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Post #1319753

Author
yotsuya
Parent topic
Episode IX: The Rise Of Skywalker - Discussion * SPOILER THREAD *
Link to post in topic
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/1319753/action/topic#1319753
Date created
14-Jan-2020, 4:04 PM

Here’s the thing about these movies. The audience likes them. Not everyone. Not everyone liked the original. But in general, a lot of people loved TROS. There have been lots of emotional reviews on social media. For a lot of people, it was a very emotional and satisfying film. Isn’t that what it is supposed to be? So it isn’t to some people’s liking. You can say that about each of the 9 films. Some are wondering why this one didn’t do as well as TLJ, well, perhaps we should also be asking why ROTJ didn’t do as well as TESB.

Back in 1977, one of the reasons that the first film was a success was that it touched something in viewers. It was faster and more intense than typical films of the day. Even than Lucas’s two previous films. I thought the PT films were too fast and intense. TPM less so and I really enjoyed it the first time I saw it. I have not felt that either TLJ or TROS was too fast and intense. I did feel that about each of the theatrical versions of The Hobbit films. And the original films are full of their own gaffs and plot holes. Most of us ignore them because we love the films. Well, that is how I feel about a lot of the things that were glossed over in TROS. I was satisfied with what the film delivered and I don’t need every single dangling story to be completed. The Sith dagger was obviously made after the Death Star blew up and crashed and recent enough that it was still accurate. Rey recognized the ship because it probably was her parents and the Sith assasin stole it. All these questions have rally easy answers that you can infer from what the movie gives you. But the specific answer isn’t important to the plot. Movies do not have to tie up every loose end. They are a short hand story telling format that often leaves things to the imagination. If we enjoy the story we suspend belief and don’t need the answers. None of these things are key to the main plot of the film.

So I, and many others have found the story to be soundly structured and emotionally satisfying. How they handled Leia was amazing and they gave her a proper sendoff. Palpatine’s return doesn’t really need an explanation beyond what Palapatine offers (mysterious sith abilities). Going into detail about any of these things is a rabbit hole we don’t need to go down. None of the OT films bother to tell us the details of how things work. We never get a breakdown of how the Death Star weapon works. We never get an explanation of how they built a second Death Star in 4 years. We never question the coincidence that brought R2 and Threepio to the very spot on Tatooine that they needed to be. If you put the OT to the same scrutiny you are giving TROS, it will fall apart just as fast. The whole point to Star Wars is that it is supposed to be a cheesy serial where heroes face impossible odds and win only to face the next challenge. Lucas wrapped it in mythology, samurai cinema, and science ficiton and gave the world he created solidity by making it used and battered, but it is still a unique twist on Flash Gordon and I think Abrams and Johnson managed to capture that and create some films that match modern fast paced films. And I don’t think it is coincidence that the way a lot of people are describing TROS makes me think of the Indiana Jones films. That is the same idea except it is set in the past rather than in space. Still a serial. The Bond films are very similar as well. And I found TROS to have more emotional impact than any of those.