I would have bought a violin playing goat!
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I think there's plenty of blame for Iger, Kennedy, and Johnson, though I agree KK deserves the most. JJ left some threads in TLJ that Johnson could have developed but Johnson threw it all (along with a lot of other stuff) out the window.
If this is to be believed, KK was behind bringing back Palpatine:
In it, Terrio possibly credits Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy with wanting to bring back Palpatine. "Kathy Kennedy and [SVP] Michelle Rejwan had a clear plan for where they wanted things to end," Terrio said. "They had clear plans about certain narrative marks they wanted us to hit. They also gave us a lot of freedom within that. We knew that Rey and Ren were utterly key to this trilogy, but we also felt that there was no way that we were going to not find a path to redemption for Kylo Ren, the son of Han and Leia."
"That’s when we really started aggressively pursuing this idea that there is old evil that didn’t die," he continued. "The source of the evil in the galaxy is this dark spirit waiting for its revenge and biding its time. The entity known as Palpatine in this version – his body died in Return of the Jedi – is patient and has been waiting. He dug his fox hole and has been waiting for his chance to re-establish his total domination."
When asked if Palpatine had always been the plan, prior to Episode IX, Terrio said "Well, I can’t speak to Kathy’s overall intent. That was certainly discussed and was discussed before I ever came on. Kathy had this overall vision that we had to be telling the same story for nine episodes. Although from the sleight of hand of Episode VII and Episode VIII, you wouldn’t necessarily know immediately that we were telling the same story. She thought it would be a very strong end for the ninth movie. This fits well with J.J. because he loves magic tricks."
Okay, late to the party, but I saw a showing today.
Not much to say that hasn't already been said now that I've perused the thread. It's overlong and somehow also rushes things, it's hamhanded and overly offers fan service. And I loved every minute of it and found it wildly satisfying.
I had managed to stay 99% spoiler free, other than knowing it had mixed reviews. I found the new droid endearing, was surprised by Harrison Ford, and even though several scenes were like telegraphed JP Tokoto passes, I didn't care.
I loved the original trilogy. Literally grew up with that story. I hated the prequels - too heavy handed with the story telling, too much CGI, Jar Jar made my skin crawl - but most importantly I never bought into Anakin. Perhaps it's just impossible to tell a three movie story where everyone and their father (so to speak) knows the ultimate ending. I never really wanted to see Darth Vader as a kid. I didn't want to see him macking on Natalie Portman. The few moments of Darth Vader in Rogue One were more satisfying to me than three horribad prequels.
In contrast, the sequel trilogy is built on the Rey/Ben interaction and tension, which I found much more satisfying. I find it incredibly easy to believe that if Luke was so scared of Ben's power that he would try to kill him, that Ben would go off the rails. And even then, Ben's internal conflict was very well told both overtly and through his actions.
Rey's innate force sensitivity and drive were somewhat interesting to me - it didn't much matter to me if she was a Palatine or a Calrissian - but her scenes with Kylo Ren in the final two movies had me completely rapt. Kylo's ideology of tossing out all the family BS and two sides of the force in TLJ (which I liked more than most) kinda tracks and makes sense. Part of me wanted Rey to seem a bit mote tempted by his offers to work together.
Anyway, for me their scenes were the most compelling of the nine movies. Their utter fascination with one another, their inner conflict, their draw to one another worked very well. The rest of the last two movies is simply window dressing to me, and honestly rather irrelevant.
So, put me in the "liked it" camp. I recognize the ridiculousness of the whole enterprise (so to speak) but found myself laughing, tearing up, and cheering.
Will have to revisit my list of top SW films in coming weeks, but I suspect it cracks the top 3rd (bottom third are prequels in any order you like).
III had some really awful parts and some good parts. I feel the same about II (mostly the Obi-Wan/I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.u dialog when Obi-Wan is captured and the the Yoda/I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.u banter/fight a little later).
He was a kid when he first saw it and was the target audience. Plenty of movies I loved as a kid which do not translate well to others who are older.
Nick is proving that although it is December 30th, the competition for Post Of The Year is still an open competition.
Oh! I will say, the shoehorned "The Force is a pathway to many things some consider unnatural" line from Palp gets my nomination for worst line of the movie. Blah. I suppose people who were young when the prequels came out probably enjoyed that callback more than I did, but it didn't feel like it fit in at all.
Edit:small request to mods...can we make "spoiler thread" all caps in the title so that it's a little more obvious which thread we're in? I get nervous every time I post because I'm afraid I posted in the wrong thread :)
So I've been reading this thread as Duke blows out BC. We got back from the movie just before the game started.
I was really worried going in. I thought I'd enjoy it, but seeing some of folks ranking lists and having ROS so low had me less than encouraged.
To those that ranked it low, may your dreams be filled with Ewoks tonight.
Considering only the Skywalker saga, I put this in my top three, and very possibly top two.
In other words, I thought this movie was awesome. Sooo much going on, and lots to cram in, but I thought JJ and the writers did a really good job with it. It was flat out FUN. And emotional, as I admit to watching the credits scroll with tears in my eyes.
I'll post more later tonight after the game, and after I decompress a bit, but I'll offer one thought on two characters. I was really happy to see Han get his moment, and for Maz to come back and have some importance. She was merely an afterthought in TLJ, and as far as Han goes, he got the goodbye that he deserved.
(PS, I was really, really impressed with how they used Leia/Fisher. It didn't feel forced to me, and I was worried that it would.)
Just saw it again and I liked it even more this time. I'm glad J.J. made this film like he did. If you're a fan of Star Wars it's what you wanted and I think that's the way it should be.
I didn't think it seemed as rushed on second viewing since I had already seen it once and that made it more enjoyable and added the ability to kind of soak it in a little more.
All in all I think it's the best of the third trilogy and only behind A New Hope and Empire for me.
Follow up thoughts, with replies to some previous posts. Gonna pick on JE a lot.
In the the breadth of the movies, "The Force" has been forever expanding. Think back to A New Hope. The Force meant you could block shots while blindfolded, hit a training sphere with your lightsaber, and blow up the Death Star without the aid of a computer. In every movie since, the abilities of a trained Force user have been expanded on, by every director at the helm. I'm good with it.
The fan service is precisely why this is one of my favorite movies in the series.
The Sith Map Thingie is not a stretch by any means. When I first saw it, I thought it was going to be a holocron, which are knowledge storage units that have been hidden all over, by both Jedi and Sith. It's not much different.
Also, Luke didn't have 3-PO translating for him, which helped obviously. And ultimately, the Sith Map Thingie that was used was the one that Kylo found. He probably took a long while to find it, too. Thankfully, we didn't have to watch the whole thing, just the end of his search.
So you know that to use Force healing, it takes a lot out of you. Literally. (If you've been following the Mandolorian, this is made clear and is obviously why they moved the 7th episode to before the opening night. Given, you saw it before then.) So Ben Solo just got his I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this. kicked to the point of death by Sidious, and chucked off a cliff. He summons all of his strength to come back up, and unfortunately finds Rey in even worse shape. To see that saving her cost him his own life wasn't laughable to me at all, it was more predictable. That one I could see coming as soon as his hand cleared the ledge.
In the first episode (and season) of Resistance (insufferable show but has gotten better as it draws to a close) Poe left BB-8 with Kaz & Company on the Colossus for an extended period of time, so he does ok without him. That's not an answer to your question, but lends to plausibility.
That NEEDS to happen!
You don't question there being humans in a galaxy far, far away, though. What are the odds of that?
One other thought on another character.
From the trailers, I knew 3PO would have a role to play; I figured we'd see his demise. This is the only movie that he was used as more than simply a comic foil, and that was nice to see, too. I liked seeing him face true dilemma, and making the sacrifice. (Also was happy to see that he was mostly back to his annoying self by the end.)