Like the Leia getting force powers out of nowhere in space. Sheesh.
“Somehow Palpatine returned”
Comedy gold. Literally in the opening crawl and then some background character was like “I don’t know, dark force powers, cloning or some shit” and that was all we got 🤣
Definitely needed explained better (or at all).
I don’t really mind it as a plot twist, but it shouldn’t have just come out of nowhere. I’m still not clear on exactly what is supposed to have happened there.
Also, there was that weird thing where they announced it in Fortnite, wtf was that about.
I agree that it’s a pretty bad idea to bring back Palpatine, and that the execution of that idea was also really bad, but this idea has been in the Star Wars universe for a long time - in the early 90s the Dark Empire comics were all about a clone of the emperor secretly working to assemble a powerful industrial and military machine in the galactic core, before going on a crusade to restore the galactic empire, with Luke Skywalker as his new enforcer, to replace Dark Vader.
The comics were and are extremely popular and a lot of the sequel movies seem to pull some ideas from them, but never in a way that really makes sense. For example, in Dark Empire, the republic has to deal with a mysterious new military force conducting heavy strip mining of planets long before they know anything of the new imperial threat.
It’s well known (and good) trait of Star Wars movies that they jump straight into the action without too much context, but the writing on episode 9 was so sloppy it feels amateurish. I’m not exaggerating when I say that I believe they could have got a fanfic author to do a better job. Delivering exposition like “somehow, palpatine has returned” directly to the audience is a fucking joke.
To be fair, though, I think the scenes on Exegol pretty much confirm that it was cloning, or some kind of Sith alchemy, and subsequent works (the Mandalorian, for example) are definitely leading in that direction, but that’s a post-hoc explanation for something that already damaged our immersion, not foreshadowing or a further explanation of something that was already plausible but a mystery.
I do think it’s a really good thing to have mystery in Star Wars, not everything needs to be explained and every new story should add new mysteries. I think things being mentioned and not explained (the Clone Wars mentioned in ep 4 being the best example of that, imo) is part of what makes the universe feel vast and real, like it has a full history that you could study for years. So I don’t agree with that “an intriguing story hook is shown and never explored” is always fair criticism. Sometimes it is, but often it’s just a cool mystery that will inevitably be answered in some minor novel or comic a few years later.
Anyways, I’m not saying they should have copied Dark Empire, or demonstrate/explain exactly how Palpatine returned or how he built his fleet. They should have just hinted at it by having the resistance interact with a new military force with a different aesthetic than the New Order. Have Rey bothered by a growing darkness that she assumes is Kylo, but reveal that Kylo had felt it too and doesn’t know what it is. Show the cloning vats and Sith alchemy on Exegol before we know that Palpatine’s back.
Definitely, 100%, don’t announce the twist villain of your movie on Fortnite to generate buzz. Make less money, probably, but a much better movie. I’ve written way too much in this comment, sorry, I’m having an autism/adhd moment
Definitely, 100%, don’t announce the twist villain of your movie on Fortnite to generate buzz. Make less money, probably, but a much better movie. I’ve written way too much in this comment, sorry, I’m having an autism/adhd moment
That is still the stupidest bit of it, it’s not even revealing the twist villain that’s the issue even, like that could have built mystery if it was in the trailers and shit right, it’s using a third party studio to reveal a critical plot point in a media that is pretty young, both in it’s age and audience, and in a game that’s looked down upon by the generation that would probably be the target audience for the reveal
Also it’s time limited so it’s just a matter of time before his reveal becomes lost media, so great thing there too
I agree that it’s a pretty bad idea to bring back Palpatine, and that the execution of that idea was also really bad, but this idea has been in the Star Wars universe for a long time
What’s funny is that I didn’t know about that (I’m a movies only type on SW, never known much about the extended universe), but I actually think it’s fine as an idea. Just needed to be presented better.
I would like, for instance to know how, if at all, Palpatine and Snoke were connected. The sudden loss of Snoke in TLJ really robbed the sequels of their villain far too soon. If he had stuck around to IX, and then was revealed to be a front for Palpatine (with explanation for his survival) that would have worked better.
Still though, I really enjoyed IX, which I know is an unpopular opinion, but after TLJ, it just felt right again, even if lots of it was very silly.
This was honestly so funny, it’s hard to be mad at them for just not even giving a shit. Yeah we could pull an explanation out of our asses that won’t make any sense, or we just throw that libe at people.
Padme dying during labor. In an advanced medical tech universe. And the lamest explanation for it “she’s lost the will to live”…
Well that’s not how girls work and it’s quite a telling the script was written by a bloke.
Never thought of this, you’re not wrong.
On the other side her dying because she lost the will to life… is kind of a good explanation for an unlikely death in such an advanced civilization.
Obviously they could simply keep her alive despite any actual medical condition. So what else could she die of… except for a spiritual (I don’t know a better description) reason.
Kind of a “so bad it’s actually good” explanation.
I know we’re dealing with human aliens, but there is actually a thing called takotsubo cardiomyopathy, also known as “broken heart syndrome”, where your heart weakens as a result of emotional trauma.
It is rarely fatal, but deaths have occurred as a result of it.
“That’s a good question, for another time”
That another time never happened. Sums up the sequel trilogy. Lots of setup, but no payoff.
Any scene with older Anakin and Padme. All those love scenes were just cringe
I like the fan theory that he unknowingly mind tricked her into falling in love with him, because that’s the only explanation for how she could fall in love with someone that makes me want to hide my face in shame out of cringe.
My own head cannon is that she never actually loved him but was convinced by Obi Wan to play the role to perhaps act as a stabilizing influence.
But soon she discovers that her erstwhile side piece is a psychotic man-child with the powers of a minor god. Now things have spiraled out of her control. There’s a legitimate fear that, it rejected, Anakin could become unhinged and lose control.
After a few years in a loveless marriage she found herself pregnant and, like in a lot of actual abusive marriages, latches onto that as a means of preserving a relationship that should have been allowed to mercifully die.
This is the only way I can reconcile the terrible performance from an otherwise exemplary actress. She was playing the part of a woman playing a part.
Having bombing spaceships that bizzarely seem to rely on gravity was a pretty terrible way to open a film.
They weren’t using gravity, they were electromagnetic rails that shot the bombs out of the bay into the enemy ships. I mean it’s still dumb since you could fire them from further away, just not dumb for the gravity reason.
I’m not a 100% sure I understand this. IIRC it was bombing spaceships hovering above a planet dropping bombs into the atmosphere, correct? (Totally possible that I’m misremembering!) In that case using gravity would be absolutely fine.
I could be wrong but I could’ve sworn that while they were fighting above a planet, they were still “dropping” bombs on a ship below them.
So if the rebels have a ship that works only if you happen to be fighting above a planet with a ship below you, that’s even sillier!
