I have feelings about The Rise of Skywalker . Before we get going here's your obligatory warning that I am going to spoil the fuck out of this movie, so be warned, etc.
RoS (Rise of Skywalker) is the final film in a trilogy of trilogies . It was written and directed by J.J. Abrams. It follows The Last Jedi, which was the brainchild of Rian Johnson. Last Jedi was basically a perfect Star Wars movie. It had real character development, subverted fan expectations, manages some very clever humor, was subtle and yet visceral. It contained the best lightsaber fight ever put on film. A small but vocal subset of fans hated it.
J.J. apparently wanted to undo everything from Last Jedi. At times it feels like he is yanking at every thread he can find. In fact, he gets so worked up that he starts yanking out stitches that he put in himself in the same movie.
let me start with what I liked (and there was a lot of it) in RoS.
It's not action packed, it's action jacked. The movie is non-stop which makes it very exciting and very entertaining. It all happens so fast that you don't have a ton of time to focus on the flaws.
The fight scenes are top-notch. They did some great work with the choreography and with putting each fight in a dynamic and beautiful locale.
C-3PO gets the love that he deserves, finally.
Ronnie James the droid with a squeaky wheel is awesome. I want him to have his own spinoff TV show.
That Emperor Lightning Fingers lives on Space Skull Island is kinda awesome.
I still love the new characters. Rey, Finn, and Poe are lovable mugs, and I like catching up with them.
Chewbacca finally gets that fucking medal. About damn time!
The death of Kylo was long coming. Glad see his emo ass gone.
Now we get to the bad - and again I warn you that there are spoilers here, so don't bitch about it later.
When we are led to believe that Chewie is dead and that Rey killed him it is a fucking gut punch. It hurts deep inside and it is a bold moment that could have set the tone for a different Star Wars movie. But then J.J. undoes it. The reveal that Chewie is alive was cheap and undercuts any real investment that we could have in the rest of the film. J.J. is going to do this three more times. He "kills" Threepio (brain wipe) which he will undo later. He Kills Kylo (three times, with the last one actually being final) and undoes it. Then, in the climax Rey is dead, but we in the audience have no reaction to this. It's anticlimactic. We would suspect that she will be resurrected. Given what we've already seen, we are certain. The film undercuts its own emotional impact.
Undoing Rey's parentage was dumb, cheap, and lazy. Making her a Palpatine makes no sense. And, it makes the Emperor's plan insane. Why go through all this crap to get her there? Why not just whisper in her ear with his force ventriloquism?
Where the hell was Rose? Why was she suddenly relegated to a minor role?
The Sith magic eightball triangles were a goofy Macguffin.
The burying of the lightsabres was confusing.
Was Han a ghost? A hallucination? What?
The Space horses seemed like a bit much, really.
In conclusion, Hoth is a land of contrasts. Thank for coming to my talk.
Star Wars: A New Hope
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