This was an interesting movie… My opinion is very muddled and I haven’t decided whether or not I liked it. They did a lot of bad things, but there were a few really good parts, too.
[spoiler]I’ve had two ideas that I believe could have helped me enjoy this movie a lot more.
One was C-3PO. He kind of just died, but not really, and then came back with no consequence. He didn’t sit well with me at all. I think if R2-D2 had taken C-3PO’s memory and mentioned that he made “improvements,” we could have seen a really fun bowcaster C-3PO that would have been both hilarious and neat to see. I felt humor in this movie was lacking, and probably laughed once or twice.
Another would be to include the Force Ghosts of the Jedi. I mean, imagine how cool it would be if we saw Qui-Gon and Anakin and Aayla and all these Jedi standing behind her as she states “And I am all the Jedi” (a direct copy of Endgame, but whatever). I know, not all of them were Force Ghosts, but this movie kind of broke the rules of the Force several times, so I’d be willing to sacrifice a bit more.[/spoiler]
I’m going to be 100% honest here. It’s very hard for me to say this, especially with the kind of reactions I’ve been getting…
…
…
I preferred The Last Jedi.
I’m sorry, I’m sorry, but I no joke do. TLJ had little expectations for it. It was a sequel to The Force Awakens, which is my least favorite of the trilogy, and takes the place of Empire Strikes Back, the widely accepted best film, and Attack of the Clones, widely accepted as the worst. Whether it was good or bad, no one could really be disappointed by it outside of the trailers which I still think were masterfully done.
The thing is, my opinion of TLJ is primarily positive. My least favorite part was, as I’ve said time and time again, Ackbar’s death. If that’s the worst part of the movie for me, clearly I enjoyed it. It tried something new without betraying the franchise. It was out there, it was weird, and lots of people didn’t like that, but at least it succeeded, if not as a Star Wars film, than as a standalone movie.
RoS is just a complete mess of a film. The more I dwell on it, the more scenes I get angry at. It promised far too much, and we got too little out of it. [spoiler]No less than four times did we believe a character was dead, got sad over it so that the film could milk on the emotions, and then immediately felt betrayed after this character was brought back in a second with little consequence. Well, except for one case.
And don’t get me started on Bliss, the Knights of Ren, Lando, BB-8, so many characters I was looking forward to seeing and then feeling cheated out of something really cool. Did I expect them to be good? The Sequels have a way of killing everything off before they can get good, so not really. But I’m still dissapointed.
Really, that’s probably the biggest problem I have with the Sequels as a whole. I feel like as soon as a character has served their purpose to the plot, they are immediately slaughtered. I can go on and on with them, from Tekka to Snoke to Ackbar to Holdo to Luke to Leia (whose Force Awakens lines didn’t feel right to me) to Boolio to Hux to Knights of Ren to Phasma (twice) and on and on. The characters don’t really feel like they belong to this world, because they’re removed so quickly. They feel more like plot devices than actual characters, and that’s a crime in any story. I’m not saying I want a full arc to each one, I’m saying I want something, anything, from Boolio besides a message from some spy and a head on the table. There are plenty of characters like that in Star Wars, but with characters seemingly essential to the plot and then ripped out immediately…[/spoiler]
I should probably just leave it there. I could write essays over my problems with the movie, but they won’t come out as anything besides nitpicks. There’s just something about this film that doesn’t sit well with my stomach, and it makes me sad that this is how the saga ends. I can only hope that Disney will spend time making more Rogue One’s and Solo’s and Mandalorian’s instead of driving the franchise off a cliff.
I know I sound like I hate this movie, but I really don’t. I’d pick it over Harry Potter any day, and I still think they did very well with certain parts. Most of my issues are personal, and are difficult for me to explain. Oh, well, at least the Mandalorian finale was exceptionally spectacular. Star Wars has not been this alive to me than since Rogue One was released, so I’m happy.
Overall, I liked the Sequel Trilogy, just not very much compared to the rest of Star Wars. What can I say, Prequels are just my jam.