Star Wars Episode II - A New Thread

[kuribo-04]

My thoughts, copied from my tumblr:

Will obviously watch Star Wars IX, and looks like it’ll be a fun time. Also I love all of those actors.

But I’m afraid that it could aim too much to be a crowd pleaser after Last Jedi tried to be more innovative and got a negative reception.

Things like Kylo repairing his mask after he smashed it in VIII make me think that.

That was basically Rian Johnson moving away from the Vader-like image.

We’ll see later this year!

Seems I was right in predicting a bigger time skip (yay), though I expected more radical changes in costume design.

Also what’s up with that…Palpatine? laugh? Do we really need that guy? I love McDiarmid, but I think the Emperor more than fulfilled his role (which was just to exist to further Vader’s development). Unless they come up with something really clever. It seems very fanservicey right now, but I won’t judge a movie I haven’t watched.

The Carrie Fisher thing is delicate, so I can’t speak about that till I see it in the film. I’m positive though everyone involved cared deeply about getting it right.

[ChaddyManPrime]

It's almost as if they want my attention for this, attention given.

I hope they just explain that force-users can go in between corporeal and incorporeal forms. I don't want clones. Hell, I'll even take ghosts impregnating women with themselves over clones, fuck clone, I hate clones is what I am saying.

[IronEvangelion]

I just saw the new Episode IX trailer. Yeah, I think I'm done with Star Wars. The desert skiff copy-paste was bad enough, but bringing an extremely dead villain back (whose arc already had a definitive ending) really pushed me over the edge. I don't know how he came back, and I don't care, it should not have happened. There's only so much BS I'm willing to tolerate. And aside from those things, the trailer was so uneventful that it failed to interest me in the movie.

I guess I'll join the camp that doesn't consider the sequel trilogy canon.

[Chuckman]

The trailer looks to me like JJ is either deeply offended that the last director broke his toys and insulted Ren’s Idiotic mask, or this movie is just pure ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?

Oh the plus side, Rey and Kylo will probably fuck, so there will be something for me to fangirl over.

BEND HER TO THE WAYS OF DARKNESS KYLO

[kuribo-04]

Ren rebuilding his mask annoys me, though let's see first why that is even something that happens in the film.
I suspect it's really just more Vader fanservice, but we still don't know.

As for the mask itself, I fucking love it.
Kaplan is a genius.
(Seems he missed the mask too:
https://www.slashfilm.com/the-last-jedi-costume-designer/ )

[Gus Hanson]

Oh the plus side, Rey and Kylo will probably fuck, so there will be something for me to fangirl over.

Imagining right now the Robot Chicken Star Wars scene of what happens after Luke and Leia bone...

[DarkBluePhoenix]

https://youtu.be/Fd3raJ4hloc


Teaser trailer for IX.

My reaction to this is best summed up as: You gotta be fucking kidding.

I'm right there with you. I really lost faith in Star Wars after TLJ came out, I didn't like that movie whatsoever, and I didn't really hold out much hope for this one either. The trailer, even though it's a first look, is rather disappointing. I mean, just the fact Palpatine is coming back in some form or another is just another callback to the original trilogy, though this may have something to do with Rian Johnson killing off Snoke, so really whatever this movie is, while I'm sure it'll have plenty of JJ's almost patented fanpandering, is still in part a direct result of shitty decisions of TLJ. And I still bet that there will be nothing about the the Republic even brought up. Sure it's a big galaxy, but this entire trilogy has just been one big slap in the face from beginning to end with respect to the end of RotJ.

The only positive thing to come out of this is that Lando is back... though seeing how well Han and Luke faired... I'm afraid for the man's safety.

And honestly, I would rather the movie let Leia die and open with her funeral. I know they've been talking about using footage not seen before, however, I really think they should let her character rest in peace.

[Sachi]

I expect the Palpatine thing to be a huge misdirection. Yes, he's confirmed to be in the film, but in what capacity? There's evidence that they may be visiting the ruins of the second Death Star (is that a wrecked laser dish in that last shot before Palp's cackle?), and I fully expect some characters to stumble upon either the lingering presence of Palpatine's will, or more preferably, old recordings of a long dead dude who planned way too far ahead. We saw something similar with Operation: Cinder; Palpatine had a contingency plan in the event of his death, and left behind recordings that were orders for remaining Imperials, which eventually culminates in the surviving Imperials going off into the unknown regions of the galaxy to form the First Order. I wouldn't be surprised if we get another "everything is proceeding as I have foreseen" moment, but this time from a recording.

As for the title, it's alright. Neatly parallels the naming scheme of Return of the Jedi and Revenge of the Sith, while also promising to address the Skywalker saga as a whole. I see a lot of people once again jumping to conclusions about Rey's connection to the Skywalkers, but I would like to remind everybody once again that we already have a Skywalker in need of rising, Ben Solo. It's been firmly established that Rey is a nobody, definitely not Luke or Leia's kid, and her character needs to remain that way. Short of her boning Ben and giving birth to the next Skywalker generation, she's not in any way related to them.

I was hoping that Rey would build herself a new lightsaber, but oh well. I'm glad Mark Hamill is returning, and I'm looking forward to seeing him as a force ghost.

[kuribo-04]

though this may have something to do with Rian Johnson killing off Snoke

I personally don't see how killing Snoke makes it necessary to reuse Palpatine.
The idea behind getting rid of Snoke was acknowledging that just like the Emperor, he was only there to further the apprentices development and wasn't much of a character of his own. The twist was Kylo is a lot more unpredictable and aggressive than Vader was.
What else do we need from Snoke?
Kylo could run the First Order now.

[EvangelionFan]

Saw the trailer. The opening shot brought back memories of the initial TFA teaser trailer, as though someone in the editing room (or more likely, in the director's chair) is looking to bookend things. That said, this is a good trailer ... insofar as I am speaking about the orchestral music offering swells of the good ole' days.

The Hamill voice-over is decent. I don't care too much about Rey though, the more so since she still seems to be wearing the same getup from the last two installments. I get that she couldn't get a wardrobe change previously due TFA going straight into TLJ, though this time, I fear there's less of an excuse if there's a greater lapse of time, or just generally given the franchise's previous precedent of giving characters a slight or sometimes dramatic costume change from film to film to infer character growth or internal conflict.

I am definitely glad to see Billy Dee included in after all these years, although I have to admit it's not a surprise - I suspected they would save him for the final installment in this trilogy after seeing TFA in theaters. That said a belated acknowledgement and inclusion is definitely preferable to none.

All that said, something smells off about this. On the one hand, after the awkward half good/half utterly F.U.B.A.R The Last Jedi, and after the in-my-opinion abysmal Solo: Hardly a Han Solo Story, seeing any STAR WARS again from these folks is inspiring a kneejerk reaction, as though something about it is triggering my fight-or-flight instincts. I get that these films are about Rey and Ren and Stimpy these days, except it doesn't look promising if they're returning to old storylines in the debris of the Death Star II, which, if I recall correctly, received a grand incineration in the final act of Return of the Jedi ... only there's a giant chunk of it - the most recognizable chunk, no less - shown grounded and fairly intact after all these years. 'What's old is new again' is feeling like the raison d'être of this rebooted trilogy after all - and that's before offering any commentary about the out-of-f/cking-left-flank inclusion of Sidious.

On the other hand, I did see some shots in the trailer that appeared promising. The shots of Ren going through the forest f\cking people over is probably the strongest indication of incoming thrills, if only due to the fact that I feel, in giving everyone a thorough fizzlesticking, Ren is following through on fan frustration about the fair few failings of TLJ, and, arguably, of this recent stretch of Star Wars installments as a whole. There's also the aforementioned Billy Dee, his laugh and grin are probably the highlights of this trailer against the prospect of a not-good-gloomy and groan-some film. It's good to get confirmation about the late Carrie Fischer's presence in the film - feels a little odd to look at nonetheless. And, lastly, it looks like Tatooine is getting another gig as those definitely look like moisture vaporators in the same scenes as the ... skiffs. It's totally Tatoonine. And are they getting chased by Imperial Speeder Bikes - but modern bikes, because they've got blue exhaust? Is this the new recycling, where we jam two different actions scenes from one old film together for a 'fresh' film? From the same fellow who once spliced one of the finest Star Trek films unto itself for the infamous Into Darkness? Definitely smells off.

Far out I'm writing too much about this. Is there actually anything left? Is this all just retreads? Did the final act of The Last Jedi shred any reality of fresh and resonant story material from the idea of the conflicts of the 'First Order' and the 'Resistance'? Or did it all get scattered into ashes alongside the once decent idea of a New Republic following Return of the Jedi? Or is this all a fever dream? Am I locked away in a straitjacket somewhere, speaking in tongues about films and characters and that aren't real?

As with the rest of you, I'll be seeing this one when it lands.

[silvermoonlight]

My only issue with the new trailer is the scene where Rey jumps over a tie fighter travelling full speed, just because if the movie shows her destroying it that's gonna dive right in to some really problamtic Mary sue territory and yes we know Anakin took down a huge battle ship but he was inside it when it crashed down and I've never seen a Jedi take any ship down with a light sabre. Unless this is a new thing in some of the newer comics/novels if it is please tell me because I've only read a few of the new ones and the 90's/2000's dark horse run.

[kuribo-04]

https://youtu.be/V3zcwemREv8
Well the trailer did its job I guess. lol

I am not a fan it.
My opinions on the rest of the trilogy:
VII-Love it, even though intelectually speaking I disagree with a shit ton of decisions made. It's also partly nostalgia for that hype pre-release time I guess. Liked how Solo was handled.
VIII-A film I would have done differently, yet at the same time speaks to my tastes. Has things I love, things I dislike.
A solid 8/10 though. I might enjoy it less than TFA, but think it did much more for Star Wars, and honestly mainstream cinema in general, yet generally nobody seems to have noticed. Which is a huge shame. Everything involving Luke and Kylo in that film was gold.
The Finn/Rose plot was NOT worthless, I just think Finn has so much more potential than that.

And IX...seems like it's doing the opposite of VIII.
A comparison that people here will get: this movie is like the total opposite of something like Eva 3.0 lol (seemingly).

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

I'm so tired of Star Wars.

Edit: Okay, so, more detailed thoughts. My hope is that Darth Sidious didn't survive the Death Star's destruction. Honestly, in Episode IX, I'm hoping for some awesome Force Ghost action. Palpatine is a Force Ghost and is disrupting the balance of the Force in the afterlife by doing crazy weird Sith shit in the ruins of the one of the old Death Stars. Force Luke Skywalker is currently battling him. It's a crazy awesome fight scene with Force powers being on a scale unseen in any film prior. Basically, we're going to see two Force users becoming "more powerful than you can possibly imagine" in their respective afterlives just like Obi-Wan Kanobi promised us way back in the 1977 film. Rey stumbles across the Force Ghost fight and neither she nor Force Ghost Luke can hold back the unfiltered Sith Ghost abilities being sprayed across the field by Ghost Sidious. Finn shows up at some point, and is also unable to help out much. Ghost Qui Gon shows up with a new Jedi weapon called the Lightcosh. Qui Gon's use of the ghost lightcosh is impressive at first (most impressive), but ultimately Ghost Sidious kills Ghost Qui Gon, sending Ghost Qui Gon in the EverAfterlife for Force users.

More and more Force users start to come in from both the physical world and in the Afterlife world to fight Unlimited-Powered Force Ghost Sidious. Suddenly planets start being moved in from their spots in the galaxy as Sidious Force Ghost takes them out of their orbit to crash in on Rey and her other Physical Force users. The planet crashes into the planet Rey is on, killing everyone that was fighting. Suddenly, Rey and her friends are all Force Ghosts now, and have also "become more powerful than you can possibly imagine." The Most Epic Ghost Force Fight in the History of Star Wars begins as everyone's Ghost Jedi selves Force Ghost dog pile Force Ghost Sidious. They, too, send Ghost Sidious into the EverAfterlife for Force Users.

Everyone celebrates by partying with the Ghost Ewoks that were killed by the Death Star's debris at the end of Return of the Jedi. Ghost Yoda pulls aside Ghost Ewan McGregor Obi-Wan, telling him that EverAfterlife Force Ghost Qui-Gon Jin has found a way to communicate from beyond the EverAfterlife, and offers to teach Force Ghost Ewan McGregor Obi-Wan how to communicate with him. Force Ghost Alec Guinness Obi Wan looks off from a distance at the Ghost Ewok's ghost party.

Iris-wipe to credits.

Directed by Jar Jar Abrams.

After credits stinger: Force Ghost Darth Vader stares down at Force Ghost Anikin Skywalker. They both pull out their Force Ghost Lightsabers.

Cut to black.

Title Card: Darth Vaders will return in Star Wars: Episode X

[Chuckman]

I had to think to put my finger on what bothers me:

The movie implied by this trailer looks like a response to the last one. They brought in an actual director who made a movie that tried to move forward and stop retreading the same ground incessantly. It was also a frankly pretty brutal rejection of Abrams’ “mystery box” screenwriting method that boils down to throwing out a bunch of mysteries without planned resolutions and hoping he can pants his way back out of it.

It was a deeply flawed vision and fans bitched, so they’re correcting hard. Yes, that is a chunk of Death Star in the trailer. Yes, Palpatine will be in it. The title is practically an indignant apology for the last movie.

Expect the derivative pandering in this one to go beyond Kylo Ren’s stupid helmet and the Death Star but really big.

Oh, and, and by the way:

Yes, the Finn/whatsherface plotline was superfluous and terrible. The actors have no chemistry and the characters don’t either, and it’s tied into a bunch of baffling screenwriting choices that are there mainly to justify taking jabs at the previous movies.

If you’re going to make a chase movie, it can’t have sidequests. Imagine if there was a half hour plotline in Fury Road where Max grabs a car and drives off and fights in the Thunderdome to find a guy who can copy Immortan Joe’s keys, and when he gets back, Furiosa is still driving and he’s only been gone half an hour.

The best scene in the movie is dripping with romantic tension, so it’s even more egregious.

TLJ would make a lot more sense if the not-Empire were tracking them constantly and appearing to attack after brief lulls of peace. If you’re going to do a movie where the whole thing is a giant race/chase, all of the plot points and macguffins need to be along the route, which is confining, and the screenwriter if TLJ wasn’t not good enough to pull that off. It works best for very tightly paced movies with well contained main casts, which TLJ is decidedly not.

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

^ Yes. I smelled JJ's Mystery Box nonsense right from the beginning. It was so obvious to me that Rian Johnson basically killing it in Last Jedi was simply justice served to a poorly conceived hack plot thread.

[kuribo-04]

I'm not the biggest fan of the "sidequest plot" either (agree on the chemistry thing). I just think it's not bad.
I like what it added thematically to the film.
Best part was definitely everything on the island or involving the Force users though.

Something else I posted elsewhere:

George Lucas was sort of commenting on the Vietnam War and in general problems with America with the original trilogy, and I think it’s a little unfortunate such a mainstream franchise hasn’t been used (IMO) to comment on current social and political issues. I see a lot of potential there.
After all this is Star WARS and you could easily, just to give an example, tell the story of a refugee in this setting. Think how this could help younger people to be more open minded, in a time where refugees fleeing from war are seen as invaders in many countries. Star Wars has been and can be more than just entertainment. It’s never been the deepest story, but it has still had depth. A female and a black protagonist is awesome for Star Wars and I’m sure has helped at least to some extent in normalizing it even more (this has been done before) but I think so much more could have been done.
Honestly the OG trilogy could have been surpassed too.

[BlueBasilisk]

Rey using her old look is probably a necessary concession to mask the fact that they're using old footage of Fisher from The Force Awakens.

As for the trailer...I don't know. First watch, I liked it right up until the laugh at the end. Kennedy confirmed Palpatine is coming back in some way and that they've been planning for him to reappear in Episode IX all along, they just weren't sure how. Palpatine is a good villain but I feel like his time has passed and his presence is just a symptom of the bigger issue here.

The trailer is RotJ nostalgia bait wrapped around what feels an awful lot like and apology for and a backstep away from TLJ. Kylo welded his helmet back together. Rey fixed Old Blue. I saw a tweet yesterday where JJ said IX will 'honor' the reveal about Rey's parents being nobodies, but that 'there's more to the story' so I have every expectation that it's going to turn into an Obi-Wan Moment and Rey will have a special legacy despite the parents who left her behind being regular nobodies.

I'll give the movie the benefit of the doubt for now but I am sick to death of OT nostalgia and I'm leery of what JJ is selling with this trailer.

[kuribo-04]

I fucking love Kylo's helmet and I still want that thing broken.
Man, this trailer just isn't for me.
It feels so distant from Star Wars.
I don't want to judge a film by its trailer alone though.

Anybody else feel this structure of three films with director switches just wasn't good for the story?
Add to this that Trevorrow was fired and they had to start writing from zero but the release wasn't pushed back because Disney loves money more than JJ loves the Death Star.

[Chuckman]

I predict that in this movie, the rebels will build their own Death Star to defeat the empire but the Empire will whip out a much larger Death Star that’s black, has three turbolasers not one, and has a cloaking device.

[Guy Nacks]

My reaction to the trailer was borderline indifference.

I've never been a hyper SW fanboy, and have only seen the live action theatrical films--never bothered with any expanded universe novels or cartoon series--but always really enjoyed the franchise and have looked forward to each new film in the Skywalker Saga...until after TLJ.

That film had a bunch of interesting ideas, but the hot-mess execution severely stunted my interest in any future entry in that saga.

I thought that the North by Northwest backflip was cheesy and ridiculous. Holy shit, Billy Dee Williams is in his eighties. They're hinting Palpatine because they blew their wad on their previous "arch villain" figure in Snoke already.

Meh, meh, and more meh.

I mean, I'll see it, but I won't be anticipating it on the same level as TFA or TLJ. The Star Wars burnout is real.