Support NeoGAF

[Days like these...]

I disagree. I look back at movies I grew up watching and I dont think I can analyze them like i can the Godfather, Kubrick's movies, Terrance Malik movies, Scorsese movies, or classics like Deer Hunter, Blade Runner etc that came out around the same time summer blockbusters started creating their own genre. It would be an insult to compare Jaws, star wars, Indiana Jones, back to the future to kubrick's works. And I love those movies.

But I dont watch them myself. I must have seen Cindrella, Beauty and the beast, Lion King and Little Mermaid a million times on vhs growing up, but I didnt even feel compelled to watch their live action remakes. I still havent seen them and i had disney+ for years. And aside from Little mermaid and I guess snow white, most of those were faithful adaptations. I just didnt want to relive my childhood and watch basic ass stories written for kids. If george lucas is saying he wrote star wars for kids, im inclined to believe him. Phantom Menace is a kids movie. I struggled to get through it in my teens and skipped the next two. fuck that. I had Matrix and Memento to dissect and analyze at a deeper level.

maybe i shouldnt be telling people what to watch or not watch. i dont even remember saying that but if i did, sorry. i am just saying these movies are not for us anymore. we've aged out. i cant even enjoy action movies like bad boys and fast and furious. ive skipped almost all marvel movies since end game 5 years ago while everyone here watched each and every one of them hoping they would end up being good.

im surprised i still enjoyed a movie about the force and wookies. they must have done something right for me to sit through all three movies. Both Rian and JJ are visual auteurs and their movies looked way better than the trash Marvel was putting out at the time. That alone kept me from tuning out.

"These movies are not for you" is a weird defense for the shitquels that honestly falls flat. If the sequels weren't made for the fans Disney should have started with a clean slate with a whole new set of actors and characters in timeline far away from the original trilogy but they wanted to have their cake and eat it too but they failed miserably at it.

They did nothing right with the shitquels. You liking them has nothing to do with it and everything to do with your taste.

 

[Rockondevil]

9 was bad but it was because of 8.

7 had some form of set up. Then Rian came along with 8 and shit all over any plans and they had to salvage what they could in 9.

Snoke was 100% Plagueis in Abrams vision.

 

[IntentionalPun]

9 was bad but it was because of 8.

7 had some form of set up. Then Rian came along with 8 and shit all over any plans and they had to salvage what they could in 9.

Snoke was 100% Plagueis in Abrams vision.

Yeah 7 was modernized Star Wars done pretty well, maybe a little too up beat and flashy but it worked for me as a fun return for Star Wars.

Im not particularly attached to the franchise so was fine with the simple direction it was taking. 8 was just kind of a bummer.

I don’t mind different takes on things but in the middle of a trilogy it just doesn’t work.

 

[Madflavor]

Yeah 7 was modernized Star Wars done pretty well, maybe a little too up beat and flashy but it worked for me as a fun return for Star Wars.

Im not particularly attached to the franchise so was fine with the simple direction it was taking. 8 was just kind of a bummer.

I don’t mind different takes on things but in the middle of a trilogy it just doesn’t work.

I'd argue that while The Force Awakens was the more competent of the bunch, but many of the overall problems with the Sequel Trilogy were created in TFA. It undid the accomplishments of the OT's Heroes, and reset the galaxy back to the status quo of Rebels vs. Empire. Han leaves his wife and goes back to being a low life smuggler, Luke goes into hiding, and Leia is still fighting the same tired old fight. Then you had Rey who was way too good at everything, that it set her up for zero growth throughout the Trilogy. There was the Death Star 3 and complaints of it mirroring ANH. Han Solo dies unceremoniously. The Force Awakens was a pile of shit, we just didn't see it at the time because we were all so excited for Star Wars to be back in theaters, and it was still the first movie.

 

[IntentionalPun]

I'd argue that while The Force Awakens was the more competent of the bunch, but many of the overall problems with the Sequel Trilogy were created in TFA. It undid the accomplishments of the OT's Heroes, and reset the galaxy back to the status quo of Rebels vs. Empire. Han leaves his wife and goes back to being a low life smuggler, Luke goes into hiding, and Leia is still fighting the same tired old fight. Then you had Rey who was way too good at everything, that it set her up for zero growth throughout the Trilogy. There was the Death Star 3 and complaints of it mirroring ANH. Han Solo dies unceremoniously. The Force Awakens was a pile of shit, we just didn't see it at the time because we were all so excited for Star Wars to be back in theaters, and it was still the first movie.

I can agree with the end part, I really don’t care too much about the rest TBH (just because I’m not invested in the lore). It was an event movie I’ll never watch again after seeing it in theaters and part of the fun was definitely the sheer spectacle of the premie.

It was really simple too, and yeah it’s hard to really care about the randomly OP character. It was more the vibe that was fun than the story. I agree it doesn’t set up a trilogy well, but 8 was just garbage and weird. Another fun stupid movie would have been better then trying to inject a bunch of overly serious shit into it.

 

[Madflavor]

I can agree with the end part, I really don’t care too much about the rest TBH. It was an event movie I’ll never watch again after seeing it in theaters and part of the fun was definitely the sheer spectacle of the premie.

I understand. As a Star Wars fan, and someone who grew up adoring the older films and it's characters, I really didn't appreciate how they handled Luke, Han and Leia. It's absolutely fucking criminal all three of them didn't share one scene together.

 

[Days like these...]

I saw it at the time.

I'd argue that while The Force Awakens was the more competent of the bunch, but many of the overall problems with the Sequel Trilogy were created in TFA. It undid the accomplishments of the OT's Heroes, and reset the galaxy back to the status quo of Rebels vs. Empire. Han leaves his wife and goes back to being a low life smuggler, Luke goes into hiding, and Leia is still fighting the same tired old fight. Then you had Rey who was way too good at everything, that it set her up for zero growth throughout the Trilogy. There was the Death Star 3 and complaints of it mirroring ANH. Han Solo dies unceremoniously. The Force Awakens was a pile of shit, we just didn't see it at the time because we were all so excited for Star Wars to be back in theaters, and it was still the first movie.

I did. I walked out the theater saying what in soft reboot rehash hell is this? I waited all these years for this!? Then I noped out to this day I haven't seen TLJ and the other one whatever it's called.

 

[IntentionalPun]

I understand. As a Star Wars fan, and someone who grew up adoring the older films and it's characters, I really didn't appreciate how they handled Luke, Han and Leia. It's absolutely fucking criminal all three of them didn't share one scene together.

Yeah don’t get me wrong I saw ROTJ in the theater when I was 5. I was a fan for sure, especially of Han and Leah. If I really think about it the movie was garbage lol

I’m just enough of a fan to have gotten into the spectacle of the return but mot enough of a fan to care too much.

 

[TGO]

I actually give Episode IX slack because of VIII.
There was no fixing that shit, TLJ added nothing and went nowhere but took away and broke so much, not only the stuff TFA set-up, but the whole series.
Rian Johnson fucked over 6 films with 40 years of lore in one film.
And this ain't hate on Rian, I liked his previous films, but the shit in that film defied all logic, even for a "switch your brain off" film
Not saying IX is good, it's not.
but considering the undertaking of trying to fix the shit TLJ did, it could of been a lot worse.

 

[ADiTAR]

I thought 8 was worse. I was in the theater and I kept thinking, is the entire movie about these two ships painfully slowly moving thru space even tho one of them could've bombed the shit out of the other already?!

 

[Pegasus Actual]

I don't trust anyone who didn't see TFA for the turd that it was on release, just the complete lack of worldbuilding or consistency with the originals.... even if you're going to accept the rehashed story beats (I mean.. rhyming poetry).

 

[BlackTron]

I'd argue that while The Force Awakens was the more competent of the bunch, but many of the overall problems with the Sequel Trilogy were created in TFA. It undid the accomplishments of the OT's Heroes, and reset the galaxy back to the status quo of Rebels vs. Empire. Han leaves his wife and goes back to being a low life smuggler, Luke goes into hiding, and Leia is still fighting the same tired old fight. Then you had Rey who was way too good at everything, that it set her up for zero growth throughout the Trilogy. There was the Death Star 3 and complaints of it mirroring ANH. Han Solo dies unceremoniously. The Force Awakens was a pile of shit, we just didn't see it at the time because we were all so excited for Star Wars to be back in theaters, and it was still the first movie.

If TLJ did its job of making TFA worth existing, TFA would have ended up the worst movie in the trilogy, not the best. I hated it, but gave it a free pass as their first film.

 

[BlackTron]

I don't trust anyone who didn't see TFA for the turd that it was on release, just the complete lack of worldbuilding or consistency with the originals.... even if you're going to accept the rehashed story beats (I mean.. rhyming poetry).

My friends were all hyped after the theater. I didn't want to be a fun destroyer so I kept my real opinion on the DL until the inevitable discussions the next few days. The last message I ever got from this one guy was "WHY do you hate this new Disney Star Wars???" because I had just explained why, because he asked me. I saw it in real life with this dude, jesus.

 

[lifa-cobex]

In 20 years time, when the sequel sequel trilogy is released, will we look back fondly on this trilogy like we do with the prequels? No.

I don't look at the prequals fondly.
They were crap then and are still crap. People trying to retroactively fix them with the clone wars cartoon or other things doesn't justify what they are.

I hate the trend of the prequals suddenly being good for some reason.
Poor cinema.

Having said that. Disney sequels seem worse to me for some reason.

 

[BlackTron]

I don't look at the prequals fondly.
They were crap then and are still crap. People trying to retroactively fix them with the clone wars cartoon or other things doesn't justify what they are.

I hate the trend of the prequals suddenly being good for some reason.
Poor cinema.

Having said that. Disney sequels seem worse to me for some reason.

PT is bad and ST isn't going to offend you nearly as badly with bad acting and dumb characters, but at least the PT gives you some reason to put up with its flaws. ST is a complete waste of time other than SFX.

 

[Trunx81]

Probably would have liked it if you had played Fortnite first for context.

This!
Imagine watching Empire Strikes Back and the reveal that Vader is Lukes father was hidden inside of Ataris Pitfall.

 

[Dr.Morris79]

It was so bad some people started thinking the prequels were good.

 

[Madflavor]

The best part of the Sequel Trilogy was the first 30 minutes of TFA. I'd argue Finn should've been the main character. If one of the major themes of the ST was that anyone can be special and bloodlines don't matter, then a fucking janitor becoming Force sensitive and growing into a hero, is a much more interesting and endearing take on that. He would've been the perfect foil to Kylo Ren. Kylo wants power because he believes that being the grandson of Vader, it's his birthright. Imagine how that dude would've handled the fact that a former stormtrooper janitor ended up being his rival and matching him in power.

Rey could've been the spunky mechanic/pilot girl who dreams of seeing that galaxy since she was orphaned on Jakku, and Finn's love interest. Poe should've traveled with them from the beginning, being the pilot and the more mature of the bunch. The whole structure of the Sequel Trilogy is just wrong, it's no surprise it ended up the way it did since they didn't plan it out.

 

[BlackTron]

The best part of the Sequel Trilogy was the first 30 minutes of TFA.

I too am nostalgic for the 30 minutes I thought I was watching an exciting movie. I was IN the moment Kylo blocked the bolt. Those were the days minutes man.

 

[BlackTron]

The sequel trilogy is an amazing example that great trailers do not equate to good movies.

Bruh I downloaded The Phantom Menace trailer on 56k these lessons are from the Ancient Jedi Texts

 

[wipeout364]

The sequels were botched right from the first one TFA. But they were even more messed up after the TLJ.

Honestly I think the thing that totally blows my mind is the fact that the three movies were made without setting up the thread of the trilogy long before starting to make them. I have never been able to get my head around that, all the money they spent they could be bothered to hire some excellent writers to make an outline of the trilogy.

 

[TheInfamousKira]

TFA, taken in the context of it's actual release - was praised for being an updated ANH. Remember the cultural temperature at the time. Reverting to OT characters, having the Phantom of ANH subtley dictating the path of the narrative - it was all to remind disenfranchised fans of the OT and was sort of a silent promise to not "prequelfy," the new movies. Most people were on board.

Even afterwards, when derision for the copy paste grew louder, Rian Johnson, the dude with the cool episode of Breaking Bad, released this stark black and red trailer for the middle chapter of the Trilogy, usually the in universe low point for the heroes. It was a rush of "okay, the pieces are set, now RJ is going to really make this Trilogy it's own creature in the middle chapter.

And oh, did he.

 

[BlackTron]

TFA, taken in the context of it's actual release - was praised for being an updated ANH. Remember the cultural temperature at the time. Reverting to OT characters, having the Phantom of ANH subtley dictating the path of the narrative - it was all to remind disenfranchised fans of the OT and was sort of a silent promise to not "prequelfy," the new movies. Most people were on board.

Even afterwards, when derision for the copy paste grew louder, Rian Johnson, the dude with the cool episode of Breaking Bad, released this stark black and red trailer for the middle chapter of the Trilogy, usually the in universe low point for the heroes. It was a rush of "okay, the pieces are set, now RJ is going to really make this Trilogy it's own creature in the middle chapter.

And oh, did he.

It's a tough call who caused more damage to the brand, KK or RJ. KK may have an army of ISD's still doing work even today, but RJ caused more damage than the entire fleet in a single shot. That film may as well been Alderaan blowing up and she couldn't have done it alone.

 

[Trilobit]

The casino sidequest in The Last Jedi was so, so, so strange. Almost as strange as Leia slapping Poe.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

The casino sidequest in The Last Jedi was so, so, so strange. Almost as strange as Leia slapping Poe.

In a general sense, TLJ was almost 2 hours of filler and subplots that go nowhere and about 20 minutes of blowing up the entire Star Wars franchise like the Death Star blowing up Alderaan

If you look at the progression of the Disney era of Star Wars, you can see the exactly moment the franchise dies. TFA was ok and felt like a retread of the original film but most people thought it wasn't bad. Then Rogue One came out and people really liked it. Then TLJ came out and instantly franchise stuff started bombing, starting right after with Solo. The franchise died instantly with TLJ

 

[Cyberpunkd]

The casino sidequest in The Last Jedi was so, so, so strange. Almost as strange as Leia slapping Poe.

Don't remeber that one, but it couldn't have been worse than the festival subplot in RotS.

In a general sense, TLJ was almost 2 hours of filler and subplots that go nowhere and about 20 minutes of blowing up the entire Star Wars franchise like the Death Star blowing up Alderaan

If you look at the progression of the Disney era of Star Wars, you can see the exactly moment the franchise dies. TFA was ok and felt like a retread of the original film but most people thought it wasn't bad. Then Rogue One came out and people really liked it. Then TLJ came out and instantly franchise stuff started bombing, starting right after with Solo. The franchise died instantly with TLJ

I loved Rogue One.

 

[ForAcademicPurposes]

Everyone involved in this movie should face a firing squad.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

That movie and the Rey trilogy are so shitty, they have the 2 actors together that makes me want to punch them.

i hate them

 

[BlackTron]

That movie and the Rey trilogy are so shitty, they have the 2 actors together that makes me want to punch them.

i hate them

They really thought killing off the old cast while introducing all THESE characters would create royalty-free toy sales.

 

[Days like these...]

They really thought killing off the old cast while introducing all THESE characters would create royalty-free toy sales.

Maybe if they would have killed them off in a better way things wouldn't have turned out as bad as they did.

 

[BlackTron]

Maybe if they would have killed them off in a better way things wouldn't have turned out as bad as they did.

I think the characters are meh enough for kids to ignore the toys all on their own, no spite over the old cast required.

 

[Trilobit]

They really thought killing off the old cast while introducing all THESE characters would create royalty-free toy sales.

I think Finn could have been an amazing character in the right writers' hands. A disillusioned stormtrooper who starts to discover force powers and has to struggle with fighting and killing his former brothers in arms. I also like the actor and he was supremely excited over scoring a role in Star Wars. But by the end of the trilogy he seemed very bitter over what they did with the franchise and his character. Same with Oscar Isaac.

 

[BlackTron]

I think Finn could have been an amazing character in the right writers' hands. A disillusioned stormtrooper who starts to discover force power and has to struggle with fighting and killing his former brothers in arms. I also like the actor and he was supremely excited over scoring a role in Star Wars. But by the end of the trilogy he seemed very bitter over what they did with the franchise and his character. Same with Oscar Isaac.

From the setup in 7 we expected much more with Finn but that was back when I thought they had actually planned the whole story in advance because I mean well otherwise it would be outrageous. They all had potential and would be memorable characters selling toys had they been written well (acting was fine, better than PT but PT still sold shit because the pillar of SW is cool characters).

 

[Neolombax]

IX was such a shit movie, and an even shittier Star Wars movie. The lightsaber battles were shit, the star fighter battles were shit, the main villain was lazy and shit, the concept of a force dyad is stupid and shit, Rey calling herself a skywalker at the end was shit. I just re-watched it last weekend with my son, and was reminded again of how shit this movie was. Shit.

 

[Madflavor]

I still can't believe that TRoS never attempts to actually explain how Palpatine returned. They just brush it off with a couple of lines and that's it. One of most insane examples of lazy writing I've ever seen.

 

[EverydayBeast]

Star wars movies have high standards, they need more stars, it's lacking star power, the Harrison Ford of today.