I’ll go first. Mine is that I can’t stand the Deadpool movies. They are self aware and self referential to an obnoxious degree. It’s like being continually reminded that I am in a movie. I swear the success of that movie has directly lead to every blockbuster having to have a joke every 30 seconds
The movie was alright.
“Somehow the emperor returned” was terrible.
Okay. Rise of Skywalker is a walking pile of dog shit that has a wildly inconsistent take on everything. However. I have never had a single problem with that line and I am stunned so many people did. That was a rebel talking to other rebels. Why, exactly, would they know anything about how Palpatine returned? Dude was on a planet out in the middle of uncharted space. I literally cannot think of another way for them to tell each other that Palpatine returned without evoking vague imagery like that. They literally do not know what happened.
It’s not about the line itself, but more the sentiment behind it. The fact that the Emperor is just suddenly back without any buildup or hinting in the previous two movies is the problem.
First time I have ever seen that sentiment shared when people are talking about the line. Everytime it’s always people whining saying the line doesn’t make sense.
It makes sense that the rebels didn’t know about it. It doesn’t make sense that the first the audience hears about it is that line. It feels lazy. They could have mentioned, in an offhand way, that the remnants of the Empire is pursuing cloning tech. Not only would this tie the final trilogy to the second trilogy. (First? Episodes 1-3, anyway) But it would also make that line make way more sense.
As as much as the Thrawn trilogy feels like bad fanfic, it does tie the whole clone wars/rebellion thing together, and features someone who comes back as a clone. I think it would have made a way better trilogy than what we got.
Because it makes zero sense. What possible reason would Palpatine reveal himself. It’s not just against logic, it’s against character. Yes, that particular line was a rebel talking to a rebel, but it shouldn’t have happened at all.
Against character? No. It wasn’t. You can make a lot of fair criticisms but to say that the galaxies biggest narcissist wouldn’t narcissist himself up further and be like GUESS WHAT BITCHES IM BACK? That’s just silly
Darth Sidious spent the first two movies cosplaying a senator. He is the titular Phantom Menace, as in “hidden”. Palplatine would absolutely stay hidden if everyone thought he was dead.
He stayed hidden during that period because it served him. He showed his true colors (literally) in the fight with Windu and dropped all pretense. He didn’t even try anymore in the Senate. Just went full authoritarian and made it all about himself. The next 20 years were no different. Fuck sakes, he was still cosplaying as a senator but openly running around being a Sith and taunting Jedi as seen in the clone wars show.
While he does keep a low profile when needed for his plans, he will kick open the doors and announce his presence when he is confident his plans have gotten to a certain point where he’s sure he cannot be stopped. Saying he would absolutely stay hidden 100% is to ignore a massive amount about the character.
The problem is the movie didn’t show him returning. Instead they’re just like hey Palps is back! With absolutely no lead up or anything. They should have actually shown the message or whatever it was he sent out to get everyone all worked up in the first place. Then that line wouldn’t have sounded so cheap.
I can only speak for myself, but it wasn’t so much the line as the hand-waving that came with it. It was more that I found the line relatable, but you’re right about it being appropriate for the scene.
Because it was just saying out loud what hollywood writers have been doing on movies for a while. “somehow this movie happens. Just pay us.”
All I could think of when he said that was, Princess Bunhead in Thumbwars: “I escaped somehow, let’s go!”