Some Thoughts on Star Wars

So, yes, I am a purist.

I prefer the three original Star Wars movies over anything else they've done since, and I'm okay with it. I don't apologize for it.

I like myself.

That being said, people get really angry about this stuff.

I'm really only going by the comments section for reviews on the Internet, and a few comments from friends. I still can't believe how angry people get over this stuff.

Like, if you didn't like The Last Jedi, you're a baby who needs to let the past go and stop crying over the Skywalkers.

Like if you DID like The Last Jedi you're a traitor to the original trilogy.

If you didn't like it, you're not a real Star Wars fan, as the story must continue.

Oh, brother.

I didn't like The Force Awakens. Mostly, I didn't like it because it was basically A New Hope crossed with Pirates of the Caribbean. Star Wars sprinkled with "that Disney magic," which is really the same formula they've been regurgitating for years and years. And clearly they are running out of ideas because they keep taking other people's stories and making movies out of them, doing reboots (which they always have), and now they are even rebooting their own stuff (Beauty and the Beast).

The Force Awakens was like Avatar to me. The same old story with new action figures and special effects.

I didn't like Avatar either. And I really didn't like Dances With Wolves. But that's because I can't stand Kevin Costner, though I will sit through a movie of his given the right circumstances. I love Field of Dreams.

I sat through Avatar three times because of Sam Worthington's face.

But I've gotten off track.

I did not like The Force Awakens. I did like The Last Jedi - for the most part. Mostly just the last forty-five minutes.

That's when shit got good.

What I liked:

Leia: I feel Leia is the only original character that Disney did any justice to. She's still strong, she's still smart, she's still fighting. Meanwhile Han Solo and Luke Skywalker gave up. One went back to smuggling shit and losing his ship (so that Rey could find it), and the other messed up a Jedi apprentice and went to snivel on a lost island somewhere. Through all this, Leia's still kicking butt. And while most people HATED that part where she got knocked into space and she managed to pull herself back, I loved it. I felt that was the only time we got to see just how powerful in the Force Leia really is. It's been implied in some past books (that I suppose are no longer relevant) that she was even more powerful than Luke.

Poe: Out of all the new characters, I liked Poe the best. I like the fact that he's a pilot. I like that he's super loyal to Leia. I like that he thought he was protecting her at all costs by going against Vice Admiral Holdo, when it turned out that she was really just doing what Leia wanted. I like that Poe is loyal to everyone. And he's really cute with his droid, like Luke was with R2-D2 in the original trilogy.

Luke's Death: Okay, anyone who did not anticipate Luke dying and is up in arms about it, my advice is to grow up. Duh, of course he was going to bite it. Disney is setting it up to kill off the original characters and bring in a new generation. There's nothing wrong with that per se. They want to make it their own. While I feel they completely ruined Luke, it wasn't because of his death. His death was appropriate. I liked his last scene. I was impressed with him being able to project himself via the Force to the ice planet to fight Kylo Ren, and I like that he finally got to die in peace. His death is not what bothered me.

I also love the badass stuff Luke got to pull at the end, even if he was just a projection. He finally got to kick some ass.

I'll get to what really bothered me about Luke.

The scene with Yoda: Cheesy, but I enjoyed it, and I liked seeing Yoda again.

The ice fox creatures: They were cute. And I kind of want one.

Rose: I liked Rose. I don't know how other people felt about her, but I liked her. Maybe she was shoehorned in there, and my personal opinion of her is that Disney added her as a love interest for Finn because Finn can't ever be with Rey who he's clearly in love with. But Rose was cute, the actress was cute, and even though her storyline kind of made no sense, she was a refreshing addition. I look forward to seeing more of her in the next movie.

The scene where Kylo Ren tells Rey they need to forget about the First Order and Resistance and the past, and step into a new future together: That's the smartest thing he said in two movies. Killing Snoke was the smartest thing he did in two movies. While it did sort of render Snoke irrelevant (unless they have a plan for him in the next movie), I applauded Kylo Ren on that one. You can't be an ambitious and great villain if you're "mentor" is still hanging around, calling you names, and telling you you've failed him all the time. So Ren must have thought, "Fine. I'll just kill your ass and take over. Who's worthless now, bitch?"

Rey and Kylo Ren: I'm conflicted on this one. My personal theory is that Disney wants to stick these two lovebirds together. They were already giving each other googly eyes through the Force, and even though Ren betrayed Rey when she went to his ship, believing he was still "conflicted," I think ultimately Ren wants Rey at his side. Meanwhile Rey wants to be the next Luke Skywalker, and still holds out hope that Ren can be saved. They are light and dark. They balance each other out. You can't have one without the other. And of course, as an added fun little plot twist, they are in love! Or they will be. So, on the one hand, interesting twist. Makes Kylo Ren's job a little harder. And it makes Rey vulnerable. But on the other hand, that would be such a typical Disney move - turning everything into a love story - it kind of makes me ill, and I hope my theory is wrong.

This moves us into what I didn't like.

What I did not like:

Rey: She's annoying. I'd elaborate, but everything about her annoys me. She is just a little too precious. About the only thing that does not annoy me about her is that she's easy on the eyes.

Rey and Kylo Ren: Again, I am conflicted as they are just tedious. Their scenes were tedious, their googly eyes at each other were tedious. Daisy Ridley totally overacts, and Adam Driver compensates by stepping up his own ability. I think he's a very good actor, but Daisy Ridley growled and screamed and made big eyes through every one of her scenes to the point where I just wanted to pull her off the screen. I guess they balance each other out, as Adam Driver is by no means an attractive man in any way, and Daisy Ridley is knockout beautiful. Meanwhile, she can't act, and he can. Rey is an annoying character. Kylo Ren could be a good character if not for the emo/sniveling/I want to be the boss/I hate Luke Skywalker and he must die attitude. He'll never be Darth Vader. But he might be Anakin if he throws everything away because he clearly wants in Rey's pants, and if he can't have her, he will destroy everything. It could very well turn into Anakin and Padme all over again only in reverse. She will lead him back from the Dark Side instead of sending him over the edge.

While I like the whole "sleeping with the enemy" plot device (if that's what it ends up being), I need the characters to be a bit more likable for me to care if they end up together or end up killing each other.

I was terrified we were going to see Anakin again. Thank God they kept Hayden Christiansen out of this film.

The scene where Finn and Rose went galloping through the rich city, destroying everything: While it was a fun, exciting scene, and I did kind of like those horse/cat creatures, it seemed a little pointless. And then you had the scoundrel/gambler pretending to help them, and ending up betraying them. Gee, that doesn't sound like any other Star Wars movie ever made. Who wants to bet that character will be back in the third movie to help save the day somehow? And maybe he won't be. Maybe he'll end up being Rhett Butler, only out for himself. That, at least, I can respect.

The fact that there is no clear villain, and no villain who is awesome: Who's the bad guy here? Kylo Ren? Snoke? Oh, wait, he's dead. Unless he's not. Kylo Ren is "conflicted," but I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up moving into the light. Vader finally did, and Vader was the most badass Star Wars villain ever. Badass villains seemed to end with Vader. Everyone on the Dark Side in the last two movies are just whiny, with no redeeming qualities. And I understand that Dark vs. Light needs conflict - even Vader had conflict - but there doesn't seem to be a clear villain. I was kind of hoping it would end up being Luke somehow. Or even Leia, just to shake things up a bit.

Luke Skywalker in general: He deserved better. So did Han Solo. I have no beef about killing them off. I suppose that had to happen. But Han did not deserve to die by getting skewered by his spoiled-brat-of-a-wannabe-Vader son, and Luke did not deserve to be turned into Ben Kenobi only worse and more pathetic. I think Luke deserved more than to ultimately fail with his nephew (I mean, come on, Luke, teachers are brilliant, but nobody can touch them all), and then take it so personally as to disappear onto an island to die and snivel about his failure. It took Yoda coming back to tell him the greatest teacher of all is failure (true). I just feel like instead of having grown as a character and as a Jedi, they pushed Luke back into this whiny, sniveling farmboy role where Yoda and/or Ben is chastising him for his recklessness. And while Luke was right. It was the Jedi who caused most of the universe's problems, I don't know if the Luke we have come to know and love would really decide that destroying all Jedi is the way to go. Or closing himself off to the Force. I don't know what I expected for Luke, but it wasn't Obi Wan's life all over again.

As a whole, I enjoyed the movie. More so than The Force Awakens. I felt that Finn redeemed himself. I couldn't stand him in the first one, but I liked him better in The Last Jedi. I felt like Kylo Ren also sort of redeemed himself. He wasn't quite as annoying and whiny in the second movie as the first. And killing one's mentor was probably a good move ambitiously and politically, especially when said mentor does nothing but cut you down. There was no Jar Jar Binks, and that was a plus. The creatures they did add were a bit more on the cutesy side than the creatures in the original movies (ewoks notwithstanding). The cat/horse things looked like Harry Potter creatures, and that isn't necessarily a bad thing.

There were definitely some eye-rolling moments. And a few scenes that went on longer than they needed to, and I began to fidget in my seat, silently thinking "Come on, let's get on with it." Some of the cheesy one-liners were reminiscent of George Lucas, only somehow worse. They were cute in the original trilogy, but fell flat in The Last Jedi. Luke saying "See you around, kid," literally made me facepalm. Yes, Han said it, but it sounded ridiculous coming out of Luke's mouth.

I need to watch it again, because I missed if anyone said, "I've got a bad feeling about this." Yes, it's cornball, but it's just not a Star Wars movie without someone saying that.

To make a final judgment I'll have to see the end of the trilogy through. Until I've seen the third movie, I can't really say if I like this new addition or not. The Force Awakens was rubbish, The Last Jedi rekindled my interest, and now I just want to see how it all ends.

If nothing else, this should be interesting.