Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

[REINIER]

@JeanGrey...all valid points..But keep in mind George Lucas may have thought out this Space Opera...But it was Ralph MqQuarrie who visualised it all...and THATS the Star Wars I like... His touch could be felt throughout the original trilogy...and is sorely lacking in the final trilogy. Having Kylo Ren just randomly putting on a mask and have him remove it just as randomly is just poor storytelling. George Lucas putting in JarJar is just poor storytelling..Much storywise is wrong within Star Wars...visually there was always much to admire...this new trilogy is lacking on both accounts. The Last Jedi had way to many Resistance mumbo jumbo when it could have focussed on bringing Luke & Leia together instead of apart. The Emperor backstory could have been handled a lot better throughout this trilogy...Snoke is a lousy and lazy decoy. Having Han , Leia and Luke not sharing ONE scene throughout this trilogy is a mortal sin! These characters deserved much better plot than the end result..and yes it shows. The acting is beneath par and the whole plot could do without Poe and Finn...that's saying a lot since we got waaaaay to much Poe and Finn . They barely added to the plot and are easily dismissed. Most characters are empty filler for an empty plot, which could not be said for both the prequel and original trilogy. I am a great fan and own many a book regarding the original trilogy ..everything since is a let down. Sorry. Just stating how I feel. Bad storytelling is just bad storytelling ..

[Farerb]

The Resistance "mumbo jumbo" is nowhere
near as bad as the Jabba the Hutt "mumbo jumbo" or the ewoks "mumbo jumbo".
And the sequels story was never about Han, Luke or Leia. They are not the main characters of this trilogy and they were never meant to be.

[JeanGreyForever]

@JeanGrey...all valid points..But keep in mind George Lucas may have thought out this Space Opera...But it was Ralph MqQuarrie who visualised it all...and THATS the Star Wars I like... His touch could be felt throughout the original trilogy...and is sorely lacking in the final trilogy. Having Kylo Ren just randomly putting on a mask and have him remove it just as randomly is just poor storytelling. George Lucas putting in JarJar is just poor storytelling..Much storywise is wrong within Star Wars...visually there was always much to admire...this new trilogy is lacking on both accounts. The Last Jedi had way to many Resistance mumbo jumbo when it could have focussed on bringing Luke & Leia together instead of apart. The Emperor backstory could have been handled a lot better throughout this trilogy...Snoke is a lousy and lazy decoy. Having Han , Leia and Luke not sharing ONE scene throughout this trilogy is a mortal sin! These characters deserved much better plot than the end result..and yes it shows. The acting is beneath par and the whole plot could do without Poe and Finn...that's saying a lot since we got waaaaay to much Poe and Finn . They barely added to the plot and are easily dismissed. Most characters are empty filler for an empty plot, which could not be said for both the prequel and original trilogy. I am a great fan and own many a book regarding the original trilogy ..everything since is a let down. Sorry. Just stating how I feel. Bad storytelling is just bad storytelling ..

Ralph McQuarrie's influence and concepts were also retained for the ST btw as well as Star Wars Rebels. I don't think Kylo puts on a mask randomly at all. He's a Vader fanboy in the sense that he had no idea about his dark lineage because his parents hid the truth from him. Leia's parentage is exposed by a political enemy and suddenly the whole galaxy knows and blacklists Leia, and this means Ben finds out without his mother ever telling him the truth. Meanwhile Snoke has been grooming him since he was a child with evil voices in his head. Ben is sent away to his uncle at the age of 10 so he feels abandoned already by his parents and now Snoke is telling him that his family feared he was evil all along and they're afraid of his power and he shouldn't be. All these stories about what a great man his grandfather was and how Ben is the only one who can take on the mantle and finish what his grandfather started. So Ben is brainwashed by this and takes on a helmet as a homage to Vader. But also keep in mind that the Knights of Ren wear similar helmets and headgear so Kylo Ren, as their master, would wear something similar. He only destroys the helmet when Snoke taunts him and he wants to prove he isn't the young apprentice and budding pupil anymore. But when he is given the chance in this film by Palpatine to truly carve out his own Empire, something even Vader could never do, he's willing to don that mask again. However, Rey even calls him out on it and knows he is trying to hide behind it. Notice that whenever he's alone with her, he pretty much always removes the mask.

I never had much of an issue with Jar Jar but I agree that he was a poor decision. We had the OT for Luke, Leia, Han adventures and even when George Lucas was planning a Sequel Trilogy (in both the 80s and in 2012), the plan was always for the Sequel Trilogy to be about the next generation. In fact, even in Lucas' scripts, Luke was supposed to be exiled on an island. Snoke was literally meant to be a decoy because Palpatine was trying to hide his true return and involvement in creating the Final Order and grooming Ben into Kylo Ren. If he did it himself, Luke and Leia would have sensed him in an instant but as Snoke, he was able to accomplish all of thus under their noses. It is a pity that the OT3 never shared a scene together in this trilogy but I think it reflects real life too and how you don't always get that happy ending. There should have been a flashback scene or so with the three like JJ almost filmed for TFA.

Do you really think the acting is bad? In fact, even the strongest critics of this trilogy say that the acting is strongest in this trilogy compared to the others. Mainly because of Adam Driver but people praise Daisy Ridley a lot as well and Oscar Isaac got a lot of praise for his performance in TROS. And Mark Hamill gave his singular best performance in TLJ because if we're being honest, he was never considered much of an actor beforehand. I agree that Poe and Finn are both a bit superfluous. Part of the issue is that Poe was supposed to die in TFA and be just a minor character but he was kept on. This meant that in TLJ, there needed to be space and time carved out for both Poe and Finn, and both characters were trying to replicate Han Solo but Solo was being split in two so the same charm was not there. Also in Finn's case, the character of Finn and Ben Solo were originally combined as one character in the original Lucas drafts so this was also a case where you had a superfluous character when the two were split up. I have never been a big fan of either Poe or Finn but I will say that TROS really won me over on Poe. Oscar did an amazing job in this film and he has the second most screentime after Rey interestingly enough.

Eh, the Prequel Trilogy may not have had an empty plot (if anything it was the exact opposite, way too convoluted with no explanations. I mean TPM is all about taxes and blockades, like anyone cares or understands that) but it certainly had empty characters. Padme started off strong enough but was wasted by ROTS and killed off from dying with a broken heart. So much for the strong Queen she was in the first film. Anakin's character got so much hate and he was considered the whiniest and most unpopular character besides Jar Jar for so long. Prequel Trilogy Yoda got flack for being nothing like the Original Trilogy version (in both design and personality) and for even exaggerating his speech patterns. 3PO and R2 were just there for fanservice but had little to no roles and Chewbacca was shoehorned into the final film. Obi-Wan is generally well regarded but even his character should have been conflated with Qui-Gon Jinn's. General Grievous is considered a joke and Darth Maul had little to no lines and was killed off after a single film. The only reason he has endured so long is because of his appearance, lightsaber, and because he was the biggest part of promoting TPM which had unprecedented hype until TFA. Count Dooku is super uninteresting especially after Maul, and he's introduced by the end of one movie and killed off in the beginning of the next so he leaves little impression. The characters for the prequels are so flat and dull that it's pretty telling that none of them became part of pop culture besides Darth Maul.

[JeanGreyForever]

‘Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker’ has second-best Christmas day ever at US box office
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/26/star-wa ... -ever.html

“Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” hauled in $32 million in the U.S. on Christmas Day, the second-highest single-day gross on that holiday in box-office history.

Only “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” had a better Christmas showing, garnering $49.3 million in 2015.

“The Rise of Skywalker” has now surpassed $516 million at the global box office in its first eight days in theaters.

[Farerb]

I watched it again today and I even dislike it more than the first time. It just bored me from start to finish.

[JeanGreyForever]

I'm sorry to hear that. Do you think an extended edition with the deleted scenes would fare better with you?

#RoseTicoDeservedBetter has been trending. The director of Crazy Rich Asians even tweeted it and says that if Disney would allow him, he'd love the opportunity to do something with Rose.

[Farerb]

I don't think so. My main issue is the Palpatine storyline, which is not something they can play around with.

[JeanGreyForever]

I don't think so. My main issue is the Palpatine storyline, which is not something they can play around with.

Do you mean his resurrection or Rey's connection to him? I'm assuming the latter going by your posts.

[Farerb]

Both.

[DisneyJedi]

I personally think that Rose did get the short end of the stick in terms of character development. With how TLJ went, it was like she was built up to be someone important, but basically got demoted to cameo status in this movie. I hope they at least give her a spin-off series, but I think the guys who bitched about Rose are to blame for her now unimportant role in TROS and whatever else they didn’t like about TLJ. They wanted TLJ “retconned”, they got what they wanted.

In short, be careful what you wish for.

[Farerb]

It's Disney's fault for giving in and catering to racists and misogynists.

[UmbrellaFish]

Well, I liked it. Definitely more a casual fan— I only watched The Last Jedi last night before seeing Rise of Skywalker a few hours ago. But yeah, I liked it.

[JTurner]

Longtime Star Wars fan here, and overall I enjoyed The Rise of Skywalker. Admittingly, it's my least favorite in the sequel trilogy, but that's not to say I didn't think it was any good. On the contrary. I liked a whole lot of it. The performances were spot-on, the production values, directing, etc. all continue to be top notch.

However, I did have a few problems with this last chapter. The first act, as agreed here, was a bit too frantic and fast-paced. It wasn't terrible by any means, but I did get the feeling that the film was on hyperdrive (literally) for a good portion of that first act, what with all the jumping from planet to planet. The second half, however, absolutely nailed me to my seat. Every minute of it. My favorite bits were Han Solo and Luke Skywalker coming back from the dead. For the latter, I was especially pleased to see him admit to Rey how wrong he was for his attitude in TLJ for real, and rising his X-Wing. It felt like a very nice contrast to what we saw him as in the previous film. And of course, Han's goodbye to Kylo Ren was touching.

I will admit I did have a bit of trouble at first with Palpatine coming back from the dead; I wasn't sold on it initially, and I do want explanations on how that happened, but on the other hand Ian McDiarmid is just so damn good in the role, that watching him chew up the scenery is always a pleasure. Also, I was never bothered by Ben Solo's death. Yes, it may seem like a retread of Darth Vader's arc from ROTJ, but realistically, I couldn't see anywhere else for this character to go. After all this is a guy who basically killed his own dad, murdered innocent people, etc., I couldn't imagine him surviving beyond the trilogy. I also had zero issue with Ray being a Palpatine; I thought the ending where she chose to disregard her bloodline and take up her adopted one was very inspiring.

I too wish that Rose got more screen time in this film; I always liked her character in TLJ, and it was a bit disappointing to see her sidelined. Still, I wasn't that badly bothered by it, but I can see how some people might be turned off by that, as it does seem like a case of catering to those guys who disliked her so much.

All in all, I enjoyed The Rise of Skywalker very much and am planning to see it again tomorrow. In terms of where it ranks in this trilogy, I'd say that TFA was the best, TLJ second best, and TROS the third best. But considering that all three movies turned out to be consistently good in my book (which was something I could never say of the prequels, of which only Revenge of the Sith was good, and even then it had issues), that's still saying quite a bit. I wouldn't say this is the equivalent of the original trilogy, but it comes damn near close. I'd gladly revisit this sequel trilogy again any day.

Of course it was going to be a box office success no matter what. Unlike Solo, this was a movie a lot of people were clearly waiting to see, and from the look of things, audiences seem to be responding better to the film than the critics. Pity there are those people online who are wanting it to fail and speak badly of anything new of Star Wars; good thing I chose to appreciate these movies based on my own standards and not on anyone else's.

[DisneyJedi]

It's Disney's fault for giving in and catering to racists and misogynists.

Honestly, this is why we can’t have nice things. Because all people do is complain about anything that any Star Wars movie does. “OMG, The Force Awakens is a ripoff of A New Hope!” “UGH!!! The Last Jedi ruined Luke Skywalker and doesn’t feel like a Star Wars movie at all!!” “We don’t want Han Solo’s backstory!! We want Boba Fett’s!!” “OH MY GOD!!! YOU RUINED THE OT EVEN FURTHER WITH YOUR STUPID NEW EDITS!!!!!”

And Disney/Lucasfilm have to cater to them just to appease them. Whiny-ass bitches...

[JTurner]

It's Disney's fault for giving in and catering to racists and misogynists.

Honestly, this is why we can’t have nice things. Because all people do is complain about anything that any Star Wars movie does. “OMG, The Force Awakens is a ripoff of A New Hope!” “UGH!!! The Last Jedi ruined Luke Skywalker and doesn’t feel like a Star Wars movie at all!!” “We don’t want Han Solo’s backstory!! We want Boba Fett’s!!” “OH MY GOD!!! YOU RUINED THE OT EVEN FURTHER WITH YOUR STUPID NEW EDITS!!!!!”

And Disney/Lucasfilm have to cater to them just to appease them. Whiny-ass bitches...

Those people will never be happy no matter what. Best to ignore them.

[DisneyJedi]

Those people will never be happy no matter what. Best to ignore them.

If only Disney and Lucasfilm could do the same.

[Tristy]

It's Disney's fault for giving in and catering to racists and misogynists.

Honestly, this is why we can’t have nice things. Because all people do is complain about anything that any Star Wars movie does. “OMG, The Force Awakens is a ripoff of A New Hope!” “UGH!!! The Last Jedi ruined Luke Skywalker and doesn’t feel like a Star Wars movie at all!!” “We don’t want Han Solo’s backstory!! We want Boba Fett’s!!” “OH MY GOD!!! YOU RUINED THE OT EVEN FURTHER WITH YOUR STUPID NEW EDITS!!!!!”

And Disney/Lucasfilm have to cater to them just to appease them. Whiny-ass bitches...

Almost a bit what the live action remakes do. Catering to people who go:

"OMG! Belle suffers from Stockholm Syndrome!" "Maleficent evil because she didn't get invited to a birthday party?!!? What is this? A fairy tale or something?" "All Ariel does is trade her tail for a dude!" "Lion King isn't realistic looking enough!" "All Alice does is bitch and moan! She should be more active!"

I'm seriously beginning to hate how the internet has affected films and how people view films. I still haven't seen this movie. i may like it but even so, it does bother me that this is how big budget movies are getting made.

[JeanGreyForever]

Both.

Palpatine's resurrection at least sorta has an explanation. If you guys have questions about Palpatine's resurrection, I own the Visual Dictionary which explains or implies a lot including his connection with Snoke and how he returned. There's a lot of interesting information in there about the film in general which we don't really get answered onscreen. There's also some neat stuff that could easily lead to the return of Ben Solo.

I personally think that Rose did get the short end of the stick in terms of character development. With how TLJ went, it was like she was built up to be someone important, but basically got demoted to cameo status in this movie. I hope they at least give her a spin-off series, but I think the guys who bitched about Rose are to blame for her now unimportant role in TROS and whatever else they didn’t like about TLJ. They wanted TLJ “retconned”, they got what they wanted.

In short, be careful what you wish for.

Agreed. I know in ROTJ, Lando's role was somewhat downgraded, but he was still a major character. He was with the entire main cast for the first act of the film on Tatooine and he's instrumental for destroying the Death Star at the end. Plus, he's pictured with the main cast in the final shot of the film. Poor Rose has like 1 minute of screentime. What horrified me was that her sister, Paige Tico (who dies in the opening of TLJ) had more screentime than Rose did in TROS. Luckily, I think there's been so much noise about how Rose was done wrong and neglected that Disney will address it with a Disney+ show for her. Kelly Marie Tran has become besties with Naomie Ackie, actress of Jannah, so they could easily be in the same show together. Especially since Jannah is supposed to be Lando's daughter and Billy Dee Williams confirmed that this was not the end of his character and we'll see him again soon. So I'm thinking a Disney+ show about Rose, Jannah, and Lando...maybe Chewbacca or other supporting characters like Connix as well? Billie Lourd tends to be busy with American Horror Story and other Ryan Murphy projects, but I'd kill to see her have a more active role in Star Wars. If that's something she'd be comfortable with after her mother's passing. I know she really bonded with Kelly Marie Tran and Dominic Monaghan on set for TROS.

We didn't wish for anything bad with Rose. The people who wanted her out "wished" and got what they wanted and Disney rewarded them unfortunately. Which is why we need to make enough nose for Rose and Ben Solo so they get what they deserved from their fans.

https://www.change.org/p/lucasfilm-cont ... lo-s-story
I highly recommend signing this petition for those of you who want to see more of Ben Solo after he was stolen from us so soon. The petition is meant to showcase the love that the fandom has for Ben so Disney will consider using him for future projects

[DisneyJedi]

Belle never suffered from Stockholm Syndrome. She didn’t take crap from the Beast and hated him until he stopped acting like a jerk and started treating her with respect. Seriously, I don’t know what movie those complainers were watching, but... good grief!

[JeanGreyForever]

Well, I liked it. Definitely more a casual fan— I only watched The Last Jedi last night before seeing Rise of Skywalker a few hours ago. But yeah, I liked it.

Glad you liked it! What did you think about the ending and Rey and Ben kissing and Ben dying afterwards? Did you think it was an appropriate ending or would you have preferred something happier? Lol, good timing with TLJ.

Longtime Star Wars fan here, and overall I enjoyed The Rise of Skywalker. Admittingly, it's my least favorite in the sequel trilogy, but that's not to say I didn't think it was any good. On the contrary. I liked a whole lot of it. The performances were spot-on, the production values, directing, etc. all continue to be top notch.

However, I did have a few problems with this last chapter. The first act, as agreed here, was a bit too frantic and fast-paced. It wasn't terrible by any means, but I did get the feeling that the film was on hyperdrive (literally) for a good portion of that first act, what with all the jumping from planet to planet. The second half, however, absolutely nailed me to my seat. Every minute of it. My favorite bits were Han Solo and Luke Skywalker coming back from the dead. For the latter, I was especially pleased to see him admit to Rey how wrong he was for his attitude in TLJ for real, and rising his X-Wing. It felt like a very nice contrast to what we saw him as in the previous film. And of course, Han's goodbye to Kylo Ren was touching.

I will admit I did have a bit of trouble at first with Palpatine coming back from the dead; I wasn't sold on it initially, and I do want explanations on how that happened, but on the other hand Ian McDiarmid is just so damn good in the role, that watching him chew up the scenery is always a pleasure. Also, I was never bothered by Ben Solo's death. Yes, it may seem like a retread of Darth Vader's arc from ROTJ, but realistically, I couldn't see anywhere else for this character to go. After all this is a guy who basically killed his own dad, murdered innocent people, etc., I couldn't imagine him surviving beyond the trilogy. I also had zero issue with Ray being a Palpatine; I thought the ending where she chose to disregard her bloodline and take up her adopted one was very inspiring.

I too wish that Rose got more screen time in this film; I always liked her character in TLJ, and it was a bit disappointing to see her sidelined. Still, I wasn't that badly bothered by it, but I can see how some people might be turned off by that, as it does seem like a case of catering to those guys who disliked her so much.

All in all, I enjoyed The Rise of Skywalker very much and am planning to see it again tomorrow. In terms of where it ranks in this trilogy, I'd say that TFA was the best, TLJ second best, and TROS the third best. But considering that all three movies turned out to be consistently good in my book (which was something I could never say of the prequels, of which only Revenge of the Sith was good, and even then it had issues), that's still saying quite a bit. I wouldn't say this is the equivalent of the original trilogy, but it comes damn near close. I'd gladly revisit this sequel trilogy again any day.

Of course it was going to be a box office success no matter what. Unlike Solo, this was a movie a lot of people were clearly waiting to see, and from the look of things, audiences seem to be responding better to the film than the critics. Pity there are those people online who are wanting it to fail and speak badly of anything new of Star Wars; good thing I chose to appreciate these movies based on my own standards and not on anyone else's.

I loved reading your thoughts and I'm glad you liked the film! I agree with you about the prequels. Revenge of the Sith is the only good one and even that is super iffy and problematic with the script. George Lucas literally admitted that out of the backstory he planned for the prequels, by the time he got to ROTS, he realized 80% of what he wanted to do was left for this final film so he had to cram it all. I'm also glad to hear that the ST is pretty close to the OT in quality for you.

Since you had issues about how Palpatine returned, I could compile a post for you and others about it based on what the Visual Dictionary says about it.

Honestly, this is why we can’t have nice things. Because all people do is complain about anything that any Star Wars movie does. “OMG, The Force Awakens is a ripoff of A New Hope!” “UGH!!! The Last Jedi ruined Luke Skywalker and doesn’t feel like a Star Wars movie at all!!” “We don’t want Han Solo’s backstory!! We want Boba Fett’s!!” “OH MY GOD!!! YOU RUINED THE OT EVEN FURTHER WITH YOUR STUPID NEW EDITS!!!!!”

And Disney/Lucasfilm have to cater to them just to appease them. Whiny-ass bitches...

Almost a bit what the live action remakes do. Catering to people who go:

"OMG! Belle suffers from Stockholm Syndrome!" "Maleficent evil because she didn't get invited to a birthday party?!!? What is this? A fairy tale or something?" "All Ariel does is trade her tail for a dude!" "Lion King isn't realistic looking enough!" "All Alice does is bitch and moan! She should be more active!"

I'm seriously beginning to hate how the internet has affected films and how people view films. I still haven't seen this movie. i may like it but even so, it does bother me that this is how big budget movies are getting made.

I completely agree. Farerb made the comparison earlier about how Disney treated this film like one of their live-action remakes.