#but honestly i started the lightsaber fic at the same time and finn fully knew he was FS the whole time in that one | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

malarkiness · 6 years

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I saw the Star War. TLJ spoilers under the cut.

I was spoiled for just about EVERYTHING in TLJ but despite that, I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about it once I actually saw all the weird shit in context. Some fans with similar tastes to mine seemed to hate it, but others thought it was mediocre with some redeeming traits, and then some actually liked it, so I didn’t know how I’d react.

And after seeing it, I'm... still not really sure how I feel about it?

I didn’t find the conflict between Poe and Holdo that interesting. I can appreciate that it provided a little character development for Poe, but it felt kind of contrived.

There’s a lot of jarring humor in the first half hour or so of the movie. Like there are all these scenes where tension starts to build and pull you in, but then it’s shot down because someone just has to make some stupid, useless comment. And it just makes the writing seem really insecure, like they’re afraid the audience won’t take this seriously, so instead of just committing anyway, they have to throw in some elbow-jabby line to make it seem like they’re in on the joke, too. I found myself refusing to take scenes seriously because I knew the emotional build-up wasn’t going to pay off.

Leia gets shot into outer space and lives because... the Force? Honestly, fuck it, who cares, Leia can do whatever she wants.

I did like how Rey and Kylo’s skype calls were shown, how you could tell that they could see each other even though they were in different locations and weren’t even in the same shot. Kylo noticing the rain on his glove was a nice touch, too. Also, between shirtless Kylo and those.... things Luke milked on the island, there were entirely too many nipples in this movie.

Rey started sympathizing with Kylo WAY too easily, IMO. She saw this guy nearly kill her friend and also rip a hole in his own father’s chest, what, a week ago? If that? Why would she believe anything he tells her? I understand her not fully trusting Luke either, that’s fine, but her decision to try to get Kylo to switch sides was too abrupt. I’m not really against Rey trying to turn Kylo as a plot point, but it could’ve been written much better, and in a way that doesn’t make Rey look so naive.

Popular opinion, apparently: I didn’t care for the casino planet. Finn and Rose have to go there to find this one kind of annoying character who can get them access to the First Order, and along the way they see how the First Order is funded and all that, so it does play into the overall story, but it just felt like those two were lightyears away from the actual plot. Every time the movie cut back to that subplot I just dreaded it, and I hate that. Finn’s my favorite character, so his storyline should’ve been one of the highlights of the movie for me, but it was just so boring. Like the setting itself wasn’t very creative, the codebreaker they pick up is pretty forgettable, Finn and and Rose’s interactions are kind of flat (which is a shame because John and Kelly work great together in interviews and whatnot; it just seems like they weren’t really given any good dialogue to work with). The whole thing just felt like a waste of time. They definitely could’ve found something more interesting for Finn and Rose to do. I did like Finn telling whatshisfuck that he should give Rose her medallion back, though, and that whatshisfuck.... actually did it. That was kind of nice. I think what the writers were trying to do was solidify Finn’s commitment to the resistance, but... we sort of already did that? In TFA, he wants to run from the First Order and is on his way to do just that after leaving Rey at the cantina, but he changes his mind after the first Starkiller attack. And from then on, he’s on their side. Granted, his primary focus is saving Rey, but he’s still fighting alongside the resistance. And anyway, if you really wanted to do this sort of storyline (again), you could’ve found a more interesting way to do it.

I liked seeing Yoda again, especially his OT incarnation. I rewatch RotS at least once every Christmas, and that’s more consistently than I watch any of the other films, so I tend to forget that Yoda wasn’t always the calm, steady, powerful CGI figure that he is in the prequels. He actually started out (release order-wise) as this jankity puppet character who’s very wise but also kind of batty, and it was just really fun to see that version of him again.

I’m pretty sure my heart dropped into my stomach when Phasma showed up. For some reason, I completely forgot that she’d be aboard that ship too, so I wasn’t prepared for her at all. I think I actually gasped in the theater lmao. I loved seeing her and Finn face off, and that she calls him a flaw in the machine (or something like that) and then “scum,” and I LOVE that he corrects her insult to “rebel scum” right before she dies... even if it does seem like a cap to a kind of redundant character arc, but what the hell, it’s still a good line. I would’ve liked some more build-up to this fight, though. I suppose Finn defeating her had more to do with what she represented to him than their personal relationship, but I dunno, it would’ve been cool for these two to get more than just one fight (and a very brief one at that). Also, Finn needs to fight with a lightsaber again before this trilogy ends.

Rey and Kylo kill Snoke in his very silly-looking throne room and then fight off all his equally silly-looking cherry jolly rancher henchman. Silliness aside, though, that was a great scene. Kylo using the Force to ignite the lightsaber and slice Snoke in half was gruesome and honestly really fucking cool, and I say that as someone who’s easily grossed out by that sort of thing. I also liked how the tone shifts when the fight’s over and Rey expects Kylo to call off the First Order and spare the rebels, and he refuses.

The fight scenes in general were fantastic in this movie. I especially loved how often Rey used a reverse grip with her lightsaber.

Luke and Leia’s reuinion was very sweet. I did cry a little over that.

Luke and Kylo’s face-off was great, too. I like that Luke apologizes, but still holds Kylo accountable for his actions. And I liked the line, “Kill me in anger, and I will always be with you,” and I can’t wait to see how that concept plays into IX. And I LOVE that Kylo doesn’t kill him (not for lack of trying, ofc...), but that instead, Luke sacrifices himself to give the resistance time to escape. I was just a little upset that Luke wasn’t really there, though, and that he didn’t really give Leia Han’s dice.

I liked the battle on Crait, too. The red soil getting kicked up from under the salt made for a lot of nice visuals. All the red dust in the scene where Kylo fired everything at Luke made it seem so much more brutal. I also liked the scene where Rose stopped Finn from sacrificing himself (by crashing into him lmao, that could’ve ended very badly very easily). Rose kissing Finn was kind of random, but I liked her line about “saving what we love.”

Finn and Rey’s hug at the end was the single greatest moment of the entire film (and possibly all of 2017 cinema tbh). It was perfect. I love that Finn is the first one out of that cavern to her, and that there’s no hesitation or talking or anything between them. They are just immediately in each other’s arms and are so happy and relieved and it’s so beautiful and pure and I am devastated that this ship is sunk. I mean... I dunno, I guess it could still happen, but right now, I’m thinking FinnRose’ll be endgame. Rey and Kylo will probably have some drama or whatever, but Kylo’s almost definitely a dead man in IX, so I kind of doubt we’ll get R*ylo as a final ship. Just no love triangle bullshit, please. I barely survived LoK’s, and I kinda doubt a FinnReyRose triangle would end with ReyRose.

I gotta say, though, I was pretty disappointed in the lack of an actual relationship between Luke and Rey. I mean, they have a relationship technically, but there’s no bond. They eventually have this duel on the island, and Rey tells him she thinks she can turn Kylo on their side and leaves, and....... that’s the last time they ever see each other. It just felt so hollow. Instead, the movie focuses all the real drama on Luke and Kylo’s relationship, which honestly is fine. I was surprised that I actually didn’t mind all that much that Kylo got so much focus in TLJ because the movie at least built him up as a good villain for Rey, setting him up to be a very Vader-like counter to her Luke. I just wish I could’ve gotten that and some more development between Luke and Rey. I liked seeing Luke’s fear of training Rey after sensing the darkness in her, and I wanted to see some more focus and drama around that. In all fairness, though, Luke could come back as a Force ghost in IX and remedy some of this, so maybe I shouldn’t be too hard on it.

I’m fine with Rey not being a Skywalker (and she isn’t, assuming Kylo’s word is good for anything. It’s perfectly possible that he was lying, but even if he was, I still don’t think she’s a Skywalker. Luke showed 0 recognition of her, Leia and Han didn’t know her... Unless Shmi miraculously conceived another Force baby and didn’t tell anyone, I think this theory’s dead.). Truthfully, I mostly wanted her to be a Skywalker just because it would’ve established a foundation for her and Luke’s relationship, but I guess it wouldn’t really be necessary. I just wanted something substantial between these two, and... I didn’t get much of anything. And okay, I’ll just throw this out there: What I really, really wanted was for it to be revealed that Rey had been one of Luke’s padawans along with Ben when she was very young (and she later lost her memories of this via plot contrivance), and she was the only one Luke managed to save when Kylo went on his rampage. And instead of.... any number of better choices, Luke decided to hide her on Jakku and then go into hiding himself. And honestly, if there’s a fic with that premise, I want to read it. Hell, I’ll forget all about this movie’s canon and sub that in, I don’t care.

All that said....... We ever gonna learn anything about Finn’s lost family or what?

lol this write-up is all over the place, but that’s kind of how I feel about this movie: It’s all over the place. There are some good twists and nice moments, but god, you’ve gotta slog through all the forced humor and casino subplots and Holdo-Poe spats and everything else to get to to the good stuff. I’ve ping-ponged back and forth over whether or not I liked this movie as a whole, lol. A lot of fans seem to either love it or hate it, and I think I might be somewhere right in the middle.

If nothing else, though, it made me appreciate TFA that much more.

#star wars #tlj spoilers #the last jedi #sometimes i watch things #this is so damn long ldjfksf

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