RE: OT: Star Wars Thread [Warning: Spoilers]
I very much enjoyed the movie. Although I've watched all the Star Wars movies, this is only the second one I've seen in theatres (1st was Episode 3). My thoughts:
Love the casting choices for all the new guys. The guys for Finn and Poe Dameron were great, but Daisy Ridley is a find as she absolutely killed it as Rey. I'm really excited to see the adventures of these three as we go through this new series. Also, the guy that played Kylo Ren did great, especially if they're taking the storyline in the direction I think they're going.
I can agree that I'm not a fan of the 'Death Star III'. But I'm assuming that this was done in part because they wanted to get old fans back into the spirit of Star Wars, but also because this movie had to do a LOT of work not only laying the foundation for this trilogy, but also tying it in to the previous movies and executing the 'hand-off' from one generation to the next.
I think that the overall arc of this trilogy is that these movies will signify a new era of the force being a powerful force again. If you look at the last 50 years (in their universe) you see the demolishing of the ancient Jedi infrastructure replaced by the Sith. And then, the Sith infrastructure is demolished by Luke and company. There are not very many people left who know about the force. Even back in the original trilogy, the force was myth and legend. I think the title of this movie is very apt, as it is the force awakening, not only in Rey, but also in the galaxy as a whole once again. You see two very young, inexperienced force users (Kylo Ren and Rey) who have almost no idea what they're doing in terms of where the force comes from and what it means. This trilogy will probably be their journey in learning the true nature of the force, both the light and dark, and how it will affect their view on the universe. I think that's very exciting.
Let's look at Kylo Ren for a second. This guy is such a poser. When you see him in the field, he puffs his chest and speaks with much bravado. But he takes off his mask and he's a doofy kid. I think that's the essence of his character right there, the striking difference between his outfit and his actual self. He wants to be the bad-ass that Vader was (and seems to revere him in almost a religious way. I wonder if he was lied to about the goals, and the death of Darth Vader), but he's nothing more than a flimsy imitation. And he knows that and it fills him with conflict. That's part of the reason why I think he kills his father, is that he's trying to show himself how committed he is to that persona. I think that moment comes back and bites him later. And think about that fight he has with Rey, he gets bested by someone who not only has no formal training, but won probably because she rejected the dark in favor for the light. How do you think that hurts his ego and his view of the dark side? Oof. More conflict, more friction for this dude.
Now lets look at Rey. We know almost nothing about where she comes from. But really, she's one of the most competent characters we've seen in this movie and she isn't even trying! It's great, and I think it'll set up more conflict between her and "I think I'm the best at everything but actually at nothing" Kylo Ren. I could definitely see her being Luke's daughter (especially since we never actually hear the dialogue that Luke says in one of the teasers). I could see a situation though where she's just straight up abandoned by her parents and left to fend for herself. The force doesn't flow through just the Skywalker family. Now, I've heard a lot of talk about her being formerly trained and then mind wiped and that's why she's so good at doing Jedi things. I disagree, the reason she knows how to use the force (a bit) is that she's basically a Star Wars fangirl! You saw her face and her reactions to the old characters ("THE Luke Skywalker? I thought he was a myth" "You're THE Han Solo?" etc.), she obviously not only knows about these people, events and the force, but idolizes them. It would not surprise me to find out she had heard about the "These aren't the droids you're looking for" moment, and tried it out in part because she realized she could use the force some, and in part out of desperation. The reason she's good at using a lightsaber is cause she's good at fighting cause chumps don't survive on Jakku and so she knows how to wield a weapon. She basically beat the crap out of Finn and he's a trained soldier. And, I think that staff she carries through the whole movie is going to be important later. Staff lightsaber? Just a weapon of choice? Who knows. We'll find out. I am very excited to see where this character goes and I think that she is one of the strongest characters to come out of this movie. She's the one I'm most interested to see what happens to, so I guess it's good that she's the main character.
Finn: Did a good job, has a lot of conflict set up with Captain Phasma and Kylo Ren. Has the hots for Rey, and is bros with Poe. I don't think there's a ton to talk about with his character right now, other than I'm interested to see where his 'part of the First Order then defected and now I'm a good guy' story arc goes. Could give good intel on interior motivations and plans in the future. I'm worried though, cause he seems to be really selfish. Rey and Poe seem to be very altruistic characters, while Finn seems more of an 'it's all about me' kinda guy. Even saving Rey was cause he's got the hots for her and not for any intrinsic good like saving the resistance or stopping the First Order. This motivation can be taken in interesting directions, or not.
Poe Dameron: Hey everyone meet your new Han Solo! Just this time he seems more of a team player. I WISH we were able to see more of this guy in the movie, but that's why we've got at least 2 more movies with the guy. I'm interested to see how he works in the Finn/Rey dynamic other than him and Finn being bros.
Snoke: Anyone else think this dude's gonna be tiny? Evil Yoda per se? I could see a situation where Kylo Ren learned to wear the mask to intimidate others like Snoke uses that hologram to intimidate others. Didn't explore him too much this movie, but I suspect we'll see a lot more of him when he finishes Kylo's training. I think the next movie is set up perfectly to show the difference in philosophies between the dark side and light side of the force with the training of Kylo and Rey. Difference is, is that we've never seen a Sith get formerly trained, and that could be awesome.
I was glad to see the old cast again. Harrison Ford did a great job playing Han again, and I think he really put his all into this role. I think it's good that he got killed off though, we don't want these characters to cast a shadow over the whole trilogy when we should really be focusing on the new characters. And Han Solo is a character that can really steal the show (as he almost did this movie). Carrie Fisher did okay as Leia, but her lack of recent acting experience showed. Hopefully we can get a better performance from her in the next episode. Luke was in it exactly as long as he should've been in my opinion. He was the perfect McGuffin for this movie, and the dynamic next movie could work really well between him and Rey. Especially if my 'fangirl' theory is right. I imagine a meeting where she thinks of him as a legend, and he thinks himself as a failure. In a movie stuffed to the brim with stuff, adding in interactions between Luke and ANYBODY would've diminished the impact that Luke could impart. I'm glad they didn't do that with one of the most iconic and legendary characters from this saga.
The humor in this movie was done really well I think. BB-8 was good, and Chewie and Han had their share of great lines and moments ("You think YOU'RE cold??"). Glad they used practical effects when possible. Dialogue was mostly good.
Sorry for the rant, but these are my thoughts that have been fermenting the past few days. And I am super excited to see the next movie.
tl;dr: I love these characters.
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