Theatrical Review: Star Wars Episode IX- The Rise of Skywalker

Date: Sunday December 29 2019
Time: 10:35am*
Party: 3 (my mom, sister and I)

Director: J.J. Abrams
Composer: John Williams

Cast:
Rey- Daisy Ridley
Rylo Ren/Ben Solo- Adam Driver
Poe Dameron- Oscar Isaac
Finn- John Boyeda
General Leia- Carrie Fischer (RIP 2016)
General Hux- Domnhall Gleeson
General Pryde- Richard E. Grant
Lando Calarissan- Billy Dee Williams
Emperor Palpatine- Ian McDiarmid

Duration: 142 minutes (+10 trailers)

Opening Remarks

Going to be doing things a little bit differently... because I'm probably going to spend many paragraphs fuming about how many commercials and trailers we had to sit through... I decided to move the movie discussion to the front of the post and the other stuff to the back.
It'll all be there for anyone who cares to hear some strong opinions.
Why include it at all? This blog is about being a "movie-goer"... that includes the entire experience.

But here's the Star Wars part of the post...

The Star Wars Part of the Post

I'm not going to give anything major away, other than what was in the cast list..
It's kinda unfortunate, really... they spent all this time and effort bringing down the Emperor Sith in "Return of the Jedi"... Darth Vader gave his life to defeat him and save Luke from obliteration. And it was for nothing... unless you want to get into the psychological conversation about how they felt fulfilled for doing what they thought was right...
It also makes for an interesting final battle involving this guy. But what I find strange... there's talk about ending the Jedi so the Sith can prevail... aren't they all Jedi anyway? They all can manipulate The Force and use lightsabers. Am I missing something? 

But this battle is just one of many moments where it was great culmination of everything in the series. Well, everything except for maybe the prequel trilogy... it seems like the powers that be want to pretend they didn't exist. 
This movie is easily the best of this last trilogy... it's just too bad it's the final installment. When they finally get everything right and all the pieces are together.

Of course, I'm sure there are people that will complain... there always are... that there weren't enough casualties on the good side or how much of this movie was fan service to the fanboys (and fangirls) of this franchise. 
So what? Many of us hardcore Star Wars fans will be very happy with this movie and how everything went down.

Anyone curious about how Carrie Fischer was used in the movie, considering much of it was filmed after she'd passed away (she and her mother, Debbie Reynolds, were the final casualties of the horrific year that was 2016-- I'm speaking about celebrity deaths specifically)... they had enough footage of her where she was given the tribute she deserved. 

One part I really liked about this movie was how much of the new core trio was together. One thing that really annoys me about ensemble casts in movie and TV is where they are constantly split apart and worrying about each other and having to find a way to reunite while trying to complete their main objective. 
Rey, Poe and Finn spent a lot of time together and if they were split apart, it was temporary. More often than not, it was Rey who separated from the others, but she had her reasons. I was waiting for her to do what Luke did in "Return of the Jedi"- he left the camp of rebels because he thought his presence was putting everyone in danger. 

There were some light moments scattered throughout with bits of humor. Unlike the previous film, they didn't feel too forced. The exchange between Poe and General Hux in the previous movie... yeah, it was kinda lame and cheesy and not quite in line with the humor the series typically has. Some jokes, they tried a little too hard, but others were well played. 
C3PO has some comical moments that didn't lean on the Abbott/Costello routine he and R2D2 typically have. There's one part where the trio needs him to translate something in a Sith language and he says something in his programming forbids it. I don't know what it was, but his dialogue sounded a lot like something Sheldon from "Big Bang Theory" would say. The similarity between them was SCARY. 
What's funny is that he got compared to C3PO once by Leonard and Sheldon shakes his head and says "...I'm flattered, but I just don't see it." 

The amount of screentime Oscar Isaac had between this and the previous movie... more than made up for the fact he was M.I.A. for much of "The Force Awakens"... we also get to find out more of his past and how that comes about is a nice touch. In their travels, Finn also meets fellow former Storm Troopers and they contribute to the Resistance in the final battle. Particularly the lead female of the group. 
There's a lot of great strong female characters in this movie. I'm glad they brought back Rose, who was a scene-stealer in the previous movie. But it feels like her role in the Resistance got vastly reduced. I'm just saying they could have given her more to do.

Probably the one thing I can't go into is what happens with Kylo Ren's character because that's a huge part of the movie. His connection with Rey only intensifies... how they use it may be a bit of a stretch for some people... but it gets used in a lot of creative ways, accomplishing things that couldn't have been otherwise.

The writing from start to finish was really good and there wasn't a moment where things were too slow moving or boring. Some of it, I found myself predicting... some of it was "I don't think this person is actually dead." But others were just inklings that a certain situation would play out a certain way. Maybe that makes the movie a little too predictable, but it kinda helps to be a Star Wars fan and to pay attention. 
The events of the film are kicked off by getting intel from a spy in the First Order. I had my suspicions of who it would be... it's kinda hilarious when their identity is revealed and how that's handled. 

Grade: A+
(I really can't take too much away from this movie. It's practically perfect... if you're a Star Wars fan who likes everything tied up in a nice bow) 

Theater Commentary

Now for some bits about the movies... we decided not to Fandango it because the movie had been out for at least a week. Maybe we should have. We were close to the front of the screen, row C in fact... so we had our heads kinked back to try to get the whole picture. There were a couple of warnings abound about there being strobe lighting that could cause seizures from this movie... there was nothing that intense. Possibly the lightning that comes from the Emperor's lair, but I can't think of much else.

There was barely anyone in the theater, but come 10 minutes to "movie time"-- it was nearly filled. Pretty impressive. There was one hilarious moment where the movie was finally starting and a guy nearby was like "oh, holy sh**", as if completely surprised the movie was finally starting. He had a good point.

Ok... so let me break it down...

the movie time we signed in for was 10:35... the trailers didn't start until 10:41... the movie itself didn't start until 11:07...
I mean, WHAT THE HELL? Granted, a movie like this was worth the wait... but considering that it takes half an hour to get to the theater, we sit through 100's of commercials in the meantime and most movies run over 2 hours... you use up an entire day just for a trip to the movies. It's ridiculous and it isn't necessary. 

Also- 10 trailers?! That's insane. Were any of the movies good? ...yeah, there were some that I'll definitely need to see. 
But that's not the point... 

Coming Attractions

Free Guy
Geesh... Ryan Reynolds has been freaking everywhere since he became Deadpool. I mean, we just saw him yesterday doing the voiceover for Pikachu in "Detective Pikachu" (yeah, I've got some thoughts for that too- just as a Pokémon fan going on 20 years).
I don't know if this movie is supposed to be Grand Theft Auto or an ode to video games... it starts with everyone doing what they're supposed to be doing, but then he decides to play hero and he enters another world. Not sure where it's going to lead, though

Dolittle
Yeah, this will be my first movie of next year. Anything to shake off the funk leftover from Endgame... I have not seen anything with RDJ since that movie... but it looks interesting. I'm just glad it's not going to be a remake of the Rex Harrision musical. They're taking the idea of a person who talks to animals to new heights. 
I gotta say that they're doing a bang-up job on Twitter promoting this. There was a 2 minute promo where they were auditioning the animals portraying iconic movie scenes with RDJ (without the British accent) giving feedback. It's hilarous! 

Tenet
The star of this movie is John David Washington, Denzel's son. I'd gotten to know him as Ricky Jared from "Ballers"... maybe it's that Denzel swag, but no matter how rotten his character could be at points, I could never bring myself to write him off.  All this time later, I can't remember much about this trailer, but supposedly he gets ushered into another realm called "The Afterlife" and it's an action movie. It's also directed by Christopher Nolan, so it might have some similarites to Inception.

Top Gun: Maverick
During "Noovie," they had a brief moment where they were talking about the new air-based technology they were going to use for the pilot sequences in this movie. So it makes sense that it was going to be part of this brigade of trailers. And it lookes IMPRESSIVE. I mean, it'll probably conjure up a lot of nostalgia for the fans of the original (and yeah I'm one of them), but it should be interesting to see how Maverick does as a Top Gun instructor. The fact Miles Teller will be part of it as Goose's son, that's going to make things very interesting. Unfortunately, the trailer doesn't give us a lot to go on as far what happens in the story.

Wonder Woman 84
Wonder Woman is back... and she's going to be kicking butt in the 80's... that and the fact her love interest, Steve, is mysteriously back from the dead... I don't have much more to go on. But cuz I love anything 80's, I'm game for anything!

Barb And Star Go To Vista Del Mar
I honestly don't know what the hell this is supposed to be... it's a teaser trailer that's oddly self-depracating. There's one line where they joke about sitting through 45 minutes of movie trailers and how they sometimes do that and leave right after... makes me wonder how many people are tempted to do that... 
But I feel like these are characters we should be aware of, but I'd never heard of them before. It could be completely hilarious, but I don't have a lot to go on. 

1917
I guess they're really pushing this movie. Cuz it's R-rated and they're showing a trailer for it in a theater that might include children. Granted, there's nothing R-rated in the trailer or anything over the top. But it's kinda nuts how much they're pushing this movie. On the other hand, people are saying it's supposed to be one of the best WWI movies ever made and how there aren't many about The Great War... WWII steals its thunder about as much as Vietnam does from Korea

Black Widow
FINALLY this movie is happening... and it looks like it's gonna be AMAZING. Natasha is going back to face her past and we get to meet her family. I just hope we got more flashbacks like we did during Age of Ultron to go more into her backstory because I don't know a lot. Her sister seems like she's as much a bad-ass as she is... but I just hope she doesn't wind up being her enemy the way they did with "The Girl In the Spider's Web"... I still feel ripped off that Lisbeth was nothing like "Black Widow" cuz I thought that's what I was signing up for. (That's the first and last time I'm ever watching a Dragon Tattoo movie. That and I can't stand it when a character has to constantly fight back in constraining situations)

Onward
I went into this Pixar movie before... I have no interest in seeing it, so I won't go any futher. 

Mulan
Dang, this looks impressive... at the same time, I have problems... Shun Yu has a female assassin assisting him? Mulan has a younger sister? This movie is already about female empowerment, they don't need to overdo it. I mean, wasn't China back in those days about the 1 child policy? It also looks like Shun Yu's cohort shapeshifts into his falcon- if so, that wouldn't be so bad.
But it looks like Mulan isn't going to be a klutz and there's no sign of Mushu... the movie has some light comedic moments amid the drama... are they just taking that out completely? 
I'm still going to go see it cuz I gotta, but still... It's one thing to try to be more historically accurate, but it's another to shove an agenda down our throats because that's what is "in" right now.  

...speaking of that, they did have a moment in Star Wars where there was a kiss between two females after the end of the final battle that got edited out in some foreign countries... first of all, shame of them for still being in the Dark Ages about these things. And second, to me, it wasn't too over the top. It was just one small part of the whole picture.