jpcrafton

Quite literally the worst Star Wars project since the Holiday Special. It actively changes the Star Wars universe, the nature of the Force, and all of the canon that has come before. It's straight garbage, written by people with no respect for the franchise, and directed by people with no capability of creating a TV show. It's profoundly senseless.

Poorly written, poorly acted, poorly edited, and poorly paced. The entire show appears to be little more than a vanity project full of self-inserts rather than real characters. The decisions made by the characters don't make sense and break immersion constantly. The concepts introduced seem to be little more than whims, with no reasoning behind them and no explanation as to why they don't line up with franchise canon.

The idea behind the story may be decent, but the writer/showrunner is far too vain and inept to give it a proper attempt.

I really wanted to love this, but it's been difficult. If I were able to let it sweep me up into the story, the world, and the characters, I might like it better. Unfortunately, that's become difficult.

Design choices seem fine, with the exception of some liberties taken by the filmmakers regarding weapons/armor used; however, some of the sets seem expansive and gorgeous while others come off as being just sets - even to the point where some "outdoor" scenes still feel like a soundstage.

Costuming and makeup are all over the place, with cheap wigs in some cases and very realistic wigs in others. Costumes, even for some main characters, seem very low-budget, such as a long-sleeved fabric shirt having "scale mail" armor scales screen-printed on it, or some tunics and cloaks with bad stitching, and most of the costumes seem like they've never even been worn before, much less lived-in. Make-up is just as uneven.

The story, though, is the most difficult for me. As a long-time, avid Tolkien fan, I was hoping they would handle the time compression well, and that they would make good choices when moving characters together into scenes where they really should not be (according to Tolkien lore). Unfortunately, they don't seem to be handling either aspect particularly well. It's almost like they didn't want to be constrained by canon in any way, which really hurts my enjoyment of it.

I understand the idea that adaptations need to stray from canon for various reasons; however, many of these changes defy reason. Along with certain statements made by the filmmakers, I'm not even sure they understand the source material all that well.

This could be a well-done series with more time/effort/budget for the basics, even with the changes from the source material; however, it's not. I can only hope it gets better from this point, but I'm now doubtful of that.

Yet another example of the director's lack of understanding of how to make a good film. Poor pacing, poor editing, odd shot selection, and an inconsistent tone plague this version of the film even more than Batman vs Superman.

Yes, there is new information in this film vs the original. Yes, there are more things to look at. Yes, we're now able to know more about some of the characters than we did in the first version. That's just grand. Even so, this extra stuff doesn't make it a good movie - it just makes it extra.

Even with this director's better understanding of action, the movie is just as boring as the original. With all that action, it's still a slog. Snyder's Justice League feels like nothing more than fan service. It most certainly doesn't feel like a single cohesive movie. It's bloated and slow, with cringeworthy dialogue at times, and simply doesn't satisfy as a film.

This could've been a better movie. It feels like a better movie is in there somewhere.