Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker

WorldForgot · December 20, 2019, 12:38:41 PM

Spoiler: Show

wilberfan · December 20, 2019, 06:13:33 PM

Quote from: Jeremy Blackman on December 20, 2019, 01:49:51 AM
Spoiler-free review:

...it has some great moments.

SPOILERS

Spoiler: Show Hide
They tried for propulsiveness, but what they got was suffocating. It's all perfunctory and chopped to pieces. Nothing has room to breathe. I just wanted a scene with a character talking to someone and having an emotion for a minute.

I'm not a fan of the numerous fakeout deaths. How do you explain the one with Chewy? "He must have gotten on a different ship." Really?

The one that I did like was the unspoken (but clearly demonstrated) message of compassion. Rey heals Ben, in a purely selfless act, which opens him to the light and the spirits of his parents, and he is then fully turned. Which allows him to return the favor. This 100% worked for me.

As dumb and cheesy and telegraphed as it was, I actually really liked the ending. She has to overcome her problematic heritage, choosing her own identity (Skywalker) and forging her own destiny. Does feel properly Star Wars.

Yup.

Sadly underwhelming after investing 42 YEARS (2 1/2 hours at a time) following this saga. Unless they can somehow reclaim the magic of the original trilogy, I don't see myself spending any more time (or money) in this galaxy far, far away. Perhaps I can take solace in the fact that I'm not nearly as disappointed as George must be.

Alethia · December 20, 2019, 07:24:24 PM

Quote from: wilberfan on December 20, 2019, 06:13:33 PM
Perhaps I can take solace in the fact that I'm not nearly as disappointed as George must be.

wilberfan · December 20, 2019, 07:41:07 PM

That's hysterical. That can't possibly really be George, but fuck does it look like him. They shot it in front of my local AMC, too.

[edit] ( Ah. Darth Deepfake strikes again... *shakes fist* )

Drenk · December 20, 2019, 07:43:32 PM

That's a deepfake, wilberfan. The person impersonating Lucas probably doesn't even look remotely like Lucas. A proof that the next decade is gonna be bonkers.

But we're in 2019. And I had a great laugh watching this video.

Jeremy Blackman · December 21, 2019, 11:13:12 AM

(Mild spoilers)

I keep thinking about the breathtaking moments that I absolutely love in this film, and I desperately wish they made any gosh darned sense. Most of the big moments (especially the big character moments) do not hold up to the mildest scrutiny, or they have some self-sabotaging complication or reversal. There are a few very good ones that survive the film, but ultimately that's not much to hold on to.

This is also arguably the most poorly-edited Star Wars film. Say what you will about Attack of the Clones, for example—and it's an objectively terrible movie—but at least it allows its characters to stop and have a conversation on more than two occasions. Rise of Skywalker fails its characters in ways I didn't even imagine were possible.

Also, this is cute:

Alethia · December 21, 2019, 12:16:08 PM

I cannot get enough of these. His laugh cracks me up.

Jeremy Blackman · December 21, 2019, 11:11:54 PM

I guess this is a twitter roundup post.

Post-TROS release, Rian Johnson has only tweeted about Star Wars once:

https://twitter.com/rianjohnson/status/1208493658334486528

Getting ready for next week:

https://twitter.com/cevangelista413/status/1208609162969731072

SPOILERS

Lindsey Romain, who I tend to agree with a lot, wrote a searing article about the choices made with Rey's heritage (here). My favorite part:

QuoteAnd let's go back and examine what Kylo says for a moment: "They were filthy junk traders. Sold you off for drinking money. They're dead in a pauper's grave in the Jakku desert. You come from nothing." In the text of the film, we realize that he's reading her mind, saying aloud what she fears and assumes. But in The Rise of Skywalker, he tells her he never lied to her and that everything he said was true. So what about the drinking money thing? That part was objectively a lie, and one the film never references or contends with.

What an absolute dishonor it is to the story to present something that profound and neglect it right away. There's a beautiful message to make of something like that. That children from broken homes and troubled families who never felt loved can still have strength and be heroes. That you can come from nowhere and still be important. That the Force chooses the most worthy, not the person with the most genetic relevancy.

What's worse, the decision seems to have been made simply to "up the ante":

WTF. Did they both completely misunderstand The Last Jedi? The point of that revelation in TLJ was not solely to devastate Rey. It's cathartic, too, because it allows her to forge her own way. The fact that they return to that theme of Rey forging her own way after undermining the revelation that enabled that... is just a poor storytelling choice.

Seriously though, why did they hire the failed DC cinematic universe writer for this film? Chris Terrio is just awful with big character choices like this. I know people are blaming JJ, and he deserves some blame, but I have no doubt he's responsible for the cooler stuff. Such as:

https://twitter.com/lindseyromain/status/1208598880805367808

ForTheHungryBoy · December 24, 2019, 12:26:24 AM

Objectively a horrible story/trilogy... that said...

This movie was mindless fun that went to hypernormalisation levels to give shine to nearly every big aspect of the past movies. Just a surreal thing to watch and wonder afterwards: What was the point of this trilogy, and is there any hope for the future?

I did like this visually way more than TLJ. It simply felt more Star Warsy, and not the Hunger Games... Narratively, it's technically worse, but I disliked so many places TLJ took the story, this was more comic disbelief than dislike.

Drenk · December 24, 2019, 08:06:07 AM

It's comically senseless, yes. I was laughing. My brain was hurting, because of the "story" and the nauseating editing. But I can imagine being 7 and finding all of it cool. Unfortunately, I'm not 7.

Spoiler: Show

©brad · December 24, 2019, 08:22:13 AM

Given it was a JJ Abrams joint, were there lens flares and if so how flarey were they?

Jeremy Blackman · December 24, 2019, 11:10:01 AM

Quote from: ©brad on December 24, 2019, 08:22:13 AM
Given it was a JJ Abrams joint, were there lens flares and if so how flarey were they?

I actually do not remember a single lens flare. So perhaps nothing egregious.

polkablues · December 24, 2019, 03:33:51 PM

Quote from: Jeremy Blackman on December 21, 2019, 11:11:54 PM
SPOILERS

Lindsey Romain, who I tend to agree with a lot, wrote a searing article about the choices made with Rey's heritage (here). My favorite part:

QuoteAnd let's go back and examine what Kylo says for a moment: "They were filthy junk traders. Sold you off for drinking money. They're dead in a pauper's grave in the Jakku desert. You come from nothing." In the text of the film, we realize that he's reading her mind, saying aloud what she fears and assumes. But in The Rise of Skywalker, he tells her he never lied to her and that everything he said was true. So what about the drinking money thing? That part was objectively a lie, and one the film never references or contends with.

What an absolute dishonor it is to the story to present something that profound and neglect it right away. There's a beautiful message to make of something like that. That children from broken homes and troubled families who never felt loved can still have strength and be heroes. That you can come from nowhere and still be important. That the Force chooses the most worthy, not the person with the most genetic relevancy.

I wish I could find where I read it, but someone wrote that the lineage twist (I haven't seen the film yet, and probably won't for a long time, but I've read all the spoilers) makes the whole trilogy a story about "the Kennedys and Bushes" of the Star Wars universe. For a series that's ostensibly about a revolution against elite rule, it's leaned hard into the theme that being born into special circumstances is what makes you special.

Jeremy Blackman · December 25, 2019, 09:14:15 AM

Spoils:

Today I learned that Poe has a completely different and arguably conflicting backstory in his comics, which are canon. Not a "spice runner" at all.

Such a lazy choice attempting to make him a Han Solo clone in this. They even attempt a Han/Leia banter with him and Rey. It doesn't work, because they quite literally met at the end of TLJ, and they get zero meaningful scenes in this film.

Jeremy Blackman · January 03, 2020, 05:51:06 PM

Spoilers

My TLJ rewatch reminded me of this, the biggest plot hole in ROS, which is in fact a big crumbling and ever-growing plot hole at its already crumbly core:

In The Last Jedi, Luke absolutely and very sincerely has no idea who Rey is. His first turn, in fact, is all about curiosity. Who is she? Why is she drawn to Jedi things? Remember we see that puzzlement from his exclusive POV; he's not putting on a show for Rey. And there's a darkness? Whoa, how can that be? This doesn't make sense, and it frightens me!

What's done in ROS is a full-blown retcon. Luke is like, nah girl, we always knew you were a Palpatine. I mean, I very convincingly pretended to be puzzled by you, sure. And Leia weirdly encouraged you to go on a journey of self-discovery, even though that would lead you straight to the Emperor. We all knew, literally all of us, but we thought it would be rude to warn you.

Forget all the other middle fingers to TLJ, this one is massive.