The Rise of Skywalker Star Wars IX The Rise of Skywalker (JJ Abrams 2019)

[Jay 37,633]

[Giftheck 923]

A word of warning to those of you avoiding spoilers that the Visual Dictionary has started to leak out, so be careful where you go.

[Fargo 297]

Are we gonna have visual evidence of Rey and Kylo pre and post-coitus? 

[Jay 37,633]

Just ordered my tickets to see this Thursday evening.  Despite "opening Friday", there are theaters all around me showing it as early as 6pm on Thursday.  Why not just say "opening Thursday" then?

 

Anyhoo, we had dinner plans with friends for 7:30 made a while back, so I won't be seeing it until almost 11pm.  I'll be tired on Friday!

 

Now to find time to re-watch TFA and TLJ before Thursday... I think I can do it.

[Manakin Skywalker 4,913]

Yep, 6pm on Thursday where I am too. Plus it's a relatively small town so I always just happen to be first in line.

[Jay 37,633]

Who screwed up the poster symmetry?

 

 

Luckily the OSTs are fine

 

[Holko 9,643]

7 minutes ago, Jay said:

 

[Fargo 297]

Blue font

 

Boba Fett returns

[Nick Parker 3,040]

I have shows from Wednesday to Saturday, I probably won't be able to catch it this weekend. 

[Thor 7,774]

3 hours to go! Getting kinda excited now.

[Kasey Kockroach 2,349]

On 12/15/2019 at 9:53 AM, Nick Parker said:

 

Of course,  but if I've been avoiding spoilers and trying to go as fresh into the movie as possible aside from the music, why would I watch a several minute film clip?

Kylo Ren is arrested and is hauled off to prison and sentenced to community service, Finn and Poe get married and get an apartment together (and a cat!), and Rey begins producing a web series of fitness videos. 

[Giftheck 923]

Reactions have started coming in and it looks to be something of a mixed bag. It reads a lot like how I would have expected Twitter reactions to ROTS to be, TBH. Expect a similar critical reaction.

 

(That's fine with me - despite being fairly low on my list I still really enjoy ROTS)

 

57 minutes ago, Thor said:

3 hours to go! Getting kinda excited now.

 

Think you got the wrong thread

[Thor 7,774]

OK, back from the screening. I'm embargoed to say anything meaningful untill tomorrow at 9 AM, but some very broad, general, non-spoilerish remarks are in (first) order. I'll scour the spoiler thread afterwards.

 

First of all, I really loved the film. It's going to feature on my top 10 of the year, just as TFA and TLJ did, but I'm not sure where, exactly. It definitely feels like a satisfying conclusion to the saga. If I have one minor criticism, it's that it caters a BIT too much to fan service, which often results in too convoluted or too rushed elements. In that way, Rian Johnson was a more visionary director, and it's not as playful as J.J.'s own THE FORCE AWAKENS (my favourite of the sequels). But by all means -- I had plenty of goosebumps, I shed a few tears (especially for scenes involving Carrie Fisher, and the idea that this was the final chapter in the saga in a film series that has followed me since I was a kid) and was plenty awed throughout.

 

The one major WOW moment that will stand the test of time, however, and which was basically worth the ticket alone, is a particular cameo THAT WILL FUCKING BLOW YOUR MIND! More on that at a later time.

 

I'm going to post my thoughts on the music here as well, as I can't navigate all these different TROS threads.

 

There are NOT a lot of new themes in the score, so in that respect the (IMO somewhat lacklustre) FYC tracks are representative. Might be one or two; one, in particular, for the 'group of rebels' that I don't think I've heard in any of the first two. It gets a work-out in the end credits, which starts off with several minutes of variations of the new themes before entering the famous OT themes. But what it DOES have are great variations of the existing themes, more organic than TFA. There's a very satisfying 'action variation' of "Rey's Theme", for example. And the last act of the film has some spectacular highlights, including epic choir and an almost LOTR-like poetry at times. So I feel confident already that the soundtrack album will be a better listening experience than TLJ, although perhaps not on the level of TFA.

[Jay 37,633]

The cameo you mentioned is already being discussed in the spoilers-allowed thread if you want to pop over there to see

[Thor 7,774]

4 minutes ago, Jay said:

The cameo you mentioned is already being discussed in the spoilers-allowed thread if you want to pop over there to see

 

Yup, just noticed it.

[Chen G. 4,098]

18 minutes ago, Thor said:

First of all, I really loved the film. It's going to feature on my top 10 of the year, just as TFA and TLJ did, but I'm not sure where, exactly. It definitely feels like a satisfying conclusion to the saga. If I have one minor criticism, it's that it caters a BIT too much to fan service, which often results in too convoluted or too rushed elements.

 

I'll believe that when I see it, but good to know.

 

18 minutes ago, Thor said:

There are NOT a lot of new themes in the score, so in that respect the (IMO somewhat lacklustre) FYC tracks are representative. Might be one or two; one, in particular, for the 'group of rebels' that I don't think I've heard in any of the first two.

 

In some regard, that's to be expected. Its the concluding score, and so naturally its going to rely more on variations of previous themes rather than on introducing new ones. You mentioned, Lord of the Rings, and those scores function in much the same way as well in that the third score doesn't introduce nearly as many new themes, and those themes that it does introduce "grow" out of previous material.

 

Does it close to the sound of Binary Sunset?

 

18 minutes ago, Thor said:

the last act of the film has some spectacular highlights, including epic choir and an almost LOTR-like poetry at times. So I feel confident already that the soundtrack album will be a better listening experience than TLJ, although perhaps not on the level of TFA.

 

Lots of choir (a-la Revenge of the Sith) or a couple of selected cues a-la The Last Jedi?

 

[mstrox 6,692]

Does the end credits music go over the new themes for this movie, or is it a more saga-encompassing piece?

[Jurassic Shark 12,294]

20 minutes ago, Thor said:

The one major WOW moment that will stand the test of time, however, and which was basically worth the ticket alone, is a particular cameo THAT WILL FUCKING BLOW YOUR MIND! More on that at a later time.

 

Jar Jar confirmed!

[Thor 7,774]

4 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

5 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

Does it close to the sound of Binary Sunset?

 

I think that perhaps would be spoiler territory to say.

 

4 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

5 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

 

 

Lots of choir (a-la Revenge of the Sith) or a couple of selected cues a-la The Last Jedi?

 

 

 

No, lots of epic choir throughout that whole last act, like REVENGE OF THE SITH. Although not so much in the film otherwise.

[Chen G. 4,098]

1 minute ago, Thor said:

Although not so much in the film otherwise.

 

Hey, even in Revenge of the Sith its mostly in the back-half of the film, so...

[Thor 7,774]

9 minutes ago, mstrox said:

Does the end credits music go over the new themes for this movie, or is it a more saga-encompassing piece?

 

Well, as I said, there aren't many new themes in this film, but there's that one I mentioned earlier that gets a rendition in the end credits, among the "Main Titles", "Imperial March", "Rey's Theme" variations and all that. I'm not sure, but I think it's a theme for the group of rebels we've followed in the sequels, their 'brotherhood', so to speak.

[Jurassic Shark 12,294]

And sisterhood.

[Jay 37,633]

We've been calling it the "trio theme" in the FYC thread

[Thor 7,774]

"Trio theme"; that's a good name for it.

[Chen G. 4,098]

At least until it gets sub-divided into three separate leitmotifs: "Trio ostinato", "Trio motif" and "trio (variant)"...

[mstrox 6,692]

Finally a theme for the true hero

 

 

[Pellaeon 594]

This is the nicest official poster I’ve seen:

 

[Balahkay 627]

It’s nice but only because it’s ripping off one of the original SW posters.

[Jay 37,633]

I had hoped to find time to re-watch TFA and TLJ before seeing TROS tomorrow night, but I don't think I will be able to.  Oh well

[Smaug The Iron 520]

 

[Thor 7,774]

2 hours ago, Jay said:

I had hoped to find time to re-watch TFA and TLJ before seeing TROS tomorrow night, but I don't think I will be able to.  Oh well

 

...and I had hoped to get through ALL the films and ALL the TV series before I saw the film, in story-chronological order. It stopped at the humungous CLONE WARS series, LOL! But I'll continue my walkthrough nonetheless, post-TROS-watching. I'm on season 6 of CLONE WARS now, and then it's on to REVENGE OF THE SITH and onwards. (and I just heard there's a season 7 of CLONE WARS coming in February; phew, hard to keep up).

[mstrox 6,692]

What do you think of TCW?

 

We had a plan to watch 1-8 before Saturday, which morphed for various reasons (mostly time) to 3, 4, 7, 8.   I gave my spouse the verbal rehash of the Luke/Vader/Emperor stuff from ROTJ, figuring that of the missing movies, that will come into play most in IX.

[Pellaeon 594]

I’ll likely rewatch TFA beforehand (I recently rewatched the Ewoks movies and the OT). But I am also not going to see TRoS till after Christmas, so, there’s no rush.

 

Zero desire to revisit TLJ.

[Smaug The Iron 520]

5 minutes ago, Pellaeon said:

Zero desire to revisit TLJ.

Why? Its the best one. 

[Pellaeon 594]

I don’t enjoy it.

[Chen G. 4,098]

The Force Awakens is by far the superior film.

[Thor 7,774]

38 minutes ago, mstrox said:

What do you think of TCW?

 

It has its ups and downs. Generally far too much non-stop action for my taste, but there are some individual story arcs that are quite good. I must say, however, that I far prefer the 2003 animated series -- more ambitious in its execution, more room to other things than just action (like lengthy scenes without dialogue, and allowing the viewer to be absorbed by a place). It's a shame it isn't considered canon, because it actually works pretty well as a prequel to the 3D series (if you disregard its ending; leading straight into ROTS) -- explains lot of things you see in the 3D series like Grievous' cough, Anakin's scar (well, our first encounter with it, anyway), Anakin's premature knighthood ritual, the introduction of Ventress etc.

[mstrox 6,692]

Watching 30 min a week at most, the action never became overbearing to me - although I can picture what binging 6 seasons in a week would feel like!

 

When you get there, Rebels might be more your speed.

 

I have the 2D Clone Wars on DVD.  I don't recall having much in the way of positive feelings for it in 2004-5, but that break is more than enough time to revisit it with fresh eyes.

[Nick Parker 3,040]

3 minutes ago, Thor said:

 

It has its ups and downs. Generally far too much non-stop action for my taste, but there are some individual story arcs that are quite good. I must say, however, that I far prefer the 2003 animated series -- more ambitious in its execution, more room to other things than just action (like lengthy scenes without dialogue, and allowing the viewer to be absorbed by a place). It's a shame it isn't considered canon, because it actually works pretty well as a prequel to the 3D series (if you disregard its ending; leading straight into ROTS) -- explains lot of things you see in the 3D series like Grievous' cough, Anakin's scar (well, our first encounter with it, anyway), Anakin's premature knighthood ritual etc.

 

Tartakovsky's art style has always been a little...crude, but man that dude has an impeccable eye in the medium. It was a lot of fun watching those little episodes trying to tide over the wait as a ten year old kid.

[Thor 7,774]

9 minutes ago, mstrox said:

I have the 2D Clone Wars on DVD.  I don't recall having much in the way of positive feelings for it in 2004-5, but that break is more than enough time to revisit it with fresh eyes.

 

Please do. I was not blown away by the 2003 series at first either (I obviously started with that about a week ago), but the more I see of the 3D series, the more I recognize its many qualities compared to that; it's even visionary at times -- like the snow planet sequence, or the Anakin/Jake Lloyd scene....or, in particular, the fantastic, lengthy, dialogue-free action sequence with Mace Windu kicking droid ass alone while a little kid watches the spectacle from atop a nearby mountain. Plus, there's someting about the old-school animation; the cross between animé and western drawing styles that is very captivating.

[Pellaeon 594]

I’m not a huge cartoon fan, but this sequence is pretty great (6:00 - 10:00):

 

 

[Luke Skywalker 1,820]

On 12/16/2019 at 11:31 PM, Holko said:

Same here. They usually do it in book trilogies or series where they change the layout or design in the last f*cking one. In that instance I'm sure it's a marketing ploy to sell more books to OCD people because they re-release the other books with the new design too...

[Pellaeon 594]

Here’s my spoiler-free list of reasons TRoS is obviously going to be a clusterfuck (unless you consider the cast list a spoiler):
 

1. It carries the weight of being marketed as the grand finale of the Sequel Trilogy.
    
2. It carries the weight of being marketed as the grand finale of the Skywalker Saga (functionally the OT + the ST, because at least we know J.J. doesn’t care about the PT).
    
3. All the following OT characters are returning in the movie and require satisfactory screentime: Threepio, Artoo, Chewie, Lando, and Wedge.
    
4. All the following TFA characters are returning in the movie and require satisfactory screentime: Rey, Finn, Kylo Ren, Poe, BB-8, General Hux, Maz, Carrie Fisher’s daughter, and Greg Grunberg.
    
5. Plus TLJ female lead Rose.
    
6. There are new characters for well-known actors Dominic Monaghan (LotR, Lost), Matt Smith (Doctor Who, The Crown), and Richard E. Grant (not sure what he’s famous for, but I saw him as Henry Higgins in Chicago Lyric’s production of My Fair Lady). And a new droid character.
    
7. Ben Kenobi? Yoda? The Emperor? Darth Vader? Han Solo? Luke Skywalker? Princess Leia? Sorry, all dead. Unless they’re not. Sigh.
    
8. It inherits NO plot setup from TLJ, so it has to provide its own setup, which must be grand enough for a resolution which must be grand enough to cap off the whole saga.
    
9. I did like TFA, but all TFA had to do was set up some mysteries and follow a fun trio (Rey, Finn, and Han) on a meaningless, swashbuckling space adventure. RotS has too much riding on it. The very significance of the Jedi and the Sith and the Force and the Skywalker and the Emperor and the First Order and the life and times of Carrie Fisher all ride on this. I think J.J. would have liked to avoid this and do something TFA-like, but it’s unlikely he will be able to pull it off.
    
10. They could have avoided damned near all of these problems by saying it wasn’t the last film, that there were going to be 2 or 3 or 9 more after this (as of course there inevitably will be), but Disney is completely shitting its pants after Solo flopped (after TLJ soured so many people on Star Wars).

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,282]

Star Wars: Episode XI - The Rise Of Skywalker

 

Or...what happens if you give JJ Abrams a shitload of money and tell him to make the biggest Star Wars movie ever.

 

Subtle as a brick, a 10 foot, purple of neon blue coloured brick. And makes everything he's directed before seem like indie film making.

But ultimately I can't say I wasnt hugely entertained by most of it. 

[Tom 4,722]

4 minutes ago, Stefancos said:

Star Wars: Episode XI - The Rise Of Skywalker

 

Or...what happens if you give JJ Abrams a shitload of money and tell him to make the biggest Star Wars movie ever.

 

Subtle as a brick, a 10 foot, purple of neon blue coloured brick. And makes everything he's directed before seem like indie film making.

But ultimately I can't say I wasnt hugely entertained by most of it. 

I have not seen it, but this a perfect (and perfectly honest) review.  

[Quintus 5,400]

So what are you guys making of all the mediocre reviews for this? Expected? Disheartened?

 

End of the day, this is all you're ever really gonna get with JJ. The world's most overrated filmmaker.

[Thor 7,774]

I understand and share the main argument of the mediocre reviews -- the convoluted, rushed elements resulting from fan service -- but it's not enough to take away from the film's many, many strengths. Although I place both of the preceding films higher, I think this was the one that hit me the most, emotionally.

[Chen G. 4,098]

1 hour ago, Quintus said:

End of the day, this is all you're ever really gonna get with JJ. The world's most overrated filmmaker.

 

Oh, that seems a bit harsh. There’s a lot to love about JJ, particularly in his eye for spectacle, in his sense of humour and his directing in general, really.

 

He’s a good filmmaker.

[Kasey Kockroach 2,349]

1 hour ago, Quintus said:

So what are you guys making of all the mediocre reviews for this? Expected? Disheartened?

 

End of the day, this is all you're ever really gonna get with JJ. The world's most overrated filmmaker.

I’ve never seen passionate devoted Abrams fans though, or maybe I’ve just been lucky.

[Thor 7,774]

14 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

He’s a good filmmaker.

 

He certainly is, although I prefer his earlier work -- LOST and SUPER 8 and that kind of stuff. He got a bit lost (no pun intended) in all the big blockbuster mayhem after that, but THE FORCE AWAKENS still shines as a beacon in recent years, IMO (OK, you'll have to include producing credits to divide it into periods, I'll give you that).