Finished my watch through of the mainline Star Wars movies. I'm not sure nine Star Wars films in five days was the greatest idea but there we are.
The Last Jedi
I've commented on this here
twice before. It's a simply brilliant film, and it just gets better as you rewatch. Coherent, satisfying stories for all the main cast, and for Luke too. Perfect. Seeing it so soon after the original trilogy really showed up how well it worked with the original characters, and also how it played with the much of the same material as
Empire Strikes Back without being anything like as linear a retread as TFA. One other interesting thing I discovered the other day is that the idea behind Rian Johnson's treatment of Luke actually came from a treatment for the sequels developed by George Lucas.
An easy 10/10.
The Rise of Skywalker
I was
torn by this one when I watched it in the cinema, and it is not a film that sits well in the memory. Time lets you contemplate all the ways it could have better and the disappointing way it dealt the elements established in the films before it, and watching it on the same day as
The Last Jedi really brings that home. JJ doesn't seem to really know what to do with the characters he created, yet alone work with the way the story had been moved on by Rian Johnson. But, actually, I enjoyed it. Quite a lot. Leaving aside the disappointment at what could have been, the plot is kinda creaky and terribly dependent on getting plot-thingies, bringing back the Emperor feels forced, and the entire climax is poorly delivered. But it's fun, it zips along at a decent pace, most of it looks great, and the Ren-Rey arc is decently concluded. And, as an end to the 9 film series, it wraps up the Skywalker and Palpatine stories begun in episode one, even if that end feels odd for this trilogy.
Don't think about it, and it's an 8/10, think about it and it's probably a 6.
Thoughts on the Star Wars movies in total
Like many people my age, Star Wars was a big part of my childhood. They're some of the first films I remember watching, and I was playing with Star Wars toys and hearing (rather bastardised) versions from my older brothers before I ever saw them. We played Star Wars games either with the toys or totally in our imagination for years, and the games and stories we invented ourselves were frequently inspired them. What I'm trying to say is that this series holds a special place in my heart, quite unlike anything else. The prequels thoroughly disappointed me, although on re-watching Phantom Menace isn't as bad as I remember; but the Sequels have been somewhere between good and outstanding. At the end of the day, there are five stand-out great movies in this series, one good one, one terrible one, and two mediocre ones; I think that's not a bad showing.
I hope if they try and make another trilogy that they actually plot them properly as a trilogy. For all the flaws of the prequels, you can see that they were conceived and written as a coherent whole, whereas in the sequels, TRoS sticks out like a sore thumb in the way it failed to carry the ideas forward. I'm cannot, for the life of me, imagine how they thought they could get away with not doing so. It just seems like madness. For now, though, I think we're more likely to see Star Wars progressed through canonically expanded universe spin offs like The Mandolorian.
I doubt I'll ever watch them again like this; and I can't think of a reason I'd go and watch the prequels again, but it was enjoyable to do once.
