Spoilers Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - Grading & Discussion

[Campe]

I just found what they did to Luke to be incredibly cliché. I had a feeling that was where they were leading the character in TFA and hoping there was more to it. They didn’t give him a proper saber battle before they offer him.

I love what they did with Luke. At the end of the day, not only was he able to overcome his own personal stigmas and become legend (which yes, I can see why one could see that is cliche), he also did EXACTLY what we always heard the Jedi were supposed to do, but honestly, have only seen in the films with Obi-Wan in ANH.

"A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defense. Never for attack."

He utilized the Force in such a way that was able to give his sister and the one chance for freedom in the galaxy and did so in honestly the only way that would have worked. Had he been there in person, he would have been killed instantly. And in the end, he sacrificed himself for the one constant theme truly worth fighting for throughout all of Star Wars:

Hope.

But again, everyone has their opinions. This is just mine. YMMV.

 

[DigificWriter]

Something that is being revealed by the discussions and debates coming out of this film is that a lot of people didn't actually understand the point of a couple of the story decisions that Rian Johnson made with TLJ.

 

[KennyB]

Something that is being revealed by the discussions and debates coming out of this film is that a lot of people didn't actually understand the point of a couple of the story decisions that Rian Johnson made with TLJ.

Maybe not the ones you think though...........hmmmmmm.

 

[RandyS]

Something that is being revealed by the discussions and debates coming out of this film is that a lot of people didn't actually understand the point of a couple of the story decisions that Rian Johnson made with TLJ.

Nonsense doesn't need to be understood.

 

[ISS-Magnum]

Rey’s parents are still nobodies.

Emperor's son and his wife. They are basically Kate Middleton and Prince William. This is a very new definition of "nobody".

 

[Tuskin38]

Nonsense doesn't need to be understood.

It’s not nonsense

Emperor's son and his wife. They are basically Kate Middleton and Prince William. This is a very new definition of "nobody".

Nobody knew who they were. They were no one to the galactic community

 

[ISS-Magnum]

I'm specifically talking about Rey's parentage.

Yes. This was one of the best parts of TLJ.

"You are nobody. Your parents are nobody. Homeless drinkers."

This means that everyone can become a Jedi. Everyone can be a hero. Anyone can become the Savior of the Universe. Everyone can be The Chosen One.

And here the Hardcore Old School Fans just exploded:

"No! Nooooo! Not a canon! Not my Star Wars! How dare you! She's sensitive to the Force! She must be Luke's secret niece! Padme's secret clone! Yoda’s roommate’s secret girlfriend! Member of the Darth Frickintonius dynasty for 666 generations! Secret Trump and Hillary's daughter! "

JJ Abrams: OK. Got it.


I liked the movie anyway, but for me it was a pure nostalgic trip. Nothing special.


P.S.

Wait a minute ... I just realized. Rey is not Mary Sue anymore!!! She has the birthright to use the Force!
/s
/s
/s

 

[thribs]

The issue was that in TFA, JJ wrote it to look that Rey had a mysterious past. If they just told you in the first one, nobody would have had a issue with it.

 

[DigificWriter]

"You are nobody. Your parents are nobody. Homeless drinkers."

This means that everyone can become a Jedi. Everyone can be a hero. Anyone can become the Savior of the Universe. Everyone can be The Chosen One.

Nothing about this post is accurate.

 

[DarthTimon]

Did a review on my website. Copied it to here. Make of it what you will.

The Saga Ends. The journey that began with The Force Awakens concludes with The Rise of Skywalker, but does it do so in a satisfying, organic way?

Answering that question isn’t easy. My initial instinct isn’t to love the big finale, given a lot of it feels rushed and at times, laborious. As I saw on Twitter, was there no overall direction for the sequel trilogy? The Last Jedi had the benefit of a director who had inside access to The Force Awakens, but The Rise of Skywalker has had a complicated genesis, with original director Colin Trevorrow leaving the project over creative differences with Disney, and JJ Abrams reworking the story. Say what you will about The Last Jedi (this meerkat enjoyed it), it felt connected to The Force Awakens in a very solid way, whereas The Rise of Skywalker feels like it’s trying very hard to connect to the past, and is forcing (no pun intended) a lot of it.

There’s a lot to wrap up, and this includes the arcs for all the new characters, as well as the original characters. I was wary of bringing back Palpatine, and whilst the malevolent Sith Lord is always a scene stealer, his presence was also forced. It’s implied (very loosely) that he’s a clone, who has been pulling the strings from the shadows, raising questions as to why he’s waited so long before acting. I’m not convinced it was necessary to bring him back;to me, this betrayed a lack of imagination. How about a power struggle between Ren and Hux instead? How about seeing the seeds of rebellion planted in The Last Jedi germinate and grow, in response to a First Order that’s operating with a confused leadership?

There are plenty of enjoyable moments. Rey and Ren have a number of confrontations and a hefty lightsaber duel upon the ruins of the Death Star. Visually, the film is a feast. There are emotional moments (Leia provides quite a few of these). One moment in particular brought me to tears. We see more of the Knights of Ren, though they’re not especially formidable if you ask me. We do get an uplifting scene during the final battle, one that feels quite relevant as we head into an uncertain 2020.

I just don’t know. The Last Jedi gave us a unique approach, breaking the mold and defying expectations. The Rise of Skywalker tries too hard to squeeze everything back into a conventional box. Despite this, I did enjoy the film. 7/10.

 

[Captaindemotion]

Saw this movie this morning. Had low expectations on the basis of word of mouth and reviews but I enjoyed it.

FWIW, I was initially disappointed by TFA, finding it derivative and at times uninvolving but I enjoyed it more on second and third viewings. I much preferred TLJ, even though it was overlong and slowly-paced at times. However, while I didn’t necessarily agree with all Johnson’s choices, I respected that he took more chances and was keen to see where he went with it.

This one definitely felt like JJ trying to reroute it all to his original plan (if they had a 3 movie plan back in 2015/2016, which I doubt) and part of me would rather have seen where Johnson went with this part of the trilogy. However, we are where we are.

People can talk about tie-in material and the like, but when you have little of any mention of Palpatine for 2 films, then suddenly announce in the first line of the opening scrawl that he’s back, it definitely feels to me like a retcon, not to mention like they’re running out of ideas. I mean, the PT pretty much centred on his plans (he was the titular phantom menace). It actually reminded me a little of Spectre, where they shoehorned it in that Blofeld had been pulling the strings of all the villains from the last 3 Bond villains.

However, McDiarmuid is always great fun and this was no exception, even if I’m not a fan of the revelation about Rey’s parentage. On that note, Ridley and Driver were great and the kiss didn’t bother me at all - I always felt some sexual tension between them, particularly when he appeared topless to her in TLJ.

Chewie, 3PO and even Lando got more to do than I’d expected (I genuinely thought Chewie was dead in that scene) and Po got to play more of a Han type role than he has to date (and the sort of stuff I expected from him), though the chemistry between him and Keri Russell didn’t really work for me. I was sorry not to see Finn and Rose spend more time together, though he and Janna worked well.

The Leia stuff worked better than I expect, though given what they had to work with, I was inclined to be generous anyway. The supporting rebel and first order cast were all fun, especially Richard E. Grant and it was great to see Wedge back.

Of course, his return wasn’t as big a surprise as a certain other cameo. I would’ve been surprised had Luke not appeared (the catching of the lightsaber was a nice touch) but didn’t expect to see Han at all. In fact, when he first spoke and before we saw him, I thought that Luke was sounding very gruff! Loved the “I know” last line.

Would’ve been nice to have seen some of the Jedi as well as hear them but that would probably have been a bit fanwanky.

Loved the last scene.

Overall, flawed, but pretty much every star wars film since ESB has been. I prefer it to TFA but not sure if I prefer it to TLJ. I’d still rank Rogue One as my favourite of the new batch.

 

[Claudia]

Just saw it... well, it was better than TLJ but that's not saying much.

The question that remains is whether we actually needed this trilogy, whether it tells the story that was left untold after the OT - and that's a big fat No. This trilogy feels like a repetition of the OT and parts of the prequel trilogy: a force prodigy, a force disciple seduced by the dark side (and given his background the only question is whether he'll find his way back - and in this case my answer's no. Not even apparition!Han can sort of excuse what he's done, and all those llife-force transfers don't change that... that he vanishes in the end is a bit ridiculous), there's still a rebellion without any explanation what happened after Return, Luke's unlearned everything he learned in ESB and Return, and in the background we have the emperor who's holding all the strings.

Rey's background confuses me concerning the timeline: if TFA is set 35 after the battle of Yavin (which means 32 years after the Return)... when exactly did Palpatine look for her? As a reconstructed clone? But he was believed dead, so why did her parents run? Or are we meant to believe that Rey's at least 32 years old (older since she remembers her parents), therefore older than Kylo?

Leia worked well, liked her scenes. Even Obi-Wan!Luke worked for me. The Kylo/Rey connection still creeps me out, the kiss was inevitable but cringe-worthy. Poe, this time around, comes across as a bit more capable a leader, Finn's the sidekick (who has a thing for Rey but just doesn't find the right moment to tell her)... in short, I liked that the story was more straight-forward and not so fractured (and in parts irrelevant) as in TLJ. But that's not enough to make a good movie. I gave it a D.

Disney can do good movies, even good Star Wars movies with Rogue One, unfortunately this trilogy was a giant failure.

 

[BillJ]

The question that remains is whether we actually needed this trilogy...

There's not a trilogy, duology or solo movie in existence that we actually needed.

 

[Campe]

There's not a trilogy, duology or solo movie in existence that we actually needed.

Yup. All entertainment. Like it. Hate it. Ignore it. At the end of the day, it’s just a distraction from the real world.

 

[fireproof78]

There's not a trilogy, duology or solo movie in existence that we actually needed.

We don't need it at all. And I am tired of statements of need around entertainment.

The older I get the more this becomes true to me.

Also, if people are unhappy with the Sequel Trilogy (shocker, I know!) then please don't watch it. The OT is fine as a stand alone series and I can just watch it as many times as I like. The existence of the PT or the ST have not impacted by view of the OT. Like what you like and enjoy what you enjoy. There is no need here.

 

[Claudia]

Thanks for this very philosophical discussion. *eyeroll

And it's my decision if I watch something or not - as it's yours. Just accept that there are differing opinions, and not every opinion is going to be favorable. I know difficult to accept in the like-environment of social media.

The topic's rather whether the SW-universe needed another Skywalker trilogy - and yes, some stories could have been told, but not this one that's just a repetition and not new original material. That's my criticism which I've already voiced. So please, remain on topic and try to respond to opinions not on the meta-sphere but where it's actually intended.

 

[fireproof78]

The study of film, by its very nature, is philosophical. Also, we are on a Star Trek board, so I wouldn't expect anything else.

 

[ichab]

Yes. This was one of the best parts of TLJ.

"You are nobody. Your parents are nobody. Homeless drinkers."

This means that everyone can become a Jedi. Everyone can be a hero....

It took you up to TLJ to realize that?

 

[ISS-Magnum]

Nobody

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

Nothing about this post is accurate.

You are entitled to your opinion.

It took you up to TLJ to realize that?

Are we still talking about Star Wars?

 

[ScottJ85]

Just accept that there are differing opinions, and not every opinion is going to be favorable.

You have just touched upon a pet peeve of mine. Just because everyone has an equal right to an opinion does not mean it is exempt from criticism, and when you express that opinion in a public forum you are inviting public scrutiny. You can’t just say something and expect everyone to just listen politely without comment.