Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker- critical reaction

[lowfyr]

I'm thinking the very existence of negative and mixed critical reviews illustrates that the whole, "Disney pays for good reviews" idea is just a fantasy, but hey if that makes you feel better you do you.

But it was on Youtube, so it must be true. Right next to the"Disney buys tickets to bolster the numbers" nonsense^^

[Master Planner]

I'm not surprised that the film is bad. The sings was there from Force Awakens. The big problem is that this trilogy is a shameless cash grab, a shiny product with a lack of vision and lack of direction. Force Awakens was A New Hope with some twists and add nothing new on the table. The Last Jedi tried to to something different, but it contradicts the lackluster vision of the first movie. The third one is Force Awaken, plust throwing Last Jedi out of the bus and with a bigger lack of direction.

Tell what you want about the Prequels, but at least there was a vision and a world building, it wasn't an expensive and directionless mess.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

Tell what you want about the Prequels, but at least there was a vision and a world building, it wasn't an expensive and directionless mess.

Agreed. Signed. Stamped.

George Lucas struggled to make the sequels for years because he didn't think there was any new story to tell with the characters of Han/Luke/Leia or anything further to show. All it would amount to would be a rehash of stuff done before, at the price of undermining the movies that did exist.

That's what the sequels have done. Han and Leia turn out to be s--ty parents, Luke Skywalker is a s--ty mentor, the Rebellion turn out to be worse state-builders than Palps. Aesthetic standards have fallen all across the board.

Ideally the way to have done it was set it some 200 years after ROTJ with entirely new characters and stories....there can still be mystery and elements tied to what happened after ROTJ and some cameos via holocrons or force ghosts, but it had to be a new story and new conflict and not just the Jedi/Sith inter-family feud.

James Berardinelli, one of the best critics of Star Wars had this to say when The Last Jedi came out (http://www.reelviews.net/reelviews/s...he-last-jedi):

"Perhaps the most telling thing we’ve learned from The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi is that George Lucas was right with his 2005 claim (later reversed) that there wouldn’t be an Episode VII because there was no more story to tell. Filmmakers can bring back Han, Luke, and Leia but that doesn’t mean there’s a compelling narrative for them. Return of the Jedi, for all its faults, was a triumphant end to Luke’s journey, Anakin’s arc, and the Empire/Rebellion war. For this post-Lucas trilogy, the stakes seem smaller, the villains less intimidating, and the story too familiar. Every new movie gives us additional planets but, with the last two films, the far, far away galaxy seems to be shrinking."

[Celgress]

On the whole I just thought of this Trilogy wasnt cannon and more akin to fan fiction

LOL, I've heard a lot of people say this.

[Beaddle]

I see some critics bringing politics to this movie.

https://reason.com/2019/12/19/the-ri...rom-star-wars/
The Rise of Skywalker Shows It's Time for J.J. Abrams To Be Impeached From Star Wars

Talking of impeachment seems over blown. JJ already left for Warner brothers.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

https://reason.com/2019/12/19/the-ri...rom-star-wars/
The Rise of Skywalker Shows It's Time for J.J. Abrams To Be Impeached From Star Wars

Talking of impeachment seems over blown. JJ already left for Warner brothers.

I mean the fans kind of "impeached" Lucas from the movies by raising holy hell about the prequels. Abrams made his movie...what would they want, Rian Johnson to come and make a Specal Edition cut of TRoS that fixes the movie...I mean I guess some would want that.

[Buried Alien]

I mean the fans kind of "impeached" Lucas from the movies by raising holy hell about the prequels. Abrams made his movie...what would they want, Rian Johnson to come and make a Specal Edition cut of TRoS that fixes the movie...I mean I guess some would want that.

Everybody wants something different these days. The original, unified STAR WARS fanbase? That fractured the moment EPISODE I was released, and can never be put back together.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Theleviathan]

I'm not surprised that the film is bad. The sings was there from Force Awakens. The big problem is that this trilogy is a shameless cash grab, a shiny product with a lack of vision and lack of direction. Force Awakens was A New Hope with some twists and add nothing new on the table. The Last Jedi tried to to something different, but it contradicts the lackluster vision of the first movie. The third one is Force Awaken, plust throwing Last Jedi out of the bus and with a bigger lack of direction.

Tell what you want about the Prequels, but at least there was a vision and a world building, it wasn't an expensive and directionless mess.

Man is this well said.

Question for all.....how badly does this crush JJ Abrams reputation? I think it should be devastating, but I wonder if blame will get spread and he'll escape the due criticism he deserves for this soulless cash grab.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

Man is this well said.

Question for all.....how badly does this crush JJ Abrams reputation? I think it should be devastating, but I wonder if blame will get spread and he'll escape the due criticism he deserves for this soulless cash grab.

It depends on how much TRoS makes at the bank. That still has yet to be determined. Critical opinions do not reflect audience views. At the same time, TRoS comes after Solo which failed, and now there's Disney Plus with Mandalorian as a competitor...so that might drive people to go, "We'll see it on Disney Plus later on". If the movie makes it big, then it will secure Abrams' career.


As for J. J. Abrams' "reputation". It's important to note that critically speaking, his reputation wasn't very high to start with. As a director, Abrams has made six movies so far (including TRoS), he was always seen as very derivative as a film-maker, his early stuff borrowed from early Spielberg and so on. As a franchise director, he managed to invigorate and bring a contemporary spirit to Mission Impossible III and Star Trek, and also Star Wars. His movie Super 8 is a Spielberg-homage.

As a producer, he was behind Alias, and Lost, hit TV Shows, and he produced Cloverfield which is genuinely considered a great film (directed by Matt Reeves who has "heat" on him so-to-speak). Basically the stuff which people say about Lucas is true to a greater degree of Abrams. He's only good as his collaborators and material. And where Lucas' collaborators generally didn't distinguish themselves away from him, that's not the case with Abrams.

Rian Johnson on the other hand was always a well liked film-maker...people liked Brick with J-G Levitt, and Looper, and Knives Out. He wrote and directed those films, and The Last Jedi as well. Career-wise, he's the most distinguished film-maker to make a Star Wars movie after Lucas himself. Everybody else were journeyman such as Kershner, Marquand, and I guess you can add Abrams there too.

TLJ is the best of the ST, which is again not saying a great deal. Because nobody will say that movie is among Rian Johnson's best though vastly more people will have seen TLJ than ever will any of his other movies. It's also not among the best Star Wars movies and doesn't hold a candle to anything Lucas did.

[Iron_Legion87]

I think Disney really should have had a CLEAR vision for this new trilogy from the start. Have a strong outline of where they wanted to take the characters and story from start to finish before cameras begin rolling on Force Awakens. I think Disney just took Star Wars and was like "Oh we can make boat loads of cash with this IP, we can just wing it when it comes to story". But I will be honest I do like Force Awakens and even Last Jedi (despite it's flaws). I am still going to see Rise of Skywalker but my excitement is WAYYYYYY down.

[AJBopp]

I think Disney just took Star Wars and was like "Oh we can make boat loads of cash with this IP, we can just wing it when it comes to story".

I think this is the critical distinction. With episodes 1-VI, Lucas had a story to tell. Rogue One also told an important part of that story.

Everything else: Disney had a movie to make, not a story to tell.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

I think Disney really should have had a CLEAR vision for this new trilogy from the start. Have a strong outline of where they wanted to take the characters and story from start to finish before cameras begin rolling on Force Awakens.

The problem is that people still fight over the last backlash without realizing that the next backlash will be totally different and the lessons learned from the first is useless in the second.

When TFA went into production, people were against the prequels. The prequels were produced with a strong outline from the start, scripts were pre-written before TPM went (which doesn't mean that Lucas didn't make changes or alterations in-between), and while those movies were commercially successful and critically loved in the years of release, 10 years later you had this deathcult organized around Prequel hatedom and that infected the production of the ST. So the idea was to make the movies just like the OT was...i.e. make it from the ground up and throw stuff together.

All the people who complained about TRoS responding to the backlash for TLJ need to own up about how these movies, and TLJ itself, are responses to the backlash over the prequels.

The other problem is that they are making Star Wars without George Lucas. George Lucas was the creator/writer/visionary/designer of those movies. He's Tolkien, Rowling, Jack Kirby rolled into one. There's nobody who can take his place. You would need another George Lucas, and there's no incentive for any potential George Lucas to develop IP, concepts and ideas that ultimately Walt Disney will own.

[David Walton]

I think Disney really should have had a CLEAR vision for this new trilogy from the start. Have a strong outline of where they wanted to take the characters and story from start to finish before cameras begin rolling on Force Awakens. I think Disney just took Star Wars and was like "Oh we can make boat loads of cash with this IP, we can just wing it when it comes to story". But I will be honest I do like Force Awakens and even Last Jedi (despite it's flaws). I am still going to see Rise of Skywalker but my excitement is WAYYYYYY down.

I'm pretty excited to see TROS. To be honest, I don't think there's a single bad Star Wars film. I loved SOLO. The PT is brilliant and ROTS is arguably the best SW film ever made. I'm never quite sure how I feel about TLJ. It's like a different experience for me every time I watch it. I think it's very well done but I can't say I'm thrilled with some of the choices made. But I find it pretty compelling regardless. Be interesting to see how I feel about it after TROS.

[Mr.B]

Woke bomb 10chars

[Revolutionary_Jack]

I'm pretty excited to see TROS. To be honest, I don't think there's a single bad Star Wars film. I loved SOLO. The PT is brilliant and ROTS is arguably the best SW film ever made.

Preach the truth...