Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise Of Skywalker

2019 finale to the Star Wars Skywalker saga.
==Hype==
Teaser trailer (April 2019)
Teaser trailer came out in April during Star Wars Celebration. There had been no information about the film up to that point, even its title, and I was dying to know something about it. I recorded my live reaction and immediate thoughts. In summary: pretty nice teaser with some beautiful shots and intriguing moments. Most of the middle was pretty boring, but the beginning and end were both great.
The first sequence was very cinematic, though very puzzling. Was the fighter trying to kill Rey? If so, why not use lasers? If not, that's a bit risky isn't it!?
The lightsaber and mask both being back is pretty hilarious considering they were both introduced by Abrams in VII and thrown out by Rian in VIII, and now Abrams is coming back for IX... But despite that, nobody online seems to be talking about the saber at ALL, and everyone's just excited to see the mask back for some reason. I myself have no attachment to it. It played its part in Ben's story, and surely it has no place in IX?
I'm not at all interested in Lando returning. Another fat old has-been actor being wheeled out because they once played an iconic character in the series.
The Emperor's laugh though... hooo boy. I was so happy to hear it, but I have no idea how they're going to make that work. I mean if you just told me Abrams was going to bring back the Emperor, I would have been 100% against it, but hearing that cackle... this series does need a competent and evil villain so maybe it'll work.
As for the title, I think it's a really weird title for a Star Wars movie. Way too specific. No other title has mentioned a character by name. And of course the big question is: who does it refer to? Luke? Does he fight Palpatine in a ghost-battle? Ben? Is he going to change his surname? Rey? Matthew agrees with the fan theory that it's the new name for force-users, but I think that's kinda lame. "Skywalkers". Doesn't even refer to the force, unless they unlock some new power.
Anyway, hyped and looking forward to further reveals!
D23 trailer and "Reylo" fandom (August 2019)
As the release approached, Matthew kept sending me links and retweeting stuff from the Reylo fandom, who firmly believe that this trilogy is a love story and based on the "Heroine's Journey", a version of Joseph Campbell's well known Hero's Journey made more resonant for girls/women. I ended up listening to a lot of their podcasts (What the Force and Scavenger's Hoard in particular) and buying into it totally. Suddenly I'm excited that this trilogy, and the saga as a whole, has a deep mythological framework and there is an ending coming that will rock!
The Reylos compare this trilogy to Pride & Prejudice and Beauty and the Beast—both stories I love. They've made predictions that sound very exciting for the final movie, including Rey completing her Heroine's Journey, Rey and Ben coming together, a resurrection, Mustafar possibly being restored, a significant change in the Force (possibly becoming accessible to everyone), and more....
The D23 Disney conference in August featured a small bit of extra footage, including hundreds of Star Destroyers and a shot of dark Rey with a funky folding red lightsaber. Predictions are that the Emperor has an army in the Unknown Regions or something, and that Rey's dark persona is just a vision probably for Ben to show him that he wouldn't want that.
After being unsure about the direction of this trilogy and totally unable to predict whether JJ Abrams has a chance of ending it well, I am now truly excited about the final movie.
Final trailer (October 2019)
I watched the final trailer at school during morning recess, the time it was released in Japan. The night before I'd put together a video of my Star Wars journey , and I was very excited to see the new trailer.
It didn't have any big surprises in it, but it was beautiful and the music was just amazing. By this point I was well into Reylo and enjoying the Twitter community's conversations and podcasts reacting to and analysing everything. I'm way too excited it's ridiculous.
==First watch (19th December 2019)==
Welp.
We got Reylo but somehow JJ managed to fuck it up. It was everything wrong with his style of film-making. Turns out they did NOT have a coherent vision, after all, and leaving the finale (of the whole saga, let alone this trilogy) to JJ was a tragic mistake.
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==Second watch (28th December 2020)==
I thought I would see it like 4 times in the cinema, but I just didn't feel like going back immediately after the first viewing. Once I got back to the UK I ended up going to see it with Mum and Sarah (her first viewing, Mum's third). I'd spent the intervening days seeing the Reylo community react with shock and starting to unpick how it failed to walk the path that had been set out by TLJ, the prequels, the novels and the video games.
So I felt I would just have to let go of my hopes and expectations, and try to appreciate what we got. Like the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, although I think the overall reaction to TROS online indicates that this was really not a great movie.
On second viewing, then, it was marginally better. There are things I liked, and some criticisms are things that don't bother me. However, largely, I think there are just a shocking amount of things that were done poorly here. It's a very JJ Abrams movie, and that's not a good thing.
It's a deep shame, and I don't know what it means about how much the 'story group' and Kathleen Kennedy, who I thought were steering the franchise carefully, really know what they're doing. Still, I'd rather get attempts at awesome than Marvel mediocrity, and I am still interested to see what else comes out. I suppose the reality is that we'll get a mixed bag. The Mandalorian is pretty good, but the Obi Wan series might not be. Who knows?
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Category:2010s films
Category:Science fiction films
Category:Star Wars films
Category:Films watched in 2019
Category:Films with -1 rating