Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Part 2
Dec. 21st, 2019 10:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iaria+ One of my favourite scenes was the first Rey/Poe/Finn one. I loved Rey and Poe immediately bickering over BB8 and the Falcon as soon as they saw each other, and Finn's long-suffering reaction. That dynamic between the three of them was unexpected but so fun. I loved that entire scene and found it delightful. For the first time they really did feel like a trio and I really liked all of them together.
+ I also really loved Rey/Finn/Poe's three-way reunion hug at the end. Finn being in tears and Poe covering Rey's hand with his and the way they clung to each other was wonderful.
+ I think in the end the biggest issue with these trilogies is that there isn't a single force guiding it and thus the three movies are not as cohesive as they should have been. At all. I liked all three movies but as a trilogy they don’t flow together as a whole. I can see TFA/TLJ and TFA/TRoS but there feels like a big disconnect between TLJ and TROS. I’ve never believed that there was no plan but this movie convinced me that the writer/directors definitely had too much leeway to do whatever they wanted without a good enough road map. I can't believe Disney didn't have this shit planned out long before they started shooting. Yeesh.
+ I liked Finn being force sensitive and believing and trusting in the Force. He reminded me a lot of Chirrut in that respect. I just wish we'd either seen more build up in the previous movies or had a little less of it in this one because it was a little too much.
+ I loved the end with Rey at the Lars homestead but Rey's whole thing is about wanting family so the last shot being of her alone (well, with BB8) on a desert world was meh. I would have preferred it if we'd seen her walking towards the Falcon (and Finn/Poe/Chewie/whoever) to show her returning to the new family she made. I get why they wanted to end with that shot but this isn't only the end of Skywalker saga it's also the end of Rey's journey and for her as a character it didn't really work for me. Alternatively they could have started the scene with her leaving the Falcon and then ended as they did.
That said it is so satisfying to see where Rey ended the series compared to her beginning. She finally has answers about her parents/family and learned that they did care about her. She now has a sense of belonging and a self-made family. True friends who love her and value her. The love and support of her maybe psuedo-parents Leia and Luke (even if they are ghosts). A name. A place in the universe. The freedom to go where ever she wants in the universe. She's in such a better place and it makes me happy.
+ Rey naming herself Skywalker just makes me wish more that we had seen more of Rey/Luke. At this point I found myself wondering why Rey didn't call herself Organa since she seemed much closer to Leia.
+ Rey having BB8 at the end just makes me wonder if she and Poe have worked out a shared custody arrangement over him, and to be sad we didn't get to see it because I bet it would have been fun to watch.
+ I realise that there was a lot of drama surrounded Rose but this movie did her so wrong. I was really disappointed that her screen time was only a couple minutes at most and I wish this movie had continued with her where the last one left off. She and Finn bonded and they almost completely ignored that and their relationship. She was a major part of TLJ adventure so having her stay behind with Resistance command instead of going with Finn/Poe/Rey bothered me. It might have worked if she'd had a bigger role but instead it felt like she was an extra no one cared about. Which was shitty. When Janna pulled Finn back from trying to follow Rey/Kylo on the death star it really felt like that was meant to have been Rose. Plus I wanted to see her interact with Rey on screen and I don't think that happens once even when they're in the same scene. Boo!
+ The Knights of Ren looked amazing and that shot of them following Kylo down the halls of his ship was great. I loved their fight against Ben. But they otherwise didn't really do anything? It was disappointing. I wish we could have had a scene of them fighting Rey/Poe/Finn. They could have done a great cat-and-mouse fight in the dark streets of Kijimi before the heroes escaped, for example. Or have a fight break out between them on Pasaana. Just something!
+ I liked the explanation for Snoke - a clone created by Palpatine to be his puppet to control the first order and corrupt Ben, and to be his face so that no one would know he was alive until he was ready. Works for me. That said, Palpatine choosing... that look for his puppet was certainly a choice! What was it about a desiccated, creepy, large spindly creature that screamed 'perfect person to inspire a vulnerable young man to turn to'? Did Snoke have a mind of his own at all or did Palpatine choose that gold lamé robe himself?
+ Lando and Chewie showing up with a massive fleet of ships just as the Resistance is losing hope was a great visual. The timing doesn't make much sense but when in these movies has it ever?
+ That moment between Poe and Zoe during the celebrating at the end where he silently asks if she wants to go off with him, and she's all "really dude" and then he's like 'yeah fair enough" all in head motions amused me a lot.
+ The reveal that Poe used to be a spice smuggler and Finn teasing him about it was great. But I'm very curious about when exactly this happened? I feel like it make the most sense if it was an undercover identity he used as part of the Resistance rather than it actually being his job.
+ The Chewbacca vs Finn/Poe game scene at the beginning was great.
+ Finn and Poe calling each other General was very cute. This was a great movie for them.
+ Loved Rey leading the Resistance to Exegol.
+ For someone who wanted Rey to live to kill him Palpatine/Snoke sure tried his best to get Kylo to kill her. Was he expecting Kylo to choose her over Snoke? Was he doing some reverse psychology on him?
+ I did enjoy the whole first part of the movie with our gang on their treasure hunt. It was fun. I really liked the speeder chase. But, at the same time, it also feels like they spent too much time on it. It's rather like Canto Bight - I genuinely liked it but at the same time I don't know how well it belongs in this movie. The tunnels scene with the creature in particular I feel could have been cut. The main purpose of it seems to have been to show us the healing ability but there could have been a better way to do that (have her heal Poe after he was shot, have her healing Leia at the beginning). I liked her calming the creature and the compassion she showed (very her) so it was a lovely character moment for her but at the same time the way it moves to reveal the way out made me roll my eyes a little.
+ The way Chewie got captured and how that scene played out was... weird. Chewie wanders off to find Rey, not in the direction she's at, and gets caught by the Knights of Ren... who then are like 'eh, we got one of them, let's just leave the other two'? Why didn't they go for Finn and Poe, especially once Finn left the ship? It was really weirdly done.
+ I also found it a weird choice to pretty much immediately reveal that Chewbacca was actually alive. They should have let his death sit with the audience longer.
+ I'm annoyed that we didn't get a Kylo/Chewbacca scene.
+ Rey's parents selling her off the protect her was... meh. Really that was their best option? Of all planets why that one? Why not drop her in an orphanage somewhere or with a random family who wants a kid? Why didn't her mother stay with her while the father, aka Palpatine's son, led the bounty hunters away? I have a lot of questions here. I am not sold on their goodness as parents or even people in general.
+ I'm glad the R2 had a back-up for C3PO and I liked C3PO's choice to sacrifice himself for the greater good. But I was less pleased with how the three humans (but especially Poe/Finn) immediately jumped to accepting that erasing C3PO's memory was the acceptable choice without even talking to him about it. It sits wrong with me because I don't think they would have acted like that if it was another person. They would have been sad and they would have asked. I liked that Rey asked him at the end but at that point it was a little too late, you know? So his "last look at my friend" ended up falling flat.
+ I liked Jannah and the idea of her people all being ex-Stormtroopers who had deserted/escaped the First Order was excellent. That scene where she and Finn bonded was nice. But at the same time the movie really doesn't explore it enough which is a problem with all three of them. All the movies dropped the ball on the Stormtroopers. They threw out this big thing - hey, these faceless mooks there just for shooting are not actually faceless - and then instead of actually doing anything with it they continued to treat them as convenient faceless mooks. It's super aggravating, tbh. It's one of the aspects of this trilogy that bothers me the most. I like the idea but they needed to commit to it and instead they half-assed all the way. Disappointing.
+ Finn and Jannah on the death star ruins left me meh. They didn't really do anything or serve any greater purpose. Considering how difficult it was supposed to be to even get there in that weather it made me wonder what was even the point of them being there?
+ I'm not sure how I feel about the way it seems like Finn is in love with Rey. It's not stated out-right and I think it could still be read platonic but that's not how it came off to me. I don't see how else we're supposed to take him wanting to confess something when he thinks they're going to die and then refusing to say in front of Poe if not as an aborted love confession? What else could it realistically be? That in turn makes his belief in her and his worry for her, especially on the death star remains, come off differently then they might otherwise have. And then the movie doesn't bother to pick it up again at the end and leaves it this hanging question.
And my problem here is that Rey at this point in time shows no indication that she feels the same? So like, they have Finn pining in unrequited love for Rey being how he ends the movie and it's not sitting well with me. As if he's Rey's back-up romantic interest. If they wanted that they should have gone with it. Commit. You can't just leave this hanging thread as if you don't care. It annoys me. They were super sweet in the previous two movies, and in this one even, just build on that! Don't leave it hanging there.
+ Right now I feel rather meh about both Leia and Luke knowing the whole time Rey was a Palpatine. How the hell did they know that? I know, I know, the force. I really like the acceptance it lets Rey feel and how that ties into the end but - eh.
+ One thing that really stuck out with this movie was how much less overtly funny it was than the previous two. It definitely had some amusing parts, even got some giggles and smiles but overall less funny.
+ C3PO actually had a lot of amusing/funny moments. Babu Frik introducing himself to C3PO made me laugh out loud and I loved C3PO calling him his oldest friend later in the movie. C3PO mentioning his databanks had the last of the knowledge they needed, him giving helpful cultural knowledge at the start of the treasure hunt and him saying 'I know you didn't call my name but I'm fine' were all very funny.
+ Hux being the spy made complete sense. Of course he would do anything to get the best of Kylo and I enjoyed that over the top pettiness a lot. It felt very in character. Him getting immediately killed after surprised me. Although not so much that Allegiant General Pryde immediately knew he was the spy because his shoot me idea was terrible. He would have done better to play dumb and pretend he had never seen them and wasn't even in that part of the ship.
+ I was disappointed that more wasn't done with the Sith Stormtroopers. What's the difference between them and the normal version - just the colour?
+ The new star destroyers being outfitted with what were basically miniaturised death star weapons didn't work for me.
+ I also really loved Rey/Finn/Poe's three-way reunion hug at the end. Finn being in tears and Poe covering Rey's hand with his and the way they clung to each other was wonderful.
+ I think in the end the biggest issue with these trilogies is that there isn't a single force guiding it and thus the three movies are not as cohesive as they should have been. At all. I liked all three movies but as a trilogy they don’t flow together as a whole. I can see TFA/TLJ and TFA/TRoS but there feels like a big disconnect between TLJ and TROS. I’ve never believed that there was no plan but this movie convinced me that the writer/directors definitely had too much leeway to do whatever they wanted without a good enough road map. I can't believe Disney didn't have this shit planned out long before they started shooting. Yeesh.
+ I liked Finn being force sensitive and believing and trusting in the Force. He reminded me a lot of Chirrut in that respect. I just wish we'd either seen more build up in the previous movies or had a little less of it in this one because it was a little too much.
+ I loved the end with Rey at the Lars homestead but Rey's whole thing is about wanting family so the last shot being of her alone (well, with BB8) on a desert world was meh. I would have preferred it if we'd seen her walking towards the Falcon (and Finn/Poe/Chewie/whoever) to show her returning to the new family she made. I get why they wanted to end with that shot but this isn't only the end of Skywalker saga it's also the end of Rey's journey and for her as a character it didn't really work for me. Alternatively they could have started the scene with her leaving the Falcon and then ended as they did.
That said it is so satisfying to see where Rey ended the series compared to her beginning. She finally has answers about her parents/family and learned that they did care about her. She now has a sense of belonging and a self-made family. True friends who love her and value her. The love and support of her maybe psuedo-parents Leia and Luke (even if they are ghosts). A name. A place in the universe. The freedom to go where ever she wants in the universe. She's in such a better place and it makes me happy.
+ Rey naming herself Skywalker just makes me wish more that we had seen more of Rey/Luke. At this point I found myself wondering why Rey didn't call herself Organa since she seemed much closer to Leia.
+ Rey having BB8 at the end just makes me wonder if she and Poe have worked out a shared custody arrangement over him, and to be sad we didn't get to see it because I bet it would have been fun to watch.
+ I realise that there was a lot of drama surrounded Rose but this movie did her so wrong. I was really disappointed that her screen time was only a couple minutes at most and I wish this movie had continued with her where the last one left off. She and Finn bonded and they almost completely ignored that and their relationship. She was a major part of TLJ adventure so having her stay behind with Resistance command instead of going with Finn/Poe/Rey bothered me. It might have worked if she'd had a bigger role but instead it felt like she was an extra no one cared about. Which was shitty. When Janna pulled Finn back from trying to follow Rey/Kylo on the death star it really felt like that was meant to have been Rose. Plus I wanted to see her interact with Rey on screen and I don't think that happens once even when they're in the same scene. Boo!
+ The Knights of Ren looked amazing and that shot of them following Kylo down the halls of his ship was great. I loved their fight against Ben. But they otherwise didn't really do anything? It was disappointing. I wish we could have had a scene of them fighting Rey/Poe/Finn. They could have done a great cat-and-mouse fight in the dark streets of Kijimi before the heroes escaped, for example. Or have a fight break out between them on Pasaana. Just something!
+ I liked the explanation for Snoke - a clone created by Palpatine to be his puppet to control the first order and corrupt Ben, and to be his face so that no one would know he was alive until he was ready. Works for me. That said, Palpatine choosing... that look for his puppet was certainly a choice! What was it about a desiccated, creepy, large spindly creature that screamed 'perfect person to inspire a vulnerable young man to turn to'? Did Snoke have a mind of his own at all or did Palpatine choose that gold lamé robe himself?
+ Lando and Chewie showing up with a massive fleet of ships just as the Resistance is losing hope was a great visual. The timing doesn't make much sense but when in these movies has it ever?
+ That moment between Poe and Zoe during the celebrating at the end where he silently asks if she wants to go off with him, and she's all "really dude" and then he's like 'yeah fair enough" all in head motions amused me a lot.
+ The reveal that Poe used to be a spice smuggler and Finn teasing him about it was great. But I'm very curious about when exactly this happened? I feel like it make the most sense if it was an undercover identity he used as part of the Resistance rather than it actually being his job.
+ The Chewbacca vs Finn/Poe game scene at the beginning was great.
+ Finn and Poe calling each other General was very cute. This was a great movie for them.
+ Loved Rey leading the Resistance to Exegol.
+ For someone who wanted Rey to live to kill him Palpatine/Snoke sure tried his best to get Kylo to kill her. Was he expecting Kylo to choose her over Snoke? Was he doing some reverse psychology on him?
+ I did enjoy the whole first part of the movie with our gang on their treasure hunt. It was fun. I really liked the speeder chase. But, at the same time, it also feels like they spent too much time on it. It's rather like Canto Bight - I genuinely liked it but at the same time I don't know how well it belongs in this movie. The tunnels scene with the creature in particular I feel could have been cut. The main purpose of it seems to have been to show us the healing ability but there could have been a better way to do that (have her heal Poe after he was shot, have her healing Leia at the beginning). I liked her calming the creature and the compassion she showed (very her) so it was a lovely character moment for her but at the same time the way it moves to reveal the way out made me roll my eyes a little.
+ The way Chewie got captured and how that scene played out was... weird. Chewie wanders off to find Rey, not in the direction she's at, and gets caught by the Knights of Ren... who then are like 'eh, we got one of them, let's just leave the other two'? Why didn't they go for Finn and Poe, especially once Finn left the ship? It was really weirdly done.
+ I also found it a weird choice to pretty much immediately reveal that Chewbacca was actually alive. They should have let his death sit with the audience longer.
+ I'm annoyed that we didn't get a Kylo/Chewbacca scene.
+ Rey's parents selling her off the protect her was... meh. Really that was their best option? Of all planets why that one? Why not drop her in an orphanage somewhere or with a random family who wants a kid? Why didn't her mother stay with her while the father, aka Palpatine's son, led the bounty hunters away? I have a lot of questions here. I am not sold on their goodness as parents or even people in general.
+ I'm glad the R2 had a back-up for C3PO and I liked C3PO's choice to sacrifice himself for the greater good. But I was less pleased with how the three humans (but especially Poe/Finn) immediately jumped to accepting that erasing C3PO's memory was the acceptable choice without even talking to him about it. It sits wrong with me because I don't think they would have acted like that if it was another person. They would have been sad and they would have asked. I liked that Rey asked him at the end but at that point it was a little too late, you know? So his "last look at my friend" ended up falling flat.
+ I liked Jannah and the idea of her people all being ex-Stormtroopers who had deserted/escaped the First Order was excellent. That scene where she and Finn bonded was nice. But at the same time the movie really doesn't explore it enough which is a problem with all three of them. All the movies dropped the ball on the Stormtroopers. They threw out this big thing - hey, these faceless mooks there just for shooting are not actually faceless - and then instead of actually doing anything with it they continued to treat them as convenient faceless mooks. It's super aggravating, tbh. It's one of the aspects of this trilogy that bothers me the most. I like the idea but they needed to commit to it and instead they half-assed all the way. Disappointing.
+ Finn and Jannah on the death star ruins left me meh. They didn't really do anything or serve any greater purpose. Considering how difficult it was supposed to be to even get there in that weather it made me wonder what was even the point of them being there?
+ I'm not sure how I feel about the way it seems like Finn is in love with Rey. It's not stated out-right and I think it could still be read platonic but that's not how it came off to me. I don't see how else we're supposed to take him wanting to confess something when he thinks they're going to die and then refusing to say in front of Poe if not as an aborted love confession? What else could it realistically be? That in turn makes his belief in her and his worry for her, especially on the death star remains, come off differently then they might otherwise have. And then the movie doesn't bother to pick it up again at the end and leaves it this hanging question.
And my problem here is that Rey at this point in time shows no indication that she feels the same? So like, they have Finn pining in unrequited love for Rey being how he ends the movie and it's not sitting well with me. As if he's Rey's back-up romantic interest. If they wanted that they should have gone with it. Commit. You can't just leave this hanging thread as if you don't care. It annoys me. They were super sweet in the previous two movies, and in this one even, just build on that! Don't leave it hanging there.
+ Right now I feel rather meh about both Leia and Luke knowing the whole time Rey was a Palpatine. How the hell did they know that? I know, I know, the force. I really like the acceptance it lets Rey feel and how that ties into the end but - eh.
+ One thing that really stuck out with this movie was how much less overtly funny it was than the previous two. It definitely had some amusing parts, even got some giggles and smiles but overall less funny.
+ C3PO actually had a lot of amusing/funny moments. Babu Frik introducing himself to C3PO made me laugh out loud and I loved C3PO calling him his oldest friend later in the movie. C3PO mentioning his databanks had the last of the knowledge they needed, him giving helpful cultural knowledge at the start of the treasure hunt and him saying 'I know you didn't call my name but I'm fine' were all very funny.
+ Hux being the spy made complete sense. Of course he would do anything to get the best of Kylo and I enjoyed that over the top pettiness a lot. It felt very in character. Him getting immediately killed after surprised me. Although not so much that Allegiant General Pryde immediately knew he was the spy because his shoot me idea was terrible. He would have done better to play dumb and pretend he had never seen them and wasn't even in that part of the ship.
+ I was disappointed that more wasn't done with the Sith Stormtroopers. What's the difference between them and the normal version - just the colour?
+ The new star destroyers being outfitted with what were basically miniaturised death star weapons didn't work for me.
