The movie officially opens this Friday, December 20th.

Are you going to see it? I'm going, but not the first weekend. Maybe...

Here is a piece by Steve Rose in The Guardian today:

(some character names are mentioned in the article, along with some outlines, but no actual spoilers are given)

As one of the greatest sagas in cinema history reaches its climax, it’s concerning that Star Wars has lately been generating more drama off screen than on. There’s been the personnel changes (original director Colin Trevorrow left after “creative differences”, prompting the return of JJ Abrams). Then there was the fact that this installment's predecessor, Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi, took the story to surprising new places and left a lot of questions unanswered.

Some fans were left confused; a nastier contingent railed against its so-called “identity politics”. Even some of the actors have admitted their doubts about The Last Jedi – John Boyega recently described it as “feeling a bit iffy”. Add in the fact that this installment has to cap off a 42-year trilogy of trilogies, and that Baby Yoda from spin-off series The Mandalorian has outshone any character in the movies in terms of public affection, and this has more work to do than it ought to.

Given that there is no possible way of pleasing all the people even half the time when it comes to Star Wars, the good news is, The Rise of Skywalker is the send-off the saga deserves. The bad news is, it is largely the send-off we expected. Of course there is epic action to savoir and surprises and spoilers to spill, but given the long, long build-up, some of the saga’s big revelations and developments might be a little unsatisfying on reflection.

We’re given little time to think about that though: the story gets moving quickly and barely pauses for breath. The Resistance gang is all brought together swiftly, including a cut-and-pasted Carrie Fisher, and in short measure they’re off in the Millennium Falcon on a kind of galaxy-trotting treasure-hunt, told in quick, efficient strokes. The central characters – Daisy Ridley’s Rey, Oscar Isaac’s Poe, John Boyega’s Finn, and good old Chewbacca (who gets a bit more to do this time), establish an easy, seriocomic camaraderie that makes you wish they’d spent more time together on screen.

Their whistle-stop tour is fleshed out with action set-pieces, new characters and locations, and plenty of attractive visual detail in the margins. There’s so much plotting and exposition, it feels like two movies condensed into one at times, and there is little downtime in which to really get into any character depth but Abrams’ knack for efficient storytelling and the odd visual flourish carries it along, at least to the half-way point

As for the Dark Side, it is no secret that Ian McDiarmid’s old-school Sith lord Emperor Palpatine is back in the frame, along with Adam Driver’s conflicted Kylo Ren, whose cracked mask hints all too obviously at his bruised inner turmoil. But then Rey has her issues too. She is kind to abused droids and injured snake monsters, but there are question marks over her morality too, as hinted at at in the trailer’s much-discussed inclusion of a “dark Rey”.

Ren and Rey’s mysterious connection has been the most intriguing aspect of the new trilogy. Here, it unfolds in a series of teases and false starts that almost border on wearisome, though there are hints of ambiguity and even eroticism to it. Let’s just hope they don’t turn out to be brother and sister this time. As with the original Star Wars trilogy, there is just enough in this dynamic to muddy up the simplistic good-versus-evil themes, although this latest trilogy has been as much about hope versus fear, which is where it could possibly strike a contemporary chord.

The big questions get answered, but cannot be discussed further, for the time being. Let’s just say some old Star Wars traditions die hard. As do old Star Wars characters. There are so many returning old faces in this movie, you start to wonder if anyone ever actually dies and stays dead in this far-away galaxy. But if you’re going to do a send-off this huge, there are a lot of goodbyes to say, and a lot of loose ends to tie up. The fact that The Rise of Skywalker manages most of them and within a vaguely coherent story is something of an achievement in itself. This vast, hulking Star Destroyer of a franchise has become too cumbersome to pull off any genuinely nimble manoeuvres, but at the same time, it never falls out of the sky. Partly that’s a simple matter of momentum, but it is also a question of faith. Over its long history, Star Wars has acquired a mythic grandeur few movie franchises can ever hope to match.

(Star Wars overview by Steve Rose with comments)

Please, if your comments contain spoilers, mark them as such for others who may not want to read them.

any Stones tunes in the soundtrack?

haha

I'm going tomorrow night...the amount of negative reviews has me worried, but oh well. It's just a movie.

I'm going but I don't know why.

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Bastion
I'm going but I don't know why.

Nice definition of the power of marketing.

Imho the franchise started to smell in 1983 with the "Return Of The Jedi" (awww the Ewoks...) and it's been going downhill ever since.
The 2nd trilogy (1999-??) was complete shite, and the PC-ness of the latest trilogy was the final nail in the coffin for me.
OK "The Empire Strikes Back" is rather nice.

I have my ticket for the 6 PM showing tomorrow night, and I'm looking forward to it. I'm trying to avoid spoilers, but I can't help but hear that early reactions are already mixed. That's too bad.

Someone once observed that it might have been "The Empire Strikes Back" that actually ruined Star Wars, because it made us all think Star Wars was something that it really wasn't.

All I can say is that Episode 9 can't be any worse than the prequels. If this new one is around the level of "Return Of The Jedi" and "The Force Awakens" I think I'll be okay with it.

I too am looking forward to it. Reports of mixed reviews are disappointing, but I’m going with an open mind. I’ve never really listened to other people’s reviews anyway.

Since Thanksgiving I have been watching through all the movies. I haven’t watched the prequels for a long time, so it was interesting to see them again 10 years later. I actually kinda liked episode 1 more than I remembered. Take away Jar Jar and some of the boring political dialogue and it’s alright. Episode 2 was pretty rough, I had to break that up into 2 different nights. Definitely the worst movie for me. Episodes 3-7 are pretty solid, as is Rogue One. The original Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back are flawless, from my certain point of view.

Planning to watch 8 tonight. Haven’t seen it since the movie theater 2 years ago. I’m interested to see if it’s as bad as everyone says.

Movies can be like albums, sometimes they're big hits right out of the box, other times they are egregious blunders. With others it may take time, years of casual viewing (or listening) to warm up to a release. Kind of like a new Stones album, for me sometimes it takes years to really like it, if I can get to that point.

I'm going tomorrow, but my expectations are very low. The Last Jedi killed my enthusiasm for this sequel trilogy. Good thing for The Mandalorian

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spsimmons
I'm going tomorrow, but my expectations are very low. The Last Jedi killed my enthusiasm for this sequel trilogy. Good thing for The Mandalorian

I haven't seen The Mandalorian. Is it animated or real, what can you tell me about it.

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stickyfingers101
any Stones tunes in the soundtrack?

haha

Yeh - Starfu--er!

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The Sicilian

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spsimmons
I'm going tomorrow, but my expectations are very low. The Last Jedi killed my enthusiasm for this sequel trilogy. Good thing for The Mandalorian

I haven't seen The Mandalorian. Is it animated or real, what can you tell me about it.

It's live action, like a movie. It's AWESOME. Takes place after SW6.

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GasLightStreet

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The Sicilian

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spsimmons
I'm going tomorrow, but my expectations are very low. The Last Jedi killed my enthusiasm for this sequel trilogy. Good thing for The Mandalorian

I haven't seen The Mandalorian. Is it animated or real, what can you tell me about it.

It's live action, like a movie. It's AWESOME. Takes place after SW6.

Where can you watch it? Netflix, PPV? Is it a series or one movie?

I saw it yesterday morning and really enjoyed it, I won't cast a critical eye over it until the 2nd or 3rd viewing on Blu-Ray

But I left satisfied and could have easily bought another ticket that afternoon and gone again.

Just let it happen, don't delve too deep and it's a good ride imo

I'd rather drink a Vodka
and listen to Starfoooooker



ROCKMAN

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The Sicilian

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spsimmons

The Mandalorian

Where can you watch it? Netflix, PPV? Is it a series or one movie?

See here: [en.Wikipedia.org] .

ROCKMAN

Just what the world needs, another star wars movie. i will do the same with this movie as i have done with all the rest, avoid it.

how many is that have been made now, do they all have a different story line that keeps the viewer wanting more.

am i missing something.

Just got back from seeing it. I hated The Last Jedi, but thought this one was really good. Color me surprised!

I just got back from seeing it. I'll try not to post any spoilers for The Rise Of Skywalker here.

I liked it, though I can see why some would call it flawed. But let's face it, the story being told in the Skywalker Saga has been convoluted from the beginning. Darth Vader was retconned into Luke's father, and Leia into Luke's sister; ideas that were not there at the beginning. The truth is that they've been making it up as they've been going along for the entire time that they've been making these movies.

People complained that The Force Awakens was too familiar and unoriginal, then they complained that The Last Jedi deviated too far from the established formula. It's tough to write a story that will satisfy all the backseat screenwriter Star Wars fans. I think that The Rise Of Skywalker did about as much as it could have been done to repurpose familiar elements conclude the main saga. Honestly, I would have done more fan service, not less.

It wasn't great or mind-blowing, but it felt like there was more care put into it than carelessness, whatever that means.

Will you guys see it again? What country or city did you see it in?

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The Sicilian
Will you guys see it again? What country or city did you see it in?

Hamilton, Chartwell Mall, Event Cinema's, New Zealand.

we got to see it first because of our time zone a few hours before Australia then as the day shifted the rest of the World in turn.

I'm going to see it again after Christmas sometime, I even went and bought "The Last Jedi" this morning so i can complete the set when "The Rise of Skywalker" is released on BR/DVD

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The Sicilian
Will you guys see it again? What country or city did you see it in?

Atlanta, Georgia here. I will buy it on Blu-ray, but I will probably not see it again at the theater.

The movie was fantastic, seeing it again tomorrow.the best of the saga

.....keep on rolling.....

I enjoyed it very much...as someone who was VERY conflicted about some of the choices made in The Last Jedi, this felt like a necessary course correction.

I'm actually really surprised by the negative critical responses...yes, it's bloated and overstuffed, and some of the choices made that undo TLJ come off as desperate pandering to a spoiled-rotten fanbase of manbabies, but it was still a very satisfying conclusion.

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GasLightStreet

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The Sicilian

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spsimmons
I'm going tomorrow, but my expectations are very low. The Last Jedi killed my enthusiasm for this sequel trilogy. Good thing for The Mandalorian

I haven't seen The Mandalorian. Is it animated or real, what can you tell me about it.

It's live action, like a movie. It's AWESOME. Takes place after SW6.

I'm enjoying The Mandalorian to an extent, but doesn't the plot feel VERY thin? There's just not a lot of substance to it...it feels like a live-action cartoon with very simplistic dialogue and scenarios.

There have been some very fun episodes and some that didn't accomplish anything of note. It feels like people are raving over this show just because it's NOT the new trilogy, which has become consumed by a hateful and toxic fan culture.

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jahisnotdead
I just got back from seeing it. I'll try not to post any spoilers for The Rise Of Skywalker here.

I liked it, though I can see why some would call it flawed. But let's face it, the story being told in the Skywalker Saga has been convoluted from the beginning. Darth Vader was retconned into Luke's father, and Leia into Luke's sister; ideas that were not there at the beginning. The truth is that they've been making it up as they've been going along for the entire time that they've been making these movies.

People complained that The Force Awakens was too familiar and unoriginal, then they complained that The Last Jedi deviated too far from the established formula. It's tough to write a story that will satisfy all the backseat screenwriter Star Wars fans. I think that The Rise Of Skywalker did about as much as it could have been done to repurpose familiar elements conclude the main saga. Honestly, I would have done more fan service, not less.

It wasn't great or mind-blowing, but it felt like there was more care put into it than carelessness, whatever that means.

Good post.

For the record, even though a lot of The Last Jedi didn't work for me, I never threw a tantrum like so many other people that I'm embarrassed to share my fandom with.

Rian Johnson took a big, bold shot with the film, and I applaud him for it. BTW, Knives Out, his latest film, is FANTASTIC. So entertaining and funny, with a killer cast (Christopher Plummer, Daniel Craig, Jamie Lee Curtis, Don Johnson, Ana de Armas, Chris Evans, Toni Collette, Michael Shannon, Jaeden Martell, Lakeith Stansfield). Highly, highly recommended.

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The Sicilian

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GasLightStreet

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The Sicilian

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spsimmons
I'm going tomorrow, but my expectations are very low. The Last Jedi killed my enthusiasm for this sequel trilogy. Good thing for The Mandalorian

I haven't seen The Mandalorian. Is it animated or real, what can you tell me about it.

It's live action, like a movie. It's AWESOME. Takes place after SW6.

Where can you watch it? Netflix, PPV? Is it a series or one movie?

Disney+ is the only place you can watch it.

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keefriff99

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GasLightStreet

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The Sicilian

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spsimmons
I'm going tomorrow, but my expectations are very low. The Last Jedi killed my enthusiasm for this sequel trilogy. Good thing for The Mandalorian

I haven't seen The Mandalorian. Is it animated or real, what can you tell me about it.

It's live action, like a movie. It's AWESOME. Takes place after SW6.

I'm enjoying The Mandalorian to an extent, but doesn't the plot feel VERY thin? There's just not a lot of substance to it...it feels like a live-action cartoon with very simplistic dialogue and scenarios.

There have been some very fun episodes and some that didn't accomplish anything of note. It feels like people are raving over this show just because it's NOT the new trilogy, which has become consumed by a hateful and toxic fan culture.

I've not been able to see all of it. Very sporadic. What I've seen so far I've liked a lot. The "baby Yoda" thing did make me start thinking it's a bit off but who knows. I suppose once I've seen the entire, uh, episodes I'll make a judgement.

I saw THE FORCE AWAKENS twice in theatres and loved it. Got it on Blu-ray and have watched it several times.

Saw THE LAST JEDI once in theatres and thought it was OK, I liked the jarring of the story. I found it funny that serious Star Wars fans were offended.

I certainly thought TFA was way better than TLJ and that Abrams did a fantastic job.

For those that have complained about the arc/story being screwed - Lucas sold it.

Who's the say his ideas fro 7, 8 and 9 would've been any better? THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK was excellent and he let someone else do it. RETURN OF THE JEDI was quite bad. SW1 and 2 were horrendous - all his doing, as I recall. SW3 was deccent and finally gave the story what it needed.

I've seen SW3 several times; SW1 and 2 only a couple of times.

It's difficult to rank them based on my age and original imprint of seeing them in theatres and the excitement of 4 and 5 but I felt that SW7 was actually the best one for a while. But going with a more logical ranking:

5
7
4
3
6
8
1
2