Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker (2019) ✦ Full-Length Watchalong Reaction
Added 2022-04-13 19:21:48 +0000 UTCHi everyone! Here is the uncut reaction to The Rise of Skywalker! While I still had a few criticisms with this movie, and will discuss them in my YouTube edit, I honestly had a fun time watching this one and I have no problem shouting from the rooftops that it is my favourite of the sequel trilogy. Also, I have now cried in all the final movies of each trilogy, but not any other Star Wars movies. 😂 Episodes 6, 3, and 9 certainly pulled on my heart strings at specific moments. Click here to watch the edited reaction on YouTube with my full thoughts and review at the end. Let me know what you think in the comments below! [Direct link to watchalong here.]
✦ KL
Comments
I really dont like anything about this trilogy. After the first one i thought, yeah that was okay, a bit of a rewind from EP4, but overall something you can work with. Just what i totally couldnt get and made me angry about the first one was the starkiller base. You literally got six movies who all focus on the death star, the ultimate weapon, which took over a decade to build, just to be overshadowed in one movie? And then rey who never wielded a lightsaber was able to beat kylo. Even if he was carried by anger or whatever, in no lifetime he would lose this combat. Nevertheless i was hyped to watch the second one in the theatres and well, that was a clusterfu**. I've never seen so many confused faces in the cinema. Especially luke's scenes. After the second one i really couldnt care less about the last one. Still i went to watch it. I had no expectations at all and was disappointed afterwards. There were already talking about palpatine is back and i thought how the fuck do they bring him back, without even mentioning him in the first two. Yeah ehm, after the intro i knew how the bring him back. They just put a mystery line in the text and tell us somehow palpatine returned. I just thought, how can you fuck this up even more. And then came the talk between kylo and palpatine. Snoke who had been a mystery for two movies, filled endless videos of theories were just explained in the sentence "i made snoke". Yeah, really thanks for that. And the most important question of all, about who are rey's parents are not even answered. We just get to hear that she's palpatine granddaughter, without ever seeing palpatine with or wife or such, but yeah we just need to read a comic to know, thats his clone who is the father. I'm sorry, but you should not have to read a comic book, to answer yourself the most wanted question in a movie series. The three most common questions in the trilogy were, who is snoke, who are rey's parents and who are the knights of ren. Not one of them were answered properly. Well and then we got a bunch of star destroyers who all got a planet killer weapon, overshadowing not only the death star, but also the starkiller base. Its like one generation after the death star, and they already put a death star cannon on a star destroyer. A cannon for which they need to strip almost every temple for kyber crystals to be functional. And then just for palpatine to destroy them himself. At the time when we came to the end and rey's adoptation of the skywalker name, there were just laughter in the cinema, really just laughter. Didnt see one happy face walking out of there. They even made Windu in with all the other jedi's when you know, that Windu would have never supported Rey in any way, especially knowing she was palpatines grand daughter. They didnt give a shit about the old characters, and they knew it and tried to cover it with fan service. I never tell anyone that they should skip movies, everyone should look for themselves, but when people talk about that these movies are getting more hate than they should, i cant let that stand, cause there is a major plot hole or wrong move of character every five minutes. The only good thing about these movies were Kylo Ren, Fynn and Poe and not one of them got the story line they deserved. Even John Boyega was deeply pissed. After the first one he was full hyped. Thats how you fuck up a franchise.
Tax2er
2024-11-18 18:58:59 +0000 UTCMaybe the fandom would have liked it more, if that info would be shared before you see the movie and do not make a nonsense "somehow palpatine returned" thing about it.
Tax2er
2024-11-18 18:17:25 +0000 UTCThanks for more thoughts! I can totally see how you think that.
kaiielle
2022-04-16 07:05:21 +0000 UTCI finished your reaction and look forward to seeing your thoughts in the edited Version! The simplest way I can some up my thoughts on The Rise of Skywalker is that it feels hollow to me. It looks great, has some really great moments, but I just feel no satisfaction towards any characters arc. They fake us out with “Death scenes of main characters” like about 6 times, Chewie, Rey, Kylo 1-3 times, C-3P0 Kinda etc. and then undercut the weight of that character’s lose or sacrifice by just saying oh they are good. That’s one example. I have many more issues but some have spoilers for shows and comics/books so I won’t mention them. Love the reaction though! I do like D-O more now and got to rewatch some great C-3P0 scenes too! Thanks for responding too btw!
Justin
2022-04-16 04:48:47 +0000 UTCNo pressure! You can always wait for the edited version which I hope to have out in a few hours.
kaiielle
2022-04-16 03:05:02 +0000 UTCI said out loud “I love 3-PO so much” and then you said it a second later! 😂. Also this is my least favorite SW movie by FAR and am trying to give it a 4th Chance, will report back 🔜 once I’ve finished the watch along
Justin
2022-04-16 02:50:32 +0000 UTCAgreed about Kaiielle reminding me of some good in this movie in particular. I’ll never get over TLT but I’m a fanboy through and through. Watching these movies again with that “child’s mind” perspective with someone that’s never seen them gives me a new perspective and I love that. Not calling you a child btw Kaiielle, it’s a saying we have as musicians. Always trying to hear the song that we’ve played hundreds of times like the first time we played it.
Absher
2022-04-15 04:52:49 +0000 UTC“Are you a Star Wars fan?” you asked during the movie. That is not for me to answer, that is for you yourself to judge. But yeah, this is a good one, downright tear jerking for me for many reasons, all of them good. Thanks for reminding me of the good of these movies and the good in the fandom. The Force will be with you now… Always.
Matthew Periolat
2022-04-15 02:08:39 +0000 UTCSo much 3PO and it was so good! Thank you!
kaiielle
2022-04-14 03:04:34 +0000 UTCGreat reaction as always. I knew you would enjoy the amount of threepio we got in this one, although a lot of it was more sad then we wanted, but he gave many laughs too. I teared up in the theater when he was "taking one last look at my friends" but I was positive R2 would restore his memory at least some what. I wonder if he left out his god phase from ROTJ. Haha. Yes the pilot you thought was in previous movies was indeed Wedge from the OT. Not sure of anyone pointed that out to yet in a previous comment. Cant wait to watch more Clone Wars with you.
Dan Hughes
2022-04-14 03:01:13 +0000 UTCTY for not spoiling TCW.
kaiielle
2022-04-14 02:35:39 +0000 UTCI wasn't able to get to the theaters for this one the first week, so despite my best efforts to avoid spoilers, The Online Discourse™ had already revealed to me that Papa Palpatine was back. Not that it was that big of a deal since it's in the opening crawl, but that they dropped him in out of the blue in the final movie instead of giving us any clue earlier in the trilogy like in the first two trilogies let me know they had no plan going in. So, I set my expectations to "as long as they don't do Reylo, it'll be fine." Which, not only did they do Reylo (not the worst possible version, to be fair, but Reylo nonetheless), but also another deal-breaker that I hadn't foreseen and won't go into here because it would be a Dinosaur-killing asteroid-sized spoiler for TCW.
Mike Yocom
2022-04-14 02:31:27 +0000 UTCGlad you enjoyed it! Thanks for all your notes and have fun going back to watch the others!
kaiielle
2022-04-14 00:54:47 +0000 UTCI’ll start by saying, this might be my favorite reaction of yours so far. I wrote down my thoughts as I watched so all of my comments are in order with the movie. As you said, it does start way better than TLJ. I’m love how Leia becomes Rey’s teacher. I wish the sequels had explored more with Leia as a Jedi. Luke actually trains her in some books and comics. Carrie Fisher died before this movie was made so her scenes were from deleted content in Force Awakens. I like how JJ brought Kylo’s mask back. The first of a few jabs at TLJ. I also loved the Lando moment when we first see him in the film. He still has a thing for Leia after all these years and who wouldn’t? Haha. Yes to fear of quicksand as a kid and never became a thing lol. That made me laugh. 3PO is very funny in this one and I’m so happy he played a larger role in this film. The 3PO compilation reaction is a great idea, would love to see that! Rey pulling the ship was a little much for me as well. I think you missed when they said there was a second transport ship in the desert, that would have eliminated some confusion. Wasn’t a vision. I love Zorii’s character played by Keri Russell. Wish we’d seen more of her and Babu Frik. Hux only became a spy after TLJ because he hates Kylo so much. I thought that was a little dumb, flawed indeed. I wasn’t in love with Rey being a Palpatine either. Before this movie came out I was sure she was going to be related to Kenobi somehow. You’ve seen a how flirty he was in the Clone Wars movie and without spoiling anything, it doesn’t end there. For some reason when Rey was skimming out to the Death Star I was thinking Cast Away would be a great movie for you to react to (random thought). Speaking of the Death Star, we saw that thing blown into smithereens in ROTJ, not sure how that much of it was left. Kinda dumb IMO. I loved the lightsaber battle on the water, very cool. RIP Leia indeed, the OG bad ass of Star Wars. Chewy’s yell after she passes tears me up every time. Why did Harrison Ford come back? My guess is a massive paycheck and probably some sort of favor was promised. Happy to see Han regardless. Fun fact, D-O was voiced by JJ. Luke saying a Jedi’s weapon deserves more respect is my favorite line in the movie. Another jab at Rian Johnson’s monstrosity of a movie. I loved the scene when Luke pulls his X-Wing out of the water and the music, omg! It gave me chills. The choices at the end of this movie are a little confusing. Really? That many Star Destroyers? That’s just overblown. Same with Uncle Palps force lighting, waaaayyy too much. The movie was doing fine, they didn’t need to go that big. It kinda took me out of it. I didn’t care for the end scene with Rey and Kylo either. The end result was okay but I just didn’t like the way it played out. John Williams knocked it out of the park with the score again and the very end of this movie hit me in the feels. I’m sad that you’re done with the Star Wars movies. I joined your Patron about halfway through so I’m going to go back and watch your full length reactions to the the originals. Thanks again Kaiielle, so much fun!
Absher
2022-04-14 00:52:03 +0000 UTCThis movie received a lot more hate than it deserved. It had the difficult task to end the Skywalker Saga and i think JJ did focus on ending the trilogy on a good place and i think he did ok. Little info on Rey's dad, he is a clone ( with some alterations) of Palpatine that can't use the Force. That is why he never try to transfert himself in his son body like he wanted to do with Rey. Palpatine body in this movie is also a clone ( 1 to 1 copy), he transferred his essence in it when Anakin killed him in ROTJ. That part is not well liked in the SW fandom, but i'm ok with it.
Guiguioh
2022-04-14 00:18:53 +0000 UTC100%
kaiielle
2022-04-13 23:58:54 +0000 UTCRegardless of if people like these movies or not you have to love the surprise at the end. I had no idea the rebellion had an armada of that size 😮😮 Just the logistics it would have taken Lando to summon a fleet of that size is mind boggling.
Anakin Starkiller
2022-04-13 22:11:18 +0000 UTCThanks, me too!
kaiielle
2022-04-13 22:01:34 +0000 UTCSo excited to watch this tonight! So glad you enjoyed it! ☺️
Ana Mendes
2022-04-13 21:56:31 +0000 UTCLooking forward to it!
kaiielle
2022-04-13 21:32:25 +0000 UTCI’m going to grab some popcorn and get into this with you. I’ll be taking notes this time so my comments will relate to yours. Happy you’ve finally finished all 11 movies. Can’t wait to hear your thoughts on Star Wars a a whole. Definitely looking forward to more Clone Wars, Mando and Kenobi.
Absher
2022-04-13 21:06:59 +0000 UTCThanks! Me too.
kaiielle
2022-04-13 20:32:11 +0000 UTCTotally understand that!
kaiielle
2022-04-13 20:32:03 +0000 UTCI’m so glad you enjoyed it!!
juliachristine
2022-04-13 20:07:24 +0000 UTCNot big on this movie didn't like much of it from the start to the cluster that was The Battle of Exegol. It was stated that the shot when the fleet appeared at Exegol was made up of over 16,000 ships with many of these ships being randomly generated while other's were of course pulled from movies such as the N1 Starfighter and the Kom'rk-Class fighter used by Mandalorian's at the time of the Clone Wars which was something I loved. There were 1,080 Sith Star Destroyers known as the Xyston-class Star Destroyer, unfortunately just an upscaled Imperial I-class Star Destroyer model from Rogue One (Same Star Destroyer model from A New Hope, Solo, and Rebels) only with a massive planet killer canon strapped to the underbelly. None of it make any sense and just felt like two massive clusters of fleets with no tactical plan at all. Rogue One achieved an amazing Space Battle with just a few capital ships and that is still one of the best Space Battles to date, wish they had more time on The Battle of Exegol. It's a shame as the concept art depicted such amazing Sith Star Destroyers but because the visual CGI team had far too little time they had to cut so many corners in this final battle. The whole Star Destroyer under the ice of Exegol has been explained in the comic's but it wasn't done well at all and made fans question the whole "Sith" fleet thing even more. Again lack of Worldbuilding and a solid well thought out plan really brought these movie's down for me as all of this could've been explained really well without the need for books and comic's to try and fix the messy plots. Palpatine's return could've been amazing but it was wasted on a single movie when it could've been built up since The Force Awakens along with the Sith Eternal who could've acted as both an ally and a revival to the First Order causing an all out Civil War between the two factions. His return was loosely based on the Star Wars: Dark Empire comic's where Emperor Palpatine was reborn as a younger Clone of himself taking place only 6 years after Return of the Jedi. I enjoy the story but I know many people did not like it for the same reason people dislike his return in Rise of Skywalker but I do think the books do a better job as there able to built it up alot more than a single movie. Overall I'm glad you enjoyed this film I do like the Rey and Kylo moment's but that's really where it ends for me. Thankfully we got Mandalorian and that made me fall in love with Star Wars again while all the Rise of Skywalker stuff was happening.
Isaac
2022-04-13 20:01:36 +0000 UTC
