every word in that sentence was wrong.
Guess who got to see Star Wars today!!
Don't click this link if you haven't seen it yet. Spoilers. Seriously.
I mean it, don't read this post unless you've seen the movie.
But damn, I loved it. I loved it a lot. This is apparently a controversial opinion based on my brief scanning of the internet for other people's reactions -- it's not exactly an unpopular opinion, but it does seem to be a controversial one. BUT I LOVED IT. I loved the humor and the action and the heartwarming and the bits that made me gasp and the bits that made me cry and essentially all of it.
I could've done without the kiss, but I've grown extremely critical of movie kisses in recent years and this is a very minor quibble.
(Also I hope that Episode IX has Finn and Rey spending more time together onscreen, but all the "where's Rey?" "if you see Finn before I do" "I have to make sure Rey is safe" "tell Finn..." stuff warmed my soul.)
Some more individual thoughts, in no particular order (I really need to see it again to get my reaction fully sorted out):
All of the Kylo Ren stuff was done really well! Especially Snoke's exact-words prophecy -- or not exactly a prophecy, I guess, but when he was reading Kylo's feelings about what he was about to do and got it EXACTLY RIGHT and just completely missed the correct context. And the follow-up mook fight with Rey. And his complete meltdown over Luke showing up. ALL THE THINGS.
Luke finally agreeing to train Rey was wonderful. Largely for the heartwarming and the gasp-inducing and the tear-inducing, but also for "reach out..." "I FEEL SOMETHING!" He did learn his training techniques from Yoda, after all!
I was so afraid for Leia throughout and Rian did not do me wrong, thank you Rian. What happened to Luke was hard to cope with, but it also felt right, like following in Obi-Wan's respected footsteps; I could not have handled anything happening to Leia. When she started moving her hand and you could FEEL her summoning the Force to save herself... I bawled.
I mentioned I wasn't a big fan of the kiss, but everything else about Finn and Rose's plotline I adored. Her reaction to think he's a traitor or deserter, the way they instantly fall into sync with each other when they come up with a plan for the tracker, the wanton destruction of the casino city (BEST), everything on the First Order ship, BB8 constantly to the rescue (BB8 in general, really, this was BB8's movie), her saving his life against his wishes... EVERYTHING. "We won't win this war by fighting what we hate; we'll do it by saving what we love." (paraphrased from memory. assume all quotes in this review are paraphrased from memory and probably at least slightly wrong.)
Seriously, this was BB8's movie, with the fixing Poe's weapons system with its HEAD, getting beat up and torn to pieces and putting itself back together, saving Finn and Rose repeatedly...
I know everyone's talking about the porgs and they're adorable and also hilarious (the campfire scene with Chewie!) but I wanna give a shoutout to what I've just googled and discovered are called the Vulptices, aka the super-cool-looking crystal foxes. SO COOL LOOKING. WANT ONE.
This is the most disorganized review, I'm sorry, I'm running on adrenaline and excited but disorganized memories. I loved this film a lot.
The reveal about the last night of Luke's rebuilt Jedi training temple didn't completely work for me but I think it had more to do with the composition of the shot than anything else, and that's a super-nitpicky complaint. I don't actually have a problem with Luke's split-second and quickly-discarded conviction, and his horror at himself afterwards -- and Kylo's continuing resentment about it -- felt true.
Also I've been on Team Rey Nobody pretty much since the beginning, so that reveal worked perfectly for me. Strong Force users can come from the most unlikely of places.
OH. AND REY AND CHEWIE'S LAST-MINUTE RIDE TO THE RESCUE. THAT WAS GLORIOUS. FOLLOWED BY HER SPECTACULAR USE OF THE FORCE TO MOVE ROCKS SHORTLY AFTER LUKE HAD TOLD HER THAT THE FORCE WAS NOT ABOUT MOVING ROCKS.
AND THE FINAL SHOWDOWN BETWEEN KYLO AND LUKE AND HOW KYLO GOT ABSOLUTELY NOTHING HE WANTED OUT OF THAT.
AND POE LEARNING THAT THERE IS A TIME TO FIX THINGS BY BLOWING SHIT UP AND A TIME TO NOT DO THAT.
AND FINN AND REY'S REUNION, FINALLY.
I REALLY LOVED THIS MOVIE YOU GUYS I WANT TO WATCH IT AGAIN AND LIKE TAKE NOTES ON ALL THE THINGS I LOVED ABOUT IT BUT THAT IS NOT AN OPTION AT THE MOMENT SO PLEASE ACCEPT MY CAPSLOCK IN LIEU.
Don't click this link if you haven't seen it yet. Spoilers. Seriously.
I mean it, don't read this post unless you've seen the movie.
But damn, I loved it. I loved it a lot. This is apparently a controversial opinion based on my brief scanning of the internet for other people's reactions -- it's not exactly an unpopular opinion, but it does seem to be a controversial one. BUT I LOVED IT. I loved the humor and the action and the heartwarming and the bits that made me gasp and the bits that made me cry and essentially all of it.
I could've done without the kiss, but I've grown extremely critical of movie kisses in recent years and this is a very minor quibble.
(Also I hope that Episode IX has Finn and Rey spending more time together onscreen, but all the "where's Rey?" "if you see Finn before I do" "I have to make sure Rey is safe" "tell Finn..." stuff warmed my soul.)
Some more individual thoughts, in no particular order (I really need to see it again to get my reaction fully sorted out):
All of the Kylo Ren stuff was done really well! Especially Snoke's exact-words prophecy -- or not exactly a prophecy, I guess, but when he was reading Kylo's feelings about what he was about to do and got it EXACTLY RIGHT and just completely missed the correct context. And the follow-up mook fight with Rey. And his complete meltdown over Luke showing up. ALL THE THINGS.
Luke finally agreeing to train Rey was wonderful. Largely for the heartwarming and the gasp-inducing and the tear-inducing, but also for "reach out..." "I FEEL SOMETHING!" He did learn his training techniques from Yoda, after all!
I was so afraid for Leia throughout and Rian did not do me wrong, thank you Rian. What happened to Luke was hard to cope with, but it also felt right, like following in Obi-Wan's respected footsteps; I could not have handled anything happening to Leia. When she started moving her hand and you could FEEL her summoning the Force to save herself... I bawled.
I mentioned I wasn't a big fan of the kiss, but everything else about Finn and Rose's plotline I adored. Her reaction to think he's a traitor or deserter, the way they instantly fall into sync with each other when they come up with a plan for the tracker, the wanton destruction of the casino city (BEST), everything on the First Order ship, BB8 constantly to the rescue (BB8 in general, really, this was BB8's movie), her saving his life against his wishes... EVERYTHING. "We won't win this war by fighting what we hate; we'll do it by saving what we love." (paraphrased from memory. assume all quotes in this review are paraphrased from memory and probably at least slightly wrong.)
Seriously, this was BB8's movie, with the fixing Poe's weapons system with its HEAD, getting beat up and torn to pieces and putting itself back together, saving Finn and Rose repeatedly...
I know everyone's talking about the porgs and they're adorable and also hilarious (the campfire scene with Chewie!) but I wanna give a shoutout to what I've just googled and discovered are called the Vulptices, aka the super-cool-looking crystal foxes. SO COOL LOOKING. WANT ONE.
This is the most disorganized review, I'm sorry, I'm running on adrenaline and excited but disorganized memories. I loved this film a lot.
The reveal about the last night of Luke's rebuilt Jedi training temple didn't completely work for me but I think it had more to do with the composition of the shot than anything else, and that's a super-nitpicky complaint. I don't actually have a problem with Luke's split-second and quickly-discarded conviction, and his horror at himself afterwards -- and Kylo's continuing resentment about it -- felt true.
Also I've been on Team Rey Nobody pretty much since the beginning, so that reveal worked perfectly for me. Strong Force users can come from the most unlikely of places.
OH. AND REY AND CHEWIE'S LAST-MINUTE RIDE TO THE RESCUE. THAT WAS GLORIOUS. FOLLOWED BY HER SPECTACULAR USE OF THE FORCE TO MOVE ROCKS SHORTLY AFTER LUKE HAD TOLD HER THAT THE FORCE WAS NOT ABOUT MOVING ROCKS.
AND THE FINAL SHOWDOWN BETWEEN KYLO AND LUKE AND HOW KYLO GOT ABSOLUTELY NOTHING HE WANTED OUT OF THAT.
AND POE LEARNING THAT THERE IS A TIME TO FIX THINGS BY BLOWING SHIT UP AND A TIME TO NOT DO THAT.
AND FINN AND REY'S REUNION, FINALLY.
I REALLY LOVED THIS MOVIE YOU GUYS I WANT TO WATCH IT AGAIN AND LIKE TAKE NOTES ON ALL THE THINGS I LOVED ABOUT IT BUT THAT IS NOT AN OPTION AT THE MOMENT SO PLEASE ACCEPT MY CAPSLOCK IN LIEU.