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Star Wars: the First Time is always Special


Gaston de Foix

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4 minutes ago, Gaston de Foix said:

The big reveal: Rey Palpatine.  I'll say more about the genetics issue after I finish the movie, but I didn't see this plot twist coming. 

Nobody did. Not even the writers.

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So Leia has passed (it seems) and Ben has been stabbed by his own lightsaber.  The duel was exciting to watch and I'm glad I got to see water world.  But I'll repeat my earlier comment that all the storytelling choices seem to have been made for the sake of audience gasps and plot convenience rather than working towards any deeper meaning.  

Update:  Rey heals Ben.  

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6 hours ago, Gaston de Foix said:

Matt Parkman from Heroes! It's very Hollywood to have these talented actors from top tv shows play bit roles.  

Greg Grunberg is a good friend of JJ Abrams and tends to show up in his projects. Started by being a regular on Alias, and since then has appeared in almost a bunch of things Abrams has made -- he was the pilot eaten by the smoke monster on Lost, he was a small part in MI3, he was the voice for Kirk's stepfather in Star Trek and had a role in the Abrams-produced Star Trek Beyond , and he was actually in The Force Awakens as well as this pilot character, Snap Wexley.

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3 hours ago, Ran said:

Greg Grunberg is a good friend of JJ Abrams and tends to show up in his projects. Started by being a regular on Alias, and since then has appeared in almost a bunch of things Abrams has made -- he was the pilot eaten by the smoke monster on Lost, he was a small part in MI3, he was the voice for Kirk's stepfather in Star Trek and had a role in the Abrams-produced Star Trek Beyond , and he was actually in The Force Awakens as well as this pilot character, Snap Wexley.

He was in Felicity before Alias too! They've been friends since school, apparently.

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11 hours ago, Gaston de Foix said:

Ah.  The use of the present tone now makes sense.  Hux, I'm sorry I called you a knock-off Damian Lewis.  You get promoted to overgrown Ron Weasley instead. 

He actually played Bill Weasley (Ron's older brother) in the films! 

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17 hours ago, felice said:

Presumably JJ intended Snoke to be the Big Bad for the final film, but TLJ killed him off prematurely. One of the problems with TLJ is that it really didn't seem to give any consideration to what would come next.

Most likely, which is such an uninteresting choice. Like what would have been his plan with that? Here is this random wannabe emperor type? Thrawn or Kylo or even the Sith general in the last movie would have been far more inspired choices I feel

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13 hours ago, Gaston de Foix said:

Chewie's alive!  Alright, maybe I overreacted a mite.  Hux is now answering to an "allegiant general" which is weird because I thought he was the number.2.  

Minor anecdote: I was out of weed to see this movie opening night (Getting nicely baked is generally part of my rare theater outings), so I instead had a few drinks before. More than I perhaps needed. When the ship exploded, I blurted out a very loudly audible "OH WHAT THE FUCK!?" and felt mortified as the theater was otherwise very silent and wrapped up in the moment. The guys next to me seemed relatively understanding, and when Chewie popped back up, the guy next to him whispered "It's all good, man, see?" as if I were a 6 year old. At the moment I pretty much was.

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47 minutes ago, Argonath Diver said:

Minor anecdote: I was out of weed to see this movie opening night (Getting nicely baked is generally part of my rare theater outings), so I instead had a few drinks before. More than I perhaps needed. When the ship exploded, I blurted out a very loudly audible "OH WHAT THE FUCK!?" and felt mortified as the theater was otherwise very silent and wrapped up in the moment. The guys next to me seemed relatively understanding, and when Chewie popped back up, the guy next to him whispered "It's all good, man, see?" as if I were a 6 year old. At the moment I pretty much was.

I feel like, for many people, this reaction may encapsulate the entire film.

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1 hour ago, Durckad said:

I feel like, for many people, this reaction may encapsulate the entire film.

Indeed. Although I don't go to the theater often - I own a huge ass projection screen and my living room is basically an obnoxious bachelor movie theater setup. But I love going to big opening nights of genre films. LotR films were so incredible with a giant room of awestruck nerds. Force Awakens was pretty corny, but it was deliriously fun that early-release night. Black Panther was absolutely the most fun I've ever had in a theater, seeing in Manhattan with a wildly passionate crowd. 

Rise of Skywalker's exiting crowd ranged from awkwardly mute to vocally derisive. Those fellows next to me agreed with my sobering-up self that it was a significant disappointment. It was definitely the biggest swing from a very hyped up pre-airing crowd to a dissatisfied exit crowd of any major genre release I've attended.

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I'm done.  So I'm going to say three things (in overall broad agreement with @HelenaExMachina). 

1. Compared to the other sequel movies, JJ didn't stick the landing.  But it was highly enjoyable schlock nonetheless.  Much better than the prequels.  Rey really carried the movies (even before it become obvious she was the central character).  But doesn't hold a candle to the OT.  I'm sure this all sounds like a truism. 

2. Second, I thought the midichlorians and the genetic justification for the Force was the least convincing part of the overall narrative.  it was reasonably convincing in the OT as Anakin being a prodigy and Luke being his gifted son who defeats the Emperor by turning his father.  But to push the story to Ben Solo and then Rey Palpatine was a bridge too far for me in terms of plausibility. There are other forms of meaningful relationships but none of them were given time or developed, excluding only the chemistry between Rey and Ren. 

3.  And this takes to me the third thing I disliked about the sequels which was the resolute focus on identity and identity crises particularly with regards to parentage/genetics.  It forces the entire story through the lens of a particular character, so that it's not about earning your role in the world or dealing with the crisis at hand.  Frodo takes the ring to Mordor because someone has to, not because he's the most important person at the Council of the Wise.  You need to earn your status as a hero not have it thrust upon you as an either/or alternative to villainhood.   

Thanks for coming with me on this journey! Curious about other people's thoughts on the above.  Hopefully we won't get threadlocked :). 

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3 hours ago, Veltigar said:

Most likely, which is such an uninteresting choice. Like what would have been his plan with that? Here is this random wannabe emperor type? Thrawn or Kylo or even the Sith general in the last movie would have been far more inspired choices I feel

Buffy did a good job in the early seasons with introducing a new Big Bad and making it feel like a natural progression. With Glory, for example.  The problem was not introducing a new character but with failing to establish his malevolence, IMHO. 

 

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