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KalJ95 (25 KP) rated Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019) in Movies
May 5, 2020
Asks more questions than it answers. (3 more)
Fails to recover from the damages of The Last Jedi.
No sense to the narrative.
Some acting is appalling.
Goodbye, Star Wars.
Almost six months from its release, I finally sat down and treated myself to Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker. Ever since Disney took over the Star Wars brand, I've been sceptical of their intentions with the property, and so far I've been massively disappointed. I enjoyed the Mandalorian, and still believe Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is easily as good as the original trilogy. Controversial, I know. But the newest trilogy has dropped my interest in Star Wars altogether, as they've so far been bogged down by awful writing, humongous plot holes, and the butchering of beloved characters to make way for wooden new ones. The Force Awakens was a step in the right direction, but the nostalgia factor was what drew me in. Eight years on, it hasn't aged well at all. The Last Jedi became my Stopping point in the Galaxy far, far away. Yes it has flair and popped visually, but the story was an insult to all the fans who had cherished Star Wars back in the days of the Original trilogy. After countless rewrites, multiple directors, and suspicions of actors within feeling disheartened with the over arc of their characters (looking at you, John Boyega), The Rise of Skywalker is finally here to cap of Disney's first trilogy.
What a disaster.
The Rise of Skywalker is an incoherent, messy and boring experience to chug through. Time and time again throughout the two and a half hours, I face palmed in absolute cringe and embarrassment at what Disney have done to this once celebrated franchise. The film feels rushed, on edge to get to the next destination for the newest plot point, without explaining or finishing the previous one, pointing even more towards those rewritten scripts. The film feels like multiple entries, crammed into one sprawling narrative that can't be resolved in the time given, this is especially the case with characters like Poe and Finn, who's arcs have been destroyed to make way for Rey, and that is the biggest issue. Rey has been written as the central moving force of this trilogy, but she never undergoes any development. Sure, she learns a few things about herself in this film, and challenges the idea of who she is for a brief moment, but she’s been made the perfect Jedi without trying. Its poor and lazy writing, and fans have began to feel an agenda is presenting itself. Whilst the women feel strong, wise, intelligent, the men are all morons, blundering their way through the story and often bickering with each other. Its an observation as a critic and fan, and its made me loath almost every character introduced since The Force Awakens. It became clear how little I cared about anything that was happening when a moment of embrace for the three main heroes once the final act ended. It should feel emotional, impactful, but it feels hollow, even forced. Much like most of the decision making of the film itself.
This brings me neatly onto the content of the film, if you can make any sense of it. If this is supposed to end the Skywalker saga once and for all, why add ridiculous plot threads and more pointless characters,that add no weight or purpose to the narrative? The ending is cut so quickly after the anti-climatic ending, that we don’t even have an idea of any characters finishing point. This is just one example of how badly things have spiralled into a mish mash of ideas from different writers and directors. If The Last Jedi was the franchise jumping into a well, this film is trying it's best to climb out. The two previous entries at least connected, but this feels a stand alone chapter, with no context or reason for what happens, and what does happen makes you scratch your head all the more.
I feel sorry for the hardcore fanbase, it genuinely feels like a slap in the face to history George Lucas has created. Once you lose the interest of your core audience, I feel its time to cut your losses. And yet again, another franchise has seen its demise. It feels like a symptomatic failure that the entertainment industry still don’t understand. You can buy any brand you want, but you can’t buy the fans love. Whatever direction Star Wars goes into next, I will not be tuning in.
What a disaster.
The Rise of Skywalker is an incoherent, messy and boring experience to chug through. Time and time again throughout the two and a half hours, I face palmed in absolute cringe and embarrassment at what Disney have done to this once celebrated franchise. The film feels rushed, on edge to get to the next destination for the newest plot point, without explaining or finishing the previous one, pointing even more towards those rewritten scripts. The film feels like multiple entries, crammed into one sprawling narrative that can't be resolved in the time given, this is especially the case with characters like Poe and Finn, who's arcs have been destroyed to make way for Rey, and that is the biggest issue. Rey has been written as the central moving force of this trilogy, but she never undergoes any development. Sure, she learns a few things about herself in this film, and challenges the idea of who she is for a brief moment, but she’s been made the perfect Jedi without trying. Its poor and lazy writing, and fans have began to feel an agenda is presenting itself. Whilst the women feel strong, wise, intelligent, the men are all morons, blundering their way through the story and often bickering with each other. Its an observation as a critic and fan, and its made me loath almost every character introduced since The Force Awakens. It became clear how little I cared about anything that was happening when a moment of embrace for the three main heroes once the final act ended. It should feel emotional, impactful, but it feels hollow, even forced. Much like most of the decision making of the film itself.
This brings me neatly onto the content of the film, if you can make any sense of it. If this is supposed to end the Skywalker saga once and for all, why add ridiculous plot threads and more pointless characters,that add no weight or purpose to the narrative? The ending is cut so quickly after the anti-climatic ending, that we don’t even have an idea of any characters finishing point. This is just one example of how badly things have spiralled into a mish mash of ideas from different writers and directors. If The Last Jedi was the franchise jumping into a well, this film is trying it's best to climb out. The two previous entries at least connected, but this feels a stand alone chapter, with no context or reason for what happens, and what does happen makes you scratch your head all the more.
I feel sorry for the hardcore fanbase, it genuinely feels like a slap in the face to history George Lucas has created. Once you lose the interest of your core audience, I feel its time to cut your losses. And yet again, another franchise has seen its demise. It feels like a symptomatic failure that the entertainment industry still don’t understand. You can buy any brand you want, but you can’t buy the fans love. Whatever direction Star Wars goes into next, I will not be tuning in.
Andy K (10821 KP) rated Star Wars: The Force Unleashed in Video Games
Dec 16, 2017
Not long enough (1 more)
Some of the bosses were hard
If you are a Star Wars fan, The Force Unleashed series might be the closest you ever come to being able to use The Force yourself.
My favorite part of this game was the eventual buildup of Force powers and being able to use them at will.
Choking stormtroopers, throwing them across the room or over a cliff, or chucking your lightsaber at their face was about as much fun as you can have in a video game. Also, being able to throw out Force lightning at a group of troopers all at once is amazing.
I loved just about everything in this game!
My favorite part of this game was the eventual buildup of Force powers and being able to use them at will.
Choking stormtroopers, throwing them across the room or over a cliff, or chucking your lightsaber at their face was about as much fun as you can have in a video game. Also, being able to throw out Force lightning at a group of troopers all at once is amazing.
I loved just about everything in this game!
Dork_knight74 (881 KP) rated Mortal Engines (2018) in Movies
Feb 20, 2019
Surprising
I was pleasantly surprised by this one. The acting was good with interesting characters. The cinematography, imagery, effects were all very well done. The story unfolded ok but had a lot of very predictable parts. This was a "Steam Punk" future world with a lot of cool stuff in it but had just a bit of a "Star Wars-esque" feel to it. Not in a bad way, though. But the story, simplified, was that someone opened Pandora's box and the heroes had to shut it down. Anyway, if you enjoy a good sci-fi/action/adventure tale with just a smidge of love story thrown in, you'll really enjoy this movie. Worth a watch!
Erika (17788 KP) rated Star Wars: Queen's Shadow in Books
Apr 9, 2019
What a disappointment. I'm so bummed out that the first novel in the new canon about Padme was so boring.
Firstly, they should have given Padme to Claudia Gray, who has proven she gets the Star Wars Universe; her characterization of Leia has been amazing. Secondly, this would have worked as a political novel, had it been written for adults, rather than for the Young Adult crowd. I didn't have a problem with Johnston's Ahsoka novel, because it was Ahsoka. This is Padme for Christ's sake. I'm just so fricken disappointed because I've been waiting for more about Padme for 20 flipping years. I'm so glad I borrowed this from the library.
Firstly, they should have given Padme to Claudia Gray, who has proven she gets the Star Wars Universe; her characterization of Leia has been amazing. Secondly, this would have worked as a political novel, had it been written for adults, rather than for the Young Adult crowd. I didn't have a problem with Johnston's Ahsoka novel, because it was Ahsoka. This is Padme for Christ's sake. I'm just so fricken disappointed because I've been waiting for more about Padme for 20 flipping years. I'm so glad I borrowed this from the library.
The Craggus (360 KP) rated Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) in Movies
Apr 17, 2019
I get hooked on a multitude of feelings by Guardians Of The Galaxy (2014) #Review
Do you remember when summer SciFi blockbusters were unashamedly fun? Do you remember how you felt watching “Return Of The Jedi”? Before you got all old and cynical and ironic. Before your “Star Wars” heart was hardened by special edition vandalism and successive soulless prequels? Before the angry words and bitter sentiment of a million revisionist websites convinced you the Ewoks were irredeemably lame and that “Jedi” was when the rot started? Do you? Well, that’s what’s waiting for you on the other end of the tickets to Marvel’s “Guardians Of The Galaxy” that you’re going to buy...
FULL REVIEW: http://bit.ly/CraggusGuardiansOfTheGalaxy
FULL REVIEW: http://bit.ly/CraggusGuardiansOfTheGalaxy
David McK (3425 KP) rated Star Wars, Vol. 6: Out Among the Stars in Books
Jan 30, 2019
Collecting Marvel's Star Wars issues #33 through 37, this is more-or-less a compilation of one-shot stories rather than ant on-going story threads: as such, some of these are better than others.
The same can be said of the art-work.
With stories running the gamut from Luke and Leia trapped on a water(y)-planet, to R2-D2 rescuing C-3PO from the Empire and even from the Point of View of members of the Empire's SCAR squadron, there is plenty of variety here: none, however, (to my eyes) match the impact of the earlier issues (maybe because they were fresher back then?), or even of the cross-over event 'Vader Down'
The same can be said of the art-work.
With stories running the gamut from Luke and Leia trapped on a water(y)-planet, to R2-D2 rescuing C-3PO from the Empire and even from the Point of View of members of the Empire's SCAR squadron, there is plenty of variety here: none, however, (to my eyes) match the impact of the earlier issues (maybe because they were fresher back then?), or even of the cross-over event 'Vader Down'
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