Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker had its premiere last night at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood. Non-Spoiler reviews and Twitter mentions are trickling out and they're overwhelmingly positive.
I'll be seeing the film Thursday night, 6:30pm PST but I'm not sure if I'll have time to post because we're traveling for the holidays, leaving at 4am the next morning. If I can't post Thursday evening, I'll get to it at some point over the weekend, maybe after I've seen it a second time.
It's a Spoiler thread but let's try to keep the real spoilery stuff in the Spoiler Tags through the weekend, just so we don't ruin the movie for someone that accidentally clicks on the thread.
Originally Posted by :
I feel like I just watched a five year old, high on laughing gas from the dentist, run around with his favorite action figures in a sandbox for 2 and a half hours...
1. Better than I expected but most certainly not on the level of the OT or Rogue One or even Solo. It felt more like Revenge of the Sith in that we knew what was going to happen, so it was just a matter of seeing it onscreen. If you're curious, see it or see it at a matinee. It's not awful and there are a ton of really great action scenes. That said, it did leave me a little "cold" for lack of a better word but I think that's because I don't really care about the characters like I did from the OT.
In many ways, it felt like Fan Fiction, in that everything that people wanted to see were put on display and not in a subtle manner. While that can be cool at times, it just felt like "Oh, the fans want to see this! The fans want to see that! Let's just give them everything they asked for on Twitter!".
2.
Spoiler!
Act I and halfway into Act II, I thought to myself "Wow, this is freaking awesome! How will they keep this up?" Answer: They didn't. (OTOH, my eleven year old thought that same section was "too fast" and liked the second half of the film much better because it slowed down).
3.
Spoiler!
Try as I might, I still don't have any connection to Finn, Poe & Rey. They're together for some of the film this time around and it just never really feels like "True" friends, "True" camaraderie, no matter how much the script tries to convince us.
4.
Spoiler!
So, as I suspected all along, Finn is Force-Sensitive. Maybe his character is the protagonist in the next film
5.
Spoiler!
Really disappointed in John Boyega's performance. He seemed very "wooden" and not nearly as natural as he was in TFA.
6.
Spoiler!
Leia was just short of an epic disaster. The VFX were easy to spot and her arc felt shoe-horned in to the overall plot
7.
Spoiler!
Maz Kanata, who was so interesting in the previous films was nothing more than "support" for Leia, or maybe better said, the "voice" of Leia since Carrie is gone
8.
Spoiler!
The overall plot and McGuffin felt like something straight out of the EU. I'm a sucker and read nearly every old EU book but they were pretty cheesy, outside of a few Zahn novels. But I did like that Snoke was clone and that the Emperor "died" many times before
9.
Spoiler!
The Force Dyad didn't bother me, nor did the Palpatine's death. I thought the Sith statues and the Sith followers could have been interesting but were woefully under-utilized.
10.
Spoiler!
I didn't even notice the score because there was so much happening onscreen the entire film
11.
Spoiler!
Zorri Bliss was a nice addition to the cast. I could see a cool TV series come her and Poe's adventures.
12.
Spoiler!
The Knights of Ren were garbage. They looked cool in TFA but in the sunlight, they looked like dopes with dopey helmets on. It's like Slipknot but instead of masks, it's dopey helmets
Now, on to the Retconning of VIII:
1.
Spoiler!
I like that Rey is a Palpatine. I know that JJ wanted her to be a Skywalker and RJ ruined that but this was the next best choice, IMO.
It explains the "Mary Sue" aspect of her powers.
2.
Spoiler!
The visuals were freaking amazing at times and while it's hard to top the Darth Maul vs. Obi Wan/Qui Gon fight, which for me is almost a virtual tie with Snoke's Throne room, the lightsaber duels were outright awesome. The Force powers displayed were super cool and it's about freaking time we saw Force Users that can kick ass in any given situation
3.
Spoiler!
The Holdo Manuever, which freaking KILLED me in TLJ because of it's blatant stupidity was made into a joke. I like that quite a bit
4.
Spoiler!
Very little Rose Tico was nice. She had WAY too much screen time in TLJ for my taste but she was barely noticeable in this film, which was nice
5.
Spoiler!
Snoke. This was probably the biggest retcon and yet it most visual in RoS. Seeing multiple Snoke bodies being cloned was pretty cool, although it begs the question as to why Snoke was so deformed?
6.
Spoiler!
Leia "Poppins": Well, as it turns out, Luke trained Leia when they were younger and she became a Jedi Master. Seeing her lightsaber was cool, too, but at least there's an explanation as to how she was able to survive being nearly frozen in space
7.
Spoiler!
Luke! Luke admitting that he was wrong to hide and that even though he'd found Exogal and planned to confront The Emperor, he was just too afraid. Jedi's are supposed to face their fears, not run from them.
Originally Posted by Hammock Parties:
I actually loved this scene. It made me tear up, because the look on Luke's face getting that X-Wing out of the water was glorious. Acting!
In fact, I wanted it in TLJ, although the force projection stuff was better in the end.
TLJ is the best movie of the sequels because it subverts your expectations and gives us something ORIGINAL.
The conversation between Luke and Leia and the Force Projection scene were the most impactful of the new trilogy for me.
Rey’s summoning of the lightsaber in TFA is a close second.
Spoiler!
I still like Rey. Kylo was the best character in the new trilogy.
Perhaps they shouldn’t have made a last minute choice to change their entire script and keep Poe alive in Ep. 7. Because they sure couldn’t balance him and Finn in the script. John Boyega has to be disappointed he went from a main character to whatever he got reduced to - some of that may have shown in the movie.
Because of Kylo, I don’t really see any damage to Anakin’s character arc.
This movie needed to be Endgame length. It was a pacing nightmare. A lot of amazing fanboy moments between lull’s of rather uninteresting plotting - it felt like it was checking boxes half of the time.
Loved the Luke and Leia scene.
I really, really wish Disney had the billiards to have given Leia Holdo’s sacrifice in Ep. 8 and kept Luke alive after Carrie Fisher passed. Their were too many uncanny valley moments for my liking.
The fact that Kylo was controlled by Palpatine poops on Luke’s interactions with Kylo in TLJ.
I don’t know how I feel about Rey being a palpatine. It felt like a stunt to get people to the theater.
In the end, JJ tried his damndest to make Return of the Jedi despite Rian’s best attempts to prevent it.
now they are retconning kylo's turn in the comics which is....not bad altogether
it does kinda work well with him being a troubled young man/actually good at heart
I realise this thread was all over the place but the comic is non-linear. Basically: - Ben wakes up to see Luke, brings down the hut - He stares into the distance and asks "why"; my heart breaks - Starts walking towards the temple but it explodes before he gets there
Jar Jar Abrams is so stupid even his cool things are just plain dumbassed stupid
Originally Posted by :
In a sacred moment of apex silliness, Resistance fighters ride starbeasts of burden across the surface of a low-flying Star Destroyer. If I understand gravity correctly, the evil pilots could defeat the rebel cavalry by just slightly dipping the ship’s port side.
What a boring film. There were sparks of really bad ass scenes;make no mistake jj has SOME talent in film making, particularly cinematography and angles. He’s good at getting you emotional but that’s about it. What a rush contrived bullshit mess. They should have made it a two parter if anything. A lot of this film felt like it should’ve been in the last Jedi. I enjoyed bens story arc premise but not the way it was rushed or presented. The entire film felt rushed and it was two hours.
Honestly, they should’ve been ballsy and had Rey give in to the dark side and Ben actually save the galaxy and become the true chosen one. [Reply]
So how did Anakin "bring balance to the force"? I know JJ and the movie try to insist that's still what happened, but the evil that Anakin supposedly destroyed is responsible for EVERYTHING. Ben Solo turning, sending Luke into a depressed exile, ruining Ham and Leias happy ending, creating a stronger version of his army, like, goddamn, this movie goes out of its way to absolutely SHIT all over everyone and everything that was ever associated with the name "Skywalker". When both the OT and the PT are primarily focused on that story it's a horrific idea. Should've been given 6 more months for everyone to come to their senses and realize what the fuck they were about to do to their Canon.
It was pretty hilarious to me that the climax of this movie is basically the grandkids of Vader and Palpatine being down to fuck with each other. Just think of how powerful and batshit crazy the offspring would've been.
