Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker- critical reaction

[Buried Alien]

Han doesn't. Kylo doesn't. Snoke doesn't. Those that do do have obvious reasons (she saved BB-8's heinie, she and Finn bond over their escape, etc.).

Most notably, it took Luke nearly a whole movie to warm to her.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[SiegePerilous02]

I'll be seeing the movie tomorrow but after seeing some of the spoilers, it ain't looking good.

Also I'm hating all of this Rian Johnson defending. The Last Jedi was a 5/10.

https://www.cbr.com/the-rise-of-skyw...-rian-johnson/

Even as someone who wasn’t crazy about Last Jedi, this trilogy would have been better off following up on the threads of that and crafting a cohesive and unique trilogy instead of doing what they did here. Now it all just feels like a disjointed mess and we basically got a video game plot filled with so much fan service it overwhelms combined with basically a soft remake of Return if the Jedi

The Last Jedi had a couple good basic ideas. Rey having to be related to an established prior character and Snoke as a villain were both uninspired, so tossing them out is fine, as is presenting any potential romantic interest in Kylo as being a very bad idea. It's just JJ Abrams setting up **** he had no plans on continuing. The basic meta commentary that we've been through all this before and we should leave the past alone and do something new is also 100% accurate because clearly Disney Star Wars has nothing else in mind besides rehashing the past. The problem is that it doesn't set up much of anything else of interest going forward, and still ends up as kind of a rehash of Empire Strikes Back, just not as blatant as the films preceding and following it. It basically just says "who cares?" and farts out at the end. And teaches Luke some lessons he already learned in the previous trilogy. Like I'm sure in RoTJ Luke knew that the old Jedi teachings were largely flawed, and he's had visions of the future before that aren't set in stone, so why is he standing over his nephew and contemplating killing him? Because the plot demands it I guess. So burn the old Jedi teachings to the ground, except J/K Rey has them.

But it at least felt like a film with a personal stamp from the director. This hot mess they just released into theaters is the most reactionary corporate driven movie I've seen in a while. You could feel the studio's fingerprints all over it.

They're both pretty bad movies. TFA is the best of the new trilogy still, and even that is just ANH all over again. What a crappy waste of a new cast of characters.

[WebLurker]

Yeah, the critics really got fooled with TLJ. The Last Jedi doesn't have anything tangible or human to say.

Fair enough if you think so, but when considering the question if it doesn't I think of that scene with Luke and Yoda talking while the library burns and I cannot agree at all.

Also I'm hating all of this Rian Johnson defending. The Last Jedi was a 5/10.

Honest question: should we get mad (or annoyed) over other people liking something that we don't, or vice versa?

Most notably, it took Luke nearly a whole movie to warm to her.

Forgot about that, but yeah. spoilers:

It's not until Rise of Skywalker that he has a truly cordial conversation with her. Thought it was a nice conclusion to the arc of their relationship from where it all began.

end of spoilers

[MASTER-OF-SUPRISE]

Critics are like any group in the audience. Make a movie that makes them feel smart, knowing, and their biases and suspicions are confirmed, and they'll fall in.

It's not any different from movies which target fanboys and so on. Some critics are smart and honest about this, others less so.

Maybe, personally I feel like critics seem to have a much more cynical take on movies. They seem to think everything should be "nuanced"and "complex." Honestly I think nuance is rather overrated. It just seems to be cynicism trying to masquerade itself as wisdom but never providing any real insight.

Using the Jedi Order as a vehicle to take on religious reform was a great concept that got lost in extremes.

Luke would have been the ideal bridge between the failings of the old Jedi Order and its future. Contrary to Johnson's implications, Luke was aware of the institution's failings by ROTJ, as he rejected both Obi-Wan and Yoda pushing him to kill Vader. If anyone was more likely to romanticize the Jedi Order it would have been Rey, who had only encountered the concept as a legend.

The idea of Luke using his powers less as an offensive mechanism and more to turn his opponent's negative energies back on themselves was great. A lot could have been done with Luke experimenting with more creative uses of his power and passing that onto students. That might have been a truly revolutionary idea: Luke rejecting the lightsaber as the Jedi's primary weapon. More of a training tool until the Jedi is ready to move on as Yoda had by ESB.

I personally would've loved to see Luke reform the Jedi and give them an update they needed.

spoilers:

It's not until Rise of Skywalker that he has a truly cordial conversation with her. Thought it was a nice conclusion to the arc of their relationship from where it all began.

end of spoilers

While I agree it's a nice conclusion I feel like it would've worked better if they had moments where they got along in TLJ.

[Beaddle]

On a bigger critical reaction that relates more to the genre of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Can I say that Rise of Skywalker happens to be the most kid-friendly star wars film to ever grace the screen and not in a good way. Disney really unleashed the mouse in this film.

As a person who loves both Star Wars and Star Trek equally, one thing some hard core Trekkies used to use against Star Wars is, Star Wars is more of a kids thing that lacked the mature intellectual depth of Star Trek. Watching Rise of Skywalker, Many trekkies has just found another great alibi to make this point cleaner. sad

[basbash99]

On a bigger critical reaction that relates more to the genre of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Can I say that Rise of Skywalker happens to be the most kid-friendly star wars film to ever grace the screen and not in a good way. Disney really unleashed the mouse in this film.

As a person who loves both Star Wars and Star Trek equally, one thing some hard core Trekkies used to use against Star Wars is, Star Wars is more of a kids thing that lacked the mature intellectual depth of Star Trek. Watching Rise of Skywalker, Many trekkies has just found another great alibi to make this point cleaner. sad

Sorry, but i would have to say TPM is the most kid-friendly movie, with Jar-Jar, Jake Lloyd Anakin's hijinks, replacing alien languages with ethnic accents (to avoid subtitles or having to infer what they're saying), and roger-roger cutesy battle droids. Darth Maul is scary but that isn't enough to make up for it.

Trek generally has had more intellectual depth, although the way humans were presented as perfect and without vice in TNG-era series made it hard to view them as "real" people at times.

[PwrdOn]

On a bigger critical reaction that relates more to the genre of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Can I say that Rise of Skywalker happens to be the most kid-friendly star wars film to ever grace the screen and not in a good way. Disney really unleashed the mouse in this film.

As a person who loves both Star Wars and Star Trek equally, one thing some hard core Trekkies used to use against Star Wars is, Star Wars is more of a kids thing that lacked the mature intellectual depth of Star Trek. Watching Rise of Skywalker, Many trekkies has just found another great alibi to make this point cleaner. sad

Star Trek only has the appearance of intellectual depth though, a lot of the moralizing and philosophizing is quite juvenile and amateurish if you really dig more deeply into. The franchise also became more and more action oriented as time went on, not just to try and emulate what had worked for Star Wars, but also because the original premise of glorifying inaction and passivity just didn't make for very compelling television. There are in fact some problems that cannot be solved through dialogue and understanding, no matter how much we wish that to be so, and while shooting first and asking questions later isn't always the answer either, let's not pretend that the former is somehow more enlightened or sophisticated than the latter.

[Powerboy]

I was amazed that it's only at 56% with critics although it's at 86% with fan reviews though that's all only on RT. Meanwhile, the Last Jedi, with its sledgehammer approach to "obvious subversiveness" or "unexpected only because it makes no sense", is at an incomprehensible 91% among critics. Well, not incomprehensible. They are judging it purely on it's own merits, not as a Star Wars movie or as part of continuity within Star Wars. But, even then, it's so heavy handed and obvious, with a one upper attitude like a Ring Master in a three-ring circus bringing you the next amazing thing you won't believe (because it makes no sense) that they most likely agree with it's messages and that's all that matters. I agree with its social messages too but that's not all that matters in a story.

Anyway, this is supposed to be about TROS which I've given an opinion on within another thread. I'll just say I think it did a darn good job considering it had three hours worth of material stuffed into two hours and had to spend a considerable amount of time either explaining or undoing the last movie.

Oh, and I'm sure that, despite the poor critic reviews, it's laying waste at the box office. But I guess it doesn't get the free pass MCU movies get just by being MCU movies (not that some are not great but there's clearly a kid gloves approach to reviewing some of them).

[Powerboy]

Many Star Wars fans have never taken rotten tomatoes seriously, that was made clear with Last Jedi and Force Awakens. RT does not belong to the star wars generation in a serious criticism debate. the score means nothing in the real matters of things.

However, the score is now at 61, it was at 54 than its now at 61. that is quite a jump, most films don't do that. I wonder if Disney started writing out more cheques? I am surprised they did not pull a captain marvel with RT for rise of Skywalker. Anyway, this is the end. I am treating star wars like xmen, it ended with Logan and return of the Jedi. anything else ia just for a healthy discussion about how most of these series are not in their golden era anymore.

Exactly. Critics and reviews are simply irrelevant to Star Wars movies, at least the ones that are considered the main ones. Maybe critics were always irrelevant.

I had not considered that the people who tend to post on RT are simply of a particular generation and don't reflect what a lot of people want from Stars Wars. It's also true that there are so many differing opinions. One group wants Star Wars to "move on" and away from the original characters or people connected to them and essentially standing in for them. Another group feels like there's no point in calling it Star Wars if you're going to move away from everything they feel makes it Star Wars.

Creatively, the real damage to this trilogy came from having two almost opposite visions. Combined with the movies like Solo doing poorly, there may be no coming back from this creatively. But the main movies (with episode numbers) steamroll on. So, yes, this RT stuff is full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. [And he cleverly plagiarized Shakespeare. Wow, that was a subtle as the Last Jedi].

[Celgress]

I give this person credit for her review. She does a better job than I ever could summing up my feelings about ROS and why I'm disappointed by the movie (several abandoned story beats from TLJ). If you have time I'd recommend giving the vid a watch.

[The Cool Thatguy]

On a bigger critical reaction that relates more to the genre of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Can I say that Rise of Skywalker happens to be the most kid-friendly star wars film to ever grace the screen and not in a good way. Disney really unleashed the mouse in this film.

As a person who loves both Star Wars and Star Trek equally, one thing some hard core Trekkies used to use against Star Wars is, Star Wars is more of a kids thing that lacked the mature intellectual depth of Star Trek. Watching Rise of Skywalker, Many trekkies has just found another great alibi to make this point cleaner. sad

As much as I enjoy Star Wars (movies), I don't understand how it was ever really a competition that Star Wars could ever win.

I mean, it's a basic morality play, good vs. evil (sorry, dark side). Only recently did they even bother to put some effort into their naming devises ("The evil empire will be called...The Empire! And the resistance will be called...The Resistance!")

And don't get me started on the Jedi leading child soldiers/slaves into battle, and supposed to the good guys.

No series can stand up perfectly to scrutiny perfectly, mind, but Star Wars? You barely have to scratch the surface. I'd rather focus on the action, personally.