Discussion Should there be a Cliffhanger

Well if ESB had ended with Luke hanging at the bottom of Cloud City then it'd have been a real cliffhanger.

As it was it really wasn't. There was the minor point about Han but they were already going to get him back by the end of the film and they knew where he was going to be. The only real hang was if Vader was telling the truth but it wasn't really a pressiing matter albeit a tantalyzing one.

 

They need to have something.
The best cliffhanger in history was the whole darth fader as Luke's father.
However, the attempt at using the 'who is palpatine' was horrible because everybody knew it, and it had been done before.

They need a hanger that really works.

 

I missed that any some cliffhanger.

When did this happen?

There was no in movie acknowledgement that Palpatine and Sidious were the same person and for many people who didn't already know or had scene the OT before it was a surprise.

You have to remember not everyone has the same inside and outside knowledge we have or cares to. Just like your child self didn't know what was going on with Vader children didn't realize that the two were one.

 

I think they should have some plot point that carries on over in to the next one. One of the things I wondered with TPM is why they added the ceremony scene on the end. Although its not necessarily a cliff hanger I always thought it would of been a much better ending to finish at Qui-Gonns funeral as the camera pans over to Sidious, it seems a much more foreboding ending as it shows the Phantom Menace of the film title.

 

I would like to see the "mirroring" of the trilogies continue to an extent. I think a cliffhanger is fine (not over the top like DOS, but more like ESB), but I prefer that in Ep. VIII. I for one would like Ep. VII to ramp us up, lay out the story and have a nicely knit story of its own, then VIII to take us on a wild journey that has us catching our breath and dying for the conclusions, a la ESB.

 

I meant to click "Only for Ep VIII", but clicked NO instead...

I think Episode VII needs to function as something of a Star Wars reset. Don't get me wrong, I'm a Prequel Trilogy fan, but facts are facts: most people didn't share my enthusiasm (and I think their negative nostalgia has gotten worse over time).

For the sequels to work, EpVII needs to come out the gate winning on all fronts, and reminding people of their love for the OT -- I think one of the strongest ways to do that would be to deliver a completely solid standalone 7 that people could feel 100% good about, start to (conclusive) finish. Then, just as happened with Ep4, come into the sequels with something of a blank slate, where the possibilities seem endless.

One thing people ALWAYS complain about -- even in the case of something like LOTR where the movies are based on books which themselves are cliffhangers -- is a movie without an "ending."

 

Ending in the "to be continued" fashion? No.

The story should be self-contained with threads to picked up in later stories.

Just like the others in the series.

And this the way they'll do it - they've made a big whoopty-do that the Sequels will match the "style" of the Originals, so I don't really see them making such a change.

And TESB isn't really a cliffhanger - the story itself is finished but Solo's fate and where Luke goes from that point are left in question.

A cliffhanger is more in the middle of a major action scene or highly dramatic moment and the film just stops.

 

No the haters are in the minority.

It is just that haters cry the loudest and moan the longest.

 

Should there be a cliffhanger? Well, here's my take on that. I think

 

I'll admit it me a while to cop on

 

"took" me a while

 

Cliffhangers have almost become a cliche now. Every movie franchise wants to have its 'Empire Strikes Back'. I can't help but think about that stupid cliffhanger ending in the second Matrix movie or the second Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Ugh. But if there has to be one in the new Star Wars trilogy, I'd rather have it be in Episode 7- since everyone expects the middle film of a trilogy to have one.

 

Well, the Prequel trilogy and Original trilogy mirror each other pretty well:

1 and 4 end with a celebration, but with everybody knowing that the true darkness is still out there: the mysterious Sith, or the Empire.

2 and 5 end with a sense of dread and are pretty rough cliffhangers: WAR?!?! and WHAT THE HECK HOW WHAT?!?!?!?!

3 and 6 end...in fire. (ok technically 6 ends with the celebration but I like my version better)

It'd be nice for the ST to pay homage by mirroring that

 

Go episode IV and Episode I style, wrap it up nice and clean.

Yes yes, phantom wasn't fully wrapped with the second Sith Lord, but all the essential plot points were covered, wrapped up, and tied in a bow.

 

I agree – it seems like the introduction to a new trilogy should end on a somewhat happy note, if with some sort of lingering question in the corner, in the dark.

But if they follow the typical trilogy format, it will be the second movie that has the cliffhanger...

 

I think a cliff hanger should be in episode 8 to set up episode 9 for the finale. But that is something they need to do very carefully and with some amazing story telling.

 

If you think about it the part where we learn that Vader isn't dead at the end of A New Hope is pretty cliffhangery.

 

Definitely. They clearly show Vader flying off to fight another day.

 

Yes. Although I voted for the second act only, I wouldn't mind there being one in every film, anyway.

 

I think it's important not to confuse a plot twist with a cliffhanger. I never really saw things like Darth Vader's "father" reveal, Han being frozen, or the "is Palpatine a Sith?" as cliffhangers, but rather simply twists. To me a cliffhanger is something like the end of Avengers: Age of Ultron, or Desolation of Smaug, or of course AOTC. something where major, event-changing things are about to go down, or are right in the middle of going down, when the credits roll. I love plot twists, and I hope we get a great one (or ones) in TFA!

That being said, I said before that I'd prefer not having a cliffhanger in TFA, and I still feel the same, but Now that I revisit this idea as we get closer to it-I might actually enjoy it. Really the only reason I wouldn't want a cliffhanger ending is cos we'd have to wait a year and a half to see what happens next!!

 

Yes there should be a cliffhanger

 

I feel like stand alone movies indicate more confidence on the part of the creators, like they're saying they have faith that people will return for the next installment even without some gnawing question spurring them on. Having said that, I wouldn't mind one terribly for the middle installment, as the middle film traditionally lets them get a lot of stuff on screen without taking up space normally dedicated to tying up all the various plot threads.

 

You discover Kylo Ren stuff is just small potatoes. Behind it all, gasp, the Emperor's Force Ghost has found a body to inhabit. He's back.

 

On the cliff-hanger front. Really the best cliff hanger for me has been...

...Severus Snape in the HP books (not so much the movies). His ambiguity as a character, his flaws, etc.

As far as SW, there have not been any big cliff-hangers. Every movie resolves itself at the end. Even ESB. The whole point was that Luke completed his training, survived his encounter with a Sith Lord and the Rebels are able to escape being annihilated by the imperial forces.

Sure Han is frozen but that's a minor thing as already mentioned everyone knows where he his and how to get him back. The question about believing if Vader is Luke's father was not so much for me. The scene where Vader calls out to Luke and Luke responds "Father!" and then says "Ben, why didn't you tell me"... pretty much sealed the deal for me.

As someone pointed out. EPIII ends in a cliff-hanger of sorts, but because the OT already exists it's not real, you already know how things pan out. Or if watching it now for the first time then you can just jump directly to ANH and continue.

I also wish EPVII is a reset of sorts for the series. It could be that the ending is more Fellowship of the Rings than Desolation of Smaug, in terms of setting different characters on their paths for the next two movies, hopefully to be re-united in EPIX at the big climax. Who knows maybe we can end the SW saga with EPX to break the rules and mirrors and whatnot.


As a side note I really disliked some of the mirrors that GL put in the PT to echo the OT as some of them felt too contrived. E.G. Ceremony at end of TPM, OB1 temptation by Dooku in AOTC, Sidious and Yoda's duel in ROTS.

 

You think WHAT? You ended your post in the middle of a sentence! I don't know what you were about to say and am so frustrated! It's driving me crazy! I hate it!

Oh, and there should definitely be a cliffhanger at the end of TFA--I love cliffhangers.