(SPOILER WARNING:  For those who have not seen The Rise of Skywalker, I strongly advise that you stop reading this review.  This review will contain numerous spoilers from the movie.  The rating will be spoiler-free, so skip to the end if you want no spoilers.  You have been warned.)

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away….

Have you ever been told a really good story?  And then, in the middle of the story, the one telling you it suddenly stops.  It may have been a bedtime story from when you were little, or one that a really good friend has told you.  They start telling you the story, and then stop.

After that, for what seems like ages, they finally continue with their story.  As a kid, waiting a whole day to hear the next part may seem like ages.  Or your friend may have been out of town for a while.  When they finally get back, they continue with the story.

You get the point.  This story I’m referring to is a story of good versus evil.  The light side versus the dark side of the Force.  Jedi masters versus Sith lords.  It started in the middle.  It continued with the beginning.  And now, after two years, the story finally comes to an end.  This is the wonderful and amazing story of Star Wars.

And if it’s been a while since you have seen a Star Wars movie, here’s a brief refresher.  Actually, I’m not going to rehash the first six episodes plus the two continuations from four years ago and two years ago.  If you want the refresher, click here to read it from my review of Star Wars: The Force Awakens that I did four years ago.

And after two years, the story ends.  Palpatine has spoken and has threatened revenge on the galaxy from a mysterious broadcast that he sent to it.  Kylo Ren is determined to find Palpatine’s whereabouts kill the one threat that stands in his way.  Rey is continuing her Jedi training while Poe is escaping danger on the Millennium Falcon with Finn, trying to deliver the shocking message of Palpatine’s return.  This is the premise of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the next sequel released by Lucasfilm Ltd. and Walt Disney Studios.

To start things off, Star Wars is an epic space opera centered around a film series created by George Lucas.  From its humble beginnings and phenomenal success, it has become an iconic franchise.  In just the merchandising sector alone, the Star Wars brand is worth more than $60 billion,  with $7.72 billion coming from the eight main films alone.  It is a cultural phenomenon that has started with the first film and has continued to this day.

But with George Lucas selling the franchise to Disney in 2012, a wave of uncertainty has come across many of the fans.  I for one am curious as to what move Disney is going to make.  Where is Disney going to take the franchise?  J.J. Abrams returns as the director of the final Star Wars installment for the Skywalker Saga.  With the way that he handled The Force Awakens with the “mystery box” concept, I felt more reassured about his treatment of this movie.  But how does Abrams handle Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker?  The very last movie in the Skywalker Saga that George Lucas put together 42 years ago?  Is the Force strong with this movie, or has this third and final movie in the new trilogy turned the franchise over to the dark side? Let’s find out.

The movie begins with Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) fighting Alazmec Colonists on Mustafar.  He was after a relic called the wayfinder.  This belonged to the long-deceased Darth Vader, and he was going to get this relic at all costs.

Once he had the wayfinder, it led him to the Exegol System.  He enters a giant cube and takes the elevator down to the bottom.  As he precedes downward, he hears Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) speaking to him.

When Kylo Ren meets Palpatine, he is determined to kill him, as he did with Snoke.  But Palapatine revealed that he created Snoke and that every voice in his head came from him.  He then promises to offer Kylo Ren with everything.  A new empire and a new fleet.  The First Order was only the beginning.  The new Final Order fleet would help Ren in his new campaign to rule the galaxy.  The only thing that Palatine needed to be annihilated was Rey, the very last Jedi in the galaxy.  With that order, he promised Ren that he would rule the galaxy.

Meanwhile, on the Millennium Falcon, ex-stormtrooper Finn (John Boyega) and Resistance fighterpilot Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) engage the Wookiee Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo) in a rousing game of dejarik (a holo-chess game played on a round board).  The team gets a message from a Resistance informant with orders to deliver to Leia (Carrie Fisher).  They insert the message into R2-D2 (Hassan Taj and Lee Towersey) just in the nick of time before they were assaulted by TIE fighters.  Finn destroys most of the fighters and Poe lightspace skipped to escape the squadron.

On the jungle moon of Ajan Kloss,  Rey (Daisy Ridley) meditates, floating in the air with many rocks.  Unable to maintain her composure and balance, she falls to the ground.  Leia then tells her not to give up and that nothing is impossible.  She hands her the Skywalker lightsaber, which she grabs before she takes off running.  She continues her training, knocking away every bolt from her training droid.  A vision begins that was induced by Ren via Vader’s helmet.  This upsets Rey, which causes her to hit BB-8 (Dave Chapman and Brian Herring) by mistake.

Later on, Rey studies holocrons and wayfinders in one of the ancient Jedi books she found at the First Jedi Temple.  The Millennium Falcon returns on fire, due to Poe’s lightspeed skipping.  This angers Rey, since she knows that the Falcon cannot support that.  At a Resistance briefing, Poe delivers the shocking news.  Palpatina has returned, and in 16 hours, attacks on all free worlds would begin.  Palpatine was hiding on Exegol, which C-3PO (Anthony Daniels)  explains that it can’t found on star charts and is known as the Hidden Land of the Sith.  Rey, deep in thought, shows Leia from the Jedi book that she can get to Exegol.  From what she found from Luke, he had searched for and nearly found the mysterious planet.  From what Rey found, she considered a Sith wayfinder to be necessary to find Exegol.  Leia refuses, but Rey insists, arguing that Leia would do the same thing if she was in her place.  With that, the team is sent to the desert of Pasaana, to find her contact that would give her the wayfinder.

And so the mission begins.  Will Rey find the wayfinder?  And what about Kylo Ren, who is seeking Rey’s life?

And what about Palpatine and the Final Order that he has given to Kylo Ren to use at his disposal?  Are all the free planets doomed?  And what was so upsetting about Rey’s vision?  Watch the movie and find out.

In looking at the length of the movie, I thought that it was pretty balanced and well-paced. The typical Star Wars movie is about this length, with the pacing being just right.  The plot progresses at a smooth pace, helping us to take in all the new scenery and characters.  And with the ending of the movie, you know that another story is going to continue beyond the Skywalker Saga.  Star Wars is going to take a hiatus for a few years while they figure out the direction for the new story.  The classic Star Wars score was great to hear again.  After all, it is the same one that scored all the other Star Wars movies.

In looking at the characters, I loved the variety. A number of new characters made a return.  I loved seeing Rey and Chewy from the last movie.  Seeing Leia was again amazing, and RIP Carrie Fisher.  This movie was a tribute to you and you will be missed!  I loved Luke’s role and it was fun seeing more of him.  There was also Finn, Poe, and Rose Tico (Kelly Marie Tran) from the last movie as well.  Maz Kanata (Lupita Nyong’o) also made a cameo appearance.  And let’s not forget the phantom emperor Palpatine, the villain beyond every Star Wars movie in the Skywalker Saga. And how can we forget Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams)?  He was a wonderful surprise and I’m glad that they put him in the movie.

There were also a couple of new characters that were portrayed quite well.  We have Zorii Bliss (Keri Russell), which was a wonderful addition to fill in Poe’s story on Kijimi.  There is also TZ-1719, or Jannah (Naomi Ackie), which was the perfect companion for Finn.  There is also the new droid named D-O (J.J. Abrams).  With the new characters, they’re a wonderful addition to this sequel and I liked the place that each one had in telling this wonderful story.

And what can I say about the nitpicks?  The one thing that I wished was that we had a little more closure.  I felt like they crammed in everything pretty quickly and if they had any cut content, they should’ve kept it in as it would’ve done a better job at closing up the 42-year saga.  And while we’re closing up things, I would like to revise my criticism on The Last Jedi.  I felt that Johnson hurt the movie in the direction that he took it.  With today’s ratings, I would give it a 3 out of 5.  For this current installment, Abrams did a good job at patching things up but having two ruined films in a row should be a wake-up call for Disney.  If you’re going to make a Star Wars movie, take your time and don’t rush production.  Lucas never did and that’s why his films were a phenomenal success.  With those nitpicks aside, I thought that Episode IX was pretty solid overall.

How did Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker do?  Having reviewed the recent box office results, it’s performing below the standards that I expect it to.  To put things into perspective, it’s performing worse than The Last Jedi! Two years ago, that movie grossed $104,684,491 on opening day.  The Rise of Skywalker, however, is falling short at $89,615,288.  The sixth highest opening day total of all time.  On top of that, it grossed $40 million for the Thursday preview. With it currently being the eleventh highest grossing movie of the Star Wars series, I am confident that it will get up there.  Maybe at least secure the number three spot behind The Last Jedi.  In rounding up the numbers from the past trilogy,  Episode I grossed a $64.8 million weekend gross.  Episode II grossed $80 million and Episode III grossed $108.4 million.  For The Last Jedi, the weekend domestic gross is a disappointing $177.3 million, behind The Last Jedi‘s $220 million and The Force Awakens $248 million from four years ago.  The current domestic gross is $177.3 million.  In adding the foreign gross of $198.7 million, the worldwide gross stands at $376 million.  With a production budget of $200 million, it has made more than that in just one weekend alone.  And that’s not even domestically.  It would need another $23 million to make back it’s budget domestically.  This movie has a long ways to go to even reach the top ten.  Casting my few nitpicks aside, I really loved this movie.  I loved the way that it ended.  I only wish that they spend more time on making closure to such a wonderful story that George Lucas began 42 years ago.  The force with this movie is lukewarm, in very much the same way that it was with Rey during the new trilogy.  Her fear kept her moving between Jedi and Sith, and I feel that the performance of this movie at the box office is doing the same.  I still encourage many other others to see this movie, as we all need to see how this story ends.  I can say that there is a big shocking surprise in the movie, and that is enough to make this movie worth seeing.  I would see it again, thus adding $7 more dollars to its total gross.  Star Wars is Lucas’s baby and Disney knows this. They just need to give it the respect that it deserves for a good ending.  And with the franchise in Disney’s hands, I am confident that they will successfully continue the legacy that George Lucas has started, with all the sagas continuing after the Skywalker Saga.  I graciously applaud the finale to the 42-year long saga of Star Wars and I give Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker a 4 out of 5.

(SPOILER WARNING:  For those who have not seen The Last Jedi, I strongly advise that you stop reading this review.  This review will contain numerous spoilers from the movie.  The rating will be spoiler-free, so skip to the end if you want no spoilers.  You have been warned.)

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away….

Have you ever been told a really good story?  And then, in the middle of the story, the one telling you it suddenly stops.  It may have been a bedtime story from when you were little, or one that a really good friend has told you.  They start telling you the story, and then stop.

After that, for what seems like ages, they finally continue with their story.  As a kid, waiting a whole day to hear the next part may seem like ages.  Or your friend may have been out of town for a while.  When they finally get back, they continue with the story.

You get the point.  This story I’m referring to is a story of good versus evil.  The light side versus the dark side of the Force.  Jedi masters versus Sith lords.  It started in the middle.  It continued with the beginning.  And now, after two years, the story finally continues.  This is the wonderful and amazing story of Star Wars.

And if it’s been a while since you have seen a Star Wars movie, here’s a brief refresher.  Actually, I’m not going to rehash the first six episodes plus the continuation from two years ago.  If you want the refresher, click here to read it from my review of Star Wars: The Force Awakens that I did two years ago.

And after two years, the story continues.  Rey has found the whereabouts of Luke Skywalker and is looking for answers.  Hopefully Luke can provide her with them by training her to become a Jedi.  Maybe then the Jedi line would continue and would spell new hope for the galaxy.  This is the premise of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the next sequel released by Lucasfilm Ltd. and Walt Disney Studios.

To start things off, Star Wars is an epic space opera centered around a film series created by George Lucas.  From its humble beginnings and phenomenal success, it has become an iconic franchise.  In just the merchandising sector alone, the Star Wars brand is worth more than $30 billion,  with $6.44 billion coming from the seven films alone.  It is a cultural phenomenon that has started with the first film and has continued to this day.

But with George Lucas selling the franchise to Disney in 2012, a wave of uncertainty has come across many of the fans.  I for one am curious as to what move Disney is going to make.  Where is Disney going to take the franchise?  Rian Johnson is the director of this next Star Wars installment.  How does Johnson handle Star Wars: The Last Jedi?  Is the Force strong with this movie, or has this second movie in the new trilogy turned the franchise over to the dark side? Let’s find out.

The movie begins with the Resistance fighters evacuating their base.  This charge was led by General Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher).  Just after that, a First Order fleet arrives.  After a counterattack led by Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac), the vessels from the Resistance go into hyperspace to escape.  But their escape was cut short when the First Order pursues their whereabouts with a tracking device.

Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) destroys the support fighters from the Resistance, but stays his hand when he spotted the lead Resistance ship.  He hesitates to fire after sensing his mother’s presence.  TIE fighters destroy the bridge of the ship, killing several Resistance leaders and placing General Leia in critical condition.  Following this unfortunate event, Vice Admiral Holdo (Laura Dern) was placed in command to lead in place of Leia.

Poe, Finn (John Boyega), BB-8, and mechanic Rose Tico (Kelly Marie Tran) expressed disapproval of Holdo’s passive strategy, and all began on a secret mission to disable the tracking device.

Meanwhile, Rey (Daisy Ridley) arrives on the remote planet Ahch-To with Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo) and R2-D2 aboard the Millennium Falcon to recruit Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) to the Resistance.  But Luke refused, having experienced the failures of the Jedi.  Rey finally convinces Luke to train her.  He told her that it would only be three lessons.  While Rey is learning from Luke, she begins to hear Kylo Ren and they begin to have conversations with each other.

Will Rey listen to Kylo Ren or will she listen to Luke?  Having seen a similar incident with Anakin Skywalker, Rey is very vulnerable.

And what about Finn and Rose’s secret plan?  Will they succeed in carrying it out?  What will the Resistance do with no new place to hide? Watch the movie and find out.

In looking at the length of the movie, I thought that it was pretty balanced. The typical Star Wars movie is about this length, with the pacing being just right.  The plot progresses at a smooth pace, helping us to take in all the new scenery and characters.  And with the ending of the movie, you know that there’s going to be another Star Wars movie.  Episode IX is slated for release in 2019.  The classic Star Wars score was great to hear again.  After all, it is the same one that scored all the other Star Wars movies.

In looking at the characters, I loved the variety. A number of new characters made a return.  I loved seeing Rey and Chewy from the last movie.  Seeing Leia was again amazing, and RIP Carrie Fisher.  This movie was a tribute to you and you will be missed!  I loved Luke’s role and it was fun seeing more of him.  There was also Finn and Poe from the last movie as well.  Maz Kanata (Lupita Nyong’o) also made a cameo appearance.  And the female stormtrooper Captain Phasma (Gwendoline Christe) also made a return.  And let’s not forget Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis), the leader of the First Order.

There were also a couple of new characters that were portrayed quite well.  We have Rose Tico, which complemented Finn quite nice as her companion.  There is also DJ (Benicio del Toro) which had a very interesting role.  Is he friend or foe?  Or is he both?  Who knows?  The two words that come to mind is “Don’t Join”.  I’ll let you figure out what that means when you see the movie. With the new characters, they’re a wonderful addition to this sequel and I liked the place that each one had in telling this wonderful story.

And what can I say about the nitpicks?  Perhaps the only thing that I would’ve wanted to see was a little more closure with Luke Skywalker.  We get a brief scene at the end.  But maybe make it a little bit longer.  Besides these nitpicks, this movie was brilliant.  The next amazing new chapter in the Star Wars saga.

How did Star Wars: The Last Jedi do?  Having reviewed the recent box office results, it’s doing phenomenal.  While it’s not performing as high as The Force Awakens, it’s still doing pretty well.  This movie grossed $104,684,491 on opening day.  The second highest opening day total of all time.  On top of that, it grossed $45 million for the Thursday preview. With it currently being the seventh highest grossing movie of the Star Wars series, I am confident that it will get up there.  Maybe at least secure the number two spot behind The Force Awakens.  In rounding up the numbers from the past trilogy,  Episode I grossed a $64.8 million weekend gross.  Episode II grossed $80 million and Episode III grossed $108.4 million.  For The Last Jedi, the weekend domestic gross is a staggering $220 million, just behind of The Force Awakens $248 million from two years ago.  The current domestic gross is $278.7 million.  In adding the foreign gross of $295 million, the worldwide gross stands at $573.7 million.  That pales in comparison to the $172.8 million that Revenge of the Sith made six days into its release.  That’s over a $100 million difference between the two domestic totals. With a production budget of $200 million, it has made more than that in just one weekend alone.  And that’s just domestically.  This movie is well on it’s way to cracking the top ten, and could reach near the $1 billion mark by this weekend.  Casting my few nitpicks aside, I really loved this movie.  I loved the continuation of the story and how it defied my expectations.  Johnson did pretty good with this movie.  He nailed it.  The force is strong with this movie, and it’s about to get stronger as many other others continue to see this movie. I would see it again, thus adding $7 more dollars to its total gross.  Star Wars is Lucas’s baby and Disney knows this. And with the franchise in Disney’s hands, I am confident that they will successfully continue the legacy that George Lucas has started.  I eagerly await the wonderful finale with Episode IX and I give Star Wars: The Last Jedi a 5 out of 5.

(SPOILER WARNING:  For those who have not seen Rogue One, I strongly advise that you stop reading this review.  This review will contain numerous spoilers from the movie.  The rating will be spoiler-free, so skip to the end if you want no spoilers.  You have been warned.)

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away….

Have you ever been told a really good story?  And then, in the middle of the story, the one telling you it suddenly stops.  It may have been a bedtime story from when you were little, or one that a really good friend has told you.  They start telling you the story, and then stop.

After that, for what seems like ages, they finally continue with their story.  As a kid, waiting a whole day to hear the next part may seem like ages.  Or your friend may have been out of town for a while.  When they finally get back, they continue with the story.

You get the point.  This story I’m referring to is a story of good versus evil.  The light side versus the dark side of the Force.  Jedi masters versus Sith lords.  It started in the middle.  It continued with the beginning.  And now, after 30 years, the story finally continues.  This is the wonderful and amazing story of Star Wars.

And if it’s been a while since you have seen a Star Wars movie, here’s a brief refresher.  Okay.  It’s really not that brief.  For the actual review, skip down past the recap.

On the desert planet of Tatooine, a pregnant Shmi Skywalker gives birth to a boy named Anakin.  Having no father, Anakin was believed to be conceived by the will of the Force.  Years later, excessive taxation for the trade routes around the outlying star systems has the Galactic Republic in an uproar.  With this in mind, two Jedi knights were dispatched to settle the conflict. Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his Padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi.  Darth Sidious, the Sith lord wanted them killed when they reached Naboo, but they escaped from his clutches.

After taking off, their attackers pursued them, and damaged their ship’s hyperdrive.  They landed on Tatooine, needing a replacement part before they could leave.  And…let’s cut to the chase.  They meet Anakin, they enter a pod race, Anakin wins and they get the money for their ship part and to buy Anakin’s freedom from being a Toydarian junkyard slave.  Anakin wants to go with the two Jedi knights and the Queen of Naboo’s assistant.  Later, we find that the assistant was the queen in hiding.  With Darth Sidious’s apprentice, Darth Maul tasked to capture the queen and kill the Jedi, he was hot on their tail.  They escape with the queen.

In the end, Anakin destroys the droid control ship and Obi-Wan defeats Darth Maul.  Qui-Gon Jinn tells Obi-Wan to train Anakin to become a Jedi.

Episode II has more of this, with it mainly being a love story between Anakin and Padme Amidala.  Shmi is killed and it makes Anakin angry, slaughtering a whole Tusken community.  Men, women and children.  Anakin and Padme rescue their friends on Geonosis.  The droid army fights the Jedis, and the clone army cleans out the droids.  Count Dooku fights Yoda, but was unsuccessful in besting him. The Jedis hear the shocking news about Darth Sidious controlling the Senate.  Anakin and Padme have a secret wedding on Naboo, with C-3PO and R2-D2 as the only ones present.

Episode III takes a turn for the worse.  The Galactic Republic becomes the Galactic Empire.  With Anakin being enticed by Senator Palpatine, he begins the gradual turning away from his Jedi ways to the dark side, and becoming a Sith.  He kills all the Padawan learners in the Jedi temple and is given the title “Darth Vader”.  On Mustafar, Obi-Wan does battle with Darth Vader, his very pupil twisted by the dark side.  Vader is badly injured by the fire, burning up along the shore.  Padme dies in childbirth, giving birth to twins.  She names them both before she dies.  Luke was the first one and Leia was the second one.  Both of the children were separated.  Leia was taken to Alderaan and Luke was taken to Tatooine. Darth Vader was rescued by Darth Sidious and was placed in black armor, with a face mask and helmet to match.  The saga begins.

IV, V and VI are straightforward.  In IV, The rebel alliance find hope through Obi-Wan Kenobi, who trains Luke Skywalker to become a Jedi.  After fighting Darth Vader, Obi-Wan dies.  Luke uses a rebel X-Wing fighter to blast a proton torpedo into a small exhaust port leading to the Death Star’s reactor. In V, Luke trains under Master Yoda in the Dagobah system to become a Jedi.  He leaves without finishing his training, since he sensed that his friends were in danger.  Luke flies to Cloud City and Han Solo gets frozen in Carbonite.  Luke does battle with Darth Vader and discovers a chilling secret: Vader is his father.  Luke loses a hand and manages to escape, and is rescued by his friends on the Millennium Falcon, thanks to Leia being able to sense Luke being in danger.  In VI, Luke leads a rescue effort on Tatooine to rescue Han Solo from Jabba the Hutt.  Han is unfrozen and they escape. Leia is also rescued in the process.  Luke returns to Dagobah with a dying Yoda telling him that no further training is needed and that “there is another Skywalker”.  With another Death Star under construction, they travel to the shield generator on the forest moon of Endor to deactivate it.  The rebel group is captured by Ewoks and C-3PO shows off his divine powers, thanks to Luke’s use of the Force.  With C-3PO sharing the story, they agree to fight the empire.  Luke is apprehended by the Empire and enticed by Darth Sidious to join the dark side.  The rebels begin their fight against the stormtroopers and disabling the shield generator.  Luke resists the Emperor and Vader saves his son.  Just before the finishing bolts are delivered, Vader lifts up the Emperor and throws him into the Death Star’s power core/reactor shaft.  Luke has a nice father-son chat with Anakin before he dies. The Millennium Falcon destroys the Death Star’s main reactor and Luke escapes.  The Empire has fallen.  The entire Galaxy celebrates the victory.

So there’s the refresher.  And after 30 years, the story continues…or does it?  This is already been visited with The Force Awakens.  This time, we’re taking a trip back in time.  After the events of Revenge of the Sith but before A New Hope.  Why are we traveling back in time?  An important plot element has to be explained.  The Rebels had access to the plans of the Death Star.  But where did they get those plans?  How did they acquire them?  This is the premise of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, another prequel released by Lucasfilm Ltd. and Walt Disney Studios.

To start things off, Star Wars is an epic space opera centered around a film series created by George Lucas.  From its humble beginnings and phenomenal success, it has become an iconic franchise.  In just the merchandising sector alone, the Star Wars brand is worth more than $30 billion,  with $4.38 billion coming from the six films alone.  And an additional $2.07 billion made from The Force Awakens just a year ago.  With a combined film gross of nearly $6.5 billion, It is a cultural phenomenon that has started with the first film and has continued to this day.

With J.J Abrams treatment of The Force Awakens, we know that he was spot on in nailing all the key elements that everyone really loves about the Star Wars franchise.  Disney can make a Star Wars movie, and they more than proved it last year.  With Rogue One, however, we’re going in a totally different direction.  We have Gareth Edwards who is directing this project.  Known for directing the 2014 reboot of Godzilla, he has one good movie under his belt.  But for Star Wars, you want to be very careful.  With a rookie like him, how does Edwards manage with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story?  Do we see a wonderful addition to the plot of the movie, or is this side story just a big waste of time and investment for Disney? Let’s find out.

The movie begins with imperial ships touching down on the planet of Lah’mu.  The ships are there to apprehend Galen Erso (Mad Mikkelsen), a research scientist.  He has stopped working on the unfinished Death Star project and imperial weapons developer Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) wants him to continue on it.

Galen refuses and is captured by Krennic and the imperials.  Galen’s wife Lyra Erso (Valene Kane) is killed and their daughter Jyn (Beau Gadsdon) escapes.

Moments later, she is taken to safety by rebel extremist Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker).

Fifteen years later, Bodhi Rook (Riz Ahmed) defects from the Empire.  During this time, Jyn (Felicity Jones) is freed from Imperial captivity by the Rebels, who planned to use her to track down Galen Erso, her father. In spite of this, General Draven (Alitair Petrie) wants Rebel intelligence officer Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) to kill Galen instead of capturing him.

Jyn, Andor, and his droid K-2SO travel to Jedha, where the Empire is mining Kyber crystals to power the Death Star.  While they’re doing this, Gerrera and his team are engaged in combat against them.  With the help of blind warrior Chirrut Imwe (Donnie Yen) and mercenary Baze Malbus (Jiang Wen), Jyn contacts Gerrera, who is holding Rook captive.  Gerrera shows Jyn the hologram, in which Galen explains that he covertly compromised the Death Star’s reactor design, directing them to find the plans at an Imperial high-security data bank on the planet Scarif.

With this knowledge, the Death Star plans are ripe for the taking.  Will Jyn be able to reach Scarif and recover the plans?  Or will the Empire shut down their plan before it even happens?  And what is Rogue One and how is this team formed?  Will there be a “New Hope” for the galaxy? Watch the movie and find out.

In looking at the length of the movie, I thought that it was pretty balanced. The typical Star Wars movie is about this length, with the pacing being just right.  The plot progresses at a smooth pace, helping us to take in all the new scenery and characters.  And with the ending of the movie, you know how well it connects to Episode IV: A New Hope.  Episode VIII is slated for release in 2017.  The classic Star Wars score was great to hear again.  After all, it is the same one that scored all the other Star Wars movies.

In looking at the characters, I loved the new characters and the old cameos.  The old characters were just cameos and we got enough screen time to get to know the new characters.  I loved the cameos for C-3PO and Princess Leia.  Darth Vader’s performance was killer and his cameo was executed well.

The new characters were portrayed quite well.  We have Jyn, which I really loved.  With her strong-willed attitude and personality, I liked her portrayal and where she fit in the Rogue One mission.  We also have Chirrut Imwe, Bodhi Rook, Baze Malbus, Cassian Andor, and K-2SO (Alan Tudyk), to name a few.  With the new characters, I feel like they all fulfilled their part of the Rogue One story well..

And what can I say about the nitpicks?  For one thing, I have a problem with the title.  For any Star Wars movie, you should have Star Wars in the main title.  To call it Rogue One: A Star Wars Story kind of makes Star Wars secondary.  Calling it Star Wars: Rogue One would’ve been a little better.  But with it being a side story, I would imagine that they didn’t want to confuse too many fans in thinking that this is the next chapter in the Star Wars saga.  Besides that, I can’t really find anything else that I can nitpick about the film.  The film was great and a great way to include some side story between Episode III and Episode IV.

How did Rogue One: A Star Wars Story do?  Having reviewed the recent box office results, it’s doing phenomenal.  While it didn’t do as well as The Force Awakens’ opening day gross of $119,119,282, it managed to still gross around $71,094,394. With it currently being the eigth highest grossing movie of the Star Wars series, I am confident that this will at least reach three or four very soon.  At the very highest, it will probably rank behind The Force Awakens. In rounding up the numbers from the past trilogy, Episode I grossed a $64.8 million weekend gross.  Episode II grossed $80 million and Episode III grossed $108.4 million.  For The Force Awakens, it grossed $248 million.  And what’s the opening weekend gross for Rogue One? Just $150.1 million.  Almost $100 million behind Episode VII a year ago.  The current domestic gross is $190.3 million. It’s not going to catch The Force Awakens, which made $288.1 million only six days into its release.  That’s almost a $100 million difference between the two domestic totals.  In adding the foreign gross of $166.8 million, the worldwide gross stands at $357.1 million.  With a production budget of $200 million, it has secured most of that in just one weekend alone.  And that’s just domestically.  This movie might crack the top ten, but it will have to work to get there.  It will certainly reach $1 billion eventually.  Casting my nitpick aside, I really loved this movie.  I loved the story behind the mission and how it was portrayed.  Yes, it was filler for Episode VIII, but I would rather them not rush the next movie if they are to get it right.  And the filler was quite satisfying.  Edwards was careful to not take the easy path with soundstages and actually film a lot of the movie on location, and using movable models for the ships, like they did in all the other ones.  Edwards has nailed it.  The story was a great edition,, and I encourage many others to see this movie. I would see it again, thus adding $7 more dollars to it’s total gross.  Star Wars is Lucas’s baby and Disney knows this. And with two good Star Wars movies in Disney’s hands, I am confident that they will successfully continue the legacy that George Lucas has started.  The opening crawl and the breathtaking visuals create a truly unique Star Wars experience.  And with the new characters and a solid plot, I am certain that this will become a new favorite that will be admired by generations to come. I eagerly await Episode VIII and I give Rogue One: A Star Wars Story a 4.5 out of 5.

(SPOILER WARNING:  For those who have not seen The Force Awakens, I strongly advise that you stop reading this review.  This review will contain numerous spoilers from the movie.  The rating will be spoiler-free, so skip to the end if you want no spoilers.  You have been warned.)

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away….

Have you ever been told a really good story?  And then, in the middle of the story, the one telling you it suddenly stops.  It may have been a bedtime story from when you were little, or one that a really good friend has told you.  They start telling you the story, and then stop.

After that, for what seems like ages, they finally continue with their story.  As a kid, waiting a whole day to hear the next part may seem like ages.  Or your friend may have been out of town for a while.  When they finally get back, they continue with the story.

You get the point.  This story I’m referring to is a story of good versus evil.  The light side versus the dark side of the Force.  Jedi masters versus Sith lords.  It started in the middle.  It continued with the beginning.  And now, after 30 years, the story finally continues.  This is the wonderful and amazing story of Star Wars.

And if it’s been a while since you have seen a Star Wars movie, here’s a brief refresher.  Okay.  It’s really not that brief.  For the actual review, skip down past the recap.

On the desert planet of Tatooine, a pregnant Shmi Skywalker gives birth to a boy named Anakin.  Having no father, Anakin was believed to be conceived by the will of the Force.  Years later, excessive taxation for the trade routes around the outlying star systems has the Galactic Republic in an uproar.  With this in mind, two Jedi knights were dispatched to settle the conflict. Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his Padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi.  Darth Sidious, the Sith lord wanted them killed when they reached Naboo, but they escaped from his clutches.

After taking off, their attackers pursued them, and damaged their ship’s hyperdrive.  They landed on Tatooine, needing a replacement part before they could leave.  And…let’s cut to the chase.  They meet Anakin, they enter a pod race, Anakin wins and they get the money for their ship part and to buy Anakin’s freedom from being a Toydarian junkyard slave.  Anakin wants to go with the two Jedi knights and the Queen of Naboo’s assistant.  Later, we find that the assistant was the queen in hiding.  With Darth Sidious’s apprentice, Darth Maul tasked to capture the queen and kill the Jedi, he was hot on their tail.  They escape with the queen.

In the end, Anakin destroys the droid control ship and Obi-Wan defeats Darth Maul.  Qui-Gon Jinn tells Obi-Wan to train Anakin to become a Jedi.

Episode II has more of this, with it mainly being a love story between Anakin and Padme Amidala.  Shmi is killed and it makes Anakin angry, slaughtering a whole Tusken community.  Men, women and children.  Anakin and Padme rescue their friends on Geonosis.  The droid army fights the Jedis, and the clone army cleans out the droids.  Count Dooku fights Yoda, but was unsuccessful in besting him. The Jedis hear the shocking news about Darth Sidious controlling the Senate.  Anakin and Padme have a secret wedding on Naboo, with C-3PO and R2-D2 as the only ones present.

Episode III takes a turn for the worse.  The Galactic Republic becomes the Galactic Empire.  With Anakin being enticed by Senator Palpatine, he begins the gradual turning away from his Jedi ways to the dark side, and becoming a Sith.  He kills all the Padawan learners in the Jedi temple and is given the title “Darth Vader”.  On Mustafar, Obi-Wan does battle with Darth Vader, his very pupil twisted by the dark side.  Vader is badly injured by the fire, burning up along the shore.  Padme dies in childbirth, giving birth to twins.  She names them both before she dies.  Luke was the first one and Leia was the second one.  Both of the children were separated.  Leia was taken to Alderaan and Luke was taken to Tatooine. Darth Vader was rescued by Darth Sidious and was placed in black armor, with a face mask and helmet to match.  The saga begins.

IV, V and VI are straightforward.  In IV, The rebel alliance find hope through Obi-Wan Kenobi, who trains Luke Skywalker to become a Jedi.  After fighting Darth Vader, Obi-Wan dies.  Luke uses a rebel X-Wing fighter to blast a proton torpedo into a small exhaust port leading to the Death Star’s reactor. In V, Luke trains under Master Yoda in the Dagobah system to become a Jedi.  He leaves without finishing his training, since he sensed that his friends were in danger.  Luke flies to Cloud City and Han Solo gets frozen in Carbonite.  Luke does battle with Darth Vader and discovers a chilling secret: Vader is his father.  Luke loses a hand and manages to escape, and is rescued by his friends on the Millennium Falcon, thanks to Leia being able to sense Luke being in danger.  In VI, Luke leads a rescue effort on Tatooine to rescue Han Solo from Jabba the Hutt.  Han is unfrozen and they escape. Leia is also rescued in the process.  Luke returns to Dagobah with a dying Yoda telling him that no further training is needed and that “there is another Skywalker”.  With another Death Star under construction, they travel to the shield generator on the forest moon of Endor to deactivate it.  The rebel group is captured by Ewoks and C-3PO shows off his divine powers, thanks to Luke’s use of the Force.  With C-3PO sharing the story, they agree to fight the empire.  Luke is apprehended by the Empire and enticed by Darth Sidious to join the dark side.  The rebels begin their fight against the stormtroopers and disabling the shield generator.  Luke resists the Emperor and Vader saves his son.  Just before the finishing bolts are delivered, Vader lifts up the Emperor and throws him into the Death Star’s power core/reactor shaft.  Luke has a nice father-son chat with Anakin before he dies. The Millennium Falcon destroys the Death Star’s main reactor and Luke escapes.  The Empire has fallen.  The entire Galaxy celebrates the victory.

So there’s the refresher.  And after 30 years, the story continues.  The Galactic Empire has dissolved, with the First Order rising from the remnants of the Galactic Empire.  Their mission is eliminate Luke Skywalker and the Republic.  With Luke in exile, nobody knows where he is.  Not even the Resistance. With that being the matter, the hunt begins for the very last Jedi in the galaxy.  This is the premise of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the long awaited sequel released by Lucasfilm Ltd. and Walt Disney Studios.

To start things off, Star Wars is an epic space opera centered around a film series created by George Lucas.  From its humble beginnings and phenomenal success, it has become an iconic franchise.  In just the merchandising sector alone, the Star Wars brand is worth more than $30 billion,  with $4.38 billion coming from the six films alone.  It is a cultural phenomenon that has started with the first film and has continued to this day.

But with George Lucas selling the franchise to Disney in 2012, a wave of uncertainty has come across many of the fans.  I for one am curious as to what move Disney is going to make.  Where is Disney going to take the franchise?  J. J. Abrams is the director of the new slate of Star Wars movies.  In his attempt to retell the Star Wars we all know and love, he has deconstructed everything in the past movies, and reassembled them, using his “Mystery Box” concept to add elements of surprise to shock and amaze fans both old and new.  How does Abrams manage to do this with Star Wars: The Force Awakens?  Is the Force strong with this movie, or has Disney and Abrams turned the franchise over to the dark side? Let’s find out.

The movie begins with a transport ship carrying a fleet of stormtroopers to Jakku, a desert planet.  It is darkly lit, with a suspicious looking stormtrooper aboard.  Could he be some kind of stowaway?  On Jakku, the exchange is made.  Resistance pilot Poe Damaron (Oscar Isaac) talks with village elder Lor San Tekka to receive a map containing Luke Skywalker’s (Mark Hamill) whereabouts.  Poe obtains the data and they leave the tent.

Under the command of Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) the stormtroopers destroy the village and capture Poe.  Before Poe’s capture, he places the map data into the droid for safekeeping and tells the droid to escape far away from there.  The droid escapes and finds Rey (Daisy Ridley), a scavenger at a junkyard settlement. Stormtrooper FN-2187 frees Poe and they escape in a stolen TIE fighter.  Poe names the stormtrooper “Finn” (John Boyega).  They crash on Jakku and Finn ends up as the only survivor.

Finn meets up with Rey and BB-8.  With the First Order tracking them, they launch an airstrike.  Rey, Finn and BB-8 escape on a stolen rundown ship, the Millennium Falcon.

After the ship breaks down, they are found by Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew).  Being pursued by criminal gangs, the five escape to Takodana.

Maz Kanata (Lupita Nyong’o) helps BB-8 to reach the Resistance, and provides a way there. Rey is drawn to a safe and finds a lightsaber that belonged to Luke and his father before him.  Maz gives the lightsaber to Finn for safekeeping.

With the group en route to the Resistance, troubles await them.  Will they reach the Resistance?  Or will the First Order stop them?  And what will the Resistance do to stop the First Order’s Starkiller Base?  Will Luke ever be found? Watch the movie and find out.

In looking at the length of the movie, I thought that it was pretty balanced. The typical Star Wars movie is about this length, with the pacing being just right.  The plot progresses at a smooth pace, helping us to take in all the new scenery and characters.  And with the ending of the movie, you know that there’s going to be another Star Wars movie.  Episode VIII is slated for release in 2017.  The classic Star Wars score was great to hear again.  After all, it is the same one that scored all the other Star Wars movies.

In looking at the characters, I loved the variety of old and new.  The old characters were incorporated into the story in a way that we could become comfortable in getting to know the new characters.  It’s a delicate balance in phasing the old characters out while the new ones are brought in.  I loved seeing Han Solo and Chewy again.  Seeing Leia (Carrie Fisher) was amazing.  And yes.  Luke Skywalker is in the movie, and his appearance is epic.  I will not tell you where.  You’ll just have to find him by watching the movie…

The new characters were portrayed quite well.  We have Rey, which I really loved.  With her being strongly Force-sensitive, I feel like she will be a character that a lot of fans will love.  I liked seeing her growth throughout the movie and how she uses that growth to help her in the fight against Kylo Ren. We also have Finn, BB-8, Maz Kanata, Ben Solo (Kylo Ren) and Snoke (Andy Serkis), so name a few.  With the new characters, I feel like we will also grow to love them like we did with the Star Wars characters in the first six movies.

And what can I say about the nitpicks?  Perhaps the only thing that I would’ve wanted to see was a little more longevity with Han’s character.  In this movie, Han, after confronting his son, gets killed off.  It would’ve been nice to see a little more of Harrison Ford instead having him in just one movie.  In George Lucas’s treatment of the Episode VII screenplay, this probably would’ve played out a little different.  I also would’ve wanted something a little more familiar with the Starkiller Base.  I understand that it’s supposed to be the “Death Star” of the movie, but it would’ve been nice to make it look a little more like the Death Star.  This creation is a fusion of both Hoth and the Death Star.  Besides these nitpicks, this movie was brilliant.  An amazing new chapter in the Star Wars saga.

How did Star Wars: The Force Awakens do?  Having reviewed the recent box office results, it’s doing phenomenal.  To put things in perspective, my hope was for it to gross at least $100 million on opening day.  It actually did more than this.  This movie grossed $119,119,282 on opening day.  The highest opening day total of all time.  On top of that, it grossed $57 million for the Thursday preview. With it currently being the fifth highest grossing movie of the Star Wars series, I am confident that this will reach number one very soon.  In rounding up the numbers from the past trilogy,  Episode I grossed a $64.8 million weekend gross.  Episode II grossed $80 million and Episode III grossed $108.4 million.  For The Force Awakens, the weekend domestic gross is a staggering $248 million.  The current domestic gross is $288.1 million. That pales in comparison to the $172.8 million that Revenge of the Sith made six days into its release. That’s over a $100 million difference between the two domestic totals.  In adding the foreign gross of $322.7 million, the worldwide gross stands at $610.8 million.  With a production budget of $200 million, it has made more than that in just one weekend alone.  And that’s just domestically.  This movie is well on it’s way to cracking the top ten, and could reach $1 billion by this weekend.  Casting my few nitpicks aside, I really loved this movie.  I loved the familiar style of scenes that were portrayed in this film.  Abrams was careful to not take the easy path with soundstages and actually film a lot of the movie on location, and using movable models for the ships, like they did in all the other ones.  Abrams has nailed it.  The force is strong with this movie, and it’s about to get stronger as many other other continue to see this movie. I would see it again, thus adding $7 more dollars to it’s total gross.  Star Wars is Lucas’s baby and Disney knows this. And with the franchise in Disney’s hands, I am confident that they will successfully continue the legacy that George Lucas has started.  The opening crawl and the breathtaking visuals create a truly unique Star Wars experience.  And with the new characters and a solid plot, I am certain that this will become a new favorite that will be admired by generations to come. I eagerly await Episode VIII and I give Star Wars: The Force Awakens a 5 out of 5.

We are now approaching the end of the road.  And like all roads, it will either lead us to a dead end or a wonderfully vibrant end full of life.  An end that is known better to the rest of us as a “happy ending”.

With Smaug ravaging an entire town, jealously defending his mountain containing his golden treasure, Bilbo Baggins watched the desolation from atop the Lonely Mountain.  Watching Smaug burn the poor and defenseless town to a crisp.  Who among the citizens could best such a terrible beast? One brave man stepped forward while the other dwarves were being led out on boat by a she-elf.  At this point, Bilbo has gone very far in his journey.  There was no way that he could turn back, until he finished his errand.  There was a battle to fight. And after this battle, his journey would end.  Clad with his treasure and memories that would last a lifetime, he would then make his journey home.  To the end.  To his cozy Hobbit hole where this story began.

Getting back to the battle, a brave man slayed Smaug.  He is Bard, the one that brought the sly Smaug to his glorious end.  With Smaug dead, there was no one to defend the treasure back at the mountain.  At Erebor.  The ancient Dwarven Land of old.  With the news traveling fast, everyone wanted a piece of that gold.  The citizens of Laketown wanted it to rebuild their settlement.  Thorin (Richard Armitage), going back on his promise, is determined to defend the gold that is rightfully his.  The elves assemble to recover a lost relic located in the Lonely Mountain of Erebor.  The orcs hear about Smaug’s demise and like all the other parties want the gold to rebuild their kingdom.

With everyone after this gold, the armies begin to assemble, and a great battle is fought for it. This is the premise of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, the long awaited third part in the trilogy released by Warner Bros. Pictures and MGM Studios.

As we already know, Tolkien is the master behind this masterpiece, but Peter Jackson is the director that is bringing his vision to life.   But how does he deal with The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies?  Is the movie a victorious masterpiece or a slaughtered corpse doomed to rot and decay without proper burial?  Let’s find out.

The movie begins with Laketown being under siege, with Smaug burning every building in sight. Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) and the dwarves get a front row seat to seeing all this happen.  There is widespread panic, while Tauriel (Evangeline Lilly) and the other dwarves escape in a boat.

After that, Bard (Luke Evans) breaks out of his prison cell and kills Smaug with a black arrow retrieved from his son Bain (John Bell).  With that, the Laketown survivors appoint Bard as their new leader.  As Bard’s first action, he leads the people of Laketown to the ruins of Dale for refuge.

After this, the dwarves all reunite at the Lonely Mountain.  The ones that escaped Laketown join with the ones that were with Bilbo.  During the reunion, Tauriel decides to investigate Mount Gundabad with Legolas (Orlando Bloom).

With Smaug fallen, the Battle of the Mountain begins.  The victor gets all the gold that is in the mountain.  And with Thorin back at Erebor, he is not about to give up the gold so easily.  Inflicted by Smaug’s “dragon sickness”, Thorin goes mad and begins a mad pursuit for the Arkenstone.  Little does he know that Bilbo has it.  Will Bilbo risk his life and confess to Thorin the truth?  Will the “dragon sickness” overtake Thorin, son of Thrain?  Which army will win the mountain and the gold inside it?  Will it be the Orcs?  And what about Gandalf (Sir Ian McKellen) and Radagast (Sylvester McCoy)?  Do they ever escape Dol Goldur?  Watch the movie and find out.

The length of the movie was a little shorter than the last one, and I thought that the plot progressed pretty smoothly.  With almost two and a half hours to work with, that was plenty of time to have the Battle of the Mountain and Bilbo’s return to the Shire.  The music was pretty good, although there wasn’t really anything noteworthy like the first movie (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey).  The ending was good, and it ties really well to The Lord of the Rings.

Getting to the characters, they were all portrayed faithfully as they were in the book.  There’s Bilbo, Gandalf and the dwarves from the last movie.  Thorin was the star of this one and is what made the movie for me.  Tauriel makes a return, which I will discuss a little bit later.  Legolas was once again oddly present.  Dain (Billy Connolly)  makes an odd new appearance in the movie. Odd inclusions aside, I thought that all the other characters were portrayed well.

The movie had a great number of nitpicks.  So many that I could write a book on them.  The first one is the one that I hated the most.  It was the inclusion of Tauriel in the movie.  Nowhere in The Hobbit OR Lord of the Rings universe is there a She-Elf named Tauriel!  Alongside Tauriel was Legolas, who had no place in the movie at all.  Furthermore, he made the plot useless.  He was not even in The Hobbit so he shouldn’t be in the movie.  To expand the plot from the last movie, Galadriel (Cate Blanchett) helps Gandalf escape and gets possessed by Sauron.  Being tempted by him, she resists and casts him away to Mordor.  This does not happen in the book at all!  Kili never confesses his love to Tauriel with a special stone because there is no Tauriel!  Azog existing is a contradiction in itself.  He was in the Battle of Azannulbizar, which was 150 years before the events of The Hobbit! He was killed by Dain in that battle.  And for some reason, they decided to include him in the movie too!  Azog is already dead so he has no place in The Hobbit at all!   Then they has the audacity to make this big final battle scene with Azog!  Thorin kills Azog but is mortally wounded.  He does die in the book but not from Azog!  I could go on and on about this, but to be honest, this is all that I can stand.  These changes were made to make the movie more appealing to casual audiences, and I thought that it was unnecessary.  Why did they have that final battle with Azog?  This was an addition that I hated the most.  Even more than Gandalf going to Dol Goldur from the last movie.  Even more than Boromir taking Frodo and Sam to Osgiliath in the Two Towers.  This subplot was totally made up and only served to fill in the two and a half hours of time that Jackson had to work with.  If any of these nitpicks were not there and the adaptation was closer to the book,  the movie would’ve been way better.

How did The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies do? Looking at the box office results,  it’s doing okay.  The expectation was for it to gross $70 million during the opening weekend and it did just that.  In one weekend, it grossed $56.2 million during its opening weekend.  Its five-day opening was $90.6 million, placing it behind The Desolation of Smaug’s $100.2 million five-day opening.  Even with a modest opening, it is still the sixth highest grossing movie of the Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit series.  Fellowship of the Ring grossed $47.2 million on its opening weekend.  The Two Towers grossed $62 million and Return of the King grossed $72.6 million.  Last year, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug grossed $73.6 million during its opening weekend. Two years ago,  The Hobbit:  An Unexpected Journey grossed  $84.6 million during its opening weekend.  The current domestic gross of this year’s movie is $90.6 million.  In adding the foreign gross of $265 million,  the worldwide gross stands at $355.6 million.  That’s $100 million more than the $258.3 million that The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug grossed last year at this time.  With a production budget of $250 million, it easily made it back.  With all the nitpicks aside (and there were many this time), I really enjoyed the movie. I loved the visuals and I loved the battle scenes near Erebor and Bilbo’s trip home.  Jackson has done it again.  Although it is a masterpiece, he needs to stay true to the book more.  The unnecessary additions of out-of-place characters made the plot a little confusing for me.  With the differences aside,  the success continues.  The formula was implemented again.  The finale could have been better had he stayed true to the book.  As with every story that arrives at the end of the road, this story accomplished this, and has tied the story to The Lord of the Rings smoothly.  For this prologue to be better, I advise that Jackson abstains from making tweaks that are too out of place (like he did last time), as this alienates the fans of Tolkien’s masterpiece prologue.  Nobody should ruin a masterpiece.  Jackson really should’ve avoided doing this to part three of this story.  I give The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies a 4 out of 5.

Every tale has its beginning.  For a couple of unsuspecting hobbits,  this was most certainly so.  Both hobbits began their tale and embarked on a long journey.  A journey that would change both of their lives forever.  First, with Bilbo Baggins.  And then, finally, with Frodo Baggins.  Nine years ago, we saw Frodo’s tale unfold.  He found the ring that was made and then made a long journey to the cracks of Mount Doom, where he was able to unmake it.  With that, Frodo’s tale came to an end, as he made his way back back to the Shire, with his other hobbit friends that accompanied him on his long journey.

But that was only Frodo’s tale.  What about Bilbo Baggins’ tale?  That clever old hobbit of Bag End returned from his journey with a rather big secret.  A secret that would require the telling of his tale to explain.  But this was not the only thing going on in this tale.  Some dwarfs needed to recover their treasure from an evil dragon.  This is the premise of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the long awaited prequel released by Warner Bros. Pictures and MGM Studios.

To start things off, this movie is based off of The Hobbit, a masterpiece written by J.R.R. Tolkien.  He has also created timeless classic The Lord of the Rings.  A classic that is still loved to this day.

While Tolkien has created pure literary gold, acclaimed director Peter Jackson is the one who has brought his classics to life.  We have already seen his work with the Lord of the Rings trilogy.  The movie adaptations are the best that I have seen of any adaptation dealing with the Lord of the Rings franchise.  But how does Jackson fare with The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey?  Is the movie a dazzling gem of gold like the trilogy, or is it a smoldering pile of ruins?  Let’s find out.

The movie begins with Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) with Frodo (Elijah Wood), beginning to write the full story of his adventure that he went on 60 years ago.  We then see the prosperity of the dwarves, living in Erebor and their demise, when Smaug the Dragon arrives.  Having already destroyed the town of Dale, he drives all the dwarves out of Erebor.

After this, Bilbo officially begins his tale, with Gandalf (Sir Ian McKellen) pulling a trick on him.  A large host of dwarves enter, leaving Bilbo to feed them all.  The true reason behind all this was that the dwarves needed a burglar for their journey.  Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage), the leader of the band of dwarves, is on a journey to find their “long forgotten gold”.  Bilbo wants no part in this journey.  The very next day, however, he changes his mind, almost getting left behind.

The journey begins, leaving Bilbo without the comforts of home.  The group encounters mountain trolls, which end up getting petrified by sunlight.

After this, they encounter Radagast the Brown (Sylvester McCoy).  He mentions how a strange presence that he encountered at Dol Guldur is poisoning the forest.  The group is then chased by Orcs on Wargs.  They were able to escape with the help of a couple Elven riders.

The company then enters the Elven stronghold of Rivendell, where Elrond (Hugo Weaving) was able to interpret the moon runes on Thorin’s map.  He explains that there is a secret door that will only be visible on Durin’s Day.  Following this, Gandalf talks with Elrond, Galadriel (Cate Blanchett) and Saruman the White (Sir Christopher Lee), secretly sending Bilbo and the dwarves away towards the Misty Mountains.

After the Misty Mountains, Bilbo ends up in a cave with Gollum (Andy Serkis).  With Gollum losing the ring, Bilbo finds it and hides it in his pocket.  A game of riddles then begins between Bilbo and Gollum.  If Bilbo wins, Gollum will show him the way out.  If Gollum wins, then he will eat Bilbo.  Does he find the way out?  And what about the troubles that his dwarf-friends are facing?  When will this journey end?  Watch the movie and find out.

I completely understood the length of the movie, considering that nearly three hours was barely enough time to even get to Erebor, let alone the Battle of the Five Armies and the fight with Smaug.  They didn’t even come close to this.  But with two more movies on the way, it is clearly understandable why the plot cliffhanged at the end.  The plot advanced normally, with some other surprises along the way.  The music was amazing.  Especially all the versions of Misty Mountains Cold.

Getting to the characters, they were all portrayed faithfully as they were in the book.  We have Bilbo Baggins, with the Gandalf that we all know and love.  All the dwarves were portrayed well.  Gollum is another character that made the movie for me.  There was the inclusion of Radagast the Brown.  He was a rather interesting character, but in reality had no place in the movie.  Furthermore, while Elrond appeared in the movie as he should, Galadriel and Saruman the White were strangely present. Besides these odd inclusions, the characters were all executed quite well and were all unique in the manner that Tolkien would’ve intended them.

This movie did have a couple nitpicks, but they were not too many.  One of them dealt with the lines when Bilbo was with the trolls.  In the movie, Bilbo said “burglar….Hobbit”.  In the book,  he said “bur – a hobbit”.  I would rather have the trolls call him a “burrahobit” than a “burglar hobbit”.  Another nitpick was the inclusion of Radagast the Brown.  While he is an actual character in the Lord of the Rings universe, he is not anywhere to be found in the original book.  The last nitpick I have deals with the meeting at Rivendell.  During the meeting, Galadriel and Saruman the White were present.  There was no mention of them in the book!  I found this to be fan-servicey and a way to get more familiar characters back in the movie. If all these nitpicks were not there, the movie would’ve been a little better.

How did The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey do?  Looking at the box office results, it’s doing amazing, but it could do better.  Falling short of its $100 million opening weekend goal, it grossed $84.6 million during its opening weekend.  Even with a modest opening, it is still the best opening of any of the past Lord of the Rings movies.  Fellowship of the Ring grossed $47.2 million on its opening weekend.  The Two Towers grossed $62 million and Return of the King grossed $72.6 million.  The current domestic gross of this movie is $92.3 million. In adding the foreign gross of $138.2 million, the worldwide gross stands at $230.5 million.  With a $270 million production budget, it will surely make it back within the next weekend.  With all nitpicks aside,  I really enjoyed the movie.  I loved seeing the breathtaking scenery of Middle Earth again and I loved the music.  Jackson has done it again.  It is a visual masterpiece, complete with breathtaking scenery and visuals.  The reprising of Gandalf’s and Gollum’s role was important to the success of the movie for me, and I felt that it really made the movie.  With all differences set aside from the book, I think that Jackson has the formula.  The formula that he used in the trilogy is used again in this movie.  As every tale has a beginning, I believe that this tale began well.  I look forward to how this tale continues with the next two parts of this amazing prologue.  I give The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey a 5 out of 5.