How I realized I was over Star Wars completely

[anarky]

So, the Rise of Skywalker novelization confirms Palpatine is a clone.

And so is his "son."

Which kinda jacks with the "bloodline" theme of TROS, but makes more sense than melted Palpy getting his groove on with someone we've never heard of before.

But when you think about it, he had no real father. Kinda like a certain prophecy.

[jjreason]

Is it out? I need to pick it up & see if it answers any further questions that the movie needed to answer.

[Ran]

There was an article on Yahoo that said that Leia was frozen in Carbonite after ESB in a new comic book. So is this going to be a new think like everyone having unknown Jedi powers?

[anarky]

I rolled my eyes at that (saw it in an article, haven't read the comic yet).

Then I remembered Soule is writing it, so I'll allow it. (Besides, Obi-Wan and Anakin already did the same in Clone Wars.)

[anarky]

I'm still taking it with a grain of salt even though it's reported as confirmed by reputable sites, but, well, Diabolical must hate The Mandalorian now....

[Diabolical]

[vynsane]

so, with the Rise of Skywalker seeing Palpatine basically issue 'The Final Order', is it safe to say that 'The First Order' was actually 'Order 1', as in the first of at least 66 orders?

[anarky]

All the First Order and Final Order business would make more sense if they'd ever referred to the Empire as the New Order onscreen ever.

[jjreason]

Okay, apologies in advance but in order to make sense of Rise of Skywalker I feel compelled to watch the movie again & break it down with comments, scene by scene.... in order to try & see if I can put it back together & make something acceptable out of it. (Yes, I bought the bluray even though I said I wasn't going to. No, I'm not happy with myself.)

TLDR - much to my chagrine, I was pleasantly surprised by how much of this movie I liked on the second viewing. I knew most of it was good, but the parts that seemed overwhelmingly negative to me have had time to settle & didn't ruin it for me this time.

****************************************

1. Theme & Lucasfilm credit. Nothing to say here other than I still miss the Fox fanfare.

2. Opening crawl. Looks fine, lovely music by John as always but my issues with this movie start here. The Emperor, were he actually alive, would not behave this way; he would not reveal his master plan by broadcasting it to the galaxy. Full stop. Palpatine is the master manipulator patiently working behind the scenes.... what was the purpose of the entire prequel trilogy other than showing us this? This is the silliest out of character moment in all 9 movies & it puts us behind the 8 ball right off the bat. When I learned the broadcast was actually a promotional event that took place in the videogame Fortnite & they chose to make THAT canon..... I got even more angry about this. And let's talk about Kylo briefly - yes he's young & passionate, but wouldn't he choose to seek out the Emperor & seek guidance to continue on his path to becoming a Lord of the Sith? No, apparently he wants to kill him because he poses a threat to Kylo's Supreme Leadership. Once again, it seems out of character to me but I don't claim to understand the character of Kylo as well as I understand the character of Palps. I don't like it, but I guess it would be within my own set of rules for me to have to accept it.

So can I ratify the part about the Emperor's broadcast? Maybe. Maybe the reborn/cloned Palps went a little batshit crazy when he entered the new body. Maybe he's not himself. How's that? Good? Ok. I could go on but we need to move along. There is more complaining to do.

3. Kylo's mission to Mustafar. Upon second viewing it's very clearly Mustafar, but I didn't pick up on that in the theatre. Awesome action sequence here, no issues with what happens on screen whatsoever. The fact they didn't hit me over the head with where this took place is forgivable. Why is the wayfinder just inside a little obelisk in a field though?

4. On to Exegol. Planet looks cool & they give us a visual queue that what Kylo found was an intergalactic GPS system so that's taken care of. The elevator down to meet Palps is awesome. Perfect Sith setting. The meeting goes about as I remember - revelation of the new big fleet & a deal: kill the girl & you get to be the new Emperor. Sounds reasonable.

5. Millenium Falcon mission & 6. Pursuit of the Falcon. What is the point of this sequence? They information from the spy could have been dealt with by showing the head of the alien later & one line of dialogue. I believe it was conceived to introduce the ability of the Falcon to hyperspace skip so that they could bring that back at a crucial moment later - but they never do. It is the gun over the fireplace & no shot is ever fired with it. This scene is redundant & could have been left on the floor. It might have allowed for a little decompression somewhere else during the hectic first hour.

I guess it also reintroduces us to the rest of our heroes - Chewie, Poe & Finn if I'm going to look at both sides fairly.

7. Rey's Training. Great actually. Rey looks cute, the forest planet is fine & we get a cool flashback montage as Kylo seeks her out through the Force. Love the outfit & the little bit of sweat making her glow. Mmmmmm. No issues.

8. General Leia. Establishes Leia is mentoring Rey in the ways of the Force. Again good.

9. Falcon's Return. Good. There is tension between Poe & Rey. Seems reasonable. Would have sufficed as the reintro to Poe, Chewie & Finn.

10. Spy's message. Good. Lays out the problem and the timeline. 16hrs seems like a bit of a weirdly short choice in time remaining but I'll accept it. The Hobbit mentions cloning which I suppose puts something down that the audience could pick up. All well & good, but not quite enough to satisfy my lack of understanding as to how he returned.

11. We go together. The crew overpowers Rey's resistance (yep, I said it) and demands to join her on the trip to Pasana. Leia encourages Rey 7 gives her Luke's saber to take. John Williams contributes beautifully. Lovely, really. No issues here at all.

Let me just pause & say we're at the 18 minute mark. No wonder it seemed so frenetic upon first viewing.

12. Ren reforged. A chimp welds Kylo's mask back together while the Knights of Ren watch. He wears the mask to a meeting with the First Order command. The presence of a sky is discussed with the alien's head on the table. The mask is silly & was clearly created to sell people new figures of Kylo - so where the fuck are the figures? I will accept this scene.

13. Pasana Festival. Neat place, reminiscent of the other desert planets we've scene. Cool aliens & costumes. Rey & Kylo force time & he figures out where she is. The First Order troopers on scene intercept them & they are saved by a mysterious stranger. No issues with any of this. All good.

14. General Calrissian. Okay so it wasn't a stranger. Lando says Leia sent him a transmission which I think I missed the first go round. That helps me with the convenient nature of the rescue quite a bit. The fact he was there with Luke previously seeking the wayfinder is fine & helps with him being in the right place at the right time.

15. Speeder Chase. The obligatory Lucasian chase is fine. I kinda zone out during these anyhow. Neither good nor bad by comparison & it had to be in there someplace. No issues with this..... until they wind up in the sinking field & we're introduced to the unresolved concept of Finn needing to tell Rey something. Ugh.

16. Buried Secrets. Half decent comedy break with Rose, Leia & Snap. Switch to the heroes on Pasana.... and I hate the cheesy serpent. Hate it. I hate the comedic fakeness of the oversized dagger. I hate that it has Sith writing on it that is the directions to the wayfinder..... but I'll accept these things because that's where the story goes. The concept of Force healing is introduced here & obviously that will be important later.

Can we ratify the terrible dagger & why it has directions written on it? I'll try. Let's say Palps or Vader gave it to the Jedi Hunter in hopes that he could recover the wayfinder & bring it back for them. I'll have to keep watching to see if that remains plausible or not. I don't believe anything like that was mentioned or suggested.

17. Power Unleashed. The Knights of Ren are standing on a rock but don't do anything. Rey walks away from the heroes who are boarding the Jedi Hunter's ship. Chewie runs down the ramp to tell her it's time to leave & this is the part that stuck out in my mind in the theatre - the person literally runs down the ramp. They do not amble with Chewie's gate. Watch this specifically & tell me I'm wrong - this was very jarring to me in the theatre and it's noticeable again upon a second viewing. The body layout looks wrong. I'm guessing this was not Jonas in the suit. Oh wait the Knights did something - they captured Chewie. We see the clear demonstration that they found the dagger during the search as well. Rey does the cool jump & cuts off the wing of Kylo's TIE then gets into the Force Off with him that culminates in her use of Sith lightning to blow up the drop ship & kill Chewie - or so we're all led to believe.

I really wish they had taken more care with Chewie looking like Chewie but I could literally be the only person affected by this in the entire world. Upon first viewing I though the Force abilities had maybe gotten a little out of hand, but it's not exaggerated enough for me to completely dismiss it & lose my ability to suspend disbelief. We did establish in the previous movie that she's extraordinarily powerful with the Force (her bringing up the water with Luke yelling at her is what I'm thinking of) so I'll give it a pass.

18. Aftermath. Rey reveals to Finn her vision of being on the Sith throne with Kylo & we learn almost immediately that Chewie in fact survived. Couldn't this have been delayed to allow it to actually sink in that he was dead?

19. To the End. Poe advises there are only 8hrs left & 3PO reveals he has the inscription stored in his memory. We're heading to Kijimi to the black market droidsmith. DO is charged up by BB8. The heroes are being tracked by what appears to be a First Order or Sith ship. No issues with any of this.

20. Meeting Zorii. Great scene. Kijimi looks awesome & we get the feel that the First Order has the place on lockdown. The disruption caused by Rey likely would have been enough to bring the attention of the stormtroopers who are literally everywhere, but I'll let it go. Keri Russell makes that bodysuit look bloody amazing. We desperately needed winter coat figures of Poe, Finn & Rey.

21. Babu Frik's Workshop. The cantina of Ep9. Great extended scene with Babu working on C3PO, Rey fixing DO, Zorii & Poe getting reconnected... and Kylo's Destroyer arriving. Rey senses Chewie is alive & on the ship (and this would have been a better time to let the audience in on that fact as far as I'm concerned). Of note, this is the FIRST scene to make it well past the 2 minute mark - and this one cuts back & forth a couple of times. At least it lets things breathe just a little bit. Enjoyable.

22. Into the Destroyer. Rey, Poe & Finn switch places with Kylo who has dropped down to Kijimi to help the Knights find Rey. Infiltrating a Star Destroyer has become so routine that the heroes don't bother with stealth at all, rather blast there way down the ramp. The team splits up with Rey in search of the dagger while the guys find & release Chewie. A bit of hallway chasing later & the boys are captured.

Chewie's running here is again noticeably not like Chewie. I though Jonas had the same knock kneed gait as Peter Mayhew but I guess not. This must be the new normal.

23. Revelations. Rey finds the dagger. Force Time between Rey & Kylo reveals more about Rey's parentage and that the heroes are on his ship. Hux is the spy. No issues with any of this.

24. Repercussions. Kylo makes it back to the Destroyer in time to confront Rey & explains her true heritage. The boys pick her up in the Falcon & blast off toward Kef Bir. Pryde outs Hux as the spy through some unmentioned means & kills him. I need more information unless I'm failing to grasp something.

25. To Kef Bir. Busy scene. Kylo speaks with the Emperor who threatens him. Rey is terse with Finn. The dagger gets even more comedic as Rey finds a slide out measuring tool that happens to match up with the outline pointing the way to the wayfinder in a quasi Indiana Jones fashion. Not good. The group meets Jannah's band & they're willing to help.

26. Jannah. Things get tense. We learn about Jannah's past & Finn talks about his belief & feelings in the Force. Rey takes off on the gang & heads over to the Death Star chunk in a skimmer. I'm fine with all of this.

27. The Emperor's Vault. Critical scene as Rey locates the Emperor's Throne & is somehow allowed into a secret closet where she finds the wayfinder. A dark vision ensues in which the silly "large Marge-esque" Dark Rey confrontation takes place. Rey falls & the wayfinder slides its way under the boot of Kylo who has made his way there. He destroys the 2nd wayfinder & we're off to what should be the culminating lightsaber duel of this trilogy.

28. The Duel. It should be absolutely stunning... and it is. Whomever said it puts a beautiful bookend on the duel between Obi Wan & Anakin in the flames was exactly right. Kylo tires Rey out but Leia is able to intervene & distract him long enough for Rey to capitalize & win the duel. Folks excited about all the Last Jedi "walking back" being done by JJ must hang their head in shame realizing that at the crucial moment of this movie, JJ can do nothing better than recycle the very thing that had the Johnson haters up in arms - the Force Projection. Well done, JJ. It worked the first time & it works again here. Funny Kylo is the recipient of them both - fool me once, fool me twice sort of thing.

29. Remembrance. Leia passes before Finn, Poe & Chewie make it back to base. D'Acy breaks the news. The moment between Kylo's memory of Han and he takes place - which I guess I remembered wrongly - I thought this was the projection Leia cast that distracted him & allowed Rey to win but no. Must just be his own memories manifesting themselves as he struggles with his next steps. It's a nice moment either way & Kylo throws hit red saber away to confirm with us that he's done with the Dark Side. All good.

30. The Final Order Begins. Sadly, after all that good stuff we still have the Emperor to deal with. Ugh. Anyhow a Star Destroyer with a planet killing weapon destroys Kijimi & Sad Poe is comforted by Lando. DO is revealed to know the way to Exegol. Fine.

31. The Destiny of a Jedi. So Rey took Kylo's TIE from Kijimi to.... Ach To? And she's burning it? How the hell is she going to get to Exegol to stop the Emperor? Oh wait. Luke intervenes & gives Rey a pretty good pep talk which includes the unexpected and lovely bit of Leia's Jedi training. The cg Leia face is a bit off putting but I'm letting it go because seeing her training is great. Rey is given her saber as a parting gift & Luke lifts the X-Wing out of the water to help Rey on her journey. More borrowed LJ content with the force ghosts being able to interact with the living world more than we had seen in the original movies.

32. Battle Plans. R2 restores 3PO's memory. They get a ping from Luke's X-Wing & realize Rey (looking more like 9 year old Anakin than Luke) is showing them the way to Exegol. Good little pep talk by Poe & Finn has the Resistance heading out to fight. Fine.

33. Welcome to Exegol. Quick scene showing Rey & the Resistance arriving at Exegol. She lands & they commence the space battle as the Destroyers open fire. Fine.

34. Drop Zone. The signal tower on the ground is deactivated by the impressive General Pryde. Finn, giving more indication he's Force sensitive, has a feeling the signal is coming now from the command ship - so they drop the lander on the command ship and disembark riding space horses. I really didn't like this in the theatre but analyzing here I don't really see any reason why they can't do that as it is established the ships are still in the atmosphere. As silly as it looks I will accept it.

35. Throne of the Sith. Rey finds Palpatine & is seemingly encouraged in chant by about 100,000 Sith followers at the throne which is in the centre of their football stadium. Palps stands by the throne & urges Rey to kill him so that she can become the Empress once they have joined as one... all the Sith live in him. Ok.

36. Dark Turn. Finn the assault squad work toward blasting the signal tower on the assault ship. Finn senses the signals are being reset & moves with Jannah. Palps opens the roof of the stadium & shows Rey the seemingly helpless resistance betting blown to bits by the Final Order. He goads her again into killing him so that she can take control of the fleet & save her new family. She resists for now.

37. Dyad in the Force. No one is coming to save them - except Ben Solo - and man does he look motivated. Rey senses he's coming & stalls while the Emperor riles up the Sith throng. Rey draws her saber & hands it to Ben through Force time so he can deal with the Knights of Ren. Rey fights with a few Royal Guard types using the Leia saber. All good. Once the two are joined the Emperor recognizes the dyad after he gives them a small zap & realizes it has the power to restore him. He sucks a good bit of life force out of the pair who crumple to the ground. Yep.

38. The Galaxy Responds. The space battle is helpless. The radio calls of the Resistance pilots is tough to listen to as they're outnumbered & desperate for help. Lando's voice comes over the comms as Poe is apologizing and more ships than anyone could have imagined have shown up to help. I thought it looked silly the first time but I'm along for the ride this time. Babu Frik's Hey Hey is good comedy.

39. The Emperor Reborn. Fully charged Palps puts up a bolt of Force lightning like we've never seen & jams the Resistance systems. Ships are falling from the sky like rain but the Destroyers are somehow immune. We get the lovely sequence of voices urging Rey back to her feet. She rises & calls Leia's saber to hand. On first viewing this seemed like the force powers had gone completely out of whack - way too powerful. To a certain degree that remains the same but I can also ratify it a little bit because we don't really have any other concept of how charged up a dyad can make someone.

40. Last Chance. Finn & Jannah knock out the command ship with a hotwired cannon and are saved by Lando in the Falcon. Rey uses both sabers to defeat Palps' lightning & burns both he & all the followers to ash as the stadium starts to collapse. Good.

41. Ben. Rey, exhausted, drops the sabers & falls to the ground, seemingly spent of life force. Luckily Ben Solo survived the fall & has climbed back to provide her with his remaining life force. He quickly fades into the Force, presumably to stop them from going back & forth like idiots which makes sense. Leia's body also fades which I take to mean she has found piece knowing her son was redeemed.

42. Victory. The expected montage back at the base. All well & good.

43. Saga's End. The Rey Skywalker business. Expected this time of course & it didn't land as badly as when I was surprised by it in the theatre.

44. End Credits. All about the music.

Well I survived & I'm much happier than I was after the first viewing. I think the movie getting off to such a bad start for me stopped me from enjoying the really good parts as I much as I could & should have.

[jjreason]

Watched the first 2 last episodes of Clone Wars (if that makes any sense). Interesting they changed the opening to make it seem more like a film than an episode. They have both been good, I will gladly pay attention to the last 2 as they get released. My motivation to go back & finish Bad Batch & the return of Ahsoka just isn't there though, at least not currently. Maybe someday I'll fill in the blanks.

[Diabolical]

No rush.

The Ahsoka arc was the definition of filler.

The Bad Batch was too cartoony in terms of the characters (some felt like Simpson parody versions of characters).
This guy would hand fit right in:

[Tom Foolery]

Rise of Rey Star Wars is coming to Disney+ on May the 4th be with you.
I’ll rewatch it then.
I think my assessment is going to go in the opposite direction of JJ’s. On first watch I was like ‘eh it’s alright’
But now I’m thinking they whiffed big on the finale and are gonna need another three movies in another decade to really close out the Skywalker Saga.

[jjreason]

I'm opting for the Babu Frik mind wipe. The story ends with ROJ (but I will continue watching Mando for the entertainment value... or until it ruins my enjoyment of the OT. Then it won't count any more).

Hey HeYYYyyyy.

[anarky]

The book is much better.

It doesn't excuse shortfalls in filmmaking, but both the novelization and Visual Dictionary contain the about 50% of plot that Abrams forgot to include.

[jjreason]

Remember when the books used to come out BEFORE the movie? Back when they had a cohesive plan & knew which cut was going to hit theatres a few weeks in advance? Those were the days. ><