JJ Abrams is that guy who is solid and releases good enough popcorn flicks with pretty visuals, but i never go back to watch anything he ever makes. I never leave the theater hating his stuff, but i never care to watch it again. Nothing he makes ever connects with me. It's always just too safe. I appreciate that Rian Johnson tried something out of the box even though he failed for the most part, and getting JJ in for the final movie felt like such a producers choice to not make the best possible standalone film, but to try and right the previous films failures and just try and safely land the ship. TFA and TROS both feel like his Star Trek movies, of which Star Trek fans thought it felt too Star Wars like. All i feel right now, is kind of angry that we'll never know what JJ Abrams 2nd film would have been like and how it would have changed the final film. Should have just stuck with 1 guy and 1 vision for the entire trilogy. Now everything is all messed up because of Disney's greed to get profits ASAP instead of taking their time writing the best possible trilogy. That's where it all went wrong. Not their risk in giving Rian all control. It didn't work out, but they had the right idea in doing that, just not for a 2nd film. Should have started the trilogy with that risk. I'd much rather see George Lucas's original plans for the final trilogy on the Whills. It sounded like a total trip and something completely different and original. Hate on the Prequel Trilogy all you want, but at least George tried to do something fresh and different. He just messed up by surrounding himself with yes men with no backbone to say no to him and some terrible casting choices. And also blame Stephen Spielberg, who denied Georges offer to direct the entire Prequel Trilogy, and instead insisted and convinced George that he had to do it himself as it was his "baby." Let me see this: "George Lucas explained that he intended the Whills to be microbiotic beings who fed off the Force and controlled the entire universe. They were capable of creating certain destinies for people, such as the Chosen One prophecy." “[The next three Star Wars films] were going to get into a microbiotic world. But there’s this world of creatures that operate differently than we do. I call them the Whills. And the Whills are the ones who actually control the universe. They feed off the Force.” “If I’d held onto the company I could have done it, and then it would have been done,” Lucas said. “Of course, a lot of the fans would have hated it, just like they did Phantom Menace and everything, but at least the whole story from beginning to end would be told.”
Best Star wars movie since empire strikes back. You got to watch it with the bbox seats. JJ Abrams knows how to make a Star wars movie point blank
so saw it twice within 24 hours lelz. it doesn't have the rewatchability factor like other epic movies, but it was necessary for me since my first watching had too many distractions causing me to miss huge chunks of it and leaving me confused. i miss all the jedi and super power stuff since mandalorian and other side movies were lacking them. my thoughts Spoiler - wished the showdown between rylo ken and the rens were more epic. instead we got loser rylo who was nothing without his saber, while he went godmode as soon as rey gave him hers - how come when all other jedis die, they immediately disappear into the force, but rey didn't? but then rylo dies and disappears. and why did leia wait until rylo dies to disappear too? - rey should have gotten up and said "i can do this all day" after palpatine knocks her down - hey that's the hobbit from lotr! his part was inconsequential here - what could be more overused, typical, and tiring than a good guy falling off some cliff... action ends, then we see his hand grabbing the edge of the cliff as he triumphantly comes back from the dead? - what does this have to do with baby yoda?
The problem is that star wars has gotten way too meta. The entire point of this movie was to turn rey to the dark side. The fanboys of star wars seem really only yo care about How every little side narrative is handled and they don't care about rey's journey at all. Seriously, go through this entire thread and not one person who doesn't like the movie will mention this as a reason. It will be all meta. I like JJ Abrams because he knows how to make is about the story and not about the meta.
lol. Fair points. To be fair I think Jedis should move how Rey and Kylo did. When I was a kid I thought Luke was a superhero. The “high ground” stuff is just more prequel comedic writing.
Did they explain why rey stole bbw from po at the end? What's he doing there with her. That's not her droid
Right. But that was more of the writing's fault. A lot of the attacks were personal. I don't think she deserved that
Saw it on Christmas Eve. Thought it sucked, but not as bad as other sucky Star Wars movies. In comparison to The Last Jedi (which was much worse)... Rise of Skywalker didn't write the characters as poorly and didn't have as many elements that were poorly thought out or were just plain stupid. No, the Rise of Skywalker sucked because it was entirely too predictable and too cliche. I mean, really, it's like they took every Star Wars cliche, added every standard Hollywood/Disney fodder to it, and called it a movie. Remember when James Bond movies had so much cliche crap in them that they just weren't enjoyable any more? It's like that, but in Star Wars. As with many other Star Wars movies, there were some elements in this movie that I liked very much. But unfortunately, they weren't strong enough to carry the movie through its crappy parts. ... and now, for my spoilers.... Spoiler Me watching Rise of Skywalker: Movie: Chewbacca is dead Me: I bet he's not really dead Movie: Surprise! Chewbacca's not really dead! Movie: C-3PO's memory gets erased Me: I bet they restore it from a backup Movie: Surprise! They restored his memory from a backup! Movie: All of the good guys were sucked down in quicksand! Me: I bet they survived by falling into a tunnel, where they find what they're looking for Movie: Surprise! They fell into a tunnel, where they find what they're looking for! ...oh, and... Quicksand! How old is this Hollywood cliche? Movie: Palpatine threw Kylo Ren off a cliff Me: I bet Kylo isn't dead, and comes back Movie: Surprise! Kylo isn't dead! He's back! Me: Oh, dear God, please don't let Hollywood/Disney make Rey kiss Kylo... They're setting it up like they're about to kiss... please, no.... Movie: Rey kisses Kylo Me: uuuugggghhhhh Me: Oh dear God, please don't tell me that Abrams has fabricated a backstory where Leia got trained to be a Jedi Movie: Surprise! Leia trained with Luke to be a Jedi! Me: uuuugggghhhhh Movie: "I've got a bad feeling about this" Me: uuuugggghhhhh Are they really going to put that line into EVERY Star Wars movie? Would you like a vodka martini with that? (Shaken... not stirred)
Palpitine: The dark side of the force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural. Presumably he speaks of bringing back the dead to life (which ultimately induced Anakin's fall to the dark side because of his fear of Padme's death). Spoiler Yet, with Star Wars The Rise of Skywalker, we are witness to the Jedi using force heal to the extent of actually being able to bring back the dead to life. If only Anakin had researched the light side of the force just a bit more, how much of Palptine's shenanigans could have been avoided...?
I enjoyed it. I was concerned after TLJ that I wouldn't. JJ had tons to overcome and explain away in order to close this thing up with some modicum of consistency and relation to the 7 movies of this series not named TLJ.
Like others have said - JJ had to wrap up the series and fix whiffs from the previous. As such he steered the ship just fine. Finn’s character did seem to be wasted, but I credit that to incongruity at the director position with two separate tales being told - and Poe’s development falling by the wayside among the myriad of other issues that needed to occur to successfully wrap the series. now Roses character totally threw me for a loop. So out of place and just a crappy plot development mechanism.
It was hilarious how Greg Grunberg's fat X-Wing pilot had more screentime than Rose. Kathleen Kennedy needs to get the boot, and hopefully Rian Johnson's planned trilogy fades away into the night.
I had to thank you for your post because we seem to be in the minority here in our correct assertion that this movie sucked ass. And not in the good way. I mean, given context..... TLJ introduced Rose. What did Rose do in this movie? Jacks***. This new movie introduced two new female characters. What did we feel about them when the movie ended? Jacks***. Maz Kinata, whatever her name is, what was her role in this movie? Jacks***. What did they do with Poe? Jacks***. What did they do with Finn? Jacks***. What was the explanation for the Emperor’s return? Jacks***. Big-time wasted opportunity.
I agree Disney's error was a lack of cohesive vision from beginning to end, but I'm more frustrated that we didn't get to see where Rian Johsnon (or another similar director) could have taken ROTS, following the same path TLJ set. Let's be honest, JJ Abrams' version of Ep 8 would be to Empire Strikes Back as FA was to A New Hope and ROTS was to Return of the Jedi. I was talking with some of my buddies today, and we were all lamenting the missed opportunity in this last film. Last Jedi had some truly powerful, complex and compelling moments. That Rey's parents were "nobobies" in the TLJ, that your lineage doesn't matter if you are to make a difference was such a powerful theme and was almost completely undermined in Ep IX. That we didn't get to fully explore the relationship, duality, and inner conflict of Rey and Kylo is a shame. Sure, we had of that scattered across the trilogy, but that should have really been the focus. This trilogy should have been a bookend to the original, much like the prequel was, in establishing and following Anakin and his transformation to Vader. The sequel trilogy should have been laser focused on Kylo and Ren and how the dismantling of the Empire affected the galaxy and the future generation and the last of the Skywalker line. We didn't necessarily need another "big bad" like Snoke or Palpatine or whatever because they had one in Ben. We didn't need another fight to save the Galaxy from the Empire, err New Order, but rather a fight to clean up the mess left from a fractured Empire and a fledgling New Republic. Next planned trilogy, I don't want safe, I want something interesting, something creatively fresh, but something still definitely Star Wars. And something, most importantly of all, that is well planned out. Here's hoping Kevin Feige is still on-board, and that maybe he supplants Kathleen Kennedy. Would love for him to do for Star Wars what he has done for Marvel.
