Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker

Discussion in 'Movies and Television' started by eagc7, Jan 12, 2016.

  1. Chopperface

    Chopperface Chadwick Forever

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    Alright, so, yay! Some good human being actually turned in my iPod and I got it back! I am hella reinvigorated and I’m ready to dig into my thoughts.

    The movie isn’t as good as either TFA or TLJ, but it’s not awful, nor was I bored like in Solo. It suffers from a lot of the audience having to accept things because the character says so. Why is the first half of the movie so damn rushed? They could’ve easily cut out the stuff on the planet with Zam Wessell/Keri Russell. Didn’t do a thing for me, the confrontation aboard the star destroyer could’ve happened anywhere. I did like the first desert planet with the festival because it was bright, colorful, and looked genuinely fun during said festival. MacGuffin plots are nothing new but again the movie suffers from telling instead of just showing.
    Like when Rey Force-heals the snake, they could’ve left that scene without any dialogue or at least minimal dialogue. But they still kinda gotta yammer.

    I like that the main crew is on an adventure together most of the movie as opposed to being separated. This feels like the first time a main crew has been together most of the film since... hell, ANH.

    The reveal that
    Rey is Palpatine’s granddaughter is both gross and also a bit funny in that it twists the long-standing mystery of her lineage. We all thought or argued over the significance or lack thereof of her parents; when it’s actually her grandparent who’s important! Wild and gross. But yeah. Also Re: Palpatine, I hate that they didn’t really explain how he survived, but it’s interesting that he outright said he was already dead. So I guess he eventually got his master’s secret down. Really cool to hear that quote.

    People complained about too much fanservice in this movie and they’re not unwarranted, but I thought it was going to be worse than this. At some points I figured it wasn’t enough. We should’ve seen
    Hera, Zeb, and maybe Jacen in the Ghost in an establishing shot like we got for Wedge’s return, which was nice. We also should’ve gotten physical ghost appearances from the Jedi. We already threw out TCW explanation for Force ghosts so just let us see Samuel L. Jackson, Freddie Prinze Jr, etc. Still fucking cool as hell to even hear of Kanan and Ahsoka in a movie, even though that doesn’t bode well for the latter.

    The Leia stuff was kinda awkward, but really, there was nothing they could’ve done due to Carrie’s tragic death. So I’ll give them a pass, I didn’t mind Maz explaining to R2 what was happening.
    I was really surprised they explicitly killed her, but in the end it’s really touching that she went out redeeming her son. Han’s cameo was show-stopping because we all know Harrison wanted out and my god, it was so nice to see him as nothing but a loving father.

    The final battle was definitely exciting, which as I’ve said is an accomplishment because I usually hate space battles and get bored. But this was cool, even if like I said we should’ve seen more returning characters in the cockpits of the ships.

    The film is also gorgeous. It looks a lot more grounded and realistic than say TLJ’s sleek, artsy, and stylish visuals, but it looks sharper and more refined than TFA. That beautiful shot of the ice base, the final shot of the film, the lighting, it was great, even if it wasn’t up to TLJ’s stunning visuals.

    It is disappointing that it’s so derivative of what’s come before. We have consistently praised the prequels for bringing in new stuff even though they weren’t good movies, and I will always praise TLJ for being daring enough to take risks. This movie doesn’t do that, and neither did TFA. I don’t care what Bob Iger says, you can have a great Star Wars movie that isn’t what came before.

    Oh okay just because I haven’t said it enough
    HOLY FUCK KANAN AND AHSOKA!!!! Also oh my god Qui-Gon having the most lines since in a way he’s the bigger good of the saga like Sidious is the bigger bad; he pioneered the Force ghosts for our heroes and he paved the way for everything afterwards by finding and betting on the Chosen One. OH SHIT Hayden Christiansen! Jennifer Hale! Samuel L. Jackson! Fuck the Endgame comparisons, you can’t help they came out in the same year, and fuck it we should’ve seen them all. Also oh shit at the James Earl Jones cameo! Oh and the way Sidious kept saying he was all the Sith, I was wondering if he would summon ghosts of Dooku, Maul, Vader, etc. Then they’d fight the Jedi.

    Also
    Reylo kissing was stupid but I’m okay because he died. I’m more of a Finnrey guy. Also the Janna girl wasn’t anything. The Zam Wessell girl wasn’t much but I loved how Poe made eyebrows at her and she shook her head immediately. Oh and ugh I hate that this movie goes out of its way to decry some TLJ stuff like sticking Rose in the extras bin. That feels almost like a validation of the assholes who bullied the real life actress.

    This movie is okay. Not terrific like TLJ, not as deep as any of the OT or TFA and TLJ, but I was satisfied.
     
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  2. Zeta Otaku

    Zeta Otaku Who ya gonna call? TFW2005 Supporter

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    Saw it last night. Really enjoyed it, cried at a few bits, but really loved what I saw. Was it perfect? Nope. Will I see it again? Oh yeah!
     
  3. Nightrain

    Nightrain Senior Villain

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    The easiest thing to say it’s better than Last Jedi and the prequels. Although I’m not 100% that it’s better than the Phantom Menace because there was SO much going on.
     
  4. Laser_Optimus

    Laser_Optimus Currently no longer giving a shit about the MCU. TFW2005 Supporter

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    Saw it... still trying to digest it. So I'll just give a none spoiler opinion for the moment. A lot of my complaints about this trilogy that goes all the way back to TFA are still in full effect and probably more so since we're not just dealing with JJ's Memberberries this time, but Super Saiyan Memberberries powered by the Force. I don't outright hate it, but I'm not a fan either... which puts it on par with the TLJ for me. That said it's at least action-packed and it doesn't seem to have any pointless side stories like TLJ. Also, I'm not a fan that JJ basically decided to throw out the baby with the bathwater when it comes to TLJ... I'm no fan of TLJ, but it at least left the SW Universe in an interesting place with it's ending... but all that gets undermined by the return of Palpatine which just came off as mind-numbingly dumb even if the shots of Exogol were pretty damned amazing. In fact, that's the best part about TROS... the cinematography is downright gorgeous. But the plot itself is so basic AND a good chunk of ideas are stolen from one of the worst YA EU novel series as well... JJ... that really wasn't the book series you should have taken inspiration from, but it's probably the only one that had ideas you could use with the direction you went. Lots of nostalgia and fan service as well... almost as if it was trying to appease people who hated TLJ without actually listening to their criticisms of the film. I don't think this film is going to last to any type of future scrutiny in the long run, but if you like mindless popcorn flicks it will definitely entertain for a couple of hours... just... turn off your brain while you're there.
     
  5. Nightrain

    Nightrain Senior Villain

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    There’s a bunch of pacing, structural, and dialogue issues that I’ll get into next week. For example that whip around between rey and Kylo early in the movie. I get what they were trying to do, but it came off a disjointed mess. Telegraphing everything was also a problem.
     
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  6. Wh33l JcK

    Wh33l JcK Well-Known Member

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    I'm curious if this series will sort of age well, sort of like how people warmed up to the prequels over the years?

    I guess only time will tell?
     
  7. Laser_Optimus

    Laser_Optimus Currently no longer giving a shit about the MCU. TFW2005 Supporter

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    I don't think so only because warts and all the prequels were trying to tell a cohesive story... they just executed it poorly. After having seen TROS I honestly feel that the sequel trilogy simply doesn't feel cohesive overall. AS films they're much more expertly done in terms of cinematography in comparison to the prequels, but they lack structure and vision as a whole. Of course, that's just my two cents.
     
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  8. setsuna

    setsuna Well-Known Member

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    There is zero direction and no creative merrit. All the vehicles are rehashes and there is no real direction for photography or anything like that.

    the prequals had an artistic theme that alludes to the romantic period - sh1t looked cool :p 

    This has nothing but manitees assembling plotlines together to sell tickets under the star wars brand
     
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  9. Ephland

    Ephland Let's Go Rangers

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    I mentioned this earlier, but the Sequel Trilogy doesn't have a coherent narrative. At least the Prequel trilogy has that going for it.

    It's like they adopted the strategy of Spider-Man in the MCU; we didn't get his backstory because everyone more or less knows it at this point. There's very little in the way of backstories in the ST, but these are a bunch of new characters nobody knows, and it was the wrong decision to assume that we'd just accept their place in the existing canon.

    In other words, why am I supposed to give a shit about these new people? There's no good reason why that couldn't have been worked out ahead of time.
     
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  10. TheLastBlade

    TheLastBlade Well-Known Member

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    Only if something worse comes.
     
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  11. Andersonh1

    Andersonh1 Man, I've been here a LONG time Veteran

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    I didn't expect to like it, only to like elements of it, but I really enjoyed the movie. I still feel like the sequel trilogy was pointless in the sense that both the original and prequel trilogies had stories to tell, but this new trilogy brought very little new to the table. But if we're going to revel in nostalgia, might as well go for it big time, and the Rise of Skywalker does that. And it's a lot of fun.
     
  12. Nightrain

    Nightrain Senior Villain

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    This movie in particular felt like new people being transported into a video game of the original trilogy. Ironically Last Jedi is the one least most like that, even if it’s maybe the worst actual film.

    Like if you going to create a post-Star Wars trilogy video game, Rise of Skywalker is it. It’s the fucking Ready Player One of Star Wars.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 20, 2019
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  13. DrTraveler

    DrTraveler Wheeljack, Wheeljack, Wheeljack

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    I’ve had a chance to sleep on it. I’m going to stick with my opinion that it is enjoyable in the moment, but all falls down when thought about. I don’t want to get into spoilers but basically every scene has some sort of logical or narrative problem if you dig at it enough. But I guess rule of cool?

    I’m still pretty angry at how it treats TLJ though. It literally misses no opportunity to crap all over it. That’s just an incredibly pissy thing to do and it makes the whole product seem smaller and stupider.
     
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  14. Rodimus Prime

    Rodimus Prime Sola Gratia, Sola Fide TFW2005 Supporter

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    Rose was a result of the editing process. Finn and her, along with the Stormtrooper girl, had a subplot that was cut.
     
  15. Rodimus74

    Rodimus74 Well-Known Member

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    Like I said, this is the trilogy of unanswered questions.
     
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  16. Rodimus74

    Rodimus74 Well-Known Member

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    Has anyone botherd to ask
    who the hell did Palpatine have a kid with? And wouldn't his kid be force sensative and the true heir to the Sith throne??
     
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  17. shockwave1977

    shockwave1977 Shaun

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    2nd showing in the books. Number 3 tomorrow with my wife and kids. Love this movie!
    20191220_111155.jpg
     
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  18. Nightrain

    Nightrain Senior Villain

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    Don’t question. Just consume.
     
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  19. Rodimus Prime

    Rodimus Prime Sola Gratia, Sola Fide TFW2005 Supporter

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  20. Scoff

    Scoff Well-Known Member

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    Don't worry, there'll be a comic or book somewhere down the line to explain it. They're releasing a comic to explain why Ben Solo fell to the darkside.

    You get to know the whole story behind his character three-four months after the movie and for just $19,86 if you collect them all!
     
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