Zombie Jon Snow said:
AgLaw said:
TCTTS said:
AgLaw said:
Just saw it. Let me start by saying this. I am a massive Star Wars fan. I was six when ANH came out. I had OG figures as a kid. I've seen every movie opening weekend, dating back to 1977. There is not a movie franchise I love more than this.
I loved the characters. I loved the performances (especially Ehenreich and Glover) . I loved the action. As a stabdallne movie, I had fun.
Here's the problem: there was zero originality in this film. The story was a big bag of meh. It had a Phantom Menace/Attack of the Clones feel in the sense that it was two-plus hours of setting up sequels instead of telling a fun story. I felt like they dusted off a B-movie script from the fifties and shoe-horned in a bunch of fanboy SW references (all of which I ate up).
I'll watch it again,, but I'll probabky wait until it's on demand.
I'll give you the originality angle. It didn't feel "fresh," but at the same time, I never expected it to be. It's a movie set in a familiar time in the franchise, starring an extremely familiar character. I don't know why anyone would be going in expecting something "original." The whole point was familiarity (which I admit may have backfired when it came to the box office).
That said, I absolutely do not get your "two plus hours of setting up sequels" comment at all. I literally did not in anyway get that impression save for the last five minutes. To me this was a fun story. One that felt self contained, gave Han a compelling arc, and tied everything up brilliantly. I don't know how it could have been any more of Han Solo spin-off that fully maximized its potential.
You can have originality with familiar characters. See the Christopher Nolan era Batman films or the Daniel Craig Bond films. Just because the characters are known commodities doesn't mean you can't crate something new.
The problem here isn't the characters. The problem is the story. There was nothing new here. The hero with the heart of gold story - this is essentially the same story arc the character takes in ANH.
Here's what we learned: Han is a good guy. Chewy has incredible strength. Both are great pilots. Lando can't be trusted. Welcome to the end of Empire.
Like I said. I'll watch it again. I just wasn't as entertained as I was with Rogue One. This one just seemed too predictable.
If that's all you learned you missed a hell of a lot. did you sleep through it?
I learned:
Han had a rough background
Han was in the military (Empire) and was a deserter
Han had a love interest that drove a lot of his early life
Chewie was tortured and treated like an animal
Chewie stuck with Han because he treated him fairly
Han spoke wookie long before he met Chewie
How Han won the MF - that he initially did not win it actually cuz Lando is a cheater.
How Han accomplished the legendary Kessel run
Han always shot first
etc etc....
I think we learned a lot.
It's a backstory. It's not going to be completely original. but it had a lot for me filling in some blanks and some questions.
And as for characters it had a lot of new ones to fulfill that need - Q'ira, Beckett, L3, Val, Dryden, Enfys. Ok so most of them are dead now. so what... everyone in RO died and I loved it.
It was fun, it added to the overall story, and it was a good action movie. I expected nothing more than that but got a lot more.
All that is the problem. That's not what makes movies interesting. Take all the SW stuff out of this movie - would it still be a good movie? Would it stand on its own merits? I say no.
Do we really need to see every minutia of this character fleshed out? And why are we even doing that? Because we like the character. And why do we like the character? Because they went on fun space adventures with likeable characters. And was this movie a fun space adventure with likeable characters? No. But it could have been, if this movie had focused on being a movie.
Half of this movie was spent on ultimately pointless backstory, and the other half was spent on a boring plot and dull characters. (Granted, the Kessel Run should have great, but Disney somehow made it a boring CGI schizophrenic mess. Lando is an interesting character, but was given little screen time, and Woody's character (who I can't even remember the name of) could have been interesting, but we weren't given any time to spend with him.)
Ultimately this movie was like trying to tell the backstory of Eastwood's Man with No Name. Why even bother? "Oh we need to see how he got to the West and why he smokes cigars!" You'll never make a good movie with that mentality. SW movies are turning into Wookieepedia articles - and that's not a good thing.
Just so y'all know I'm not a complete cynic, take Furiosa from Mad Max: Fury Road. She was a brand new character in an established universe, and it was a fantastic movie. That's how Disney should do it: new characters unencumbered by backstory, with the focus being on telling a story. Because that's why people see movies - to be immersed in the movie's universe via a good plot, characters, and appeal to emotion.