Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)

[Silver Nemesis]

The first trailer:

They're sticking to the same formula as the trailers for Episodes VII and VIII:

•   slow, grandiose rendition of a recognisable theme from the OT, accompanied by a quiet voiceover from Luke which incorporates lines from an earlier film
•   'This Christmas'
•   shot containing the ruins of something recognisable from the old films (in this case the Death Star)
•   close-up shot of damaged Sith mask
•   Kylo Ren with a lightsaber (in a forest again, like the Episode VII trailer)
•   shot of the Millennium Falcon flying as nostalgic music swells
•   shot of an OT character to appeal to older fans (Lando)
•   shot of a cute new character designed to sell toys (D-0)
•   sentimental shot of Leia hugging someone
•   another desert planet
•   Rey swinging a lightsaber

Once again, they're pandering to nostalgia. They even recycled the text from The Phantom Menace trailer.

I was hoping the bad taste left by The Last Jedi might have worn off by now, but the damage was worse than I thought. It breaks my heart to say it, but I've never felt so un-hyped for a Star Wars movie (with the possible exception of Solo). The only remotely intriguing thing in this trailer is the laugh at the end. Other than that, it's just the same old thing.

[Silver Nemesis]

Apparently Ian McDiarmid is returning as Palpatine.

https://twitter.com/jamescdyer/status/1116768667948077056?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1116768667948077056&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcomicbook.com%2Fstarwars%2F2019%2F04%2F12%2Fjj-abrams-confirms-emperor-palpatine-return-star-wars-the-rise-of-skywalker-episode-9%2F

I love Palpatine. He's one of my favourite characters from the Star Wars saga and someone I aspire to be like in real life. But come on – his story ended in Return of the Jedi. Why bring him back? Are they going to bring Anakin back too so he restore balance to the Force again?

It's about time J J Abrams opened that magic box of his. It might contain some original ideas.

[thecolorsblend]

It could be that I'm just a bitter, jaded, cynical jerk. But this is the third time the "saga will end" in my lifetime. I never needed it to come back. But this thing is quickly turning into yet another KISS "farewell" tour.

It could also be that I'm simply not the target audience for these movies. But the poster's companion is the most try-hard teaser trailer in all of history. Man, the teaser was virtually a wishlist of fan service. "Rise Of Skywaler"? Yeesh, that's easy to take out of context. Sure hope this thing isn't rated NC-17, eh?

In the main, it looks like Abrams knows he had his hands tied with this movie and is trying to make the best of it. He needs a lead villain. TLJ killed off his lead villain. So he's going back to the well with Palpatine rather than trying to create a new, different, but otherwise exactly the same lead villain. He can't bring back Han so he brings back Lando. The Force Is Female now so of course we need CGI Leia. Because vagina or something, idk.

I have no more (and no less, to be fair) interest in seeing Episode 9 than I did Episode 8. My enthusiasm for both is about the same as TFA was but I could at least be compelled to see TFA in theaters out of a sense of obligation. The obligation is finished now.

I have no interest in Disney Star Wars.

Sorry to be a broken record.

[The Joker]

It's kinda amusing watching this trailer. I mean, what was one of the main themes of Episode 8 The Last Jedi?

"Let the past die. Kill it if you have to."

Well, well, well. It would appear going off this trailer, much to chagrin of the prior movie, and yet another example of just how incredibly directionless Disney allowed the franchise of Star Wars to become, we're right back to characters/themes of the past being absolute driving focal points for the epic concluding chapter.

Way to go! This fragmented storytelling totally won't be noticeable when watching the Disney SW trilogy! Disjointed? Erratic? Surely you jest!

Oh well. What's done is done. If I have anything positive to say about the trailer, it's that I guess the film itself might be pleasing for those who enjoyed TFA for what it was and disliked TLJ. I don't see JJ Abrams pulling a Rian Johnson and doing something absolutely goofy like killing off a returning Palpatine 5 minutes following his re-introduction or anything like that, but let's be honest, he really should have just directed this entire trilogy. If even just for the sakes of cohesion. For fans who liked both ... in addition to finding the swerves from Episode 8 agreeable, how this is going to come across is anyone's guess.

[The Laughing Fish]

I have no interest in Disney Star Wars.

I'll go one better and say I have no interest in ANYTHING that Hollywood is putting out, at this stage. Except for John Wick 3. Screw everything else.

I haven't watched the trailer for this and I'm not interested in doing so. As far as I'm concerned, the Star Wars saga ended with Return of the Jedi.

[Silver Nemesis]

I have no more (and no less, to be fair) interest in seeing Episode 9 than I did Episode 8. My enthusiasm for both is about the same as TFA was but I could at least be compelled to see TFA in theaters out of a sense of obligation. The obligation is finished now.

I will see it, simply because I've seen every other Star Wars movie on the big screen and I want to observe this new trilogy through to its conclusion. I'm not rooting for the film to fail. I want it to be good. But... well, let's just say my expectations are low. Twice bitten thrice shy.

I think there's a high probability that Anakin/Vader will return in Episode IX. It's the most obvious fan service thing to do, and after the positive response to the Vader scenes in Rogue One it's a no-brainer. It looks like they're going back to the unused concept art from Episode VII, which included an image of the Emperor's throne room submerged beneath an ocean or lake.

Also amongst the unused concept art for Episode VII were some images of Anakin/Vader.

They've brought everyone else back, so why not Vader too? The alternative would be to create an interesting new villain, but we know Abrams isn't capable of doing that (Commander John Harrison says hello). So it makes sense to bring Anakin back. Maybe he's the Skywalker referred to in the title. Maybe Darth Plagueis' ability to manipulate life will be used to resurrect Anakin and Luke, or maybe they'll just appear as Force ghosts. Either way, I'm confident they'll both put in an appearance.

Presumably Snoke was just a puppet controlled by Palpatine. Otherwise how would a character his age have existed during the time of the OT without Palpatine sensing him? So is Palpatine just a disembodied spirit in this movie, like Sauron in The Lord of the Rings? Or has he created a new body for himself like he did in the Dark Empire comics? And if it's Anakin's destiny to destroy Palpatine, will the denouement revolve around a duel between the two of them? They can't just recycle the throne room finale from Episode VI, because they already ripped that off in Episode VIII.

So perhaps they'll rip off the finale of Episode III instead; intercut between Rey fighting Ren (even though she's already gotten the better of him twice in the previous films) and Anakin/Vader and/or Luke fighting Palpatine. Or maybe they'll go the obvious route and have Ren redeem himself like Vader did at the end of Episode VI. Or perhaps Anakin and Luke will channel their Force powers into Rey so she can defeat Palpatine. She's already humiliated Kylo Ren and Luke, so she may as well own the Emperor too.

Whatever they do, it's hard to get excited about this. I can't deny I'm intrigued by the possibility of seeing Anakin and Palpatine on screen again, but I also know the initial thrill of that experience will quickly wear off. And if the whole point of the Sequel Trilogy is to build up to yet another confrontation between Anakin and Palpatine, then why did it need to be made in the first place? Why not accept the ending of Episode VI as the true conclusion?

I know I'm positing a lot of negative stuff right now, but from now on I'm going to try to be positive about this. It can't be worse than Episode VIII. It'll probably be another competently-made but unoriginal nostalgia trip like Episode VII. But you never know. I thought Lucas pulled off a decent recovery with the final entry in the Prequel Trilogy, so perhaps Abrams will surprise us too.

[thecolorsblend]

Resurrecting Vader is the logical thing to do. I don't deny that. But that is the point of no return for me.

It's one thing to say I don't get into this new batch of movies. It's quite another to repudiate the climax of ROTJ by resurrecting Vader. The only freedom Anakin Skywalker ever found was in death. He spent his entire life being a slave to one person or another. His death was sacrificial while also a little selfish. It's powerful.

And it would be totally ruined if he comes back as flesh and blood. I'll allow a ghost. There's precedent for that. But coming back to life? Star Wars truly will be dead if that happens.

I think it says a lot about what Disney REALLY thinks of TLJ that the ROS teaser showed or hinted at so much stuff from The Good Old Days.

[Silver Nemesis]

Disney has just announced a bunch of release dates for upcoming movies, including the next Star Wars trilogy. It seems they'll be releasing a Star Wars film just before Christmas every other year from 2022 onwards.

Source: https://deadline.com/2019/05/star-wars-movies-new-mutants-disney-fox-release-schedule-1202608933/#comments

[thecolorsblend]

In other words, "Let Star Wars die; kill it if you have to".

[Silver Nemesis]