***SPOILERS***
My Perceptions Going Into This Movie
I suspect your own story is similar.
In the months leading up to this movie, I started hearing rumors about disasters going on behind the scenes. Test screening audiences hated the movie. Reshoots were still going on right up until the release date. No one could decide on the ending. Et cetera.
Then the reviews got released for this movie, and they were pretty awful.
But then, after all the professional critics had gotten done trashing this movie, a lot of normal people started giving it positive reviews, and saying it wasn't nearly as bad as the critics had made out.
My Review
Yeah, it wasn't great. Pretty mediocre. I was bored for much of the movie.
But, it wasn't terrible either. It was perfectly serviceable as the end of the trilogy. It didn't ruin the characters or the franchise for me.
Because this is Star Wars, and because people tend to have strong opinions about Star Wars, it always helps to keep some perspective.
When we were kids, Star Wars was so magical for us that we've come to expect that every movie in the franchise should re-create that magical feeling. But this expectation was never realistic. As more and more Star Wars films get cranked out, we have to realize that some of them will be good, and some of them will just be mediocre. This is one of the mediocre ones. It's not the end of the world, it just means that this film isn't quite as interesting or as exciting as some of its predecessors.
I also recognize that the 3rd film in the trilogy is bound to be the boring one. The first two movies are where all the interesting plot lines are introduced. But in the final movie, you can't introduce a lot of new interesting plot twists because your job is to start wrapping up the existing plot lines.
So I get it. The film makers had a hard job in front of them, and they did the best they could with it.
But, in spite of all that, I do still have a number of criticisms of this movie. So let's get into it:
Negatives
* In my opinion, the principle sin of this movie is that it's boring.
Admittedly not everyone agrees with this. (I have several friends and family members who thought it was very exciting.) So take my opinion with a grain of salt. Your own impression might be different.
There was certainly a lot happening in this movie, but I think my problem was that there was too much happening, and not a lot of time for narrative tension to develop. So although there was a lot of action happening on the screen, I wasn't invested in it.
* So at this point, it's very obvious that nobody had a coherent plan for this trilogy. Character arcs that were set up in movies 7 and 8 were not satisfyingly paid-off. Mysteries that we were encouraged to get invested in were not given logical resolutions.
(See: It Was a Total Lack of Planning That Killed Star Wars--via Whisky Prajer).
* Related to the above point:
The side-lining of Rose Tico was unfortunate. It didn't make sense from a thematic standpoint, because her character had been built up so much in episode 8, that you would expect her character arc to continue in episode 9.
And it doesn't make sense from an in-universe standpoint, because there's a romantic relationship between her and Finn which is just abruptly dropped with no explanation.
The only thing that really makes sense is that she was sidelined because of the negative reaction her character got from a portion of the fandom and from online trolls.
Personally, I really liked the character. I liked the idea of an ordinary working person who becomes one of the main characters. And I thought Kelly Marie Tran's portrayal of her was really endearing. So I wanted to see more Rose Tico.
Given all the racist online harassment that Kelly Marie Tran had faced from online trolls after episode 8, it was really disappointing to see episode 9 appear to give in to that online trolling by sidelining her character.
* Emperor Palpatine coming back from the dead:
I mean, I understand why they did it. Kylo Ren needed to turn back to the light side in order for him to get redeemed and his character arc to be completed. And if Kylo Ren is going to turn good again, then they need someone even more bad and more powerful for him to fight against. And now that Snoke is dead, who else is left now?
But, it was still stupid. Palpatine's arc was already over. We already saw his rise and fall and final defeat. To have him come back from the dead now just seems to undue the ending of the original trilogy.
Plus, this was never set up in any of the previous movies.
Plus, there was never any sort of explanation given in the movie as to how he came back. Unless I missed something, there was just some sort of vague exposition about how the dark side gives you a lot of unexpected powers. Which is a really unsatisfying explanation. Plus, if that's true, then he can never be killed off, right? Why should I be invested in Rey's climatic show-down with him, when I know he can never be killed?
* These show-downs with Emperor Palpatine never seem to make a lot of sense. He tells you to kill him with your light saber, but you can't do it because if you do, then that's just giving into your hate, and he wins. But if you kill him by any other way, then it's okay, apparently?
* These constant light saber battles between Rey and Kylo Ren are getting really tiresome. Especially since we know that neither one of them wants to kill the other. Rey wants to redeem Kylo Ren, and Kylo Ren wants to convert Rey. Neither of them want the other one dead. So why do they spend the whole movie hacking at each other with these really deadly weapons as if they wanted to kill the other one? We have to watch them fight and fight, but we know the fight is never going to lead to any sort of outcome. Plus, we just got done seeing this in the previous movie.
* Okay, so I've made this same critique in all of my Star Wars reviews, but...
I'm of the opinion that the original Star Wars trilogy became popular in spite of The Force and not because of it. The first Star Wars movie was all about space nazis, space pirates, and outer space fighter plane dog fights, with just a little bit of The Force mysticism overlaid. But every Star Wars movie since then has focused in on The Force more and more until it's become ridiculous.
It's now apparent that both Kylo Ren and Rey have essentially god-like powers. They can levitate things, heal the wounded, (bring back the dead?), arrest Star Ships in mid-flight, etc, which makes it very hard to create any tension or sense of danger around their characters. It also creates a lot of inconsistencies. From scene to scene, I was constantly thinking to myself, "But why doesn't she just use the Force to get out of this danger? Clearly she has the power to do it because we just saw it in the previous scene."
* So how many times did it look like a certain character was dead, only for them to turn out to be completely okay? I think 3 by my count.
* So what happened with Kylo Ren's death? Did he exchange his life for Rey's? Did the act of using that much Force just physically exhaust him? What was going on?
I have the same problems with Luke's death in the previous movie. And come to that, with Princess Leia's death. (Although I know they were doing the best they could with limited footage they had of her.)
* That new droid: What was the point of it? It contributed absolutely nothing to the plot. I know we were supposed to find him cute, but I just found him annoying, and besides we already have more than enough cute looking droids in these movies.
* Ever since Return of the Jedi in 1983, when George Lucas decided to blow up another Death Star because he couldn't think of anything else to do, it's been apparent that the series has been out of new ideas. But it's never so painfully obvious as it was in this movie.
The showdown between Rey and Emperor Palpatine was the exact same showdown that Luke had with Emperor Palpatine back in Return of the Jedi, even going so far as to re-use a lot of the exact same dialogue. I was so bored during these scenes, because I had already seen this movie, and I already knew what was going to happen. Meanwhile the battle in space to blow up the
In my 2015 review of The Force Awakens, I wrote:
I was so charmed by this film that I'm giving it a complete pass on its recycled plot. But going forward, I think there is now a real question of how many stories Star Wars is capable of telling. Are we just going to get the same movie over and over again 40 times over the next 40 years? Because if we are, at some point I'm going to stop forgiving that.I'm now at the point where I'm going to stop forgiving this.
* That re-purposed footage of Carrie Fisher didn't entirely blend seamlessly into the movie. You could tell something was a bit off with the scenes she was in. The dialogue didn't entirely seem natural. Her interaction with the other characters wasn't entirely organic. (I know this is one of those things that is nobody's fault, but I have to count it as a negative nonetheless because it's noticeable.)
The Cameos
So, some people online have been referring to the inclusion of old fan favorite characters by the derogatory term of "fan service". But I actually like them.
I've never really liked that term "fan service" anyway. As if that were a bad thing. The whole reason people are going to these movies is because they want to see what happened to the characters they love. The fact that fans are invested in the characters is the reason that a franchise, any franchise exists. (No one is going to see Star Wars sequels because they care about the politics of the Republic or the New Order,)
So yes, fans want to see their favorite characters back for one last hurrah. There's nothing wrong with that.
Billy Dee Williams, by all reports, would have been perfectly willing to come back for episode 7 or 8 if someone had just asked him. In my opinion, it's a pity they didn't include him earlier. But at least we got to see him in episode 9.
Man, Billy Dee Williams is really looking old and frail. You get the impression that the actor has a very restricted range of movement these days.
Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, and Carrie Fisher were all looking grey, but they at least looked healthy and energetic. The same cannot be said for Billy Dee Williams.
But then, the dude is 82 years old, so what do you expect? (Billy Dee Williams was always a bit older than the other actors. He was in his early 40s when Empire Strikes Back came out.) I hope to be as lucky when I'm 82.
In other words, it was a bit depressing to see what time has done to Billy Dee Williams, but not completely unexpected. I was still glad they included him instead of not including him.
I'm also glad they were able to get a cameo in for Wedge Antilles. Wedge is someone else that I was disappointed we didn't see in the previous movies. According to Wikipedia:
Lawson has said he was asked to reprise his role as Wedge Antilles in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but reportedly turned down the role because he believed it would have "bored" him.[8] However, Lawson later said he actually declined to appear in The Force Awakens due to a scheduling conflict, and would have appeared in the film had he been available.[9]Well, okay, so they got him for the final movie at least.
But was that the most pointless cameo, or what? He had no introduction. He was only on screen for half a second, saying "Nice shooting Lando", and then that was it. He never appeared again.
They couldn't have worked in anything for him to do? They couldn't work in a brief hero moment for Wedge?
I guess I'm glad I got to see him briefly, but it's really hard to see what the point of that cameo was.
Same with Wicket the Ewok. I'm guess I'm glad I got to see him for half-a-second on the screen, but it's really hard to figure out what the point of that cameo was. I would have liked it if they had integrated him into the plot somehow.
Rating:
5 out of 10 Stars. In spite of all my complaining about stuff, it was in the end a perfectly serviceable sequel. Not great, not terrible.
Other Star Wars Reviews
Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith ,
Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens ,
Star Wars: Rogue One ,
Star Wars VIII: The Last Jedi ,
Solo: A Star Wars Story
Links:
Whisky Prajer's review HERE.
Video Review
Video review HERE and embedded below. I got caught off in the middle of my rant again. The camera I'm using can only film for 30 minutes at a time before it shuts down. But I said most of what I wanted to say, so I'm going to call this one good. Apologies again for the abrupt ending.
Link of the Day
Relive Office Hours with Professor Chomsky on his birthday, Dec 7!
The whole "Kill me!"/"Don't kill me!" strikes me as an enormous "whoops!" on Abrams' part. I doubt know who gave him a pass on that.
ReplyDeleteGood to hear I'm not the only one who thought that was strange. Although to be fair, it's a problem somewhat inherited from Return of the Jedi, where much of the exact same dialogue was used.
ReplyDeleteThat hadn't occurred to me. Mulling it over now I realize I always thought Palpatine's "Strike me down!" was a deception that would somehow undo all Luke's training and warp his soul were he to act on it. I guess Abram's riff is as good as any, then. I did like the Sith chamber, I have to say. Looked like the cover of a Meshuggah album, but then I like those too.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I was going to count that Sith chamber as another negative because of all the things that weren't explained. What were those tubes coming out of Palpatine? Who were all those people in the audience? Were they clones?
ReplyDeleteBut now you've got me thinking that well-crafted visuals can excite the imagination. I remember what you wrote once about the imagery of the original Star Wars
"The turrets in the Millennium Falcon were a source of deep fascination (which we never saw again). Then there's this weird thing, another turrety device, on the Death Star -- we don't see it for more than five seconds, I don't think, but wow did it ever get me speculating. There's your standard-issue Storm Trooper, standing guard -- but what was that black-clad dude? All these little hints that this far, far away galaxy had a vast, layered culture we could only guess at. Evocative, never redundant."
Ha -- yeah, I nearly applauded when Finn hopped into the MF's turret for the first time. I still love those things.
ReplyDeleteI thought the crowd in the chamber were all previous Sith Lords, whose number Palpatine was keen to join -- which, I guess, he eventually did. Just not in the way he directed(?).
Anyway, I still think the talent we were missing most in this trilogy was Ralph McQuarrie. He had a great facility for cooking up compelling visuals. This trilogy had FANTASTIC Imperial wrecks, but beyond that there was little that really grabbed me. Not the way those turrets did, or Luke's original land-speeder.