The original and prequel trilogies are worthwhile viewing. The sequel trilogy, however, presents a different case. While George Lucas provided story treatments during the 2012 sale, these were ultimately discarded. The sequels also marked the end of the Expanded Universe, removed from canon to allow creative freedom for filmmakers. Given that the stories deviate significantly from Lucas’s original vision, is there really a compelling reason to watch them?
I would say:
The Force Awakens: Not bad, basically a knock-off of A New Hope story-wise but it feels like Star Wars and is pretty harmless fun.
Rogue One: Probably the best of the Disney Star Wars movies IMO, although it does have a couple of dodgy “bringing back an old actor as CGI” scenes.
The Last Jedi: Lots of people hate this one, I’m slightly more forgiving. I think it tried to do something a bit weird and different, and it didn’t really work. But I do appreciate the effort of not just playing it safe.
Solo: A Star Wars Story: Another one that seems to get a lot of heat, but I thought it was pretty inoffensive. Although my brain did kind of delete most of it as soon as it was over lol.
The Rise of Skywalker: Legitimately one of the worst movies I have ever seen. I can’t even call it a bad movie, because it’s essentially just a random series of Star Wars-themed sounds and images that batter you for what feels to be about a year and a half before it mercifully ends, taking with it any good will towards the franchise you might have had left.
the force awakens
My only issue with TFA isn’t the movie itself. It’s just that it sets up so much good stuff that the rest of the trilogy just doesn’t do fuck all with. There are some really cool story points, some incredible characters, and amazing acting. Then just garbage through the next two.
Rouge One
Yeah this is easily the best star wars movies IMO. It’s hectic, and all over the place, and there’s a ton of characters, then it just all clicks together in the last little bit of the movie. No spoilers or anything but you absolutely need to watch this. I genuinely can’t over recommend this enough, it’s a golden movie. Then go watch Andor, its easily the best Star wars TV and there are a couple scenes id nominate for top 10 TV scenes of all time. It’s the prequel to Rouge One and goes over Cassian Andor (main character in Rouge One) story.
Solo
I actually really enjoyed Solo. Its not super relevant to the greater star wars saga, and its not the most ground breaking piece of cinema ever. But its fun and enjoyable, just go into it with the idea that its “filler content” for the rest of them.
TL:DR I mostly agree with you
For sure. I would say that for me, Rogue One didn’t live up to the hype that it has until that final 20 minutes. The final 20 minutes made it all worth it.
I kind of wish that JJ Abrams did all three films. TLJ really threw away a lot of what was set up in TFA. TROS is basically unforgivable regardless though.
