Kurt D

This typo train keeps on delivering!

dex14

I haven’t seen flack for the the act. I’ve seen flack that they were going around saying this movie had its first gay characters, and it was all of two seconds. Apparently people were disappointed that Finn and Poe weren’t lovers. I’m serious.

Mike86

The kiss didn’t really bother me other than it felt like they really made a point of showing it. Everyone else was celebrating too, but no other kissing that I saw. It’s whatever I guess.

Paul_SD

JMO, but I believe Rogue One will age well- no matter how successful or not you feel the digital replication of certain characters is. It's fully it's own thing and and it consistently traffics in relatable human-sized emotions and conflicts (the traumas from parent-child separation; the sacrifices you need to make for a greater cause; the backstabbing and gamesmanship in political power play; among others)
I don't think the ST will wear nearly as well, years after the hype, and the novelty of being shiny and new, has died down. The Frankenstein patchwork seams, from a story cobbled together from rehashed story beats trying to line up with deconstructions of the material which then need retcons to get themselves out of painted in corners,- all that will be even more glaring with the perspective of distance.

Disney needed to build characters and situations beyond the OT in the hopes of growing this property.
To that end, Finn was probably the most promising conceptually, but was never really developed.
Poe was nothing we haven't seen before in a hundred other movies.
Rey, despite the charming presence of Ridley, isn't really a flesh & blood character. She's entirely an empty Mary Sue gussied up in archetype dressing, She's anything for any situation the plot needs her to be, which actually makes her nothing much at all. She's liquid mercury.

Disney wanted a quick ROI after the billions spent on the purchase. Since they own this license now in perpetuity, they just needed some new films for the moment, not the ages. They also knew the core OT cast had a rapidly approaching expiration date (and one of them expired in the middle of them). Making good, lasting films was far less important than making the release dates.

Mike86

Finn was a big missed opportunity. Could have done a lot more with the ex-Storm Trooper thing.

Artman

The only criticism I've seen is from the left... it "not being enough", etc. Wasn't an issue for me... actually I was just glad it was an established character from the previous film, vs just some completely random shot...just to say "look at us!"

story

Jiminy Cricket! I even foxed that teepo tree thymes and it still auto-flagellated!

Abob Teff

It was just as clunky as the rest of the movie — it was just more JJ jumping up and down screaming “Look what I did!” If done right, it would have been worked into the story and mattered.

Abob Teff

Ehhh ... it totally was the latter.

Obi-Wanma

Saw this yesterday, and my reaction is very much Meh.

There were things that I liked, mostly the same things others have cited, but nothing had me anywhere near the edge of my seat the way the OT (or even the Rey/Kylo/Snoke scene from TLJ) did. The closest I came to feeling the magic again was the Han/Ben scene, which was pretty great. Apart from that, there were little moments mixed with a whole lot of stuff that didn't feel like Star Wars to me.

I dunno. Maybe the magic is gone for me. Maybe it was in the PT as well, but I wasn't ready to give in. This was the first SW film that I didn't bother to see on opening day or the night before since the OT (when I was too young to do that on my own) and will probably be the first live action Star Wars film period that I don't bother to see multiple times in the theater. I liked TLJ, not the best, but I liked it better than TFA, and now I'm kinda down on the new trilogy as a whole. I will probably still buy this when it is released on blu and revisit it then, to see if anything changes. Right now I'm thinking that I will mostly go back to the OT almost exclusively for what I choose to revisit at home. I like the Mandalorian pretty well thus far though. I hope that that and other stuff in the future can rekindle the spark, but my current anticipation for future material is near non-existent, and it makes me sad.

tanman

Pretty much this. It has nothing to do with the spin offs. Rogue One was wildly successful but Solo wasn’t. It was TLJ period. Look, with the OT and even with the prequels the story was cohesive enough that audiences came back in larger numbers for the third film to see how the story would end. People showed up for TLJ because they were excited for the continuation of TFA. But, once fans realized the cracks in the system and that THERE WAS NO PLAN. It was like peeking behind the curtain and seeing the tiny little wizard of Oz trying to pull off something magical. Solo was the first out of the gate and crashed and burned and now we’re seeing the effects on RoS. Whether you liked the TLJ or not we can all agree it was not consistent with TFA and RoS certainly isn’t consistent with TLJ and audiences know that they’re making this up as they go along so why run out to the theater to see the ending if it hasn’t been one consistent story?

”But Lucas didn’t plan out the OT” blah blah blah. Doesn’t matter. For one there wasn’t any internet back then so the general audience and even fans didn’t know that. And two it was still one person in charge of it all and overall the OT tells a consistent story. And yeah there are details Lucas obviously didn’t plan out ahead of time but those were minor details and weren’t really revealed until RotJ anyways.

Brack

Well, Episode III had one big thing going for it, and one thing only, which was Vader. Without that promise that felt tacked on at end of a PT, I don’t think the box office would have been improved upon vs Episode II. People had to see it happen, which wasn’t done very well and people still make fun of it to this day (“Noooo!”). Everyone wanted to see how it was going to end with Return of the Jedi. No one is really buying that The Rise of Skywalker is the end, which is a marketing problem but it’s really the biggest Star Wars problem.

JasonF

Saw it today and enjoyed the heck out of it. It was a little frenetic at times, but the characters felt true to themselves, it had those big bravura sequences that are emblematic of Star Wars, it echoed the previous films appropriately but not overly (in my opinion), and it delivered a satisfying conclusion to the Rey/Kylo story. The plot and dialogue were hokey at times, but that's been Star Wars since day one, so I can't fault them now.

mcnabb

I'm actually going to give a different opinion then most here, as the movie worked for me and actually made The Last Jedi a better movie too. The problems I had with The Last Jedi were the death of Snoke and The arc of Luke, and both were given a payoff in TROS. I had to suspend belief as to why Palpatine came back, but after that I'm glad he was the Villain again. Which leads to the death of Snoke in TLJ and now it worked out better that he was offed by Kylo. The same goes for Luke, as I can live with his character actions in TLJ knowing the payoff was that great scene in TROS where he was hopeful/optimistic again along with lifting the X-Wing out of the water. I even liked Kylo's redemption and Rey being a Palpatine, as it doesn't discount the message in TLJ. Rey is the granddaughter of Hitler, yet she became the hero of Trilogy, so no one is defined by their heritage as YOU make your own choices. I was fine with the fanservice as that is what final movies are for. I actually think JJ gave a great sendoff to Han (and his talk with his son), Leia having a great death scene, and Luke lifting the X-Wing as it gave me closure to those 3 characters I grew up with. It's not a great movie, but it's a fun movie so I'm pleased with what JJ did with it. I think the pacing will feel different (slow down) on multiple viewings as it is always frantic the first time for everyone. There are so many things I missed that I want to look for on a second viewing that I have read from the many posts here like Wedge for example.

Noonan

Saw this Sat morning. Place was packed but it wasn't really a SW crowd; no one was dressed up; there were no cheers during any point in the movie; quiet the whole time.

As far I could tell, this didn't break any physics of the world so it has that over TLJ going for it. But I also feel it was a super dull conclusion to the saga. McGuffins all over the place. Rey calling herself Skywalker at the end was cringe inducing. I appreciate the PT much more now that this one is concluded.

Shannon Nutt

I would have enjoyed this scene more if it wasn't such a direct lift from Chris Terrio's Batman v. Superman script (see Kevin Costner scene), right down to the dialogue, "I miss you, son."

bunkaroo

I’ve seen a lot of comments on who should have been the big villain since Snoke was dead. I think they only had one choice really - it needed to be Kylo Ren. That’s where TLJ left things for better or worse. He’s the Supreme Leader. They didn’t have to do the redemption arc with him.

Not surprised at the downtrend in box office for this. I actually think the presence of the MCU as an example of how well a planned arc can be executed has made people tolerate this slapdash writing even less.

Noonan

As the son of Han and Leia, I can't imagine Disney ever considered having him be the big bad at the end. Redemption was inevitable.

mcnabb

I wouldn't argue with your point, but the problem is they are marketing the movie as the end of the Skywalker Saga. It would make no sense if the last Skywalker/Solo turns out to be the bad guy and dies like The Emperor did in ROTJ (still evil). Because they only had 1 Skywalker/Solo offspring in the Trilogy (which was a mistake from the start), they were boxed into giving him some sort of redemption. You would have essentially had the Skywalker Saga end with a nobody girl defeating a Skywalker, as that would have made the 1-6 story even more detached from 7,8,9. But I get your point and don't think you're wrong.

story

I agree with this except the last sentence, redemption is still crucial. While I'm fine with where they went, I do think Kylo Ren achieved what Darth Vader couldn't do, and we could've seen how he handles power. I could see him rebuilding a similar fleet to what we saw in TROS and on the cusp of destroying the galaxy only to be turned and redeemed by Rey. When his commanders find out about this, they lose their minds and try to execute the order anyway. Then it's Kylo against his own fleet and commanders.

Oh. I just rewrote The Rise of Skywalker as The Rock.

nodeerforamonth

Which is weird, in my experience. For Rogue One, Force Awakens, Last Jedi and Solo, I skipped out on the midnight screenings and started going on the Saturday mornings for the very first showing. Less people means less problems with cell phones and talking. Each time for those movies, there was hardly anyone in the theater. Maybe 10 people. For The Rise Of Skywalker? At an 8:15am showing, the theater was half full! Way more people to see this at such an odd time than for the other movies.

Oh, and $176 million is hardly a "bomb". This movie is going to have some legs.

Xander

I liked it a lot. It addressed several of the things I didn't like in TLJ, it had the right amount of "fan service" or whatever you want to call it. It was fun, emotional and satisfying. My favorite of the new trilogy.

mewmartigan

I remember the kiss but not the characters. Who was the established character?

dex14

I know one was a small carryover character from TLJ rebel crew. https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Larma_D%27Acy

IBJoel

And a major theme of the franchise is that redemption is possible for basically anyone. Han Solo was a slimeball drug runner, Finn was a Stormtrooper, Luke leaves his friends but gives his life for them in the end, the Jedi screwed up big time but Luke ultimately believes they can be rebuilt while avoiding their past sins. Especially the way Kylo Ren had conflict throughout the films, to have him irredeemable is antithetical to the nature of the series.

My biggest issue with the film was how it handled the Force and philosophy. I view all of these films through a religious lens and whereas The Last Jedi served as something of a Protestant Reformation that returns the Force to its more Eastern/Vedic roots, TROS reverts back to Catholicism with strict rules, rituals, and elitism (only priests may forgive sins vs. certain bloodlines are stronger). And when Luke explains (the way Yoda did) in TLJ that the Force isn't magic tricks you learn, but essentially an animist, Taoist "Brahman", this film seems to refute that in favor of videogame power-ups (though to be clear, I have no problem with Force healing, which makes total sense) in the vein of the prequels.