All my specific thoughts contained in the spoiler below, although if you're coming into this thread not having seen it then you're probably a dummy.
It's hard to give an accurate judgement of Star Wars because for so many people, so so many, it's such a core and integral part of the childhood or young adult years.
I can't count the number of hours I would run around the woods out back home with a stick, pretending to be a Jedi or Sith, and I grew up when Phantom Menace came out. I dragged my mother to take me to it literally 30 times that summer, she kept all the ticket stubs in a photo album.
So anything involving star wars involves also trying to take off the rose tinted goggles and view a beloved film series under the scalpel of criticism.
Is Rise of Skywalker the best Star Wars film? No, I don't think so. I also don't think it's the worse, by a long shot.
I place it firmly above Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones.
Rey's lineage of being a Palpatine felt pretty forced and out of left-field. I don't dislike it but I don't think it was handled as well as it could have been.
Ben/Kylo's redemption arc was phenomenal. Dying with a smile on his face, sacrificing his life to save Rey's, and becoming one with the Force like his mother and uncle was a satisfying and well done conclusion to his character development.
Poe, Finn, and Rey have great chemistry together and are genuinely fun to watch interact with eachother. Poe and Finn in particular have a really fun back and forth banter that I would love to see more of.
On Finn, I really didn't like how they kept teasing Finn of being Force-sensitive to no satisfying conclusion. He obviously can sense Rey in the force multiple times, and even in TFA he can sense the mass death from Starkiller base. But he never gets a defining moment because of it, and it's only used as plot radar to find Rey.
Finn's apparent feelings for Rey were hinted but Rose is still around and no one ever talks about it. I get that Ben and Rey are force-magic destined to be together but dang can we get Finn to get with someone over here?
Holy shitballs the setting and design for the Final Order Sith planet, whatever its called, was fucking phenomal. Positively oozing with menace and dread. The untold thousands of shadowy cloaked figures bowing before Palpatine, the dark throne room lit only by the strikes of lightning and the battle blazing overhead. Marvelous.
Chewie's cry of anguish over Leia's death legitimately made me cry. RIP Carrie Fisher and Peter Mayhew, he got that medal at long fucking last.
Thumbs up! A good star wars film. Rise of Skywalker is mostly a wild ride with a few moments of nostalgia. The wild ride part of the film packs in almost too much. It would be nearly impossible for a non-Star-Wars person to keep up with what is going on. But it was good for me in that it touched on but didn't dwell on story that didn't need much more dwelling. The nostalgia was well done, one or two moments caught me by surprise and brought the story home, but I felt the first half of the film could have used more of that to anchor the story earlier. I'll save discussion of spoilers for later.
I was seven when A New Hope hit. Went with my late father. Loved the original trilogy. Didn't enjoy the prequels anything like as much - but they were Star Wars and I took what I could get; I won't blindly love something just because it's Star Wars, however..
And... I loved this latest movie. I loved the cameos. I loved the callbacks. I loved the cheesy lines I saw coming - not just from a mile away - but from a galaxy far, far away. I loved the heroic moments and character development given to unexpected longstanding characters. I loved the way they wrote around Carrie Fisher's absence and used what they had without it looking like token or filler content. I loved the Ben / Rey resolution. I loved the latter's surnames - both of them.
Sure, it was all a bit like a greatest hits EP. But it was the greatest hits.
I've read a lot of the gripes since and they didn't dent my enjoyment one jot. Best ever? Perhaps not, though it may stand the test of time better than its critics suggest. Fitting end? For this forty-something fan who felt like a seven-year-old again, sat next to his daughter (young fan) and wife (couldn't give a hoot about SW franchise..) who also both loved it, absolutely.
The force is strong with this one. And here's a bonus picture of me in fancy dress, channelling my inner Sith for reading this far...!
It was ok for me things that really bothered me was it felt very rushed they needed a bad guy to kill so they brought back the old evil himself just to have him killed within a few minutes. Kylo really didnt do anything for the final fight just was like a support character. I felt the movie could have been better if it was at least 2 parts or they had brought the emperor in on the last movie or something. either way it was still ok better than last movie by far just to rushed.
I see how bringing back 'old evil' could be viewed as a 'last ditch effort'. The beauty of it, however, is that going that route ties the entire nine film saga together. And afterall, if we accept that 'old evil' was pulling strings in Episodes 4 and 5 leading up to taking the stage in Episode 6, why not accept the same in Episodes 7 and 8 leading up to him once again headlining Episode 9?
Could it have been set up better? Absolutely. But going the route they did kept Rey's secret as long as they could. Which proved to be a good thing. As it turns out, fan furor over Rey's parents being 'insignificant' was misplaced. Isn't 'insignificance' is the type of choice that someone choosing to be a Jedi instead of a Sith would have made? And what Rey chose in the end as well?
I see how bringing back 'old evil' could be viewed as a 'last ditch effort'. The beauty of it, however, is that going that route ties the entire nine film saga together. And afterall, if we accept that 'old evil' was pulling strings in Episodes 4 and 5 leading up to taking the stage in Episode 6, why not accept the same in Episodes 7 and 8 leading up to him once again headlining Episode 9?
Could it have been set up better? Absolutely. But going the route they did kept Rey's secret as long as they could. Which proved to be a good thing. As it turns out, fan furor over Rey's parents being 'insignificant' was misplaced. Isn't 'insignificance' is the type of choice that someone choosing to be a Jedi instead of a Sith would have made? And what Rey chose in the end as well?
