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impossibletruths · 4 years

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star wars! a movie I have watched, now. spoilers, etc.

It’s just so dumb.

I can’t even hate it properly it’s just inherently dumb. there’s no stakes to anything there’s next to no character development and what little is offered is definitely unearned. the writing is painfully bad and it was just a big, flashy, hollow Thing that spent two and a half hours Thinging around without any actual payoff.

don’t Even get me fucking started on the fucking Rey Palpatine thing oh my god.

along those lines, the symbolic act of burying the last of the skywalker legacy back on tatooine where it first started (stupid, imo, but thematically significant so I’ll let it pass) only to turn around LITERALLY a minute later and proclaim yourself a skywalker is bad writing, what the fuck

“somehow, palpatine returned”

oscar isaac honey i’m so sorry

unfortunately (I know, I know, I’m embarrassed and I don’t want to talk about it) I did like the Ben Solo arc. is it unearned? sure! does he deserve redemption? nope! did I like the kiss? NO NOT AT ALL I HATED THAT NO THANK YOU

but when he shows up at the end and fights off the knights of ren and all that? yeah, listen, i was into it. I very much enjoyed the impression we got of a Ben Solo who is just like his parents, especially han, and I did feel regret when he died, even knowing there was no way the film would ever deal with the consequences of any of his actions because narrative payoff whomst?

(adam driver really carries that part off so well props to him and honestly the entire cast they did so much with so very very little to work with)

just, imagine if in the end he’d been the one to walk out of there instead of rey and have to fucking Do Something now. like, prove he’s strong enough to do the difficult thing like he keeps asking the whole damn trilogy. actually face what he’s done instead of this hackneyed hero’s sacrifice.

but then, that would be too much effort on the filmmakers’ part. easier to not deal with it

at least r*ylo died with him amen

that’s the other thing! by the end I was not staunchly opposed to the two of them finding some sort of balance or working together! like I would have followed that story further! but between the fan base and That Script, his unearned and emotionally hollow death is probably the best we could have asked for. sorry adam driver. thanks for making me not hate ben solo

that’s another thing––I hate how it kept fucking flinching. Chewie, 3PO, even Kylo Ren at the end; nothing felt like it had any true stakes and any loss or sacrifice was so quickly erased

hated the way they dealt with the sith. all of that, just. bad. u have SO MUCH lore to pull from in terms of the jedi and the sith and the force and religion and you’re gonna boil it down to “i’m all the sith” “i’m all the jedi” and expect us to go with it? how boring can you be

getting the old actors in to do the voices was cool tho

LET FINN BE A JEDI YOU FUCKER AT LEAST LET HIM TALK ABOUT HIS FORCE SENSITIVITY OH MY GODDDDDDDDDD

JJ Abrams is a coward

really tho I wish we’d gotten more of finn and poe I like those boys I wanted to see them grow

and kiss

jj abrams is a COWARD

I enjoyed getting the trio together but again, the writing, oh my god, why, how, etc.

also it was all so shallow :( they deserve better

the verbatim quoting of TFA with Han and the lightsaber was SO painful. the reliance on the force ghosts in general felt very heavy handed and cheap. like, let these characters come to their own conclusions? grow on their own?

poor kelly marie tran deserves better

I know it doesn’t need to be said but. palpatine.

god.

why.

no.

oh, carrie fisher

I know they had to work around what footage they have but what should be an emotional touchstone of the movie is quite literally a ghost. I know there’s nothing they can do about that, but god, I wish she’d played a bigger role

(did I enjoy the momentary jacen solo vibes of ren reaching out to his mom when rey stabs him? yes. was everything that came after a hot fucking mess? double yes)

I love that although rey is shouldering everyone’s legacy (like, jeez girl) she gets tied specifically to leia, who WAS a jedi in her own right. bringing out the lightsaber (and the scene where they’re young again and training) definitely got to me. I love leia organa and everything she has ever been

I will say this: I felt the emotions JJ Abrams wanted me to feel, with a hefty side of regret, disbelief, exhaustion, and irritation. it’s unfortunate that the writing was so so so bad and the plot was that awful but I did enjoy the star wars-ness of it all buried beneath the muck. so i’ll just be over here ignoring All of the plot. as one does, apparently

the other big thing I liked: the visuals. visually a stunning movie, and on the occasion it steps back to let the film show the story instead of telling it (so, like, that very first opening scene pretty much and nothing else) there’s some lovely work. very impressed by the VFX and also the cinematography. there’s one shot of rey that was just fucking delicious man. more of that. less speaking. please, god, less speaking.

anyway. 2/5 stars, I miss star wars, I wish it had ended better, happy to keep all these characters and take them away from dumb bad writers forever thanks

#this got long #tros #tros spoilers #sw negativity #and a very little bit of positivity hey!#star wars spoilers #film #review

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poesreyofsunshine · 4 years

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My Thoughts on TROS

I’ve been wanting to write my thoughts on episode ix but i’ve been busy and i’ve gotten the chance to watch the film 3 times now.

SPOILERS AHEAD

(pretty long post)

I’m going to start with what I LOVED/ENJOYED

Chewie/ Poe/ Finn Falcon- I loved this scene so much well any scenes with Poe and Finn because of the beautiful natural chemistry John and Oscar have with each other. I loved how they both know wookie now. The light speed skip was fun getting to see other planets.

Rey Meditating - My baby girl and her floating rocks, she’s come so far. I love how BB-8 keeps her company during her training. He really loves his Mom. Leia is her master (cried when she called her Master). I love the relationship between Leia and Rey.

Rey Training- Rey doing the training course was EVERYTHING!!!! Her saying that she will earn Luke’s saber like she wants to be worthy to earn it. Never underestimate a droid. (My heart)

Falcon Arriving- Rey reading her Jedi Text Books she’s so cute and i loved how the other resistance members their reaction to the Falcon coming back and the pilot letting her know the Falcon is here and how she runs to go see her friends. ugghhh my heart.

THE TRIO !!!!!!- OMG THE BICKERING WITH POE AND REY WOW WE’VE BEEN BLESSED. TO TALLY HANLEIA VIBES. YOU’RE A DIFFICULT MAN. FINN BEING THE MIDDLE MAN. JOHN BOYEGA HAS THE BEST FACIAL EXPRESSIONS EVER !!! OBVIOUSLY THEY’VE BEEN BICKERING SINCE AFTER TLJ AND I WOULD PAY BIG MONEY TO SEE THAT. OK SO BACK TO THE TRIO IT MAKES ME SO ANGRY THAT THIS IS THE ONLY DAM MOVIE WE SEE THEM AS A TRIO. I’VE BEEN EXPECTING THIS TRIO SINCE TFA WAS ANNOUNCE AND WELL TLJ (don’t even get me started on that movie) YOU CAN FEEL THAT TIME HAS GONE BY.

PASAANA- MORE TRIO SCENES YES YES YES !!! I loved loved how Poe was getting down to business right away and Rey is taking everything in, she’s like a little kid. That scene with her and the child was so sweet. LANDO’S INTRODUCTION i’ve missed him. THE CHASE SCENE, POE DOING THAT SWERVE THING UGGGHHHHH the NEVER UNDERESTIMATE A DROID part and Rey’s little smile.

CAVE SCENE- Poe catching Rey and calling her name out first (MY DAMEREY SHIPPER HEART) C-3PO “You didn’t say my name sir but i’m alright” . Poe being jealous of Finn & Rey. “You mean when poe’s not here?” Poe using his flashlight after Rey takes out her lightsaber such a cute funny moment and again Finn’s face. They find the dagger and Rey healing the snake was cool because we can see how advanced she is with her jedi training so that was cool to see.

CHEWIE’S FAKE DEATH- the force lightning (i predicted that in one of my awful fan fics i wrote after tfa so jj i’m waiting for my credit)

FOR CHEWIE/ D-O- I loved the hand holding scene. Finn is so comfortable with human touch and Poe not wanting to hold his hand then C-3PO joins in and Poe looks annoyed. D-O Rey being so comforting to that droid because she knows she’s been hurt before and now she’s with great people in her life. ugghhh my heart.

KIJIMI/ BABU FRIK- TRIO WEARING THE JACKETS ALONGSIDE C-3PO we stan. When Poe warned Zori and her crew and Rey just kicked everyone’s ass. Zori and Rey moment i loved. Zori sacrificing something that was going to get her out so Poe can help his friends was a really sweet moment. BABU FRIK i’m obsessed. Rey fixing D-O’s wheel so it won’t squeak again. C-3PO sacrificing his memory so he can help Rey. I was so happy how much C-3PO was used in this film.

RESCUING CHEWIE- AGAIN MORE TRIO. JJ REALLY SAID TRIO RIGHTS. I really enjoyed the scenes with Poe Finn and Chewie.

REY IN KYLO’S QUARTERS- I hate reylo but i have to admit this is one of the strongest scenes of these two. Daisy’s acting ugghhhh *chef’s kiss* It was so good. I liked how she was trying to ignore him while grabbing chewie’s belongings.

JANNAH- I had a feeling she was First Order, i loved how she reacted when Finn told her who he was. He really inspired other stormtroopers to leave the First Order. This is the Finn content we’ve been missing.

DARK REY: That was really cool. The teeth. SCARY. I wanted more of her lightsaber duel with Dark Rey.

REY KILLS KYLO- That moment was so powerful to me. She killed this character who has been tormenting the Galaxy. She was scared of what she did she left like Luke did.

BEN/ HAN SOLO: I Know part that hit me uggghhhh i loved that we got to see Ben reborn and at this moment I knew that he was going to sacrifice himself because of what Han said about Leia always fighting for the cause. t was a beautiful moment.

LEIA’S DEATH: Rey & Kylo feeling her die. Well Ben lost his mother and Rey lost a mentor so that was nicely done. CHEWIE’S REACTION TO HER DEATH wow that broke my heart into a million little pieces. I couldn’t stop sobbing.

GENERALS POE/ FINN: Poe asking Lando for advice and Poe asking Finn to command with him and they’re both generals. It was such a cute moment.

REY/LUKE & LUKE/LEIA JEDI TRAINING: THIS HAD TO BE ONE OF MY FAVORITE SCENES. The Luke that we saw was the Luke I wanted in TLJ. From him giving her Leia’s saber and the small scene we got to see of Luke and Leia training like can we get a series of that PLEASE. Luke using the force to lift his x-wing from the water. His little smirk when he finished, yes YODA would be proud.

REY FLYING LUKE’S X-WING: She gets to fly an x-wing after watching them from jakku and putting on the helmet. Rey deserves the world.

BEN SOLO- I WANTED MORE BEN SOLO AND WE WERE ROBBED. He’s such an interesting character and I wish we would’ve seen more of Ben Solo before TFA. He’s very much like Han. The shooting without looking and when Rey passed him the lightsaber through their bond i was shook. That scene was so powerful. She finally got to see Ben who she’s been seeing in this visions that we never see. Ben & Rey teaming up was awesome. That fighting sequence against the knights of ren was amazing choreography.

THERE ARE MORE OF US/ WEDGE ANTILLES- That moment of poe losing hope it broke my heart we had that moment when he was talking to Zori about he feels like no one is going to help them. He’s apologizing to everyone uggghhhhh and then Lando to the rescue with the main star wars theme song playing in the background. *chef’s kiss* and wedge antilles’s small cameo my heart. I almost fell out of my seat lol i got way too excited.

REY’s & BEN’s DEATHS- I know people hated the fact that she killed Palpatine but I really liked that scene. She used both Skywalker sabers to defeat Palpatine and she had all the jedi with her. It made sense for her to die in that moment. Because Ben rose and wow that scene when he was holding her again this is Adam’s best acting. Again i’m not a reylo but i felt his pain. He finally did what Anakin never did he saved someone he loved and that was so significant. His death made sense to me. Honestly they wouldn’t have accepted him in the resistance because of everything kylo did. He sacrificed himself do Rey can carry the Skywalker legacy. Leia giving him the strength he needed to save Rey was beautiful and both disappearing. He gets to reunite with his family as Ben Solo.

FINN FEELING REY’S DEATH-

TRIO REUNION- Poe and Finn reunion was so cute the way Poe reacted to seeing Poe. Both of them looking for Rey and her looking for both of them.THAT FUCKING HUG WAS EVERYTHING BETWEEN THE 3 OF THEM. FINN BEING IN THE MIDDLE AND HIM CRYING MADE ME SO EMOTIONAL. THERE EACH OTHER’S FAMILY. POE AND REY HAND HOLDING.

TATOOINE- Full Circle, ending where it started was a perfect ending. Her coming in the Falcon and sliding down the sand just how she did in TFA. She buried the skywalker sabers in luke’s home. And ending with her saying she’s Rey Skywalker like yes you are going to carry that legacy and her walking with BB-8 and the twin suns was just in my opinion a good ending. NO SHE DID NOT END UP ALONE. SHE HAS FINN, POE, CHEWIE, ROSE, LANDO, C-3PO, D-O, SHE HAS A FAMILY. THAT WAS SOMETHING SHE HAD TO DO ON HER OWN !!!!!!!!

WHAT I DID NOT LIKE .....

OPENING- With Kylo i hated the way it was show the slow motion it was just unecessary. Exogol was really scary I liked where Palpatine was it just seemed very Sith like. There wasn’t really a clear explanation on how he survived (maybe i missed it) but like how has been alive?????? It would’ve been great to see little clues of Palpatine since TFA. That delivery line of Poe “Somehow Palpatine is back...” was just like okay he’s back accepted without an explanation. Where did all the people for the final order come from. They’ve been inside those star destroyers all this time ?

REY LOOKING AT ? - Um maybe im dumb but what was Rey staring at before they left to Pasaana and Poe asked her what is it and she said nothing.... like okay what was it???? PLEASE SOMEONE EXPLAIN !!!

ROSE?/ CONNIX/ SNAP/ DOMINIC MONAGHAN/ BLACK SQUADRON - So Rose was given like 3 lines um JJ WTF her character deserved better and what about that scene with Rose & Rey why was it cut ???? Same with Connix i really enjoy her character and was disappointed there was barely any Connix. SNAP DYING HURTED SO MUCH. I am a huge fan of the Aftermath series and knowing Wedge was there ugghhhh im so mad he had to die. Dominic Monaghan was a pointless character who had more lines than Rose why was he in this movies he served NO PURPOSE AT ALL !!! AND WHERE WAS BLACK SQUADRON ???????????????????

Lando/ Luke- We should’ve seen them together in TLJ or TFA trying to find the wavefinder or whatever it’s called. Or at least Luke mention it to Rey that he was in search for something or he’s heard rumors about palpatine being alive and he went looking for clues. Why did Luke want to go find it ? Was this after Ben became Kylo Ren?

REY’S NECKLACE- WHY ARE REYLOS ROMANTICISING KYLO YANKING THE NECKLACE OUT OF REY ???? THAT’S NOT ROMANTIC OR WHATEVER THAT’S LIKE WHAT ABUSERS DO ....

Finn’s Secret- Poe is one of his best friends and also Rey like why does he want to hide that from Poe. I know Poe would understand and if we were given a scene with the trio and Finn explaining him being force sensitive that would’ve been *chef’s kiss* they would be so supportive and Finn deserves the world.

Chewie’s Fake Death- Rey had a way stronger reaction to his death than Poe and Finn they were kind of like we have to go and didn’t really comfort Rey or seemed afraid or confused it was just kind of ignored like let’s go... idk it was very weird to me the way it was handled.

KNIGHTS OF REN- I WAS SO EXCITED TO FINALLY SEE THEM ACTION TO REALIZE AGAIN THEY WERE A WASTE. I WISH WE COULD’VE SEEN MORE OF THEM. DISAPPOINTED.

FINN TRYING TO UNDERSTAND REY- Rey was starting to piss me off when all Finn was trying to do was understand her and for her to talk to him. The fact that Finn’s story arc in this movie is all about Rey and him chasing her all the time. FINN DESERVED A BETTER ARC

POE BEING A DRUG DEALER- I’M BEYOND PISSED OFF ABOUT THIS !!! YOU’RE TELLING ME THE SON OF 2 REBELS BECAME A DRUG DEALER. I REFUSE TO BELIEVE THIS UGLY BACKSTORY. HE WAS ON A SECRET MISSION THAT WOULD’VE MADE MORE SENSE !!!!!!

FINN NOT WANTING TO SHARE HIS SECRET YET AGAIN- FINN NOT TRUSTING POE ABOUT HIM BEING FORCE SENSITIVE LIKE MAKE IT MAKE SENSE THAT’S HIS BEST FRIEND !!!!

HUX BEING THE SPY/ DEATH- THIS WOULD’VE BEEN MORE SHOCKING IF THIS WAS BUILD UP SINCE TFA BECAUSE HONESTLY I WASN’T SHOCKED WHEN IT WAS REVEALED. HIS DEATH WOULD’VE MADE MORE SENSE.

FINN/POE ARGUMENT- I get it friends fight but that was kind of low. “You’re not Leia”

FINN RUNNING AFTER REY- YET AGAIN, I know he cares but at this point I was over it.

KYLO/ REY DUEL- It started off good but it became too long I became bored.

ALL THE JEDI- FORCE GHOSTS OF ALL THE JEDI WOULD’VE MADE THIS SCENE MUCH MUCH BETTER. I loved hearing the voices but just think of the impact if we would’ve seen the past jedi.

REYLO KISS- Maybe because i’m anti-reylo but that kiss seemed very awkward and not in the right place. It felt like it wasn’t needed. That’s my 2 cents.

FORCE GHOSTS AT THE END- I know we only get Luke & Leia but what about Anakin and Ben they are also Skywalkers. If all of them would’ve been looking at Rey when she said Rey Skywalker. SHE IS CARRYING ON THEIR LEGACY !!!

Anyways it seems like I was more of a fan of seeing the trio together and that’s that. A lot of unanswered questions that they completely ignored. Like Maz how did she have Anakin’s lightsaber?????? Who gave it to her???? It was never touched again. They left so many plotholes in this sequel trilogy.

#tros spoilers #the rise of skywalker spoilers #episode ix spoilers

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sasskarian · 4 years

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The Mostly-Complete Rise of Skywalker semi-liveblog and reaction list that literally no one asked for

I really dig the parallels between Exegol and Korriban. The way both places felt massive and cramped at the same time, all ominous and tomb-like. Both of them are desolate, devoid of all life. They both feel barren, but not just barren. Korriban feels like history crumbling beneath your fingertips. Exegol feels like a place that’s actively trying to wound you with its desolation, like it’s sucking the life out of you to try and renew itself. (Which, given that Palpatine is there and what he does later, yeah, that tracks.)

When Palps tells Kylo to kill Rey, you can see the micro expression in his eyes. The way the muscles in his face tighten up for a second, the brows drawing down in an expression of disdain and repulsion. If we could have seen his mouth, I’d lay money down on there being a sneer flash across his face for a moment. And damn if Adam isn’t a good actor for being able to portray something that subtle.

There were definitely a few moments where Chewie bitches at Poe for the stunts he’s pulling, including a very definitive accusation of “Rey would never do this to me or the Falcon,” or something along those lines. (This is when Poe snarls, “Yeah, well, Rey’s not here right now, is she?”)

Kylo reaching out into the Force. We’re supposed to think he’s trying to reach Anakin/Vader, but I don’t think that’s what happened at all. I think that he reached for Rey specifically, possibly as a self-soothing gesture. The need to feel her alive, reassure himself. And because of Rey’s feelings and connections to his own family, he’s clearly struggling with his more monstrous acts, and with seeing Luke and Han as intrusive thoughts.

Rey failing the training course because of him makes perfect sense. Notice that this is also when she gets angry.

The Kintsugi vibe given off by Ren’s helmet repairs are fascinating.

Given the way Pryde keeps focusing on Hux during the meeting, I feel like he suspects Hux.

I find it interesting that Finn seems to be the peacekeeper in the OT3. Poe is definitely a hothead, even though he’s matured since TFA and TLJ. And Rey snaps back at him, indignant that he’s snapping at her. And Finn is the one doing the “Guys, guYS, we don’t have TIME for this” routine.

I like the quiet horror of Rey recognizing Exegol’s name. Whether it’s Force shenanigans, or from reading Luke’s books, or from the vision, whatever. The recognition followed by horror is Good Fucking Acting.

I wish that there’d been a little more of Luke or Leia reassuring Rey that a name is just a name. That the legacy is what you make it. And that as the children of Anakin Skywalker, they know that better than anyone. I feel like that would have been a good tie-in and highlight for the way the surnames are treated in the movies. Ben shunning both Organa and Solo, Rey having a last name at last but one that carries the same kind of stigma and Dark past.

I… kind of wonder if Ren surrounded himself in atrocities as a means of self-punishment. We know it’s canon that he keeps being pulled to the Light, and that every time he does, he tries something Dark. Maybe it’s his way of reminding himself how far he’s fallen and that he can’t ever go back home again (which we know is bullshit, but hey, abuse fucks your brain up, and Snoke was abusive af). Like, again, I know it’s mostly just in the comics so far, but we see him a lot saying, “I never wanted this,” “I don’t want to do this.”

The Pasaana dance in the festival seems pretty clearly modeled after tribal dances, and that makes me wonder if powerful dances like the Dha Werda and the Ancestor Dance shown in the film send ripples through the Force. And what that might be like.

I… kind of like the idea of Ben and Kylo struggling for control? I need to finish reading TLJ and read TRoS when it comes out, but there are things Kylo does—the almost-gentle banter with Rey, the way he reaches out in TLJ when she’s on Ahch-To, warning her about Palps—that doesn’t make sense from a purely Kylo perspective. I mean, I’m also an angst gremlin who enjoys the idea of Kylo losing more ground to Ben Solo, and having serious identity clashes.

The bond between Rey and Kylo has grown exponentially. Each movie, it gets bigger and more powerful. In TFA, it allowed her to look into his head. And he wasn’t able to really bring himself to hurt her. In TLJ, it bridges impossible distances of space, even so far as transporting physical objects across the distance. And in TRoS, we see that it’s gotten so strong, it literally blocks out the rest of the physical world. You could argue that the darkness in the bond is what’s overshadowing it, but I don’t count it that way. Rey’s surroundings on Pasaana are slowed down and muted, as if only Ren is her focus.

The trio is so drift compatible, it hurts.

The way the trio grabs for each other, though. It was beautiful. Disney may have decided that Poe/Finn wasn’t a thing, which we all know is a damn lie, but this movie ships the OT3 so hard. The way Poe catches Rey as she falls, the way they both turn at almost the same time to look for Finn. The casual touching.

Childish though it was, I did enjoy the “mine’s bigger” joke with Rey’s lightsaber vs Poe’s flashlight.

Rey shows an affinity for Animal Empathy. Ren has used Stasis more than once. I could even argue that there’s been some subtle Battle Meditation going on throughout the series. And I kind of? Like that we’re seeing some of the more obscure and subtle Force powers.

Also? The snakey slow-blink? I love.

Rey seems to have some psychometry abilities. And I love it.

The way Rey says “I’ll be right behind you” isn’t what it sounds like. It has a lot of layers to it. (Just like Han’s “I know” in ESB) It’s declaration of intent (“I’ll handle this”), it’s a request (“Trust me”), and it’s consolation and reassurance (“I’ll be fine.”). The way all that is conveyed with five simple words is. Ugh. My heart.

As Finn gets stronger in the Force, I’m enjoying seeing his instincts kick in. He senses Ren’s approach, which is a nice completion of the parallel to TFA when Ren sensed him as the traitor.

I don’t know who’s read the Rise of Kylo comic, but the way she slices his ship to bring him down is a direct parallel to the shot he made when he escaped the destroyed Temple. (I love all the tie-ins, honestly)

Rey was doing okay with trying to pull the transport down until Kylo stepped in to push her. The most likely scenario is less “force lightning is genetic” (because that’s crap) but more that anger clouded her mind and she already had a direct Force ability going.

When I asked my roommate why she thought Rey couldn’t sense Chewie’s life force, she gave me an interesting theory. Well, a few, but one I think makes a lot of sense. The first was that Chewie was already off-world and thus too far away (later debunked by her sensing him as the Destroyer is in orbit). Or that maybe the transports were shielded against Force Abilities, but given that they’re so rare in this era, I don’t think that’s the case. I agree with my roomie in saying that it’s more likely that Rey burnt out part of her senses and basically put herself in shock due to the feedback of casting a powerful and traditionally dark side ability for the first time.

The first couple of times I watched the movie, the entire Threepio arc bothered me. Why didn’t they just plug him into the navicomputer, the way they’d done before? Why the angst build-up? Then I remembered that they left the Falcon on Pasaana, and it’s possible that L3 is more equipped to talk to Threepio’s forbidden memory banks than a post-TCW era ship that’s almost certainly out of date.

…Zorii and Poe have A Past. I’d put money on them having banged like screen doors in a hurricane at least a few times.

“Who are you hanging out with that spEAKS SITH?!?”

I? love? Babu?

“Does she do that to us?” had me in tears.

Oh my God, the sheer #aesthetic and foreshadowing of her duel with Ren. The red fruit (cherries?) spilling across the floor, the stark color against the too-bright white. The way Vader’s helmet thunks on the ground like a sour note in a song, the way the pedestal shatters with their combined strikes. Vader falling from Ren’s worship (as the truth is revealed that it was Snoke/Palps messing with his mind and he never heard Vader), the dark glass shattering the same way the darkness in Ren dies with him.

Finn is… kind of a gossipy biddy and I love it. The way Jannah hands him the part and he just flat out abandons the work to talk, the body language as he hoists himself up to sit on the ledge. I love it. He’s precious.

I wonder if the Death Star echoes in the Force. So many brutal deaths in those halls. So many restless ghosts.

…okay, I’m not sure how to feel about the dagger lining up with the fallen DS’s architecture. Because like. There’s so many layers to that? That suggests that Palps had the dagger created after Endor/RoTJ. Which suggests that he may have had the Wayfinders created then too (though it seemed pretty comfy in the Vault, so maybe he already had them?) (Also, there was one on Mustafar. Was it planted there? Did Vader know about Exegol? I need more information than this!) And like. The Death Star is sitting in a violent sea. It’s going to degrade eventually. What if the horizon line had changed? What then? It seems flimsy, for all that it was dramatic and cool.

The sheer aesthetic in this movie, though. The symbolism is everywhere. Like Rey taking the skimmer. I love the aesthetic choices of her struggling against these giant, furious waves as a fantastic visual analogy of her struggle against the emotions churning away inside her. And how Despair and Fear and even Anger threaten to overwhelm her and drown her, but she keeps holding tight to that little skimmer the same way she’s clinging to Luke’s teachings and Leia’s love and faith in her. Their belief in her.

“You don’t know what she’s fighting.” “And you do?” I wonder if, as a Force Adept, Finn can sense the bond between Rey and Ren, and that she’s struggling against it. As well as the Palpatine name.

Theory (that may or may not have been explored in the Legends EU): Any place steeped in enough Dark emotion can become a place of visions like the Mirror Cave and Dagobah’s Cave. Rey comes face to face with her worst fear on the Death Star.

Speaking of, I wonder if some small part of Rey enjoyed the vision of her and Kylo as Emperor and Empress. I wonder if that’s where the abject horror comes from.

Speaking of more aesthetic, the on-screen contrast and history of the window where Vader and Luke dueled, and the shot of Palps’ throne over Rey’s shoulder. Sorry not sorry but I’m going to be forever in love with the cinematography in this movie.

Ren seems… almost exasperated that she’s still drawing her saber on him. That has fic potential.

That. Entire. Fucking. Duel. That entire battle. Just… oof. OOF. My heart. It blew everything in me wide open. Looking with the eyes of a writer and SW expert instead of the wide-eyed “my hEaRt!” first reaction, I saw So Much. Like Rey and Ren trading battle stances. IDK if anyone else noticed, and it’s happened before (the throne room battle in TLJ, notably, but also their duel in Ren’s quarters). But here, it’s so clear. They gave and took from each other as they fought, and that broke my heart. It threw me back to KotOR II’s echani battles, and the fight between Sun and Mun in Sense8. Here, unlike TLJ, they weren’t fighting in tandem with each other. This was back and forth. Rey starts out saber up, in what looks like shii-cho. Kylo, like always, starts out in Ataru, with heavy, powerful strikes trying to bludgeon down her defense. Rey switches to an offensive, then to fast, agile strikes holding her lightsaber Ahsoka style. Kylo then switches to shii-cho, and Rey enters Ataru, with the aggressive offensive. The way they switched between each other was fantastic.

Near the end, Rey starts giving up. You can see it. Her movements get sluggish, like she’s just going through the motions. Like she’s so tired of fighting the bond in her head, her reluctant pull to him, like she’s just. So Fucking Tired. She’s resigned.

Kylo Ren dying by his own lightsaber while Ben’s mother called to him. That symbolism. That symbolism, though.

The way he looks around, like he’s in shock. The way the battle just stops, and he’s sitting there, dying. You can see the change in him, as Ben wakes up and Kylo dies. There’s so much shell-shock and disorientation, like someone who’s been asleep for too long, waking up confused. And I’d like to believe that Rey healing him poured not just healing but maybe a little Light into him, and that, along with Leia reaching for him, is what gave Ben the strength to rise over Kylo and overpower him. (See also, my love of internal power struggles)

“I did want to take your hand. Ben’s hand.” Excuse you, I did not sign up for this feels trip.

Rey running away. I have… conflicted feelings on? Did she run away because she was grieving? To escape her own history? Did she run because she gave into the dark and struck down Kylo in anger? Or because she was tempted by Ben?

I know everyone says that Han was just a memory but I prefer to believe that Han’s just too stubborn to be a proper Force Ghost. And Disney and Lucasarts can pry Force Sensitive Han Solo out of my cold dead hands.

Luke, materializing out of the air and catching the saber. My heart screamed. Especially when he chided her (and himself) that a lightsaber deserves more respect.

“Leia didn’t tell me.” I think… I think Leia was trying to, without saying the words, “Rey, you’re a Palpatine.” She said, “Never be afraid of who you are.” And oh, God, that’s something Leia would know. In the EU she struggles with being Anakin’s daughter, with the legacy of Vader hanging over her. She struggles with it so much. And finally comes to terms with it. So if anyone knows what that’s like, it’s going to be her.

"She sensed the death of her son at the end of her Jedi path." So... she had nearly thirty years to plan for it. Yoda says, “Always in motion, the future is.” I don’t believe for a single instant that Leia Organa shrugged her shoulders and said “Welp, guess my kid’s gonna die.”

Luke KNEW Ben would go to Exegol. He knew and no one will ever convince me otherwise. “Take both sabers.” She’d need one for Ben.

I wonder if Lando looks at the Falcon and sees all the little pieces of Han.

So. The arrival order at Exegol threw me for a while. Rey gets there, in Red 5. Using the toasted Wayfinder. Then the Resistance arrives, following her trail. We see Ben arrive in a TIE fighter. But… how? Rey’s trail was given to the Resistance on what I can only imagine is an encrypted wave data burst. We know it was technically given to Lando, so that the people joining the battle could find them. But Ben’s in a TIE fighter. Did he get the message from Lando? Were the coordinates already programmed into the TIE via the Final Order? Did he memorize the path from before (given that he’s a stellar pilot like Han)? Did Rey give it to him?

I hate Palps being a one-trick pony in the movies. We see him in TCW having other abilities, and mad saber skills. But in the movies, his schtick is the same every time: He seduces people to the Dark and makes them feel like they don’t have a choice, usually by dangling, “Look, you can SAVE THEM” in front of everyone. And then once he has them, he keeps them by constantly belittling them and reminding them that there’s nowhere else for them to go, because they burnt all their bridges. (Ex: Vader being reminded of what he did to Padme, and Kylo being reminded via Snoke of his own actions)

WEDGE. WEDGE ANTILLES. WEDGE.

Rey felt Ben’s approach, and you can see the change in her body language.

THAT IS THE MOST HAN SOLO THING I HAVE EVER SEEN AND IT’S NOT EVEN HAN SOLO. Watching the changes in Ben (vs Kylo) is so fucking great. He’s lighter, he’s faster. He skids (Han/Death Star), shoots behind him (Han/TFA), and the Solo Shrug. Ugh. Seeing Leia and Han blended in Ben with the Solo swagger, and Leia’s grace is fantastic.

Also: he looks so Soft. And so much younger.

I wonder if they’re communicating through the bond? He knows she can see him, because he nods at her to give him the saber. And unless I didn’t see correctly, she mouthed/whispered his name. And again, we see the connections between them in the fighting style. They’re still acting and reacting like extensions of each other.

The way they meet, the relief on their faces. Relief that melts into stubbornness and determination. Also, the way they take up their sabers in the same stance, the same expression. It’s delicious.

We were ROBBED of seeing the Jedi around Rey. ROBBED.

I’m STILL SALTY that they weren’t there for Ben (that we can see anyway).

Ben proceeded to completely shatter my heart. When he pulls Rey into his lap, he looks around like he’s waiting for someone to tell him what to do. He’s actively seeking guidance and help. And because we don’t have an in to Ben’s head, we don’t know if someone told him what to do or how to do it, or if anyone comforted him. But we do see his face go from disbelief to despair to acceptance.

The face touch. Stop breaking my damn heart.

When the Core ships arrive, I’m almost positive I saw The Razorcrest and the Ghost. I need to check the disc where I can pause it, but I’d put money on it that I saw them.

The way the trio grabs for each other at the end is more movie-shipping-OT3. Finn holding the two people he loves most in the world, right where he can see them. Poe taking Rey’s hand. They don’t know what happened in the Citadel, but I’m pretty sure Finn can feel how tired Rey is, how wounded she is. And they’re There For Her.

Rey burying the sabers on Tatooine has so many emotions attached to it. Tatooine, where Anakin Skywalker was born of the Force, where Luke spent his formative years. Luke and Leia resting together in the Force, as their student moves on and tries to find her way in the galaxy. And the parallels and tie ins from TFA to now, like Rey building a dual saber from parts of her quarterstaff, the sand sliding, and the OT callback to the protag being silhouetted by the twin suns, were satisfying.

Rey’s saber being yellow is something I find… interesting. If you look at the newer movies, whenever a blue or green saber crosses with a red one, the light sparks and blending of the plasma fields look yellow. And Kyber crystals (in the new canon) aren’t colored. They take on a color when the jedi awakes the force in them. So for her color to resonate yellow as someone balanced in light and dark makes a lot of sense.

I have… Opinions on the surname controversy that I’m still trying to sort through. And I definitely have Opinions on Ben sacrificing himself (mostly that the entire sequel trilogy spent two and a half movies harping on about balance only to kill off half the balance and leave a Force Wound in their protag)

***

Was Rise of Skywalker a good movie? Eh. That depends a lot on your criteria.

Was it a successful Star Wars movie? That also depends on your criteria.

But for me, it felt like Star Wars. It felt like an ending to the Skywalker saga. Did I get everything I wanted? No. Am I salty about parts of it? Absolutely. Are there plot holes I could drive a Death Star through? You betcha. Were we robbed of a better, more cohesive movie based on the leaks from JJ’s crew? YUP.

But I found things to enjoy. I got things I wanted (OT3! Force Sensitive Finn! Bendemption! Lando! Hope for the galaxy!), didn’t know I wanted (Master Leia! D-O the anxiety droid! Generals Finn and Poe!), and things I definitely didn’t want.

#star wars #Star Wars Spoilers #Rise of Skywalker #Rise of Skywalker Spoilers #TRoS Spoilers #Episode IX spoilers #Episode Nine Spoilers #Reylo #Rey/Ben #Rey #Ben Solo #I will Cut a Bitch over a Skywalker #Sher does Star Wars #long post #look I have a lot of feelings okay

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ageofgeek · 4 years

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Guys...they did the impossible. I liked Rise of Skywalker! They ended it well, and there were a bunch of parts that I REALLY liked (and really only a few parts that I was "meh" about).

SPOILERS UNDER THE READ MORE!

So! Let’s go through the main reveals/plot points and then I’ll go into more specifics. Rey is Palpatine’s granddaughter - I’ll be honest, I did NOT expect that. I think after TFA came out, I reblogged a gifset that included all of the Rey parentage theories, and I was like, “lol what? who the hell thinks that Rey is a Palpatine? wtf?” And now it’s canon? Honestly, it’s the same kind of batshit reveal that I’d expect from Star Wars, so I’m kinda okay with it.

Kylo Ren’s redemption was...not as terrible as I thought it would be. As y’all know, I am very anti-Kylo and anti-R*ylo, so I thought I was going to Suffer in this movie. But I was surprised by how I felt about it - only mildly irritated instead of bursting with rage. I still think he doesn’t really have a personality other than 1) whiny 2) manipulative and 3) emo, but I did like the scene where he hallucinates Han and repeats his line from TFA (”I know what I have to do but I don’t know if I have the strength to do it”). That being said, it is still highly questionable to have Kylo’s redemption built on Leia’s death/sacrifice for her son (it reads a little too much like fridging a woman to save a male character), but I will excuse the filmmakers for that because they didn’t have much footage of Carrie Fisher to work with, so there wasn’t too much they could do if they wanted to commit to not digitally reconstructing her (which I am glad they did not do).

I digress (I’ll talk about Leia in the next paragraphs). I did like that Kylo just showed up to the final fight with Palpatine in like, a henley and slacks. It seemed like a very Skywalker thing to do, lol. Also, thank God that he died. Like, damn - I see all these Kylo stans being so upset at his death, and I’m just like? His character purposefully paralleled Vader - a parallel which I think was weak, at best, but still, a parallel - and you thought that he wasn’t going to die? Also, what would have happened if he had lived? Oh right, he would’ve gone to prison for the rest of his life and not gotten married to Rey and have kids, lol, what universe are you living in? As it was, I think that they did his death well - like Vader, they had him sacrifice himself for somebody that he loved (although the bond between Rey and Kylo is, once again, much more questionable to me than the bond between Luke and Vader/Anakin). And like Vader, he turned back to the Light because of his family (Leia and Han). Thinking about the 2 other ways Ben’s character arc could’ve gone (1) he doesn’t turn back to the Light or 2) he turns back to the Light but doesn’t die), this was the only satisfying way to end his arc (at least in my opinion).

That being said, I REALLY could’ve done without that kiss. Like, really? You just had to force it into an unnecessary romance? You couldn’t have just had them hug or cradle each other, platonically? Both of the climactic emotional moments of the previous trilogies were completely non-romantic, and both focused on love of FAMILY - Luke cradling Anakin, his father, as he dies, and Obi-Wan being forced to “kill” Anakin, his brother. It would’ve been so much better if they had ended this one with Rey cradling Ben, her brother, as he died. But no, we can’t have nice things because heteronormativity exists. *sigh*

But, we’re moving on. I thought that they handled Leia’s character really respectfully - I think Carrie Fisher would’ve been proud. I’m still bitter and sad that we only got one scene in the entire sequel trilogy with Luke and Leia (the OG Skywalkers and you only had them in one fucking scene together? Goddammit), but that force ghost scene at the end with the two of them made me happy - it was a bittersweet happiness, but happiness all the same (also, since it is canon that force ghosts get to chill and rest and be happy in the afterlife, I am more than happy with that ending. It also makes me want to write a ton of fanfiction. Stay tuned for that). I also burst into tears when Leia died and Maz stood near her bedside and whispered, “Goodbye, Princess.” Wow, that did things to my heart!

Ian McDiarmid continues to be a goddamn delight to watch as Palpatine, and he was genuinely creepy and horrific in this movie. I still feel like bringing Palpatine back to life (albeit in zombified form) was a real slap in the face to the perfect ending of ROTJ (and it especially cheapens Anakin’s role as the Chosen One, which is really a slap in the face for me), but they did it as best they could. I think I would’ve preferred if Palpatine was in spirit form in this movie, trying to come back to life by using Rey as a conduit or a body? Something like that would’ve honored the end of ROTJ a bit more while also bringing him back as the big villain.

All in all, I liked TROS much more than I hated it, especially since I had pretty low expectations going in. I’ve talked about the big “reveals” and moments so far, but I really liked the little things in this movie! For example:

Rey, Finn, and Poe were a full-on OT3 trio in this movie, and I loved it! The mission to find the wayfinder in the desert? Adventures! Chase scenes! Exploring! Jokes! I loved it - it was definitely giving me “Tatooine in ROTJ” vibes. They all kind of wandered apart in the second half of the movie, but they came back together at the end for that hug!! Which made me cry buckets!! (Poe holding Rey’s hand as they both hug Finn??? Wow, OT3 goals, they are so in love)

Chewie and Lando were great! Lando felt a little random in this movie (no explanation as to where he was? No mention of Han’s death?), but I always appreciate Billy Dee Williams, so I’m not complaining.

In that same vein, WEDGE CAMEO!!! They got Denis Lawson back, and right after I got back on my Wedge/Luke wagon! Damn, I wish we could’ve seen more of him (maybe there are some deleted scenes??? Listen, I neED MORE WEDGE IN MY LIFE).

And again in the same vein as cameos, um, that Jedi voice scene??? Listen, ok, hearing Hayden’s voice again was more than I ever thought we would get, I was sO EMOTIONAL, I heard him and almost immediately burst into tears. And they got Ewan and Liam Neeson and Samuel L. Jackson(!!!), and the voice actors for Ahsoka and Luminara and WOW I am super emotional, that was hands-down the best scene in the movie for me. I was so happy to hear all of them - the acknowledgement of the prequels and the rest of the Jedi, FINALLY, after 2 previous sequel movies that didn’t give a shit about them. FINALLY we got this. And you know what? I would’ve been even happier if they had shown their faces, but I will take it. I will fucking take it. (That being said: Oh, Disney Gods - please let Hayden return for flashbacks and/or hallucinations in the Obi-Wan series. Please. It’s all I want in life).

The confirmation that Leia trained as a Jedi and had a lightsaber - I almost full-on clapped in the theaters at that scene. And I loved the training sequence/flashback that they had with Luke and Leia - they actually showed them sparring and I loved it so much! It was amazing - why couldn’t they have included that earlier? (Cue me singing: “We could’ve had it allll!!!!!”).

Luke’s Force Ghost appearance really redeemed his character from the beating it got in TLJ. It was a short scene, but it felt so much more like the Luke Skywalker I know and love, and I’m glad that they gave Mark Hamill a chance to really play Luke again.

The end scene with the Resistance coming to help. It felt a little Endgame-ish to me (then again, that was arguably the best scene in Endgame), but we definitely came full circle from TLJ, where the Resistance was basically abandoned on Crait and nobody answered their distress call. In TROS, everybody answered their distress call.

I also like that C3PO had a bit more of a role! I really love R2 and C3PO, and I like that they kept to Lucas’ original vision of the two of them being the only ones to be in all 9 films. I also deeply appreciate R2 being with Leia when she died - that felt incredibly moving and appropriate, and also coming full circle from Leia’s first scene with R2 in ANH.

Finn being confirmed as Force-sensitive! Finally! Fucking 4 years since TFA and we finally got it - hallelujah.

I think that’s about it! Honestly, I’m just so high off of the endorphins of hearing Anakin and Obi-Wan and all of the Jedi again! That scene made the entire movie worth it for me.

But this is the end of the Skywalker Saga, and that makes me really sad. The one thing that I am really upset about with regards to this movie is that it literally ends the Skywalkers. At least if you end the original 6 movies with ROTJ, the implication is that Leia and/or Luke will continue the Skywalker lineage, and they will continue to be leaders and jedi and heroes - but when you add in the sequel trilogy...it just ends. Anakin’s grandson turns to the dark side and ends up (indirectly) killing Luke, Leia, and then himself. And THAT’S how the Skywalkers end? After the tragedy that was Anakin (and Padme’s) life, history just repeats itself and the family line ends? That’s...depressing. But I think that the sequel trilogy, in a way, is still very distant from the other 2 trilogies - in a way, it reminded me of a weird, high-budget delve into the EU that is technically canon, but doesn’t feel like it’s canon???

Either way, I’m happy to accept the sequel trilogy as pseudo-canon, but still apart from the original 6 movies. I’m glad that we got to see some, if not all, of the OT characters again. I wish we could’ve gotten more - out of the old and new characters - but what we got was okay, and I enjoyed the ride.

And now, I’m just going to go cry over the Skywalker family and read force ghost fanfiction :’)

#tros #tros spoilers #star wars #sequel trilogy #mine #rant #resistance era

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inquisitorhotpants · 6 years

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So, TLJ

I was going to wait until I saw it again, but ... ehhh let’s get this done. God this post is gonna be long. I’m gonna miss stuff.

I have 6 main gripes with this movie and I want to get those out of the way first.

That should have been Anakin, not that shitty-ass space frog. Fuck Yoda.

The codebreaker Maz sent them for should have been Lando, and “we didn’t have time for Lando” is still nonsense.

Rian, that is a bladderbuster of a movie, we did not need the milking scene, pal.

Also Joss Whedon gets tiresome, let’s dial back the jokes per second yeah? SW is tonally different from Avengers, let’s not make them all samey same.

Why was there no mourning for Han that was visible instead of only learned through “The Art of TLJ” (Leia’s hairstyle was Alderaanian mourning braids.)

... MOAR PHASMA, are you for real with this 0.3 seconds nonsense.

Now, I was so incredibly underwhelmed by TFA (I have literally never watched it since I saw it in theaters one time per my obligation as a Star Wars fan, I felt like JJ Abrams didn’t even care enough to make an original movie) that I wasn’t jazzed about TLJ.

I was very, very, very wrong in that. Holy fuckballs was I ever fucking wrong.

Luke

The flashback trio, holy SHIT. The sanitized, Obi-Wan’d version. Kylo’s “Bilbo seeing the ring” scary-ass wrong version. And finally, Luke’s “I fucked up so so much” version. Luke has always struggled with the Dark Side, with his anger. You see it at the end of RotJ where he’s just hammering on Vader, until he goes a step too far and goes “oh my god what am I doing.” And then you find out that he bought his own hype, and the Order’s own hype, and drifted close to the Dark Side again, thanks to past trauma from dealing with Vader and his own established tendency to come close to the dark.

But he regrets it so so much. Mark’s monologue talking about that, where you can hear the pain and regret and guilt in his voice, it’s some of his best acting. Luke, driven by shame over what he almost did, driven by survivor guilt, ends up in a very dark place. Shame and guilt are real fucking beasties, and feeling that you failed your students, your nephew, your best friend, your sister, and the galaxy? Jesus. It makes my heart hurt just thinking about it.

And then finally, someone with the same kind of optimism he used to have shows up, a real genuine Rey of Sunshine as it were. And she does exactly what he did with Vader. She tries, even though she has less of a dog in this fight than he does, and it’s just .... i love it, guys.

That force projection. GodDAMN. Even Threepio can see him! HOLY SHIT.

The mirroring of his sacrifice, buying our heroes time, of Obi-Wan’s, was so poignant.

I cried like a baby all through the scene with him and Carrie. It was so good.

And then his scene with Kylo, with this man who’s just devoured by anger and feelings of inadequacy and this desperate need to prove himself to a shitty-ass authority figure (Snoke). It was excellent.

Basically A+ all around, gave Luke nuance and a real depth of character that I wasn’t expecting but I loved after I’d really sat and ruminated on it. He’s always been so positive, and things worked out for him (mostly), and this failure (and there’s the theme of the movie, how you handle failure) just walloped him upside the head and it felt so very, very real to me. <3

I also cried when his robes blew off that rock on Ahch-To. (I cried a lot in this movie lmao)

“Where’s Han?” (me: “fuck me i’m crying a lot.”)

Leia

SPACE MOM OMG <3

Look even if i’d hated the rest of this movie, I was going for Space Mom.

She’s so tired of fighting. She’s so tired of losing that which she loves most. She’s so ready to just sit down and rest. But she won’t, because Leia is the most resilient, and so stubborn and determined and fierce and amazing. Even getting shot into goddamn space isn’t going to stop her.

LEIA USING THE FORCE AND BY GOD SHE HAS SO MUCH STRENGTH IN IT because she’s so very much also Anakin’s kid. <3

Leia being so done with Poe’s nonsense. She’s not going to keep seeing these wholesale sacrifices. Winning doesn’t matter if you don’t have anyone left. The Resistance is not cannon fodder. They are not the First Order, and their people matter.

Every single scene with Leia I loved. All of them.

The hurt, and the pain, and the resignation in her voice when she says her son is gone, it broke my heart guys. You can tell she isn’t happy about it. You can tell she didn’t arrive at this decision lightly. Letting go of a family member who’s determined to pursue something destructive is hard as fuck. I’ve seen it happen in my own family. Leia has lost so, so much. Her planet, her parents, her adoptive parents, her husband, her son, and now she knows she’s losing Luke too? I just ... my heart.

Leia and Rey at the end! <3 Loved it.

the goddamn tribute before the credits, yep cried there too.

Rey

God I love Rey.

Zero time for Kyle Ron’s nonsense.

GET REKD NERD /vrooms off in the Falcon

Her strength of character, her mirroring of Luke’s attempt at redemption, her positioning as light to dark, her “fine fuck you I’m leaving” when redemption is rejected, I love everything about Rey.

THE REUNION WITH FINN <3

The introduction to Poe

Did I mention I love Rey? I love Rey. Rey is so driven and determined and amazing. <3 She has no time for an old-ass man’s nonsense. She has no time for a gold bathrobe wearing man’s nonsense. She has no time for Kyle Ron’s nonsense. “Look I have shit to get done so lead, follow, or get the fuck out of my way.” When Luke wouldn’t stand up (because he’s still fighting his own personal demons), she goes “fine, I’ll do it myself.” When Kyle Ron wouldn’t actually burn down the past, she goes, “fine, I have things to do.”

Rey is the Actual Best.

Rey uses her anger! Holy shit I love that.

Kylo Ren

Look I have to give massive props to Adam Driver. The way he plays someone who’s been emotionally abused, fuck, that shit was giving me flashbacks to my own life. (snoke reminds me of my mom lmao my childhood was great.)

Unlike TFA, I actually found him compelling as a character this time.

That scene in the elevator actually sort of hurt my heart a little. “Okay, FINE. You don’t think I’m anything? You think I don’t deserve this? THEN I’LL FUCKING SHOW YOU, I’LL DO IT WITHOUT IT, I’LL BE BETTER THAN YOU EVER EXPECTED” and the unspoken “and then you’ll finally accept me”. I got a little choked up, thanks past trauma.

God I remember trying for decades to get my mom to love me, to say something nice that she meant, to just pretend she liked me. You agree with horrible shit, you feel beat down all the time, all trying to make this truly awful person think you’re somebody.

So I understand part of Kylo Ren’s drive, tbh.

But he still chose the Space Nazis TWICE. And threw off the love of his family and his uncle. So fuck that jackass.

Look, my mom left literal scars on my face, and i didn’t burn down my school, murder the students, and go join the Hitler Youth.

He’s the embodiment of “prior trauma does not excuse current actions”

A+ to Adam Driver for playing a character I can go “oh man that sucks, but I would still space your ass in half a second you shitty-ass human being.”

Finn

I love Finn so so so much and I could watch a whole movie just about Finn and Rose and Rey and Poe just ... generally wrecking rich people’s shit around the galaxy ngl.

I wish the fight with Phasma was longer. That was a bit of a letdown.

But Finn is just perfect. I love him.

Can we talk about how he looked like an Actual Disney Prince running over to make sure Rose was okay? Because he did and I loved it.

Also how he was totally prepared to give his life to save the Resistance because he has something to fight for, and I wasn’t SUPER sure he was going to be stopped and my heart was in my throat that whole time because Finn you fucking precious human being you. <3

THE REUNION oh my god 12 seconds of sublime perfection. THEY WERE SO HAPPY. (i cried. but i bet you knew that already lmao)

Rose

Cute, takes no shit, period. Love her. Awkward and adorable and just fantastic.

She felt very reminiscent of Cassian with her “I’ve been fighting this my whole life” stance, and I loved it.

Little acts of kindness can have huge rippling effects on the universe. <3

I can’t wait to see more of her.

Watching her and Finn totally fucking up rich people’s days, goddamn that was satisfying as fuck.

I liked the kiss. It was pretty clear she was crushing on Finn the whole time (well maybe not to Finn lmao), it wasn’t drawn out. It didn’t make anything canon, and while I may be all about Finnrey and get more of a brotp vibe from Finnrose, I certainly wouldn’t be mad if it ends up going that way. I thought it was cute. “Fuck it, i’m gonna do it before i pass out.”

Poe

Poe getting schooled by two older, more experienced women, A+.

Poe reminded me of Saw Guerrera, actually, speaking of Rogue One parallels. He wants to win, no matter the cost. Let’s remember that Saw ended up leaving the main body of the Rebellion over this.

I thought Poe’s arc was great, tbh. He learned that you have to be able to ADAPT.

I’m still personally “eh” on not disclosing anything, but at the same time, even if Holdo had told him at least a general idea of what was going on, I think he still would have sent Rose and Finn, he still would have staged the mutiny. His entire thing is “i know better” when he doesn’t, and he learns that he certainly does not always know better. There was a LOT of character growth there, and I loved it. So much of this movie adds depth to characters. <3

That intro to Rey! I loved it so much.

POE AND BB8, enough said, god they were cute. THEY HAD A FOREHEAD TOUCH. <3

General things I really liked

that scene where Holdo jumps into the ship. utter silence, light spilling forth from a source of darkness, GODDAMN that shit gave me chills. Amazing.

The aesthetics, as always. Star Wars movies are just beautiful.

Porgs! Jesus they were cute.

“Jakku pretty much is nowhere.” lmao fucking sassy-ass skywalker men

Literally everything with Chewie.

THE SOUNDTRACK.

Snoke Bond Villain-ing it up and promptly dying lmao. “Let me reveal everything about my plan including the fact that I faked this Force bond thing” /pulls a Darth Maul

THAT LIGHTSABER FIGHT GODDAMN. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend” basically.

Luke flicking invisible dust off his shoulder.

there’s a lot more but uh yeah i liked this a lot. I’m going to go see it at least one more time.

#tlj spoilers #i've never had such an entire 180 on opinion from before seeing to after seeing

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mygreatadventurehasbegun · 6 years

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Watched The Last Jedi again last night.

Sad I didn't get to see it in the theaters for a 2nd time.

Here's a collection of random thoughts:

All of the battle scenes are really well done. Especially the fight between Kylo Ren, Rey and the Red Guards.

Pretty much anytime Luke was onscreen, the movie worked. Except when he threw the light saber. I really wish he just dropped it, rather than tossing it. But I love Luke as a teacher, I love the curmudgeonly attitude. And he felt like OT Luke when he sees R2.

Why do they show us Luke's TIE fighter if he never flies it?? I thought he might pull a Yoda, and use the force to lift it out of the sea....

Do we really need Porgs? Yes, they are cute....but they serve the plot not one bit.

I love the connection between Kylo Ren and Leia. The way they kept cutting back between them was great.

I love that Leia was using the Force...I'm just not a fan of her flying threw the air like that. My logic took over and was like: "you can't survive in space like that". Maybe use the Force to keep herself from leaving the bridge in the first place?

The Canto Bight sequence.....like most people, I just did not care for. It's an interesting idea, but it just slows the movie down. It's the part of the movie where it's a good time to get up and go to the bathroom. But I do like the dynamic between Rose and Finn.

I do not like Benicio de Toro's character. At all. Even before he betrays them...I just didn't like him.

Are we ever going to know the significance of Rey's staff? She's been carrying it around for two movies, and we still don't know. And if they explain it in the novelizations, that doesn't count.

I am so happy that Rey did not end up related to the Skywalkers. I like that she's a "nobody from nowhere". Because that's who Luke was in the first movie. The whole father/son thing didn't start until Empire.

I thought the connection between Kylo Ren and Rey was interesting....but no romance, please! I may have been ok with it, if there wasn't the whole: "you're nothing....but not to me". That pretty much put an end to that for me.

PUPPET YODA!!!! Though was he CGI when we first see him? Or is it because of the "Force Ghost" effect? When he's sitting still, he looks CG; but when he moves, he's definitely a puppet.

Couldn't Andy Serkis have just worn makeup? He's a great actor whether he's mot/capped or not. The design just wasn't so crazy that they couldn't have done a Harvey Dent style makeup/CG effect. Snoke did seem pretty useless, on the whole.

Captain Phasma was such a let down. We know nothing about her and she didn't even get to do much fighting. And Gwendoline Christie is obviously great at fighting and stunt work. It felt like a bit of a waste of a great talent. Kind of like Snoke/Andy Serkis.

How amazing would it have been if while Rey and Kylo Ren are fighting for the saber, Luke showed up and took it from both of them???

Holdo's sacrifice should have been Leia's. She just wasn't able to be fleshed out enough for her sacrifice to mean as much as it should have.

The Salt planet looked GORGEOUS. Loved all the red against the white.

Leia using a blaster like the badass she is.

Finn's sacrifice could've been an amazingly poignant moment, and it was frickin' RUINED. Not that I wanted the character to die, but it would've been an incredible moment.

THE LUKE AND LEIA REUNION WAS ALL I WANTED FROM THE MOVIE AND I GOT IT AND IT GAVE ME ALL OF THE FEELINGS.

Liking the samurai vibes I got from the fight between Luke and Kylo Ren.

Luke looking out at the twin suns was just beautiful and a fitting end for Luke.

BUT the question remains: what now?? I know that the original plan was to have each character from the "main three" to have a significant story arc in these new movies. Han in TFA, Luke in TLJ, and Leia in the final film. But....we no longer have Leia. And I know they didn't want to reshoot anything after Carrie Fisher's death....but....what now? I'm just thankful that they aren't going to make a CG Leia.

After watching the movie again, I'd probably grade this at a solid B/B+. There are some AMAZING moments in this movie, but there are a few "what?" moments, too. I think I'd classify this as a movie where the sum of it's parts are greater than it's whole.

#the last jedi #star wars #movies

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valkerymillenia · 6 years

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Omg there's so much I want to talk about in TLJ that I don't even know where to start!

And my ships 😏 hehe I see what the authors are doing.

Red herrings everywhere.

Spoilers ahead.

These are random disjointed fangirlish thoughts on the movie that I have to spill out before I can become coherent again. Bare with me.

THE HUMOUR! So good and yet so well nuanced that it complemented the seriousness of the movie very well.

GENERAL HUGS and SALT GUY need to be memes. I mean, c’mon guys, you know I’m right.

LEIA USING THE FORCE TO SAVE HERSELF, IN THE VACUUM OF SPACE! My gods, she always had so much potential and it’s good to see some of it finally being expressed. They built Leia up so well in this movie, so much development, I love it but now I’m so afraid of what they’ll do for ep IX without Carrie...

Billie Lourd having way more protagonism! The legacy continues.

WOMEN EVERYWHERE! As many as the men and in equal posts! Thank you, gods! Also, POC everywhere! YES, THANK YOU!

Rose is freaking adorable and well written, the viewers form an instant connection with her through her sister and she has that innocent and wonder that we haven’t had since New Hope’s Luke.

Though Rose describing Canto Bight made me laugh because it was a perfect echo of Obi-Wan describing Mos Isley... In fact when she described it as an ugly horrifying place filled with the most despicable people, all I could think was ‘girl, you’ve clearly never been to Mos Isley’. Though in the end Canto Bight is more civilized but morally worse than Mos Isley so she’s not wrong.

Still wondering was the message Rey asked Chewie to give Finn...

Shipping wise... They're baiting us with Finn x Rose AND Finn x Poe AND Finn x Rey all at once. Interesting to see the guy being the center of a love tangle for a change. Anyway, they are clearly letting the audience chose how to interpret each relationship.

Now, I’m trying to analyze this without shipper goggles (yet) so...

Poe's body language is all over Finn who seems clueless, Poe just acts so differently around Finn compared to others, hell, he even acts possessive of Finn (the way he examines all of ‘naked and leaking’ Finn, and, his face when he meets Rose and slightly places himself between her and Finn- “Who’s this?”).

Rose kisses Finn but he doesn't kiss back, it's not even shock he just looks confused and more concerned with saving her. In sum- Rose's body language is all over Finn, even more explicitly than Poe (because heteronormativity and all) but once again Finn looks absolutely clueless of what others feel towards him.

The only times Finn's body language and attitude go beyond more than friendship and admiration are when it's related to Rey... Though then she’s the one whose body language only denotes platonic feelings.

I see what's happening- the authors are showing all these options as red herrings under our noses, which often happens in the middle of trilogies, all so the fans won't be able to guess what's coming. Hell, I could almost feel an asexual vibe from Finn and the Rose x Finn kiss echoes the red herring Leia x Luke kiss in ep V so much...

Personally I still ship stormpilot (though not averse to Rose and Poe sharing Finn but that will never happen and still prefer stormpilot), even though I openly admit that it's clear they wanted to show obvious Finn x Rey chemistry and some Finn x Rose (albeit more one-sided).

Moving on...

ALL THE FUCKING REYLO! My poor shipper heart was exploding!

Topless Kylo! Flustered “please-cover-up-that-distracting-bod” Rey! LMAO!

I'm so happy that reylo is a cannon thing now. Sure, it's in a tragic ship sort of way instead of openly romantic, but damn, that back to back battle against the praetorian guard... AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Scarred Kylo!

Kylo hesitating and refusing to shoot, most likely because Leia was on board the ship...

Rey crying when she touches Kylo and connects to his emotions.

Official confirmation that Snoke was already manipulating Ben when he was Luke’s apprentice (like what was stated in the novelization of TFA).

Ben turning to the dark because he felt betrayed by Luke (echoing Anakin and the Jedi Council).

Kylo constantly conflicted and expressing it through anger and obvious emotional vulnerability, even (or even more so) as he becomes “the big baddy”.

Kylo BEGGING to have Rey on his side. And vice-versa.

Kylo killing Snoke, not for power but for Rey, the power was just his ambition and greed bubbling up as Rey denies him.

Pretty sure Kylo will get a redemption arc- I know it doesn't seem like it but the clues are there and I'm a good 90% sure of this, otherwise we'd just have a copy of Anakin's conflict all over again albeit Kylo being more ambiguous and also less determined in about his intentions. Now, if this redemption ends well or not, with love or without it, with grey jedi or otherwise, that is where the mystery lies.

Ok, I admit, Reylo is my otp but objectively in canon I don't know how the ship will end, at this point it can go either way; but imho Kylo will be redeemed somehow. As a writer and someone very much used to deconstructing plots, I can tell that there are enough clues for this, not just in this movie but in the big picture of the whole SW movieverse.

One thing is for sure- the old dichotomy of jedi and sith as we know it is dead. Luke, Kylo and Yoda give us enough confirmation of this (and admittedly the whole black-white/good-evil extremes thing was getting SO old).

Personally I'm praying with all my might that we get Grey Jedi at last! And that would make both Rey and Kylo’s predictions true- she strays from the light and him from the dark and they meet in a middle term... It would make sense and seems to have been foreshadowed but unfortunately it’s not one of those things I can say I’m certain off.

Let’s also have in account that the title of the movie is “The Last Jedi” but intended as plural (even here the subtitle was plural) so when Luke says “I will not be the last jedi”, I don’t think he means Rey exclusively.

Kylo was not made for leadership and rule either so I do wonder who will take the reigns of this crumbled government when it’s all said and done.

What else...

POE BEING A HOT-HEADED DAREDEVIL! He had such an aura of competence and poise in TFA but in TLJ we saw so much development, he was so humanized and flawed (but in the best way).

Phasma’s death was... as we say in Portugal “soube-me a pouco”, aka it felt lacking. Don’t get me wrong, it was epic, but they made such a huge deal of her in PR and marketing (especially in TFA) that it feels like she had a bigger role that got edited out in post-production. The fight with Finn was perfect and excellent for his growth but it felt like we needed more on Phasma to make it more meaningful.

HOLDO’S KAMIKAZE MOVE! Goddamn, I had mixed feelings about her through the whole movie but, although I usually dislike the kamikaze martyr trope, at that moment I just adored her. I feel like we could have gotten a bit more personal with her but either way it was tragically perfect.

Luke’s death felt unnecessary. Again, don’t get me wrong- I was afraid I’d hate it but it was a good death, an appropriate and meaningful one; however, it felt anti-climatic and unnecessary in the progression and pacing of the story itself. Perhaps if framed differently... Either way, the only way the manner of his death can be justified to me is if he has an important role (big or small, whatever, but meaningful) as a Force Ghost in ep IX.

Kinda wish we'd have a Luke-Anaking force ghost reunion; the two of them guiding Leia and Rey and even Kylo... But that's just wishful thinking.

The sweet moment between Leia and Luke broke me, I wanted to cry. They deserved so much more time together, hell, WE deserved to see so much more interaction between them as close siblings.

The almost imperceptive glance we get of the Jedi books safely stored in the Falcon! Begging the questions- who and why?

I wanted more Chewie and definitely more Maz! I really, really, REALLY want more Maz as a sassier modern version of Yoda.

Speaking of- loved the Yoda cameo- Mr ‘if you don’t have the balls then I’ll do for you’.

I get a feeling we’ll be seeing DJ again... But, honestly, so many new characters and they COULDN’T BRING BACK LANDO FUCKING CALRISSIAN?!

Please tell me Rey will build her own lightsaber now! And make it a lightsaber pike, it fits her much better than than the Skywalker saber.

Liked Rey’s parentage reveal, honestly so much better than having her conveniently be the heir of a pre-existing character. Also gives her tragic past much more intensity.

Porgs were cute but screw them, the Vulptex’s were soooooo much better.

I’m conflicted about Snoke’s death... It was brilliant but at the same time it wasn’t as impactful as it could be if his role had been more pronounced in TFA. Still, very good though.

Best of all- HUX BEING TOSSED AROUND LIKE A DOLL. Deflates his ego beautifully. And when Kylo gives the “shoot with all you got” order when Luke pops up and Hux repeats the order word by word but louder to the troops and Kylo just gives him that ‘bitch, I just said that’ face... Priceless.

I loved BB-8 before but now I ADORE HIM! In Poe’s ship trying to fix the circuit board and then just goes “fuck it” and smashes into the whole thing. xD “Finn, wet, leaking” ! And taking out the prison guards! And piloting a damn AT-AT alone to shoot troopers! He’s so fucking smart and resourceful and just as much a daredevil as Poe, not to mention cute AF!

BB-9E was interesting we didn’t get much more from him than appearance so BB-8 FTW!

Give me BB-8 merch. All the BB-8 merch! Pillows, plushies, the drone! I’m in love with all things BB-8!

But when it comes to droids, I wanted more from R2, he felt neglected. Though that move of showing the old recording of young Leia’s distress message to push Luke really was genius.

Wondering if the little boy at the end is force sensitive or if he (or other kids) will have any role in the Resistance, there was a lot of foreshadowing there.

OMG the movie was just sooooo good! The spoilers terrified me but it was so good, for a mid-trilogy movie it was just right. Let’s hope IX lives up to it.

Finally, one last question- WHY IS NOBODY ASKING WHAT HAPPENED TO THE OTHER HANDFUL OF PADAWANS (KNIGHTS OF REN) THAT LEFT WITH BEN??????

I got up and practically saluted when the “in memory of” showed up. It got me in tears.

Ok, end of rambles... for now.

#star wars #sw:tlj #spoilers #MASSIVE SPOILERS #theories #star wars VIII #sw8 #personal opinions #i really want lando or a descendant in ep ix #geez billy dee already stated he'd love to reprise the role #this movie was a rollercoaster #both in plot and twists

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