Star Wars Episode IX

[IndigoPrime]

I liked TLJ, but especially the attempt to eradicate bloodline. I suppose we're going to find out in the next film that Rey is in fact a Skywalker or something equally awful.

[blackmocco]

*again, of course, R2D2 saves the day.

To misquote Hudson from Aliens: "Why don't you put R2 in charge?" I'd watch THAT movie.

[sheridan]

I liked TLJ, but especially the attempt to eradicate bloodline. I suppose we're going to find out in the next film that Rey is in fact a Skywalker or something equally awful.

Yeah - I think I've said before (maybe some time ago on this thread) - the whole 'chosen one' is a very tired trope, especially when it just reinforces ideas of 'that person is born to rule'.  The best thing about The Last Jedi was that Rey wasn't anybody special (other than being force-sensitive, but you know what I mean).

[JOE SOAP]

To misquote Hudson from Aliens: "Why don't you put R2 in charge?" I'd watch THAT movie.

Secure that shit!

[IndigoPrime]

On Rey, that is also to my mind a better message for kids. Anyone can be special. You don't have to be an heir to a throne.

[radiator]

I have no problem with Rey being a 'nobody', I just think story-wise it's very anticlimactic. Like, it's only frustrating to people because the subject of her identity has been so egregiously built up and teased, so it feels like a bit of a rug pull (accusations of 'subverting expectations' blah blah blah). It would probably have been better to resolve it during The Force Awakens rather than stretch it out over two whole movies. Again - solid idea, but I didn't really like the execution of it.

I'm kind of interested to rewatch the movie to see if the Finn and Poe plotlines are as bad as I remember them being, as those are the bits that I thought really bogged the movie down, while the Luke/Rey stuff was mostly solid.

[IndigoPrime]

I think it's great. "Hey, kids: you can be special too – you don't have to be a king or a princess." And this is ESPECIALLY true for girls, who have that shit rammed home from when they're toddlers. Half the bloody stories hurled their way are: aspire to be something you can never be. I am going to be so fucking annoyed if she's a Skywalker or similar – and I suspect that's inevitably where they're heading.

[TordelBack]

I am going to be so fucking annoyed if she's a Skywalker or similar – and I suspect that's inevitably where they're heading.

Trying desperately not to get involved in this discussion but yeah, that ^^^^. I've seen nothing in the RoS publicity that gives me any hope that this film won't just be rolling back as much of the good stuff from TLJ as possible, in between endless nostalgia milking and pretty splosions (I like the pretty splosions). Johnson is an auteur compared to Abrams, who already successfully played his one note and should have left it at that.

[JOE SOAP]

If corporate and fan politics were completely expunged from Star Wars, I'd have looked forward to an Episode IX  synthesis of ideas and threads presented by Johnson & Abrams – t'would make the most sense – instead it's whatever/just make it look and sound good.

[sheridan]

If corporate and fan politics were completely expunged from Star Wars, I'd have looked forward to an Episode IX  synthesis of ideas and threads presented by Johnson & Abrams – t'would make the most sense – instead it's whatever/just make it look and sound good.

Unfortunately I have the same apprehensions.  However, one thing I can be sure of is that it will look great - and if I generally only go to the cinema these days for films that look impressive on the big screen.  Smaller, character-driven films I'm happy to watch at home.

[sheridan]

If corporate and fan politics were completely expunged from Star Wars, I'd have looked forward to an Episode IX  synthesis of ideas and threads presented by Johnson & Abrams – t'would make the most sense – instead it's whatever/just make it look and sound good.

Unfortunately I have the same apprehensions.  However, one thing I can be sure of is that it will look great - and if I generally only go to the cinema these days for films that look impressive on the big screen.  Smaller, character-driven films I'm happy to watch at home.

Kind of missed half of what I was meant to be saying there.  ...look impressive on the big screen and am pleasantly surprised if there is more depth to it than that.  I also only expect adaptations of things I'm already familiar with to be quite shallow - so I enjoyed Tank Girl when I saw it, (the visual side of) the 1995 film*, the 2000 Gormenghast series**, both adaptations of His Dark Materials and I could probably name a few more.  Not to say they couldn't have been better, but I can live with what we got.



* except for the gold codpiece.
** how many times does the book say how slate grey the whole castle is, except for Prunesquallor's house - how colourful was the castle that made it on to the screen?

[Tiplodocus]

Rewatched THE FORCE AWAKENS tonight in preparation and we all really enjoyed it. I do believe I enjoy it more on every viewing.

[radiator]

Force Awakens for me had that classic Abrams thing where I really enjoyed it at the time, then it just kind of evaporated from my mind. I've seen it again since, and I still think it's fairly solid up until the bit where they get to the bar place, and then it just starts to feel a bit wobbly.

I do like the Kylo/Han scene, and I like the Rey/Kylo fight, but everything else in the back half of the movie feels a bit superfluous. The Starkiller stuff just feels totally flat and devoid of stakes or tension to me. Even the characters in the movie don't even seem to be taking it especially seriously.

[Tiplodocus]

What struck is this time particularly was Rey's introduction. It starts as silent, any subsequent dialogue is mostly functional and establishes the situation she is in, and she has a fabulous theme. And then you see several times how people underestimate her, and how capable she is.

And I did not know that Barry voiced BB8!

[blackmocco]

What struck is this time particularly was Rey's introduction. It starts as silent, any subsequent dialogue is mostly functional and establishes the situation she is in, and she has a fabulous theme. And then you see several times how people underestimate her, and how capable she is.

It's true. And yet there is nothing at any point to let us know she's capable of piloting a spacecraft (let alone performing death-defying feats of flying in a TIE fighter dogfight). We see she's a capable scavenger and badass but nothing else. For me personally, it's the first bad storytelling plonker (many more are to follow) that ultimately drags the movie down. I don't need everything spoon-fed to me in a movie but in this case, I feel like TFA needed to throw me a bone. Even Luke let us know in a piece of throwaway dialogue he was capable of flying a crummy little T-16 at this point. Little details that stories hang on that Abrams either isn't capable of or doesn't care about supplying. He's so worried about whipping us from one set piece to another that he gives no thought as to how we should actually get there. It worked at the end of Jaws because Spielberg had put so much effort into getting us there. Abrams isn't capable of that depth.