What was the last movie you've seen?

[marurun]

Early reviews and spoilers have concerned me that I might feel the same. I will not be seeing until later.

[MrPopo]

Star Wars 9: Rise of Skywalker

It's not a good film. I feel it will be less divisive than Last Jedi but it is technically the inferior movie. There are now more bad Star Wars movies than there should be. Please stop making them.

Counterpoint: It's a very enjoyable film and delivers on the fanservice. But I'm also inclined to enjoy things, rather than find flaws in them. So I'm of the opinion that there are no bad Star Wars movies.

[Sload Soap]

Star Wars 9: Rise of Skywalker

It's not a good film. I feel it will be less divisive than Last Jedi but it is technically the inferior movie. There are now more bad Star Wars movies than there should be. Please stop making them.

Counterpoint: It's a very enjoyable film and delivers on the fanservice. But I'm also inclined to enjoy things, rather than find flaws in them. So I'm of the opinion that there are no bad Star Wars movies.

Good for you. It's still not a well made movie. The closet comparison I'd make is to Justice League insofar as a lot of time is spent apologising for the film that preceeded it. If that's your idea of a good time then more power to you.

[MrPopo]

It didn't really spend any time apologizing for the preceding film.

[Sload Soap]

It didn't really spend any time apologizing for the preceding film.

Genuinely surprised you think this. I can't go into more without spoilers but one character's entire backstory is rewritten to go back on Last Jedi. It's like, one of the central things that drive the plot.

[MrPopo]

You must have really hated the reveal of Vader as Luke's father in Empire, then. Completely rewrote Luke's backstory.

[Sload Soap]

You must have really hated the reveal of Vader as Luke's father in Empire, then. Completely rewrote Luke's backstory.

More like if in Jedi, Yoda just went "mmm, bants it was, your father, Vader is not."

[samsonlonghair]

Alright, I saw The Rise of Skywalker. It’s another “safe” Star Wars movie like The Force Awakens. In much the same way that JJ Abram’s Force Awakens was practically a shot-for-shot remake of the original Star Wars, Rise of Skywalker is practically a shot-for-shot remake of Return of the Jedi.

I guess that’s the better option. If the choice is between running the Star Wars franchise into the ground or playing it safe, I suppose I’ll accept Disney playing it safe.

I’ll do a spoiler-tastic full review later.

[bmoc]

I saw Rise of Skywalker on Saturday. On the whole, I enjoyed the movie but that is not to say it is without flaws - there are plenty.

I consider myself to be a bit more hardcore than your average Star Wars movie goer. While I was not old enough to see the original trilogy in the theaters when they were first released, I did see them on VHS in the mid-80's. My family purchased the 1995 VHS re-releases and I wore those suckers out. I was also reading every Star Wars EU book I could get my hands on. I have read almost every pre-Yuuzhan Vong novel. I would have read those too if it weren't for life getting in the way. From the mid 90's to the mid 2000's, I played pretty much every new Star Wars video game release for better or worse. The point is, I have seen a lot of good Star Wars media and a lot of bad Star Wars media.

So where do I rank Rise of Skywalker? I sat down and though about how much I liked each individual movie (excluding spinoffs) and Rise of Skywalker ended up firmly in the middle sandwiched between Revenge of the Sith and The Force Awakens. Rise of Skywalker is a fun movie as are all the numbered Star Wars movies. I don't hate any of them and all of them are watchable to me. Rise of Skywalker's most egregious offense is being the end result of a trilogy without a plan. The Last Jedi and Rise of Skywalker seemed like reactionary movies made to address the criticisms of the film that came before them respectively. My only other criticism without getting into spoiler territory is that Rise of Skywalker has perhaps a bit too much fan service.

Say what you will about the prequel trilogy, but at least it had a plan. There was vision for what those movies would be and it was executed. This new trilogy did not have that - at all. It is like they had some vague bullet points that they wanted to check off but beyond that they were making it up as they went along. Female lead - check. Have Luke, Leia, Han, and Chewie involved in some way - check. Diversity in human characters - check. None of those are bad things but having them without a cohesive vision is ultimately what lead to a less than stellar trilogy.

I'm going to polish my crystal ball here for a second and make a prediction. I think Disney is going to look at what they are doing right with Marvel and attempt to apply that to Star Wars. The Mandalorian may very well be a preview of that. I suspect Jon Favreau may be involved in the next numbered entry to the movies considering how well The Mandalorian is doing. Ultimately, I think the future quality of Star Wars will hinge on getting a person like Kevin Feige or Jon Favreau behind the scenes in an executive producer capacity to ensure a cohesive vision is being adhered to that respects the source material.

[MrPopo]

You captured my thoughts much better than I did.