POLL: The Sequel Trilogy is complete--what do you think?

I've been purposely staying away from the Cantina since TROS because I wanted to allow some perspective to develop internally. I saw it twice right away, and then took a month off before watching it again.

I rated it very good. Not very good compared to my unrealistic vision of SW developed in my youth, but very good compared to most modern sci-fi action/fantasy flicks.

The acting was good, the writing was OK considering the box they were in from the very beginning... and the overall cinematography and special effects was amazing.

I've rewatched everything in the last 6 months and am able to make the following statements with what I trust to be a clear head. I'm going to go in release order:

ANH - captured me as a kid in the way that nothing else did...excpet for LOTR as a literary experience.

ESB - widely recognized as the greatest SW film, and for good reason

ROTJ - I was getting old enough to scratch my head at some of GL's decisions but still made a lasting positive impression.

Break to discuss impressions now - enjoy the themes and the cultural status these films attained but they were after all space opera adventure films and not high art. Ewoks... FFS!

TPM - It was so awesome to have SW back!

AOTC - A pretty darned good movie up until the droid factory...

ROTS - Best of the ST and it suffered from some of the acting, let's be honest Samuel L Jackson is a BA but not the most convincing Jedi Master and HC just couldn't carry the emotional depth needed to sell the fall of the chosen one.

Impressions now: Groundbreaking sfx that changed the industry, the lows were soooo much lower than any other SW property but the highs hold up well.

TCW - Filoni did a great job, but some of the WWII news reel vibe landed flat.

Rebels - Learned to love it. You really cared about the characters and some great EU material became canon.

TFA - Captured the feel of the OT and the acting was by far the best of any SW. At least JJ was self aware enough to make meta references to the fact that he was recreating ANH.

R1 - fun to watch but lacked some of its emotional punch because it was a prequel.

TLJ - Bold, but I could tell it was going to be divisive

Solo - Fun, not a bad way to spend a couple of hours

Resistance - I tried but it didn't stick

The Mandalorian - This looks like it could be the future of SW storytelling, and I think Disney knows it given the hold on cinema releases.

TROS - Finished it the best they could, acting saved it, there were some unnecessary choices. EG: Snoke clones in a vat was in no way necessary for the story.

Overall, SW suffered too much from its own cultural status. It's really hard to live up to an image that was never real in the first place.

 

I guess @Jayson might say, it's high art well hidden in space opera action films. And he might be right from a certain point of view. I can recommend at least most of his threads.

 

So far we have:

37 positive reactions;
13 averages, and;
13 negatives.

Not so bad for the ST as a whole.

 

Very good. TFA and TLJ are excellent Star Wars movies (the latter, the best since Empire IMO) and TROS, although a step down from the other 2, is still a pretty fun romp due to the acting, visuals, and direction.

 

I AGREE WITH THIS POST COMPLETELY

 

It won't burst. Because they appeal to men and boys, especially since there are so very few role models out there. I remember last year going to the cinema on the Thursday night release of Avengers Endgame and and seeing a guy dressed up like Tony Stark beard, long sleeve t -shirt and that symbol that supposed to represent the device holding his heart in place. And this guy did not look or carry himself like he lived in his mothers basement. I have seen plenty of guys at my gym wearing the Superman S shield or carrying around water bottles with Captain America's symbol on it.

Also one of the cool things about SH films is that you can fit it into any genre. Like how Ant-Man is a heist film. And Captain America: The Winter Soldier is a 70's spy flick or Black Panther is a Shakespearean family drama.

 

I voted very good. I thought 2 of the 3 movies were really good to great, albeit imperfect Star Wars (TFA and TROS). TLJ just did not work for me and was a big disappointment.

The OT had 3 really good to great movies - while ROTJ suffers in comparison to ANH and ESB imo, all 3 movies hold up well after all of these years.

The PT had 1 decent movie (ROTS) and 2 movies that I honestly think are pretty terrible in every respect.

I think R1 was excellent and Solo was vastly underrated and very rewatchable.

 

OT is good
PT has sucky moments but also good
ST- TFA is ok, and I got around the Holdo Manuever, so TLJ is good, but ROS makes no sense. It is fun though.

 

Good trilogy but not the best way to end the saga.

 

As a lifelong fan, it made me very happy!

 

Just okay - not good, not awful, just meh
The sequel trilogy is overshadowed by the previous two. TFA is the best of the three movies and is the one I would watch again and again. TLJ is meh, too many plot twists, some good and some bad. TROS could be far better. It looks like they rushed the end.

 

I found it a great addition to the Star Wars franchise and the Skywalker Saga!

The ST had two "bests" for me, best Star Wars film (TLJ) and best single act (TFA Act 1). Overall, it does not top the OT for me as a trilogy, but it's a solid addition. I can't wait to see what comes next

 

Two of the 3 installments in the Sequel Trilogy - The Rise of Skywalker and The Last Jedi - top my list of favorite Star Wars films, so I am incredibly happy with it overall.

My opinion of The Force Awakens has also been changed by the completion of TLJ and TRoS and the trilogy and Skywalker Saga as a whole.

 

I voted for “very good” –– as far as I’m concerned, it’s pretty much impossible to top the Original Trilogy for me, but the sequels came as close as any Star Wars project ever could to recreating the magic of the original three films. I loved all three.

I wish Lucasfilm would’ve done a better job at developing a clear plan for the entire trilogy from the beginning to create a more cohesive narrative, because The Rise of Skywalker clearly struggled as a result of not having anything like that previously laid out. However, all things considered, I think J.J. did an incredible job at bringing the saga to a close, especially because he had to do it without Carrie Fisher even though she was supposed to be at the forefront of Episode IX.

All that being said, though, I think what’s so great about the sequels, at least for me, is that they reminded me why I love Star Wars. They made me feel like a kid again and I’m not sure anything else will ever make me feel quite like that ever again. I’m 22, so I was born a year before the prequels were released; however, I grew up with the Original Trilogy first. After a few years, I eventually watched the prequels and while I enjoyed them as a kid (and even considered Revenge of the Sith to be my favorite of all the films for years), none of them made me feel the way the originals did. Seeing The Force Awakens brought back that feeling, though, and the fun I had with that movie continued into the next two as well.

At the end of the day, it’s all Star Wars to me and I love all of it. I never thought we’d get to see any of the original heroes back in action again, nor did I think I’d end up falling in love with any of the new characters the way that I did. The Sequel Trilogy has a very special place in my heart, and while it’s not perfect, it was incredibly satisfying for me and I couldn’t be happier that we got three more installments within the Skywalker Saga.

 

I think I just need to watch TROS more times during a long period of time to get used to some ideas that the movie reveals. Planning to watch it with my wife, later on with my daughter while she's growing up and see what she thinks about the 9 movies in a general way.
I'm sure that my daughter will have a different point of view because she will grow up with the 9 movies. I grew up with the CT so in a certain way I created to.much expectation since the prequels time.

For now and I'm sure that the sequels gave us the most beloved characters since the CT, and for that's more important than the story itself.

CT - 10
ST - 9
PT - 5

 

I Voted for Very good.
I love the Sequels. The feeling of the Prequels were so different from what I know from Star Wars. Take Out some Words like Jedi and the Lightsabers and i could be any Sci Fi Universe....but i dont want to rant, i like the Prequels too.

But the Sequels feel like a real contiuation of the same World.
I do not agree with every decision in it. But I love the Characters, the Message the visuals and the love that was put in. Especially in VII and IX.
I used to have some issues with Last Jedi, but it growth with the Time in my opinion (except the Humor) and again after I know what happened after it in IX. The whole Dyad thing is genius and it was started in VIII.

A little Stumbling prevented it from beeing better as the Originals.

If JJ got the same Courage in TFA like in TroS it would be greater.
A little more planning , not just 2 or 3 Character Arcs. But not to much.
And more Backround of what happened between 6 und 7

But overall, I love the Sequels, like I love the Originals

 

I'd originally voted for Excellent, but I think I'd change it to "Very Good" now, or possibly even "Perfectly Fine".

My opinion on TROS has hardened just a little bit- I still enjoy the film, but I think it didn't quite succeed as the final installment of the series. Though my original complaints may have been about scale (something the entire ST suffered from, strangely) I think there's actually more wrong with it than that.

Much as I enjoy it, I'm not entirely sure I think it works as a wrap up to Rey's trilogy, much less for the Skywalker Saga as a whole (especially given Luke's very brief appearance).

So, while I do still definitely enjoy the sequels, I have ways in which I wish they were better.

 

The Sequel Trilogy started out with JJ Abrams trying to make what was essentially a feature-length fan-film and "love letter" to the original, very first Star Wars film from 1977, but the seeds are there for what the trilogy would evolve into with Rian's boundary-pushing second film and JJ's unexpected return for the last film, which is why my opinion on that first movie has changed over time.

I also wanted to point out something that I just realized: the Sequel Trilogy is very similar, structurally, to Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy, with the third film in both trilogies seeming to "ignore" the events of their respective second films while actually building on and doubling down on the events of said second films in ways that are much more focused on character than plot.

The DKT works because it puts the focus on Bruce's emotional journey, and the ST works because it puts the focus on Rey and Ben's emotional journies.

 

That's an interesting point, though both do sort of follow the "dark middle chapter" formula that's pretty common.

But also, you have Movie 1 that encapsulates the "feel" of their respective universes well (the GFFA and Gotham).

Then there's the darker Movie 2, that also features the ideas of a hero's legacy while also showcasing a talent that may overshadow the lead (Ledger in TDK, Hamill or Driver in TLJ).

The final one is the most bombastic, and also perhaps the most picked apart.



Of course, it also kinda goes with my broader theory that people just, by default, tend to be overly harsh on the last chapter of things.