Star Wars Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
Colon pls lol 
A funny thing happened on the way to the GFFA...
I... kinda liked it a lot more a second time. Since it fails spectacularly at what it should and could be, I looked at it for what it was and it's an extremely clunky, weirdly chintzy, often hacky piece of work that nevertheless comes... maybe by accident? to this amazing point of catharsis that I found really quite moving this time. And it weirdly works better as an emotional resolution of the prequels rather than the sequels...
I... kinda liked it a lot more a second time. Since it fails spectacularly at what it should and could be, I looked at it for what it was and it's an extremely clunky, weirdly chintzy, often hacky piece of work that nevertheless comes... maybe by accident? to this amazing point of catharsis that I found really quite moving this time. And it weirdly works better as an emotional resolution of the prequels rather than the sequels...
In all honesty, the roles should be reversed with TFA instead of TLJ.
Star Wars fans always manages to find gold in a trash bin.
I'm looking forward to the mental labyrinths ahead of us.
I'm looking forward to the mental labyrinths ahead of us.
Deep breath, this will be long: The Rise of Skywalker is a uniquely challenging movie to talk about, as almost anything you say, good or bad, demands an addendum, amendment, or disclaimer. SO, deep breath, one viewing in. The most crushing disappointment of The Rise of Skywalker isn't the general direction of the story, which had potential to be incredible despite some key issues, it's that it's a badly made movie.
It is a 3 hour film (at least, it has the plot of two movies) shaved into the shell of two hours and twenty minutes; a Raiders of the Lost Ark adventure that awkwardly becomes a war movie. Honestly, I think the broad story beats are...kind of good? Sadly, events unfold without care to flow, logic, let alone drama drama, with dialogue that is both strained and endlessly expositional. The visual style, terrible, is as though JJ abandoned the disciplined, patient approach in The Force Awakens, instead keeping his camera confused and hyper-active and tight, often relegating "action" to digital noise. I hope that improves outside of IMAX. That sheer lack of polish gutted me.
As for everything else, the core of the movie: it is one confused beast of a thing. It honors Rian's film in key ways; I think this is more of a response to The Last Jedi rather than a negation of it, and yet ignores or writes over an abundance of what The Last Jedi is about. Time for spoilers.
Ultimately, I don't think The Rise of Skywalker was a work of bad faith. My blame lies partly with Disney, rushing to crank Episode IX out. Remember, JJ had 7 fewer months to write the ending to all 9 movies than Rian Johnson had to write The Last Jedi. Rian had 16 months to write The Last Jedi and delayed production an entire month just to continue polishing his own writing.
JJ never had that option. They had to throw something together and execute it in a pressurized, toxic production. Not every story choice, line of dialogue or visual ideal would have improved. A lot of that rides on JJ and Terrio's failures as storytellers. BUT, The Rise of Skywalker is the skeleton of a potentially excellent Star Wars film, one that could have been developed, refined and polished into a satisfying conclusion to the saga. On future viewings, I hope my engagement with the emotion behind the intent connects with the movie this should have been rather than the one it sadly is.
-Vader
It is a 3 hour film (at least, it has the plot of two movies) shaved into the shell of two hours and twenty minutes; a Raiders of the Lost Ark adventure that awkwardly becomes a war movie. Honestly, I think the broad story beats are...kind of good? Sadly, events unfold without care to flow, logic, let alone drama drama, with dialogue that is both strained and endlessly expositional. The visual style, terrible, is as though JJ abandoned the disciplined, patient approach in The Force Awakens, instead keeping his camera confused and hyper-active and tight, often relegating "action" to digital noise. I hope that improves outside of IMAX. That sheer lack of polish gutted me.
As for everything else, the core of the movie: it is one confused beast of a thing. It honors Rian's film in key ways; I think this is more of a response to The Last Jedi rather than a negation of it, and yet ignores or writes over an abundance of what The Last Jedi is about. Time for spoilers.
JJ never had that option. They had to throw something together and execute it in a pressurized, toxic production. Not every story choice, line of dialogue or visual ideal would have improved. A lot of that rides on JJ and Terrio's failures as storytellers. BUT, The Rise of Skywalker is the skeleton of a potentially excellent Star Wars film, one that could have been developed, refined and polished into a satisfying conclusion to the saga. On future viewings, I hope my engagement with the emotion behind the intent connects with the movie this should have been rather than the one it sadly is.
-Vader
Last edited by Vader182 on December 20th, 2019, 7:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Well put, Vader. One of the better reviews I've seen to be honest.
It's too easy to blame it all on either J.J. or toxic fandom (or both) depending on your stance on TLJ. Ultimately Disney should have done better.
It's too easy to blame it all on either J.J. or toxic fandom (or both) depending on your stance on TLJ. Ultimately Disney should have done better.
Yeah all of that, this is all sortsa clumsy and bad on film level but myth-wise it makes a tonna senseArmandFancypants wrote: ↑December 20th, 2019, 6:27 pmA funny thing happened on the way to the GFFA...
I... kinda liked it a lot more a second time. Since it fails spectacularly at what it should and could be, I looked at it for what it was and it's an extremely clunky, weirdly chintzy, often hacky piece of work that nevertheless comes... maybe by accident? to this amazing point of catharsis that I found really quite moving this time. And it weirdly works better as an emotional resolution of the prequels rather than the sequels...
Can we give JJ credit for....
Honestly I like this, I have a lot of similar issues many have....Poe regressing, Rose sidelined...very rushed and messily put together first hour, the wild goose chase of a plot...etc. but the big emotional beats really worked for me honestly. Never thought I would like this more than Vader lol. Some are being too harsh with “worst Star Wars ever” etc.
Honestly I like this, I have a lot of similar issues many have....Poe regressing, Rose sidelined...very rushed and messily put together first hour, the wild goose chase of a plot...etc. but the big emotional beats really worked for me honestly. Never thought I would like this more than Vader lol.
I thought this was embarrassingly bad. Especially the editing and the video-game narrative of the first half
Even ignoring TLJ and considering it a TFA sequel, it just made me realize how Kasdan was crucial to the creation of the new characters. They all have 10x less charisma in this, are mostly exposition machines and dont start me on the humor...
Even ignoring TLJ and considering it a TFA sequel, it just made me realize how Kasdan was crucial to the creation of the new characters. They all have 10x less charisma in this, are mostly exposition machines and dont start me on the humor...
