can feel the love that radiates
Finally (Finally! as if the movie didn't technically open yesterday! Finally!) saw Star Wars: The Force Awakens and I have MANY THOUGHTS, none of which will be in any order.
My only disappointment is that we didn't get the Civil War trailer ahead of the movie, though we got many, many others, including Batman v. Superman (which still looks laughably bad) and X-Men: Apocalypse. And also the dude sitting next to me was a little annoying, but I have been on a short fuse with people lately, so it could just be me. (Also, I missed having someone fannish with me! I enjoy seeing movies alone, but I feel like this one would have benefited from having a partner in squee next to me.)
Anyway!
HOLY CRAP I ENJOYED THAT A LOT. Just straight up enjoyed it as a movie-going experience and as a Star Wars experience. It felt like Star Wars to me in ways the prequels didn't (and yet the tv shows do).
= I don't think the worldbuilding bears much scrutiny - I don't understand why there's a Resistance at all if there's a Republic set up. Shouldn't it just be the military arm of the Republic fighting the New Order? First Order. Whatever. the Space Nazis led by Gollum. (I admit a minor pang of disappointment that we didn't get Darth Jar Jar, but only a minor one, since having him show up at all would have damaged the movie too greatly.) I'm assuming that's undead or cloned Palpatine behind Andy Serkis' holographic image. That was some Wizard of Oz nonsense there - I'm sure the man behind the curtain isn't as powerful as he claims.
Anyway, it's sad that the galaxy is still in such disarray 30 years later - not surprising, I guess, if they couldn't get a central government working - but sad. Because it leads to what must be a long-term estrangement between the original trio and that hurts my heart a lot. I wanted one last look at them together. *sadhair*
= I know Starkiller Base is a thing but you can't just blow up six planets and not have any reaction to it. It's the same problem as every action blockbuster these days - bigger is not always better, especially if you're unwilling to deal with the ramifications of those choices. I mean, see the Darth Vader annual comic for how Alderaan's destruction is still resonating! Here we got nothing, not even "A million voices cried out and were silenced."
= Also, I don't think physics works like that. If they're stealing an entire sun, shouldn't that have other effects gravitationally on the space around them? ...I need to not think about things like that.
= Every time General Nux Hux showed up, I was like, MOLLY WEASLEY WOULD BE SO DISAPPOINTED IN YOU BILL. *hands*
= Was I supposed to know who that old guy was at the beginning? Some Jedi dude? A super old clone?
= Ben Solo-Organa/Kylo Ren. How on earth could Han and Leia have produced such an awful kid (and that's without even getting into the genocidal tendencies, which are apparently heritable)? It didn't help that he reminded me of Snape, whom I loathe, and also how on earth did he turn out like that? Every time he wah-wahed on about how he was doing Vader's work, I was just like, YOU, SIR, AREN'T FIT TO CARRY VADER'S CODPIECE. Which I kind of guess is the point? I mean, I admit to having a surfeit of unwilling feels about Anakin Skywalker, but at least you can see the reasons that led him slowly down the path to the dark side (especially in TCW), starting with how no one ever got him any therapy for having been a slave the first 9 years of his life and having to leave his mother behind in bondage! But seriously, it's like Kylo Ren took in the 'cool cape, Force choking annoying dudes, has own theme music and a cool helmet' and none of the actual complexity or dare I say, pathos, of Vader. Why didn't Force ghost Anakin appear to this loser and school him a little? You can't even say "cool motive, still murder" because we don't know what his motive was, except to be like grandad! Who had repudiated everything he was trying to do with his dying breaths!
So like I said, as I think about it more, I'm guessing that's probably the point? He doesn't know the whole story. But I still don't get what he thought he was gaining, except revenge on his parents and uncle, whom he hates for some unknown reason (I'm guessing he's not really all that powerful in the Force? Rey slaps him down and she's basically untrained, though I have theories about that as well). I thought his essential twerp-ness leached some of the pathos out of Han's death, which didn't bother me - I knew as soon as he stepped onto that catwalk that it wasn't going to end well for him, and I have to think in this franchise, where the seminal act of forgiveness is Luke NOT killing his father, Ren killing his father pushes him into irredeemable territory.
I'm guessing he's not dead but I was genuinely happy to see his ass get beat by Rey. Especially after he tried to lay claim to Anakin's lightsaber (obligatory: with which he murdered many Jedi younglings)! Fuck you, buddy. You don't get that part of the family legacy. (now I really want the story of how that lightsaber got from somewhere in the ventilation system on Cloud City into Maz Kanata's hands (could Hondo Ohnaka have been involved? I'd enjoy that story, especially since what we got in Aftermath was so ambiguous and incomplete, and that was about Vader's red lightsaber).)
= As much as I guessed that the movie would be 'the search for Luke Skywalker' given his absence from promotional materials, I do feel like I missed Luke's presence a lot. He's not my fave but he's pretty awesome and I wanted more of him, being sweet and snarky by turns. I hope we get to see his reunion with Leia at least in the next movie. Oh Luke, you suffer from being surrounded by even more amazing characters.
= Also, as cool as Captain Phasma looked, she served no real purpose in the movie. I guess she lowered the shields which, is she secretly good? Because that was just weird. And then we never even got to see her in the garbage chute!
= The way Poe Dameron dropped in and out of the story was weird. How on earth did he get thrown clear and yet his jacket was there for Finn to pick up? Anyway! I enjoyed his hotshot pilot business - which he learned from his mother, which you'll know if you read Shattered Empire - even if the whole thing was a Luke-blows-up-the-Death-Star retread. But I didn't mind the callbacks/fanservice/repetitions. It's fanfic, guys. It's a million variations on the same story, and so we got new characters having to go through similar trials because that's how Star Wars works.
= GRUNBERG! I didn't know if he was going to show up but I'm glad he did. While the audience I was in clapped for all the old characters and at appropriate moments, I'm the only one who squeaked when he showed up.
= FINN. PRECIOUS CINNAMON ROLL. Again I'm not sure how his backstory works? Why was a sanitation engineer suddenly part of a landing party? But I get that seeing that kind of action could absolutely make someone want to walk away, especially if they were already unhappy with their life. I also was really happy to have a black guy and a Latino guy front and center, even if Oscar Isaac didn't get to do much. but mostly ♥FINN♥ His arc was pretty simple but John Boyega sold the hell out of it. Also, I still have Clone feels (REX! FIVES! ECHO!) so I liked that he was more than just his number/designation, even if he wasn't a clone.
= HAN SOLO AND CHEWIE AND THE MILLENIUM FALCON. As melancholy as it is that Han and Chewie ended up as smugglers again, and living hand to mouth while swindling gangsters, I loved everything about him here. Setting him up as Wise Old Mentor made it obvious that he was going to die, but I don't care. I loved seeing him, I loved how he mentored Finn and Rey as best he could in the short time they had together, and I loved that he was older and wiser but no less willing to do ludicrous things to help his friends. ♥HAN♥
= HERE COMES THE GENERAL. GENERAL LEIA ORGANA. MY QUEEN. I wish she'd had more to do (and I hope she does in the other movies), and I wish she'd had more triumph and less heartbreak in her life (and also that she'd named her son Bail instead of Ben, because why would she name him after a guy she never met and never called by that name when she referred to him? I mean, I know why extratextually, but come on). Also I'm sad her son was such a pissant little asshole. (I fully expected him to be Luke's offspring. Well. Kind of. Because I still kind of nope out of the idea of Luke Skywalker having sex. *hands*)
= ♥♥♥♥REY♥♥♥♥ Oh my gosh, here's Leia's perfect heir. I guess she could not be a Skywalker and I'd accept that (no I wouldn't) but if she's not, why style her EXACTLY LIKE Luke? DOWN THE TO THE VAPORATORS ON THE DESERT PLANET. Why cast a girl who looks like she could absolutely be descended from Shmi Skywalker/Padme Amidala/Leia Organa? Why give her all of the piloting and mechanical aptitudes we know Anakin and Luke had? Oh my gosh, universe, give me another secret? Skywalker child, please!
Given that Rilo Kiley, I mean Kylo Ren, sees 'the ocean and the island' in Rey's mind, I'm guessing that she was there with Luke BECAUSE HE'S HER SECRET JEDI DAD and then he left her on Jakku for ~reasons and promised he'd come back and just didn't once things went bad with Ben.
Either way, OH MY GOSH HOW GREAT WAS REY? SHE IS EVERYTHING I EVER WANTED OUT OF A STAR WARS MOVIE. FIGHTING WITH A(NAKIN'S) LIGHTSABER. PILOTING THE MILLENNIUM FALCON. RESCUING FINN. BEATING THE BAD GUY. I LOVE HER SO MUCH YOU GUYS. Even if I hadn't enjoyed the movie as much as I did, I'd still consider it a win because it gives us REY. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ I hope all the 7 and 8 year old girls in the audience respond to her the way I as a 7yo responded to Leia in 1977. (I mean, the boys too, because Rey is AWESOME and that transcends gendered marketing bullshit, but I'm especially glad Rey got the hero's story here, the way Luke did in the OT.)
I absolutely need icons! And I definitely need to see it a couple more times. Gosh, who'd've thunk it?
Now I need to go read what other people thought, though I am too keyed up to comment properly.
***
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/802701.html.
people have commented there.
My only disappointment is that we didn't get the Civil War trailer ahead of the movie, though we got many, many others, including Batman v. Superman (which still looks laughably bad) and X-Men: Apocalypse. And also the dude sitting next to me was a little annoying, but I have been on a short fuse with people lately, so it could just be me. (Also, I missed having someone fannish with me! I enjoy seeing movies alone, but I feel like this one would have benefited from having a partner in squee next to me.)
Anyway!
HOLY CRAP I ENJOYED THAT A LOT. Just straight up enjoyed it as a movie-going experience and as a Star Wars experience. It felt like Star Wars to me in ways the prequels didn't (and yet the tv shows do).
= I don't think the worldbuilding bears much scrutiny - I don't understand why there's a Resistance at all if there's a Republic set up. Shouldn't it just be the military arm of the Republic fighting the New Order? First Order. Whatever. the Space Nazis led by Gollum. (I admit a minor pang of disappointment that we didn't get Darth Jar Jar, but only a minor one, since having him show up at all would have damaged the movie too greatly.) I'm assuming that's undead or cloned Palpatine behind Andy Serkis' holographic image. That was some Wizard of Oz nonsense there - I'm sure the man behind the curtain isn't as powerful as he claims.
Anyway, it's sad that the galaxy is still in such disarray 30 years later - not surprising, I guess, if they couldn't get a central government working - but sad. Because it leads to what must be a long-term estrangement between the original trio and that hurts my heart a lot. I wanted one last look at them together. *sadhair*
= I know Starkiller Base is a thing but you can't just blow up six planets and not have any reaction to it. It's the same problem as every action blockbuster these days - bigger is not always better, especially if you're unwilling to deal with the ramifications of those choices. I mean, see the Darth Vader annual comic for how Alderaan's destruction is still resonating! Here we got nothing, not even "A million voices cried out and were silenced."
= Also, I don't think physics works like that. If they're stealing an entire sun, shouldn't that have other effects gravitationally on the space around them? ...I need to not think about things like that.
= Every time General Nux Hux showed up, I was like, MOLLY WEASLEY WOULD BE SO DISAPPOINTED IN YOU BILL. *hands*
= Was I supposed to know who that old guy was at the beginning? Some Jedi dude? A super old clone?
= Ben Solo-Organa/Kylo Ren. How on earth could Han and Leia have produced such an awful kid (and that's without even getting into the genocidal tendencies, which are apparently heritable)? It didn't help that he reminded me of Snape, whom I loathe, and also how on earth did he turn out like that? Every time he wah-wahed on about how he was doing Vader's work, I was just like, YOU, SIR, AREN'T FIT TO CARRY VADER'S CODPIECE. Which I kind of guess is the point? I mean, I admit to having a surfeit of unwilling feels about Anakin Skywalker, but at least you can see the reasons that led him slowly down the path to the dark side (especially in TCW), starting with how no one ever got him any therapy for having been a slave the first 9 years of his life and having to leave his mother behind in bondage! But seriously, it's like Kylo Ren took in the 'cool cape, Force choking annoying dudes, has own theme music and a cool helmet' and none of the actual complexity or dare I say, pathos, of Vader. Why didn't Force ghost Anakin appear to this loser and school him a little? You can't even say "cool motive, still murder" because we don't know what his motive was, except to be like grandad! Who had repudiated everything he was trying to do with his dying breaths!
So like I said, as I think about it more, I'm guessing that's probably the point? He doesn't know the whole story. But I still don't get what he thought he was gaining, except revenge on his parents and uncle, whom he hates for some unknown reason (I'm guessing he's not really all that powerful in the Force? Rey slaps him down and she's basically untrained, though I have theories about that as well). I thought his essential twerp-ness leached some of the pathos out of Han's death, which didn't bother me - I knew as soon as he stepped onto that catwalk that it wasn't going to end well for him, and I have to think in this franchise, where the seminal act of forgiveness is Luke NOT killing his father, Ren killing his father pushes him into irredeemable territory.
I'm guessing he's not dead but I was genuinely happy to see his ass get beat by Rey. Especially after he tried to lay claim to Anakin's lightsaber (obligatory: with which he murdered many Jedi younglings)! Fuck you, buddy. You don't get that part of the family legacy. (now I really want the story of how that lightsaber got from somewhere in the ventilation system on Cloud City into Maz Kanata's hands (could Hondo Ohnaka have been involved? I'd enjoy that story, especially since what we got in Aftermath was so ambiguous and incomplete, and that was about Vader's red lightsaber).)
= As much as I guessed that the movie would be 'the search for Luke Skywalker' given his absence from promotional materials, I do feel like I missed Luke's presence a lot. He's not my fave but he's pretty awesome and I wanted more of him, being sweet and snarky by turns. I hope we get to see his reunion with Leia at least in the next movie. Oh Luke, you suffer from being surrounded by even more amazing characters.
= Also, as cool as Captain Phasma looked, she served no real purpose in the movie. I guess she lowered the shields which, is she secretly good? Because that was just weird. And then we never even got to see her in the garbage chute!
= The way Poe Dameron dropped in and out of the story was weird. How on earth did he get thrown clear and yet his jacket was there for Finn to pick up? Anyway! I enjoyed his hotshot pilot business - which he learned from his mother, which you'll know if you read Shattered Empire - even if the whole thing was a Luke-blows-up-the-Death-Star retread. But I didn't mind the callbacks/fanservice/repetitions. It's fanfic, guys. It's a million variations on the same story, and so we got new characters having to go through similar trials because that's how Star Wars works.
= GRUNBERG! I didn't know if he was going to show up but I'm glad he did. While the audience I was in clapped for all the old characters and at appropriate moments, I'm the only one who squeaked when he showed up.
= FINN. PRECIOUS CINNAMON ROLL. Again I'm not sure how his backstory works? Why was a sanitation engineer suddenly part of a landing party? But I get that seeing that kind of action could absolutely make someone want to walk away, especially if they were already unhappy with their life. I also was really happy to have a black guy and a Latino guy front and center, even if Oscar Isaac didn't get to do much. but mostly ♥FINN♥ His arc was pretty simple but John Boyega sold the hell out of it. Also, I still have Clone feels (REX! FIVES! ECHO!) so I liked that he was more than just his number/designation, even if he wasn't a clone.
= HAN SOLO AND CHEWIE AND THE MILLENIUM FALCON. As melancholy as it is that Han and Chewie ended up as smugglers again, and living hand to mouth while swindling gangsters, I loved everything about him here. Setting him up as Wise Old Mentor made it obvious that he was going to die, but I don't care. I loved seeing him, I loved how he mentored Finn and Rey as best he could in the short time they had together, and I loved that he was older and wiser but no less willing to do ludicrous things to help his friends. ♥HAN♥
= HERE COMES THE GENERAL. GENERAL LEIA ORGANA. MY QUEEN. I wish she'd had more to do (and I hope she does in the other movies), and I wish she'd had more triumph and less heartbreak in her life (and also that she'd named her son Bail instead of Ben, because why would she name him after a guy she never met and never called by that name when she referred to him? I mean, I know why extratextually, but come on). Also I'm sad her son was such a pissant little asshole. (I fully expected him to be Luke's offspring. Well. Kind of. Because I still kind of nope out of the idea of Luke Skywalker having sex. *hands*)
= ♥♥♥♥REY♥♥♥♥ Oh my gosh, here's Leia's perfect heir. I guess she could not be a Skywalker and I'd accept that (no I wouldn't) but if she's not, why style her EXACTLY LIKE Luke? DOWN THE TO THE VAPORATORS ON THE DESERT PLANET. Why cast a girl who looks like she could absolutely be descended from Shmi Skywalker/Padme Amidala/Leia Organa? Why give her all of the piloting and mechanical aptitudes we know Anakin and Luke had? Oh my gosh, universe, give me another secret? Skywalker child, please!
Given that Rilo Kiley, I mean Kylo Ren, sees 'the ocean and the island' in Rey's mind, I'm guessing that she was there with Luke BECAUSE HE'S HER SECRET JEDI DAD and then he left her on Jakku for ~reasons and promised he'd come back and just didn't once things went bad with Ben.
Either way, OH MY GOSH HOW GREAT WAS REY? SHE IS EVERYTHING I EVER WANTED OUT OF A STAR WARS MOVIE. FIGHTING WITH A(NAKIN'S) LIGHTSABER. PILOTING THE MILLENNIUM FALCON. RESCUING FINN. BEATING THE BAD GUY. I LOVE HER SO MUCH YOU GUYS. Even if I hadn't enjoyed the movie as much as I did, I'd still consider it a win because it gives us REY. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ I hope all the 7 and 8 year old girls in the audience respond to her the way I as a 7yo responded to Leia in 1977. (I mean, the boys too, because Rey is AWESOME and that transcends gendered marketing bullshit, but I'm especially glad Rey got the hero's story here, the way Luke did in the OT.)
I absolutely need icons! And I definitely need to see it a couple more times. Gosh, who'd've thunk it?
Now I need to go read what other people thought, though I am too keyed up to comment properly.
***
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/802701.html.
people have commented there.