STAR WARS! STAR WARS! STAR WARS

tonythegamer said:
Why did Ben die in like two seconds on screen without warning?
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I agree it was set up (Rey speaks of giving life force when she heals the snake) but the issues in pacing plagued the film so much that it’s easy to lose track of that stuff. When the entire film feels like a climax there’s no narrative weight to the actual climax, so it’s hard to buy that it’s really “it” for Ben/Ren, and the film wasted all of 1 minute mourning him. I think his death also felt unearned because the film trafficked heavily in fake-out deaths, with Ben/Ren being the biggest of them at the film’s midpoint.

I really do wonder if there was a longer cut of the film closer to 3 hours that just breathed a bit more but was mercilessly chopped down to meet the length we expect from a Star Wars film.
 
Spoiler free impressions...

I didn't go in with too high expectations but... I really enjoyed it! The plot moved kind of quick but I'd rather them cram it all in 2 and 1/2 hours than be sitting there for a 3 hour movie. None of the scenes were overly dragged out like some past movies had a habit of doing. There was some wonky plot lines but it's also a space fantasy movie. I was actually very baffled by all the bad reviews when it was done.
 
bettim84 said:
Without warning? There are at least two scenes earlier in the movie when Rey gives away life force to heal, including to Ben. She was dead so the only way to bring her back was for him to use up all his life force, i.e. for him to die instead of her. It would have made no sense if he brought her back AND was able to survive.
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i meant that he looked fine after healing Rey and then he just fucking keeled over and died. Also why did Ben and Rey kiss? My whole theater was shocked when that happened, and I don’t think in a good way
 
zombie.modernist said:
I agree it was set up (Rey speaks of giving life force when she heals the snake) but the issues in pacing plagued the film so much that it’s easy to lose track of that stuff. When the entire film feels like a climax there’s no narrative weight to the actual climax, so it’s hard to buy that it’s really “it” for Ben/Ren, and the film wasted all of 1 minute mourning him. I think his death also felt unearned because the film trafficked heavily in fake-out deaths, with Ben/Ren being the biggest of them at the film’s midpoint.

I really do wonder if there was a longer cut of the film closer to 3 hours that just breathed a bit more but was mercilessly chopped down to meet the length we expect from a Star Wars film.
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i honestly wish Rey had stayed dead so that Ben could have rose up out of the ashes and carried on the legacy of the skywalkers through blood. I feel it would’ve completed his arc as well much more effectively than just fucking killing him in like a minute scene, with little warning that he’s about to die.

also hot take incoming:

I still think episode 8 is worse
 
tonythegamer said:
i honestly wish Rey had stayed dead so that Ben could have rose up out of the ashes and carried on the legacy of the skywalkers through blood. I feel it would’ve completed his arc as well much more effectively than just fucking killing him in like a minute scene, with little warning that he’s about to die.

also hot take incoming:

I still think episode 8 is worse
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I am a big fan of both 7 & 8, so I can't agree with your hot take, but I know why some fans don't care for 8 as a Star Wars story. I think undeniably both 7 & 8 are better as films compared to 9, but the story of any of the three is up for personal subjective debate. Overall I really didn't hate the story of 9, I think it had some good beats, it just hit wrong notes getting there. But to your point above I do have one big nitpick with the climax:

I agree that keeping Kylo alive would have felt more genuine but not for story reasons, just because I feel like the idea of resurrection is a betrayal of Star Wars principles. Yoda's got the famous "death is a natural part of life" speech, which I hesitate to quote because his solution of "letting go" of love leads to Anakin's rejection of Jedi principles, but I think the first part of the quote is meant to be taken seriously. In the context of Star Wars, the desire to conquer death is a dark side trait, and using it as something to trick the audience in the third act felt cheap. Both 7 and 8 dealt with death in a way that felt consistent to the preceding films, but Rey's Lazarus moment feels a bit much for me.
 
Indymisanthrope said:
Agreed. Knowing the circumstances around that footage makes it painfully clear that they didn’t really have anything substantial to work with.
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I was shocked it worked as well as it did but the issue really is that they’re reworking rejects from one of her weaker performances (she was much better in TLJ IMO). If this was an actual performance it would be the worst of her career, but as a weirdo CGI resurrection goes its far from the worst.
 
Well I saw it tonight and I was pretty underwhelmed with the entire thing to be honest. And I had pretty moderate=low expectations. I just wanted to have a good time and I didn't really, aside from a few scattered moments. The beginning is oddly paced, the overall story isn't very exciting, neither are the characters, or the conclusion. I was pretty bummed. Not angry, just disappointed.


I remember the excitement I had with The Last Jedi. The feeling it gave me coming out of the theater. This one...I just felt bored most of the time and shrugging at the end.


Edit; oh yeah, and the Carrie Fisher stuff was bad. Like just really, really vague lines they wrote dialogue around and you could tell. I felt nothing for her non-arc.
 
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Bennnnn said:
Edit; oh yeah, and the Carrie Fisher stuff was bad. Like just really, really vague lines they wrote dialogue around and you could tell. I felt nothing for her non-arc.
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And there's only about 5 lines, and every other shot of her is just an over the shoulder reaction shot. Would have been more meaningful if they had had her die off screen.
 
A Lost Highway said:
And there's only about 5 lines, and every other shot of her is just an over the shoulder reaction shot. Would have been more meaningful if they had had her die off screen.
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Why even off screen? They literally filmed a death scene in TLJ. Everyone I saw that with *thought* they were seeing her final scene, and then they do the clumsy space flight resurrection. It’s not like she contributes that much for the rest of that film...why couldn’t that have been her character’s death? It might have been even more resonant to that film’s themes of the Resistance losing its resources and leadership but fighting anyway.
 
My biggeat question still...

What was Finn trying to tell Rey as they were sinking. It broight it up a bunch but never actually said what it was. Are we supposed to imply something that I missed.
 
Saw it last night, ya, there were some things I could have done without, but overall I enjoyed it. Now they can work on the small screen milking of the franchise with other Star Wars universe stories a la Mandalorian........I would be fine with that.

@gafacaode, concerning your Spoiler, I leaned over to my son and said the same thing 🤭
 
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