WARNING: SPOILERS but not many
Last Jedi and its ramifications
Now, no one is going to argue that The Last Jedi underperformed in terms of revenue, it made over a billion dollars worldwide. In no world is that considered a disappointment to the accountants at Disney or their shareholders. But the fans, however, had some issues with the film to put it lightly. In fact, many fans don’t like any of the Star Wars movies that Disney has released.
This movie feels like it’s sole purpose is to make Star Wars fans happy. They want to convince the fans that it was for the best and that they know what they’re doing with the property. To right the wrongs of Rian Johnson. In fact, it feels as if J.J. Abrams and Chris Terrio (who also wrote Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, what a great track record) rewrote episode 8 (to an extent) and put their version of 8 with the new stuff for 9 and just make it into one movie. Fanservice is a term that gets bandied around quite a bit when discussing the sequel trilogy, and this movie does nothing but contributes to the trend.
Quick! We’ve got a plot to advance!
The Rise of Skywalker feels like 2 movies smashed together. It is 2 hours and 20 minutes long, and I think the only reason it isn’t longer than that is that every scene is as short as possible. There’s no time for anything to sink in properly, the scenes just keep moving, things just. keep. happening.
The whole film is a race to the finish line, problems get introduced and solved in minutes. When C3PO needs to get rebooted so he can translate sith runes, Poe is the only person to suggest a solution and they immediately get to the planet they need to be at by the next scene. Not 5 minutes later, Finn and Rey find out Poe used to be a spice runner and they have initial negative reactions. Poe says something like “Relax, it was a long time ago.” It is never brought up again. Everything is contrived and calculated to take up the least amount of time possible.
The dead speak!
They brought the dead back to life to finish her business and star in a Star Wars movie one last time! And all for our entertainment. Carrie Fisher is back in action as General/Princess Leia Organa/Skywalker both in scenes she recorded before passing, and as a CGI creation to mixed results. It doesn’t look as bad as Peter Cushing as Grand Moff Tarkin in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, but that’s a low hurdle to pass. To be fair, most of her screen time is laying in her deathbed or standing still and talking, so she looks fine when she isn’t moving. It is controversial to some and sets a precedent, what’s stopping them from now making a movie that takes place between Episodes 6 and 7 with CGI young Mark Hamill, young Harrison Ford, and young Carrie Fisher? Well probably that the tech just isn’t up to snuff for a feature film with the effect as the focus. Prepare for a trip through the uncanny valley.
“Also, Palpatine’s back somehow.” – Poe Dameron, this is a real quote from this real movie. That’s the level of storytelling in this movie.
Was it good or not? Just tell me already!
Well, it looked pretty. It is one of the best looking movies that came out in 2019, with one of the worst scripts of 2019. It has good character moments, I really enjoyed the interactions between Rey, Finn, and Poe especially. The action is entertaining and well shot, and there’s a lot to look at. However, the plot is hard to follow and can get pretty confusing at times, not to mention that once you think about it for a couple minutes it completely falls apart. who are you kidding? If you want to see the movie, you’re gonna see the movie regardless of whether it’s good or not. After all, the prequels made money, and everybody knows they’re bad, but they saw them anyway.
What did you think of the movie? Do you agree or disagree with my sentiments? Let me know in the comments section!