I was originally going to post this on the Movie Rant/Review thread, but I think there is enough potential for discussion on this one that it deserves its own thing.
In just a few days, the "final" mainline Star Wars movie will release. Rise of Skywalker is the releasing amid probably the most divisive Star Wars fans have ever been. This whole sequel trilogy has been a bit of a mess in all honesty. I actually quite liked The Force Awakens and thought it set up a potentially great story. It wasn't perfect (Rey managing to over power Kylo Ren without ever touching a lightsaber prior, Finn fighting a random stormtrooper instead of Captain Phasma, Maz has Anakin's lightsaber for some reason that never gets revealed) but there some seriously cool moments - even if it did feel like a rehash of A New Hope at a few points.
However, all of the setup of the first movie seemingly got thrown out the window in The Last Jedi. There were several questions brought up in the first film that could have lead to some really neat plot points in this film, that seemed to just build up to nothing really. Who are Reys parents? They must be someone super important and powerful if they are getting mentioned this much. Sike! There just some random junk traders that sold her for drinking money. Who is Snoke? He must be this super important villain that has this wild backstory for how he became so powerful. Sike! He dies without any sort of explanation for who he is and doesn't really do much of anything besides toss Rey around for a few seconds. Finn seems cool, a stormtrooper turned good? He must have to do something important throughout these movies, maybe he's even force sensitive. Sike! He's just a normal guy who doesn't really do much of anything. All the old characters are back, they probably have a big part in this new film, right? Sike! In the Last Jedi every original trilogy character besides Luke has roughly a combined total of maybe 15 minitues of screen time and half of that is Leia. I could go o
I think this all comes down to Disney choosing to wing it with the new trilogy and not having a set beginning and end point. They made TFA, had all of the set up for a great story, and then hired a different director and took it in a completely different direction. Now this first director is coming back and isn't happy how things were handled by the other guy and is going change things up again which is going to leave all of the films feeling rather disjointed. Early reviews of the film reflect that it will likely be the case. JJ Abrams didn't like The Last Jedi (To be fair neither did a large majority of people), so now he's going to have to backtrack on many key points in this film. If there was a single director and a planned beginning and end for this trilogy, it would be miles more appealing then what the final result will be.
Regarding the actual movie, at the very least it be a visual spectacle. The shots we've seen so far all look beautiful for sure. However, plot wise this movie - for better or worse - looks like complete chaos. I think this quote from @ThylacineAlive in regards to final trailer conveys that pretty well, "Th-they're... they're riding HORSES on the top of a Star Destroyer which just rose out of the ice of a space iceberg...".
Seriously though, I get its the big finale and all but like, damn. They are cramming so much into this thing one must wonder how they plan to execute it all. Plus, they are going to have to answer A LOT of questions in this one film.
In just a few days, the "final" mainline Star Wars movie will release. Rise of Skywalker is the releasing amid probably the most divisive Star Wars fans have ever been. This whole sequel trilogy has been a bit of a mess in all honesty. I actually quite liked The Force Awakens and thought it set up a potentially great story. It wasn't perfect (Rey managing to over power Kylo Ren without ever touching a lightsaber prior, Finn fighting a random stormtrooper instead of Captain Phasma, Maz has Anakin's lightsaber for some reason that never gets revealed) but there some seriously cool moments - even if it did feel like a rehash of A New Hope at a few points.
However, all of the setup of the first movie seemingly got thrown out the window in The Last Jedi. There were several questions brought up in the first film that could have lead to some really neat plot points in this film, that seemed to just build up to nothing really. Who are Reys parents? They must be someone super important and powerful if they are getting mentioned this much. Sike! There just some random junk traders that sold her for drinking money. Who is Snoke? He must be this super important villain that has this wild backstory for how he became so powerful. Sike! He dies without any sort of explanation for who he is and doesn't really do much of anything besides toss Rey around for a few seconds. Finn seems cool, a stormtrooper turned good? He must have to do something important throughout these movies, maybe he's even force sensitive. Sike! He's just a normal guy who doesn't really do much of anything. All the old characters are back, they probably have a big part in this new film, right? Sike! In the Last Jedi every original trilogy character besides Luke has roughly a combined total of maybe 15 minitues of screen time and half of that is Leia. I could go o
I think this all comes down to Disney choosing to wing it with the new trilogy and not having a set beginning and end point. They made TFA, had all of the set up for a great story, and then hired a different director and took it in a completely different direction. Now this first director is coming back and isn't happy how things were handled by the other guy and is going change things up again which is going to leave all of the films feeling rather disjointed. Early reviews of the film reflect that it will likely be the case. JJ Abrams didn't like The Last Jedi (To be fair neither did a large majority of people), so now he's going to have to backtrack on many key points in this film. If there was a single director and a planned beginning and end for this trilogy, it would be miles more appealing then what the final result will be.
Regarding the actual movie, at the very least it be a visual spectacle. The shots we've seen so far all look beautiful for sure. However, plot wise this movie - for better or worse - looks like complete chaos. I think this quote from @ThylacineAlive in regards to final trailer conveys that pretty well, "Th-they're... they're riding HORSES on the top of a Star Destroyer which just rose out of the ice of a space iceberg...".
Seriously though, I get its the big finale and all but like, damn. They are cramming so much into this thing one must wonder how they plan to execute it all. Plus, they are going to have to answer A LOT of questions in this one film.
- How the hell did palpatine survive falling several thousand feet and a nuclear explosion in space!?
- How the hell did palpatine create hundreds of star destroyers with the ability to destroy planets, and why are they rising out of the ocean!?
- Where did Rey come from and why is she so powerful despite having would could barely be considered minimal training?
- Is Snoke important to anything at all or was he just a pointless character who will never get explained?
- If its called "Rise of Skywalker" then how will the Skywalkers relate to the story anyway?
- Who are the Knights of Ren and where have they been this whole time?
- If Anakin didn't kill palpatine in Return of the Jedi than why was he considered the chosen one to destroy the sith?
- Where did Poe come from and what other trait can he get besides being a really good pilot?
- It looks like the old characters (C3-PO,R2-D2, Chewbacca, Lando) may actually get a decent amount of screen time in this film. Its great that the whole cast of main characters are finally going on an adventure together.
- I did see what palpatine looks like in the leaks and honestly, he looks pretty cool. I think theater goers will enjoy seeing his reveal.
- Rose seems to do significantly less in this film then The Last Jedi, which IMO is a good thing.
- Luke will hopefully be back as a force ghost and maybe now he will be more true to character this time around.
- Again, no matter the quality of the plot, this movie will look great in the visual department.