1714

We enjoyed it immensely. We also recently re-watched all the Star Wars movies (yes including Phantom) on Disney+ (in 4K HDR… man does Rogue One look amazing), so all the characters, backstories, and motivations were fresh in our minds. We were pretty hyped to see this film and get some closure, and I feel we got that.

I think this movie will smash box office records. We had to book our seats months in advance for opening night. We want to see it again at the Dolby Cinema and even the 8am showing is full this weekend.

1715

It will break some milestones, but I don’t think it will surpass The Force Awakens box office.

1716

Saw it today and I loved it.

Now to understand my opinion so you can know if you might feel the same. I believe the original trilogy is the best. I preferred The Force Awakens over The Last Jedi. I liked Solo. I had no problems with the ewoks. And Han shot first.

1717

Anecdotally, I didn’t like The Last Jedi and I liked The Rise of Skywalker. And my son liked The Last Jedi and didn’t like The Rise of Skywalker. It’s not an ironclad rule, but there are strong indications that the two movies have an inverse relationship.

1718

Completely and emphatically agree with all of this.

1719

I am with you on everything you said.

1720

I found this NY Times op-ed to be a really enjoyable read. Agree or disagree with its pessimistic view of post-Disney Star Wars, it’s written by someone who clearly knows his Star Wars a fond and can provide some refreshing perspective.

Before “Star Wars” became a commercial behemoth, most critics found it a charming diversion: The Times called it “the most elaborate, most expensive, most beautiful movie serial ever made.” They were bemused to see such high production values — state-of-the-art special effects, a full orchestral score — lavished on subject matter previously associated with cardboard props. It was, unlike all the tragic masterworks of American cinema of that decade, innocent good fun.

Had innocent fun not become a cynical commodity and conquered the multiplex, George Lucas would still be remembered as a lesser member of the Movie Brats, and his third feature as a curious synthesis of his first two: “THX 1138,” a pessimistic future dystopia, and “American Graffiti,” a nostalgic homage to a bygone era. At the very least, “Star Wars” would be remembered as an interesting, if eccentric, children’s film, a subversive sleeper like 1971’s “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.”

There may come a day, a long time from now, after Disney’s vampirically extended copyrights have expired and all the accumulated cultural detritus has eroded away, when people will have forgotten “Star Wars,” and can finally see it again. Seen anew, much of its imagery is surreally beautiful: the vast plated underside of an armored starship sliding on and on forever overhead; the dreamlike tableau, seen through a scrim of smoke and framed by concentric portals, of a girl shrouded in white furtively genuflecting to a robot; a golden android waving for help in a desert by the skeleton of a dinosaur; a convoy of space fighters opening their split wings in sequence, like poison flowers blossoming.

1721

Oh yay!

Another one of those.

1722

One of the cool things about the original trilogy was the way they were trying to top themselves in the special effects. The balletic virtuosity of the asteroid chase, the earthbound spectacle of the battle for Hoth, and the unprecedented complexity and scale of the space battle in Jedi. You could sense the joy in the craftmanship. You saw behind-the-scenes TV specials with Phil Tippet types waving models around on sticks and got inspired just by that.

The special effects were a big deal, at least from the standpoint of a kid watching Empire and Jedi as they first hit theaters. ‘Special effects’ was the buzzword and Star Wars set the bar.

1723

Yeah, it’s definitely more noteworthy if you need to turn on your brain for a movie.

1724

Love the Lucas deep fakes. :D

1725

Lucasfilm’s “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” is giving the 2019 box office one last enormous jolt. After grossing $90 million from 4,406 screens — including $40 million from Thursday previews — the Skywalker saga finale is now estimated to earn a $195 million domestic opening weekend, which would place it just above the $191 million openings of “Avengers: Age of Ultron” and the “Lion King” remake for the eighth highest domestic opening of all-time.

I know, I know… there were 7 others that did better, so it must clearly be awful.

1726

Coming into this thread a bit late, just watched the flick and found it to be… OK.

I enjoyed The Force Awakens tremendously, it had great potential and opened up tons of possibilities, most of which were squandered in The Last Jedi, in addition to really somehow offending me with Luke’s death. I was down with Han’s death because they earned it, it was necessary.

The Rise of Skywalker didn’t recover from The Last Jedi. Rey’s arc was unsatisfying and both Finn and Poe’s arcs were simply unfinished. Leia was handled clumsily. They were in a tough spot there, but they could have made it work and they didn’t.

The ending of The Last Jedi with the kids’ growing hope, isn’t paid off anywhere. Don’t want to say more to avoid spoilers, but the plot twist was silly, and the overt echoes from Return of the Jedi were blunt instruments. That was OK in The Force Awakens, I fed on the nostalgia, but you can’t play that trick twice. The Last Jedi was a much more disappointing movie following the promise of TFA, but at least it wasn’t a copy of Empire.

This is classic JJ syndrome, he writes himself into a trap and then tries to finagle the story to get himself out of it, but just like Lost and Alias, there’s a lot of fuss and bother, entertaining moment to moment, but no overarching storyline tying it together, just the promise of one, and it never pays off.

Also, did every actor from Lost and Alias get a cameo? Did he miss anybody? Someone in my theater yelled out Charlie! when he appeared.

Anyway, a disappointing flick but it didn’t outright offend like The Last Jedi. And I got a tin Star Wars popcorn container for my shelf.

1727

Of course a film’s opening weekend proves nothing about whether or not it’s awful. Setting aside entirely whether a movie’s box office take is in any way a proxy for its quality, the opening weekend just means a lot of people went to see it, not whether or not they actually liked it. Of course a film like this is going to draw big crowds, most of whom will have made up their minds to see it long before and who won’t be dissuaded from doing so by whatever critical rumblings they might hear in the figurative moments before.

1728

And yet it also has an 86% from viewers on RT which does mean a lot of them liked it. So you can hold on to the critics rating culled from around 300 critics which stands at 58%, ironically meaning the majority of critics liked it. Or you can go with the tens of thousand of viewers who voted, where the vast majority liked it. Either way the narrative that people, overall, think the movie is bad is incorrect, even if you just go by critics. Moral of the story? Internet dogpiling should not make up your mind for you.

1729

I’m not arguing about it one way or the other, merely pointing out that opening weekend take is or should be pretty meaningless to anybody but the suits at Disney. Plenty of shitty movies make money.

1730

Aaaw man, they compared me to Disney suits just to be add an extra dig!

For everyone else who obviously knows I do not work Disney, what it means is just like the last movie… a lot of people are going to see this movie because it’s Star Wars and… TLJ must not have been the horrific nail on the coffin the internet keeps claiming it was because of course it’s not… that’s what the data has been showing all along.

1731

If Rian Johnson had made this film, I probably would have skipped it. Bringing back JJ or hiring someone else is what got me back for Episode IX.

I do think that helped keep people interested in this one.

1732

Bullshit. When you made this comment…

you clearly picked a side. Just sayin’

1733

I didn’t compare you to a suit as Disney, merely said that absolutely nobody but them should care how much money the movie makes.