My four peeves with Rebels are it's anorexic lightsabers, woodstock tie dye mandalorian, saber copters, star desroyer turbolasers causing no environmental damage despite the intent to kill, and Thrawn not living up to the hype. Despite all of that it was objectively better than the entirety of the sequel trilogy which is a metaphorical pile of fetid shit. Only a metaphorical pile of aids laced crack needles would be worse.
Rogue One was faithful to the lore that was established by Lucas' films, and my only gripes are with Not HK-47's inopportune quips, and gags, Jyn being too empathic or well adjusted for someone who was raised to be a killer since childhood, and Donny Yen's talent being wasted. Other than that i place RO above TFA and TLJ. Didn't watch Solo yet but i'll do so when i get the chance.
Actually those are 5 peeves ... But I agree with you: it's not Clone Wars quality. It's a decent children series which can serve well as intro to the SW universe. Plus it brought us back one of my most beloved characters: Ahsoka ...
As for RO, I place it even better than AoC (not only TFA and TLJ) and while I agree with most of your points, I liked what Donnie did with what he had.
Got carried away with my peeves list but still. RO imo is also superior to AoTC due to the terrible lines Hayden was forced to recite at gunpoint, and the pacing issues that hampered the latter. Donny deserved more but toss in Forest Whittaker too. Saw Gerrera who's comparable to space Che Guerra meets space Rambo turns weak kneed defeatist the second time we see his character, and died with a whimper. Only Lucas'/Filoni's Grievous was a bigger disappointment after watching the spectacle that was Genndy's Grievous.
...So Anthony Daniels expresses his dissapointment that he does not have more to do in these movies which 'fans' take to mean as a general cricism of the movies? Yey.
Anyways now to why I am ACTUALLY here.
I finally got a chance to see Solo. Dun dun dun.
It was actually...surprisingly descent...I guess even I am not entirely immune to fan preassure and fan rumors especially when I am a bit skeptical of the project to begin with too. I heard about all the production problems, the negative fan reactions, and Ron Howard directing...and as much as I like Han Solo a movie about Han Solo just wasn't that appealing to me...or Han Solo's origin story. On the bright side as far as Origin stories are concerned it actually really worked and did everything it was supposed to well...from the point of view of an Origin Story. On the negative it wasn't much of a Star Wars movie...or at least not what Star Wars is at its best, the focus on character (which is kind of odd for being a character's origin story) and the deep philosophy I expect in a SWs movie. I mean once or twice it flirted with big ideas, but it didn't actually succeed.
The good:
OK Han's performance was good, Qi'ra's...ahem...performance was good...Becket's performance was good and Paul Betany was passable...however... Lando and L3 stole the freaking show. I know the latter gets a lot of crap around here...and kind of justifiably so at hw much they remind us of certain people on the internet who complain about politics all the time...but it was humerous as hell. And one of Star Wars's themes has always been rebellion...just I guess in the 1970s 'rebellion' means standing up to evil fascistic empires that is an obvious parralel to Nazi Germany in 2019 rebellion means something...different? If nothing else it is an interesting cultural viewpoint on how these things change over time and it was well executed so meh, any worrying political messages aside, it was funny. But yeah friggin Lando. It was endearing but also annoying that once again an obvious movie (or TV show) that is clearly about one character another character/ actor comes along and just completley steals the show. Lando was fantastic and perfect. Rio was also pretty great...its quite nice how quickly they were able to make me sympathize with the character...I knew he was going to die...and he did so and I still got emotional. And L3. Qi'ra's gambit when they get to Kessel was perfection. She was (probably) lying through her teeth but she did it so well. It was an amazing fire fight on Kessel, bit annoyed at the stormtrooper aim of the enemies but it was impressive. The entire Kessel Run was probably the best action sequence in the movie. Just looked phenmonal. And it ACTUALLY PLUGGED A PLOT HOLE PROPERLY. I was actually surprised they even included here but wheras the Rogue One plot hole plugging was unnecessary, preditable, and boring, this one was welcome. Lucas got confused with space terms and time...and this answered it. A parsec was still a parsec because Han just found a short cut through the Kessel Run (even though it didn't mae sense) The climax worked...
What I didn't like: The music...there is such a weird uncanny valley thing with Star Wars ere. John Williams has put such a stamp on it that it is so difficult for anyone to fill those shoes. First of all the only good music was the riffing of classical scores but even then my brain knows its not Williams and there is subtle difference that it is like *imperial march epic...nails on chalkboard*. And then this music, unlike Rogue One, the original score was horrible...I mean I loved Krennic's theme but the Enfra's Nest music...bleck. The action: Except for one or two scenes towards the end it felt weird and a few good moments here and there it just felt..punchless. Mountain collapsing itself...cool...Viper droids getting a name cool...Corellia car chases...not so much. As an aside purely for personel preference I really always liked Corellia, at least my idea of Corellia in my head...and this was...not what it was. I know this is just a purely personal expectation not meeting reality so it doesen't matter too much...but yeah dissapointed. And while the Kessel run was cool I did not like how they got out of it. Star Wars hyper drive has always been established as not being functional in areas of high gravity..at least that was the impression I have always gotten from it. Again why I defend the TLJ scene, but here the Falcon was being pulled into a gravity well, pulling in...sees a hole in the gas cloud...and jumps to lightspeed. Dramatic and fun..but that is not how hyperspace works.
So at least for now going to go with a really low tier 2 movie.
And for those counting just the last chance I get to do this before Skywalker since I have seen them all...
Tier 1: ROTJ TFA
Tier 2: ROTS TLJ Empire Rogue One Solo
Tier 3: ANH
Tier 4: TPM AOTC
Patreon (for my writing, posting chapters of my novel)
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, Anthem, Mass Effect Legendary Edition
I'm in such a Star Wars mood right now. Have spent the last week making my way through two thirds of Knights of the Old Republic on my laptop while watching the first two seasons of Clone Wars on my TV, after dragging my family through watching first the original trilogy and then the prequels.
All the while fine-tuning an Edge of the Empire character on the side:
An old B1 battle droid (roger roger) who came out of sleep mode twenty years after the end of the Clone War with standing orders to try to sabotage the Republic command structure if lost behind enemy lines. Which, since the Empire never ceded to Seperatist demands, it has decided means that it's supposed to fight the Empire with every cog in its body.
To Make The Outer Rim Great Again as one tactical droid always put it when rallying the troops back in the day, before it took a lightsaber to the voicebox.
I was recently surprised to realize that a lot of the Rebel Alliance forces and supporters are actually former Seperatist factions. It helps draw a more mature and less melodramatic line of continuity through the two trilogies, and really highlights how Sidious' designs and manipulations screwed everyone over.
The Endor map in the original Battlefront 2 was hell for Imperial players. Ewoks everywhere, are well camouflaged, ragdolled players by tossing rocks like Verlander, infinitely respawn, and deaths don't effect the rebel's ticket count.
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Mass Effect Andromeda, SWTOR, Anthem, Mass Effect Legendary Edition
Rewatching The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, I can't really blame them for having to bring Palpatine back.
Snoke at least had the intimation of being a powerful threat before he showed up dressed like a pimp and died, but Kylo Ren and Armitage Hux? No way I would have spent money to watch any movie where those two sniveling overgrown teenage boys were supposed to constitute the heroes' opposition.
Remember Peter Cushing as Grand Moff Tarkin? How meticulous and efficient he was? How he walked into command centers utterly in control, directing fire with crisp, soft-spoken orders knowing they would be followed to the letter without him having to scream them at the top of his lungs in rage and panic?
Or how Darth Vader's composure never cracked in front of his men even while accepting and punishing their failures with soul-crushing inevitability?
Or Count Dooku? Or even Darth Maul, staying dead silent, priming his rage, while dueling two accomplished Jedi to the death?
I feel like Sideous' first words upon his return should be "Yeah, no, you two whiny prettyboys couldn't organize a kindergarden lunch break. Say hello to the bottom of this reactor shaft while I go find some adults to help me run my empire".
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Mass Effect Andromeda, Mass Effect Legendary Edition Prime Posts: 13152 Posts: 6,272 Likes: 9,372
I take no credit. OCD made me do it. I'd watched everything up to that point, and didn't want to feel like an incomplete, hollowed-out shell for the next six months knowing I hadn't finished what I started. Even watching the sequels beats that.
Frankly, none of the Star Wars movies are master classes in film-making. The originals are dated and dopey and clichéd in the extreme by now, the prequels are terribly paced, full of primitive CGI and even more dopey compounded by Hayden Christensen, and the sequels are empty of narrative tension or logic, and unfortunately won't be able to count on the same nostalgia factor as their predecessors for another decade or so.
But they're all kinda sorta funny, maybe except for the prequels, and each has a few lovable characters that you at least feel vaguely invested in. And the world is the world, which is mostly what I'm here for. Blasters and impossibly cool spaceships with claustrophobic cockpits, and wretched hives of scum and villainy. With perhaps a few too many lightsabers floating around.
I think I like the spinoffs the best. Clone Wars, Solo and Rogue One are all pretty good. More scrappers eking out a living among the stars, less boring space monk vs boring space nazi.