating. SOOO frustrating. 

Palpatine was hilarious as a villain... I would have rather only him returning as his soul, fuelling the whole dyhad thing or how it's called in English. Empress Palpatine was a.... Choice, to put it kindly. 

OH AND them DEGRADING rose to a mere background character is the biggest crime in history. Adding jannah to basically replace her is... Bad. So bad. And so unfair to the actresses. I can't. 

Anyways, speaking in general about the movie: you can feel they tried to make a crowdpleaser movie and created a monstrosity of a fanservice movie. Unfortunately, they listened more to the bad side of the Fandom, like they really got their giant pieces of cake. 

I see a lot of Rian Johnson trashing here, but let me say his interpretation of what the force is and how it works has been the same than my interpretation and Star Wars benefitted from it so much. The reylo scenes in TROS were the strongest part imo thanks to this... Honestly thanks to Rian I believed SW can have deep thematic topics, philosophy, challenging the audience... Instead of pure action and nothing more...aw man. The potential sw could have with an approach like that thanks to the lore... 

However, I am still depressed and upset and hurt about how Ben left us. Like... No. Just no. I had everything in this moment and it was taking from me in seconds... I couldn't even enjoy this reylo kiss... It looked so sudden and the scene felt so weird... I wanna know what happened here. 

💔 Ben 💔

Oké, this was already a bit more detailed then I intended 

@Blue Madonna

[REALITY 75,702]

Just got home from watching the movie....and I have a lot to say. Overall though, I'd say that I thoroughly enjoyed this film. Do I think there are some issues with it? Yes, I do. That being said, I feel like the positives of this movie vastly outweight the negatives.

Also, if anyone happens to be reading this and has not seen the movie, please stop reading my response now because it will be riddled with spoilers. I want to try and integrate my thoughts with specific scenes/characters in the movie. 

As I said, I really enjoyed this film. I think that a lot of the negative reviews it's getting, quite frankly, are unwarranted. For example, I just watched Beyond the Trailer's (Grace Randolph's) spoiler review of the movie. I enjoy her content, and I already knew she didn't like the movie (I watched her non-spoiler review before seeing the film), but I wanted to know exactly  why she disliked it. I have to say, I pretty disagree with her on a fundamental level regarding a lot of the things about the movie. There are a few things I agree with, but overall, I think a lot of her critcisms are shallow and don't really make any sense.

Negatives:

For me, the biggest issue was still the pacing. While the second half is better than the first, the first half seems simultaneously both slow and quick. I'd say that in the very beginning, we are jumping right into the action. We meet Palpatine within the first 5-10 minutes of the movie. That is not something I was necessarily expecting. That said, I feel like most of the time trying to find the sith crystal locator was not paced well. It seemed slow and unexciting; I wish they could've done something to spice up that part of the movie.

I'd say other than that, the only other real issue I had were some of the Leia scenes in the begining. Some of them just unfortunately did not work...It was also pretty obvious (visually speaking) that they tried to extract Leia from scenes from The Force Awakens and try and establish them in this film. She literally seemed out of place. Obviously though, this wasn't necessarily something that they could avoid. With Carrie unfortunately passing, this was really the only thing they could do. I feel like this was a better alternative than trying to CGI her in.

Positives:

Like I said though, I feel like there are many positives that outweigh the negatives. 

#1 for me was the return of Emperor Palpatine. Palpatine has always been one of my favorite characters, and his scenes in here did not disappoint. Well, I suppose I would've liked to see some lightsaber action from him if I'm being completely honest, but I understand why they didn't do that. He was evil incarnate and he looked even more sinister than before! I also loved his sanctuary, or whatever it was. The ending with all the people in cloaks and hoods was really cool too. That combined with the Sith statues everywhere seemed very "Knights of the Old Republic" to me.

I also really liked Kylo's character arc. I know there are a lot of people who may not like the redemption arc, but I thought it was inevitable. But it's not like he spent 50-60% of the movie being "good", it wasn't until the end that he really switched. I thought Adam Driver's and Daisy Ridley's chemistry was great, and that really worked in favor of his character arc. His death at the end was satisfying, not because he died, but because of how they set it up. From Rey using force heal to heal that creature's wound, to her using it on Kylo, to Kylo finally using to save Rey's life, I thought that was set up really well. 

Finn and Poe, imo, were better in this movie than its previous iterations. They had more to do, I felt, and it was nice to see them step up as co-generals of the Resistance (especially Poe). 

Rey was also fantastic. I know that there is backlash against the character because a lot of people feel like she's a "Mary Sue", but with the revelation that she's Palpatine's granddaughter, I feel like it makes sense. There's a reason why she's so powerful even with so little training. Speaking of Ridley's acting though, I thought she did a great job. She was really the star of this trilogy, but I feel like this movie emphasized that a lot more than the other two. Her journey of self-discovery throughout these films has been fun to watch.

I've already made this post long enough, so here are some other things/people I enjoyed throughout the film. I'll just list them to save time writing down all the reasons:

General Hux
Zorri & Jannah
C-3PO
Lando & Chewie
General Pryde
FAN SERVICE! (and no, that's not a bad thing)

Overall:

This was a really good movie. I feel like it gets more hate and backlash than it deserves. There were some bad, but overall, there was a lot of good to make up for it all. To me, this was a really solid ending to the Skywalker saga, given everything beforehand. I feel like people forget or at the very least don't understand the uphill battle J.J. Abrams had to battle with this movie. Not only did he have to wrap up the story of the original trilogy characters, but he had to wrap up the story of the new characters, try and do damage control from The Last Jedi, and try to do all of this within 2 and a half hours. That is certainly not an easy feat, and considering all of that, I thought he did a good job.

[REALITY 75,702]

1 hour ago, Glittertinks said:

Well I saw it Yesterday and I have a lots of thoughts... I will probably get into detail when I have more time after the holidays but my basic thought is this:

  Reveal hidden contents

 I am very upset at Ben and Leia dying. All I wanted is Leia to hold her son again and Ben... Poor Ben. Poor Adam. They did him so dirty. Like is this how the very last Skywalker is treated??? Like, I would have accepted his death if it would have been much more better, more heartfelt... More everything. Basically the 10 minutes Ben Solo content were the best of my life and Adam looked SO GOOD, his best ever, during these minutes and then he was yeeted into that pit and I... A Visual representation of how his character arc was treated. I literally came home, went to bed and cried the whole night. 

I could have lived with Rey Palpatine, if it would have mattered thematically, together with Ben, being the Balance, bringing back life to the Galaxy, two sides of the same coin something like that, unleashing the true potential of the force... I just. I see the potential, even tho it was catering to the upset fans that Rey was a nobody. But they wasted that potential spectacularly. 

Finn reduced back to his "Rey Rey Rey Rey" days we—

Also, Finn and Poe had like, such a strong chemistry oh my God... Oh my ****ing God. And then... Then... They do not kiss. Frustrating. SOOO frustrating. 

Palpatine was hilarious as a villain... I would have rather only him returning as his soul, fuelling the whole dyhad thing or how it's called in English. Empress Palpatine was a.... Choice, to put it kindly. 

OH AND them DEGRADING rose to a mere background character is the biggest crime in history. Adding jannah to basically replace her is... Bad. So bad. And so unfair to the actresses. I can't. 

Anyways, speaking in general about the movie: you can feel they tried to make a crowdpleaser movie and created a monstrosity of a fanservice movie. Unfortunately, they listened more to the bad side of the Fandom, like they really got their giant pieces of cake. 

I see a lot of Rian Johnson trashing here, but let me say his interpretation of what the force is and how it works has been the same than my interpretation and Star Wars benefitted from it so much. The reylo scenes in TROS were the strongest part imo thanks to this... Honestly thanks to Rian I believed SW can have deep thematic topics, philosophy, challenging the audience... Instead of pure action and nothing more...aw man. The potential sw could have with an approach like that thanks to the lore... 

However, I am still depressed and upset and hurt about how Ben left us. Like... No. Just no. I had everything in this moment and it was taking from me in seconds... I couldn't even enjoy this reylo kiss... It looked so sudden and the scene felt so weird... I wanna know what happened here. 

💔 Ben 💔

Oké, this was already a bit more detailed then I intended 

@Blue Madonna

SPOILERS BELOW!

Spoiler

I kind of have to disagree, with almost everything here...

I guess I should start with some of the points I do agree with. I do agree with the Rose Tico part. I thought reducing her character did her such a disservice. I would've definitely liked to see more of her (even though I was indifferent to her in the last movie). It's kind of sad really because the fans hated her so much that J.J. decided to play it safe and just make her a background, supporting character. 

Ben and Leia:

To me, this was a good way of ending their arcs. With Leia, there's really only so much you could do, because of Carrie's unfortunate passing. They were only able to use archived footage from TFA, and while I thought that the execution was off (i.e. there were times were it seemed very obvious it was old footage), I feel like her reaching out to Ben one last time was sweet. It's nice too because in TLJ, it was obvious that he really did have a soft spot for his mother (or you know, as much as a Sith Lord could have or their mother).

As for Ben's death, I thought it was handled very well. Him giving up his life in exchange for Rey's showed that he really had changed. Some may not like the redemption arc, but in my opinion, it was obvious from the start that that is where they were going. His death was also set up well (i.e. Rey previously using the force to heal the creature and Kylo, but then Kylo almost dying on the Death Star). I thought it was just as heartfelt as it could have been.

Finn & Poe:

I mean, if you're going to talk about the "bad side of the fandom", isn't this it as well?? Finn and Poe have shown no signs of being romantically or sexually attracted to each other. To make them an actual couple would be Disney/LucasFilm  giving in.

Palpatine:

I fully disagree with this. Palpatine being the ultimate villain not only made a lot of sense (I mean, if this is wrapping up the Skywalker saga, Palpatine needs  to be involved somehow), but I thought he was more menacing than ever! He, in my opinion, was legitimately terrifying; he was literally evil incarnate, and I loved that. This may also just be me, but I liked that he was the one who created Snoke. That made sense, at least. 

Rey Palpatine:

This can really go several ways. I can sort of understand where you're coming from, but also I feel like J.J. and the cast did best with what they had. This movie needed to accomplish a lot, and while Rey's lineage is obviously a way to cater to fans who thought it was stupid that she was just a "nobody", I also thought it made a lot of sense. If Rey was this random all-powerful being, it would make sense that she's a descendent of someone with immense raw power. I would've liked them to explore her parents a bit more though, especially her dad (considering he's Palpatine's son).  

I also did lfeel that Rey and Kylo playing the "two sides of the same coin" thing worked in this movie as well. They're a lot of duality and poetry between the two (e.g. Kylo being a Sith, but ultimately having good in him; Rey being a Jedi, but ultimately having bad in her; Kylo coming from a line of notoriously good; Rey coming from a line of notoriously bad; them wanting to be with each other to balance each other out; etc.).

The philosophy of Star Wars:

Well, now this is just purely subjective, but if I'm going t obe honest, I feel like expecting Star Wars to be this whole "meta, philosophical ideology" is just not the way to enjoy Star Wars.....Sure, the "balance of the force" and all that could be perceived as very philosophical, but in my opinion, Star Wars is about action and story. Nothing more, nothing else. I mean, look at The Mandalorian. It's pretty much universally loved, but there is no higher meaning beyond what the story is telling us—and that show, to many people is what Star Wars should be.

The philosophy of the force is there only to strengthen certain characters and progress the story in the sense that those characters are always battling for good or evil.

 

[Glittertinks 12,390]

8 hours ago, M Monstre said:

SPOILERS BELOW!

  Hide contents

I kind of have to disagree, with almost everything here...

I guess I should start with some of the points I do agree with. I do agree with the Rose Tico part. I thought reducing her character did her such a disservice. I would've definitely liked to see more of her (even though I was indifferent to her in the last movie). It's kind of sad really because the fans hated her so much that J.J. decided to play it safe and just make her a background, supporting character. 

Ben and Leia:

To me, this was a good way of ending their arcs. With Leia, there's really only so much you could do, because of Carrie's unfortunate passing. They were only able to use archived footage from TFA, and while I thought that the execution was off (i.e. there were times were it seemed very obvious it was old footage), I feel like her reaching out to Ben one last time was sweet. It's nice too because in TLJ, it was obvious that he really did have a soft spot for his mother (or you know, as much as a Sith Lord could have or their mother).

As for Ben's death, I thought it was handled very well. Him giving up his life in exchange for Rey's showed that he really had changed. Some may not like the redemption arc, but in my opinion, it was obvious from the start that that is where they were going. His death was also set up well (i.e. Rey previously using the force to heal the creature and Kylo, but then Kylo almost dying on the Death Star). I thought it was just as heartfelt as it could have been.

Finn & Poe:

I mean, if you're going to talk about the "bad side of the fandom", isn't this it as well?? Finn and Poe have shown no signs of being romantically or sexually attracted to each other. To make them an actual couple would be Disney/LucasFilm  giving in.

Palpatine:

I fully disagree with this. Palpatine being the ultimate villain not only made a lot of sense (I mean, if this is wrapping up the Skywalker saga, Palpatine needs  to be involved somehow), but I thought he was more menacing than ever! He, in my opinion, was legitimately terrifying; he was literally evil incarnate, and I loved that. This may also just be me, but I liked that he was the one who created Snoke. That made sense, at least. 

Rey Palpatine:

This can really go several ways. I can sort of understand where you're coming from, but also I feel like J.J. and the cast did best with what they had. This movie needed to accomplish a lot, and while Rey's lineage is obviously a way to cater to fans who thought it was stupid that she was just a "nobody", I also thought it made a lot of sense. If Rey was this random all-powerful being, it would make sense that she's a descendent of someone with immense raw power. I would've liked them to explore her parents a bit more though, especially her dad (considering he's Palpatine's son).  

I also did lfeel that Rey and Kylo playing the "two sides of the same coin" thing worked in this movie as well. They're a lot of duality and poetry between the two (e.g. Kylo being a Sith, but ultimately having good in him; Rey being a Jedi, but ultimately having bad in her; Kylo coming from a line of notoriously good; Rey coming from a line of notoriously bad; them wanting to be with each other to balance each other out; etc.).

The philosophy of Star Wars:

Well, now this is just purely subjective, but if I'm going t obe honest, I feel like expecting Star Wars to be this whole "meta, philosophical ideology" is just not the way to enjoy Star Wars.....Sure, the "balance of the force" and all that could be perceived as very philosophical, but in my opinion, Star Wars is about action and story. Nothing more, nothing else. I mean, look at The Mandalorian. It's pretty much universally loved, but there is no higher meaning beyond what the story is telling us—and that show, to many people is what Star Wars should be.

The philosophy of the force is there only to strengthen certain characters and progress the story in the sense that those characters are always battling for good or evil.

 

Spoiler

And I honestly have to disagree with a lot you say but that is okay at the end. I still want to say some things so you can understand where I am coming from tho. 

Ben and Leia — I just wished this would have been handled with more finesse. I am usually someone who gladly accepts character deaths for a good plot point or to give me one of the good painful endings which I love, but this really didn't feel like that. All the Jedis answering to Rey but not to Ben was kinda sad, because Ben suffered his whole life under his own feelings, manipulation and abuse, his loneliness... Same goes for Leia who basically lost everyone she loved... I just wanted to see them happy together. It really just rubbed me in the wrong way how both were handled (although I know Carrie's death made it harder, I am sure they could have somehow handled it if they wanted to) It will take some time to accept this, since both of these things were my worst fear. 

Palpatine — More finesse I also wished for the handling of Palpatine. Things get introduced in the crawl, which I find messy. I wish we would slowly discovered it during the movie instead pure MacGuffin hunting. Would have felt more like a organic progression than just "Here take it and you have to immediately accept it". Although I had to say, they did a great job making look his scenes creepy.

Rey — yeah as I said, I would have accepted it if it wouldn't have been handled so clumsy because it really opened doors with the balance thing. I just wish the bond with Ben would have also been more explained because I thought at the end they could have done more with it than just give Palpatine his life back. Kinda sad that they missed an interesting opportunity here. Because I really think their Bond could have revitalizing powers for a galaxy that has been torn apart by war. I was also hoping that Rey and Ben would start a new Jedi order teaching Balance, acceptance of both sides. But here it would have been powerful if Rey would have stayed a nowbod, because the use of the Force was always attributed to "special people". It could have opened the doors. (I also want to point out that Finn apparently is force sensitive but it never gets said in the movie... Idk. I just don't know. I see so much wasted potential here and there... 😔) accepting is hard. 

Finn and Poe — I have to be a bit harsh here, because I really do not want to be associated with people taking out their hate on actors, directors or anyone else involved in the production. If you did not catch any sparks or chemistry between them, then it's okay. But I did, basically since the first movie and I was hoping Disney and Lucasfilm would finally having the guts to do it, but then not,yet did a lot of Queerbaiting before the movie. That was not okay. It's also just part of a bigger problem in Hollywood (and people have a right to be mad about that and how this was handled) but I think that's a complete separate topic here. 

Philosophy of Star Wars — I just really think Star Wars could be much more deeper than action. And a lot of fans are agreeing, before TROS I ready so many interesting theories and meta on mythology, it was interesting and inspiring tbh. Ideally, you can combine it, if done well. If not, as you say, you have things like The Mandalorian and then something like The Last Jedi. I think TROS could have been the perfect hybrid if executed much better than it was. 

In the end I have to agree with someone from a Star Wars podcast about how I feel about this movie: somehow it gave us everything and somehow nothing. 

I also did not leave the movie full of hope as they may have intended. It makes me sad, because I was hyped and wanted to love it and as I said, accepting some parts is hard. Very hard. 

 

[Spock 20,290]

13 hours ago, M Monstre said:

Just got home from watching the movie....and I have a lot to say. Overall though, I'd say that I thoroughly enjoyed this film. Do I think there are some issues with it? Yes, I do. That being said, I feel like the positives of this movie vastly outweight the negatives.

exactly  glad you enjoyed it! I firmly believe that if TROS had been released two years ago, it would not be getting the hate it's getting now

this movie has totally re-ignited my love for Star Wars, these last few years I've kind of been hibernating but I am ready to STAN again. Not because the movie was perfect, it has a lot of issues, but it hit me right in the Star Wars feels and reminded me why it's so great. I feel like it's the most Star Wars-y Star Wars movie in the franchise. I've been lurking on TheForce.net for the first time in YEARS and there is such interesting information there, I'm shook.

if you're interested, Chris' review is really good. While he ultimately disliked it and drags it, he still picks up on really  pertinent points. I did really enjoy the Emperor scenes, the opening was incredible imo. But as the end of a cohesive trilogy it kind of made no sense and they put him there just to have a villain. Like Chris says, Rian seemingly didn't like what JJ was doing with Snoke so he killed him off in his movie and left a power vacuum in franchise. I also agree with what he says about Rey being underdeveloped because of her character arc being so anchored in her mysterious past. He says that Kylo is the only one to have had consistent character development and I agree. 

 

I saw it again yesterday, and while I liked a lot of the fan service, it still kind of bothered me a little bit. It just felt like they were using it as smoke and mirrors, elements that were in the movie to distract from the fact that everything as a whole has been kind of messy. I see a lot of people dragging JJ but to be fair, even if I enjoyed TLJ, the movie turning out this way is Rian's and Kathleen's fault

[RAMROD 107,660]

20 minutes ago, Spock said:

 

this movie has totally re-ignited my love for Star Wars, these last few years I've kind of been hibernating but I am ready to STAN again. 

 

Have you not watch The Mandalorian. It is that one SW title that unite every fans, old and new, at the moment.

[REALITY 75,702]

4 hours ago, Glittertinks said:

  Reveal hidden contents

And I honestly have to disagree with a lot you say but that is okay at the end. I still want to say some things so you can understand where I am coming from tho. 

Ben and Leia — I just wished this would have been handled with more finesse. I am usually someone who gladly accepts character deaths for a good plot point or to give me one of the good painful endings which I love, but this really didn't feel like that. All the Jedis answering to Rey but not to Ben was kinda sad, because Ben suffered his whole life under his own feelings, manipulation and abuse, his loneliness... Same goes for Leia who basically lost everyone she loved... I just wanted to see them happy together. It really just rubbed me in the wrong way how both were handled (although I know Carrie's death made it harder, I am sure they could have somehow handled it if they wanted to) It will take some time to accept this, since both of these things were my worst fear. 

Palpatine — More finesse I also wished for the handling of Palpatine. Things get introduced in the crawl, which I find messy. I wish we would slowly discovered it during the movie instead pure MacGuffin hunting. Would have felt more like a organic progression than just "Here take it and you have to immediately accept it". Although I had to say, they did a great job making look his scenes creepy.

Rey — yeah as I said, I would have accepted it if it wouldn't have been handled so clumsy because it really opened doors with the balance thing. I just wish the bond with Ben would have also been more explained because I thought at the end they could have done more with it than just give Palpatine his life back. Kinda sad that they missed an interesting opportunity here. Because I really think their Bond could have revitalizing powers for a galaxy that has been torn apart by war. I was also hoping that Rey and Ben would start a new Jedi order teaching Balance, acceptance of both sides. But here it would have been powerful if Rey would have stayed a nowbod, because the use of the Force was always attributed to "special people". It could have opened the doors. (I also want to point out that Finn apparently is force sensitive but it never gets said in the movie... Idk. I just don't know. I see so much wasted potential here and there... 😔) accepting is hard. 

Finn and Poe — I have to be a bit harsh here, because I really do not want to be associated with people taking out their hate on actors, directors or anyone else involved in the production. If you did not catch any sparks or chemistry between them, then it's okay. But I did, basically since the first movie and I was hoping Disney and Lucasfilm would finally having the guts to do it, but then not,yet did a lot of Queerbaiting before the movie. That was not okay. It's also just part of a bigger problem in Hollywood (and people have a right to be mad about that and how this was handled) but I think that's a complete separate topic here. 

Philosophy of Star Wars — I just really think Star Wars could be much more deeper than action. And a lot of fans are agreeing, before TROS I ready so many interesting theories and meta on mythology, it was interesting and inspiring tbh. Ideally, you can combine it, if done well. If not, as you say, you have things like The Mandalorian and then something like The Last Jedi. I think TROS could have been the perfect hybrid if executed much better than it was. 

In the end I have to agree with someone from a Star Wars podcast about how I feel about this movie: somehow it gave us everything and somehow nothing. 

I also did not leave the movie full of hope as they may have intended. It makes me sad, because I was hyped and wanted to love it and as I said, accepting some parts is hard. Very hard. 

 

Spoiler

Of course, it is okay if we have differing opinions. That's what's fun about movies, especially these kinds of movies! That said, I'm always up for getting into long discussions about these things!

Ben and Leia:

I think it made perfect sense that Rey was the one called to, as opposed to Ben. Ben only redeemed himself in the final act of the movie. In my opinion, even though I liked his redemption and character arc, there was no reason for all  of the past Jedi to call back to him. If they did that, then that would've felt completely unwarranted and undeserved. Rey, at least, had been consistently with the Jedi and training under them for all of these movies. 

As for Leia, I think overall her character could have been handled better. From just a movie-telling perspective, it was obvious that her scenes were cut from TFA, but all of that's more of a technical issue and not a story-telling issue. As for her and Ben being together, I feel like that did happen, albeit perhaps not the way that most would think. Leia reaching out to Ben was the reason he eventually became good. It also showed both him and Leia disappearing, so in a way, I do think they end up being happy together.

Palpatine:

I think that the idea of introducing Palpatine in this movie without referencing him or alluding to him in TFA or TLJ is a bit sloppy. Admittedly when I saw the first trailer for this, I was like, "Oh that's cool! But also....why him? why now?". That being said,  I think that considering the circumstances, J.J. did a great job.

Look, he needed to wrap up the original trilogy characters, wrap up the stories of the new trilogy characters, try do some damage control from TLJ, and do all  of that in 2 and a half hours. It's literally an impossible task to try and do that and still please everyone. IMO, I think that just getting straight to the point with Palpatine and introducing him within the first 5-10 minutes was the best way to go. You can't slowly introduce someone like Palpatine  in this movie when this is literally the last chapter of the Skywalker saga without it feeling like a total waste of time.

I agree with you about his creepy scenes though! Those were my absolute favorite!

Finn and Poe:

If we're being technical, then sure, I did see certainly see some chemistry between them, but I never found it particularly romantic or sexual. I think the thing is that while there might be some sort of romantic connection between two characters, fans keep wanting to perpetuate it, and then get mad when it doesn't happen. I mean, this happened with Cap and Bucky. Fans kept shipping them and then were ultimately mad because nothing came out of it. Well, nothing in the story suggested they were romantically involved with each other. Why can't it just be a platonic friendship?

Rey:

I think her relationship with Kylo was explored well enough. I do think that the idea of them starting a new order or something together would've been cool, but I think that the way both of their stories ended was good. Kylo was always sort of the tragic hero (or rather, tragic villain), and I think that only emphasized the importance of his death. It very much mirrors Darth Vader: even though he spent most of his life as a bad guy, there was always still some good in him. 

If anything, I'm interested to see where Rey will go next. I mean, at the end of the movie, she has a orange/yellow lightsaber (which is unorthodox for Jedi, though there are Jedi that use that color), but at the same time, takes up the Skywalker name. So, is she still a Jedi or not? She's seen alone in the movie with BB-8; will she just stray away from the Resistance now? There are many unanswered questions about what Rey's future will hold, and I hope that we can explore those more.

Philosophy of Star Wars:

Again, I guess this one is completely up to interpretation, but I disagree with the notion that Star Wars needs to be this philosophical standin for something. I would also disagree that fans want  Star Wars to be a philosophical standin. That's the reason why people hated TLJ. It was just too meta for people, especially with Rey's lineage/parents. The Mandolorian, on the other hand, is pretty much universally loved by fans, and there is absolutely no higher meaning beyond what they're showing us in the show. It's just a fun, action-packed, space western, and that's all it needs to be.

I grew up loving the Star Wars the Clone Wars animated series, and that was mostly just action/story too. What's important is for Star Wars to tell a compelling story. It could have philosophical undertones, sure, but that shouldn't be what it's aiming for. 

 

[REALITY 75,702]

41 minutes ago, Spock said:

exactly  glad you enjoyed it! I firmly believe that if TROS had been released two years ago, it would not be getting the hate it's getting now

this movie has totally re-ignited my love for Star Wars, these last few years I've kind of been hibernating but I am ready to STAN again. Not because the movie was perfect, it has a lot of issues, but it hit me right in the Star Wars feels and reminded me why it's so great. I feel like it's the most Star Wars-y Star Wars movie in the franchise. I've been lurking on TheForce.net for the first time in YEARS and there is such interesting information there, I'm shook.

if you're interested, Chris' review is really good. While he ultimately disliked it and drags it, he still picks up on really  pertinent points. I did really enjoy the Emperor scenes, the opening was incredible imo. But as the end of a cohesive trilogy it kind of made no sense and they put him there just to have a villain. Like Chris says, Rian seemingly didn't like what JJ was doing with Snoke so he killed him off in his movie and left a power vacuum in franchise. I also agree with what he says about Rey being underdeveloped because of her character arc being so anchored in her mysterious past. He says that Kylo is the only one to have had consistent character development and I agree. 

 

I saw it again yesterday, and while I liked a lot of the fan service, it still kind of bothered me a little bit. It just felt like they were using it as smoke and mirrors, elements that were in the movie to distract from the fact that everything as a whole has been kind of messy. I see a lot of people dragging JJ but to be fair, even if I enjoyed TLJ, the movie turning out this way is Rian's and Kathleen's fault

First of all, thanks for the recommendation of the review! I might check it out, but to be 100% honest, I don't know if I can watch through a whole review with someone dragging the film, like many YouTube reviewers have done. There are just some things I fundamentally disagree with when it comes to a lot of people's criticisms about this movie, and I'd rather just leave my feelings for the movie how it is. 

I would say that his movie, along with The Mandolorian, have both also reignited my love for Star Wars. I was a huge fan of the franchise when I was younger (I grew up loving  the Clone Wars animated series), but as of recent years, I've just lost interest. This and The Mandolorian reminded me how much I used to love this franchise. 

It's certainly not the best  Star Wars film, but I think that J.J. did a good job of trying to balance so much of what needed to be done. He had a lot riding on this film, and I think that considering all the circumstances, he made the best out of it.

As for the fan service part, I quite enjoyed it. This is one of the things that I fundamentally disagree with with a lot of critics. To me, I loved that this movie was pure fan service, and to be honest, I feel like a lot of fans are in the same boat as me. Look, after the mistakes and the terrible controversy surrounding TLJ, I'd be lying if I said that I just didn't want a little bit of fan service. This is also coming from someone who enjoyed TLJ, though I can definitely understand why people have legitimate problems with it. Could there have been more cohesive ways to integrate certain things? Sure, but I think overall, the use of fan service and nostalgia worked well. After all, whether people like to admit it or not, fan service and nostalgia is what Star Wars fans want. 

[RAMROD 107,660]

sksksksksks ICONIC! Truly this decade's My Heart Will Go On. #ASIB #ASWIB

 

[HausOfMark 4,269]

I loved this movie so much. Its one of my top fav SW movies. 

[HermioneT 1,998]

I just came back from the cinema and I'm just so sad, disappointed and sick of what I've seen.  I usually don't engage in movie topics around here and I'm not part of the SW fandom nowadays, but the prequels were the first movies I have ever seen as a kid and I must have seen the OT more than ten times each. What they did to the sequels just hurts my heart. These movies are just so uninspired and uncreative, especially the last one. I mean I had some serious trouble to go along with the  back story in TFA ( I mean there is literally no logical and life inducing explanation to the whol setting/situation at all) - but there was still so much what had my intrigued. Especially the Solo/Skywalker family drama and I love the parallelism of the father-son story. But from there it only got down in my opinion: the pacing is too high to really sympathize with the new heros, Poe to similar to Han. And basically there was nothing new meta plotwise. I can think of so many scenarios to continue such an epic space opera, but I feel as if this sequel are just three basic action movies: a lame and uninspired good-evil fight, always the same "we can do it together/there is hope" moments. Was there literally no other plot someone could think of than again Resistance with Jedis against evil galaxy ruling dictatorship influenced by the Sith?

And the "final wrap up" in the rise of Skywalker was in my opinion the worst: not even a new villian, no single new development concerning the force, unlogical fights and moves on all sides, shallow "we did it!"/"all is lost" dialog, pointless lightsaber fights ( the dynamic between Ren and Kylo around the force and future seemed so promising and it was all literally wasted in the void), fast and meaningless deaths, not unique new cultures/new worlds atmosphere and  so much potential wasted in Kylos character. Old characters appeared just for the sake of it (that's a general problem of all three movies.) That just wasn't it. 

[gagzus 15,712]

Found out today they filmed 6 different endings and that JJ’s original ideas for VIII & IX were entirely different than what we got and he wanted to have Snoke be revealed to be an impure clone (like we find out, but it’s never explained properly) and puppet of The Son of Mortis from The Clone Wars TV Show all along and that Palpatine was to have died but have taught TSOM new dark side powers that were to be revealed. And Rey was meant to be Luke’s daughter all along. Matt Smith filmed his scenes as TSOM but they were cut and they did reshoots until TWO MONTHS before the movie came out to change the idea because the studio didn’t like the idea or think the average viewer would get who TSOM was ugh. And all the masters voices from the final battle against Palpatine were gonna come back as force ghosts to battle the ghosts of the sith lords in the finale.

i remember there was rumours ages ago floating around of an Anakin vs Vader force ghost battle and a Sidious vs Yoda battle too

Ugh I would’ve preferred this so much. It would’ve been EPIC