Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker SPOILER discussion

Topic

With this on the way in a matter of days, and spoilers starting to leak out into the mainstream, we should probably have a dedicated discussion thread for it.

Looking forward to seeing it.

Replies

Thanks Dave.

Some of the TV ads are now starting to stray into spoiler territory. I’ve been avoiding most of them but this seems like a big hint about where they might be taking things with Rey.

Haven’t seen the one you posted Dave, but it’s the Kylo one that dropped a plot bomb and a half to me.  The one you’ve posted might be similar.

Might be I see the film just to see if how that prediction piece I write in April plays out.

No the spoiler is Rey is

[Spoiler] Jabbas daughter [/spoiler]

It’s out here on Wednesday. I’ll probably go see it, just to uphold the ancient ritual but I fully expect it to be awful. (Inb4 Ronnie tells me he expects me to be awful.) When are reviews expected?

 

I just hope they give Luke a couple of good scenes, and maybe Yoda’s final nugget of wisdom.

Anonymous wrote:

Yoda’s final nugget of wisdom

“Baby Yoda merchandise, you must buy!”

Not trying to spoil the mood btw. I am sure other people will enjoy it and that’s great, it just isn’t really for me I think.

Some early reactions:

https://ew.com/movies/2019/12/17/star-wars-rise-of-skywalker-first-reactions/amp/

https://io9.gizmodo.com/the-first-spoiler-free-star-wars-the-rise-of-skywalk-1840467466/amp

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/amp/heat-vision/star-wars-rise-skywalker-first-reactions-1263015

Unfortunately in the wake of The Last Jedi (and all the mileage that various websites got out of the perceived problems with that movie) I think we’re probably going to see polarised reactions immediately and probably months of articles about what’s wrong with the movie. Star Wars has always been a soap opera as well as a space opera, and no matter what direction they take the story in, there are going to be plenty of people who don’t like it, regardless of how well-made a film it is.

So I’m going to try and ignore all that and just enjoy it for what it is.

 

 

Dave wrote:

So I’m going to try and ignore all that and just enjoy it for what it is.

What are you, some kind of anarchist!?

I wouldn’t be surprised if the first couple tweets, which call the film good but flawed, in both articles are accurate.

And the Internet is burning.

You say that every time anything Star Wars comes out!

There’s a cream for that.

Sometimes I just like to watch things burn.

Cue GIF.

Ben wrote:

Sometimes I just like to watch things burn.

Cue GIF.

Ben wrote:

And the Internet is burning.

I kind of love pre-embargo tweets about movies:

watching the rise of skywalker is like telling an acquaintance you ate potato salad once and enjoyed it, and then having that acquaintance break into your home in the middle of the night, tie you to a chair, and mash potato salad into your face and eyes for 2+ hours

— Emma Stefansky (@stefabsky) December 17, 2019

RISE OF SKYWALKER is bananas. It's like a big submarine sandwich but the only ingredients are banana peppers and it's being served to you on an exploding spaceship and everyone is yelling

— David Sims (@davidlsims) December 17, 2019

My plans for seeing this on Thursday have been scuppered by a possible bed delivery at some unspecified point during the day (or maybe not that day at all, they can’t say), so I’ve booked a backup ticket to see it at a midnight screening tomorrow night. I could only get tickets four rows from the front though, so I’m probably going to get a sore neck.

Dave wrote:

This post has received 3 votes up.

Not the one I had in mind, but it’ll do.

paul f wrote:

My plans for seeing this on Thursday have been scuppered by a possible bed delivery at some unspecified point during the day (or maybe not that day at all, they can’t say), so I’ve booked a backup ticket to see it at a midnight screening tomorrow night. I could only get tickets four rows from the front though, so I’m probably going to get a sore neck.

Sounds like it’s a pain in the neck for you to see Star Wars.

Ben wrote:

Sometimes I just like to watch things burn.

Cue GIF.

I wrote off the sequel trilogy after The Last Jedi, so the only thing that interests me is to see how people react to it.

I read the spoilers, and can’t say I have any interest in paying to see it in a theater. Without going into details, it just sounds like more of the same unambitious and mediocre stuff that Abrams and Johnson crapped onto the screen in the first two movies

With 22 reviews, it’s at 57% on RT: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/star_wars_the_rise_of_skywalker/

The Rise of Skywalker—and the Fall of Fun: https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2019/12/star-wars-the-rise-of-skywalker-review

‘The Rise Of Skywalker’ Is A Convoluted And Clumsy End To The Star Wars Saga: https://uproxx.com/movies/star-wars-rise-of-the-skywalker-review/

The Saga Ends: https://screencrush.com/star-wars-the-rise-of-skywalker-review/

‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’ Is a Sloppy End to the Saga: https://www.thrillist.com/entertainment/nation/star-wars-the-rise-of-skywalker-movie-review

‘The Rise of Skywalker’ Is the Most Incoherent ‘Star Wars’ Movie Ever Made: https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/12/star-wars-the-rise-of-skywalker-review/603790/

The saga ends with neither a bang nor a whimper but something inbetween: https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/star-wars-the-rise-of-skywalker/

Pretty much what I was afraid would happen. Rewatched TLJ again yesterday and still loved it.

I saw a video the other day explaining a possible script leak, it sounded super convoluted, and some of these review give a lot of credence to those “leaks”… so I’ll guess we’ll see… well not me, but you guys xD

Yeah, the leaks came out during the summer, and people who saw the movie have confirmed they were true.

The reactions in youtube have NOT been positive so far… That IGN reviews sums up pretty well the general concensus so far.

The movie has the second-lowest RT/Metacritic score of all the movies except for Phantom Menace, and that one is only so low because of the 3D re-release in 2012. It was around 60% before that.

I don’t think anyone is expecting this to be the next Citizen Kane or anything.

I’ve read a few pretty negative reviews.

There’s a guy at my office who’s a Star Wars fan and he’s been whinging about how mediocre it will be (He has not seen it).

I’m seeing it tonight with friends, one a fan and one a novice like me.  I’m not expecting much based on the trailer – maybe something with the logic and spectacle of the last Jurassic World movie?  Probably with a better score?

How does JJ Abrams keep getting work?

Well I would definitely stay away from “his” spider-man story if I were you.

*Good Luck everyone*

As someone else once said: I have a bad feeling about this.

Anonymous wrote:

How does JJ Abrams keep getting work?

There’s a couple of easy answers to this.  One) his movies don’t usually flop and two) he’s a good collaborator that actors reportedly like and three) he’s more a producer than a director and has a pretty consistent hand on the budget.  I don’t think i’ve ever read a report of him blowing out a budget which is a huge tick for a blockbuster director.

Abrams needs to evolve a bit to stay on track. His films have started to feel less substantial than the television shows he created and produced before going into movies.

I’m surprised this movie is getting such overtly negative and middling reviews. However, a lot of the reviews are complaining that the film is aimed too squarely toward Star Wars fans and, as a result, shying away from the elements of The Last Jedi that put fans off. At least, that’s the perspective of some of the more outright negative reviews like Forbes or the A.V. Club.

So, it could just be the old standby that most film critics don’t like anything that just wants to be a movie.

Abrams is not the issue… they should’ve had a “feige-like” person to draw a roadmap and enforce that roadmap… If that’s what Kathleen Kenedy was supposed to do, well, she’s obviously failed hard, and if that wasn’t her job, she should’ve hired someone to do it… so either way I’d rather blame her. it’s not like this will be the first porblematic SW movie, and there’s only one person in common.

George Lucas?

That would be a no… not George Lucas. Come to think of it, he might be thorwing a hissy fit right about now… xD

I’m not sure if I’m the first person to see it on the board but this is my verdict.

I really did not like it.  It is an empty, convoluted film. The Last Jedi is much, much more interesting. Force Awakens is far more saisfying. This may even be the worst of the 9 main films and I think this will go down as the film which cheapened the franchise.  5/10.

Anonymous wrote:

I’m not sure if I’m the first person to see it on the board but this is my verdict.

I really did not like it.  It is an empty, convoluted film. The Last Jedi is much, much more interesting. Force Awakens is far more saisfying. This may even be the worst of the 9 main films and I think this will go down as the film which cheapened the franchise.  5/10.

Caravan of Courage is right over there, you know.  And now it’s crying.

I’ve seen some leaked bits that looked really bad. I might skip this after all.

I enjoyed it. There’s a lot in this film, it rather runs at a breakneck speed, since they clearly didn’t have a trilogy plan the script sets up entirely new plot directions and characters and flies through them all.

Actually I realise I’m the first probably doing proper spoilers from here in so those dipping toes can bugger off…

 

 

 

It worked for me on the superficial level I attend most blockbuster movies. It’s never boring, hits a lot of good emotional points and the action is plenty of fun. It wasn’t revolutionary at all but did veer away from the exact plot repetition of TFA (still a good degree of tribute but not quite as ‘on the nose’).

I think for those who look for very tightly plotted fare they are going to have a lot of issues, there are hefty chunks of handwavium at play all the way through. Personally I just don’t care that much but that’s where the line is going to be divided as the reviews have shown. Finn and Poe’s kind of new love interest characters kind of get short shrift with the pace of it all and all the set up of Rose in the last film has her just stand around a bit this time. Those annoyed by the nebulous nature of Force powers will be going double nuts but they do explain in flashback that Leia went through 90% of her training with Luke so her floating in space in the last movie is given some context.

There’s a lot of fan service, the Ewoks appearing for no real reason, Chewy finally gets his medal, Wedge!

Finally – Babu Frik is the best.

 

 

 

 

 

Unlike Gar I thought the breakneck pace made for a very boring film.  The first 3rd introduces so many planets and macgiffims that they plow through quickly it’s easy to lose sight of what’s actually going on.

The film only really settles once Rey and Ran fight on the water planet (whete Nadia is introduced for no reason whstsoever) and by that time Ren has become Ben and any emotional tension in the film had been resolved. Plus it feels like that only 10 minutes before they were battling over chewies capture.

Also the return of the Emperor ruined the film. It was badly handed and he made for a hackneyed villain and a nonsensical plot device. He should have stayed dead.

Finally, Babyu Frick, and D-0, just exist for kids to bug their parents for toys.  Babu Frck popping up in the starfighter at the end was dumb.  Its definitely choc fill of fan service so much so thst it feels like a fanscript put to film.

Maybe I have no soul but neither did this movie – hahahahaha Tim is great

 

Sounds like the internet drama surrounding the film is more entertaining than the actual movie! I’ll watch it for free, shouldn’t be more than a few days before it’s available.

I have seen it. I thought it was pretty good.

But the next time you do one of these trilogies: have a plan!

Tobias Radesäter wrote:

I have seen it. I thought it was pretty good.

But the next time you do one of these trilogies: have a plan!

Prior Star Wars Trilogies that had a plan: The prequels

Prior Star Wars Trilogies that din’t have a plan: The original trilogy.

I think that is only half correct. I’m not at all sure George Lucas had a plan for the prequel trilogy.

‘Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker’ Gay Moment Doesn’t Faze Chinese Audiences, Censors

One point that seems to be agreed on whether it is liked or not: The film moves fast and it can be hard to catch some of the dialogue.  Suggests to me that I’m better off waiting to watch it on Disney+ with subtitles enabled.

JRCarter wrote:

‘Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker’ Gay Moment Doesn’t Faze Chinese Audiences, Censors

Please be C3-PO and R2D2, I’ve been waiting for it since 77!

Ben wrote:

The film moves fast and it can be hard to catch some of the dialogue.

Well I’ll be contrary. It does move fast, I had no issue with the dialogue at all. Not any more than any other film and less than many that like a ‘mumble’ approach. It’s all perfectly normal. It’s not like it’s a Sorkin film with chatter ten to the dozen.

There are certain factors only in play for me though.

Also, if I do consider seeing it, up will come the price and my response will be: How much!? Nope.

I appreciate that Ben and more power to you to consume as you prefer. I’m just saying that the dialogue is as understandable as any other film of its ilk. The issue never raised itself to me and it does in some films.

Is there really some consensus the speech is so rushed it is hard to hear? A lot of plot in a short space doesn’t necessarily mean quick talking.

 

Dunno.  I’m reading reviews here and elsewhereand it crops up from time to time.

Equally it could be more that I’m far used to relying on subs now – do find they make it easier, even when the dialogue isn’t at Sorkin lightspeed.

There are a couple of shouty bits were Rey, Finn and Poe talk over the top of one another

Andy wrote:

JRCarter wrote:

‘Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker’ Gay Moment Doesn’t Faze Chinese Audiences, Censors

Please be C3-PO and R2D2, I’ve been waiting for it since 77!

The C3PO and R2 sex scene is lovingly shot.

The clip with Kylo and the Emperor is a good example. When I gave it a look, I noticed there were voice changes but it was too quick for me to identify who it was. Found a summary elsewhee that said the other two were Snoke and Vader.

Oh there are q couple of bits like that where dead characters talk.

 

There’s a bit at the end whete all the Jedi start talking and I probably picked up half of who they where (I got luke,  Yoda, l and Qui Gon Jinn).

You probably don’t gain much by having subtitles in that sequence because the scene sets up that it’s the dead Jedi talking, so it’s less important who they are.

Ben wrote:

The clip with Kylo and the Emperor is a good example. When I gave it a look, I noticed there were voice changes but it was too quick for me to identify who it was. Found a summary elsewhee that said the other two were Snoke and Vader.

I think to be honest Ben with these films we can save you a lot of effort. Just give a few hints of the response you’d like and I’m sure we can match it perfectly.

Ooh, I did not care for that at all.

The first half of the movie is just the characters going from place to place to find a map? That’s a terrible way to structure a movie. We never spend more than a few minutes in each location, meaning the new characters we meet have basically no impact. There is NO reason for the Keri Russell character to exist. The whole C-3P0 mind wipe stuff is sort of funny, but also pointless. They get caught by the First Order so many times in such a short span of time, and that they survive each time just makes the bad guys look incompetent.

Hated all the Palpatine stuff. Comes out of nowhere, and he does basically nothing. Going back to giving Kylo a boss after him taking over in the last movie felt like a dumb step back. The idea that Leia and Luke knew all of this all along, including about Rey, doesn’t work for me at all.

The Kylo mask stuff was very odd, especially dropping it again soon after. Given the Mandalorian stuff this week, I wonder if they didn’t have Driver for all of the shoot, and that was a double during the scenes with Richard E. Grant, etc.

Really hated the awful retcon to make Rey Palpatine’s granddaughter. Completely reverses one of the main things I loved about TLJ.

The Leia stuff felt as creepy and morbid as the Cushing stuff in Rogue One, and incredibly awkward. Every time she was onscreen I could only think about the loops they were jumping through to set up the few lines of dialogue they had left over from TFA. I’d much rather she had died at the very start or between movies.

Incredibly annoyed by the way they completely sidelined Rose. She has barely half a dozen lines, and is basically an extra. Horrid.

The Luke scene was okay.

The Han scene was fine, but characters talking to ghosts who only exist in their heads is an annoying pet peeve of mine.

The acting was mostly good, but Driver was definitely not as good as in the last two. Still good, but he didn’t blow me away.

The Hux-is-a-spy “plotline” was very weird and pointless. I’ve no idea what he was supposed to have done to help them, and I’ve definitely no idea why he did it. Richard E. Grant fulfils basically the same role as him anyway. Did Gleeson have to leave and do something else?

The space battle scenes were okay, but nothing new.

I’m really not a fan of all the mystical Sith stuff, so the Emperor’s big plan just annoyed me. I didn’t mind them stretching what the Force could do that much, even if it got a bit convenient in terms of the plot. All of the “secret Sith homeworld” stuff was dumb though, especially the dumb artifacts needed to find the way there.

I’ve never been a huge Star Wars fan, as I never watched as a kid, but The Last Jedi truly connected with me and got my hopes up, and this was a crushing disappointment.

Adjusted rankings of the year’s big budget movies:

1. Avengers: Endgame
2. Alita: Battle Angel
3. John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum
4. Toy Story 4
5. The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part
6. Jumanji: The Next Level
7. Shazam!
8. Charlie’s Angels
9. Terminator: Dark Fate
10. Captain Marvel
11. Gemini Man
12. Spider-Man: Far from Home
13. Pokémon Detective Pikachu
14. Dumbo
15. Joker
16. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
17. Men in Black: International
18. Frozen II
19. Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw
20. It Chapter Two
21. Dark Phoenix

I’m more or less agree with your comments, Paul. Except to say:

1. Both Zuuli and Nadia were equally pointless except to hint at potential love interests for Poe and Finn.  I thought Zuuli at least had some character while as Nadia didn’t seem to have much.

 

2. Hux as the spy was the one thing I sort of really liked. If only for the way Domhall Gleeson delivered the reveal. It doesn’t make much sense otherwise.

paul f wrote:

The first half of the movie is just the characters going from place to place to find a map?

To be fair that is 90% of Star Wars. The novelty variation this time is the map (mostly) wasn’t hidden in a droid.

It’s why the Last Jedi is such a controversial and radical departure, it has a map and shields to disable but after that is established they don’t just go and use the map to disable the shields just as they explained they would.

Okay so there’s really too much for me to process with this before I can say how I really feel about a lot of it. Overall I liked it, definitely didn’t love it. There’s a lot of good here, and some bad, but some of that becomes good by the end so hooray for that.

My biggest problems with it right now are the character developments moving on from The Last Jedi. You have Rey going back to thinking about her heritage even though she’d gotten over it in the last film. I can’t be disappointed with JJ doing what we all knew and expected him to do in terms of picking that plot line back up, it’s just that I don’t feel Rey would still be troubled about it. But saying that, it does form her arc and takes us to a nice end point, I’ m just wondering if it could have been approached differently.

I’m really interested to see how I feel about this after a rewatch or two, because I’m not sure where I’d place it in a ranking right now.

The other thing i thought to mention was I think they cut C3POs “Last look at my friends” line?  It’s obviously meant to happen right before they wipe his memory.  It also makes sense that they cut it because his memory gets rebooted like 30 minutes later so it loses any emotional punch.

Look, if Harrison Ford didn’t want to return to play Han Solo then they didn’t have to recast him with the first tramp who walked in off the street.

Anonymous wrote:

The other thing i thought to mention was I think they cut C3POs “Last look at my friends” line? It’s obviously meant to happen right before they wipe his memory. It also makes sense that they cut it because his memory gets rebooted like 30 minutes later so it loses any emotional punch.

No, that’s in there.

It feels like a line designed for the trailers so that we think he’s going to die.

Anonymous wrote:

The other thing i thought to mention was I think they cut C3POs “Last look at my friends” line?  It’s obviously meant to happen right before they wipe his memory.  It also makes sense that they cut it because his memory gets rebooted like 30 minutes later so it loses any emotional punch.

Uh, correct me if I’m wrong but I thought that he did say that line, at the moment you mentioned.

Joking aside, I thought that was pretty mediocre, and I think the first Star Wars movie that I haven’t enjoyed at the cinema.

The first two-thirds or so are just a jumble of scenes that don’t really accomplish much and which jump around so much that there’s no time for anything to breathe or take on meaning. It could have really done with some quieter scenes where characters actually talk, establish their feelings, the stakes, that kind of thing. Without that it all feels a bit empty and meaningless.

Having said that, the last half hour or so – from the lightsaber battle by the water – did properly feel like Star Wars, albeit because it was basically a lift of Return of the Jedi with a few cosmetic tweaks. Palpatine didn’t really come to life until the closing moments, but in those moments I thought Ian McDiarmid was pretty great.

Still though, very little of it really landed with me, and I’ve realised that – despite having enjoyed TFA and TLJ – I never really grew to love or even like any of the new characters, so don’t have any attachment to them. The only real emotional moments come from the original trilogy cast members, which I guess is to be expected given my age. Maybe younger viewers feel differently.

Ultimately, the sequel trilogy has felt a bit pointless in the grand scheme of things, with RotJ standing as the better ending for the saga.

As it is, the sequel trilogy is always going to end up feeling like the set of movies that said “remember your old favourite childhood heroes? Now they’re all old fucks, and they’re dead.”

I did find it amusing just how many overt references there were to undoing The Last Jedi though. Luke’s lightsaber being back in one piece with no explanation, Kylo Ren rebuilding his mask, it was all pretty on-the-nose stuff. The three movies as a whole feel like a very conscious tug-of-war between Abrams and Johnson.

paul f wrote:

The Leia stuff felt as creepy and morbid as the Cushing stuff in Rogue One, and incredibly awkward. Every time she was onscreen I could only think about the loops they were jumping through to set up the few lines of dialogue they had left over from TFA. I’d much rather she had died at the very start or between movies.

Yes definitely. Every conversation with Rey was really oddly worded, and you quickly realised it was because they had to reverse-engineer Rey’s lines to set up Leia’s. It was really clunky.

Then having her dead under that sheet was just awful.

KandorLives wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The other thing i thought to mention was I think they cut C3POs “Last look at my friends” line?  It’s obviously meant to happen right before they wipe his memory.  It also makes sense that they cut it because his memory gets rebooted like 30 minutes later so it loses any emotional punch.

Uh, correct me if I’m wrong but I thought that he did say that line, at the moment you mentioned.

I cannot do this because I was corrected because I was wrong.  I must have just forgot he said it.

Or … OR there is an “Australian Edit”!

 

It was ok.

It will come as no surprise that I know, and work with, a lot of Star Wars fans and tomorrow I will avoid spoilers and tell them that; it was ok. IMO.

No-one should cancel any tickets. If you like Star Wars, it’s full of Star Wars. Stuffed as a sausage with Star Wars in fact, to the point where it bursts really.

I can’t imagine the pressure involved in making something like this, and the drive to make sure no one is bored, not even for a second. There’s enough stuff in here for two films. The return of Palpatine, the Sith Planet and the Planet-Killing fleet, all of which needed more breathing space.

Driver was very good, Ridley was fine, Isaac seems adrift really, with a ton of charm but nothing to attach it too. Boyega still has more charisma than ten normal actors, but he’s also standing around a lot. I totally agree that Tran is badly let down; her plotline with Boyega in the previous film was a waste of time, but they both did wonderful work and deserve better in this movie.

But it’s not about that of course. It’s about shoe-horning in the Knights of Ren (whoever they are?), and the return of the mask and a cavalry charge on a Star Destroyer!

It was fine.

But I went with a friend and she hated it.

Her: “I’m never seeing one of these in a cinema again.”

Me: “Well this is the last one.”

Her: (pitying look) “I’ve got a bridge I’d like to sell you.”

She may have a point…

Maybe it will tank and the world will move on from Star Wars.

 

 

Didn’t happen with Eps 1, 2 and 3… so I wouldn’t bet on that…

Anonymous wrote:

KandorLives wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The other thing i thought to mention was I think they cut C3POs “Last look at my friends” line?  It’s obviously meant to happen right before they wipe his memory.  It also makes sense that they cut it because his memory gets rebooted like 30 minutes later so it loses any emotional punch.

Uh, correct me if I’m wrong but I thought that he did say that line, at the moment you mentioned.

I cannot do this because I was corrected because I was wrong.  I must have just forgot he said it.

Or … OR there is an “Australian Edit”!

 

Maclunkey!

You’ll have to go back and watch it again just to make sure.

I was going to mention that the whole plotline with Drongo Fett, the larrikin smuggler with the akubra hat really felt shoe-horned in.  And the weird accent? Almost as bad as Jar-Jar!

Yes but it had Babu Frik in it.

 

Your face has Babu Frik in it

‘The Rise of Skywalker’ Review: We’re Not Mad. We’re Just Disappointed.

SteveUK wrote:

Me: “Well this is the last one.”

I hope not. I don’t really like the sequel trilogy, but there is plenty of potential for good stuff. Like Luke said, I know there is still good in him.

 

They just need to have a sit down, let some good writers brain storm for a bit, get some people with vision to look at this.

So watched a couple of WhatCulture vids on this that were hilarious while having some variance in views.
My expectation was it couldn’t fail financially. Whatever else it does, Star Wars makes money, especially for a big, main story entry. So it’ll make cash, but how much are Disney expecting? Might be ‘below expectations’.
Where I think the drop off happens is afterwards. Of course they will do more, as TV if not films. But they sold this as the end of the line so will anyone care?
Suppose they could do the adventures of BB-8, Babu Frik and Baby Yoda, with Porgs and the droid from Fallen Order as support. Plus churn out the plushes.

Babu Frik trilogy in the works I believe, the rumour comes from a reliable source. Me.

They will probably try t exploit baby Yoda’s popularity and do a whole team of different Yodas. Sassy female Yoda, fat Yoda, punk Yoda, albino Yoda etc.

Yoda and Babu Frik  buddy cop show. I’m in.

Ben wrote:

My expectation was it couldn’t fail financially. Whatever else it does, Star Wars makes money, especially for a big, main story entry. So it’ll make cash, but how much are Disney expecting?

I’d think following Star Wars trends they should expect it to do slightly better than the last one. That was true of the pattern of the other two trilogies, the box office dropped by a third for the second movie (yes the pattern for ESB is actually the same as TLJ but we analysed a lot less in those days without the internet) and a slight uptick for the last esisode.

It could miss that, we will see, but in the end it is quite a fun crowd-pleasing romp. I think the parts that bring a lot of anger and indignation are restricted to more hardcore fans. They were the ones that went back to see TFA 3 or 4 times and take it up to $2bn. Unlike Marvel movies that audience is largely in the English speaking world, Star Wars has a lot less traction internationally and especially in China as the world’s second biggest movie market.

Heh, true, if indignation translated to actual lost income so many companies would be in trouble but it doesn’t.

I was shocked how much I enjoyed it. I’m totally on board with all of Gar’s comments.

And remember its a kids story.

Sure there’s plenty of fan service moments but isn’t that what we were their for?

Im totally fine with the pacing.

Im totally fine with introducing new characters and dismissing them.

I remember before Phantom menace came out there was a bunch of buzz about Aurora Sing and that came to nothing except some clone wars cartoon episodes over 10 years later.

There are new stories set up.

There are old stories closed.

Its a fun big screen romp

And again it’s a kids movie.

 

The Rey/Ben kiss I could of done without but hey you cant win em all.

 

Im probably going to see it again at the cinema and aside from Endgame and Infinity war I haven’t though about doing that for a while.

 

Relax.

We live in a time when we are spoilt for things.

Enjoy.

Mark Abnett wrote:

Relax. We live in a time when we are spoilt for things. Enjoy.

I might be wrong but I don’t get the impression that the negative reactions to this movie are going to be along the lines of the heated reactions to The Last Jedi, as I honestly don’t think there’s that much to really get upset about. I get the impression it’s going to be more muted disappointment for this one.

Yeah, I’m inclined to push back a little on the crowd-pleasing romp.  I didn’t like the film but I recognise a satisfying blockbuster and I didn’t think this was that, whether you’re a Star Wars fan or not.  Mileage is obviously going to vary but the cinema I saw it at generally didn’t seem very impressed with the film on exit.

With that said, it is a film that kids are going to want to see again.  They’re going to love the bit with buba frick popping up in the space ship and it is a pretty flashy space opera between good and evil.  It’s about as convuluted as any of the middle Pirates of the Carribean films and they did fine at the box office, without having the history of Star Wars

Anonymous wrote:

Yeah, I’m inclined to push back a little on the crowd-pleasing romp.

Of course you are, you are quite miserable like that. In your heart of hearts  though you know what Babu Frik brought to your life and that was joy. Deny it all you want but you’ll be first in line for that buddy cop movie.

I’d be there for Baby Yoda.

But I’d whinge about how they got both characters so wrong

Anonymous wrote:

Mileage is obviously going to vary but the cinema I saw it at generally didn’t seem very impressed with the film on exit.

It was a real mix at mine. The kids there seemed to be really going with it and amazed at certain moments (like when Kylo Ren appears to die and then comes back – the first time anyway, maybe they were jaded by the second time it happened).

And then there was a guy in his twenties I sat near who was swearing loudly at any plot developments he didn’t like (most of them) and dramatically putting his head in his hands. (Dickish behaviour in a cinema at any time, but especially when there are kids there.)

I saw a lot of people shaking their heads on the way out, but maybe they just couldn’t believe how amazing the movie was, who knows.

They were probably involuntary spasms due to the first exposure to Babu Frik

Anonymous wrote:

Maybe it will tank and the world will move on from Star Wars.

 

 

Well, it’s not doing well in China: ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’ Flops in China on Friday Debut

China has never given a shit about ‘Star Wars’. I covered it above and it’s likely a time and place thing but it’s hugely reliant on the English speaking appeal. A huge proportion of the take of The Force Awakens comes from the domestic take, in fact it remains the most successful North American release ever by a massive amount.

For all the moans on that level The Last Jedi is the 9th most successful film of all time. It’s not far away from Avengers: Infinity War.

Saw it yesterday, will try to post detailed comments later, it was enjoyable but really, really DUMB. The amount of fan service was out of control, and Abrams didn’t just echoed previous movies, they took things from other movies like Goonies, Endgame, etc.

It has the same problem mutiplied by 10 that I felt in Episode VII, there are almost zero quiet moments to let the characters breathe and actually feel the weight of what is happening.

garjones wrote:

I’d think following Star Wars trends they should expect it to do slightly better than the last one. That was true of the pattern of the other two trilogies, the box office dropped by a third for the second movie (yes the pattern for ESB is actually the same as TLJ but we analysed a lot less in those days without the internet) and a slight uptick for the last esisode.

Not looking likely so far:

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/article/ed3463447556

SATURDAY AM UPDATE: With an estimated $90 million on Friday, Disney’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is looking at a $190-195 million, three-day debut. The performance falls below the two most recent Skywalker saga features, and audience response to the film appears to be a bit below both The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, which both received an “A” CinemaScore while Rise of Skywalker received a “B+”.

If it doesn’t get to a billion this will be seen as a flop, I think.

It’s possible we’re moving onto another period where Star Wars is taken off the big screen and concentrates on TV, games, toys, t-shirts, cruise holidays, theme parks and other such things.

Which will annoy Disney a bit, but not to the point where they regret buying Lucasfilm.

Anonymous wrote:

If it doesn’t get to a billion this will be seen as a flop, I think.

I agree. But I think it will hit that. They always seem to do good business over Christmas.