The Good & The Bad: Star Wars (The Sequel Trilogy)

 DISCLAIMER: For better context, click here for Part 2.

So now the time has come to fully review and analyze the ever-controversial Star Wars sequel trilogy…

Once again; let’s just dive right in!

The Force Awakens (2015)

THE GOOD: I really like how this movie utilized that “mask motif,” which is expressed by having Rey, Finn and Kylo all introduced in masks, as a means of symbolizing how they all learn how to be their true selves throughout the film. What makes this even cooler is the fact that this theme is continued throughout the entire trilogy. I also give this film credit for primarily using real sets and practical effects, all of which are accentuated beautifully by the top-notch cinematography. In addition, as much as people complained about it, I actually didn’t mind a lot of the Star Wars 1977 “repeats” (at least the ones that felt meta). Some of the “ideas” behind the new characters were also solid (a Vader poser who needs to learn to be his own kind of villain, a runaway Stormtrooper, etc.), though the execution of these ideas could’ve probably been handled a bit better than it was, admittedly. My favorite thing about the film, however, was the saber fight! It was shot so beautifully, and felt so grounded and elegant. Finally, saber-fighting felt believable again! And no, Rey being as strong as she was there didn’t bother me. As I’ve said before, Luke and Anakin were pretty much Mary Sues themselves. Besides, she had been fighting with a staff all her life on Jakku (probably always using the Force without even realizing it), and the film made it clear that Kylo was both physically and emotionally damaged right before that fight started. Somebody needed to be the Jedi hero of the fight, and it wasn’t going to be Luke, cause that would’ve made him a deus ex machina, and it wasn’t going to be another Jedi either, cause Luke is supposed to be the last one left at this point anyways. I know some people were disappointed that Finn didn’t turn out to actually be a Jedi, but as I said here, that was more of a problem with the marketing of the movie, not the movie itself. They should’ve just marketed Rey with the saber from the very start.

THE BAD: I remember going to see this film on opening night, and the air was fucking electric, which helped me to enjoy it quite a bit upon first viewing. Sadly, I don’t like the movie as much as I used to now. For starters, Poe should’ve died near the beginning of the film, as planned. As great of a character as he is, his extended presence got in the way of Finn’s development for the rest of the trilogy. Also, as mentioned above, the marketing for this movie sucked! Too many mysteries (like trying to hide Rey with the saber), and too much of an emphasis on nostalgia and “We made it exactly like the original trilogy” (Translation: “Please like us again! Please!!”). I understand there was pressure to market it that way, due to all the prequel hate at the time (from idiots like me), but they took it too far in the other direction, sadly. In addition to the marketing, the movie itself also had too many mysteries. A lot of people walked out of this movie thinking they liked it, but that’s only because the movie itself avoided answering so many questions, as a means to not upset people. That may work in the short term, but certainly not in the longterm, and it puts the two sequels to this in a bad spot. I know JJ Abrams loves his “mystery boxes,” but seriously, did Rey’s lineage really need to be one of them?! It felt like they were just trying to come up with a cheap way to set up this trilogy’s equivalent of “I am your father” (when it probably didn’t need one). How hard would it have been to just say right from the start that she was a Skywalker, Solo, Palpatine, Kenobi, etc.? Any of those probably would’ve made her character way more interesting right from the get-go. Better yet; they should’ve just said right from the start that her name was Rey Smith and her parents were some bums named John and Jane Smith and they abandoned her long ago and they don't matter. Make it clear right away that she’s the new hero from a spiritual sense, and not cause of bloodline. That would’ve been great! But instead, she’s nothing more than a walking question mark, set up to have a “twist” that would’ve been dissatisfying no matter what the answer was. That’s actually just one of many examples of how this movie acts as a poor setup for the rest of this trilogy. That fucking idiot Sam Witwer (the guy who voices Maul) blamed Rian Johnson for “ruining Luke,” saying that he “would’ve helped his sister.” If you’re gonna blame a filmmaker for that, don’t blame Rian. Blame JJ. He’s the one who put Luke on that island for no clear reason. First the movie says Luke gave up and “walked away from everything,” but then shows him wearing Jedi robes and standing all elegantly (EDIT: In hindsight, a lot of these problems will become irrelevant with time, as more people continue to grow up seeing this new trilogy as “one big story,” like most fans these days did with the originals). The movie also implies that Luke left behind that map and wanted to be found, when really, that was actually a long-lost ancient map to the Jedi homeworld, where most people suspected Luke to have gone to (he probably used the Force to find that planet, or had a different copy of the map or something). This bit could’ve been explained a bit better. The thing I hate the most about this film though, by far, is the section with the giant octopus creatures. That shit went on for way too long…

The Last Jedi (2017)

THE GOOD: I used to be unsure how to feel about this movie, but it has grown on me a lot recently! I don’t care what anyone says; this is one of the most creatively-inspired films in the entire franchise. The WWII-style opening, the way that wildlife plays a role in all the different subplots, the “three sides to every story” thing with the flashbacks, the design of Crait (and everything that happens there), the throne room fight (it’s just a dance, but it’s so unique that I don’t care), and so on! It’s also just simply my favorite Star Wars film to look at. Every shot feels like a work of art! Like a moving painting, of sorts, and the way the color red is used to tie it all together makes it all even better. This is also the film with the most memorable dialogue (for me, at least), though some of that dialogue does come across as a bit pretentious at times, I’ll admit. That being said, however, I still feel that this is the most thematically-consistent film in the entire series since Star Wars 1977 (read this and get to Part 4 to see why), and works as a standalone, and even as a saga-ending, just as well as it does as a normal sequel. That being said, my absolute favorite thing about this movie is the characters, as I feel they were best developed here (for the most part). I think all the character development actually made up for the fact that the plot didn’t “move forward” all that much (the novelization does an even better job of highlighting this aspect of the story actually!). This is easily the best Leia has ever been (Mary Poppins scene and all). Luke was presented as someone with actual flaws and emotions, which made him feel much more human, and gets to go on a whole new kind of hero’s journey, all in one movie! The new kids, good and evil, all get faced with interesting challenges that force them to have to take a deeper look into themselves. And for the record; yes, I’m glad Snoke got killed one movie ahead of schedule. While I would’ve liked for him to at least have a hint of backstory beforehand, it was pretty obvious even in Awakens that he was just meant to be a plot device for Kylo, and not really an actual character (like Rey).

THE BAD: Now, this movie is basically three stories going on all at once; Rey’s story, Finn’s story and Poe’s story. As stated above, I pretty much liked everything about Rey’s story (except for how the meaning of “balance” keeps changing, much like in the prequels), whereas Finn’s story took some getting used to, but eventually grew on me too (Canto Bight has that wacky, pulpy spirit of 1977). Poe’s story, on the other hand, still doesn't fully work for me to this day (again, read this to see why). Another issue is that this movie can’t seem to decide if it’s for kids or adults (and no, just saying “it’s all ages” doesn't count). The Marvel-ish jokes and the dark moments are fine, when viewed separately, but when you put them together, it creates a weird “disconnect,” of sorts. As much as I love humor, I feel that this story was in a position where it needed to be somewhat “dark,” due to the way everything from Empire to Awakens set things up. So if I were Johnson, I would’ve held back on stuff like the prank call in the intro (supposedly he fought really hard to keep that in the movie though, so good for him for sticking to his guns, I guess!). This next point is a bit of a “cheat,” cause I’m about to say three things all at once: This movie is too little (doesn’t set up IX all that well), too late (trying to stray away from themes established since Empire), and too long. None of those three things bother me, personally (and in some ways, they actually make me like the movie better), but I understand that I’m in the minority there, and that most people would probably be pissed off by any one of those points, let alone all three! I also can’t ignore the fact that this movie asks the audience to “fill in a lot of blanks,” such as continuity issues with Awakens (Hux suddenly looking different and the Resistance suddenly being referred to as Rebels or “the Republic fleet”), Holdo not telling anyone the plan (I like the kamikaze moment, though!), Rose stopping Finn’s sacrifice (kinda contradicts Holdo’s sacrifice), and so on. The last thing I’ll say is that some of the film’s messages might seem pretentious to some (but again, not to me).

The Rise of Skywalker (2019)

THE GOOD: While I think the whole Skywalker Saga/ “trilogy of trilogies” concept is overrated, if we absolutely had to abide by it, then I would say that this film did a fairly decent job at “ending the saga” or whatever. For that angle, bringing back Palpatine makes sense, as it brings things “full circle,” and the way they handled Leia felt tasteful, given the fact that they only had recycled Awakens footage to work with in wake of Carrie Fisher’s untimely passing. I like how they were even able to give her a Jedi past, and explain why she no longer was a Jedi by the time of the sequel trilogy. For those reasons primarily, it seems this film worked well for casual audiences (not critics or diehard fans, though!). I’ll also say that, at least at first, I liked the super-fast pace of the film. It felt like a “victory lap,” of sorts, as if the movie itself was trying to say “Hey, this is the last one, so we’re gonna move fast. At this point, you’re either on board, or you can fuck off!” That being said, this crazy-fast pacing got old, fast. When we got to the second act, I started to have a headache. But it worked in the first act for me, at least. I can also say with confidence that, for the most part, I still thought Kylo and Rey were handled well. The “yin and yang” thing between them was always interesting (the kiss was overkill, though), and I liked Kylo’s redemption involving the Han memory and all. It may sound silly on paper, but Adam Driver was able to somehow act it out in a way that worked beautifully, for me (and he barely even said anything!). Furthermore, like Awakens, this is one of the only films in the whole damn franchise that seems to have a rather consistent tone. What Abrams lacks in originality, he makes up for with tonal consistency. Lastly, I can’t talk about this movie without addressing the elephant in the room; Duel of the Fates (Colin Trevorrow’s canceled version of Episode IX, the script for which leaked last year). Overall, I would say that Skywalker was executed better than Fates, however, Fates had better ideas. It’s a bit of an unfair comparison, though, given the fact that Fates was only ever a first draft (a rough one, at that!) and nothing more.

THE BAD: First of all, I hated how this movie tried to center itself around the idea of Rey, Finn and Poe coming together as a trio for the first and only time ever. I get the appeal of that idea, but in the end, I just feel that it wasn’t truly meant to be (especially since Poe wasn’t supposed to even be there in the first place, as I’ve said earlier). The worst part about this however is the fact that it lead to Rose being sidelined for literally the entire movie. I get that people didn’t like her (and as I’ve admitted in the past, she took a while to grow on me, like the rest of The Last Jedi), but sidelining her like that still felt scummy nonetheless. Furthermore, the idea of Rey being a Palpatine seems cool on paper, but the way it was executed here felt absolutely haphazard and, quite frankly, batshit! Another thing that really pisses me off is all the lore-breaking this movie does. The Death Star II remains make no sense (we saw it blow to smithereens in Return of the Jedi), all of the new Sith stuff came out of nowhere (They have a language now? And assassins?), the whole thing where one Imperial ship needs to guide the rest of the fleet out of that nebula and the map to do that can only be on one ship at a time and… I can go on! And no, I don’t count the kamikaze moment in The Last Jedi as “lore-breaking.” As Finn himself says in this film; “that move was one in a million.” Just because it’s rare doesn’t mean it’s impossible. The remains of the Death Star being almost perfectly intact though? After we saw it blown to oblivion before our very eyes? Even a kid wouldn’t be able to stretch their imagination that far! This movie also just felt way too fan-servicey, with the Reylo kiss being the (rotten) cherry on top, in that regard. Another major gripe of mine is, simply, just the way this movie looks. Abrams drenches the entire movie in this weird blue tint, which I guess was his way of trying to match up to the heavy use of red in The Last Jedi. The thing is that all of the red in Jedi was always contrasted with white and/or black, whereas in Skywalker, it’s just blue on blue on blue (UPDATE: someone pointed out to me recently that all the blue on Exegol vanishes once Palpatine dies, so that makes it a little cooler, I’ll admit).

Okay, I’m finally done! As I said in the beginning of all this, I don’t plan to talk about Star Wars again until after we get through this wave of all these new shows and films they announced last month at that Disney Investor’s Call (unless for some reason I feel the need to talk about it again sooner). I’ll say this, though; of all the new stuff, the project I think I’m most excited for is the anime anthology Visions. I used to laugh at the idea of Star Wars cartoons, back when I was stupid and thought Star Wars was supposed to be serious, but now I realize that the cartoons are actually the best thing about Star Wars! I’m also looking forward to Obi-Wan Kenobi (just for the sake of seeing Ewan and Hayden again) and The Acolyte (since it takes place 50-100 years before all the movies, which in itself is interesting). I also hope that the rumors are true that Taika Waititi’s movie will be about the origins of the Jedi. Furthermore, I hope Rian Johnson’s trilogy still happens (sounds like it won’t though, sadly).

The very last thing I’ll say is this; in case it wasn’t obvious from all these different posts, I like Star Wars better when it’s cheesy instead of serious. Unfortunately, I get the feeling that the future of the franchise will probably go in a pretty serious direction, bar a few exceptions (like Taika’s film, of course!). That being said, no matter what the future holds, one thing cannot be disputed, and that’s that Lucas created an amazing universe here. As much as I rag on the guy sometimes, he really did push both filmmaking and storytelling, and really all of pop culture actually, in a (mostly) better direction, and nobody can ever take that away from him! Hell, even just the words “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away” alone created endless possibilities. I know people have loved to shit on Star Wars since 1999 (and arguably since 1983, or even 1980!), but the fact that we always come back around to it no matter what pretty much says it all, as far as I’m concerned…

Peace!

2023 UPDATE: Wait, wasn’t Padme trying to stop the creation of a Republic army at the beginning of Attack? Yet another subplot in that film that just “fizzles out.” Also, wouldn’t she be pissed at Jar Jar for giving Palpatine emergency powers, in that case? And why does Natalie Portman no longer use the “formal” (British) accent when talking to other government officials in Attack and Revenge? She does it in Phantom…

2023 UPDATE: Funny enough, I used to dislike the first half of The Rise of Skywalker for being too fast, and enjoyed the second half much more, but now I feel the opposite. The fast pace of the first half has grown on me, whereas the second half makes less sense the more I think about it (still some good moments in the second half too, though).

Related: Ranking Repository

The Good & The Bad: Star Wars (Disney Era 1)

 DISCLAIMER: For better context, click here for Part 1.

So, as promised last time, today I will be covering everything Disney has done with Star Wars (films and shows, that is) up until 2020. That being said, I will NOT cover the sequel trilogy films here, as I realize now that I have a lot to say about those, so I’ll cover them in a separate post dedicated specifically to that trilogy instead. 

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s not waste any more time and just dive right in!

Rebels (2014-2018)

THE GOOD: Some people may hate me for saying this, but I actually think that, in some ways, this show handles the whole theme of “family” even better than the movies do. That being said, it’s weird how Ezra and Sabine act like siblings sometimes and then like love interests at other times. Despite this, however, you can really feel the family-like “bond” all these characters share by the end of the show, and it really helps me to like all of them more. I also like how the show has a solid “all ages tone” (for the most part, at least). Furthermore, as much as I enjoy the anthology structure of The Clone Wars, the linear storytelling is refreshing here, as it allows us to grow more with these specific characters. You get to see Ezra grow closer to the wildlife of the galaxy, you get to see Kanan become more confident as a mentor, you get to see his romance with Hera blossom more, you get to see “bitter” characters like Sabine, Zeb and Chopper all lighten up a bit more, and so on. I would also say that the first two seasons are, overall, thematically solid (the “pulpy” feel that makes Star Wars great is still there). The only thing I found off here was how “fire” was used to symbolize both the heroes and the villains. This actually pops up in other Star Wars projects as well, but Rebels especially makes an effort to highlight it. I guess the idea is supposed to be “fight fire with fire,” which is fine, I suppose. I’ll also say that Season 4 is pretty interesting, when viewed as one big, self-contained story. I thought bringing the heroes back to Lothal for that final season created a cool “full circle” effect, and the whole thing with the loth-wolves (and the hyperspace whales coming back) ended up being pretty fascinating, in my opinion!

THE BAD: Season 3 feels very out of place. I’m actually surprised that more people don’t seem to be saying this. Seasons 1 and 2 were super pulpy and fun and episodic. The Season 1 finale was a little more dramatic, but understandably so, and then all of a sudden the Season 2 finale flips everything on it’s head. Why does Star Wars always seem to make this mistake? The original trilogy did it, Rebels did it, and now The Mandalorian seems to be doing it too. I get that’s what people have come to expect out of Star Wars, but doesn't anyone else feel that this creates a very jarring tonal shift? Season 3 feels like a completely different show, and not in a good way! The mood becomes so dreary, and suddenly now there’s an awkward emphasis on boring bloodline drama (particularly with Sabine). I like the “surrogate family” thing, but not the literal family thing, cause it starts to dominate the story too much. Haven’t we learned by now that this doesn't work longterm? “Jaded” Ezra from this season also took some getting used to. Like with Ahsoka, I get the point, but something about the way it was executed felt weird. In addition, most of the antagonists suck. We get not one, but two turncoats, as well as two different Imperial Commander women who feel like the same character. There’s also some overpowered alien assassin who works for Thrawn and has zero charisma (I don’t care that he’s from the books or whatever). And let’s not forget about the Inquisitors, with their helicopter lightsabers and all. I get that this is supposed to be for kids, but I’m pretty sure even a kid would ask “Why don’t the Inquisitors just activate the helicopter mode when fighting the heroes?” Maybe all the Inquisitors see that as cheating? But my biggest gripe of all with this show is The World Between Worlds. What’s that, you may ask? It’s a time machine! Yup, that’s right! Time travel exists in Star Wars now. I get that Dave Filoni wanted to use it to save Ahsoka, as well as tempt Ezra to jump into alternate timelines, but come on! In my opinion, he should’ve saved Ahsoka another way, and created other things to tempt Ezra with. The way I see it, time travel shouldn’t be introduced unless it’s at the core of the story, and even then it can sometimes be stupid.

Rogue One (2016)

THE GOOD: The second and third acts of the story are pretty solid, as is the world-building throughout the entire film (particularly on the planet Jedah). I also enjoy all of the technical aspects of the movie (as in the music, cinematography, planet designs, etc.). The family stuff between Jyn and Galen was nice, as was the moment when Baze calls Jyn his “little sister.” I can tolerate family stuff like that as long as it doesn’t hijack the story too much (like it did with the original trilogy and onward). I’ll also give this film credit for having the ambition to try different things (prologue instead of an opening crawl, everyone dying at the end, etc.).

THE BAD: The first act of this film is all over the place! It gets better on repeat viewings, of course, but man was that first viewing headache-inducing! The third act also feels like a completely different film (but a better one, to be fair). The characters (minus K2SO, of course) are all flat, especially Baze! It took me forever to even remember what his name was! Saw sucked too. Furthermore, the fan service in this movie is pure cringe. The overrated Vader scene, the CGI’d Tarkin and Leia, the recycled Star Wars 1977 footage of the pilots, the awkward R2 & 3PO cameo, the even more awkward cameo from the cantina guys, the zoom-in on the blue milk… You get the idea. My biggest gripe here, however, is the fact that this shouldn’t even really be a movie. In Star Wars 1977, they explain why it’s so easy to blow up the Death Star. The Rebel general says “the empire doesn’t see their exhaust port as a potential weakness.” The Death Star was vulnerable because the imperials were arrogant and naive. They didn’t expect someone strong in the Force like Luke to come along. It’s that simple! There doesn't need to be an entire movie explaining that there was some big internal conspiracy behind it the whole time, and it causes continuity issues with the series anyway (whatever happened to those bugs in Attack that supposedly designed the Death Star?). Not only shouldn't this have been a movie, but it especially shouldn't have been a movie made in between Awakens and Jedi. All that did was confuse people (same with the release placement of Solo). From a business perspective, I get why Disney wanted to introduce people to the idea of “Star Wars movie spinoffs” as early as possible, but I feel doing so (as well as crunching the sequel trilogy down to a four-year schedule instead of the usual six years), was a big mistake, in hindsight. At least now we’re moving into a new era where all of Star Wars seems to be anthological, for the time being.

Solo (2018)

THE GOOD: The thing I love the most about this movie is that it doesn’t try too hard (for the most part), like most Star Wars projects eventually do. Aside from that one cameo at the end (oh, we’ll get there!) this movie basically just tells it’s story, and then fucks off before getting too full of itself. I can respect it for that, and wish other projects (especially Star Wars projects!) would do the same. I also enjoyed all the characters, and felt they were all well-acted. Alden Ehrenreich in particular surprised me! He made Han his own, rather than trying to just do a Harrison Ford impression (as most would). Considering that Han is supposed to be 10-13 years younger here, I thought this worked really well. I also felt this film didn't really conflict with Star Wars 1977 at all. Han’s arc makes sense here, and leads perfectly into his arc in 1977. Here, he becomes emotionally distant and jaded, and then in 1977, he learns to open himself back up to people and ideals. It works. I also really like how this movie actually gave me things I wanted to see! Han meeting Chewy, meeting Lando and getting the Falcon from him, the Jabba set-up… None of it felt too “fan servicey” in the way Rogue One did because those are all the things you'd expect from a Han origin movie anyways. I also thought this movie surprisingly had a lot of imagination. The different world and ship designs were all pretty unique (including the yacht and the “younger” Falcon), and stuff like the train heist and the Kessel Run ended up being way more imaginative than I had expected them to be!

THE BAD: I have to admit that this movie feels less like a movie you'd actually expect to be released in theaters, and more like a 90’s TV movie or something. That’s not a bad thing for me, but I can see it pissing other people off. One thing that caught me off guard at first was that Lando’s personality in this film, like Han’s, is slightly different than in the original trilogy. This grew on me over time, however, as I reminded myself that the character is younger here, so it would make sense for him to be a little different than the Lando we’re familiar with. Also, the messy production of this film seems to have screwed up the lighting. As much as I like this movie, its so dimly-lit that sometimes I can’t even see what the fuck is happening on screen! I’m like 99% sure that all the rushed reshoots had something to do with that. I also thought the three-year gap between the first and second acts was a little too much. I’m pretty sure Han would’ve gotten over Kira, by then. Two years I can see. But three? Nah… But my biggest gripe of all, by far, was that Maul cameo at the end… Like, what the fuck?! Would it have been that hard to just have Kira turn evil on her own accord? That would’ve made her a more interesting character anyways! Maybe she’ll appear that way in a future project? Like Lando or something? Eh, even so, it still wouldn’t fix the way this movie ended. Oh well…

Resistance (2018-2020)

THE GOOD: When I first saw the trailers for this show, I thought I would hate it. Thankfully, the show itself ended up growing on me a lot! It was weird at first how it all took place almost entirely on this one station, The Colossus, but over time, I realized that this was actually part of the show’s charm, as The Colossus eventually started to feel like a character itself (much like how The Falcon feels like a character in the movies). All the different real characters of this show also grew on me, after a while. Additionally, I like how Season 1 is set on a water world. I usually love water worlds (except for the terrible movie Waterworld, of course!). It’s also neat how some of the characters are air pilots that act as “guards” for their world, but also have sky races for fun. That was all something sorta new that I appreciated, and the show itself eventually acknowledged the uniqueness of this when a First Order character tells the Colossus leader “you need real guards, not aces!” (yeah, sure they do!). Another cool thing about this show that shouldn't be overlooked is its unique animation style.

THE BAD: Unfortunately, the first handful of episodes are a bit of a drag (the show’s pacing gets better with time, though). Some aspects of the initial plot also just don’t make much sense. Why hire a pilot to pose as a mechanic? Shouldn't they have hired, gee I don't know, an actual mechanic?! Did I miss something there?! Also, BB-8 is absolutely annoying in this! All of his beeps are recycled from the movies, and when you compare the context of the beeps here to the context of those same beeps in the films, you start to realize that what BB-8 is saying doesn't actually make any sense. I feel like even a kid would pick up on that, after a while. The sound-mixing on BB-8 is also shit. His rolling sounds are so loud that sometimes you can’t even hear what the other characters are saying as they’re walking with him. To be fair, this may have been intentional, cause they almost get caught by some baddies once because of this, but nevertheless, it’s still annoying. The worst thing about BB-8 on this show though is that he eclipses another droid named Bucket. It feels like Bucket was supposed to be “the droid of the show,” and then Disney forced the showrunners to squeeze BB-8 in at the last minute (I wouldn’t be surprised if this is really what happened, actually). Sometimes BB-8 and Bucket have some cute bickering, but it’s not enough to distract from the weirdness of it all. What makes this even weirder is that BB-8 eventually gets switched out for a similar droid named CB-23… So why not just have CB there in the first place? Also, like with Rebels, some of the antagonists here feel like copies of each other. There’s Commander Pyre, who’s basically just a gold Captain Phasma, and there’s also Major Vonreg, who’s just a red Captain Phasma. Lastly, the stakes during most of the first season are pretty low, because it takes place before Awakens, meaning it’s set in a mostly “peaceful” time. I understand why it needed to be this way, but it still sucks out a lot of the tension nonetheless.

The Mandalorian Seasons 1 & 2 (2019, 2020)

THE GOOD: Season 1 was perfectly paced! So was Season 2 (until the finale). I also love the emphasis on the spaghetti western influence, as it helped to make this show feel very “fresh” (that influence seems to be fading from the show now, unfortunately). The Volume (the real-time, scene-projecting dome that was invented specifically for this show) was also a great advancement for filmmaking of all kinds! I also found all of the characters to be terrific, except for one who I can’t mention by name because of spoilers (Season 2 just wrapped up a few weeks ago, at the time of this writing). The show (again, up until the recent finale) was also thematically in-line with Star Wars 1977, in that it felt very pulpy and episodic and fun!

THE BAD: In case it wasn’t obvious yet, I thought the Season 2 finale sucked (read this if you want to know why, but beware of spoilers!). Also, this isn't a complaint against the show itself necessarily, but I absolutely hate how toxic fans have been using the series itself as “ammo” in online conversations, and I feel the show itself has recently started to cave-in to that, and rewarding all the fandom toxicity (again, I can’t say why exactly, because of spoilers). I think it’s also weird how now the show seems to be abandoning it’s episodic/western influences, in favor of a more “trendy” approach (co-creator Dave Filoni himself confirmed that the show will likely become a lot more like Game of Thrones now). There’s also some continuity errors, mainly involving Bo-Katan and the darksaber. I’d say the biggest issue, however (aside from that overrated finale, of course) is that the directing “levels” in Season 1 felt pretty inconsistent. Filoni, who directed two episodes that season, was new to directing live action at the time, and believe me, you could very well tell which episodes were his! Thankfully, however, he’s improved a ton since then, and his episode from Season 2 actually ended up being one of my favorites!

Let’s stop there again for now.

Peace!

Click here for Part 3.

The Good & The Bad: Star Wars (The Lucas Era)

  A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away… 

Where were you when you first saw those words? We all have a unique experience with this beloved franchise created by George Lucas. We all have things we like about each installment, and things we don’t. Today, I’m going to go over how I feel about all of them. Before we get started however, please take into account the following caveats…

First of all; I will NOT be ranking anything, as I want this to be as neutral as possible, to highlight the fact that there are things to like and dislike with each of these, and it’s okay if my opinion differs from yours (take notes, Star Wars fans). That being said, there are obviously some installments that I enjoy more than others, and it’ll probably be obvious which I like more than which. Nothing I can really do about that…

Now, I have a lot to say about Star Wars (couldn’t you tell?), so I narrowed things down to my “top five pros” and “top five cons” for each installment. I will only be touching on canon movies and TV shows. Also, for today, I will only be going over the stuff Lucas himself worked on. I’ll go through everything Disney has done with Star Wars up until 2020 in my next post. Then, in several years from now, I’ll cover everything they announced at their recent Investor’s Call (unless I feel the need to cover any of it sooner).

So with that all out of the way now, let’s get started!

Star Wars (1977)

THE GOOD: For starters, it just “feels” really good. You can really tell every time you watch it that it was just the right movie made at the right time! Furthermore, I love how there’s just so much influence from all different kinds of cultures and mythologies all in one package! On top of that, this movie did so much good for all of the pop culture that came after it. The 80’s and onward wouldn’t have been so exciting had it not been for this film alone. I think it works as well as it does because of all the “breathing room” it had when it was made. There was no lore getting in the way at the time. The last good thing I’ll say about it is this; the action sequences may all be very simple (the saber duel, the trench run, etc.), but I think that simplicity adds to their elegance!

THE BAD: As much as I hate to say it, when I take the nostalgia goggles off, I feel that this movie is a little dated, until you get about halfway through. The trash-compactor sequence that solidifies the dynamic between Luke, Han and Leia helps this movie to cross over into “timeless” status, but up until then, it may be a bit of a weird film for those who didn’t grow up with it (and there’s no guarantee that they’d like the second half, either). Another thing that I hate to admit is that Hamill’s acting is a little flat in this one. I get that he was trying to play the part of an eager teen, but I think he overdid it a little (even for a kids film!). Speaking of Hamill, I’m sorry to say, but Luke is also a bit of a Mary Sue/ Gary Stew. Just because he said he used to “bullseye womprats” doesn’t mean he can all of a sudden be an ace pilot without even trying! Furthermore, Leia is a bit underwritten. She has literally no reaction whatsoever to being tortured, or seeing her home planet blow up. Lastly, it can’t be ignored that this film was clearly made on a tight budget, at a time when film tech itself was limited. I personally enjoy it for that reason, but I can see how it would bother some others.

The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

THE GOOD: I enjoy all of the technical aspects of this film. The music, the worlds, the dialogue, the acting… All of those aspects are pretty much perfect. I also love everything that happens on Dagobah in particular, for the most part. It’s also great how Vader is way scarier this time around. He’s actually probably a little too scary, to the point where it doesn’t fit with his personality in the rest of the trilogy, but it still mostly works. And while I said several posts ago that I felt the saber fight in this film set a bad precedent for the rest of the series, I still feel that the duel itself, when viewed on it’s own, is great! Lastly, I gotta give this film credit for the sheer ambition it had, while still managing to maintain the “pulpy” feel of Star Wars in scenes like the Wampa attack, the asteroid chase, the escape from the worm, the design of Cloud City, etc. I know I dissed the AT-AT battle a while back, but it’s still fun, as long as you shut your brain off for it.

THE BAD: I already wrote a four-part blog post series explaining why I think this film is a little overrated (go read that if you haven’t yet), so I’m not gonna go into too much detail here. To summarize; I think this movie created a strong sense of elitism, both within the fictional universe itself, as well as amongst the fandom. Suddenly, Luke’s only important because of his bloodline, and fans only give a shit about Star Wars now if it has something to do with that. The “twist” (retcon) also screwed up the themes of the franchise longterm. Our fun space opera is also a dreary family soap opera now. The tone of the franchise also became distorted, thanks to this movie. Everything needs to be “dark” now for no reason (“why didn’t Rey lose a hand?!”). The world building of the universe also became screwed up here. Suddenly, Palpatine is the one pulling all the strings (see my link above and get to Part 3 to see why this is bad), and the force is now a physical “cheat code” for everything, starting here. Last but not least… Han and Leia suck in this. Again, see my old posts for details, but… Yeah, they just suck. I don’t care what anyone else says. The nostalgia isn’t fooling me here. And no, Han saying “that bounty hunter we ran into changed my mind” as a quick throwaway line at the beginning of the movie is not an excuse for why all of his character development from the first film has suddenly disappeared (forgot to mention that in my older posts).

Return of the Jedi (1983)

THE GOOD: It’s cool to see Luke “grown” here. He’s really come a long way! That being said, it’s a little jarring how different he is now, all of a sudden, and I think “Super Luke” is a bit overrated. Nonetheless, Hamill acted his heart out here, so good for him! Furthermore, while it makes no sense story-wise, I like how the plan to rescue Han involved each character entering Jabba’s Palace one at a time. It created this cool “we’re getting the band back together” type of effect, which I usually tend to enjoy. Finally seeing Jabba for the first time (I’m not counting special editions here) was also cool. In addition, I also don’t mind Death Star II. It creates a “full circle” feel, and the entire throne room sequence is also pretty great. I think the most important thing that cannot be denied about this movie, however, is the fact that the cast and the crew were basically running on fumes here. The life-size Falcon that was used on the first two films burnt down in an accident (that’s why whenever you see it in full here it’s either a model or a matte painting). Lucas also lost support of the Director’s Guild before making this movie, which forced him to have to settle for working with a play director, and paying out of his own pocket (like he did with Empire). To make matters worse, he also went through a costly divorce before filming began. The fact that this movie was finished on time and came out mostly unscathed is actually something of a miracle…

THE BAD: Thanks to the sudden retcons from Empire, this is the first film in the series to feel like “two movies at once” (something which plagued the rest of the series too, sadly). Han and Leia suck even more now. Especially Leia, since she’s suddenly retconned into being Luke’s sibling, as well as the “other” that Yoda mentioned in Empire, which doesn’t make sense cause then why wouldn’t he have wanted Luke to go try to save her? Ewoks are a cute idea, since they represent how pivotal help can come from the most unexpected of places, but the execution there sucks (that Ewok spinning on the speeder-bike always made me cringe, even when I was a little kid!). The movie itself is also too “conclusive.” The entire plot plays out like a check-off list (rescue Han, visit Yoda, touch base with Kenobi’s ghost, find out who the “other” is, resolve love triangle, etc.), and leaves almost no room for more stories (there’s a reason why both the old EU books and the sequel trilogy ended up being as divisive as they each were)… Oh yeah, and fuck Chewy’s “Tarzan roar.”

The Phantom Menace (1999)

THE GOOD: This is the first Star Wars film I ever saw, so I have a soft spot for it! That being said, I think there are genuinely some good attributes here. Firstly, I like how this movie is mostly self-contained. It’s almost more fun to pretend like this is one of those cheesy standalone TV movies on the SyFy Channel! Also, Qui-Gon is basically a perfect mentor figure! I also like Maul, despite his lack of personality. On top of that, I actually enjoy how this movie basically has four climaxes all going on at once in the final act. As strange as it all was, it added a “big scope” feel, which I tend to enjoy. Last, but most certainly not least, it cannot be ignored how this is the only prequel to be shot on film, and use real sets and locations. Even Coruscant looks cool, thanks to the “grainy” feel that comes with shooting on film.

THE BAD: For starters, the politics are too difficult to understand. There’s a trade embargo on Naboo because… Reasons? A Queen can call for a vote of no confidence on the Chancellor because… More reasons?! You get the idea. Also, the pod race is a cool idea, but the way it plays out in the movie really drags (no pun intended). What makes it even worse is that the 2001 DVD version added a bunch of extra bits to that race, and they’ve remained in every new version of the film since! Furthermore, little kid Anakin makes no sense. Why did Padme show signs of feeling for someone so much younger than her? How and why was his mom a virgin? How and why did he build 3PO? Also, like Luke and Rey, he’s a bit of a Mary Sue too. And no, just saying “he’s the chosen one” isn’t an excuse! That stupid prophecy and the whole midichlorians thing (both introduced in this film) both shrink the universe even more than “I am your father” already did. That all being said, I do feel sorry for Jake Lloyd. He tried his best, and didn’t deserve all the turmoil that came to him as a result of this role. Hopefully his life turns around… Lastly, and I’m sorry to say this but… That lightsaber fight is actually really dumb. It’s nothing more than a dance! I will admit though that I like how the duel itself is “the battle for Anakin’s soul,” since Anakin probably wouldn’t have ever become Vader had Qui-Gon lived to train him instead.

Attack of the Clones (2002)

THE GOOD: As crazy as it sounds, I feel like this is the “pulpiest” one of the entire franchise. All of the designs and basic plot lines feel like something out of John Carter, or even a fairytale, and just look at the title! It doesn’t get any pulpier than that! It’s also the only film in the entire franchise to fully embrace the idea of “auteur theory,” as in the creator just doing whatever they want. Lucas was constrained by limited tech during the making of the original trilogy, and then Phantom had the responsibility of setting the prequel trilogy up, while Revenge had the burden of winding it down. Therefore, this is the only film in the series that Lucas himself has worked on where he could just do whatever his imagination desired, without any limitations whatsoever. It may be the craziest entry, as a result, but there’s something to be said for that! It’s also nice how at least this time around Anakin and Padme feel like they’re around the same age, due to all the time that has passed in-universe, and the actor change for Anakin. Also, I know many people were upset that Boba Fett’s father was retconned into being the template for the clones, who themselves were retconned into being “proto-stormtroopers,” as all this does shrink the universe quite a bit, but it actually grew on me once I learned that Boba was originally going to be a “Stormtrooper Leader” before they made him into a bounty hunter anyways. I’ll also say that the idea of Kenobi having his own detective-style subplot is cool (though it was poorly executed).

THE BAD: This is the only film in the entire franchise with no logical resolution. Think about it! Kenobi follows the bounty hunter who tried to kill Padme, only to find out that he just so happens to be the template for a clone army that was secretly ordered by a Jedi who mysteriously died right around the time Palpatine became Chancellor… And he doesn’t even think twice about it! Dooku even tells him that the Senate is secretly under the control of a Sith Lord… And the Jedi still don’t do anything about it! For those reasons alone, I almost recommend skipping Phantom and Attack when watching these movies and just starting with Revenge. Seriously! Revenge immediately becomes a better movie once you forget that the other two prequels exist, and most of that is Attack’s fault. The romance plot here also sucks. Anakin and Padme haven’t seen each other in a decade, hang out for a few days… And get married, even though it’s illegal for Jedi to fall in love and marry. If that’s the case; shouldn’t all Jedi be tempted towards the dark side by the time they become teens? Is Anakin different just cause he started at age 8 instead of 4 or whatever? On that note; why wasn’t he allowed to visit his mom over the last decade? Would’ve probably helped with all the issues there, wouldn't it? Also, the murder plot sucks! A Sith Lord hires his apprentice to hire a bounty hunter to hire a shapeshifter to hire a robot with some bugs in it… The fuck is that about?! The pacing of this movie is also shit. Dookie (that’s what I’m calling him from now on) is our main villain, and he doesn’t show up until halfway through! I almost feel bad for shitting on this movie so hard, since I loved it when I was a kid, but I can’t help it. I’ll admit though that it’s almost “so bad that it’s good.”

Revenge of the Sith (2005)

THE GOOD: It’s nice how this movie is basically the entire original trilogy backstory, all wrapped into one package! You don’t even really need to see the other two prequels. You can pretty much start here and figure out fairly quickly what’s going on. Somewhat better acting from Hayden Christensen this time around too, and Ewan is great! His “you were the chosen one” line moved me to tears (even though I think the whole “chosen one” thing is stupid). Can’t wait to see more from these two in the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi show. I’ll say that the general plot of this movie is actually fairly decent, on paper. As a matter of fact, the novelization is pretty great, and shows that there actually is a good story buried in here, somewhere. I also must admit that the Yoda vs. Palpatine duel is a guilty pleasure of mine (I hate the Yoda vs. Dookie duel in Attack, though, and equally hate the Palpatine vs. Council duel here). I’ll also admit that it’s cool how the ships and general aesthetics “evolved” over the course of the trilogy, starting with really weird designs in Phantom, and culminating with “original trilogy-like” designs here (the Death Star skeleton was a bit much, though). Even the prophecy “evolved” through Yoda’s line (“misread, could have been”), so that it could apply to Luke and Leia (and by extension, Rey and Ren, or whoever else).

THE BAD: Literally every single line of dialogue uttered by Natalie Portman is pure cringe. Is it the writing? Is it her delivery? Honestly, it’s probably both. You could tell she was really checked out by this point (to be fair, I don’t blame her). The tonal issues are also at their absolute worst here. Most of the movie tries to pass itself off as “dark,” but then subjects us to CGI clones that look so cartoony that, one time, I stumbled upon this movie on TV in the middle of a shot of all clones, and I seriously thought it was an episode of the Clone Wars cartoon. On top of that, the movie throws awkward slapstick at us (mainly from R2), and the ever-inconsistent General Grievous acts scary, but is really a bumbling idiot (was that the point?). Another aspect I hate about this movie is all the memes. Sorry to say, but meme culture is overrated. Mustafar also sucks. I get that this is supposed to be a space fantasy and we’re supposed to stretch our imaginations, but there’s no way even a Jedi would survive five seconds on a planet like that. To that point; the fight between Anakin and Kenobi there is the most overrated thing in this entire franchise. Talk about overdoing it… Last, but most certainly not least, Palpatine’s plan is fucking stupid. I’m not even gonna try to start to explain this! Just go watch the RedLetterMedia review. I may not agree with every single thing they say these days, but they did a good job breaking this whole nonsensical plan down.

The Clone Wars (2008-2014, 2020)

THE GOOD: The best and most important thing about this show is that it captures the pulpy “spirit of adventure” of Star Wars 1977. We’re not dealing with family drama or any of that crap here. We’re visiting new worlds and having fun. We’re doing what we should be doing in the Star Wars universe. The best way this show accomplishes this is by understanding one fundamental thing: the “war” in Star Wars is just supposed to be the backdrop. It’s just a means to an end, to “connect the dots” of the plot together. The best episodes of the show are always the ones that start off with a battle of some kind that results in the heroes getting stranded on a remote world with weird creatures, or something to that effect. Another great thing about the show is the anthology structure. It takes a little getting used to at first, but with time, you realize that Star Wars in general is best told as an anthology anyways. Furthermore, the animation from Season 2 onward is great (and it gets better with each and every season!). Also, as many others have pointed out, this show fixes a ton of issues from the prequel trilogy. Suddenly, the clones feel like real characters, and everything involving them starts to make a little more sense. The best fix though is with Anakin. He becomes a much better character now, thanks to this show! Padme is better here as well. In addition to improved old characters, the new ones introduced by the show are also solid. That being said, I found myself liking Ahsoka less as she became more “jaded.” I get that this was done to show her growth, as well as explain her absence from the future films, though I feel it was a bit overdone. She’s great aside from that, though.

THE BAD: For starters; the theatrically-released film that introduced this series to the world made no sense as a film. As most people know by now, it was originally the first few episodes of the show, stitched together into a movie and released in theaters as a last-minute request from Lucas himself (oh, George!). That being said, once you get passed the fact that it was treated as a “real movie,” it’s not so bad. Moving on; as much as I hate to admit it, the first half of Season 1 kinda sucks. The animation is shit, and half of the music is techno, for some strange reason. Thankfully, the music got better in the second half of Season 1, and by Season 2, the animation had improved as well. That being said, a problem that plagues the entire show is the fact that the politics are just way too complex. It was hard to follow along what was going on from a political perspective most of the time. The fact that the episodes of the first three seasons are all out of order is also annoying (apparently this was also a Lucas thing). The last thing I’ll say here is that sometimes this show just simply tries way too hard to be as “epic” as the movies. The biggest examples of this are the (overrated) Mortis arc in Season 3, and the Yoda arc in Season 6. Also, this is the neither a good or bad point, but it was while watching this show when I realized the way the hologram calls work in this universe seems to be a bit inconsistent, cause sometimes the caller can see what’s around them in the place they’re calling to, and sometimes they can’t. Oh well…

Let’s stop there for now.

Peace!

2023 UPDATE: Wait, wasn’t Padme trying to stop the creation of a Republic army at the beginning of Attack? Yet another subplot in that film that just “fizzles out.” Also, wouldn’t she be pissed at Jar Jar for giving Palpatine emergency powers, in that case? And why does Natalie Portman no longer use the “formal” (British) accent when talking to other government officials in Attack and Revenge? She does it in Phantom…

Click here for Part 2.