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locker_monsterI would have liked to have seen it opening weekend, but the timing wasn't good for me. Also, I was feeling Star Wars fatigue from all of the merchandising and advertising. As such, I ended up with a theatre full of kids off for the Christmas break and I think some of them had already seen the movie. Case in point, there was a mom with two boys sitting behind me and the younger son kept talking about the movie and the mom had to tell him to stop talking a bunch of times. Clearly, the mom didn't want to be spoiled. Now that's a good parent. ;-)
Anyway, the movie. I really enjoyed it. It was, foremost, fun, and it does a good job of setting up another trilogy.
But the thing I loved the most was the bait and switch they did with Finn and Rey. Since Finn is the one holding Luke's lightsabre on the poster and in the trailer, you expect him fulfill the Luke Skywalker role. Nope! It's Rey who's the Force sensitive one, Rey who faces down Kylo Ren at the end, Rey who goes to see Luke at the end of the movie. I mean, there's nothing wrong with Finn, but having Rey continue the Jedi legacy puts a nice twist on it. So often, the hero of the hero's journey is a guy. Now little girls growing up with Star Wars will have another strong role model.
And I love Rey, so maybe I'm biased. She starts off as a scavenger on Jakku but she quickly gets sucked into the whole plot line of trying to find Luke and she proves to be very capable. She pretty much rescues herself from the Starkiller Base; Finn, Han, and Chewie just show her the way out. Actually, her story parallels Luke's journey quite a bit, so maybe it shouldn't be a surprise that she's so attuned with the Force. Does this mean she's Luke daughter? That seems like the really obvious answer and I don't know if the filmmakers would be that obvious. On the other hand, Rey is a good pilot and she's good at fixing things, traits she shares with Luke and Anakin. Was she left on Jakku by Luke for save keeping, like he was on Tatooine? If she is Luke's daughter, that helps to keep the plot very personal. Once again, it's family facing off against each other. I really don't care what they end up deciding, as long as Rey continues to be such a great character.
I don't know what they're going to do with Finn, though. If he's not meant to be a Jedi, what's his arc? He'll continue on with the Resistance, probably, since he has intel on the First Order. His background is kind of vague, but I doubt he's related to any of the established characters. You can only have so many of those floating around before it becomes really annoying. But I do like that he's a Stormtrooper who had a crisis of faith. The fact that he didn't even have a name speaks a lot about the First Order. Finn was meant to be faceless and interchangeable. He wasn't meant to be a person. So I guess that's his journey; building a life.
Poe gets shortchanged. He's absent for a lot of the movie. Turns out he was supposed to die in the crash. Maybe they'll go more into his character in the other movies. Right now, he's an ace pilot with a really cute droid as his partner. OMG, BB-8 is the cutest. He's like a puppy dog. It's so adorable when he bumps into R2-D2 in an attempt to get him to boot up. Can't wait to see the R2-D2 builders start building BB-8s and taking them to cons.
As for our other heroes, it's no surprise that Han gets most of the screen time out of the trio, though Leia does get some nice scenes with him. I wasn't expecting Kylo Ren to be their son, but yay, they actually had a kid! I want that backstory to be filled in; it sounds interesting. Plus, things are super personal now that Han is dead and by Kylo Ren's hand. I actually wasn't surprised that Han died. Someone needs to die to raise the stakes and I feel like it was the only way they could get Harrison Ford to reprise the character. But who knows? Maybe Han could appear in a flashback or something. Leia didn't have much screen time, so hopefully she gets some meaty scenes in the next movie. And then there's Luke. Luke, who only appears for the last, like ten seconds of the movie. They forced Mark Hamill to lose all that weight and to grow that beard for that? Maybe J.J. filmed some stuff for Episode VIII while they were in Ireland.
Just some random thoughts:
- So weird not to have the 20th Century Fox fanfare before the movie. It's sometimes easy to forget that Disney owns everything now.
- Aw, Kylo Ren's real name is Ben. Seems like he's named after Obi-Wan.
- A pair of guys around my age were sitting next to me. They started sniffling just before Han's death scene. This slightly ruined the moment for me as these guys wouldn't be sniffly if the moment didn't end in tragedy. On the other hand, aw, they got misty eyed.
- The aerial fights were gorgeous. All of the zooming around didn't feel gratuitous and it was a nice way to show off how the latest technology can elevate certain aspects of the universe. At the same time, there were a lot of practical elements and locations and I appreciate that. It works much better here than in J.J.'s Star Trek movies.
- Was anyone else tempted to yell "It's a trap!" when they saw Akbar appear on the screen?
Overall, the movie was very much in the spirit of A New Hope and you're left with a great desire to see what's next. Please don't screw it up. We've been burned once before.
Anyway, the movie. I really enjoyed it. It was, foremost, fun, and it does a good job of setting up another trilogy.
But the thing I loved the most was the bait and switch they did with Finn and Rey. Since Finn is the one holding Luke's lightsabre on the poster and in the trailer, you expect him fulfill the Luke Skywalker role. Nope! It's Rey who's the Force sensitive one, Rey who faces down Kylo Ren at the end, Rey who goes to see Luke at the end of the movie. I mean, there's nothing wrong with Finn, but having Rey continue the Jedi legacy puts a nice twist on it. So often, the hero of the hero's journey is a guy. Now little girls growing up with Star Wars will have another strong role model.
And I love Rey, so maybe I'm biased. She starts off as a scavenger on Jakku but she quickly gets sucked into the whole plot line of trying to find Luke and she proves to be very capable. She pretty much rescues herself from the Starkiller Base; Finn, Han, and Chewie just show her the way out. Actually, her story parallels Luke's journey quite a bit, so maybe it shouldn't be a surprise that she's so attuned with the Force. Does this mean she's Luke daughter? That seems like the really obvious answer and I don't know if the filmmakers would be that obvious. On the other hand, Rey is a good pilot and she's good at fixing things, traits she shares with Luke and Anakin. Was she left on Jakku by Luke for save keeping, like he was on Tatooine? If she is Luke's daughter, that helps to keep the plot very personal. Once again, it's family facing off against each other. I really don't care what they end up deciding, as long as Rey continues to be such a great character.
I don't know what they're going to do with Finn, though. If he's not meant to be a Jedi, what's his arc? He'll continue on with the Resistance, probably, since he has intel on the First Order. His background is kind of vague, but I doubt he's related to any of the established characters. You can only have so many of those floating around before it becomes really annoying. But I do like that he's a Stormtrooper who had a crisis of faith. The fact that he didn't even have a name speaks a lot about the First Order. Finn was meant to be faceless and interchangeable. He wasn't meant to be a person. So I guess that's his journey; building a life.
Poe gets shortchanged. He's absent for a lot of the movie. Turns out he was supposed to die in the crash. Maybe they'll go more into his character in the other movies. Right now, he's an ace pilot with a really cute droid as his partner. OMG, BB-8 is the cutest. He's like a puppy dog. It's so adorable when he bumps into R2-D2 in an attempt to get him to boot up. Can't wait to see the R2-D2 builders start building BB-8s and taking them to cons.
As for our other heroes, it's no surprise that Han gets most of the screen time out of the trio, though Leia does get some nice scenes with him. I wasn't expecting Kylo Ren to be their son, but yay, they actually had a kid! I want that backstory to be filled in; it sounds interesting. Plus, things are super personal now that Han is dead and by Kylo Ren's hand. I actually wasn't surprised that Han died. Someone needs to die to raise the stakes and I feel like it was the only way they could get Harrison Ford to reprise the character. But who knows? Maybe Han could appear in a flashback or something. Leia didn't have much screen time, so hopefully she gets some meaty scenes in the next movie. And then there's Luke. Luke, who only appears for the last, like ten seconds of the movie. They forced Mark Hamill to lose all that weight and to grow that beard for that? Maybe J.J. filmed some stuff for Episode VIII while they were in Ireland.
Just some random thoughts:
- So weird not to have the 20th Century Fox fanfare before the movie. It's sometimes easy to forget that Disney owns everything now.
- Aw, Kylo Ren's real name is Ben. Seems like he's named after Obi-Wan.
- A pair of guys around my age were sitting next to me. They started sniffling just before Han's death scene. This slightly ruined the moment for me as these guys wouldn't be sniffly if the moment didn't end in tragedy. On the other hand, aw, they got misty eyed.
- The aerial fights were gorgeous. All of the zooming around didn't feel gratuitous and it was a nice way to show off how the latest technology can elevate certain aspects of the universe. At the same time, there were a lot of practical elements and locations and I appreciate that. It works much better here than in J.J.'s Star Trek movies.
- Was anyone else tempted to yell "It's a trap!" when they saw Akbar appear on the screen?
Overall, the movie was very much in the spirit of A New Hope and you're left with a great desire to see what's next. Please don't screw it up. We've been burned once before.
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no subject
Date: 2015-12-22 02:05 am (UTC)I wish Leia had had more screen time, and I hope she gets more in the other movies. And obviously, I want to see more of Luke, too. I like how the story is shaping up to be about new characters -- Rey and Kylo Ren particularly -- but what happens with those characters is very personal to the old characters: Leia and Luke obviously care what happens with Kylo/Ben, and then if Rey gets trained as a new Jedi, that will be personal too even if she doesn't turn out to be Luke's daughter.
Was anyone else tempted to yell "It's a trap!" when they saw Akbar appear on the screen?
*raises hand*
no subject
Date: 2015-12-23 12:29 am (UTC)As for Luke and Leia, I think they had to take a back seat to Han, since you need to see a lot of Han before he dies. But yeah, Luke and Leia need more screen time in the next two movies. I imagine that Luke will be forefront in episode VIII since he was the Macguffin in this movie.
And yay, I wasn't alone in wanting to yell "It's a trap!" :-D
no subject
Date: 2015-12-22 07:05 pm (UTC)Quite enjoyed the movie. Was bummed that there was so little to do with Captain Phasma in this one when there was such a big deal made about her before the release. There better be some good stuff with her in the subsequent movies, or otherwise, what the hell was the point?
Really liked the new characters. I like this 'passing of the torch' as it were, from the old cast to the new - something the prequels didn't have in the same way, that I think is a huge benefit to this movie. Ren is great. Finn is great. Poe is great (though how he survived and got back to the resistance and why he didn't try to find BB-8 I don't know...) very happy with all of them. Happy with Kylo Ren, and the reveal that he is Han and Leia's son - may even be tempted to read some Han/Leia backstory fic there ;D and am really interested to learn about Ben's fall, and more about how Luke could just hide himself away and let that darkness spread unchecked across the galaxy. He could have a lot to answer for!
Also, Rey better either be Luke's daughter or (another theory, but not as strong) Han and Leia's daughter (as in a twin to Ben, but I think less likely) Otherwise I'm really pissed that Chewie didn't go to Leia first when they come back after Han's death, and instead Leia give Rey a big hug. If she doesn't actually know who Rey is, I'm calling bullshit on that. Honestly, that still kind of bugs me. I still think Chewie would have at least gone to her there.
I was a little disappointed in how much the movie mirrored A New Hope - not really an original story here, but at the same time, it's got its new elements, and feels comfortable and familiar. It definitely had a Star Wars universe feel to it - I was a bit afraid it wouldn't feel quite right, but it was good.
All in all, I'm quite satisfied. Kinda want to see it again :) And I want a Force FX Lightsabre damn it! And a First Order stormtrooper helmet!
no subject
Date: 2015-12-23 12:40 am (UTC)Yeah, Captain Phasma didn't get to do much, did she. Maybe she'll spend Episode VIII hunting down Finn? There's no doubt that she survived the destruction of Starkiller Base. When you've got sweet armour like that, you've got to strut about in it.
It'd be cool if Rey was the daughter or granddaughter of some other character that we've met. Like, she's Obi-Wan's granddaughter or something. Just to switch it up and totally mess up all of the fan theories, you know? But it does seem very likely that she's Luke's daughter. That way, you get Rey questioning why he abandoned her and the galaxy.
I kind of want to see it again, too, and I rarely see a movie twice in the theatre. That's how impressed I am.