Star Wars - The Rise of Skywalker

How hard is it to close out the entire Skywalker saga, one of the most compelling storylines in cinematic history, after the mess Rian Johnson left him after the TLJ?

I don’t envy JJ Abrams.

 

It's not easy when the two directors you choose actively dislike the other's movie.

Rian Johnson undid most of what Abrams did in Force Awakens, and it appears Abrams has returned the favor for Rise of Skywalker.

Disney spent $4B with zero plan in place. Pretty amazing to think about.

 

in carbonite

 

At 9:00 PM tonight when I'm walking out of the theater with eyestrain from 8 hours of working at a computer and then staring at a movie screen? I agrees witchoo.

 

I saw an article link about Rian Johnson saying a director should eschew fan service. And then you have Abrams who gets hired for just that.

Rian and JJ Abrams, hypothetically, arms draped over each other's shoulders at a Star Wars premiere, smiling for the camera:
JJ: "Rian is a visionary. He's an artist, and he made some bold choices."
Rian: "JJ gives you that zip-pow! you first experienced in Star Wars."
(smiles fading)
JJ: "I mean, I don't know if I would've made those choices. But you can't please everyone."
Rian: "People might have pointed out that TFA hearkened back to A New Hope, more than an homage, almost a repeat...."
JJ: "Rian, my God, really? A light-saber 'mic-drop'? A mopey angry Luke? Space horsies?"
Rian: "JJ, why don't you go play fetch? Walt Disney IV likes his mocha extra-hot, with three shots of espresso, and just two pumps of chocolate. No whipped cream. Then you can **** him."
(they fight)
JJ: "Esoteric fop!"
Rian: "Hack! I HATE YOU!"

Really, in all the world, they couldn't find someone who could split the herring down the backbone?

 

Seriously Disney spent billions of dollars to build a Galaxy's edge at Disney Land that wasn't even in the damn movies, lmao. Not looking good so far.

 

Wrong. Fans want to enjoy, will take the service.

You can have twists and turns AND at the same time have a *style guide* and fun call backs.

What I don't want is *subversion* "just to be cute and you would not expect it." Being "different" "just because" ain't it.

 

I'm pretty much on the same page. While I did appreciate some of the different aspects of The Last Jedi (imagery, color, camera angles, the weaponization of light speed), I was sitting in the theater thinking, "Star Wars nerds like me have waited a long time for Luke's return to the Star Wars fold, and this is what we get? A scabbed-soul loner on an island? He takes the lightsaber and drops it? He mopes his way through the movie and then dies cross-legged on a rock on that same island?"

The problem is how hard the films over-correct. Too much like A New Hope? Give it to the subversive dude. Too subversive? Give it back to The New Hope Redux guy.

And to be fair, Carrie Fisher's death threw off everything.

But I'll see in about 3 hours and 45 minutes from now. Critics told me I was supposed to hate "Spectre" but, despite a disappointing Blofeld, I liked it fine (while knowing it couldn't match Skyfall anyway).

 

I heard Abrams just ignores the stuff from TLJ and went with what the fans wanted.

DD

 

That's probably a good idea -- seems like trying to wrap all this up in a trilogy was short sided along with the decision to write it on the fly and use multiple directors with free reign. Why not have a two part finale like so many other big franchises to address the nearly endless plot points with more depth?

 

Just saw it.

It was good. It’s pretty much nonstop action the entire time. Flows pretty well. Overall, it was a nice and tasteful sendoff for the Skywalker saga. Checked off all the right boxes for an interesting movie and goodbye for the hardcore fans. There are some things I would have done differently, but it was 800x more interesting and coherent than The Last Jedi.

 

I'm a fan of all three (7-9), enjoyed ROS - looking forward to revisit again later.

 

My wife and I just saw it.

Way way way too frenetic. No new ideas. Too many characters for too little movie. Some decent action but nothing you haven't seen before.

If you have a poor attention span, this movie is for you.

 

Perfect

 

I've enjoyed the series, and I pretty much love all Star Wars. I did love a lot of this and found it thoroughly enjoyable, but it had its issues. It was way too safe, a bit too reactionary to what some fans hated in TLJ, and didn't really breathe. Way too frantic pace, but it sure was fun.

The final scene I absolutely love, but it made me long to continue the journey. In some way this trilogy felt like an origin story, and yet the adventure ends here.

I hope, when we get the inevitable new trilogy, Disney scales back a little and concentrates on it's characters and relationships more. I don't want another epic fight for the galaxy, another Death Star, etc. Try something different. TLJ was heading down that path and it's a shame they didn't continue to embrace it. But first and foremost, create a cohesive, unifying narrative. This series definitely lacked that.

 

I liked it. It had more of the star wars vibe than TLJ.

 

I agree with you. All I wanted was something better than the Last Jedi.
The pacing was a bit too rapid but I get it.

My gripe is the Leiah scenes were awkward. Rey talking to the back of her head..

 

Just saw it. My initial thoughts are that this was awful. Need to watch again.

 

That fact that there was Leigh at was pretty amazing. We've become too accustomed to deep fake.

 

Saw it last night. Loved it! Does justice to the original trilogy! It captured some of the feelings I felt way back when Star Wars was not the prequels or ep 7 and 8.