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My Star Wars journey, lets say. Spoilers, beware.

Ardacer

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Some thoughts on the last Star Wars movie. Spoilers, so beware.



I was that kid that watched every SW movie for a bazillion times. Annoyed everyone with it. A very passionate fan, stupidly so. It was my childhood. I even liked the prequels. Well, attack of the clones was a bit weak, revenge of the sith had some flaws too, in my opinion, the biggest one being “she lost the will to live” – what kind of ass crap nonsense is that – if it turned out that Palpatine was somehow the reason for her death, that would be perfect… but whatever. I was never such a passionate fan of Star Trek. I liked it. Watched everything, but not to such a passionate degree as SW. Possibly the reason why I liked what JJ did with the new star trek films. So I was kinda hopeful for the Force Awakens.

I absolutely hated it. I went out of the premiere screening so angry and disappointed. I saw a stupidly OP Rey, that made no sense. A new hope copy paste. Death star #3. New Republic is stupid and weak. New order / empire copy paste out of nowhere, and dominating. What the hell. So so very sad. But later as time went, I said to myself, whatever. Lets see what comes next. Hopefully they did their share of nostalgia trips (and badly too… Leia and Han broke up, what the hell…), I was ready to move on. Interested to see what they come up with next, how it will develop.

Then the last jedi came. A really solid film. If it was anything other than SW. Because it raped and destroyed the inner logic of the SW universe. Luke out of character. Rey stupidly OP again, now even more so, again, no reason. Snoke – no info, dies like he’s nothing. The entire movie is the “slow chase”. Then that casino part – I wanted to leave the cinema. It was so boring, so disconnected with anything, so incredibly stupid. Phasma – the hell. Useless. So much wrong. It broke my will for anything SW. I was defeated, sad. They managed to crumble everything. RL politics could be sensed from the movie, not that much in your face, but it was there. Rose Tico bullshit with saving what we love etc. Rey is noooooobody… I kinda thought they might go with it, and it’d be great actually if she wasn’t so stupidly OP. The kylo/rey bond – very good stuff. Discarded at the end of the movie. Again, no reason. “subveeeeerting expectaaaaations”. Then Luke’s death. In a way, cool, in a way, totally underpowered. Terrible. Just awful. So sad, brokenhearted. Lost my will for anything SW related. Thought SW is dead for me. Some stuff was good, Rebels was good, Rogue one was perfect. Apparently Mandalorian series is good. Fallen order game is good, they say. Didn’t touch either. Had no will. Last Jedi broke it. Broke the universe. Was no point to invest emotionally into something that makes 0 sense. And what they broke was the inner logic, consistency of the thing I loved for most of my life.

I wasn’t going to go watch the Rise of the Skywalker. I’ve seen the spoilers. I thought, oh my God, what a shitstorm. What a terrible piece of shit, SW is already dead, they are now butchering the corpse, I’m not going to watch this. BUT. The professional critics hated it. That made me wonder. The same critics that praised TLJ. They hated the new movie. That gave me a flicker of hope. Just a tiny bit. So I went to watch the film. I’ve not been so happy since the return of the jedi.

Now, granted, JJ was given 3 kg of poo, and instructions to make a cake. And also, he already made TFA, which was cakepoop too, on his own. So it was impossible to make everything right again. I had almost no hope. I saw the opening crawl. Hell. I was sooooo angry. But continued watching anyway.

There is one thing about me that you should know. I’m an even bigger fan of the old republic era and Revan story than the regular Star Wars, the old trilogy. I have a feeling this movie drew heavily upon it. Not something that came through from reading the spoilers.

The list of what the film rectified, redeemed, and made good:

#1 Holdo manoeuvre. That thing broke SW. Thankfully, it was (very shortly) explained that it’s a one in the million stuff, something just an idiot would do. Yes. Holdo is an idiot. And apparently the force itself granted this miracle once, so .. let’s say, fixed.

#2 Palpatine is back. I thought, oh what the hell, man. They pull that, that’s just super weak. Turns out, not really, no. Sith alchemy. Cloning. Sith of old did similar rituals, and grampa Palps was supposed to be “the be all end all” sith. Apparently, he managed to somehow become the amalgamation of all the power of former sith. I think he might pull that off, and make himself a new body. Still, I made Snoke – yeah… okay. Weak. But not sure what else they might have done anyway. Him being the ultimate evil behind the shadows, even now… it just works.

#3 Rey is a Palpatine. But choses not to be. It works, it really does. Sith blood is in her. Her parents wanted to save her from Palpatine and the darkness, so they left her, probably not forever, but that ended up like that, cause they got killed off by Palps. Sith ritual that Palps wanted to do – let Rey kill him, and all of the darkness and Sith merge with her, and she IS a Palpatine after all. Sith in the past, some might ones, liked to have their children take up their mantle, their power. And in some sense, Palps wouldn’t really be killed, and all would work up well for him. This also explains the supidly OP power within her, with no training. People are not all born equal. Some are strong, some are not. She was born to be the strongest possible. The Palpatine. Equal, or maybe even stronger than Skywalker.

#4 Rey / Kylo diad

Once Rey refuses, Palps sees the bond between Ben and Rey. One not seen in centuries. Know who else had such a bond? Revan and Bastilla did. And he uses that power to revive himself. Something he could do. He’s the ultimate baddy. But his blood does flow through Rey.

#5 Rey is a Skywalker

“There are things stronger than blood”. As Luke puts it, she chooses what she is. Her choices matter, not her heritage. Very mighty message, once also true. Also, Qui-Gon, Yoda, Kenobi trained to become force ghosts. It apparently comes naturally to Skywalkers. Shouldn’t be an issue. They have special blood. They do. Like Joestars from JOJO. Or “D” from one piece. Some bloodlines are special in fantasy. As it should be. I see no problems here.

#6 Luke redeemed. Ben does things right by his father. Ben saves Rey. This is a Luke I can get behind. Those are things I can get behind. It’s all cramped, but works really well, and, well, JJ had a ton of shit to rectify. I’d say, job WELL done.

#7 Finn is force sensitive. Good. I like this. He’s nowhere near as OP as Rey. But then again, he’s not a Skywalker, or a Palpatine. He’s just your regular force sensitive dude. Took 3 films for him to begin noticing it, whereas Rey can now, helped with all the jedi’s of before, repel Palpatines darkness back at him and destroy him. In the spoilers, it said that she reflected his lightning back at him and he explodes. That is what happens. But it’s a MASSIVE understatement. She doesn’t just repel it as a mirror. The power of her blood, the massive backup from the jedi, and she barely manages to pull it off, and dies in the process. Makes sense! That makes me so happy. It finally fckin makes sense.

Many more points done right. Hidden Sith worlds in the unknown regions. Massive sith constructs, buildings, holocrons, statues. Beautiful film. I’m in love with it. All the ancient sith in the background with palps. Perfection.

My fiancée thought I loved Star Wars. Wanted to go the new films with me. I told her SW is dead for me, so no point.

I’ll take her to see the new movie. Even watch the last jedi with her.



Now, what I’d do if I were Disney… I’d hold up doing movies moving forward in the future from rise of the skywalker. The sith are gone. Dark side is defeated, for now. What they need now is something even worse than Palpatine. One thing comes to mind.

I’d very much like them to do a old republic era now. Introduce Revan and Bastilla story. Would nicely complement the rey/ben link. Introduce the main baddy of the old republic. Vitiate/Valkorion type character. They defeat him, but not forever. Banish him for a long time. He might be lurking somewhere in the dark, in the unknown regions. Waiting. The new rebellion that the rise of the skywalker sparked, the new new hope, uprisings, etc. etc… it’s great. But know what it’s as well?

War. Death. Valkorion type character feeds on it. In his galaxy. The death god. He sets his plan to kill everything in the galaxy to make himself a god in motion, once more. And new heroes, have to deal with that going forward.



I’m happy. SW rose from the dead, at least for me. The last movie rectifies a lot. It makes sense. Draws from the old republic era. I’m finally at peace.

Now please Disney, don’t destroy this newfound hope and joy. Continue with old republic, or at least, do make stuff that actually makes sense. Doesn’t matter what it is, just let it make fckin SENSE.

I can go to sleep happy now.

Thanks for reading.

Peace.

 

direstraitsfan98

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The best part of seeing the movie was the 10 minute clip of Nolan's new movie, Tenet. I happened to go see Star Wars in (3D) IMAX, and it was by far the highlight of the whole event. Movie was really poor, IMO.

But that Tenet trailer... was glorious. They had the trailer play in 70MM IMAX, it filled the entire screen and it was incredibly immersive and felt like I was falling into the screen.
 

Newk Yuler

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Imagine if Nolan had made the Abrams era Star Wars and Star Trek movies. I imagine still having an appreciation for the franchises.

Maybe but forever lost to the multiverse. :(
 
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Ardacer

Ardacer

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Imagine if Nolan had made the Abrams era Star Wars and Star Trek movies. I imagine still having an appreciation for the franchises.

Maybe but forever lost to the multiverse. :(

That'd be amazing, but no, we can't have nice things...
All in all, I think the squel trilogy is very very weak, but imho the ep 9 salvaged it from nonsense to okayish. Still bad, but a gigantic jump to better.
 

Blumlein 88

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The current Disney studio is the Sith. The darkness, the greed. It drains all movie franchises of life and sensibility until there is no more money to feed the greed. No more merchandising to be done. If only some how new heroes would emerge, to slay the darkness and return the light. A resurrection of Walt Disney himself in spirit. George Lucas created Star Wars, but I'll never forgive him for selling it to Disney. He took his own turn to the dark side. How rich did he have to be?
 

RayDunzl

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I think I saw the first one, long ago.

I tried to watch one or more of the later ones, and failed.

Spaceballs was good, though.
 

MRC01

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... George Lucas created Star Wars, but I'll never forgive him for selling it to Disney. He took his own turn to the dark side. How rich did he have to be?
Lucas also destroyed SW with the 2nd set of movies that are still the worst of the bunch. Disney resurrected SW from the dust and ashes of the ignominious death to which Lucas had resigned it. The resurrection isn't as good as the originals, but it is a step forward. That doesn't mean much since Lucas set the bar so very low. But at least now it can die a more respectable death.
 

Blumlein 88

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Lucas also destroyed SW with the 2nd set of movies that are still the worst of the bunch. Disney resurrected SW from the dust and ashes of the ignominious death to which Lucas had resigned it. The resurrection isn't as good as the originals, but it is a step forward. That doesn't mean much since Lucas set the bar so very low. But at least now it can die a more respectable death.

I agree, Lucas' 2nd set of prequels were hard to understand so bad they were. I did like the final one where we see the creation if you will of Darth Vader. As you say the bar was very low. So Disney did somewhat better than those. Samuel L. Jackson is a fine actor. I'd say blame goes on the Director's shoulders. And that would be George Lucas. I've never seen Mr. Jackson worse, and he has the ignominious honor of worst Jedi Knight ever. Worst performance of Mr. Jackson's career. It was painful to watch. I'd say the best work from Disney was Rogue One, and even found Solo: A Star Wars story to entertain without irritation.
 

Sal1950

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I haven't read the first post as I don't want it to spoil anything about the new movie for me.
As to the rest, the only one I really actively disliked was Episode I The Phantom Menace. That stupid Jar Jar Bink's character totally destroyed the movie for me and put such a bad taste in my mouth that his smaller role in E II almost did the same . I couldn't believe the producers didn't see that it lowered the movies mental level to that of 8-10 year old audiences. He is now rated as the most disliked character in the franchises history..
Beyond that I found all of the movies enjoyable on their own level. The first three set the bar very high, offering levels of CGI, etc that had never been seen before and led people to expecting to be blow away with new movie technology on each release. A very high expectation to meet. Personally I've found J.J. Abrams directing and writing to have brought a very positive effect to his movies.
I can't wait for the crowds to die down a bit and go see it at my local IMAX
May the force be with you. ;)
 

JJB70

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I thought the new movie just continued the same fundamental flaw that has become an increasingly fatal one in the sequel trilogy, namely that the bad guys are so utterly inept and keep making these ultimate weapons which can be easily destroyed.

The Empire destroyed the Jedi order and subsumed a galaxy, indicating it can't be that incompetent. The original trilogy was terrific as although it was popcorn matinee stuff it was thoroughly enjoyable with likeable (or properly evil) characters, special effects which redefined sci-fi, some of the most perfect fusions between visual image and music in cinema and good stories. With any sci-fi (I'd go further and say any movie) you have to suspend a certain amount of rational analysis otherwise the story breaks down but the original movies provided a great, immersive experience. Even in the original trilogy it was weakening by the third movie, it was enjoyable but nothing like as good as the first two.

The prequels were not very good, they go better as they went along (the first one was dreadful) and the last one was OK but crammed too much into a single film and when Anakin turned to the dark side it felt like a bit of an anti-climax.

The sequels could have been great. They had the budget, the special effects, John Williams and some good acting talent, but the stories were very weak and the illusion which allows you to just become immersed in something as absurd as Star Wars just broke down for me. The First Order can build a star killer weapon but are idiots led by a pair of spoiled brats and a dark side character that never really seemed to be used. The bad guys still haven't realised capital ships need point defence systems that can shoot down fighters (something navies had figured out in our own low tech world a long time ago. Capital ships so easy to break open and destroy with a few blasts from a fighter, and then the ultimate idiocy of "fortress" bombers flying over a dreadnought, tally ho, bombs away! Kylo Ren actually was used in the last film and developed as a character, but Hux never became more than an objectionable brat and idiot. Finn started to develop as a character in the second movie with Rose and Rey but that development never happened in the final movie. And the films felt like they were trying to do too much and rather disjointed, for example the Canto Bight sub-plot.

Then there was the return of Palpatine and a new super Sith fleet. Star Destroyers with planet killing weapons, loads of them! However, luckily theyt decide to park them all where they are completely vulnerable and, well, shucks, wouldn't you know it - one hit to the big laser on the bottom and the whole ship blows up and they still don't have point defence systems. Luckily they were parked above a world impossible to find except by half the galaxy's ships led by Lando. The first order finally got a sort of believable leader in Pryde but he was also a bit dim really.

Sorry if my opinion is the odd one out in this, but I just found the prequels crap. There were some magnificent visuals, and episodes within each of the three movies that were superbly done, the music of John Williams is as terrific as ever, but ultimately if you sit in a movie just identifying all the logical flaws and absurdity and cannot just become immersed in the story then it has failed.

I am not sure if it as simple as blaming Disney. Rogue One was made on Disney's watch I think and I'd rate that as the best of the Star Wars movies, that was a story I did get immersed in and the characters were all very well done. Even Solo was an enjoyable heist movie which if not great art was good, solid entertainment. I think the problems are down to JJ Abrams stories and film making.
 
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Ardacer

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Yep, all valid criticisms. I was just blown away by just how much better the last movie was than I expected. Well... I expected a total disaster, but not only was it not one, it ended up incorporating the former 2 (actually even 7) movies into one cohesive plot. It's still bad and sad and could have been so much more, but it isn't a tragedy, nowhere near... as it seemed it's going to be after 8.
 

raif71

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I had palpitations seeing the rise of skywalker. Imo, it is kinda hectic. Felt bad for hux :)
 

MRC01

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I saw the latest movie last night. I thought was good but not great. The storyline was an OK wrap-up, though many scenes were recycled from prior movies, but the acting & dialog were uneven: compelling in some scenes, cheesy in others.

For the sake of the franchise, I hope the movies end here. They've already had quite a bit of repetition in the story line so far. Now is their last chance to end it with some artistic integrity still remaining.

PS: I guessed correctly on the ancestry of Rey. It was a simple process of elimination - who else could it have been? Sometimes even a blind squirrel finds a nut!
 

Sal1950

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For the sake of the franchise, I hope the movies end here. They've already had quite a bit of repetition in the story line so far. Now is their last chance to end it with some artistic integrity still remaining.
Haven't seen the new movie yet but I disagree on your request to end the movie lineup here.
Keep em coming forever, work hard to do what I expect from a Star Wars production. Bring the latest and best CGI, special effects, sound effects, etc, etc. They should be a tour de force of movie making technology. I want to get excited and have my jaw drop like it did in the first movies "bar scene" or the sound of the star cruiser flying over my head from back to front as it appeared on the screen. This is what I expect and am looking for when I go to see these films. Same same for the Star Trek franchise, I hear they have kissed and made up any issues there were with Chris Pine, I sure hope so. Dang it Chris, just shut up and act, that's your job, to produce product for the fans. Don't get all prima-donna'd out and whine about getting pigeon-holed or whatever. You make millions of dollars for play-acting like we did as little kids for fun.
These actors and producers give me a big PITA
Long time ago, in a galaxy far far away ----------------
 

FrantzM

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Hi

I'll probably go watch the last install... no longer a Star Wars fan... I , however, love SciFi, read and watch it avidly. Much can be said about Star Wars , it is not however great SciFi. For my tastes the current "The Expanse" series, "Altered Carbon". "Stranger Things", Dark, even Lost in Space are must see/watch
 

Blumlein 88

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I never much cared for the Expanse. Maybe it has improved since the early few shows. I do like Altered Carbon, and some of the other current shows. Hope Altered Carbon continues sticking close to the books.
 

raif71

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Haven't seen the new movie yet but I disagree on your request to end the movie lineup here.
Keep em coming forever, work hard to do what I expect from a Star Wars production. Bring the latest and best CGI, special effects, sound effects, etc, etc. They should be a tour de force of movie making technology. I want to get excited and have my jaw drop like it did in the first movies "bar scene" or the sound of the star cruiser flying over my head from back to front as it appeared on the screen. This is what I expect and am looking for when I go to see these films. Same same for the Star Trek franchise, I hear they have kissed and made up any issues there were with Chris Pine, I sure hope so. Dang it Chris, just shut up and act, that's your job, to produce product for the fans. Don't get all prima-donna'd out and whine about getting pigeon-holed or whatever. You make millions of dollars for play-acting like we did as little kids for fun.
These actors and producers give me a big PITA
Long time ago, in a galaxy far far away ----------------
Wow...that's good news for Star Trek Fans!! Imo, Chris PIne is the perfect young Capt Kirk. I don't think he was doing the prima-donna thingy ... Just give the guy his due coz it's win-win for both actor and studio :)
 
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