Thought I'd kick off one of these in the off topic boards to avoid distributing spoilers for those who are trying to avoid them.
SPOILERS AHEAD READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!!
[spoilers] Episode IX discussion [spoilers]
So I wanted to give my thoughts on the movie.
I enjoyed it, Star Wars night is always a blast and it had a lot of fun moments as well as some exciting fights... with that said though I will say there are a lot of things I'm critical of.
I was okay with the idea of Ole Papa Palpatine returning but I was surprised at the lack of nuance they used to bring him back. Opening crawl essentially starts with just saying, hey, he's back. I understand with time constrictions they need to condense information, especially if the film is busy already (which I feel the film is VERY busy), but it couldn't have taken more than 15 minutes to convey this message more organically. For instance, have the opening crawl pan down into a small fleet skirmish, rebel aces fighting a resurgent class over some planet. Poe/Finn/Chewie in the Falcon doing their usual heroics. Kylo shows up, creates a little conflict, blows up some aces. Switch to Rey, doing her training, reaching out with the force, suddenly has a vision of the darkside throne blah blah blah, disturbed by this she goes to run the course, switch to Kylo, who, while fighting the rebels in his starfighter hears Palpatine calls out to him through the force "something something I finally found you.." A message plays on all frequencies shown from the view of Kylo, Poe, Leia receiving it. It's Palpatine declaring his return and the return of his Empire.
From there a little dialogue between Kylo, Pryde and Hux about finding Palpatine. Then follow Kylo and the rest of the film as it is.
IDK, it's a nitpick but it's really bad conveyance.
I was a little disappointed that JJ went back to planet destroying weapon.
I get it, that's a scary thought, but it's so **** inconsistent. If Palpatine had ISD Is fitted with planet destroying weapons, why even build a death star? Why build a death Star II?
I enjoyed the fight scenes. The new force powers were interesting. Being able to touch each other through time/space was neat. Though I will say I'm not impressed with the introduction of "life force" but I feel that was added just to lay the foundation for the rumored Old Republic trilogy they "plan" on making.
It was neat seeing the new Sith emblem on screen a few times. I think it bodes well for the rumored Old Republic trilogy too.
As I said before it felt really busy to me. I feel like they could have simplified the story quite a bit.
I'd rank this movie 5,4,6,R1,3,8,7,9,1,2
Nobody talked about sand and there was no Jar Jar so it's not bad, but it was busy and missed the chance to tell a more unique star Wars story.
Spoilers
Episode 7: Rey's parentage is a mystery and she is powerful in the Force. We'll leave that thread open for now because it isn't important to the plot of this movie, and it'll be revealed when appropriate.
Star Wars Fans: "That's so dumb! We need an explanation on of her parentage now!
Episode 8: Rey isn't from any important bloodline, proving that anyone can rise to the role of hero without being part of a galaxy-famous family.
Star Wars Fans: "That's so dumb! No one could possibly be a powerful Force user unless they're a Skywalker or Kenobi or Palpatine or *insert crazy bloodline theory here*. That's just the way we say it is.
Episode 9: Fine. Rey is a Palpatine. That's why she's so powerful in the Force. That's the explanation you fans have been begging for. Happy now?
Star Wars Fans: "That's so dumb! Why would you go with such a dumb explanation! There's no way she could be a Palpatine. That doesn't make sense!
Proceed to me hitting banging my head on the desk as Star Wars fans continue to ruin Star Wars.
Edited by Derpzilla88Frustration quips aside, I really liked the movie. By the end of it I got a very good sense of closure. There was a lot packed into this movie and it did start to feel long but I enjoyed the ride from beginning to end. It looked good, it was fun to watch Rey, Finn, and Poe all working together as a team for the first time, we finally got explanations for almost everything the fanbase had been demanding to know, and by the end I felt like I had a true conclusion to the Skywalker Saga.
2 hours ago, Derpzilla88 said:Spoilers
Episode 7: Rey's parentage is a mystery and she is powerful in the Force. We'll leave that thread open for now because it isn't important to the plot of this movie, and it'll be revealed when appropriate.
Star Wars Fans: "That's so dumb! We need an explanation on of her parentage now!Episode 8: Rey isn't from any important bloodline, proving that anyone can rise to the role of hero without being part of a galaxy-famous family.
Star Wars Fans: "That's so dumb! No one could possibly be a powerful Force user unless they're a Skywalker or Kenobi or Palpatine or *insert crazy bloodline theory here*. That's just the way we say it is.Episode 9: Fine. Rey is a Palpatine. That's why she's so powerful in the Force. That's the explanation you fans have been begging for. Happy now?
Star Wars Fans: "That's so dumb! Why would you go with such a dumb explanation! There's no way she could be a Palpatine. That doesn't make sense!Proceed to me hitting banging my head on the desk as Star Wars fans continue to ruin Star Wars.
It's funny. I've gone with the same few people for all 3. At the end of TFA I said to my mate, "This is a Kylo redemption story. They fall in love, Rey turns him, he dies." Word for word. Imagine my surprise when JJ doesn't deviate from the plan. lol He turned to me mid movie, "Well, you were right..."
8 left me with high hopes for 9, I enjoyed the movie but I am sad to see the series slip back to it's usual tropes.
While I was watching it, I wasn't sure if I was loving it. But I never thought that it was dragging, and when I was part way through I thought how glad I was that there was so much of the movie left. When they were celebrating the victory, I was hoping there was more. After the last scene, I was reluctantly willing to say it was finished.
The great surprise (for me): All the Jedi voices giving encouragement to Rey. A great touch.
Bottom line: It's a good thing when you exit a 2.5-hr movie and didn't think it was too long, and just before the end you didn't want it to be finished.
20 minutes ago, Darth Sanguis said:It's funny. I've gone with the same few people for all 3. At the end of TFA I said to my mate, "This is a Kylo redemption story. They fall in love, Rey turns him, he dies." Word for word. Imagine my surprise when JJ doesn't deviate from the plan. lol He turned to me mid movie, "Well, you were right..."
8 left me with high hopes for 9, I enjoyed the movie but I am sad to see the series slip back to it's usual tropes.
If the fans would have just let the story the directors wanted to tell be told, instead of whining about the sequels for the last five years, we could have gotten something truly special out of Episode 9. Instead, I agree with you that we did slip back into usual tropes, even if that's Star Wars's thing. It didn't take away from my enjoyment of the movie at all, but he left me wondering what could have been if the movie didn't try to appease all the loud, angry voices of the fandom.
I've hit my breaking point with the Star Wars fandom the last few weeks though in the lead up to Episode 9. So I'll keep all other posts on this about the movie and not "anti-SW fandom" from here on out.
Side note, I'm actually more excited to go see the movie the second time than I was the first. I think I mentally drained myself too much before going to see Rise of Skywalker. I had come home from work, rapid watched through Episode 7 and 8 (because I wanted to do my nerd-bound duty to watch through all the saga movies before seeing episode 9), then drove to the theater and went right into Episode 9.
So I blitzed through the entirety of the sequel trilogy in the span of 8-ish hours right after work. That left me a bit exhausted watching through Rise of Skywalker. I'm looking forward to seeing the movie when feeling a bit more refreshed and had some time to think on everything I saw the first time.
It has a really awful beginning. Given the open crawl and the meaningless following scenes I almost even would have prefer to jump into the festival. I agree with @Darth Sanguis . It was a basic lesson during my screenwriting classes: show it, don't tell it. An actual scene of Palpatine coming back instead of a wall of text telling so would have be better.
From the as t point at least it becomes better, not to a "it's great" point but to a "it's satisfactory" at least. At the end the movie is fun and I enjoyed it. What is much more than what I may say about TLJ. I know Darth Sanguis like it but to me it's completely crap and boring as **** despite some cool scenes.
I actually really enjoyed it. They tugged the nostalgia heart strings strong, but as a person who grew up with the OT I really appreciated the throwbacks. PS has anyone done an inventory of all the Rebel/Resistance ships present in that final battle? Looks like we have plennnntttyyy of source material going forward for Armada
Omg the beginning was so bad I had to stop. Hyperspace Skip? Am I watching Futurama or Star Wars? I can't tell anymore. Such a mismanaged property, so much wasted potential. Where are my West End Games sourcebooks when people that cared wrote the stories?
Poe should have been a great character but the writing is so bad the actor can't make any headway. Rey's wooden delivery is not stoic it's bland and boring. JJ traded in lens flares for strobe lights really growing as an artist!
In summary: Wizard of Oz Star Wars Edition. If only the director(s) had a brain.
I was very meh about ep 9. Honestly it's felt well lazy. Not bad not good just meh. I don't like JJ s style, the script felt like it was just there and it had to be followed not that it was a telling of the actions and deeds of the characters in question. I wanted more honestly, but i wasn't angry I saw it, just that I really don't care to see it again. Its no rouge one.