Related: The news about Disney+ basically has me ready to subscribe. The final blow? Jeff Goldblum NatGeo docuseries:
"Jeff pulls back the curtain on a seemingly familiar object to reveal a world of astonishing connections, fascinating science, and a whole lot of big ideas."
Wait, there is going to be a Jeff Goldblum show?!?! That's fantastic. First serious consideration I've given to the idea of Disney+ is in the eight seconds since I just read that.
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So between that, the 7 bucks a month price tag, and the 2-3 Marvel shows and 2 Star Wars shows (all live-action with actors from the movies), I am basically onboard.
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I saw that blow up. There were not mountain sized chunks of it that would have survived atmospheric re-entry. And wouldn't it have had to landed on Yavin 4, Yavin, Endor, or the Forest Moon? What planet is that chunk-o-Deathstar on?
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Let's assume there somehow was a giant chunk of it. In space, technically, it could have just been blown in a direction away from any gravity fields with enough force that it kept going to pretty much any planet they want. This is, after all, Star Wars, where you can blow up a solar system of planets by firing red beams after absorbing the energy of a star to a planet covered in snow and Nazis.
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I hope the twist is not that Rey is Luke's daughter but she's Lando's daughter. And Finn is Lando's son. And Poe is Lando's son. Because let's be honest, Lando gets around.
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Makes sense. In TLJ, Luke was talking about how the Jedi needed to end. How there was no light/dark and stuff from those ancient texts he had which Rey has now. So maybe that does cease to exist. There's no light and dark, balance is achieved, and Force users aren't Jedi/Sith but instead "Skywalkers"
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The more I think about it, the more it makes sense as Rey was just a girl that was thrown away by her parents like trash.
Then you see in the last part of The Last Jedi the kid using the force.
The force being balanced makes it easier for everyone to control and or use. Rey doesn't need all that training to use the force, just like the little kid doesn't need it to use the broom. Balance.
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This whole trilogy has been a meandering waste of time. The acting has all been great, no complaints there. The story is just garbage. I don't understand whats happening or who matters. There's a new Republic but there's still a rebellion too? Oh the republic just gets blown up, problem solved now the good guys are underdogs again. There's a new evil sith lord, cool. Get's cut in half, don't worry about where he came from or who he was. Where did Rey come from? She came from nowhere, don't worry about it. By the way we are going to spend half the movie in a slow motion starship chase only to have it end with a plot device that creates a ton of problems for the whole entire continuity of the star wars universe. But look we have things like death stars and we have the millenium falcon, and we have light sabers. And most importantly there are still storm troopers to root against! Yay. I don't hate the Luke/Ben story. Its somewhat compelling. And the jedi order was flawed, which was masterfully portrayed in the Clone Wars animated series. But it feels like Disney has done less with more than the Texas football program over the last ten years.
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Though I'm skeptical of that. I seriously doubt the Mouse spent $4 billion to acquire the Start Wars universe just for six movies. Sadly, I don't think we see the last Star Wars movie in our lifetime.
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Movies? They are probably a drop in the bucket compared to everything else. MGM, or what ever it is called now, is crawling with stormtroopers, there is a new Star wars only park on the way. There are cartoons and toys and all kinds of other stuff. I'm not sure who really owns the books. But there is a lot of other ways to make the monies.
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If the future movies is like Rogue One, I would love that. I think Rogue One is the best Post-Disney Star Wars movie, especially how they made some of the Rebels be like Insurgents and how the Empire is still terrifying because neither side was good. Also didn't mind that Rogue One didn't show much of Jedi/Force stuff because I think that should only be part of the story instead of the main focus.
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Agreed. I really liked Rogue One as well, and generally thought Solo was a good ride. Shadows of the Empire would also be awesome.
Clearly Disney is capable of producing top notch content. I just think with the main storyline of Eps 7-9 they probably had too many cooks in the kitchen, including some top execs who had an over-simplified view of what Star Wars should feel like. Ah well, I suppose they have made a ton of money, so as per usual their BS paid off.
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It was originally a novel, later a comic book, but most well known for being one of the first N64 games available. The story is an attempted rescue mission of Han Solo from Boba Fett.
LucasArts's Shadows of the Empire was one of the first games available for the Nintendo 64, and later for Windows. The most commercial product in the Shadows of the Empire line, the game was first released in December 1996 as an exclusive N64 title five months after the console's launch.[9] The PC version came nearly a year later in September 1997.[10]
In the game, players control mercenary Dash Rendar in his efforts to help Luke Skywalker and rescue Princess Leia from Prince Xizor's hands. It is divided into four parts (or chapters).
I think most Star Wars fans would agree they would love to see this made. I actually think the Solo movie was made in an attempt to eventually do this.
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You sir, have hit the nail on the head. Lucasfilm was far more interested in pulling the nostalgia card (Look, it's Han! Look, it's Luke (actually Jake)!, etc...) to get seats filled, then retcon the Original Trilogy character arcs (Luke's being the most blatant) and killing off each, all in hopes that their poorly-developed new characters will simply replace the OT characters in fans' hearts.
Been an avid Star Wars fan since 1977. Now, I'm just not interested anymore.
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You know, when Disney announced a new triology of Star Wars movies were coming out, I had hoped against hope that they would be loosely based on Timothy Zahn's triology which takes place 7 years after The Return of the Jedi.
Instead, we are treated to a rehash of A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back.
I can only hope that J.J. Abrams correct some glaring error introduced by Rian Johnson but we'll see.
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That is the biggest problem right here, "Just make it a good story," the development of characters are horribly done. Then again, that is the responsibility of the director to provide interpretation of the author(s).
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Man, those little furballs were going to roast Han and Luke alive and then consume them. Hands down the most savage race encountered in the whole saga.
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Grew up in the original Star Wars saga. Have to say the TLJ was mostly a direct reflection of Hollywood's looney politically narrative based position. It was horrible and painful to watch. As someone posted earlier = garbage. This is what happens to anything (these days especially) when they focus more on driving political narratives vs focusing on their true craft. I wish I had a better feeling about this movie, but my gut tells me it will be utter garbage (just reinforcing a previous comment).
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I hate to say this as a SW fan since the beginning when I saw Episode 4 at the tender age of 12 and fell in love with the genius of George Lucas, but I am seriously considering not paying to see this Episode. The past 2 episodes and the Han Solo thing have been sooooo disappointing that I am genuinely doubtful that Disney can salvage a good story out of those sorry retreads. Originality was a huge part of the appeal in Episodes 4-6, and nothing about 7&8 has felt original or engaging except possibly the relationship between Rey and Kylo. Call me jaded, but I enjoyed Episodes 1-3 more than I have 7-8 so far (minus the Jar-Jar idiocy of course). Guess I will read the reviews when it comes out and decide from there. At least I will be in Peru where tickets only run about 8 bucks.
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Maybe it's cause I have kids now, but I loved Ep 7, 8 was a slog, and the ending was Disney style cheesy, BUT, my daughters loved it and are hooked. To me, that's just as important, because this past generation has been missing the it factor with Star Wars. It is such a wonderful story, universe, immersion, that it needs to continue inspiring generations moving forward.
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Wasn't it suggested that Darth Sidious was the one who manipulated the force to create Anakin? If so it would be a crazy twist if Rey was created the same way only she never turned.
Also apparently in the Clone Wars cartoon, sith cannot return as force ghosts, rather they can attach themselves to objects and haunt said object. So it's quite possible that the Emperor is haunting whatever remains of the original death star.
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One of the great SW expanded universe series of books involved an old extremely powerful Sith named Exar Kun haunting the temple on Yavin 4 where Luke established his Jedi Academy (obviously not canon anymore, but a better story than any of the more recent movies)
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I think RocketCity nailed most of why these films are total shit, but let's focus on this trailer.
It starts with the line "we passed on all we know" Really? When did that happen? Was drinking milk from the teet of a rock dwelling alien cow some sort of wax on, wax off Miyagi style mind fuck training where Luke passed on the ways of the Jedi to Rey, literally "all he knows"? And who the hell is "we" for that matter? Luke didn't train her. Nobody has. Kylo has taught her more about the force than anyone else and that's mostly been via a plot device shirtless astral projection ruse orchestrated by a Sith Lord who was supposedly all powerful yet we knew nothing about and was killed with zero discovery by the flick of a wrist. Fucking... LAME.
But ok sure Rey is the ONE force weilding being who requires zero training. She is like patient zero of an disease outbreak and somehow just learns "all you know" through some sort of cosmic osmosis. Got it.
Then we see her in some sort of chicken style standoff with a modified tie fighter that is flying inches of the ground. Sure, let's assume the ground is completely flat that entire distance but here's a question, if the tie fighter is attacking why THE FUCK would you be attacking head on at that altitude? Guns don't work maybe? Then why get close enough to someone with a damn lightsaber? Oh ok, maybe it's a friend and they ONLY know how to accelerate. Yeah... that makes a lot of sense. LAME
Ends with the main characters finding a portion of the Death Star and Palpatine laughing. Did this mofo survive being tossed over by Vader and the planet level explosion that ripped it asunder, the presumably lack of atmosphere while it traveled to whatever planet this is then entry into the planet atmosphere AND falling at terminal velocity that somehow didn't reault in an epic level impact crater and a planet level extinction event, and has been living in this part of the Death Star this whole time? Blindly orchestrating the resurgence of the Order through some stooge name Snope and living of that planets alien cow milk? Or is he just communicating beyond the grave in astral form and is somehow still the real villian?...... L. A. M. E.
I could not be happier that the "saga" is coming to an end. This whole thing has been handled terribly. Great acting, absolutely shittastic story and directing. Pathetically bad.
Time to get away from the main characters. Create stories in the world. New characters. New worlds. More Rogue One. Less bullshit. And i actually liked the Han movie. At least more than any of these.
Disney has done such a horrendous job with Star Wars that it cancelled plans to open a Star Wars land in Shanghai Disneyland and is now opening Zootopia. They need to hand over then reigns to Fiege and let him sculpt a multi-film arc worthy of the brand.
Not looking forward to this at all.
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They rushed it out too early after the fairly ridiculed Ep.8. If they had stuck to the holiday release schedule I think it would have done much better. People still wanted to hate Star Wars that May.
Solo was good. Not on the level of Rogue One but better than the narrative.
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I've seen every star wars film in cinema since return of the jedi. My hate would not be complete if I didn't see myself all the way to the dark side. So of course I am going.
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Saw this earlier that can sum up the trailer and agree with:
"We don't know much. What we do know, is that Palpatine (or the senate, according to some.) will be returning in a major role. However, this enrages the old guard of the Star Wars community. Why? The entire storyline of Star Wars was built around the idea of Anakin Skywalker's fall, and eventual redemption. He was the "chosen one", right? But now, seeing as the big bad is not dead and might end up being killed by Rey the Mary Sue, this essentially means that Anakin died for nothing, and that all his character development meant nothing in the grand scheme of things."
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I see 7, 8, and 9 as showing what is meant by bringing balance to the force. The story to this point is incomplete. Anikin did what was philosophized and brought balance. This is what balance looks like, balance brings different rules. We are also seeing the fallout of what happened after the Empire fell.
I doubt we actually see the Emporer in true form. I do think they will do the haunting thing that is found in the books.
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Love this comment. I'll also add the the whole new trilogy is pretty much a bad fan fiction written by a middle school drama student.
"We'll have one of the storm troopers join the good side because he finds his FEELINGS (and is also somehow the only one out of millions to ever switch sides), then our bad guy will be the troubled teen from breakfast club except somehow even more of a wuss and drama queen."
But the worst of it to me is the lack of world building, the lack of moving pieces, the lack of any suspense and questioning what will happen next. Just looking at the characters it's really only the 6 or 7 main ones and then background dudes. There are hardly any of medium importance that aren't totally interchangable. That will never be interesting for 3 movies. It's the antithesis of a good plot and while most of the blame falls on Rian Johnson for absolutely pissing away any possibly interesting storyline, JJ didn't set it up to be that interesting to begin with.
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I think so too. But some a speculating the way they are bringing back Palpatine is his essence is going to possess her. They're borrowing an idea from the old EU where Palpatine would transfer himself into various clones.
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This and the Rey lightsaber make me think another cave scene is coming, and half this trailer is misdirection from that. I'd imagine it ties in with the Emperor too, since this is his era Star Destroyer.
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It's the end, at least of this particular story (Episodes 1 thru 9). Supposedly they aren't making any more movies involving the characters from that set of movies*. There will be other stuff though. Rian Johnson (who did The Last Jedi) is making a movie set in the SW Universe like a 1000 years before the events of the current movies. The guys that directed Game of Thrones have also been given a SW movie but there's no details on that yet I don't think. Basically, there will still be lots of Star Wars content coming, just the Skywalker Saga is coming to an end.
*I'm willing to bet this isn't the end. Disney will milk this cow until its dry. Like you said, 10 years from now, maybe even sooner, I could see them making another movie involving Rey, Finn, or any other character that survives Episode 9
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I'm sort of feeling this way as well. This trilogy has been a bit of a mess and nothing really seems to matter. Star Killer base was destroyed but the New Order didn't flinch. I'm not totally sure what all happened in 8 still. I'm not sure I even know what stakes will make me care in 9. The rebellion was all but crushed in 8 but they now seem to have plenty of support again?
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But back to Rise, the biggest takeaway from the reviews seems to be there's too much content in this movie and not enough time. It's almost like two movies in one. But that isn't really all that surprising since TFA and TLJ both did a pretty poor job of giving plot details to actually explain what was going on. So Rise has the impossible task of explaining everything while also concluding everything. Hence, that's why you see everyone saying the first part of the movie is basically one giant exposition dump and then its a mad dash to the finish.
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Seeing it tomorrow at 1:30pm. I got real excited when I saw the critics saying that it was big departure from The Last Jedi. I watched TLJ again the other night for the first time since I saw it in the theaters and I disliked it even more the second time.
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I watched TLJ for the first time since theaters last night and it was better than I remembered after not having enjoyed it much in theaters... what are you biggest complaints against it?
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I don't hate it as much as I've seen the general consensus to be across the internet, but there are a couple things that really bug me in TLJ:
- The abandonment of several characters for seemingly little or no impact, including Phasma, Snoke, Ackbar, and Finn (the whole sidestory in the casino planet with Rose pretty much took Finn's character arc into a boring place for me.)
- Carrie Poppins. Should have just stayed spaced and been done with it. The payoff with ghost Luke near the end wasn't worth that silliness. Granted there could be something big in the last movie that makes it understandable.
- The whole "Holdo has a plan but won't tell anyone so everyone get unnecessarily upset and screw up the plan all because of a lack of communication" trope.
I didn't really have issue with anything concerning Rey or Kylo, scenes involving either or both of them were entertaining and well done, I thought.
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The whole "Holdo has a plan but won't tell anyone so everyone get unnecessarily upset and screw up the plan all because of a lack of communication" trope.
This plot point ruined it for me. Just tell everyone the plan. That's all you had to do to prevent a mutiny.
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Not to derail the thread into debating TLJ, but nothing about that plot makes any sense whatsoever. They could have done any number of things. Like if going kamikaze is the only solution, why not just program a droid to pilot the ship? Or you know how Rose and Finn snuck away and also came back? Well, why not just put all the important Resistance members on their ship and they flee to safety then the fleet just scatters. Whoever gets tracked (since it was one ship at a time), is just odd man out. It's not even one of those plots that you can nitpick after you watch the movie, which is something you can do with most movies. This is something that's apparent while you're watching the movie, which is a sign of how poorly done it is.
It fails so much basic logic yet it takes up so much of the movie and time that could be better served going into more detail about the characters and further developing the overall plot
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I agree with the carrie poppins and Holdo points... the finn side story didnt bother me, I actually appreciated how it was used to bring in some of the shades of gray with arms dealers just trying to make as much $ as possible not really being committed to light or dark but just their pocket book. I don't really like Kylo... too whiny and I don't think he was cast well. My other complaint is that they teased a lot of the deeper "religious" aspects of the Jedi/sith (which I appreciate) however with all the time that was spent on Luke's island I feel like there could have been much more exploration and explanation of the relationship between light and dark... especially while Yoda was around.
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On this point, I agree. I never realized how powerful the Crimson Guards were after seeing them escorting and keeping a watchful eye on the Emperor's throne in The Last Jedi.
To see Rey and Kylo battle together to take them down was epic, and definitely the high point of the movie.
But...for Kylo to easily kill Snoke like that was utterly anticlimatic, but it still paved the way for the Crimson Guards to battle the two powerful Jedis.
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I re-watched it earlier this week and enjoyed it more than I remembered. The only things that still bothered me was Leia using the force to fly in space and the whole casino world sequence was so unnecessary.
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1. The trip to Cantobite (sp?) for a "code breaker" was useless.
2. Leia using the force to fly through space
3. Kylo Ren is still a terrible villain and I don't find the First Order evil/sinister at all. Like seriously, how are these bumbling idiots conquering the galaxy?
4. Who the hell is Snoke and how did he become the Supreme Leader of the first order?
5. Hux is a dolt. Vader and Palpatine would have never tolerated that incompetent clown.
6. Rey finishing her "training" with Luke and immediately turning herself over to the First Order.
7. Character and story development in general was lacking IMO. It felt a lot like the last season of GoT.
It has its fun moments, but overall I was not a fan. Even though the plot of TFA was almost the same as A New Hope, I enjoyed that movie much more than TLJ. Perhaps The Rise of Skywalker will help make more sense of The Last Jedi.
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You nailed it Eerily similar to the shittiness of last season of GOT. No artistry. The artist drives the script and this one is void of all artistry - whereas the fat guy that writes GOT books has a special craft - he's an artist. These f'in jokers are just trying to please the jackass executive producers.
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I have always struggled to get into star wars. It is a genre I should absolutely love but just never really jumped into with my whole heart. With that said, it seems to me like since the original trilogy, there have just been repeated disappointments amongst the avid fans with every release. So, why is it that the hype for each new movie is still off the chart?
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For me it's because Star Wars was a big part of my childhood between the ages of 8-15 or so during what I consider to be the golden age of Star Wars video games while the prequels were coming out. So it wasn't so much about the films as the immersion of playing a good game set in that universe. I just go see the films out of habit now, and the games aren't even good. (I haven't played Fallen Order yet)
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This really nails it. There is a generation of adults right now that grew up in the golden age of star wars (great video games, novels, comics, etc) the occurred alongside the release of the prequel trilogy. The extended universe was so rich that even lackluster movies didn't deter fans from star wars. I'd argue that film isn't the proper medium for the universe that has been built up around star wars anymore. But as long as they are making movies the fan base will hold out hope that there will be another great movie.
Fallen Order is a really good game, it has some clunky controls sometimes but it's a great spiritual successor to the Jedi Knight and Force Unleashed series, really hoping for more games in the same vein and a second golden age.
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Something I found that was written (not by a critic but fans, also took out the spoilers) that I thought was funny:
"If you thought The Last Jedi was the low point, you've seen nothing yet! Just going in the film had major hurdles to overcome, like the mess of the previous film."
"After finishing shooting, the film was shown to test audiences. The film was so poorly received - for many aspects such as Rey curb-stomping Palpatine by herself in the final battle - that Disney CEO Bob Iger personally demanded reshoots on the spot. The resulting reshoots were so extensive, they spanned months and the film didn't have a final edit till the month of release - December, causing trailers to be so desperate for footage that wouldn't be cut they had to fill half the length with footage from prior films and stuff used in prior trailers. Further complicating matters was that the very stupid plot was leaked months before release. Despite extensive denials from Disney and media outlets, the leaks were proven correct by getting then unrevealed names and plot objects right. Regardless, camera leaks the week before release show very little of the fantastically stupid content leaked months beforehand was changed, only minor details."
"Ultimately, Finn's and Poe's character and story arcs get thrown aside without any conclusion just so the film can focus on Rey's character story arc. Not even the paid shills who desperately claimed The Last Jedi was good could defend this trash. And so ends what Disney calls the "Skywalker saga". Not with a bang, but a whimper. Is it any wonder many fans still prefer the Expanded Universe?"
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So i just finished watching the prequels and it's kind of crazy how much of those they seem to have stolen to make the latest trilogy. Anakin telling Padme to join him in ruling the galaxy=Kylo telling Rey to join him in ruling the galaxy is the most recent example I saw of that. (Watched Revenge of the Sith today).
I liked The Force Awakens, even though it was just A New Hope revisited. The Last Jedi kind of lost me with a lot of a Harry Potterish vibe, namely the Leia returning to the ship via the force. I'll watch this one too at some point, but I'm not in a rush as long as I see it before it all gets spoiled for me.
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Christiansburg Hokie's take on the Star Wars new trilogy.
As stated earlier, in response to a poster, I was hoping that Timothy Zahn's trilogy - Heir To The Empire, Dark Force Rising, and The Last Command - would have been the basis for the new Star Wars trilogy announced by Disney few years ago.
I was severely disappointed when the first one came out - The Forces Awaken - which to me was the most lame and stupid title I have ever seen. It was a blatant rehash of A New Hope no wonder diehard fans ripped the movie to shred with criticism. Starkiller Base? Really? First Order? Really?
Now, what I did liked about TFA is the dynamic and tension between Kylo and General Hux. It showed those two were jockeying for power over the remnants of the Empire and how much they loathed working together by the order of Snoke, whose origin continues to be shroud in mystery. I don't have the time nor desire to read any more novels to fill in the missing gaps.
Now, Rey as a powerful Jedi is a nice surprise, but it was obvious that she was a version of Luke Skywalker, which brings me to one of the biggest blunder of The Last Jedi. One of the biggest plot holes in that story was the lack of explaination of why Luke became distant and cynical of the entire Jedi Order, and because Disney elected to classify Timothy Zahn's novels as non-canonical, a very stupid move on their part, they missed an opportunity to dig into Luke's pysche beautifully explored in Zahn's novels.
From the first page to the last page of Zahn's novels, it showed Luke's struggle to overcome doubt and insecurity in rebuilding the Jedi Order. He became a lost, wandering soul after Ben decided it was time to distance himself from Luke. Luke was right in the fact that the Jedi Order were done in by hubris and this was shown from Episode 1 through 3 when the Emperor, then a senator, manipulated the entire Republic behind the scene, playing on Anakin Skywalker's fear of his marriage being discovered and the Force Vision of his wife suffering.
What I did not like was seeing Han and Leia being separated, as if they were divorced, and Zahn's novels also explored the complicated marriage between Han and Leia - with the latter juggling her political duties and expecting the twins - and Han galaxy-trotting to hunt down clues of why the Empires were suddenly so bold to hit and attack the New Republic. It was Han, after all, who discovered the Grand Admiral masterminding the Empire's resurgence in the novels. And seriously, how in space could Han ever lose the Falcon? At one point, Han and Lando engaged in another card game to settle the controversy over the Falcon in the novels.
Then in The Last Jedi, we are treated the same story lines of Luke being trained by Yoda and then the cave vision of himself as Darth Vader. Rey saw a dark vision of herself and she was simply desperate to find out who her parents were. Luke treated her with the same cynicism as Yoda did. The opening acts of TLJ is simply a rehash of the Battle of Hoth with one major exception - Poe trolling General Hux was awesome.
One of the biggest criticism I have toward Hollywood, screenwriters, and directors in general are the lack of originality. Nowadays, reboot and recontting are major selling points to the public who simply aren't discriminative toward movies.
In reading some analysis of the movies, one common theme seem to be is that Rey is the balance of the Force long foretold. She neither fully embraces the Light or the Darkness. This seem to be what Luke finally realized at the end when he disappeared to become one with the Force. Nothing is more motivating than love, it is extremely powerful, and can be manipulated for good or for evil purpose.
One reason why Darth Vader finally tossed the Emperor down the shaft was because, wait for it, while he was watching Luke scream in agony from the Force Lightning and hearing his plea, he was having a flashback to when, wait....fooooooor....it, he saw his own wife's face in suffering from his youth. He finally realized he had been played and that's when he mustered up all the courage to pick up the Emperor, getting the full brunt of the Force Lightning, and threw the Emperor down the shaft. Maybe it was too late for Vader, but his paternal instinct, long buried under the machine, kicked into high gear when he remembered how he feared losing his beloved Padme.
One of the most interesting things I've read leading up to The Rise of Skywalker is how there is a cult that worships the Emperor and two of the most devout followers were obsessed with transferring the spirit of the Emperor into someone to be possessed. That would be the only likely explaination for his return.
And something that Disney, in their overestimation of the value of Timothy Zahn's novels, forgot...if the Jedis can appear as Force Ghost, then so can the Sith. One of Luke's antagonists was none other than Mara Jade, a former Emperor's right hand and assassin, who became obsessed with killing Luke Skywalker after seeing visions of the Emperor and Darth Vader drilling a simple command, "YOU WILL KILL LUKE SKYWALKER," only to finally silence the voices when she killed Luke's clone in The Last Command.
Sorry, I have rambled on long enough. Carry on.
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I have been spending a great deal of thought on Star Wars. Grew up on the Original Trilogy. I had to hide my face when the Emperor, in his demonic rage, hurled Force Lightning at Luke when I first saw it (I was a kid!), and cried when I saw one of the Ewoks die because they were so adorable. How little did I realize that they were a bunch of furry cannibals ready to eat Luke and Han in honor of their god, C-3P0.
Thinking it some more, I can see why Han and Leia became distant couples by the time The Force Awakens arrived. They both felt like failed parents when Ben Solo turned to embrace the Darkness like his grandfather, Darth Vader, and that would place a lot of strain on any marriage. Too bad Disney-Lucasfilm did not include the couple's twin who was equally powerful to Ben Solo, unless a later novel had the twin's sister killed...don't think I've read that one.
If the First Order were the "resurrection" of the Empire, the only possible explanation for why they returned was due to Grand Admiral Thrawn's assassination and his captain ordering the Empire to fully retreat, which happened in The Last Command, and because the Mouse Moron House decided to make Zahn's novels non-canonical, it simply didn't make sense from the opening act of The Force Awakens.
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I too was really disappointed with the lack of creativity from this bunch. Even the naming conventions were lazy as you pointed out. First Order. Starkiller base. Supreme Leader (is he North Korean?). We need a code breaker! Is that the code breaker? Are you a code breaker? Barf!
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Without reading the novels prior to The Force Awakens, I would have no idea who, how, or what the First Order were and how they replaced the Empire. The screen crawl can only give so much information, but it was obviously a rehash of Episode IV and Episode V.
This is one of J.J. Abrams' biggest flaws, IMHO, he loves explosives and ton of it, but doesn't do a good job of storytelling. He's all about actions, which is fine because Star Wars is action/space opera/science-fiction movies, but still need to develop the story.
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Not sure what movie the critics all saw but they must be fucking blind that movie was awesome and definitely one of my favorites now. If you cant go and enjoy this movie I feel bad for you because it was very well done.
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(Not putting specific spoilers here because this thread isn't marked spoilers, but still tread carefully)
I left the movie understanding why critics don't like it because pretty much all of the villain elements are pretty beyond the pale and the main threat trope has now been used in 4/9 Star Wars movies. The first act was kinda meh and I'm still not huge on computer Leia and some of the dialog. That being said I left the movie actually feeling something definitively positive and I can't say that about 8. There was fan service, sure, but it was at least fun.
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I haven't seen the movie, but your last sentence resonates so loudly. I feel that there are plenty of people/critics out there that go to a movie and enjoy ripping it to shreds because it didn't do X or theme Y wasn't well portrayed, or dialog Z was bad. At the end of the day, those things are important, but as long as the movie entertains you, then I would argue that it's done its duty.
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I'm excited to see it. The critic I trust the most (Kevin McCarthy...gave it 4.5 stars) made a great point. He said JJ did a great job trying to interconnect and tie in all the ends Rain made in TLJ. I wish JJ had been able to make entire trilogy, I thought his perspective was fantastic.
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I had a good time, but only because they had lowered my expectations so drastically that I was no longer invested in how it ended, I was only there to be entertained. The movie, by the standards of what makes a great film, was not very good. The pacing was absurd, it was overly expository, way too much happening in too little time, and at least 30 minutes of the film was fanservice easter eggs/callbacks. So much of the important content in the movie was not prefaced in the previous films, it was thrown at you in the first 10 minutes and you just had to accept it. I won't go into specifics to avoid any possible spoilers.
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Difference is GOT had hours on hours on hours on hours to do so and still botched it big time. This being shorter movies instead of hour shows 10 hour seasons I can get how its tough to pack it in one movie and cut some slack accordingly
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Comments
Palp laugh.
Related: The news about Disney+ basically has me ready to subscribe. The final blow? Jeff Goldblum NatGeo docuseries:
"Jeff pulls back the curtain on a seemingly familiar object to reveal a world of astonishing connections, fascinating science, and a whole lot of big ideas."
https://comicbook.com/tv-shows/2019/04/12/the-world-according-to-jeff-go...
You summed up in two words my biggest takeaway from the trailer.
Wait, there is going to be a Jeff Goldblum show?!?! That's fantastic. First serious consideration I've given to the idea of Disney+ is in the eight seconds since I just read that.
So between that, the 7 bucks a month price tag, and the 2-3 Marvel shows and 2 Star Wars shows (all live-action with actors from the movies), I am basically onboard.
She is Luke's daughter, isn't she
And of course they are putting the remains of the Death Star in it. of course they are.
And.... of course Emperor Palpatine's laugh. Why do I get the feeling that we'll find out Palpatine was Darth Plagueis the whole time
DID YOU EVER HEAR THE TRAGEDY OF DARTH PLAGUEIS THE WISE?
I THOUGHT NOT. IT'S NOT A STORY THE JEDI WOULD TELL YOU...
Do you think they'll have Darth Binks in this one?
Its Darth Darth Binks man
We all kid but it makes sense.
I saw that blow up. There were not mountain sized chunks of it that would have survived atmospheric re-entry. And wouldn't it have had to landed on Yavin 4, Yavin, Endor, or the Forest Moon? What planet is that chunk-o-Deathstar on?
Let's assume there somehow was a giant chunk of it. In space, technically, it could have just been blown in a direction away from any gravity fields with enough force that it kept going to pretty much any planet they want. This is, after all, Star Wars, where you can blow up a solar system of planets by firing red beams after absorbing the energy of a star to a planet covered in snow and Nazis.
LANDOOOOOOOOO!!!
I hope the twist is not that Rey is Luke's daughter but she's Lando's daughter. And Finn is Lando's son. And Poe is Lando's son. Because let's be honest, Lando gets around.
FTFY.
I love the fact that Rey is doing some serious Jedi shit in this trailer. SHE FUCKING JUMPS OVER RENS TIE!!!!!
What makes you think its Ren's?
Cuz Stimpy doesn't have one?
BA DUM TISSS!!!
But to respond to Alum that's a great point. You never actually see who the pilot is do you?
It's Rose.
Meh.
I don't think it means what people are thinking. I doubt it has anything to do with lineage, more of a new type of Jedi now that they are kaput.
New Jedi Faction = Skywalkers
Makes sense. In TLJ, Luke was talking about how the Jedi needed to end. How there was no light/dark and stuff from those ancient texts he had which Rey has now. So maybe that does cease to exist. There's no light and dark, balance is achieved, and Force users aren't Jedi/Sith but instead "Skywalkers"
The more I think about it, the more it makes sense as Rey was just a girl that was thrown away by her parents like trash.
Then you see in the last part of The Last Jedi the kid using the force.
The force being balanced makes it easier for everyone to control and or use. Rey doesn't need all that training to use the force, just like the little kid doesn't need it to use the broom. Balance.
This whole trilogy has been a meandering waste of time. The acting has all been great, no complaints there. The story is just garbage. I don't understand whats happening or who matters. There's a new Republic but there's still a rebellion too? Oh the republic just gets blown up, problem solved now the good guys are underdogs again. There's a new evil sith lord, cool. Get's cut in half, don't worry about where he came from or who he was. Where did Rey come from? She came from nowhere, don't worry about it. By the way we are going to spend half the movie in a slow motion starship chase only to have it end with a plot device that creates a ton of problems for the whole entire continuity of the star wars universe. But look we have things like death stars and we have the millenium falcon, and we have light sabers. And most importantly there are still storm troopers to root against! Yay. I don't hate the Luke/Ben story. Its somewhat compelling. And the jedi order was flawed, which was masterfully portrayed in the Clone Wars animated series. But it feels like Disney has done less with more than the Texas football program over the last ten years.
I just liked that the trailer said...
They just should have added "mercifully".
Though I'm skeptical of that. I seriously doubt the Mouse spent $4 billion to acquire the Start Wars universe just for six movies. Sadly, I don't think we see the last Star Wars movie in our lifetime.
Movies? They are probably a drop in the bucket compared to everything else. MGM, or what ever it is called now, is crawling with stormtroopers, there is a new Star wars only park on the way. There are cartoons and toys and all kinds of other stuff. I'm not sure who really owns the books. But there is a lot of other ways to make the monies.
Of course not.
The Skywalker saga is ending. The Star Wars universe as a whole will continue to be a Disney money train for the foreseeable future.
What that looks like without the Skywalker family, well, that's TBD. Maybe a lot like Rogue One and Solo.
If the future movies is like Rogue One, I would love that. I think Rogue One is the best Post-Disney Star Wars movie, especially how they made some of the Rebels be like Insurgents and how the Empire is still terrifying because neither side was good. Also didn't mind that Rogue One didn't show much of Jedi/Force stuff because I think that should only be part of the story instead of the main focus.
Would love to see a Shadows of the Empire film.
Agreed. I really liked Rogue One as well, and generally thought Solo was a good ride. Shadows of the Empire would also be awesome.
Clearly Disney is capable of producing top notch content. I just think with the main storyline of Eps 7-9 they probably had too many cooks in the kitchen, including some top execs who had an over-simplified view of what Star Wars should feel like. Ah well, I suppose they have made a ton of money, so as per usual their BS paid off.
What is that? Ender, Bean, and Palpatine?
Shadows the Empire Wiki
It was originally a novel, later a comic book, but most well known for being one of the first N64 games available. The story is an attempted rescue mission of Han Solo from Boba Fett.
I think most Star Wars fans would agree they would love to see this made. I actually think the Solo movie was made in an attempt to eventually do this.
I fail at making a rhyming Star Wars / Ender nerd crossover joke.
OHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
All good. Leg for giving a really, really solid response that was much higher quality than my junk post.
Shadows of the Empire was a great game, if for no other reason than the snowspeeder mission.
You sir, have hit the nail on the head. Lucasfilm was far more interested in pulling the nostalgia card (Look, it's Han! Look, it's Luke (actually Jake)!, etc...) to get seats filled, then retcon the Original Trilogy character arcs (Luke's being the most blatant) and killing off each, all in hopes that their poorly-developed new characters will simply replace the OT characters in fans' hearts.
Been an avid Star Wars fan since 1977. Now, I'm just not interested anymore.
You know, when Disney announced a new triology of Star Wars movies were coming out, I had hoped against hope that they would be loosely based on Timothy Zahn's triology which takes place 7 years after The Return of the Jedi.
Instead, we are treated to a rehash of A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back.
I can only hope that J.J. Abrams correct some glaring error introduced by Rian Johnson but we'll see.
I have no problem with Jedi order coming to an end, or taking things in a new direction philosophically. Just make it a good story.
That is the biggest problem right here, "Just make it a good story," the development of characters are horribly done. Then again, that is the responsibility of the director to provide interpretation of the author(s).
I look forward to reading about how much Fernley hates this.
This made me laugh.
Been traveling but will try to post the hate tonight. At this point I can shoot lightning from my fingers.
I like to think that the helmet clip is a sly metaphor for Abrams fixing Johnson's garbage.
This movie better end with teddy bears with stick dancing!
Edit: sorry if this is a spoiler for some one.
Yub yub
Maybe the Storm Troopers will have better helmets this time. Ones that protect against rocks.
After eating the storm troopers, of course
Man, those little furballs were going to roast Han and Luke alive and then consume them. Hands down the most savage race encountered in the whole saga.
Ewoks gotta eat
Grew up in the original Star Wars saga. Have to say the TLJ was mostly a direct reflection of Hollywood's looney politically narrative based position. It was horrible and painful to watch. As someone posted earlier = garbage. This is what happens to anything (these days especially) when they focus more on driving political narratives vs focusing on their true craft. I wish I had a better feeling about this movie, but my gut tells me it will be utter garbage (just reinforcing a previous comment).
You're joking, right? The original trilogy is incredibly political.
People typically only see politics in things when it challenges their own beliefs
Rey is related to or a clone of ol Palpy.
My Force Boner is lit
Thank you for getting the reference! Close tie with Blazing Saddles for best Mel Brooks movie ever
History of the World, Men in Tights, and the producers are all up there too. Dracula dead and loving it also a personal favorite of mine.
I hate to say this as a SW fan since the beginning when I saw Episode 4 at the tender age of 12 and fell in love with the genius of George Lucas, but I am seriously considering not paying to see this Episode. The past 2 episodes and the Han Solo thing have been sooooo disappointing that I am genuinely doubtful that Disney can salvage a good story out of those sorry retreads. Originality was a huge part of the appeal in Episodes 4-6, and nothing about 7&8 has felt original or engaging except possibly the relationship between Rey and Kylo. Call me jaded, but I enjoyed Episodes 1-3 more than I have 7-8 so far (minus the Jar-Jar idiocy of course). Guess I will read the reviews when it comes out and decide from there. At least I will be in Peru where tickets only run about 8 bucks.
Oh, you know that you and Joanie will watch it and have a wonderful time. ;^)
Maybe it's cause I have kids now, but I loved Ep 7, 8 was a slog, and the ending was Disney style cheesy, BUT, my daughters loved it and are hooked. To me, that's just as important, because this past generation has been missing the it factor with Star Wars. It is such a wonderful story, universe, immersion, that it needs to continue inspiring generations moving forward.
Wasn't it suggested that Darth Sidious was the one who manipulated the force to create Anakin? If so it would be a crazy twist if Rey was created the same way only she never turned.
Also apparently in the Clone Wars cartoon, sith cannot return as force ghosts, rather they can attach themselves to objects and haunt said object. So it's quite possible that the Emperor is haunting whatever remains of the original death star.
Maybe he's haunting that old throne
One of the great SW expanded universe series of books involved an old extremely powerful Sith named Exar Kun haunting the temple on Yavin 4 where Luke established his Jedi Academy (obviously not canon anymore, but a better story than any of the more recent movies)
I'm really disappointed in the title they chose. They missed out on a great opportunity:
I think RocketCity nailed most of why these films are total shit, but let's focus on this trailer.
It starts with the line "we passed on all we know" Really? When did that happen? Was drinking milk from the teet of a rock dwelling alien cow some sort of wax on, wax off Miyagi style mind fuck training where Luke passed on the ways of the Jedi to Rey, literally "all he knows"? And who the hell is "we" for that matter? Luke didn't train her. Nobody has. Kylo has taught her more about the force than anyone else and that's mostly been via a plot device shirtless astral projection ruse orchestrated by a Sith Lord who was supposedly all powerful yet we knew nothing about and was killed with zero discovery by the flick of a wrist. Fucking... LAME.
But ok sure Rey is the ONE force weilding being who requires zero training. She is like patient zero of an disease outbreak and somehow just learns "all you know" through some sort of cosmic osmosis. Got it.
Then we see her in some sort of chicken style standoff with a modified tie fighter that is flying inches of the ground. Sure, let's assume the ground is completely flat that entire distance but here's a question, if the tie fighter is attacking why THE FUCK would you be attacking head on at that altitude? Guns don't work maybe? Then why get close enough to someone with a damn lightsaber? Oh ok, maybe it's a friend and they ONLY know how to accelerate. Yeah... that makes a lot of sense. LAME
Ends with the main characters finding a portion of the Death Star and Palpatine laughing. Did this mofo survive being tossed over by Vader and the planet level explosion that ripped it asunder, the presumably lack of atmosphere while it traveled to whatever planet this is then entry into the planet atmosphere AND falling at terminal velocity that somehow didn't reault in an epic level impact crater and a planet level extinction event, and has been living in this part of the Death Star this whole time? Blindly orchestrating the resurgence of the Order through some stooge name Snope and living of that planets alien cow milk? Or is he just communicating beyond the grave in astral form and is somehow still the real villian?...... L. A. M. E.
I could not be happier that the "saga" is coming to an end. This whole thing has been handled terribly. Great acting, absolutely shittastic story and directing. Pathetically bad.
Time to get away from the main characters. Create stories in the world. New characters. New worlds. More Rogue One. Less bullshit. And i actually liked the Han movie. At least more than any of these.
Disney has done such a horrendous job with Star Wars that it cancelled plans to open a Star Wars land in Shanghai Disneyland and is now opening Zootopia. They need to hand over then reigns to Fiege and let him sculpt a multi-film arc worthy of the brand.
Not looking forward to this at all.
The Han Solo movie was great. The people who hate it are the ultra Star Wars nerds who nitpick the shit out of the smallest of details.
They rushed it out too early after the fairly ridiculed Ep.8. If they had stuck to the holiday release schedule I think it would have done much better. People still wanted to hate Star Wars that May.
Solo was good. Not on the level of Rogue One but better than the narrative.
Sooooooo, you're not going to see it, then?
I've seen every star wars film in cinema since return of the jedi. My hate would not be complete if I didn't see myself all the way to the dark side. So of course I am going.
fernleytheselfmadeSithhokie
All of this is why I want to like Ep. 9 so bad, but probably won't.
Saw this earlier that can sum up the trailer and agree with:
"We don't know much. What we do know, is that Palpatine (or the senate, according to some.) will be returning in a major role. However, this enrages the old guard of the Star Wars community. Why? The entire storyline of Star Wars was built around the idea of Anakin Skywalker's fall, and eventual redemption. He was the "chosen one", right? But now, seeing as the big bad is not dead and might end up being killed by Rey the Mary Sue, this essentially means that Anakin died for nothing, and that all his character development meant nothing in the grand scheme of things."
Also this.
I see 7, 8, and 9 as showing what is meant by bringing balance to the force. The story to this point is incomplete. Anikin did what was philosophized and brought balance. This is what balance looks like, balance brings different rules. We are also seeing the fallout of what happened after the Empire fell.
I doubt we actually see the Emporer in true form. I do think they will do the haunting thing that is found in the books.
Love this comment. I'll also add the the whole new trilogy is pretty much a bad fan fiction written by a middle school drama student.
"We'll have one of the storm troopers join the good side because he finds his FEELINGS (and is also somehow the only one out of millions to ever switch sides), then our bad guy will be the troubled teen from breakfast club except somehow even more of a wuss and drama queen."
But the worst of it to me is the lack of world building, the lack of moving pieces, the lack of any suspense and questioning what will happen next. Just looking at the characters it's really only the 6 or 7 main ones and then background dudes. There are hardly any of medium importance that aren't totally interchangable. That will never be interesting for 3 movies. It's the antithesis of a good plot and while most of the blame falls on Rian Johnson for absolutely pissing away any possibly interesting storyline, JJ didn't set it up to be that interesting to begin with.
That lightsaber is so impractical. I'd venture to say that's a "cave" Rey, where she battles her dark side self.
Would be much cooler if it worked like this
I think so too. But some a speculating the way they are bringing back Palpatine is his essence is going to possess her. They're borrowing an idea from the old EU where Palpatine would transfer himself into various clones.
This looks very practical.
Certainly versatile.
Yeah, but it would never open that easy.
Those are Imperial Star Destroyers
Really hope this isn't there idea of the Katana fleet.
This and the Rey lightsaber make me think another cave scene is coming, and half this trailer is misdirection from that. I'd imagine it ties in with the Emperor too, since this is his era Star Destroyer.
Finally. What we've all been waiting for. C-3PO goes full darkside! (red eyes at 1:25ish)
C-3PO is a voidbringer confirmed.
I get this reference!
Plot twist confirmed Palpatine has reincarnated into Jar Jar and he and c-3po have come to claim what is theirs
Dude between this, Mandalorian Trailer and Obi-Wan announcement my force boner could rival Dark Helmet and Lonestar combined!
I'm just pissed that the mandalorian show will be on their sub based service only
With all the Star Wars & Marvel stuff that will be exclusive to the platform, there is no way I am not getting it.
that trailer alone was enough to get me and my roommate to agree to split a year's subscription cost lol
The Millennium Falcon gets destroyed in some sacrificial way in this movie, calling the shot.
Shut your filthy mouth and stop trying to destroy my 1977 intergalactic hot rod. /s. Sorta
Chewbacca better not be on it at the time
I say possible, but the ship was around way before the prequel trilogy it seems a waste to get rid of it. Piece of shit needs to be immortal.
Added the Final Trailer to the OP.
JJ looks like a kid emptied out their toy box and used every single Star Wars ship ever in that space battle
THE GHOST!
Okay, so is this it? Like, no more movies, or they gonna have a new generation trilogy ten years from now?
It's the end, at least of this particular story (Episodes 1 thru 9). Supposedly they aren't making any more movies involving the characters from that set of movies*. There will be other stuff though. Rian Johnson (who did The Last Jedi) is making a movie set in the SW Universe like a 1000 years before the events of the current movies. The guys that directed Game of Thrones have also been given a SW movie but there's no details on that yet I don't think. Basically, there will still be lots of Star Wars content coming, just the Skywalker Saga is coming to an end.
*I'm willing to bet this isn't the end. Disney will milk this cow until its dry. Like you said, 10 years from now, maybe even sooner, I could see them making another movie involving Rey, Finn, or any other character that survives Episode 9
I'm sort of feeling this way as well. This trilogy has been a bit of a mess and nothing really seems to matter. Star Killer base was destroyed but the New Order didn't flinch. I'm not totally sure what all happened in 8 still. I'm not sure I even know what stakes will make me care in 9. The rebellion was all but crushed in 8 but they now seem to have plenty of support again?
My force boner is strong with this last trailer, let's go out on a high note!
I REALLY hope they delve into the Sith story line for some new flicks.
Looks visually stunning. Daisy Ridley: also visually stunning. Whew.
I am ready. Disney will make another 2 billion on this.
Who is going tonight aside from myself?
10 pm show. There were still a lot of seats available at this showing as of 2 weeks ago.
3pm tomorrow!
5 pm tonight so fucking excited this work day is dragging by
Reviews that are out say this movie is terrible. So I'll probably love it.
The critics loved TLJ so this one seems promising.
FWIW, critics loved TFA as well
But back to Rise, the biggest takeaway from the reviews seems to be there's too much content in this movie and not enough time. It's almost like two movies in one. But that isn't really all that surprising since TFA and TLJ both did a pretty poor job of giving plot details to actually explain what was going on. So Rise has the impossible task of explaining everything while also concluding everything. Hence, that's why you see everyone saying the first part of the movie is basically one giant exposition dump and then its a mad dash to the finish.
Seeing it tomorrow at 1:30pm. I got real excited when I saw the critics saying that it was big departure from The Last Jedi. I watched TLJ again the other night for the first time since I saw it in the theaters and I disliked it even more the second time.
I watched TLJ for the first time since theaters last night and it was better than I remembered after not having enjoyed it much in theaters... what are you biggest complaints against it?
I don't hate it as much as I've seen the general consensus to be across the internet, but there are a couple things that really bug me in TLJ:
- The abandonment of several characters for seemingly little or no impact, including Phasma, Snoke, Ackbar, and Finn (the whole sidestory in the casino planet with Rose pretty much took Finn's character arc into a boring place for me.)
- Carrie Poppins. Should have just stayed spaced and been done with it. The payoff with ghost Luke near the end wasn't worth that silliness. Granted there could be something big in the last movie that makes it understandable.
- The whole "Holdo has a plan but won't tell anyone so everyone get unnecessarily upset and screw up the plan all because of a lack of communication" trope.
I didn't really have issue with anything concerning Rey or Kylo, scenes involving either or both of them were entertaining and well done, I thought.
This plot point ruined it for me. Just tell everyone the plan. That's all you had to do to prevent a mutiny.
Not to derail the thread into debating TLJ, but nothing about that plot makes any sense whatsoever. They could have done any number of things. Like if going kamikaze is the only solution, why not just program a droid to pilot the ship? Or you know how Rose and Finn snuck away and also came back? Well, why not just put all the important Resistance members on their ship and they flee to safety then the fleet just scatters. Whoever gets tracked (since it was one ship at a time), is just odd man out. It's not even one of those plots that you can nitpick after you watch the movie, which is something you can do with most movies. This is something that's apparent while you're watching the movie, which is a sign of how poorly done it is.
It fails so much basic logic yet it takes up so much of the movie and time that could be better served going into more detail about the characters and further developing the overall plot
I agree with the carrie poppins and Holdo points... the finn side story didnt bother me, I actually appreciated how it was used to bring in some of the shades of gray with arms dealers just trying to make as much $ as possible not really being committed to light or dark but just their pocket book. I don't really like Kylo... too whiny and I don't think he was cast well. My other complaint is that they teased a lot of the deeper "religious" aspects of the Jedi/sith (which I appreciate) however with all the time that was spent on Luke's island I feel like there could have been much more exploration and explanation of the relationship between light and dark... especially while Yoda was around.
Counter point:
Porgs
There were indeed bright spots. As weird as the Snoke thing was, I loved the throne room battle.
Agree on the throne room battle.
On this point, I agree. I never realized how powerful the Crimson Guards were after seeing them escorting and keeping a watchful eye on the Emperor's throne in The Last Jedi.
To see Rey and Kylo battle together to take them down was epic, and definitely the high point of the movie.
But...for Kylo to easily kill Snoke like that was utterly anticlimatic, but it still paved the way for the Crimson Guards to battle the two powerful Jedis.
I re-watched it earlier this week and enjoyed it more than I remembered. The only things that still bothered me was Leia using the force to fly in space and the whole casino world sequence was so unnecessary.
1. The trip to Cantobite (sp?) for a "code breaker" was useless.
2. Leia using the force to fly through space
3. Kylo Ren is still a terrible villain and I don't find the First Order evil/sinister at all. Like seriously, how are these bumbling idiots conquering the galaxy?
4. Who the hell is Snoke and how did he become the Supreme Leader of the first order?
5. Hux is a dolt. Vader and Palpatine would have never tolerated that incompetent clown.
6. Rey finishing her "training" with Luke and immediately turning herself over to the First Order.
7. Character and story development in general was lacking IMO. It felt a lot like the last season of GoT.
It has its fun moments, but overall I was not a fan. Even though the plot of TFA was almost the same as A New Hope, I enjoyed that movie much more than TLJ. Perhaps The Rise of Skywalker will help make more sense of The Last Jedi.
You nailed it Eerily similar to the shittiness of last season of GOT. No artistry. The artist drives the script and this one is void of all artistry - whereas the fat guy that writes GOT books has a special craft - he's an artist. These f'in jokers are just trying to please the jackass executive producers.
I want to share the most unintentionally funny thing possibly ever.
Soundtracks really do tie films together.
I have always struggled to get into star wars. It is a genre I should absolutely love but just never really jumped into with my whole heart. With that said, it seems to me like since the original trilogy, there have just been repeated disappointments amongst the avid fans with every release. So, why is it that the hype for each new movie is still off the chart?
For me it's because Star Wars was a big part of my childhood between the ages of 8-15 or so during what I consider to be the golden age of Star Wars video games while the prequels were coming out. So it wasn't so much about the films as the immersion of playing a good game set in that universe. I just go see the films out of habit now, and the games aren't even good. (I haven't played Fallen Order yet)
This really nails it. There is a generation of adults right now that grew up in the golden age of star wars (great video games, novels, comics, etc) the occurred alongside the release of the prequel trilogy. The extended universe was so rich that even lackluster movies didn't deter fans from star wars. I'd argue that film isn't the proper medium for the universe that has been built up around star wars anymore. But as long as they are making movies the fan base will hold out hope that there will be another great movie.
Fallen Order is a really good game, it has some clunky controls sometimes but it's a great spiritual successor to the Jedi Knight and Force Unleashed series, really hoping for more games in the same vein and a second golden age.
Something I found that was written (not by a critic but fans, also took out the spoilers) that I thought was funny:
"If you thought The Last Jedi was the low point, you've seen nothing yet! Just going in the film had major hurdles to overcome, like the mess of the previous film."
"After finishing shooting, the film was shown to test audiences. The film was so poorly received - for many aspects such as Rey curb-stomping Palpatine by herself in the final battle - that Disney CEO Bob Iger personally demanded reshoots on the spot. The resulting reshoots were so extensive, they spanned months and the film didn't have a final edit till the month of release - December, causing trailers to be so desperate for footage that wouldn't be cut they had to fill half the length with footage from prior films and stuff used in prior trailers. Further complicating matters was that the very stupid plot was leaked months before release. Despite extensive denials from Disney and media outlets, the leaks were proven correct by getting then unrevealed names and plot objects right. Regardless, camera leaks the week before release show very little of the fantastically stupid content leaked months beforehand was changed, only minor details."
"Ultimately, Finn's and Poe's character and story arcs get thrown aside without any conclusion just so the film can focus on Rey's
characterstory arc. Not even the paid shills who desperately claimed The Last Jedi was good could defend this trash. And so ends what Disney calls the "Skywalker saga". Not with a bang, but a whimper. Is it any wonder many fans still prefer the Expanded Universe?"So i just finished watching the prequels and it's kind of crazy how much of those they seem to have stolen to make the latest trilogy. Anakin telling Padme to join him in ruling the galaxy=Kylo telling Rey to join him in ruling the galaxy is the most recent example I saw of that. (Watched Revenge of the Sith today).
I liked The Force Awakens, even though it was just A New Hope revisited. The Last Jedi kind of lost me with a lot of a Harry Potterish vibe, namely the Leia returning to the ship via the force. I'll watch this one too at some point, but I'm not in a rush as long as I see it before it all gets spoiled for me.
Christiansburg Hokie's take on the Star Wars new trilogy.
As stated earlier, in response to a poster, I was hoping that Timothy Zahn's trilogy - Heir To The Empire, Dark Force Rising, and The Last Command - would have been the basis for the new Star Wars trilogy announced by Disney few years ago.
I was severely disappointed when the first one came out - The Forces Awaken - which to me was the most lame and stupid title I have ever seen. It was a blatant rehash of A New Hope no wonder diehard fans ripped the movie to shred with criticism. Starkiller Base? Really? First Order? Really?
Now, what I did liked about TFA is the dynamic and tension between Kylo and General Hux. It showed those two were jockeying for power over the remnants of the Empire and how much they loathed working together by the order of Snoke, whose origin continues to be shroud in mystery. I don't have the time nor desire to read any more novels to fill in the missing gaps.
Now, Rey as a powerful Jedi is a nice surprise, but it was obvious that she was a version of Luke Skywalker, which brings me to one of the biggest blunder of The Last Jedi. One of the biggest plot holes in that story was the lack of explaination of why Luke became distant and cynical of the entire Jedi Order, and because Disney elected to classify Timothy Zahn's novels as non-canonical, a very stupid move on their part, they missed an opportunity to dig into Luke's pysche beautifully explored in Zahn's novels.
From the first page to the last page of Zahn's novels, it showed Luke's struggle to overcome doubt and insecurity in rebuilding the Jedi Order. He became a lost, wandering soul after Ben decided it was time to distance himself from Luke. Luke was right in the fact that the Jedi Order were done in by hubris and this was shown from Episode 1 through 3 when the Emperor, then a senator, manipulated the entire Republic behind the scene, playing on Anakin Skywalker's fear of his marriage being discovered and the Force Vision of his wife suffering.
What I did not like was seeing Han and Leia being separated, as if they were divorced, and Zahn's novels also explored the complicated marriage between Han and Leia - with the latter juggling her political duties and expecting the twins - and Han galaxy-trotting to hunt down clues of why the Empires were suddenly so bold to hit and attack the New Republic. It was Han, after all, who discovered the Grand Admiral masterminding the Empire's resurgence in the novels. And seriously, how in space could Han ever lose the Falcon? At one point, Han and Lando engaged in another card game to settle the controversy over the Falcon in the novels.
Then in The Last Jedi, we are treated the same story lines of Luke being trained by Yoda and then the cave vision of himself as Darth Vader. Rey saw a dark vision of herself and she was simply desperate to find out who her parents were. Luke treated her with the same cynicism as Yoda did. The opening acts of TLJ is simply a rehash of the Battle of Hoth with one major exception - Poe trolling General Hux was awesome.
One of the biggest criticism I have toward Hollywood, screenwriters, and directors in general are the lack of originality. Nowadays, reboot and recontting are major selling points to the public who simply aren't discriminative toward movies.
In reading some analysis of the movies, one common theme seem to be is that Rey is the balance of the Force long foretold. She neither fully embraces the Light or the Darkness. This seem to be what Luke finally realized at the end when he disappeared to become one with the Force. Nothing is more motivating than love, it is extremely powerful, and can be manipulated for good or for evil purpose.
One reason why Darth Vader finally tossed the Emperor down the shaft was because, wait for it, while he was watching Luke scream in agony from the Force Lightning and hearing his plea, he was having a flashback to when, wait....fooooooor....it, he saw his own wife's face in suffering from his youth. He finally realized he had been played and that's when he mustered up all the courage to pick up the Emperor, getting the full brunt of the Force Lightning, and threw the Emperor down the shaft. Maybe it was too late for Vader, but his paternal instinct, long buried under the machine, kicked into high gear when he remembered how he feared losing his beloved Padme.
One of the most interesting things I've read leading up to The Rise of Skywalker is how there is a cult that worships the Emperor and two of the most devout followers were obsessed with transferring the spirit of the Emperor into someone to be possessed. That would be the only likely explaination for his return.
And something that Disney, in their overestimation of the value of Timothy Zahn's novels, forgot...if the Jedis can appear as Force Ghost, then so can the Sith. One of Luke's antagonists was none other than Mara Jade, a former Emperor's right hand and assassin, who became obsessed with killing Luke Skywalker after seeing visions of the Emperor and Darth Vader drilling a simple command, "YOU WILL KILL LUKE SKYWALKER," only to finally silence the voices when she killed Luke's clone in The Last Command.
Sorry, I have rambled on long enough. Carry on.
This. Was. Awesome.
Great read.
I have been spending a great deal of thought on Star Wars. Grew up on the Original Trilogy. I had to hide my face when the Emperor, in his demonic rage, hurled Force Lightning at Luke when I first saw it (I was a kid!), and cried when I saw one of the Ewoks die because they were so adorable. How little did I realize that they were a bunch of furry cannibals ready to eat Luke and Han in honor of their god, C-3P0.
Thinking it some more, I can see why Han and Leia became distant couples by the time The Force Awakens arrived. They both felt like failed parents when Ben Solo turned to embrace the Darkness like his grandfather, Darth Vader, and that would place a lot of strain on any marriage. Too bad Disney-Lucasfilm did not include the couple's twin who was equally powerful to Ben Solo, unless a later novel had the twin's sister killed...don't think I've read that one.
If the First Order were the "resurrection" of the Empire, the only possible explanation for why they returned was due to Grand Admiral Thrawn's assassination and his captain ordering the Empire to fully retreat, which happened in The Last Command, and because the
MouseMoron House decided to make Zahn's novels non-canonical, it simply didn't make sense from the opening act of The Force Awakens.I'm just pissed they wrote Spock out of these episodes...[ducks]
This was fantastic. Thank you!
I too was really disappointed with the lack of creativity from this bunch. Even the naming conventions were lazy as you pointed out. First Order. Starkiller base. Supreme Leader (is he North Korean?). We need a code breaker! Is that the code breaker? Are you a code breaker? Barf!
Without reading the novels prior to The Force Awakens, I would have no idea who, how, or what the First Order were and how they replaced the Empire. The screen crawl can only give so much information, but it was obviously a rehash of Episode IV and Episode V.
This is one of J.J. Abrams' biggest flaws, IMHO, he loves explosives and ton of it, but doesn't do a good job of storytelling. He's all about actions, which is fine because Star Wars is action/space opera/science-fiction movies, but still need to develop the story.
Not sure what movie the critics all saw but they must be fucking blind that movie was awesome and definitely one of my favorites now. If you cant go and enjoy this movie I feel bad for you because it was very well done.
(Not putting specific spoilers here because this thread isn't marked spoilers, but still tread carefully)
I left the movie understanding why critics don't like it because pretty much all of the villain elements are pretty beyond the pale and the main threat trope has now been used in 4/9 Star Wars movies. The first act was kinda meh and I'm still not huge on computer Leia and some of the dialog. That being said I left the movie actually feeling something definitively positive and I can't say that about 8. There was fan service, sure, but it was at least fun.
I haven't seen the movie, but your last sentence resonates so loudly. I feel that there are plenty of people/critics out there that go to a movie and enjoy ripping it to shreds because it didn't do X or theme Y wasn't well portrayed, or dialog Z was bad. At the end of the day, those things are important, but as long as the movie entertains you, then I would argue that it's done its duty.
I'm excited to see it. The critic I trust the most (Kevin McCarthy...gave it 4.5 stars) made a great point. He said JJ did a great job trying to interconnect and tie in all the ends Rain made in TLJ. I wish JJ had been able to make entire trilogy, I thought his perspective was fantastic.
I had a good time, but only because they had lowered my expectations so drastically that I was no longer invested in how it ended, I was only there to be entertained. The movie, by the standards of what makes a great film, was not very good. The pacing was absurd, it was overly expository, way too much happening in too little time, and at least 30 minutes of the film was fanservice easter eggs/callbacks. So much of the important content in the movie was not prefaced in the previous films, it was thrown at you in the first 10 minutes and you just had to accept it. I won't go into specifics to avoid any possible spoilers.
Sounds a lot like the struggles the GOT team had with tieing up all those loose ends in the final season.
Difference is GOT had hours on hours on hours on hours to do so and still botched it big time. This being shorter movies instead of hour shows 10 hour seasons I can get how its tough to pack it in one movie and cut some slack accordingly