yeah, I thought we had been led to believe the Knights of Ren were force users but none of them did anything and didn't carry lightsabers if I remember correctly.

It drives me nuts when we get these interviews now where JJ says well we talked about this stuff back during TFA and now we can carry some of those ideas forward. If that was the idea and that is what you were leaving "mystery boxes" for, then TELL RIAN! JJ read the script for 8....back then would have been the time to mention Rey's heritage or that the emperor would come back so at least hints could be dropped. Even a throwaway line by Kylo Ren or a "vision" by Rey of something dark in the unknown regions...

Hell even for the Expanded Universe novels Lucas gave them guidelines they had to follow. If you don't have all 3 movies exactly planned out that is okay, but the general flow and major revelations? c'mon man!

3.5 / 5. I enjoyed The Rise of Skywalker for what it was, but I consider the entire Sequel Trilogy a cautionary tale. If you're setting out to make a "trilogy" or "saga", you need to have a roadmap and a plan.

They had no plan and it shows. Force Awakens set up a bunch of mysteries, Last Jedi disregarded them and didn't advance the overarching story at all, and then Rise of Skywalker had to both set up a new conflict AND end both the conflict and the entire "saga" in a single movie.

The result was a movie that had way too much to do in a single film, and it showed. Rise of Skywalker barely had a moment to catch its breath. Still, it was enjoyable enough on its own, a fun popcorn movie with incredible visuals and all the Star Wars trappings, but little more than good fast food.

It's the least of the Sequel Trilogy, but not by all that much. They're all good but none are anywhere close to great.

I think if ever there was a time where a final entry in a saga needed to be split into two parts this was it. There was easily enough story for two films. I realize it wouldn’t be a trilogy in that case, but I think it would have worked out better.

Anybody pick up the giant R2-D2 popcorn/drink bucket at AMC?

I thought the movie was... fine. 3/5

I went to a 7:30 showing Friday on a LIEMAX screen that was basically full (I bought my tix the first day if availability). There was a lot of cool stuff, and I was basically satisfied with the resolution. I just rolled my eyes at the constant recycling. Another dogfight while the personal struggle happens down below (granted this is a longstanding trope)? Palpatine again? (It felt like an easy rehash instead of a great revelation.) This is the same problem I had with the Death Star in TFA.

I was hoping Ren would just let Kylo die, but was OZk with how it continued... until the kiss. UGH! I was fine with Ren not ending up with Finn but wish they’d just skipped the romantic angles altogether.

I liked the cameos and voice cameos but rolled my eyes at the Chewie medal.

I recognized Keri Russell’s voice and even her eyes, but couldn’t figure out who she was till the credits.

I liked some of the visuals. I liked Kerri Russell even though her part was small, and seeing the Emperor barely on life support was cool even if it makes no sense. It felt like it tried to invalidate Luke and Anakin's story through six movies because it needed to be all about Rey in the end. I have no reason to watch episodes 7,8, or 9 again.

The Knights of Ren were a selling point for me, and I feel that the producers were using them as one of their “mystery boxes” to create interest in this new story.
The promo for TLJ made it seem like they became the red guard with their melee weapons. Nope!
Ok, you got me. You’re saving their reveal for the last one.
And...nothing. Very deceptive on Disney’s part.


From a design standpoint, Disney wanted to keep the # of lightsabers down to retain their cool factor.
In-story, I was curious to find out why they didn’t have lightsabers.

I thought in TFA Kylo and a group of Luke’s students massacred the rest of the academy. So...it was just Ben? And in the flashback in TFA didn’t it show Kylo striking one of them down? Why?

Its crazy that the most mysterious, menacing and distinctive looking SW villains of the last 20 years turned out to be disposable storm troopers.

The more I think about it the more I love this entire scene. It's one of the best scenes in the entire saga. After TFA and even after TLJ even though he was conflicted I thought there was no way they could have legitimately redeemed him. But with the scene with Leia and even more so having Harrison Ford himself appear to him and forgive him after having a death and resurrection scene really did it for me. The fact that Ford appeared one more time spoke volumes. Never imagined that would have happened. But after that I bought his redemption arc.

Eh...I think it helped soften the blow. Otherwise the story of the Emperor coming back would have been even more out of left field. At least this way we were kind of preparing for it like we knew they were going there.

Bringing back The Emperor was a stretch to begin with, so you had to get that trial balloon out there in the Trailers so fans were atleast prepared. I really liked TROS but you have to suspend your belief that he has returned in whatever way you think to enjoy the movie, and knowing that in the trailer (back in April) helped me prepare. If I walked in not knowing he was coming back, I would have been taken right out of the movie and probably would have thought the whole time, "How the fuck did the Emperor return after 30 years???"

If they actually had a plan from the start, and JJ and Rian Johnson sat down and hashed things out, they could have revealed The Emperor at the end of Episode 8 and leave the fans hanging with that for 2 years. Episode 7 would be showing Snoke talking to a shadowy figure the whole time, so the fans would wonder who is the big bad villain in the ST? Then when Snoke gets killed in Episode 8, Kylo Ren meets with that shadowy figure at the end of the movie, and it is revealed to be The Emperor. To be continued...... You could also leave little clues during Episode 7 and 8 as they talk about how the Sith may have learned to cheat death, or something in that effect to make it believable that The Emperor had returned. But the biggest flaw of the movie is nothing gets developed, and you have to sort of just buy the premise of everything to enjoy the movies.

Or when you make a typo.

Fixed...

This made 29 million yesterday. Yeah, it's bombing alright.

I wish the Emperor was a clone. This ruins the the sacrifice Vader made in RotJ. Vader never kills the Emperor to bring balance to the force and Luke or Ghost Yoda doesn't even sense Palpatine is alive this whole time. Emperor still living while Luke is dead just feels wrong to me.

Also, I didn't understand why Emperor wanted Rey to kill him, when he could apparently just rebuild himself by taking Rey and Kylo's life-force from the start. And it was pretty ridiculously him taking out the whole fleet with his lightning.

Anyway, I do hope for a Disney+ Spice Runner series with Zorii Bliss and Poe. I felt there was good content, but didn't have room to breathe. The movie jumped to 6 different planets in the span of 30 minutes or so.

This should have been split to Episode IX and X.

I guess you could say Luke and Yoda didn’t sense him since he was in the Unknown regions which I think are outside the galaxy. Perhaps the force doesn’t exist outside the galaxy?

Only critically.

Which doesn't matter. $$$$$$$$$$$

Yet when the critics loved TLJ and the audience “hated” it, that also didn’t matter to those who disliked TLJ. It’s almost like these criticisms aren’t consistent at all.

I just checked Cinemascore. Last Jedi got an A, Rise of Skywalker got a B+. Interesting....

And if he hadn't told Rey his plan, it would've worked. She would have killed him, become all the Sith, etc.

No, they’re not consistent.

I’m happy I enjoyed all of the three movies. They’re flawed, but so are all Star Wars movies. I found them all highly entertaining. Then again, I didn’t go into these movie with preconceived notions of what they should be.

****
really enjoyed this one

Compared to the other movies in the trilogy, yes.