Well it's been awhile since I've updated my site (again), but now that it's the holidays I'm hoping to write some more. Today I'll be writing down my thoughts on the new Star Wars movie, which is the last movie in the new trilogy and the last movie in the Skywalker storyline.
I didn't really like the movie aside from some great moments here and there. I thought the plot was nonsensical, both in detail and big-picture terms. I'll write out some examples off the top of my head, not in any particular order. Spoilers ahead. SPOILERS AHEAD. Alright. First, Emperor Palpatine returns as the main antagonist? How? The movie never explains. Why? I don't know. I never like it when movies or games reuse plot points or villains. It makes stories go backwards rather than forwards. I like stories that progress. Bringing back Palpatine just sort of undoes the original trilogy. They couldn't come up with something better? Plot-wise, wasn't Anakin's prophecy that he'd destroy the Sith? Does the prophecy not work anymore? He's not in the movie at all, by the way. Let's talk about Palpatine's plan. He says that if Rey kills him, he'll possess Rey and she'll rule as the new Empress. Why did he tell her that? Rey was there to kill him anyway. Had he just said nothing, she would've killed him and he would've succeeded. Instead, she ends up defeating him by reflecting Force Lightning back at him, which means he technically killed himself and his plan fails like a n00b. Early in the movie, Palpatine tells Kylo Ren to go kill Rey. If he wanted Rey to show up so he could possess her, why did he tell Kylo Ren to kill her? We find out Rey is Palpatine's granddaughter, which is unnecessary - does every character in every Star Wars movie have to link to some other character from before? Wouldn't it be fine for "some random girl" to rise to become a heroine who defeats the Big Bad? Wasn't that the point of the previous movie? Luke tells Rey he knew her lineage all along and so did Leia. Why? How? They gave Rose Tico absolutely no role. She appears in like 2 scenes and has like 2 lines. What really grinds my gears is knowing they did this to pander to the trolls who harassed the actress until she quit social media. These are the people you want to validate? I don't really have an opinion on the character herself, but catering to toxic Internet trolls? Really? We get introduced to 3 (at least) brand-new characters in this movie, which being at the end of a trilogy makes the movie feel rushed because we don't get to spend a lot of time with these new characters. They're also pretty unnecessary to the plot. Poe's old girlfriend or something appears to give the heroes a plot item and that's it; Finn finds a female former stormtrooper who, like him, disobeyed orders and defected but has no other role in the movie; and the leading guy in the First Order besides Kylo Ren is now some guy other than Hux who came out of nowhere. For a movie that came out in the post-Avengers era, where the importance of building a large cast of characters carefully over time met with resounding success, this rushed new character introduction just feels strange. They could've spent more time with the characters we already have (like Rose). The heroes spend a lot of time trying to find this thing called a Sith Wayfinder. They end up tracking it to the ruins of the Death Star. To find it within the giant wreckage, they use a dagger that had instructions etched into it; furthermore, when Rey pulls out a compass-thing from the dagger's crossguard (which she somehow knew to do), the shape of the dagger matches the shape of some of the wreckage and the compass-thing points to where the Wayfinder is. Do I really need to explain how dumb this is? Who made this dagger and etched directions into it? Why? For it to work, the ruins of the Death Star need to be completely impervious to erosion or pieces of it falling off or scavengers picking it apart for salvage or literally anything that would change its geometry. Also, the person holding the dagger needs to be a specific distance away from the Death Star for the geometry to match up visually. This dagger is one of the most idiotic plot devices I have ever encountered. Rey and Ben kiss at the end of the movie. Why? There's like no romance between these two except in fanfiction and shipping communities. Taking that scene out would've made so much more sense and they could've spent the time doing something else. To drive the point home, that female former stormtrooper I mentioned is supposed to be Lando's daughter or granddaughter. They share a scene at the end where Lando invites her to travel with him to explore her past and identity. The problem is the movie never tells or hints at their relationship, making that scene look out of place at best and kind of creepy at worst. They cut that sort of detail out so that Rey and Ben could kiss nonsensically? When Rey is about to go to the hidden Sith planet where Palpatine is, Luke gives her Leia's lightsabre, which is green. Against Palpatine, Rey uses Anakin's blue lightsabre but then gives it to Ben. She then pulls out Leia's lightsabre and ignites it...but it's blue as well rather than green. I'm usually not a details guy, so if I noticed something like that, it's kind of glaring. There's probably stuff that I didn't mention. I don't necessarily hate the movie, but I truly believe they could've done better than this. |
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