Thoughts and Opinions on TROS' Story

You don't even need to cut it from the movie, to be honest. It served the purpose of getting the heroes on board of Ren's star destroyer (though one might argue you could have achieved the same effect using the dagger) and forcing Rey to tap into the dark side. You could have just had the force ghosts appear behind Rey in the final confrontation with Palpatine and have them collectively overpower the Senate. It might have sent a stronger visual image - as films are a visual medium, after all - than merely an assembly of voices urging Rey to rise up.

 

"Sith magic" also known as the force...

 

I thought it was superb. I’ve been a long running critic of the story of the sequels. I’ve had huge concerns about the planning of the story and I still believe they got a lot wrong leading into this film. Wrong in the sense that there wasn’t a coherent narrative running through and that they wrote themselves into a corner.

But I think JJ pulled it off.

The story behind Palpatine’s return just worked. I didn’t think it would, but it did. And not only that, it made sense of so much from previous films. It drew from the lore of the previous films, most strikingly from the tale of Darth Plagueis and brought in all the themes related to that and indeed all the events of the Skywalker story - life creation, cheating death and resurrection. It made enough sense of Snoke, without requiring some huge backstory. It made sense of the Sith rule of two and why Palpatine was always searching for a more powerful apprentice (he would’ve become a part of him or her). And it stayed true to the legacy theme of the Sequel Trilogy whilst offering something new: it doesn’t matter where we come from, what are background is, we can all achieve greatness.

There’s just so much going on. I need a second viewing to actually be more specific about this film. But I think it got the big things right. It made good what was a faltering trilogy and significantly improved the films which led up to it. 9/10.

On a personal note:

ReyLo
Force draining
Force possession
Rey from Imperial background (probably Palpatine in some way)
Darth Plagueis

Nice to have a good percentage of my usually wild theories realised on screen (from a certain point of view)!

 

Also I laughed hard when The Senate said:
dewit
the dark side of the force is a pathway to many abilities some considered to be unnatural
ironic.

Just a big Sheev meme-fest

 

Palpatine's first scene was his best scene in the movie!
He looked like something out of a horror movie.

 

yep was parked next to reys x wing

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amber lighting was on panels before door opens to not so secret chamber in throne room

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And what was the actual point of the knights of ren ?

 

I never bought into the marketing for them. Not for Episode VII. Not for Episode VIII, and certainly not for Episode IX. I was fine with them being scenery grunts, because that's all they ever were for me. You could argue deceptive advertisement, but let's be honest here: they're basically dollar store Nazgûl.

 

First thought, I really need to rewatch it . Overall I liked the movie, story wise, yes in deed it has a lot of fan service, and I have absolutely nothing against it. Loved Luke and Leia training, loved Ben with is father, Rey, Poe and Finn dynamic. If I have to make a criticism, for me the final act, I was hoping for more... it felt short,there was not a eureka moment for me, the voices Rey heard where cool, but maybe having all the force ghosts present would do the trick better, I can't quite explain it yet... but I wanted something more. Overall I liked the movie, it answers all the questions and ticks all the boxes, and for me that is not a bad thing.

 

It felt like they tried to replicate the "I am Iron Man" moment from Endgame and it just came off really really flat.

 

It definitely would, but thanks to Rian and right now also JJ it would also create a problem. We know now that force ghosts can interact with their surroundings like normal people - they can hit living people with force sticks, catch lightsabers, lift vehicles etc. It would be strange if they just appeared to cheer Rey and do nothing really to help her. And if they help her in any real way - it would cause the confusion "why they didn't defeat Palps themselves then anytime they wanted?"

The problem is that there was no grand plan for the entire sequel trilogy written before they started filming. That would give us much more coherent story.

 

I suppose we will find more about them in the Kylo Ren comic series, but their purpose in this one was as another adversary to the redeemed Ben, similar to the Red Guards in TLJ... They were cool as a concept in TFA, but RJ decided not to include them at all in TLJ like they were in some kind of leave or vacation...

They really seemed a little off, but it is mainly RJs fault, not JJs...

 

I thoroughly liked RoS and thought it did a good job tying everything together, both in the ST and for the entire Skywalker Saga overall. Actually, I struggle to see any way one could improve upon the film in that respect; Abrams did a marvelous job in the tying-up-the-ends-in-a-satisfying manner department

Now, Abrams is no film-language genius like Johnson, but MAN did JJ try hard this time around. It is quite possible that this one, from a film making point-of-view, is Abram's best movie to date!

It is well worth remembering that endings/last acts are notoriously difficult to do, and Abrams & Co. certainly did a good job with RoS.

Even if the film had otherwise been bad, which is most certainly was not, for me the whole endeavor would've been well worth it for me because of Leia. By the Whills, did they pull that one off masterfully! Of course, it would've been much better had Carrie been around to reprise the part, but seeing how little Abrams had to work with it is insane how well Leia was pulled off, (even though you can see the cogs and wheels in some of her scenes, especially if you've already seen the TFA deleted scenes before). Thank you, JJ & Co! <3

Billy Dee Williams also did a much better job than I feared. After seeing him bumbling and being confused in interviews, I went into RoS expecting to have to cut the man a lot of slack but he put me right in my place there! Good shot, Lando!

I liked all the main protagonists' arcs and acting, and C-3PO stole the show hard! (I would have loved to see R2-D2 in a larger role as well, but it very much was C-3PO's turn now).

I was surprised by Finn's possible Force Sensitivity, but I guess that was a surface level development attempting to round off his character arc. (That, and Abrams for some reason felt it important to maintain a sort of fake love triangle to hide the Raylo thing, or whatever)7. Personally, I didn't need that, but it is true that the very interesting character concept of Finn has suffered a little in the execution due to the ST struggling with WAY too many main characters to juggle*
*This is a problem I put squarely on Abrams & Kasdan's shoulders. We started out TFA with 6 major legacy characters already in the mix (they only cut out Lando), and then added 6 more. TLJ added only 1 (well, 2 if you count Holdo, but she was written out again in the same film), and that one was very integral to the story (i.e. it was a story-purpose character, not just a cool-concept-that-we-shall-try-to-utilize character). Perhaps there is something in the criticism that the ST could do with some more planning and structuring from the start.

The only thing that bothered me a little in RoS was Babu Frik. I liked his concept, but for some reason it freaked me out that he talked baby-talk. Frik was a friggin toddler! I don't know why that freaked me out so much, and in all likelihood it is my problem much more than the film's.

Finally, I thought the film gelled very well with the rest of the Saga. Admittedly, there wasn't much PT stuff in it but what there was was enough for me. Some of the choices were a little "easy", but that is the nature of the end chapter... You close off and tie together things in the smoothest way you can.

 

Who was Sheev Palpatines child?

 

This was not clear enough to me. I think I missed that part (twice). But maybe was intentional to seems ambiguous.
So, what JJ is trying to tell us is the Palpatine we saw in TROS is a clone with his spirit, that probably some beings with knowledge in sith witchery and sith arts were the responsible to bring him back to life and once his spirit is incorporated again in his clone body he must find another "chosen one" to pass he spirit on (Rey).
If this was the intention I really apreciate the movie a little bit more.

 

One of reys parents I don’t remember it being said tbh

 

That I figured out, was more curious if it was the mother or father. It felt like they werent even related to Palpatine.

 

Kylo Ren mentioned that his mother was the daughter of Vader, while Rey's father was the son of Palpatine when giving her the whole parentage briefing on the star destroyer - so there's your answer. You can also briefly hear Rey's father with a clear, distinct Coruscanti accent.

 

I think that is (at least potentially) correct. Cloning was indicated by the presence of cloning tank Snokes & the mentioning of "dark sciences" (or whatever the wording was), and spirit hopping was explicitly referenced. Also, the thousands of (what I imagine to be) Dark Side Acolytes helped sell Palpatine's return as something that took real and considerable effort. (I.e. he cannot do it again now, even if it was somehow possible to return after being slain by his own sorcery).

I think it all fits rather snugly with Palpatine's hinted at contingency plan(s).

 

Watched last night, for me it´s a ok movie, not better than TFA, but much better than TLJ, the script of this one is crazy, but the action and the adventure of this one makes me pleased.

I need to see again for make a more deep review.

 

Also, from Aftermath, Tashu talks about ancient Sith powers:

"Did you know that Sith Lords could sometimes drain the Force energy from their captives? Siphoning life from them using it to strengthen their connection to the dark side? Extending their own lives, as well, so that they could live for centuries beyond their intended expiration?"

If you consider that along with the idea that the dead Sith reside in the living, then it becomes clear that Plagueis' knowledge would've been passed on to Palpatine. So essentially we're given strong clues that Palpatine could:

- Cheat death or have others help save him
- Create life