Kathleen Kennedy shit all over that franchise. What a waste.
in 2015 it was revealed Lucas’s sequel outline had been discarded.[78][79] The sequel trilogy also meant the end of the Star Wars Expanded Universe stories, which were discarded from canon to give “maximum creative freedom to the filmmakers and also preserve an element of surprise and discovery for the audience.”
It’s treason then.
Yeah, cause collectively they were mid asf.
Force Awakens was reheated “A New Hope” leftovers, but I guess if you had to start with something memorable for a reintroduction to the Star Wars universe, you can’t go wrong with a soft remake of the one that started it all.
I actually found The Last Jedi to be an interesting story, if not a decent movie with interesting ideas that could be capitalized on in the sequel.
Unfortunately that was not the case, and Rose of Skywalker, along with Obi-Wan and Mando season 3 torpedoed any interest I had as a relative newcomer to the Star Wars franchise. Side projects like Visions have kept my interest only because the anthology format allows for unique narratives and perspectives. It’s why I loved Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars.
I keep hearing amazing things about Andor and Maul: Shadow Lord, and I believe the hype wholeheartedly, but damn, after being inundated with Disney Star Wars year after year after year, I’m sick and tired of (modern) Star Wars.
Ok but for real Andor is only a Star Wars show because of setting. The story, dialogue, etc are all a cut above anything else. Most of the things you think of with Star Wars (light sabers, the Force, etc) are really not part of the story. I hope you’ll give it a chance because I’m not a huge fan of Star Wars (OT is good but that’s about it for me) but Andor is fantastic.
They were fine to see once, but I have no interest in seeing them again, unlike the OG trilogy.
I actually watched the second one twice, because I literally forgot I watched it the first time. Like, I saw it on the listing and said to myself “hey, I heard this is lousy, but maybe I can give it a try, I bet its at least fun and entertaining.”
I got fully halfway through the movie before I realized that I had actually watched it before. I usually have a pretty good memory for films, but this thing has so little substances and held so little of my interest it just sorta slips through my brain without leaving anything behind at all.
I know for a fact that I have seen it twice because of that memory of realizing it halfway through the second viewing, but you know what? I still don’t remember the movie at all. I have zero memory of it. I cannot tell you what its about or what happens. Nothing at all. It is like getting surgery. You are awake and then you are awake again a couple hours later. Nothing in between.
I saw all three in theaters when they came out.
Force Awakens was okay. It had a few problems, but I was willing to over look some of them because it was a new company trying to write something they had never written before. I was more forgiving towards Force Awakens.
Last Jedi ruined the entire trilogy. And honestly, if Rian Johnson actually still gets his trilogy, I will tell everyone I know to NOT see them. That guy deserves no money from Star Wars. Nothing in Last Jedi moved the plot forward, it closed off every possible loose end from 7 and left absolutely nothing for 9 to wrap up. Last Jedi is the reason Rise of Skywalker is so bad. Rian acted like his movie was the end of the series and forgot he was writing the middle movie of a trilogy. Basically half of the movie could be deleted with zero consequence. I almost walked out of the theatre mid-movie like 3 times, but I stayed just to see how bad it really got.
Rise of Skywalker is bad, but I honeslty feel really bad for JJ Abrams. What was he supposed to do in this situation? All the story strings he set up in 7 were cut in 8. At the same time, the writing was so bad that I couldn’t even believe it was real.
If I had to rate them, all three are at the bottom of the barrel. Belong in the bargain bin direct to home video DVDs you find in those thrift shops that have the super thin DVD case. But in order of best to worst: 7, 9, 8.
I am never watching them again. I have not desire or need to.
I completely agree with your post…
If I want to watch a single Star Wars movie, it will mostly be A New Hope, but every now and again I will pop on TFA for a popcorn flick.
If I have a spare day where I want to watch Star Wars, it will be R1, 4, 5 & 6
Binge Andor before R1.
The Force Awakens was fine, for a near shot-for-shot remake of A New Hope.
The Last Jedi is underrated, and I would argue the worst aspects are the attempt to redo the battle of Hoth. Overall a valiant attempt to make Star Wars something other than “the Skywalker Files.”
I made it ~15 minutes into The Rise of Skywalker before I turned it off. When did Leia become a Jedi Master again? Sometime after TLJ and the start of TRoS?
The best of these movies was okay. Of course no one is watching them.
I may have my movies backwards, but I’m pretty sure space Jesus Leia is from TLJ and was one of the criticisms of that movie.
TLJ is where she pulls herself back into a ship after being thrown into space, but TRoS is where Rey refers to her “master” and the reveal is that it’s Leia. I’m…fine with the scene in TLJ, she’s Luke’s twin and in RotJ he says she’s strong in the force so instinctively rescuing herself is not a huge problem. But if she was a Jedi master in TRoS she should have at least had some indication of significant training in the two preceding films.
Flying through space while unconscious, something that’s never been shown possible by even trained conscious jedi, is fine, but not mentioning someone has training is a leap too far?
If you read Rian Johnsons reasoning for the space flight scene it depicts someone without a lot of care for the world of star wars and someone who just wants to make a scene.
I guess I think like Rian Johnson, because his explanation (it’s like a person instinctively clawing for the surface when drowning) makes sense to me. I’ve been in a handful of situations where I felt like my life was in danger and I managed to do things I could not accomplish if I was trying to do them consciously. There’s a big difference between (say) holding your breath for a number of minutes when waves are pounding you into the sand, and reaching another person how to swim.
The issue isn’t about drawing upon some inate power/competency, it’s the degree in which it’s done.
Holding your breath for longer or lifting a heavier car than you thought possible is enhancing a known capability. Surviving in the vaccum of space and flying aren’t known abilities.
I think we see this kind of thing done much better in The Mandalorian where we see Grogu manage to utilize the force in small ways initially (and not always as intended), then building things up over time. That’s what we’d expect from someone inexperienced in the force, able to call upon some elements of it when needed, but not pulling off feats someone trained in the force can’t do.
Thats why I say Rian had little respect for the franchise. He literally says he wants to subvert expectations, but in many ways he was just breaking existing lore and/or rules of the universe. That’s not good writing in my opinion. To subvert expectations you can’t just change the rules.
Edit: Spelling/grammer
I know it’s been beaten to death but I just finished re-watching all 9 + rogue one, and can confirm there’s no reason for anyone to go back to the sequel trilogy. TFA gets some credit as a solid popcorn flick but doesn’t change the fact it’s retreading ANH, just to have every original story beat crushed by TLJ. By the time I got to Rise of Skywalker I was totally checked out, it’s just noise and explosions with a plot that is borderline incomprehensible.
The best part about the whole modern star wars franchise is the endless parodies mocking them.
I will give Rise of Skywalker one thing and one thing only: Babu Frik. I know he was probably designed by committee to be cute and endearing, but man I love that little dude.
As a fan of the Dark Empire comics, I had already accepted that Palpatine returning was a possibility. The lack of any real storyline hinting at that in the two movies leading up- I expected disappointment. And I got what I expected, though visually Exegol/life support Sheev was cool. The idea that he had an entire fleet of Death Star Destroyers fully staffed and just chilling was implausible. That they were dependent on one transmitter was ludicrous. That the attack run on them was a cavalry charge of space horses was one of the stupidest fucking thing I’ve seen on film.
HEY-HEY!
TLJ is what I think gave the sequel trilogy… hope.
TFA is very much a nostalgia grab re-tread of ANH. Which is the point. Evil has come back and something something it rhymes.
TLJ is all about breaking the cycle. The hero? She isn’t a chosen one. She is a random unhoused garbage goblin. The reluctant hero? He isn’t coming back for selfish reasons (wanting to bang Leia) and is instead realizing that he is part of something bigger than him. The confident scoundrel? He got told quite definitively that he is a childish moron who gets people killed and to do better.
And Luke? if he was really The Chosen One… why did everything repeat? The stories of our parents aren’t gonna solve things so let’s try something new. Let’s democratize force powers. Let’s ACTUALLY fight against tyranny.
And then China allegedly got pissed and Disney had JJ come back to undo everything in the first 30 minutes of ROS. And only really succeeded in making a movie that EVERYBODY hates.
That said? Rogue One and Andor were somehow snuck in there and those are very much a Star Wars made for people who grew up watching the prequels. And it is amazing for it.
This comment really perfectly sums up how I feel … TLJ Andes with SO MUCH POTENTIAL in my eyes.
Harumph.
Same, I started rise of Skywalker, and only after the ridiculous opening sequence I was already done with the whole thing. And I love Star Wars.
I still can’t believe some writer penned “some how, palpatine returned” into the script and didn’t light the whole draft on fire right there. I guess between the hamfisted bloodline reveal and the magical sith dagger guiding the way to the star destroyer parking lot - who cares at that point. Fuck it, send it.
Sure hut fans where demanding it. I thought they where going anyone can have the force. They shown it with little kid and broom. But all fans where like she has to be somebody there is no way she can’t be a nobody. Has to be blah blah blah. And the SIMPs Disney are now they are like let’s give it to them.
So on topic of the original article:
Nobody is watching the Star Wars sequel trilogy — and that’s a problem
Can anybody else who read the article explain to me what “the problem” is? Because I don’t see it.
To me it seems more like a light at the end of the tunnel - that maybe we’ll get out of the nostalgia fad (and probably straight into the next fad).
It is a major problem for Disney. Disney’s main business strategy is to make/buy things to be nostalgic for and then sell that nostalgia at a premium.
Star Wars should have been a slam dunk for Disney. They had experience with the brand and the resources to develop it in ways George Lucas couldn’t. Yet, Disney can’t get the same cultural resonance for Star Wars that Lucas was able to give it and it shows. Hell, people shat on the prequel trilogy for its issues, but the movies were still able to resonate with society enough to get memed and talked about.
I don’t want to poop on your well phrased comment, because I do agree.
But all I can think is “Oh nooooo! Poor Disney! Someone should give the multi billion dollar company a hug!”
As commercial as Star Wars ever was, there was a message of “scrappy scruffy rebels triumphing over the Evil Empire” that was at the heart of its popularity.
IMHO, of course.
They used that to sell endless toys and crass merchandise, and made tons of money.
But along the way, Lucas, and doubly so for Disney, put their heads up their asses and believed it was all the exotic designs, and spaceships, and special effects, and fights, and and and and that was what made Star Wars Special, instead of a simple inspiring message that good can triumph over oppressive evil.
Modern Hollywood doesn’t know how to make a good movie anymore.
It’s not Hollywood just “doesn’t know”, it can’t, period.
When modern Hollywood movies are financed, by banks, there is a risk assessment: The stars, director, script summary, etc are put into an algorithm to minimize the risk that the movie will bomb and that bank loan will be repaid.
The result is that only the movies that are approved for production loans are those that roughly match all the hit movies that came before it.
The result is a system that can only make the same fucking movies, with the same fucking old man stars, directed by the same octegenarian directors, because they’re designed to please the financial algorithms as much as…, you know, audiences.
It’s like a roundabout way to get AI slop: Hey this movie approved by the algorithm made money, so let’s make copies of that, instead of new ideas, or something that’s in tune with the times for which there is no precedent.
Incidentally, this type of algorithm is also used by popular music producers to find hit songs, which is why all modern pop music sounds the same.
Tl;dr we were better off when the Mafia was in charge of financing movies because at least a real human with good taste could decide which movies got financing, instead of an algorithm.
What a factually incorrect article.
Yeah I watched them once each and was so disappointed I think my mind erased the very memory of these films. I can’t remember shit about them.
There is some mercenary type woman in body armor and face shield that Poe Dameron meets for some reason in the last movie.
You could put a gun to my head or offer me millions of dollars, and I still wouldn’t be able to name that character.
Ah yes, the spice runner that Poe had a fling with back in his runner days that Rey has a stick up her ass about.
AKA, the girl introduced so FinnPoe shippers would be erased from existence.
I haven’t seen any of the sequels, but why do they keep letting JJ Abrams write/direct movies? He ruined Star Trek too.
I’ve liked a lot of Abrams’ work, but yes, he really shat on Star Wars/Trek. I find he has great ideas, and great starts for those ideas, but he just gets bogged down with all the history and storylines, ending up with an absolute slog, with lots of explosions and lens flares to distract from that. So, given all that, I’m not surprised with his disappointing results with both multi-episode stories told over decades.
I’m asking this trying not to sound like a dick, but sincerely - what Abram’s work do you like? His entire filmography looks so weak these days, and it’s even worse if we just evaluate him as a director.
I liked Super 8, but that’s all that stands out to me. Even that maybe felt more “Spielberg at home”, but it was entertaining.
I enjoyed the Alias and Fringe series, especially the overall concept. They both staggered hard for the last season or so. I didn’t realize Regarding Henry was a film of his, which I thought was excellent. I didn’t mind Felicity, but I think Alias was a better spin on the core concept.
Yes, as a director, im not overly impressed, but like I said, I liked his ideas, and the initial setup, but the wrap-up sucked. The last has a much bigger impact on movies, and wrapping up established world will only highlight his weaknesses.
I only saw them once, so my memory might be foggy. I remember thinking Force Awakens was pretty okay. The Last Jedi was pretty okay. Rise of skywalker was a steaming pile of shit.
There was a build-up towards “it doesn’t matter who your parents are - anybody can be important” that got completely reversed in the last film.
Star Wars died when it was sold out to a fascist company.
Sequels trilogy is not canon! (・へ・)
