I found Ep. IX to be a solid and satisfactory ending to the series. I enjoyed watching it; I wasn’t bored in any part, nor did I cringe at any point (unlike TLJ, ROTJ, and the entire prequel trilogy, which have too many cringey moments).
In all, within the sequel trilogy, I like Ep. 7 best, then Ep. 9, then Ep. 8. But even Ep. 8, which many have issue with, was better than any of the prequels. Unpopular opinion: I like Ep. 8, despite its flaws. Curmudgeonly Hermit Luke is great; I loved it when he tossed the lightsaber over his shoulder, to the consternation of butthurt fanboys. The themes of failure and the lessons to be learned from it are palpable.
My main objection with the sequel trilogy is that they had no apparent master story arc for the three movies. Had they done so, the movies could have been great rather than good.
It’s so weird to me that they didn’t have that kind of a plan - it seemed so obvious that mysteries were being set up in Ep. 7, and you’d think when they do that, they’d know what the answers are going to be. Mind you, this is JJ Abrams, the man who brought us Lost and then left long, long before an ending was required.
For what it’s worth: remember that the original trilogy had no planned master arc - nor did Breaking Bad. So while it still seems like a bizarre idea to me, making it up as you go along can absolutely lead to great storytelling.
I think not having a plan is lunacy. Breaking Bad became terrible before the second season had ended because it was so utterly directionless, Battlestar Galactica suffered enormously because of the complete failure to plan a direction for the last one and a half seasons, and I’d contend that Star Wars (the Original Trilogy) got lucky.
My childhood friend told me today that he doesn’t think we’re the target audience for these movies any longer. I agree with him.
I don’t understand this. The prequels are unwatchable. They are objectively poorly constructed, poorly acted, poorly directed. They are just awful.
Ep. VIII is not a great film. It has major flaws. But it is nowhere near the level of fail that any of the prequels were.
I can not watch the prequels. Watched them in the theaters and haven’t made it through one of them since. I recently downloaded all 3 prequels because my son, who loves the original trilogy and is 16 years old, still hasn’t seen any of the prequels. I thought… I guess, as a Star Wars fan, he should probably watch these. We got about half an hour into Phantom Menace and then gave up.
PS: Also, the prequels have awful special effects. And before you spit out excuses like “well yeah, it was early 2000s CGI. You can’t blame it for that.” Yes, I can blame the prequels for their crap CGI. The OT is 40+ years old and looks great. Yeah, some of the stop motion is dated, but when Luke and crew are walking around the Death Star, it looks like they are walking around a real place. It doesn’t look like people pasted into a late 90s video game cinematic…which is EXACTLY what 90% of the prequels looks like. Even other FX-heavy films from that time period realized that in order to get a decent result, you had to MIX practical effects and CGI. Jurassic Park still holds up to this day because they understood this. The prequels look AWFUL.
It’s like comparing apples and oranges. The prequels are a different kind of awful.
Prequels are imaginative, but full of terrible dialogue, horrible early 2000s CGI, awful acting and direction, and bad characters like Jar Jar.
Sequels are unimaginative rehashes imbued with late 2010s ‘wokeness’ and addicted to nostalgia. The characters (and acting) is generally better than the prequels, but everything seems like it was created by committee. While no one is horrible on the scale of Jar Jar, no one is memorable or has an ounce of charisma in them. They’re interchangeable Mary Sues. There’s no risk and no reason for the sequels to exist. The prequels were terribly executed, but at least there was a consistent vision of showing how Anakin went to the dark side. What’s the purpose or vision of the sequels? To cynically maintain brand awareness and make a shit-load of money.
That said I’d still rather watch the sequels than the prequels. And I think Rogue One is pretty damn special actually… almost on the level of the original trilogy.
I feel that I am pretty “wokeness adverse” but I have never understood the claim that the new trilogy tries to shove “wokeness” down our throats. What is it that is so “woke” about the sequel trilogy?
TFA was clearly a rehash, a soft-reboot of Star Wars: A New Hope. TLJ was absolutely not a rehash of anything. I am not a fan of a lot of the decisions made with TLJ, but it seems odd to call it an “unimaginative rehash.” I would call it at unwise, messy, and miscalculated attempt to take the franchise in a different direction and to catch fans offguard. I think Rian Johnson was trying to live up to the fact that Empire was so groundbreaking and screwed up.
After I accepted the fall of Luke, I actually like Ep. 8 the best. Too bad Kylo was shown as such a crybaby like Anakin was in the prequels. That was unnecessary IMO.
The original trilogy had a planned arc. It was a planned arc inside of a planned arc and the prequels, which I didn’t appreciate until I watched with kids, were part of that story. People who complain that TFM was “too political” don’t realize that was the story - the takeover of the Republic, etc. They have parts that I certainly skip past on DVD but they were, at least, part of a cohesive story of the rise of Anakin.
TFA wasn’t even a rehash. It was…as if Disney really believed that nobody had seen the previous six films and wanted to fill them on on what happened. The good parts - seeing the Millennium Falcon, pretty much everything involving Han - were reached for though at least they had the courtesy to actually kill him off instead of destroy the character like they did for Luke. TLJ is the only film of the entire franchise that I won’t watch again. I would rather watch the Christmas special than TFA. Captain SJW. Flying Leia. Rey having two days of training before taking her rightful place as a Mary Sue. The emasculation of Finn and the disappearance of Poe and every part of Rose. I am not wrong here. It was as if Kennedy and Johnson harbored a personal grudge against George Lucas and went out to destroy his baby like Terry Silver and Kreese tried to do to Mr. Miyagi in the All Valley Tournament back in 1989. I’m actually pissed and you’re oppressing me by trying to defend this. TLJ is essentially Rocky V in that we saw it but don’t need to admit that it happened.
The new film…felt more like fan fiction than any fan fiction of the past few decades - as if a bunch of rich, unimaginative jerks got the franchise and decided to tell it in the least creative way ever which is essentially what happened but particularly odd as they are the same rich, unimaginative jerks to put together the Marvel universe which, while far from great film making, is great storytelling and worthwhile in the way they connected the entire damn thing. However, I think they pulled it off as well as they could have - the ending was dumb and lasted about 15 minutes too long and…it would be a spoiler but the last scene shouldn’t have happened.
Both Rogue 1 and the Mandalorian are good so perhaps all isn’t lost and we should simply appreciate that nobody has been able to live up to what Lucas did without modern technology back four decades ago.
I’m assuming that all of you are drunk and will apologize in the morning.
I don’t even like The Clone Wars and you’re making me defend it. It at least had the scene where you got to see all the Jedi fighting and a few decent fights and…you got to see the Clone Wars. I’m reaching but not wrong. TLJ made me want the First Order to end everything and kill everybody in that cave by the end.
Attack of the Clones had a scene where Anakin goes out and slaughters a bunch of innocent sand people, women and children. He comes back, tells Amidala what he has done, tells her that he enjoyed murdering women and children, says that he is going to become super powerful, and then her response is…
We all make mistakes sometimes. Then she marries him.
It’s so laughably absurd. I can’t believe anyone defends that shit. It’s some of the most incompetent movie making I’ve ever seen.
We also get “romantic” scenes like this…
Amidala must have been turned on by Anakin’s creepy lip bite before saying “and smooth.”
Yes, the horrendous dialogue between Anakin and Padme ruin the movie. I do like the Obi-Wan mystery-solving plot, though. That saves the movie. TPM was ruined by Jar Jar and Boss Nass, a well as Anakin’s “yippee” and “oops” and all that childish garbage, not to mention poo-poo jokes and Jar Jar saying “How wude” THREE times. (“But Star Wars has always been for kids!” The OT appealed to kids and adults alike, and TPM was too childish for an 11-year-old, the age I was first saw SW in 1977. TPM appeals to 6-year-olds.) Not to mention the horrible dubbing of the Trade Federation and the, shall I say it? “wooden” acting. Really the only good parts are Qui-Gon, Sidious/Palpatine, and Darth Maul. TPM is the worst of the lot, AOTC second worst.
Unnecessary disclaimer: “Yeah, well, you know, this is just, like, my opinion, man.”
You know what I find funny? That when ep7 was released people were making comparison between that movie and A New hope + The Empire Strikes Back.
Now the only valid comparison with the new trilogy is the prequel one.
+1 for “the new trilogy is trash but episode 2 is one of the worst AAA productions in cinema history”
Let’s just agree that the prequels and the sequels are both preeeeetty, preeeeetty bad. It’s pointless arguing which is worse… like comparing Parkinson’s to Alzheimer’s.
