Best Of

Read nothing. Knew nothing. It ties ESB for me. It was what I wanted and needed.

Phew. I'm not sure my feels could have handled much more than the hammering they got this evening.

Kicked off almost immediately with Lando's reveal. Yeah, I knew it was coming. But I'm a sucker for fan-service and I don't care who knows it.

The act around Leia's final moments hit hard. Chewie's breakdown punched me right in the gut. When Han died in TFA, he was hurt and angry. When he heard the news about Leia, he was heartbroken and I'm getting twinges just typing this bit out. Some of the difference could also just be Joonas Suotomo being a better actor than Peter Mayhew was (RIP). And before I can even recover? Han Solo father-son talk. FFs.

I had a hard time catching my breath during the big battle. It was just so big and epic and so very Abrams.

Rey's Jedi voices hit me hard again. Mace Windu, Qui Gon. Obi Wan(s). Everyone. Just so well done and ow my feels again.

My only "meh" was the kiss. Yeah they had all that tension build up in TLJ, but it just was "meh". A tearful hug would have been more impactful and much better executed, IMO.

Oldest asked when we can go see it again.

Soon, my son.

Okay, so here's my more complete thoughts:

To start out with, I liked it a lot. It's getting panned more than I think it deserves, but I also get why. As others have said, this all goes back to Disney not setting a complete story arc for them to follow. From what I understand, JJ then wrote his own story arc, which Rian decided not to use. I assume that JJ then tried to get things back on track with the original story he envisioned, which...didn't go great. I actually think that the problem here is JJ-- I think Rian wasn't perfect, but did some really interesting things with the story. I think it would have also been really interesting to see what the original third director wanted to do-- might have been able to roll with Rian's changes without feeling tied to some original grand idea they'd had.

I think the story would have been better if JJ had coped better with the modifications Rian made. The Last Jedi's message is-- you don't have to be a skywalker or from a massive lineage to be important and special, nor does the conflict in the story have to be from a mystical legacy force conflict. Then, Rise of Skywalker starts, and they're like-- Okay so all that stuff about how being part of a legacy doesn't matter? Yea, let's throw that all away and bring back Palpatine! Even though we haven't mentioned him at all in the previous two movies. (I assume that JJ's script had more Palpatine stuff in the 2nd movie). Also, even though you've literally not heard anything about him in the other two movies or the Sith, they've secretly been lurking on a planet with tons of star destroyers! Which they could have rolled out at any time and completely crushed the resistance, but didn't because...reasons?

I don't feel like Palpatine or the star destroyers were necessary at all. The first order had ALREADY totally decimated the resistance-- they didn't really need another death star/star killer base/fleet of death stars to be up against tremendous odds.

Also, JJ just totally ignores Rose Tico? Not sure if that's because of the massive fan backlash last time, in that he wanted to avoid, or maybe he wanted to protect her. I hope if it's because of the fans, then it was to protect her, not appease them.

Another issue with the lack of planning with these movies is they do such a good job of introducing really interesting characters, and then under-utilizing them. Maybe they're setting up for 50 Disney Plus shows? But look at Rose Tico/Phasma/the Hacker/ Zorri, etc.

That being said, I do love a lot about the movie. I love the chemistry between Rey and Ben, so all of their scenes were really great, in my opinion. I also feel like this movie did a great job from the last one in showing how Rey's anger gets in her way and calls her to the dark side. I do feel like maybe the Reylo stuff was a bit too much of the movie? But I also like how they show how much she fucks up because of it. She gets so busy being distracted by Kylo that she lets Chewy get captured, abandons her friends multiple times, etc. Their fight scenes are great too, of course, especially at the end when she force sends him a lightsaber, totally surprising Grandpa Sheevy. I didn't want them to kiss, because that feels too stereotypical, but I felt like they had off the charts chemistry. If he had to die, I'm glad they got to kiss first. In my head canon he lives but loses the force and then goes to Luke's island, where she eventually joins him, they end up together, and help train new Jedi together. I mean, that is, if he wasn't executed for war crimes first. #FanFiction

I loved Babu Frik and I hope he gets his own show.

Was really happy with Chewy in this movie, aside from the death fakeout. Glad he got to have a real grief moment after he got forgotten in The Force Awakens, and got a medal. Also liked the C3PO got to have a moment.

I think they did as well with Leia as they possibly could have, and I definitely think that they brought back Han because they couldn't bring back her. I loved that Rey got her lightsaber.

I'm really interested to see where things go from here. I'll watch Rey and Finn and Poe all day any day. Not sure how much they'll be featured in the extended universe from here on out. Seems pretty obvious they're setting up for a Lando show.

100% here for Ben Solo fighting bad guys in a loose sweater

https://media.giphy.com/media/11aBfotfldn8FW/giphy.gif

"Having Harrison Ford show up for a scene, meh... Fan Service at it's worst."

I feel pretty certain that scene was supposed to be Leia, not Han. Given the situation, I think they tagged in Han because a CG Leia just wouldnt have worked for that emotional scene.

"Where the hell was Rose?? I'll tell you, they held her down in this to keep the toxic fans happy. She was the best damn character introduction in the last film. She was the beating heart of that movie, and in this one, it's like, here she is, we will just kind of keep her back here where she won't bother you toxic fanbros. A weak and cowardly treatment of a fantastic character."

That's about the only part of your diatribe I'll 100% agree with you on.