Current Events > I just finished TLJ and ROS. What's the general consensus of these two(Spoilers)

(+) Yeah! (+)

and the trilogy as a whole?

I don't want to dive into super specifics in the opening post but I'll kind of give my high level thoughts:

-TFA - The intro scenes with Fin and Po are some of my favorite scenes of the whole trilogy. I think it was safe film that introduced the characters well, but left a lot to be desired since it was basically a copy paste of 4. 7/10

-TLJ - I never realized how divisive this was until I looked it up after I watched them. Personally, I had plenty of faults with this movie, but I was a big fan of the direction and aesthetics of the movie. I get people were upset about Luke doing a 180 on his character, "nothing happens," against traditional star wars meta, etc. but I was such a fan of the "The Jedi are dead, let's make our own destiny" kind of message. I think had this been episode 7 and Disney went, "this is new star wars, love it or hate it" it would have been received better in the end. 8/10

-ROS - absolute trash movie. basically garbage that I wanted to stop multiple times. After 8 setup what could have been a different and grand finale, ROS went, "loljk it's actually always been about Sith and Jedi and everything in 8 didn't matter" and I was so disappointed. So much meme shit with no plot cohesiveness. 5/10

What are everyone's thoughts?


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I mostly enjoyed the new trilogy. which I know is blasphemous to most people. the only movie I had some problems with was Episode 8. but I still mostly liked the movie. I wish they would do more. I am worried they will listen to the hate and just end Star Wars. but this is the perfect time now to explore the rest of galactic history outside the Skywalker story. I really wish they would do movies about the founding of the Republic, founding of the Jedi and founding the Sith. I also have an idea for a trilogy about a slave made into a sith, and then escaping the Sith Empire and becoming a Jedi.

Both shit for contrasting reasons

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TFA - I was left with little more than token excitement about what would happen next. I got the "normal" Star Wars I wanted and it was certainly competently made and full of fanservice, but since just about everything was a setup and blowing up a Death Star, I couldn't really get too excited. My biggest takeaway was "this is better than the prequels", but I still had a little apprehension.

TLJ - This movie turned that apprehension around for me. Turned just about everything "normal" Star Wars on its head and boy was I excited for what was going to be next, moreso than TFA. Finally Star Wars was going to meaningfully change and be something different than just the usual. Then, of course, everyone told me I was wrong for liking it, so yeah.

ROS - I won't lie. I left the movie in a generally good mood. All the fanservice just kind of built up a very warm feeling in me. It was only days later once I was really thinking about the movie that the underlying "that change you were hoping for? Didn't happen" sunk in. It was safe, still pretty, and still competently made as a film, but the focus on spectacle and escalation hollowed the experience, and I still haven't watched it a second time, even though I own the Blu-ray.

And I don't blame Abrams or Johnson for this. Almost entire responsibility lies on the Lucasfilim executives for not prioritizing an overall story plan going in. It was all about "make the movie as fast as you can while people are still thinking about Star Wars, we'll let the individual writers piece it together".

At the end of the day, I'm still a huge Star Wars fan, and I probably always will be. If the Prequel Trilogy didn't wreck that, the Sequel Trilogy won't either. I'm looking forward to High Republic because even though it's "prequel even further back" stuff, at least all the writers are in the room together establishing the setting as a team rather than just throwing whatever at the wall to see what sticks as they go.

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I just thought they were all pretty okay but forgettable

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TLJ's attempt at humor was so jarring. A lot of the jokes felt out of place/character, like Luke comically throwing his father's saber off a cliff, that bizarre "milking" shot, Hux being turned into a clown, "Ben Swolo", etc

ROS was an absolute clusterfuck right from the start. The plot moves at lightspeed and tries to cram a million things into what really should have been at least 2 separate movies. Also the whole "I am all the Jedi/Sith" part at the end is honestly the most baffling moment in the whole saga. What the everlasting fuck.

Zikten posted...

yeah I hope they do keep it going. i was pretty off put by star wars for awhile due to all of the negative feedback, but i cant help but love it and hope they keep it going somehow, especially with other areas like back in time or the mandalorian, etc.

CyricZ posted...

I pretty much agree with your thoughts and the post ROS thoughts too. I just couldnt get into ROS. the story was all over the place, finale was underwhelming and just made no sense...like why is palpatine back and why does he have 100 star destroyers that came out of nowhere? I audibly said wtf multiple times throughout. I was just so disappointed that they threw 8 out the window but yeah, i will always love star wars and hope they keep going - as a team.

Sictis posted...

TLJ's attempt at humor was so jarring. A lot of the jokes felt out of place/character, like Luke comically throwing his father's saber off a cliff, that bizarre "milking" shot, Hux being turned into a clown, "Ben Swolo", etc

ROS was an absolute clusterfuck right from the start. The plot moves at lightspeed and tries to cram a million things into what really should have been at least 2 separate movies. Also the whole "I am all the Jedi/Sith" part at the end is honestly the most baffling moment in the whole saga. What the everlasting fuck.

agree with both of these. the humor in TLJ was really out of left field, but i wasnt too upset by it but it was jarring for sure. ROS was a mess all around. We set up a whole movie to say the Jedi/Sith dont matter just to bring it all back.

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Maybe it's because I went into TRoS expecting the massive trainwreck that we got, but I...kind of enjoyed it? I think that rests solely on the actors doing the best with what they were given, or at least just saying 'eh, fuck it, let's have a little fun with this.' I wouldn't go so far as to call it deliberate, self-aware camp, but a for instance would be the whole 'I'm the spy!' reveal by Hux and Poe and Finn going 'WHAT?!' 'Oh man, I totally knew it!' and otherwise not taking the scene remotely seriously, which made me have one of those 'bro' moments with a character where they're reacting to a situation the same way you're feeling about watching it. Little moments like that made what was otherwise a disaster of a movie at least somewhat entertaining; on the other hand, it does make me wistful for the trilogy we could have had if these actors had been given decent material.

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9 > 8 > 7

7 was a follow-up too similar and bland for the OT/PT. 8 and 9 at least built upon the previous films.

TFA was alright and the last two were so bad I wanted to walk out of the theater. This has basically never happened to me.

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TLJ: nothing happens
RoS: too much happens

the latter is the lesser of two evils.

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crap movies with bad plot and horrible characters. they'd have been fine if the directors didn't decide to mary sue the hero and shit on all the old characters.

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The two worst Star Wars movies ever made.

Sictis posted...

What. 9 backtracked on almost everything that 8 did (or tried to do lul)

I felt the same way about 7 in relation to 1-6. Ruined my hype for the remaining sequels, but I stuck with it. By episode 9 I had renewed my investment in the ST.

Loved 7. It's up there with A New Hope and Rogue One as my favorite SW movies.

I hated TLJ, but I don't understand a lot of people's complaints, specifically about Rey and Luke. Young Luke an Rey are identical characters, as is Old Luke and Old Yoda. If you hate Rey and Old Luke on Ahch-To, then surely you also hate Young Luke and Yoda on Dagobah.
My biggest complaint was that fucking awful scene with Leia flying through space. Truly one of the worst things I've ever seen.

I really really enjoyed RoS. Again, don't understand people's complaints about Palpatine. They explain absolutely everything about his return in the movie. Is it dumb? Yes. Snoke never should have been the villain in the first place though.

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Star Wars fans hate Star Wars, so its pretty negatively viewed by them

Normal people find them to be decent movies though

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I think the Sequel Trilogy are entertaining to watch by themselves, but have little story cohesion between them. As you said ROS feels entirely disconnected from TLJ it's astonishing. I do feel that, despite some oddball scenes and writing, the direction TLJ went would've been interesting, but because of fan backlash they trashed that idea.

Meanwhile, I feel the opposite for the prequel trilogy. They may have a cohesive story amongst all three movies, and offered tons of material for extended universe projects, but the movies themselves are a slog, extremely boring.
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TFA: Interesting start to what could've been great...but this movie was still a bit of a stinker. 6/10
TLJ: Hands down one of the worst movies I've ever seen. Did just about everyone wrong. All of the Prequels are better than this garbage movie. 2/10
ROS: Better directionally than TLJ but still a trash film. I actually enjoyed several moments in this one however so... 3.5/10

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