#I hope I gave off E. A. Poe vibes

[pocket-dreamer]

Rise of Skywalker Spoilers

You know what, haters gonna hate and you can’t stop ‘em.  But I like to be one of the few nests of positivity in this dark world, and believe me when I say I loved Star Wars 9 and will see it again with the same reaction.  

You wanna unfollow me because of this, fine.  It’s your opinion and I won’t stop you.  But without further ado, here were a few things that made my heart leap when I saw them.

No question, no mystery, just yep, Palpatine’s alive. Got that out of the way. What’s next?

We open to a massacre.  Literally a Revenge of the Sith slaughter, further showing the power-tantrum trip that Kylo put himself on.  One of the things I love about this: JJ taking what Rian did and putting it front and center, with his own personal spin.  His better spin.

It’s always been Palpatine.  Of course it has. He wasn’t even that far off when he said “I am all the Sith.” He is the baddest bad guy to ever bad.  At least on the big screen.  There is no dark side without Darth Sidious in this saga.  Now, in the comics and TV shows, maybe it’s another story.  But I’m focusing on the movies.

Rey’s gut feelings/new powers and Poe and Finn’s reactions to them. You get the new Force powers, but there’s some madness to it too.

LANDO CALRISSIAN!  And it wasn’t just a cameo!

CHEWIE!!!!  That legit got me.  Also, Rey’s force lightning.  I immediately thought that since Palpatine had risen to power and probably bonded Kylo and Rey he would infuse some of his power into her.  

Nope, Rey’s a Palpatine!  And let me tell you, I LOVED this twist.  Until that moment, I was on the Kenobi train, but this made me laugh out loud in the theatre.  The closest I heard to that was that Rey was a Palpatine clone, but nope.  His own flesh and blood. Plus it makes sense that she would be called to the darkness on Luke’s island back in TLJ now.

And the dagger and the flashback...everything just fit together so well...

Creepy expert Richard E. Grant as a general that is so arrogant his last name is Pryde.  Also the last supporter of Palpatine from the old wars.  Also, the fact that he kinda died like Cutler Beckett.

Hux’s betrayal--specifically, Finn and Poe’s reactions to it.  I had always hoped that Hux would drop the kicked puppy persona from TLJ, and while this wasn’t exactly what I wanted, it was definitely something.  At least he got what he wanted.

Leia’s death.  I was scared during the first few seconds that Leia’s death would have literally been for nothing, but Rey used the opportunity to kill Kylo and coax Ben into the light.  

The return of Ben Solo!  The fulfillment of Rey’s promise that Kylo will turn back!  And the redoing of Han’s death, right down to “I know what I have to do, but I don’t have the strength to do it.”  Except it’s a complete mirror of that scene--in the first scene, it’s the rise of Kylo Ren; in this scene, it’s the return of Ben Solo.  I nearly jumped upright in the theatre when he threw that lightsaber away!

Plus Rey’s lifeforce powers in general.  So many mirrors to her grandfather.  She gives her life to even a creature she barely knows while Sidious is over here immortalizing himself in the worst way possible.  

Jannah.  I don’t care if she ends up being Finn’s lover, Lando’s daughter, or both.  She’s awesome.

D-O.  Cute. Adorable. I want one.

Luke! Finally! Lifted! The! Ship! Out! Of! The! WATER!  Another wonderful callback to Luke’s own moments of doubt and Yoda lifted the ship out of the swamp.  “Do or do not.  There is no try.”  Well, he finally did it.

Rey being a padawan to Leia--and Luke giving Rey Leia’s lightsaber.  It’s like...I knew that Leia was a Jedi, but it’s nice to see it confirmed on-screen.  So, of course, Rey should use the lightsaber of her master.

The freaking Sith arena.  Gave me a Lord of the Rings vibe.

Sidious hanging from a mech arm like GLaDOS. XD

Rey handing off Ben’s uncle’s lightsaber to him and Ben decimating the Knights of Ren, finally killing his past and running towards the future.  And the spring in his step before he did!  He was so happy to be back on the right side!

Leia and Luke facing down Sidious--I mean, Leia’s teachings and Luke’s teachings facing down Sidious.

Plus, if the bond between Rey and Ben was forged by Snoke--ahem, Sidious, it would have taken a lot of Force power.  So when it returns to him, of course it would heal him.

The fleet that rises up against the Final Order!  Everyone landing on the Star Destroyers!  Every ship ever!  Ah, I was so happy!

When the light came back into Sidious’ eyes, I felt a legit chill down my spine.  Plus, Ian McDiarmid came and delivered as Palpatine and I was happy to see him in his prime again.

OP Sidious.  I’ve done the research and I’ve heard Sidious’ lightning could level planets. I was not disappointed.

Rey calling out to every Jedi!  I was certain I heard the voice of my man Qui-Gon!  How many cameos were made in these few seconds!  I wanna know!

Ben’s final act of good--giving her back her life.  That smile he gave her was the first he ever made and it was so beautiful....and then he died.  And became one with the Force so we don’t have to grieve for long. 

And then Leia became one with the Force!  Only goes to show how Leia was with her son from the moment she died until the moment he died. 

Chewie finally got that medal!!!!  He was also the ONLY one that got that medal!  Even better!

Rey burying the lightsabers at home, where they should be.  And choosing to take on their name to honor them (Even though I personally believe that Rey could have changed the name Palpatine to inspire hope instead of fear).

AND CHOOSING THE PATH OF THE SENTINEL!!!!  Big fan of this sect of the Jedi, especially since it was the only sect that Palpatine feared would survive the Jedi Purge.  If you don’t know what I mean, that’s what the yellow lightsaber means.  Plus it was high time she made one for herself instead of carrying around someone else’s.  

Also, following in Luke’s footsteps and introducing a new saber color to the big screen.

[jediwanderer]

TLJ Review *spoilers*

I’ve been seeing a lot of negativity against this film for the last couple of days so I thought I would throw in my thoughts.

I went last Sunday with my brother to watch it, I was really excited as it was the first proper Star Wars film I’ve ever seen in the cinema, (I don’t count Rogue One in that as it was an origin film).

However after spending two hours watching the film I left stunned and speechless and a little angry. My brother and I argued about certain points such as Luke’s character, my brother is a casual viewer and cares little for the history, and the sheer what the hell have I just watched. My brother did not understand why I was so mad as in his eyes it had been an enjoyable story with a good plot and interesting characters.

I talked to my friends after getting home and they all really enjoyed it, was it just me? So I decided to give it another chance. Cinema experiences are expensive in the UK so instead of re-watching the film I took to YouTube where there were plot explanation videos. Upon watching a couple I came to realise it had actually been a clev e film.

I’ll go into more detail.

*spoilers*

Lets start off with Finn and Rose and their failed attempt to find the code breaker. They had the most screentime out of all the plot stories and yet they failed. On first watching I was like “why are these characters getting so much screen time if they failed?”, then it occurred to me that was the theme of the movie: failure and how we deal with it. Finn and Rose has no hope of succeeding, they had been set an impossible task it would have been very unrealistic had they found the code breaker they were looking for and saved the day at the last minute. As is typical of sci fi.

Then there was Poe. I know a lot of the fandom worships Poe, but honestly he really pissed me off in this movie. His blatant disrespect towards the admiral because she was chosen to lead and not him really rubbed me the wrong way, especially since she was Leila’s chosen successor. How he undermined her authority, sent his two friends on a Suicide mission and then staged a coo, which all diverted time from their escape was really selfish. I have never been more proud of my girl Leia when she came back and stunned him, that to me sent a powerful message: you might be the young cocky Han Solo like character, but you are not getting the typical male bravdo rewarded.

Next was Rey, I didn’t really have any feelings towards Rey in FA, she didn’t really grab me as a character as she felt more like a fem Luke OC than a new character. Boy was I wrong!!! I loved every second Rey was on screen, her anger at Luke and her compassion towards Ben Solo hit deep with me. Finally, she has been given her own personality and was shown as a human. I love that she sees good in Ben, (I’ll get to them as a pair in a second) and wants to save him, she gave me a lot of Padme vibes. I just hope her story doesn’t end as tragically.

I low key shipped Reylo before TLJ, unfollow me if you want doesn’t make a difference to me. Yes it’s problematic, both parties have hurt each other. But they are also at war. Not that that is an excuse. Anyway I went into full ship mode with TLJ, holy Force that sexual chemistry!!! I loved the Force bond between them as it allowed them to understand each other from a unique prospective. Their fight scene was by far my favourite scene!!! When he asked her to join him it gave me Anakin/Padme feels.

Then we get to Luke. I’ve seen a lot of people angry at what they did with his character and I don’t blame you. But we are missing years of context. As someone who has suffered from grief and guilt, I can understand why he ran away. He could not face Leia after what he did or nearly did to her son. After spending years alone he will believe that this is his fault with no one who cares about him to argue. The most unrealistic thing about Luke’s story was that Leia and Han didn’t try harder to find him. Yes Luke was pure and good in his twenties but this this is twenty (correct me if I’m wrong I don’t understand how much time has pasted) years later. Pain changes people. Yes Mark Hamill disagrees with the character choices as his right as an actor and a fan, Luke represents the OT and therefore by killing him we kill the old and stagnated views and can move forward.

Final point Rey’s parentage. I like that she didn’t have a lineage, I was on the Rey Kenobi ship but I’m glad she is her own person. We get back to that idea that anyone can be a Jedi and it’s not genetic. Because realistically that doesn’t make sense as there would be loads of Jedi. I love that Rey is strong with the force and forging her own destiny.

I don’t really have much emotional connection to the new movies, I neither like them or dislike them. I’m all about Clone Wars and the Team. But for a movie it was decent enough. Could it have been better?

Of course!!!

But somehow I don’t think the writers will include Force ghost Anakin and Obi Wan hitching.