Star Wars (SPOILERS LIVE HERE)

[nodakfan17]

I’ll probably get around to the sequel trilogy if my young son ever develops an interest in Star Wars.

 

If I understand Wikipedia correctly, the primary antagonist in Episode 9 is the same as Return of the Jedi. Does that strike anyone else as really lazy? It minimizes the significance of Vader killing Palpatine, which is also Anakin’s redeeming moment (rejecting the dark side, giving his life for his son’s).

[DuWayne Steurer]

It can be both.

 

It's a lazy bit of writing, but it's still Anakin Skywalker's redeeming moment. Palpatine surviving doesn't change the fact that Anakin made a "good" choice to sacrifice himself to save Luke.

 

I think having different writers just made for a disjointed trilogy. Snoke wasn't an interesting villain, and Rian Johnson tried to make Kylo Ren the big-bad by killing off the uninteresting villain (snoke) That left JJ Abrams with the choice of either keeping Kylo Ren as the big-bad, or giving him a redemption arc, and introducing a new big-bad, which isn't a great idea for the third act of a story, or re-using palpatine. Also not a great idea. If Palpatine was going to be re-used, it should have been hinted at in either 7 or 8, which is why I don't buy for a second that this was planned out from the start.

 

I think ultimately the problems they had is that RJ and JJ just wanted to take the franchise/story in two very different directions, thematically. I could have seen going with different directions for each episode, but different writers for each left us with what we have, which is stories that don't really feel connected. When I watched this movie, it kind of felt like it was trying to be a sequel to 7 instead of 8, while carefully admitting that the events of 8 actually happened.

 

It is what it is, I enjoyed the movie quite a bit. Maybe with multiple viewings I'll be more critical. Probably will be. Plot holes and story elements that don't make sense show up more the more you view a movie but my first impression was simply that it was a fun popcorn movie that felt very "Star-Warsy". Here's hoping Disney learns from their mistakes and successes and moves forward and gives us some new, good Star Wars stories in the near future.

[DuWayne Steurer]

It can be both.

 

It's a lazy bit of writing, but it's still Anakin Skywalker's redeeming moment. Palpatine surviving doesn't change the fact that Anakin made a "good" choice to sacrifice himself to save Luke.

 

I think having different writers just made for a disjointed trilogy. Snoke wasn't an interesting villain, and Rian Johnson tried to make Kylo Ren the big-bad by killing off the uninteresting villain (snoke) That left JJ Abrams with the choice of either keeping Kylo Ren as the big-bad, or giving him a redemption arc, and introducing a new big-bad, which isn't a great idea for the third act of a story, or re-using palpatine. Also not a great idea. If Palpatine was going to be re-used, it should have been hinted at in either 7 or 8, which is why I don't buy for a second that this was planned out from the start.

 

I think ultimately the problems they had is that RJ and JJ just wanted to take the franchise/story in two very different directions, thematically. I could have seen going with different directions for each episode, but different writers for each left us with what we have, which is stories that don't really feel connected. When I watched this movie, it kind of felt like it was trying to be a sequel to 7 instead of 8, while carefully admitting that the events of 8 actually happened.

 

It is what it is, I enjoyed the movie quite a bit. Maybe with multiple viewings I'll be more critical. Probably will be. Plot holes and story elements that don't make sense show up more the more you view a movie but my first impression was simply that it was a fun popcorn movie that felt very "Star-Warsy". Here's hoping Disney learns from their mistakes and successes and moves forward and gives us some new, good Star Wars stories in the near future.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I'm not a huge Star Wars fan. I mean, that's disingenuous. The original trilogy bores me to death, and the 90s ones are just laughably bad to me.

 

With that said, the Disney films are the only ones I've ever been able to sit through awake. They're fine. I think the whole franchise is drastically overrated. My kids love it, and I think that was always the intention. It's taken way too seriously and a lot of the fans take it too seriously.

 

As a story itself, I think it's less creative than a lot of less heralded franchises. But everyone has an opinion.

 

I thought the new one was fun, gave me chills at several moments. I certainly didn't think it was as bad as critics said.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I'm not a huge Star Wars fan. I mean, that's disingenuous. The original trilogy bores me to death, and the 90s ones are just laughably bad to me.

 

With that said, the Disney films are the only ones I've ever been able to sit through awake. They're fine. I think the whole franchise is drastically overrated. My kids love it, and I think that was always the intention. It's taken way too seriously and a lot of the fans take it too seriously.

 

As a story itself, I think it's less creative than a lot of less heralded franchises. But everyone has an opinion.

 

I thought the new one was fun, gave me chills at several moments. I certainly didn't think it was as bad as critics said.

[DuWayne Steurer]

I'm not a huge Star Wars fan. I mean, that's disingenuous. The original trilogy bores me to death, and the 90s ones are just laughably bad to me.

 

With that said, the Disney films are the only ones I've ever been able to sit through awake. They're fine. I think the whole franchise is drastically overrated. My kids love it, and I think that was always the intention. It's taken way too seriously and a lot of the fans take it too seriously.

 

As a story itself, I think it's less creative than a lot of less heralded franchises. But everyone has an opinion.

 

I thought the new one was fun, gave me chills at several moments. I certainly didn't think it was as bad as critics said.

 

I always think about Anton Ego from Ratatoille when I read movie or book reviews. People that get paid to do reviews and say mean things about a movie or a book or a game should never be taken seriously.

[DuWayne Steurer]

I'm not a huge Star Wars fan. I mean, that's disingenuous. The original trilogy bores me to death, and the 90s ones are just laughably bad to me.

 

With that said, the Disney films are the only ones I've ever been able to sit through awake. They're fine. I think the whole franchise is drastically overrated. My kids love it, and I think that was always the intention. It's taken way too seriously and a lot of the fans take it too seriously.

 

As a story itself, I think it's less creative than a lot of less heralded franchises. But everyone has an opinion.

 

I thought the new one was fun, gave me chills at several moments. I certainly didn't think it was as bad as critics said.

 

I always think about Anton Ego from Ratatoille when I read movie or book reviews. People that get paid to do reviews and say mean things about a movie or a book or a game should never be taken seriously.

[3and2Fastball]

I thought the Rise of Skywalker was fantastic. Loved every minute of it. I’m a huge Star Wars fan and Episode 9 might’ve been my favorite. Thought it was awesome. So did my wife & teenager.

[3and2Fastball]

I thought the Rise of Skywalker was fantastic. Loved every minute of it. I’m a huge Star Wars fan and Episode 9 might’ve been my favorite. Thought it was awesome. So did my wife & teenager.

[nate82]

The only thing I didn't really like was the ending of the movie. Everything else was very Star Warsy and it was better than the Last Jedi.

[pitchleague]

As the credits rolled, I leaned in to my wife and said, "Okay, do you think they got everybody this time? I mean, this is now the FOURTH movie in the saga that, when the credits rolled, we were led to believe that the rebels got everyone."

 

Overall, it was fun, frantic, and entertaining. I was surprised that my emotions got to me several times, tears rolling down my cheek. Why? I don't really know. Maybe it was the realization that this was the last movie???

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Like I said I'm not a huge fan, but when Rey put the lightsaber behind her and Kylo grabbed it, I thought that was one of the coolest moments in the franchise.

 

My biggest gripe was Palpatine spelling out everything very slowly. "She will stab me with the saber. The ceremony will begin. I will eat a double cheeseburger" etc.

[Baldkin]

I feel as though if I sit down and watch the original trilogy (IV-VI) then I can see the entire story unfold and truly watch as Luke grows from point A to point B to point C.

 

VII to IX, feels like 3 completely different stories, completely disjointed without any overarching story or plot points. The movies just happen to have the same actors. Does that make sense?

[Invader3K]

We saw Rise of Skywalker last night. My eight year old son thought it was great. Would I put it in the category of one of the best Star Wars films? Nope, but I still thought it was a good Star Wars movie that tied together all three films fairly nicely.

 

I agree with some earlier comments that there could have been more explanations for some of the plot turns. The Knights of Ren (whoever they are) just kind of show up with Kylo, and it barely gets a nod and shrug for the entire movie. Also didn't care for the fact they shoehorned in a couple new characters but didn't really build them into anything too meaningful (though the awkward moment between Poe and the masked female at the end gave me a good laugh).

 

As far as doing things with other villains, the Hux plot turn was definitely a surprise, but then he gets casually offed in like the very next scene. Didn't care for that too much.

 

The final space battle felt a bit rushed ("Oh, they disabled that one transmitter tower thing, now we just have to go to this other thing on this ship and use a small bomb to disable it...). All the ships showing up to save the day was a pretty cool visual though, and I was glad they brought Lando back to do something.

 

As far as Palpatine, I actually liked his return. It tied together all nine films, and he actually is a very good villain. So overall, as a long time Star Wars fan, I was happy with the movie.

[reillymcshane]

I am a Star Wars fan - seen everyone of the movies (except Solo) in the theater.

 

Saw Rise of Skywalker the other day and liked the movie. Is it great? No. But it was good, and definitely worth seeing for fans of the series.

 

The film jerks around too much from place to place at times, but otherwise, my wife, son and i just had a fun time. There were a lot of nice moments, and it avoided the really bad decisions that plagued Last Jedi. There were a lot of nods to the older films, which was fun without going over the top. I also liked that (unlike Force Awakens) the film was fairly original. For the most part, I was satisfied with how things wrapped up.

 

With a franchise that is so massive it is easy to nitpick the film (and the series) to death. Are there things I wish they had done (or not done)? Sure. But as I said, I had fun at the film - which is what I wanted from Star Wars.

[TURBO]

Saw it today, loved it!

 

I don't pick apart every little thing in the SW series.

 

If I enjoyed it, and it entertained me, I like it, simple as that!

[JackNicholson1974]

Saw Episode 9 on Xmas Eve. I like/enjoy Star Wars, but I am not a crazy fan. My overall take on 9 was that it was good, leaning toward okay, but good. To me the movie was boring, but the ending was satisfying enough. I agree that the entire 7-9 trilogy would have been better had one person written the entire thing, but each episode was enjoyable enough on their own.

[folly412]

I thought it was pretty good. Have of it had to be used to essentially hit the undo button on Last Jedi, which just messed up any chance the trilogy as a whole had of being good, so about the best you could ask for. I'm curious if the rumors of JJ Abrams' 3 hour long cut are true. All of the supposed leaked details sound great, though I doubt we'll ever get to see it.

 

The Mandalorian, on the other hand, was fantastic.

[reillymcshane]

 

The Mandalorian, on the other hand, was fantastic.

I enjoyed the Madalorian as well. Very good show.

[Samurai Bucky]

Finally saw it. I agree that the beginning was a little disjunct with Kylo chasing Rey all over the place. However, it planted enough seeds for the second half of the movie...

 

Like the Wayfinder (holycron) which ties into Star Wars Rebels...

 

Like Rey pulling down the ship -- like Force Unleashed...

 

One thing that Abrams does better than any director I have seen is the ship to ship combat. The little shakes as the "camera tries to follow the ships" is very cool. He did the same thing when directing Star Trek.

 

Plenty of symbolism (thank you to the class at UW Madison for seeing more of that... I suppose). Like another poster said, there were plenty of tears, too.

 

I really liked it. One of my favorites... and I saw episode 4 when I was 8, so it has been a lifetime investment...

[A Swing and A Drive]

I also saw RISE OF SKYWALKER and enjoyed the film.

 

The ridiculous thing about the 7-9 "trilogy" is that Abrams Episode 7- THE FORCE AWAKENS was a complete fan service setup for episodes 8 and 9. Rian Johnson was handed the reins to Episode 8- THE LAST JEDI and COMPLETELY ignored not only the setup of Episode 7 but also pretty much everything in LUCAS' Episodes 1-6 as well. Nearly ruined the entire legacy of the franchise.

 

The awesome part of EP 9 and that I can't even believe that Abrams was bascially able to pull off, is that JJ returned the favor by ignoring everything Johnson did in EP 8 (besides disgracing and killing off Luke Skywalker). I didn't think it was possible, but he pretty much pulled it off. Gotta give him credit for that. EP 9 is also packed with plenty of Star Wars fan service, as well as being action packed, full throttle entertainment. I also liked how he ended the SAGA, which was a huge responsibility that he could have really messed up IMO.

 

I don't know what the hell Disney was thinking with their original plan to let different people control each of the EPISODES 7,8, and 9 without prior coordination. They needed to use more of LUCAS' original ideas and have the entire final Trilogy planned out in advance of production. The fact that they never even had a reunion of Han, Luke Leia and Chewy in the final Trilogy is a travesty IMO.

 

In hindsight, Disney should have given control of the entire final Trilogy to Jon Favreau (director of THE MANDOLORIAN).

 

THE MANOLORIAN'S first season is fantastic BTW. It captures the real STAR WARS magic of mystique and humor, with great characters, dialogue and atmosphere development.

 

I have spoken.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

There is a whole conspiracy out there about this whole thing, that Disney just milked the thing for $ and nothing else and sabotaged JJ because there are rumblings of him doing a bunch of DC films. That is the threat to their Marvel golden calf at the moment.

 

I'm basically the most anti conspiracy person there is, but when you start reading it all makes sense and is oddly specific. He apparently cringed when he saw the "they can fly now?" scene, it was only added to the film to sell flying stormtrooper toys. There are a bunch of deleted scenes that IMO make this movie better, because it has a LOT of unexplained plot holes and random things that just don't make sense. I was entertained by it and would say it was "fine" but sloppy is also a word that comes to mind.

[Outlander]

I don't know if they would sabotage JJ when they spent so much money on Star Wars but do agree it was a mess that didn't make a lot of sense with tons of plot holes. Really the worst of the new movies by quite a bit including the one offs like Rogue One and Solo.

[nate82]

The they can fly now I found as dumb as they could always do that. Going back to the clone wars series some of the clones could use a jet pack.

[DuWayne Steurer]

There is a whole conspiracy out there about this whole thing, that Disney just milked the thing for $ and nothing else and sabotaged JJ because there are rumblings of him doing a bunch of DC films. That is the threat to their Marvel golden calf at the moment.

 

I'm basically the most anti conspiracy person there is, but when you start reading it all makes sense and is oddly specific. He apparently cringed when he saw the "they can fly now?" scene, it was only added to the film to sell flying stormtrooper toys. There are a bunch of deleted scenes that IMO make this movie better, because it has a LOT of unexplained plot holes and random things that just don't make sense. I was entertained by it and would say it was "fine" but sloppy is also a word that comes to mind.

 

 

Yeah, the young black girl is confirmed to be Lando's daughter, but it's never mentioned in the film. There's a lot of things in Star Wars, especially this trilogy that get confirmed in the novels and comics. I shouldn't have to consume the other media to understand what's going on. Now.... that being said, the movies were fine as a stand-alone, but there are gaps and little things that don't make sense unless you read the novels and comics.

 

It's the same for other properties as well. I watched the first season of the Witcher on Netflix, and was somewhat confused, and someone told me "if you don't read the book or play the video game you won't get it". I shouldn't have to! Each "thing" should stand on its own. It's cool if they tie in to each other, but if I can't read/watch/play one without needing to watch or read the others, they're poorly written.

 

If that girl is Lando's daughter, it should be mentioned in the movie. Having the director tell us in an interview after the fact is poor writing. Having it be part of a story line of a comic or tie-in novel is just merchandising that I don't want to be part of. And poor writing.