Movies are really hard, you guys. Here I am, writing a very short blog article for a limited audience, and even I can't get all the pieces to fit as snugly as I want. Movies must be that times several hundred million. Thus, I came to The Rise of Skywalker with high hopes and low expectations. And I will want to see it again before I write a more extensive review. But let's do a quick hot take.
Nearly all my thoughts on the movie come down to this: The Rise of Skywalker is a much better Star Wars story than The Last Jedi, but a much worse piece of cinema.
Two overwrought metaphors in comparison
I left The Last Jedi feeling as if its makers didn’t really understand what Star Wars was and only part of why it was lovable. The Last Jedi was made by iconoclasts who believed they were doing the fans a favor by smashing the idols. And maybe they were, but it wasn't an enjoyable process.
The Rise of Skywalker took the broken bits of marble and mosaic, glued them back together, and set them again in the temple. But the cracks are clearly visible.
Looking at it one way, J.J. Abrams took the poorly executed parts of Rian Johnson's attempted philosophy and articulated them better while restoring and respecting what the existing fans held dear. Looking at it another way, Abrams chopped off the difficult parts of Johnson's philosophy and repackaged it for mass market. Abrams kept importance of sacrifice (sort of), humility (sort of), and solidarity (so they characters themselves tell me), but nixed Johnson's tendency to subvert expectations. It was a bit of a U-turn, but one with less G-force than you might expect. I can't say it's what the world needs morally or artistically, but it what I was hoping for as a fanboy. Deep down I know it is candy, not vegetables. But I ate my overboiled Johnson vegetables, and it's time for some Abrams dessert.
So that's the good news, what's the bad?
"Fixing" The Last Jedi is the best that can be said for Rise of Skywalker.
Editing
The Rise of Skywalker's editing sucks, plain and simple. The Last Jedi (whose lingering shots unnecessarily extended the movie by 45 minutes) at least let us live in the Star Wars universe. The Rise of Skywalker cuts when it should linger, racing from scene to scene in a jumble of plot explication (that actually accomplishes little explication, even considering my own tremendous ability to headcanon plot-holes). I suspect this is largely due to an attempt to incorporate Carrie Fisher (God Rest her soul) from beyond the grave. Do I want less Carrie Fisher? No. Did the writers and editors do the best they could? Probably. I still would like what General Leia says to have some relevance to what the other characters are saying and doing.
Dialogue
There are some Attack of the Clones-level clunkers here. Lando and Maz Kanata's given lines are each particularly terrible. C-3PO, ironically, is given the best jokes in the whole movie, and the four main human characters roll a nat 20 on their charisma checks as usual. But oh, the over-explanation. Perhaps to overcompensate for the poor editing, an audience member's brain is given bare seconds to interpret the plot before it is explained twice by a character. (One major character arc is a blessed exception. This, for some reason, is confusing reviewers as if it is some yet-to-be revealed mystery, but the clues are all there for anyone with eyes and ears).
Plot
I didn't think this was as bad as most of the reviews are saying. Yes, some points were not sufficiently foreshadowed in previous movies. Yes, there were too many MacGuffins. Yes, a surface reading undermines previous and present sacrifices; (I want to see it again before I come down firmly on this). However, I can suspend disbelief on all these for my space-wizard fantasy. The only really annoying thing about the plot was how telegraphed it was. Nearly every plot point was obvious anywhere from 30 seconds to 15 minutes before it happened.
Visuals and Combat
My initial take is too much computer animation in general. One of the major lightsaber duels felt--it pains me to say this--boring. And the space battles return to the confusing style of the prequels, rather than the clear and exciting battles of Return of the Jedi or Rogue One. Still, it was nice as a fanboy to see everything from Rebel dreadnoughts to B-wings to Y-wings back in action.
So that's my hot take. Don't forget to subscribe, and comment below on how much you agree or disagree.
#starwars #risingsrapidreviews #theriseofskywalker
1 comment:
Ouch. I've never heard you speak so harshly about a movie, but I find that refreshing. I would rather get too much honesty than not enough. LIKE!
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