The Rise of Skywalker's Broken Structure

[@DerekGnarGnar]

What's weird is that the parts that I thought JJ nailed in The Force Awakens were the slow character building moments, like Rey's introduction on Jakku. Watching her slide down sand dunes, make bread, and clean parts are some of my favorite moments and reminded me of the magic of Star Wars. TROS was missing anything resembling those moments.

[@EmeralBookwise]

This, so much this. I can still remember watching TFA for the first time, and those opening moments with Rey were just such a masterful example of how to not just introduce a character, but to basically tell us everything we need to understand her as a character moving forward for the rest of the movie, and it does it all with little to no dialogue. It was like meeting Luke in ANH all over again, and really highlighted all the more so how poorly Anakin's introduction in TPM was bungled.

[@randomhuman18]

Not just Rey, but the chemistry between Finn and Poe as well. Rey's introduction and the beginning of an unusual friendship with an action sequence was total brilliance. I just can't imagine why the sequel trilogy wen downwards after that.

[@raw5889]

Derek Nielsen 🤮🤮🤮 he did that on accident there was no purpose to it.

[@arghonandi6818]

It's not completely his fault tho. He was asked to take 2 movies with completely different ideas and wrap them up in one movie. For me it's one of the worst movies I have ever watched tho

[@sadviolinproductions391]

Argho Nandi what completely different ideas? TLJ worked perfectly well as a sequel to TFA if it wasn’t for all the fan theories that basicly ruined these movies.

[@CopingMechanisms1]

“The one thing JJ doesn’t do is tell a story...”. BOOM! Beautifully articulated, man. Keep up the good work!

[@GameCat16]

Nope. The movie wouldn't move so fast if that were the case. It had TOO MUCH story. A bunch of backstory, a bit of worldbuilding, and a lot of plot that had to be explained. It was essentially two movies in one. Rian Johnson was the one who wouldn't tell a story for 2 1/2 hours, wasting all of our time and creating this mess.

[@christopherrodriguez3646]

Wyatt I find that JJ didn’t tell a story but more so just gave us a lot of information that narratively does not feel flow together but rather just takes up screen time. If you decided to remove whatever amount of time the fetch quests took up, all you would have for the movie is the emperor is back and we have to get to him while he sits there and also kylo turned good yay

[@haplo781]

@@GameCat16 It had a ton of PLOT, but very little story.

[@GameCat16]

@@haplo781 1.) If you're just gonna mindlessly quote Just Write, how about you either a.) acknowledge that you ripped that from him, or b.) ask him to come argue here instead? 2.) Plot IS story. It's the series of events. I fail to understand the logic that says that a bunch of people standing around and talking without doing anything is somehow a story, but a lot of plot with little character is somehow not. It's extremely hypocritical.

[@GameCat16]

@@christopherrodriguez3646 The fetch quests led to Finn learning about the other stormtroopers (that we would've had more time to explore if RJ had done in the previous movie) and Poe revealing is background. Additionally, we had Rey reflecting on her origins in a way that never happened in TLJ as well as Kylo interacting with his own guilt concerning Han. So, no, it had far more story than TLJ.

[@tmartin95]

This hits the nail on the head. Rise of Skywalker feels more like a really long trailer than an actual movie.

[@kerynl.sanchez9891]

T. Martin that is true!

[@jcb3393]

Probably because he had to make up for the failure that was TLJ, so jamming two movies into one was could only be done by cutting scene and character development and making it essentially a "Cliff's Notes" version of two (or more) movies.

[@radioactive9861]

T. Martin, you summed up the video in one sentence.

[@ForceMaximus84]

jcb3393 Even if TLJ was bad, they could’ve fleshed the story out a lot better by reducing the ridiculous amount of MacGuffins they crammed into the story and allowing a few things that Johnson introduced pay off.

[@joeswanson6782]

T. Martin "This hits the nail on the head. Rise of Skywalker feels more like a really long trailer than an actual movie." In an even longer trailer PARK.

[@matthewconnor5483]

By using ships to "transport" the audience into the next scene, George Lucas created a natural pause in the story. It acts as a space, kind of like the line between paragraphs for the audience to mentally close out one scene and to step into the next. Many movies are now the visual equivalent of a run on sentence, or a story that's written as a single paragraph. There is a lack of pauses, a lack of silence to punctuate what has just happened and to give the audience a moment to reflect on what they have just seen before moving on to the next scene.

[@darthsmythe6783]

Matthew Connor hell, "Push" utilized the non Action scene pauses in between action scenes to give the audience a mental breath so they didn't fatigue from over stimulus.

[@Acujeremy]

"Many movies are now the visual equivalent of a run on sentence" I like this!

[@Acujeremy]

@@spencerdavis2004 What are you going crazy about?

[@SnatchBandegrip]

Matthew Connor absolutely goddamn right and I'm glad someone else has noticed.

[@Acujeremy]

Yeah Matthew this is a brilliant comment and you should be a film critic. Excellent analogy!

[@Balthazar2242]

I don't think it's complicated. They didn't plan them out, and in the end decided they needed their "Star Wars Endgame" movie, so they had to cram it all in. To much, too late. That's all.

[@teamrabbitalec]

Star wars doesn't need "ENTIRE UNIVERSE IS GOING TO BE DESTROYED" to be impactfull. The latest movie seems more like what happens when your remove all the non action scenes a shounen anime and somehow the mc obtained godlike powers too fast

[@jasonblalock4429]

Yeah, A)the original trilogy wasn't planned out either, but B)from what has leaked about production, JJA, Johnson, and Trevorrow were all working together and communicating. They didn't plan out every last detail, but there was genuine collaboration between the three. The real mistake was Disney deciding to throw TLJ out the window, along with Trevorrow's follow-up story, and hastily rewrite the entire third movie. That sort of massive rushed change to the third act will almost never result in a satisfying ending.

[@Balthazar2242]

@@jasonblalock4429 I suspect a huge reason for the rewrite was Carrie's unfortunate death.

[@Balthazar2242]

@Snehil Shrey I think the Emporer's appearance would have been great if it had been truly foreshadowed in previous movies. A lot of the plot of TRoS felt rushed when it could have been paced out over the three films. But as it happened, now we have 3 distinct films that each seem to attempt to relate to each other, but don't feel cohesive. To me, TFA and TLJ felt very good, but endings are important and TRoS didn't feel like it really _followed_ TLJ in general. Only the Rey/Kylo connection felt seamless and great to me.

[@jasonblalock4429]

@@Balthazar2242 OK, come on now... Carrie Fisher's death had nothing to do with all those TLJ retcons - particularly not if the leaked Trevorrow script is real, and it probably is. Fisher dying didn't force them to make Rey a Palpatine. Even in the case of Kelly Marie Tran getting screwed over, which they have tried to blame on the death, they had no excuse not to come up with *something else* for her to do. Hell, why was that tech played by Merry even in the movie? He contributed nothing. Merely giving her his lines would have at least been a bit of an improvement.

[@Storyograph]

Amazing. Every word of what you just said was right.

[@glopping1984]

Storyograph Agreed

[@gladman9634]

I feel like they where kinda left

[@mrpix3l_colorist]

Good callback to TLJ XD The most underrated movie ever.

[@spencerdavis2004]

and every word you said was crap

[@perrybryan]

Helí Suárez Yup. I had to warm up to it but now it’s a solid favourite of the 3. And I do enjoy them all. So what do these bitchy ‘hardcore’ Star Wars fans want? They don’t want fan service or ‘safe’ material, but they don’t want to have their expectations ‘subverted’ either.

[@Ngamotu83]

The addition of Palpatine definitely has to be one of the biggest flaws with The Rise of Skywalker, because it makes it feel like less of a sequel to both The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. In both TFA and TLJ the main conflict is between Rey and Kylo Ren, who are the primary protagonist and antagonist, respectively. But then Episode 9 basically dumps that conflict, and inexplicably introduces Palpatine as the main antagonist (who has never been that in any movie). That results in the primary conflict of the movie being between Palpatine and Rey, which is not set up at all, or even hinted at, in the previous two movies. As a result it feels disconnected from the rest of the trilogy. If Episode 9 had revolved around the conflict between Rey and Kylo Ren, with his defeat being the climax of the film, then that would have made it a better movie and a proper conclusion to the Sequel Trilogy.

[@jasonblalock4429]

OMG, I just noticed a detail via this video that I hadn't spotted before. Rey's hairstyle in Ep 7 and the first half of 8 is the same one she had as a kid. It's one more visual indicator in TFA that she had never really grown up. However, by the end of TLJ, she's - literally - let her hair down, changing her look to show she was changing as a person. (After all, choosing one's own 'style' is pretty universally considered a sign of growing up.) But then TROS gave her the childish hairstyle again - like her previous growth had never happened. And, come to think of it, that contrasts badly with how they handled Ren. I genuinely loved the "kintsugi" look of his rebuilt helmet - a downright perfect visual metaphor for his shattered psyche, and his attempt to rebuild himself. And I think the kintsugi style is SO distinct that it simply had to have been deliberate. They put real thought into making an instantly-readable symbolic depiction of Kylo Ren's character growth. But not Rey. She gets reset-buttoned, presumably because HER character growth was too inconvenient to Disney's grand plan. :-/

[@tomhur1]

Actually, I think Rey's hairstyle in Rise of Skywalker was due to technical limitations. They needed to have Rey's hairstyle match the one used with the Carrie Fisher deleted scenes they reused. It's the same reason she's back to using Anakin's lightsaber in this film....it was the one used in the deleted scenes. The fact that reusing footage of Carrie Fisher just ended up backtracking on interesting developments makes me wonder if it was even worth doing, to begin with sadly.

[@fakename2956]

Tom Hur really? It would’ve made much more since for her to use Luke’s green lightsaber since they destroyed it and we never see Luke’s (except in flashbacks)

[@jasonblalock4429]

@@tomhur1 Come on, they could easily CGI Rey's hair if they had really needed to. And Fisher's death has NOTHING to do with what lightsaber she was using, seriously. The blade is CG to start with. Changing the barely visible hilt in a couple scenes would be nothing. I'm genuinely getting tired of people using Carrie Fisher's death as an excuse generator to handwave problems with TROS.

[@351cleavland]

I beleive you pointed out an intentional marker of growth for her character. However, as a middle aged person who has done a lot of personal growth as well as having written since I was 12, I find it disturbing that a hairstyle would be a marker of growth. And I get that physically a person will change as they age as well as the role they play will affect their appearance to SOME degree. People in mainstream society see external dress and style as a marker of "maturity" but thats just not relevant to true growth by any valid measure. That perspective of style as maturity is the opposite of what it means to "become." Its become a standard in media culture and reflects how movie continue to descend into shallowness.

[@o...o4144]

Exactly!

[@OSW]

JJ: I skipped the world-building ship landing establishing shots to tighten the pace Also JJ: Here are 36 action scenes Enjoyed the vid mate! Thoughful analysis.

[@TheMrPeteChannel]

I executed and ordered u a 66th like.

[@TheMrPeteChannel]

I Executed and ordered u a 66th like.

[@purefoldnz3070]

Better that than Rian Johnson's 36 woke scenes that go nowhere.

[@farseerflore9512]

Shut up and make more wrestling vids XD

[@YuzuMelodious]

...that if you only focus on the destination... you might just miss the journey. *Don't Miss The Journey* Words to live by.

[@andrewsattler2785]

“‘And so, does the destination matter? Or is it the path we take? I declare that no accomplishment has substance nearly as great as the road used to achieve it. We are not creatures of destinations. It is the journey that shapes us. Our callused feet, our backs strong from carrying the weight of our travels, our eyes open with the fresh delight of experiences lived. .. For the substance of our existence is not in the achievement, but in the method."

[@YuzuMelodious]

@@andrewsattler2785 ^^THIS

[@spencerdavis2004]

This movie was about being part 9 journey of 1-9 destination. Your missing the big freakin picture.

[@YuzuMelodious]

@@spencerdavis2004 Listen to this at 10:51 I was merely bringing up how this video's creator felt how to him, Rise of Skywalker wasn't a finale but a lesson.

[@songbanana8]

Someone has read Brandon Sanderson...

[@rorylennon4043]

The more I think about this film the more sad I get

[@masterlee1988]

Yep, same here man, it's a shame really.

[@_JayRamsey_]

The more I think about this *trilogy* the more sad I get. Last chance to use the original cast, and they didn't plan anything out. Ended up looking like a directorial MMA fight.

[@rorylennon4043]

Thing is, if you're going to kill off original cast, you need to make us fall in love with the new characters. Finn got wasted after episode 7 and Rey wasn't a very exciting character. And we barely got to see Poe interact with Rey or Finn until the 3rd movie. I remember how excited i was after Force Awakens and now the third film has put a sour taste in my mouth.

[@sadviolinproductions391]

Feel just the same! All the suddenly I just wish that they had never made any sequells. It all ended so perfectly in Return of the Jedi 😓

[@akl2k7]

@@_JayRamsey_ Not to mention they blatantly undid just about everything the original cast achieved. Because of this, it made their journey in the original trilogy pointless. They shouldn't have killed off the Jedi or the new Republic. There was absolutely no point of doing so. Say what you will about a lot of the crap that happened in Legends, but at least Luke succeeded at rebuilding the Jedi and the New Republic wasn't completely destroyed, instead changing into the Galactic Alliance before becoming a part of the Galactic Alliance Triumvirate a century later. Also, the Skywalker line lived on in Ben and Jaina and their decedents instead of the name being taken up by a Palpatine.

[@elchsohn7943]

So basically, Rian Johnson realized Rey's biggest character flaw was that she was living too much in the past, therefore confronted her with a story where she has to deal with this fact; J.J. Abrams on the other hand never considered this a flaw.

[@Gemnist98]

Probably because it’s HIS biggest flaw.

[@Roper122]

Rian Johnson put no thought or care into the how anything would fit into the rest of the saga. He made a fair sci-fi movie, but an absolutely terrible Star Wars movie.

[@sadviolinproductions391]

MongTheWise! Star Wars is not Sci-Fi, it is fantasy. And giving Luke an arc is not fundamentally flawed.

[@blackeyedlily]

And Rey was forced to find meaning from within herself by the end of TLJ. Which I felt was a good thing. TROS redoes this by making her meaning Palpatine and making much of her story too reliant on the OT character’s stories, at the sacrifice of the ST character’s stories.

[@sadviolinproductions391]

blackeyedlily So well said!

[@ducx23]

it felt like a computer game. and not an open world one. Go somewhere, kill 10 bad guys do a mini boss, need to run to the next uber important place. including some quick time events.

[@quan196]

exactly the same feeling here

[@Merione]

This was a good analysis. I honestly liked the movie for its visuals and fast pace, but if there's one thing I can't forgive JJ for is not having the courage to embrace TLJ. It doesn't matter how the fanbase reacted to Ep. 8, if they hated or loved it, but it still happened. You can't just ignore it or at times even poke fun at it ("The Holdo Manouvre? There's only one in a million chance!" or "Yes, your parents where nobodies, BUT your grand-father was Palpatine"). It's this stubborness to erase the middle chapter that I just can't understand nor justify. JJ should have embraced the situation Rian Johnson left him to work with and found a creative solution. This instead was just... Lazy.

[@dragonmasterlance123]

You can trash Last Jedi for not building on what Force Awakens was supposedly setting up, but at least it doesn't straight up retcon plotlines. No amount of "I never lied to you, your parents were nobody" can change the fact that what Ren actually said was that her parents were junk traders, who sold her for drinking money, and are buried in an unmarked grave in the desert, followed by "you're nothing, you come from nothing".

[@jasonblalock4429]

@@dragonmasterlance123 Right. And if the Trevorrow script leaks are true (and they probably are), he had a MUCH more elegant solution for giving Ren and Rey a connection via her parents. The half-truth he told wasn't hiding her actual heritage -- something he had zero reason to do -- but rather hiding that HE had killed her parents. Which would have also been a nice reversed callback to the lie Obi-Wan tells Luke. The real shame is, I think that if Disney had gone with Trevorrow's script, it would have significantly improved people's opinion of TLJ in retrospect, by showing how Johnson's setups really did lead to interesting payoffs.

[@elliemoon88]

@@jasonblalock4429 That's a great twist! Though I personally like Jenny Nicholson's theory a tad more that Rey HERSELF accidentally killed her parents as a kid with her Force powers - when they were leaving on the ship after selling her, she tried to pull them back with the Force, but their ship crash-landed and killed them. This would not only explain why Rey's memory is so patchy and selective (she's in denial of the terrible truth that she killed them), but it also could explain why she's a Mary Sue who's so adept at using the Force - she had those powers right from the start as a kid, but she suppressed them out of guilt. It also would've been a nice revelation as it could've further helped Kylo Ren relate to Rey since they share that guilt of killing their own parent.

[@elliemoon88]

@Snehil Shrey if you say so genius.

[@tomhur1]

Part of me feels like in some cases they were restricted by Carrie Fisher's death(It's a long and complicated theory I have but to make a long story short I think the Emperor's return is a side effect of Carrie Fisher's death) but yeah this film should have followed through on the stuff Last Jedi did.

[@OwenLikesComics]

Fantastic video! The similarities in poor pacing between TROS and BVS isn't something I'd realised, but it's so true.

[@Gemnist98]

I wouldn’t call it poor PACING. It’s more poor editing. TROS does have poor pacing, but it’s the exact opposite of BvS. While both omit key information, BvS is frustratingly slow, while TROS is frustratingly fast.

[@Gemnist98]

BTW, love your channel!

[@OwenLikesComics]

@@Gemnist98 that's fair, BVS manages to feel overly-complicated but somehow dragged out for hours, while TROS just blitz through a whole trilogy's worth of stories in 2 hours. They're both paced and edited differently, but the end result is still unfortunately a mess. And thank you so much, I really appreciate that!

[@franciscorendon2783]

They both have a "my dead dad walks up to me and inspires me to make the right choice" moment as well.

[@Gemnist98]

@@franciscorendon2783 To be fair, Kevin Costner didn't really provoke Superman to make the right choice; Lois had to nearly die for that to happen.

[@TheJoeJoe323]

I just still can’t get over how bad this movie is.

[@mattjones7226]

When people ask what I thought, I just tell them: I've never simultaneously enjoyed the experience while feeling absolutely nothing inside. What does it say when your favorite character from the whole trilogy has about five minutes of screen time in the final movie?

[@somegeekguy]

From someone who liked TFA & loved TLJ I agree 100% this movie is atrociously bad.

[@OdintheGermanShepherd]

I thought Rise of Skywalker was badass, but I’m more into the cool visuals than the plot or story!! However, the emperor has been my favorite character, so I was really excited to see him back, even though sudden supergirl rey killed him way too easy.

[@bryanneideffer3969]

And how horrific the last one was

[@davidkippy101]

It's not bad

[@rays7437]

I never understood why so many people thought Abrams was any good. All his TV shows started out very promising but then the stories just got stupid or non existent. Just collections of trailer scenes as our host said. I haven't seen this last "Star Wars" movie. I probably never will.

[@rays7437]

@Snehil Shrey Many people did, many people didn't. I found it tolerable.

[@rays7437]

@Snehil Shrey Nobody liked it. Everybody hated it.

[@rays7437]

@Snehil Shrey I did it in response to your statement. You changed my "many" to "some." I think it's clear by now that MANY people did not like TFA. It's also clear that many people did. My comment is just as "relevant" as yours.

[@rays7437]

@Snehil Shrey How did I contradict myself? I contradicted you. What do you care, anyway? Is JJ Abrams your uncle or something? Do you have money invested in Disney? Why so defensive? And how many is "many" anyway? MANY people did not like the movie. What do you care?

[@Muudy1]

Snehil Shrey blind nostalgia that’s why

[@Xhenix]

To be honest, looking back, it's easy to forget that they even went to Ren's destroyer to save Chewie. I also found it bizarre that it completely missed out Chewie's actual arrest. We saw the Knights of Ren looking at Chewie and the next thing you know, he's in shackles getting loaded onto the prison ship. It felt like there was a whole scene missing where the Knights of Ren actually jumped Chewie. It would've made a great scene, too, giving the KOR more screen-time in the process.

[@NicholasMonks]

Yup. Storytelling (and exciting, action packed storytelling, at that) left completely on the cutting room floor in favor of pushing the plot forward at a breakneck pace. Only it wasn't left on the cutting room floor. It wasn't even included in the script.

[@Noone-of-your-Business]

How can anyone even _hope_ to achieve a meaningful structure that spans an entire trilogy when rushing into the whole affair _without _*_any_*_ overarching plan??_ This was an accident *_waiting_* to happen from the moment they hired the "mystery box" guy for the first instalment. Yep, that guy who *never* finished a story arc in _ANY_ meaningful way whatsoever. Is anyone really surprised here??

[@smurfette_blues7922]

I know it was going to be challenging for anyone at the helm of it. I definitely knew it was going to suck, because i know jj is a bad scriptwriter. But i do believe if it was instead given to a legitimately talented director, it would at least be as good as tlj. Flawed but substantially brilliant.

[@liberpolo5540]

It's like if Disney wanted it to fail on purpose. I mean, WHY the fuck did they hire the same director with bad rap, and the screenwriter of the the wildly known disastrous Batman vs Superman????? I don't get these people.

[@Vistico93]

Really. It is such a waste of literary potential. They were GUARANTEED a trilogy. All three could've been at least outlined ahead of time so these films could've been littered with foreshadowing, character development, etc. but nope.

[@KM-dk5gn]

Their overconfidence was their weakness that lead to their defeat...

[@NaomiTCOOKIES]

I was fine with JJ's work with TFA even if people complained it was a carbon copy of ANH. I thought it was fine as a charge back into the Skywalker story... but as soon as I heard JJ was returning to do IX, I knew we were screwed. And when I heard Chris Terrior, co-writer for BvS and Justice League, was co-writing with JJ, I knew the trilogy's fate was doomed for sure.

[@nickmirfakhraee]

This video had more and better planning, pacing and clarification than TROS

[@dragonskunkstudio7582]

When I seen the 10 000 destroyers... No! I will not see this. Why? This is a trope of our times, CG it can give us unlimited therefore we must have it. Unlimited ships, unlimited soldiers, unlimited monsters, endless deserts and endless seas.

[@Thicc_Cheese_Dip]

@AgentFlea does that include unlimited rice puddling?

[@rogerwilco2]

Yes. It made no sense.

[@danieldrummond3016]

The shot of ONE massive star destroyer at the start of ANH was ten times more powerful than the 10,000 in this film. More = a lot less.

[@IsaacV24]

It’s really telling when people that enjoyed the TFA & TLJ don’t like this film.

[@FilmsStuff]

... yeah. TBF, I've always had mixed thoughts on TFA, but was ultimately won over by the Characters and visual storytelling. TLJ is the only one I thoroughly loved.

[@cognitivedissonance8406]

The entire trilogy is garbage when taken as a whole. VII and VIII have entertaining moments when taken individually, but together they are less than the sum of their parts. There’s no fixing that problem with one film, and IX is exactly the clusterfuck I’d expect to emerge from such a scenario.

[@TravisHouze]

@@cognitivedissonance8406 I wouldn't call the sequel trilogy bad, just very very disjointed. They work individually better than together

[@cognitivedissonance8406]

Travis Houze Then they don’t function as a trilogy. To me, that is the definition of bad, since a trilogy is what they were attempting to be and what they were advertised as.

[@youtubeaccount3829]

When even the plebs turn agaisnt their masters. I love democracy.

[@fernandoaznar8054]

Almost everything in this movie is boring, devoid of logic or been done already.

[@bounty8438]

I blame a lot of this on Disney and the BVS writer.

[@avatareternal3204]

All hallmarks of a J.J. Abrams film.

[@bryanneideffer3969]

That's why I personally hated TFA

[@MinuteLeech2]

The "been done already" gets to me. If I wanted to see a movie on how the Rebels defeated the Empire, redeemed the evil Skywalker who dies, and how Palpatine explodes, I'd watch Return of the Jedi. Why does this movie exist?

[@avatareternal3204]

@@MinuteLeech2 In a word: money.

[@wtwta.17452]

this was fantastic, you’re one of the few people who don’t just complain about a bad film but look deep into it and find why and give the film a really deep thought

[@bervync]

Ah.. so that's why it's the Heroes Journey, and not the Heroes Destination.

[@FlackNCoke]

“The greatest teacher, failure is.” - Yoda, in one of the Star Wars movies, I forget which.

[@zzzobo]

The last Jedi

[@andimason3370]

@wespozo Don't you see the irony in what you are doing there? If you have to diminish something so that it's fits within your preconceived narrative then the likelihood is your narrative is flawed. I'm not saying you have to like the Last Jedi, just that forcing yourself to ignore the good bits so that you can continue to hate it unimpeded is just dumb. It is possible to find positives in things you don't like and negatives in things you enjoy. Sticking to rigid binaries over these things is a very childish approach to take.

[@ATATChat]

The edit with ROSE. Brilliant. But damn, you said everything my brains been trying to articulate.

[@BrownStudios]

This comment was from a while ago, but it’s always nice to see a familiar face! Love your content!

[@smjaiteh]

“I don’t know what Star Wars Trilogy IV will be fought with, but Star Wars V will be fought with Star Destroyers and Thrawn.” _- Albert Einstein, 2019_

[@MegaPikachu5]

I look forward for the 5th trilogy then

[@ricojes]

Damn time travallers be making stops again.

[@darthtroller]

😂😂😂

[@kadenthehuman]

How did I literally never notice that we didn’t see a single ship landing in this movie!? Actually we saw Luke’s X-Wing land on Ajan Kloss

[@spencerdavis2004]

not enough stupid backgrounds

[@HelloLillyTV]

The new female characters in TROS feel like they only exist to be in the poster and have the media outlets talk about how exciting it is that we have more women in Star Wars! I’m a woman. I want more female characters in star wars. But it’s the quality that matters, not the quantity! The lack of interest in giving something relevant for Rose Tico to do was heartbreaking :(

[@VulturePilot]

The OT and PT, KOTOR and the clone wars have way better written female characters. The sequel trilogy is awful to its women characters. Making them cardboard one dimensional cutouts for poster space (and Disney even removed Rose from their own poster at their own convention instead of making her a better character and actually living what they supposedly preach)

[@VulturePilot]

FN-1701AgentGodzillaRangerPrime-El exactly, sudden case of the not gays as Lindsay Ellis would say

[@HelloLillyTV]

@Snehil Shrey Hahaha! Leia is the *only* female character, period. xD But seriously, I know that more women show up, but when it comes to relevant characters in the OT and PT there are almost none. I can only think of Padmé and Anakin’s mom in the prequels.

[@HelloLillyTV]

@FN-1701AgentGodzillaRangerPrime-El Yeah, that one really struck a nerve. Jannah also felt a lot like a female deviation from Finn. Like the Smurfette is to the Smurfs, or Minnie is to Mickey. Same exact character, but she’s a laaaaaaaaady!

[@HelloLillyTV]

@@VulturePilot I agree they don’t do these new female characters justice. They barely interact with each other! Rey gets to interact with Leia, but I don’t recall Rey talking with Rose, or Rose with Leia. These new films have more women but they still have a female representation problem. Hell, I made a whole video talking about that! I think the team over at Lucasfilm has good intentions but they’re not hitting the mark, sadly.

[@holo1782]

Rey: Is scared of becoming a Sith cause her ancestor was a Sith too. Her parents who literally died for her: [instert mike wazowski meme here]

[@darthtroller]

True 😂😂😂

[@Thicc_Cheese_Dip]

And she acts like a Sith throughout the movies. She's always angered and using her emotions uncontrollably.

[@mouskou]

"a collection of moments to empress the audience" ... Best TROTS description ever !

[@johncristy7540]

"With all the things crammed in the Rise of Skywalker, the one thing that Abrams doesn't do, is tell a "story". A story, that organically develops its characters, and emerses us in a galaxy far, far away. To me, the Rise of Skywalker wasn't a finale, but instead a lesson: that if you only focuses on the destination, you might just miss, the journey." ======== I.e. The Rise also fell victim to what's been happening to the mainstream pop music since the turn of the century: profit or result driven and less or not narrative or art-driven. It's like focusing on the "Van Gogh's posthumous effect" (acclaim, big profit), rather than *how* van Gogh, in his works, became *him*: a "Van Gogh".

[@pacman5698]

*Luke in TLJ:* _"To say that if the Jedi dies, the light dies is vanity can you feel that?"_ *Luke in TRoS:* "If you don't beat the final boss at the end of Level 9 as a Jedi we're all gonna die and the galaxy is doomed forever!"

[@lllXanderlll]

I think you could use Yoda's quote about how Luke behaved during his life on Tatooine and directly apply it to this movie. Since both always had their eyes on the horizon, never looking at where they were or what they were doing

[@AbbreviatedReviews]

Trying to cram a trilogy into what ultimately became the longest movie of the trilogy really summarizes the major issue with The Rise of Skywalker. If they had tried to put this three-movie story in three movies, it might have been acceptable. Instead we have one fairly cohesive story in the first two movies that evoked some great qualities of the original series while offering twists that made it engaging and a third movie trying to appease a split audience every way at once. I truly would rather see the Colin Trevorrow version given that it at least seemed to be an adequate conclusion to the trilogy.

[@Thicc_Cheese_Dip]

The Last Jedi is longer though.

[@vanquish5023]

It's almost like they should have planned out the main protagonist story arch before they started making these films....

[@thaThRONe]

Well JJ Abrams had treatments for the entire trilogy. Rian Johnson was given free reign to ignore those treatments and the sequel trilogy died after Kathleen Kennedy made that decision. People complain now about TFA but the complaints could have all been addressed as the trilogy unfolded. When TLJ came out and ignored the many plot points and themes from TFA killed any hope for continuity within in the films. I loved TFA but I realized what it was and have no problems with mystery boxes, so long as those mysterious have logical explanations.

[@EclecticMystic]

An interesting aspect of the "Palpatine Lives!" problem was brought up in another video I watched recently, where a professional editor talked about the problems in the film. Basically, the overall theme of Star Wars is that people can be tempted by power and must resist, and those that were good but have fallen might be redeemed. In order for this theme to work, you need to have an ultimate antagonist that represents irredeemable evil and can tempt and turn good people, which they have done in the form on the sub-antagonists. The Ultimate atagonist is Palpatine, and in the sequel trilogy is Snoke. Then you have "could be redeemed" sub-antagonists like Dooku, Anakin/Vader, and Ben/Kylo. By killing Snoke off in TLJ, Rian left them in a crappy position. Without an ultimate evil to keep tempting Kylo, the theme starts to fall apart. He killed off the main point of dark side tension. So either Kylo has to move up to be the ultimate villain - or you need someone else to play the part of ultimate evil. So late in the series, it doesn't make sense to bring in a new character to be the big bad guy. So either they retcon things adn bring Snoke back, or the retcon things and bring Palpatine back. Since both are knida lame, might as well go with Palpy since he's a much more fun, hammy, super-evil character. Of course, JJ goes against this logic that it's too late to bring in a bunch of new characters by also jamming in a bunch of new characters like Zorii Bliss, Babu Frik, Jannah, General Pryde, etc. But then, JJ is kind of a hack writer anyway, same problem with Lucas. They're great idea guys, but they need someone to edit and filter only the good ideas out. Left alone, they just come up with something they think is good enough and run with it. Without people to challenge them, it's slapdash. Oh well....

[@kenpachi465]

I know it might be a coincidence but George Lucas always wanted the trilogies to rhyme. I think it's fitting that Palpatine was the central antagonist in the third installment of each trilogy. It's poetic that a Skywalker trained a Palpatine in the Sequels and the Palpatine trained a Skywalker in the Prequels

[@EclecticMystic]

@@bmcfonzie I agree, which is why letting Rian kill off Snoke was a huge mistake. It completely breaks the formula of star wars, which is a dumb idea to do in movie 8 of 9, unless it was something carefully choreographed from the beginning.

[@rogerwilco2]

Very well said.

[@haplo781]

"Rise doesn't follow this pattern, as it goes through five distinct locations in the first two acts alone." Mustafar, Exegol, Pasaana, Sinta Glacier, Kijimi, Ajan Kloss, Kef Bir, plus bonus appearances by Ahch-To, Jakku, Starkiller Base, Endor, Bespin, and Tatooine. Jesus. The previous trilogies kept it to 3 main locations each. Tatooine, Death Star, Yavin. Hoth, Dagobah, Cloud City. Tatooine (but a different part), Endor, Death Star II. Naboo, Tatooine (a third part), Coruscant. Coruscant, Tatooine, Geonosis. Coruscant, Utapau, Mustafar. Jedha, Eadu, Scarif. Even the first two sequels kept it down to four. Jakku, Takodana, D'Qar, Starkiller Base. The Raddus, Ahch-To, Canto Bight, Crait. Solo was the outlier with five (Corellia, Mimban, Vandor, Kessel, Savareen), but even so managed to make them all distinct and relevant. TRoS DOUBLED the average number of locations and did barely anything with any of them.

[@Thicc_Cheese_Dip]

You're missing two planets for Attack of the Clones. It should be Coruscant, Naboo, Kamino, Tattooine, Geonosis. And even then, the story is at least coherent!

[@darthsmythe6783]

Didn't Luke go back to dagoba to finish training with yoda?

[@grand-dadmiral]

@@darthsmythe6783 Briefly.

[@WantonMyth]

I like your points about the ships landing. These days there is little regard to ships taking off. The Falcon leaving Mos Eisley; The Falcon leaving Hoth; Luke leaving Dagobah; The Endor strike team getting ready to depart, are but some great scenes that slow things down a little, and give us a real feel for what's going on. There's usually a real sense of urgency and a tension that follows.

[@sleepinglionarchives]

Why aren't more people noticing that Rey didn't need to burn up Kylo's ship because it crashed and exploded on the desert planet? You know, the wreck he walked away from without a scratch. I mean... the ship was miraculously healed in later shots... so if the writer's forget, I guess we were supposed to as well

[@GameCat16]

Was there any indication that the ship she stole and burned was the same ship?

[@akl2k7]

@@GameCat16 They were different ships, just of the same class. At least that's what I got out of it.

[@StarWarsomania]

*"Rey kind of forgot about Kylo's ship."*

[@sydneylee8612]

sleepinglionarchives Funny how in the last episode of series one of Mandalorian , I know I know same,same but different bla bla . Anyhow the exact thing happened after Moff Gideon crashes cuts his way out and literally walked away into the next series. I’m like ah, na not again, they really should sharpen there pencils in the writing room at Disney, however I do prefer the old Star Wars Universe.

[@ce7.0]

I guess the canon explanation is it was a different ship and Kylo just made sure to grab the wayfinder out of the glovebox when he pulled himself out of the burning wreckage so he could put it in his new glovebox, even though it's apparently possible to get to Exegol without a wayfinder once you know where it is (otherwise how did Lando's army get there?). The real explanation is probably just that they shot the scene where Kylo crashes the ship to put it in the trailer before they'd finished rewriting the script (actually, "stopped" is probably a better word than "finished" here)

[@sengiko]

The fundamental flaw: this movie exists

[@bryanneideffer3969]

That it was written and even worse thought of....

[@MrJmuno]

*the trilogy***

[@MisterBurgerBeachball]

I remember everyone being frustrated about TLJ, and how she wasn't related to anyone special. Now everyone is frustrated over the fact that she's related to someone special.

[@EdgarOliveiraTB]

of course, TFA built a plot around her parents. Being someone's kid was a great explanation for her to be as powerful as she was. It was unfortunate to bring Palpatine back without any developmetn only to save the last movie from TLJ ridiculous choices.

[@MisterBurgerBeachball]

@@EdgarOliveiraTB While it would be an explanation, her being related to someone special would really just be reusing Luke's story arc.

[@EdgarOliveiraTB]

She could be a survivor from New jedis academy! She being nobody would not be a problem If the movies were a big plan

[@schmebulock4567]

I think the problem wasn't her being related or not related to someone special. Both would have been okay, IF not the previous movies led in a different direction. Had they clarified that Rey is a nobody from the beginning, I think most people would have been okay with that. But after it was such a mistery in TFA, everyone expected a big parents-reveal. I mean, a SW character who's parents are unknown - that's like screaming: " 'I am your father!'-moment ahead!". And after that it felt like a cheap trick to make them be nobodies. To me it felt like someone gave me a box, saying, there's something cool inside but when I opened it, it was empty. A surprise for sure but an unwelcome one. It's the same for Rey Skywalker/Solo/Palpatine/Kenobi. I personally don't lika any of these but I think for many fans it would have been okay that Rey is related to someone special if it wasn't established earlier in the story that she's a nobody. I think that "up and down" of her background was the problem, not the brackground itself.

[@ce7.0]

Keeping her as a nobody is the only way that the title of The Force Awakens can make sense: the light side of the Force awoke in a nobody on a desert planet to counteract Kylo, just like it did 70 years ago to counteract Palpatine.

[@stryderlao]

I wish Rey was Luke clone made by his missing hand and her “parents” was actually scientists that didn’t want to give Rey to the Order and left her on a planet so she can have a peaceful life. She was special because she was the only female clone and seen more Force sensitive then the other fail clones (which turn out to be the Knights of Ren and another reason why Luke wanted to train them). That will explain why Luke Lightsaber call for her because she was part of him and why Leia and her had a special “bond”

[@rogerwilco2]

Oh, that would have been a cool story.

[@stryderlao]

@@rogerwilco2 yea it would be but now this film is long forgotten already smh

[@andrerichardsousa]

10:54 "resurrected the Emperor was J.J. Abrams way of ..." The Emperor was Kathleen Kennedy ideia.

[@ryancols]

The Emperor was JJs. It has his stink a over it. He even admitted it. This movie crashed because of dumbass fans unhappy with the complexity of tlj

[@n8pls543]

@@ryancols "Complexity of TLJ." Perplexing, maybe. Convoluted, yes, and hackneyed to an extreme.

[@jvgreendarmok]

4:45 - 4:50 This is something I really liked about Rian Johnson's "Knives Out". As I was watching it, I had no idea where the story was going and it felt like the characters were taking on lives of their own... although looking back, it was clear how tightly plotted the story was, it never felt while watching it that characters were made to do things in order to shuffle them from plot point A to plot point B.

[@pdzombie1906]

Totally, Abrams with Snyder and Bay just direct collections of moments instead of stories...

[@danielreid3476]

Excellent analysis. You put into words expertly what so many of us have thought but didn't know how to articulate.

[@JaydonTobler]

It’s pretty amazing to me because it seems like JJ was actually the one who messed up the trilogy. He set up the trilogy plot points, Johnson went a different (but better) direction, and then JJ comes back in and forces the story back to the way he wanted. Instead of going with the flow and continuing Johnson’s story.

[@Lindormber]

"Don't miss the journey." Nicely put.

[@poweroffriendship2.0]

Honestly, this has to be one of the most unique channels I've ever seen. Keep up the good work.

[@Balthazar2242]

Idk man. Video essays are pretty ubiquitous nowadays

[@thisisfyne]

This movie has the convoluted plot of Quantum of Solace, the pace of Mad Max: Fury Road, the editing of Suicide Squad, and the amount of content of both Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows parts. It doesn't work.

[@MrTrolho]

The Star Wars has reborn today. The production is just beggining. And rise of the skywalker will not be the last star wars film

[@John_II]

Well said. Well said. To paraphrase Ratatouille's ending: Not everyone is a great jedi, but a great jedi can come from anywhere. Rey being no one was fine. Anakin Skywalker is no one too but became the greatest jedi of all time (and the most infamous). Rey could have done that. Kylo Ren already has the lineage story-line. I don't think it would have been so bad to keep Rey as no one.

[@glitchy000]

I'm really loving this new general attitude of "TLJ wasn't so bad."

[@Arsaws]

No. TLJ is still the worst.

[@EdgarOliveiraTB]

TLJ started this mess.

[@griz312]

Nicholas Swenson The Last Jedi still sucks

[@alexvjuz882]

It is all an opinion. If I am being honest I loved all the films. I love all Star Wars films. That does not mean the sequels were my favorite, but they were a fine addition to the collection.

[@WiqidBritt]

People hated Empire when it first came out. It was too dark, made Obi-Wan a liar, and left one of the main cast as good as dead.

[@gspruyt]

this is such a true assessment of this trilogy. And it underscores George Lucas's brilliance as a film maker especially in reference to modern filmakers....

[@TheWolfDogMoon]

There’s no foundation or meaning to any of the Disney Star Wars trilogy movies. The driving force of the entire narrative (the first order) would not exist or in the way that they do. Why are there stormtroopers and not some kind of other soldier type? None of these Disney movies make sense and have no reason to exist. They don’t even show what happens in the saga and only use recognized elements but are not grounded in any context. You can tell it is really a reboot in long form trailer style of a pseudo Star Wars skins. The characters are not even characters but more like video game avatars. Rey is not a Mary Sue because she’s not actually a character at all but a video game npc with maxed out stats and cheat codes. I gave up after TFA but follow the reviews of these movies because it helps me reinforce to myself what NOT to do in my own creative endeavors. I was one of the people back in the day telling people that doing Prequels is a dumb idea and because there’s no tension or suspense when you know a character lives and is never in danger since we know how it all turned out. Also our collective imagination is better when we hear something like, “I fought with your father in the clone wars”. I also was one of the people who said that Disney should go a thousand years in the past or the future if they were not going to follow the EU. So, Disney got nothing right and although they made money, I think they killed the brand and are still four or five billion in the hole. At this point, the only thing they could do is cut their losses and sell the brand back to Lucas or a private group. But even that won’t save it unless they issued a public apology, deem this stuff as not cannon but an alternative reality, refunded money, and fired every one involved.

[@rogerwilco2]

I knew this was going to happen as soon as I heard JJ Abrams was in charge of the trilogy. Your criticism fits his efforts with Star Trek perfectly.

[@IamJustAnotherUtubeR]

YES THANK YOU! I loved the thematic importance of Rey Nobody! Rey Palpatine was so irrevocably stupid

[@White_Recluse]

The trouble with the sequels was they had no clear destination to begin with. There is no journey without a goal

[@mydatasdonotsteal8955]

I wouldn't bet a penny they have none... but even without a goal, you can have a journey. Life always finds a a way afterall.

[@gladman9634]

Yes there is. The eternal journey

[@SirNerdLeroy]

I always thought JJ was the perfect person for a first movie only. He did so well with episode VII because he gave us possibilities and mysteries to be solved and I was looking forward to other people's interpretations of what he started. So when I heard that he was coming back for episode IX, I was worried that he wouldn't be able to conclude the story he had helped build. He's always concerned with the "mystery box" that he didn't really know what the mystery actually was or how it naturally progresses. He was just a great "what if..." guy for the Star Wars universe

[@rogerwilco2]

No JJ was the wrong person. This needed someone who can craft a story and fit it properly in the existing universe. Someone like Joss Whedon or Peter Jackson.

[@Vistico93]

The sequel trilogy was as much a waste of good characters as the prequel trilogy was a waste of a good story. The prequel trilogy had this wonderful idea spent on lifeless, forgettable characters (which I think the Clone Wars cartoons did its best to fix) whereas the sequel trilogy had these memorable, engrossing characters (except for Hux...he always felt uninspiring and dull...maybe if the veteran of the "old war", General Pryde, had been there all along...he felt more interesting and menacing and competent than Hux ever did) but an utterly forgettable set of storylines. But I will say this about the prequel trilogy: you could see Star Wars was George Lucas's universe and even though the movies were dull, they took place in a universe (as in the original trilogy) that I'd like to play and imagine adventures in; something I can't say for the sequel trilogy.

[@rogerwilco2]

The prequels were a good story poorly told, The sequels were a bad and confusing story, told much better.

[@efxnews4776]

Kreia once said the something similar, what matters most it's not the destination, but the path wich lead us to it.

[@Genjitsu17]

TLJ had characters repeating arcs from the previous film too. This entire trilogy was a poorly written mess.

[@waynesimpson2074]

Yup, agreed, thanks for the upload...Apologies to non-UK viewers here but there was a comedy show may years ago called the Fast Show whereby a series of unrelated sketches were 'scatter-gunned' at you with some of the catchphrases and jokes sticking in your memory and some not. The most accurate reference point to TROS was the sketch of a stressed father of a young family, on a mini holiday, in various tourist locations endlessly shouting '' C'mon'' and '' Hurry up'' thereby not allowing any of his entourage to absorb or enjoy anything at all.

[@jeffreyquinde6707]

A major problem is that JJ was too focused on fan service and tried to make a film that would satisfy the Last Jedi haters. Instead of expanding on the refreshing themes of Episode 8, JJ chose to undo everything that Rian established

[@yarpen26]

His biggest mistake was assuming that people hated the sequel trilogy because it "diverted" too much from the established norms of the franchise, whereas they hated it primarily because the story was bullshit and the characters hollow. In order for anybody to care that Rey is a Palpatine, you should first make sure that they even _like_ Rey to begin with.

[@roguechevelle]

@@yarpen26 Agreed. I honestly think it made her way more interesting that she came from nobodies. I think it could have taken the story in an interesting direction with her coming to terms with that and I think they could have found a way to possible explain how the force is so strong in her without her being blood relation to characters we already know. Even if they brought Palaptine back as the big bad, which I think it should have been Darth Plaguies instead. If we are going just based on the flims he is someone we have heard about as being an extremely powerful Sith that could create life and cheat death but still a mysterious figure. What if Plagueis had been laying almost dormant, no physical form yet but began growing in strength. With the force there is light and dark but one does not exist without the other and there is a struggle for balance always. While a dark force lord Plagueis grows in power a child is born with a growing strength of the light force, the force itself seeks balance so Rey is born. Or I'm sure someone could come up with another great explanation, the point is I think they could have leaned into that idea and built more on it to make her a compelling character instead of retoconning it and saying "just kidding, she's a palpatine".

[@yarpen26]

@@roguechevelle The problem here is that due to the fact pretty much anything happening at Lucasfilm under KK's watch is leaked immediately to the media, we simply _know_ that what we see is not a result of any overarching narrative but just one guy going his own route, with or without the others' blessings. When they said Rey was a nobody in TLJ, it was painfully obvious that was _not_ what JJ intended for her back in TFA. It playes well with all the other contradictions between the two movies (Finn forgetting he doesn't know how to pilot a ship, lightspeed instead of hyperspace and so on).

[@roguechevelle]

@@yarpen26 Yes. It was a really bad idea to not have a set outline laid out and a overall plan for the direction of the series. As well as choosing a team of directors who are willing to put their egos aside for the sake of the story and the legacy of Star Wars. I liked some of the ideas introduced in TLJ as TFA was way too copy/paste but Rian Johnson was clearly a bad choice for a collaborative trilogy. I'm not really keen on JJ as a director either tbh I think he is better as a producer. I think those overseeing things really dropped the ball on directing the project. You need a clear vision and someone who will see it through.

[@yarpen26]

@@roguechevelle Up until now, the only people involved in these movies under Disney that have any genuine talent to speak of (and largely in a completely different genre) were Lord and Miller. The rest are all hacks upon hacks.

[@tomassoejakto]

For me, the flaw of IX is simple: new audiences can follow VII and VIII without knowing anythinf about I-VI. They can't do that with IX. Bliss and whoever that other one was, they are there because the filmmakers have no faith in tgeir characters. And to sell toys, of course. Meanwhile, Palpatine is a cop-out plot and I feel so bad for Ridley and crew while watching it. They deserve better.

[@MikeyFav]

The main problem with this movie for me was that it didn’t *FEEL* like the end of the Skywalker Saga, just felt like a long trailer for a boring movie.

[@TheShmekler]

Love your essays. 'The Writer's Journey' by Christopher Vogler helped me understand everything I intuitively knew was wrong with a story, then showed me how to formulate my own ideas into a dramatic sequence of 'smaller tales' (scenes) that could drive connection, and generate meaning with an audience. Your video essays do the same. Thank you guy.

[@GameCat16]

"The one thing that Abrams doesn't do is tell a story." Bull. RIAN JOHNSON is the one who wouldn't tell a story. He refused to tell a story with Rey's origin (the fact that she was nobody NEVER came up again for the rest of the movie), he refused to tell a story with Snoke, he refused to tell a story with virtually every mystery and plotpoint form TFA (all of which were promises for more story). And even what little story he did provide amounted to nothing. TRoS' biggest problem is that it had too much story. It's trying to play catchup after TL wasted 2 1/2 hours of time. It's trying to provide some world building (primarily with the stormtroopers), much needed backstory on some of the characters, and to actually develop the plot by answering the questions set up. The problem is that the story that had been set up in TFA needed 2 more movies to do, and Abrams only had one left. You have Johnson to blame for all of this. Same with Palpatine's return. Snoke was implied to be Darth Plagueis in TFA, but Johnson killed him off in a humiliating way and trying to set up the Last Skywalker as the final antagonist. What does one do here? I'm not saying bringing Palps back was good, but everyone keeps blaming Abrams when the real cause of it was RJ. Lastly, the Rey Palpatine twist did more for Rey's character than "You're nobody." Rey was NEVER set up (in either TFA OR TLJ) as wanting to be important. She just wanted to know where she came from. "You're nobody" was harder for the audience than for her, the fact that she NEVER brings it up with anyone for the rest of the movie is proof of that. By contrast, the Rey Palpatine reveal not only explained her powers better, it also served as that "gut punch" that you said "You're nobody" gave her. We saw her discuss it at least twice (more so than TLJ); once with Finn when Finn tried to console her, and again with Luke when she was considering giving up. I repeat, this NEVER happened with the "You're nobody." The way you give your ideas suggests that you think TLJ did the trilogy good and that it's a better movie than TRoS. Maybe I'm just looking too deeply into it. However, at the end of the day, TLJ was a waste of time (In every sense of the word), and TRoS only moved as ungodly fast as it did because it needed to catch up.

[@LS-mi4pg]

TLJ was the only installment in this trilogy that achieved greatness.

[@king0vdarkness]

So true, I tried to write a comment on the same points you made but I'm not a fan of people hating on me so I deleted it... But after reading your comment I smile because you put it much better than me. Also, I follow films and stuff on Twitter so I can confirm he really liked TLJ... Although I disagree with him here, his Spiderman 2 video was the reason I subscribed

[@smurfette_blues7922]

I dont understand why she needs to bring it up with anyone again in tlj. The revelation that shes no one is the climax of the film and illustrates the centre message of the film. Its only natural that she doesnt have time to bring it up again because its the final act where the dwindling resistance is only focused on escaping the first order, who has cornered them. Rey bringing up her emotional baggage in the middle of the war is unnecessary and unnatural. Also it just repeats information we can infer for ourselves. Hearing that the people you have been searching for your whole life dont care about you, and that you mean nothing to anyone, and you have no belonging to any real family is depressing.

[@BulletRain100]

I find the people who like TLJ don't realized what was destroyed to make it. Star Wars was the goose that lays golden eggs, and TLJ killed it to make one interesting and unique meal. It's a film that that works as a niche indie film designed for people who study and love film, but its not one for general consumption or for anything constructive. The tragic irony is that every form of subversion TLJ attempted had already been explored in other Star Wars stories and done much better. This is the issue when people running Star Wars foolishly believed it was a film series. They failed to realize the what George Lucas gave to fans wasn't just six films, but the best sci fi universe ever created that was also an open playground to numerous other creators and countless fans. What a waste.

[@GameCat16]

@@smurfette_blues7922 The point of such reveals it's that it's supposed to have an impact on the character in a negative light, forcing them to pause and reconsider things. Rey didn't do that. The movie should've either A: have Rey leave the battle (and leave the Resistance to fend for themselves) so that she can sulk and figure out where to go next with that revelation (as a cliffhanger), or B: DO the same thing, but have Chewbacca and R2 console her and help her figure it out. By not doing either, by not showing how this reveal affected her in any way, the movie made it irrelevant to the story in any capacity.

[@TiagrajI]

Good point on the locations. When you spend time showing characters in their location and moving around, you show the scene and imprint that on the audience. I remember the battles in star wars earlier movies in the snow better than any of the new scenes in the new movies

[@joshuaedward8869]

smh just throw the whole trilogy away and make a baby yoda trilogy

[@FilmsStuff]

I still love TLJ greatly to throw out this trilogy, but I definitely agree on a Baby Yoda trilogy.

[@joshuaedward8869]

@@FilmsStuff i respect that

[@danniro8888]

THIS COMMENT WAS POSTED BY THE 40 YEAR OLD MOMS GANG

[@JenksAnro]

I feel like this video conflates two seperate ideas about Rey - that her parents are no one important, and that her parents don't care about her/aren't coming back. She has no reason to be upset about the former, as she never really had any reason to believe they were anyone important. The latter is very important to her, but she's long since accepted that by the time the third movie rolls around as she had an acceptance moment with Maz in the first film. That's not to say that there isn't more to be explored there, but I don't think any of the movies really do a good job of looking at the issue.

[@JenksAnro]

@Snehil Shrey I agree, each movie - for me - is interested with a slightly different issue with her, and wants her to go on a slightly different arc. In the force awakens she seem to be worried about never leaving her planet like the old scavenger she sees early on, but is also waiting for her parents to maybe return, while dreaming of the adventures of rebels and hearing stories of Luke. In TLJ it seems like she wants her parents, and by extension herself, to be someone special (but I think this is more what the audience were wondering, rather than Rey herself). And in the new movie she's scared of her power and learns that there's - in a way - something evil inside her. Any of these ideas would be fine on their own but all 3 together is pretty disjointed.

[@MisterAlerion]

the good parts of the last jedi are the best parts of the whole trilogy

[@beefdawgamadeus]

I love that you talk about the slow ship landing scenes, just a great example of how the original trilogy let you breathe and take everything in. The new movies have way too much flash without those warmer moments to ground us in the story. That’s why I liked Mandalorian, it just let us exist in the world and go at a nice leisurely pace without rushing

[@aperson22222]

It really isn’t Rise’s fault, though. Last Jedi made no effort to set up anything for Ep IX, so Rise had to do two movies’ work. They could have made Episode IX point one and Episode IX point two a year later, and we should be grateful they didn’t, and respected the trilogy format instead. Imagine if, instead of Luke just taking the lightsaber and tossing it over his shoulder at the beginning of Last Jedi, he’d sat down with Rey and said something like this: “I’m well aware of everything that’s going on with Snoke and Kylo and the First Order. And I know you want me to come save the day, but here’s the thing: The threat they pose is as nothing compared with what’s really out there. Many years ago I felt a disturbance in the Force. Something evil is lurking, something apocalyptic. And I don’t know what. Every time I try to follow it, the trail keeps going cold at the same place. “So I hid myself away. I made it so I could only be found by following a very specific route. I broke the map into two pieces, had Artoo shut down after downloading one of them, and threw the other to the winds. I knew that anyone who could find me would be just the sort of person I would need to join me on the real quest.” Then you’ve got all of that movie to look for the thing that leads to the thing that leads to the thing that leads to the thing. They finally make it to Exegol at the end, discover the fleet, and-oh God, is that? No, it can’t be! But you’re dead! I saw you die! Palpatine kills Luke, Rey escapes by the skin of her teeth, and we spend the next two years dying to see what happens next. _Then_ you can build an Ep IX on a firm foundation already in place!

[@351cleavland]

If I draw a comparisson between modern movies and food there is a distinct similarity: Movies in the past 7-8 years have made a distinct and rapid alteration in how they are concieved and carried out. Food too is served quicker, cheaper and saltier as peoples' schedules are faster paced. Its more about the ability to consume than it is about being nourished. As more food has been developed by a battery of "food scientists" for maximum consumption/profit A LOT gets omitted in the expereince of eating. The food is heavily processed and the nutrional content is poor BUT it "fills you up." So too are movies increasingly at the mercy of committies. Movies in the editing bay are not allowed to have a scene play out organically. It too is has been heavily edited, run through the producers' filters and reedited until they have a product that "everyone" can tolerate but is still willing to buy. There is fear that a short attention-span will result in ticket-buyers getting bored. That's like adding extra sugar and salt to a food because it wil result in a repeat customer. There is an exception to this formula: Televisions series have shifted too and many, like The Terror, take their time and allow character, setting and plot to develop in the audiences' minds. And its strange that "binge-watching" has also become "a thing" in the past 4-5 years. I recall when The Empire Strikes back was in the middle of a 3 year gap between movies and somehow it was enough nourishment from storytelling. The thing with heavily processed food AND stories is that we are in the act of consuming but when its done we are still hungry. In fact, sugar depleats nutrients in the body as they are needed to metabolize it out. So too extra explosions are exciting but adds nothing to the psyche but a little bit of fictional destruction. We live in a strange time where media has become uber-important to peoples' daily expereinces. Movie Producers and food scientists know what the audience is willing to accept through focus groups. So too are accountants aware. Nourishment is not the focus of the products we buy. These are the primary motivators in the market in which we consume. Know yourself so that you understand by your senses and feelings when you are being nourished and when you are being dispensed to. Like food, nourishing stories are there to help you grow.

[@SomebodyBumbleBee]

I still don't get how abandonment issues correlate directly with wanting to be a "somebody". TFA only communicated that Rey thought her parents were coming back, with Maz convincing her they are not. My big problem with the twist in TLJ is that it rung hollow because there was no build-up to that moment. Being somebody special never seemed to be Rey's concern before that scene so there should have been scenes in either TFA or TLJ to communicate this fear instead of it just being a nice message (and I don't count the cave scene as it was to vague about the point). It only seems to work as some kind of meta-narrative call-back to the "I am your father" moment.

[@TravisHouze]

In reality, some people have to be told 100 times over something in order for them to accept it. So Kylo doubling down on that to Rey in TLJ worked fine so it focuses her energy on being who she's meant to be instead of letting others run things

[@thinhvo3893]

The point of Rey storyline taking out the meta moment is that rey is secretly delusional and self loathing. She know her parent won't come back because they never love her but she keep looking and waiting for that day to come. It why kylo ren point out she so attach to Luke and Han. She want to be loved and unable to accept she wasn't love. When kylo ren point out and forced her to confront the truth. She is forced to confront the fact she was never love by her parent in first place. However the point of Last jedi is she doesn't need the love of her parent. She could find new connection through new adventuee

[@summerteerlink6139]

What an amazing analysis! And so eloquently said. Great job!!

[@namwonglue]

You just told me that Johnson understands Rey more than her creator, Abrams, does. What a revelation!

[@motor4X4kombat]

Toto • kinda like Lawrence kasdan, writters of both empire and return (hell even parts from force awakens), understand better the franchise than his own creator George Lucas.

[@friukas1239]

Yes. Thank you. You nailed all of my issues in a well-explained example-filled summary.

[@ddylandd]

Apparently it hasn't, because the Clone Wars season 7 is coming in Febs bruh.

[@elborrego4916]

momento pana

[@OakViewFilms]

I was a huge supporter of the Disney era of Star Wars. I LOVED both The Force Awakens AND The Last Jedi, and I even loved both Rogue One and Solo. The Rise of Skywalker was a huge, messy letdown. It not only failed to retcon what TLJ attempted, and failed to be a satisfying conclusion for the entire 9-film Skywalker Saga, but it failed HARDER in giving satisfying conclusions to the new characters ( Rey, Poe, and ESPECIALLY Finn) we've followed along for the Sequel Trilogy. Disney is VERY lucky The Mandalorian turned out to be really good. Their future with SW lies in there. Give the Skywalker saga a rest.

[@28starwarsfan]

The Skywalker Saga closed with Return of the Jedi. They reopened it just to close it the same way.

[@spencerdavis2004]

Yeah but at least we got a reunion with these beloved characters and see how they retired or died off in their old age. While seeing what their kids turned out.

[@Benny10001]

I couldn’t agree more. After I left the Cinema utterly perplexed at what I had just seen, I was asked what I thought: a check-list with a story bundled around it.

[@BenjaminWhitley]

Well said, but that central flaw you're referring to isn't structural, it's story/character/purpose/theme - in a word - substance. The only real structural issue you mention is the plethora of planets. You aren't disagreeing with the Just Write video, you're both saying the same thing.

[@pudgeboyardee32]

If you want to tell a story you cant kill the past. You have to bring it to life. Even if its about futuristic space wizards. Disney wasnt trying to tell stories, they were trying to sell movies.

[@seankenney7756]

"I wonder if there's another film that suffers from this issue." That's when I responded to my computer: Batman V Superman!!

[@jackj.pelletier1666]

You mean to tell me that one of the writers from Batman vs. Superman and the man who gave us Star Trek Into Darkness gave us a messy, lazy, poorly structured movie? You don't say... 🤔

[@Travis-lk1fh]

In conclusion, this movie is a trash fire.

[@spencerdavis2004]

well not the dumpster trash fire TLJ was

[@Dalemark7]

You articulated sooooo much of what was seething inside me after watching this film. Thank you!

[@rebusd]

Not to be a toe head, but everyone keeps saying “beg” the question, when it should be “raise”. “Begging” the question is when you want the other person to assume you’re right about a point for the sake of argument. Like me right now perhaps lol

[@LS-mi4pg]

that phrase is misused more than it's properly used, unfortunately.

[@righteousdude6980]

I was kid who grew up watching the OT. Never since those days had I needed explanations/breakdowns/analysis of those wonderfully and meticulously crafted, and fun films whose special effects complimented film characters and story that have stood the test of time. Star Wars ended when Lucas re-released the OT in theaters and fidgeted with the originals. It was like Van Gogh "fixing" his most beloved paintings that inspired generations of people with their flaws intact.

[@eungaanglee524]

You really pointed out what makes starwars "starwars" and why rise of skywalker was underwhelming.

[@gabestaton9404]

JJ spent the first half of the movie backtracking from the last movie, which was a mistake considering how good the last one actually was. This movie had some of my favorite scenes of any film but that was after it finally started to try and be its own movie

[@jimslav6973]

One again, it is the filmmaker's fault, not two solid years on nonstop fanwank venom towards The Last Jedi. The Rise of Skywalker is a film that HAD to reverse itself to put a tourniquet on all the bile because J.J. realized that, in the eyes of the Lucas Acolyte, a downright mediocre film is preferable to a good one that doesn't give them exactly what they expect.

[@jmontgomery1178]

The first movie I ever remember seeing was the 1977 Star Wars, and it captured my imagination. You have it right here. This movie was so much flash that it failed to tell the story that needed to be told. It was an event, not a story.

[@JB-bq2qj]

I’m calling on any of the main film analysis youtubers: Someone please discuss if they feel Rían Johnson’s storytelling has been vindicated by Knives Out ironically coming out around the same time as Skywalker. PLEASE Seems like a money idea to me

[@cognitivedissonance8406]

Jonathan Bartholomew He’s not a bad storyteller. But he was the wrong person to tell the second part of a trilogy when he obviously strongly disagreed with the direction set up in episode VII. It’s not that his ideas were invalid per se, it’s that there’s no way to make a cohesive story out of three films when the second film is fighting against the pre-established current. I think Rise of Skywalker proves both that Rian was a poor choice for episode VIII and that J.J. is a mediocre storyteller in any respect beyond the visual. I seriously doubt IX would ever have turned out to be a great piece of cinema, but it likely would’ve been better without the handicap of essentially having to finish a three part story that has no middle.

[@Balthazar2242]

He has never been a bad storyteller. People have known he's great since... everything he's ever made. Brick, Looper, Breaking Bad, and Star Wars. He took risks with Star Wars. If Disney wanted Marvel Star Wars then they shouldn't have picked him only to veer back "on course" with 9.

[@JB-bq2qj]

Cognitive Dissonance I 100% agree with you, the same film maker should have made all 3 movies, preferably neither Johnson nor Abrams. However I’d like to see a video addressing the people who consider Johnson a hack after the Last Jedi (which is a lot of people).

[@cognitivedissonance8406]

Jonathan Bartholomew I mean, he’s a hack Star Wars writer. That doesn’t make him a hack anything else. If you decide ships can drift backward in space because they run out of fuel so as to bolster the stakes of your story, you’re a hack.

[@cognitivedissonance8406]

Snehil Shrey I disagree in every possible way. But really what does it matter? Star Wars in its entirety is one great film, one perfect film, and one good film. That’s all it ever needed to be. But hey, they got your money so good for them.

[@nouche]

It was kist to be expected: this movie (especially since JJ directed it) was to be going at LIGHTSPEED. I wasn't even surprised. But you're right about it.

[@rednas3271]

I'm just so numb to this trilogy. I've excluded it from my star wars headcanon

[@akl2k7]

Me too. I liked the characters and it would have been interesting to see them in a better version of the trilogy that didn't throw away everything the original cast accomplished, but yeah, it didn't happen. I'm listening to the OG Thrawn trilogy right now, and they handled the main cast so much better there. They needed a natural progression like that, not this.

[@JAGtheTrekkieGEMINI1701]

wow really well done... the explanation, the tone and the criticism. KUDOS