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unexpectedreylo · 5 years ago

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How Ben Solo Became A Martyr

If anyone were to pull me into a Hollywood studio office or lunch at some see-and-be-seen L.A.-area restaurant (personally, I like The Ivy) and ask me, a lifelong t.v. and movie viewer, what should show runners, directors, writers, and anyone who has a creative say in a production avoid doing, one thing I would say is, “Don’t unintentionally make a character a martyr.”

I don’t mean the sense of being a martyr in-universe but being a martyr to the audience.

First I should define what I mean by “martyr.” In a Christian sense, it’s a particular kind of saint who suffers and dies a horrible death for his or her faith. In a secular sense it can describe anyone who suffers and/or dies horribly for a cause or that suffering/death calls attention to a matter of injustice. This can also be applied in a more colloquial sense, such as when anyone suffers in some way or tries to use the impression of suffering to elicit sympathy.

If anyone at Lucasfilm is wondering why there’s a tribe of people on social media doing Ben Solo hashtags, making pins, and putting blue butterfly emojis on their handles, I’m here to tell Lucasfilm it’s because you guys made Ben Solo into a martyr to the audience.

First, they made Kylo Ren/Ben Solo Han and Leia’s son/Anakin and Padmé’s grandson. This makes him an easy investment for fans who have loved those characters for decades. The killing Han Solo part might have made a certain segment of longtime fans so angry at Kylo they not only couldn’t forgive him but they didn’t even want him redeemed but others could see how the death clearly affected him which elicits sympathy and compassion.

Second, they got an extremely talented, charismatic actor to play Kylo/Ben. Adam Driver refused to play Kylo as a one-dimensional mustache-twirling killing-machine villain. He added subtlety, nuance, and humanity to the role, all the while captivating the audience. That he’s also sexy didn’t hurt. As bad as Kylo could be, we also see the soft underbelly, the hints of the real Ben Solo hiding behind the persona. He managed to create the kind of hero we’d been hoping to see in the ST within a short amount of time and practically no dialogue. That’s extraordinary. Driver took Kylo as seriously as he takes any other role. He could’ve been making a bunch of other Oscar-nominated movies instead and we all know it. Getting him was a gift and some fans out there think it was ultimately kind of wasted.

Third, if TFA hinted at Kylo’s humanity, Rian Johnson made it entirely the point of Kylo’s arc in TLJ. When Kylo destroyed his helmet, Johnson was able to let Driver go nuts with a script that treated its characters like human beings instead of caricatures. While Kylo was still capable of evil and all-around bad guy-ness, we also saw someone who could be gentle and caring, a tortured young man struggling with deep remorse, a lonely soul who can only find connection with someone who’s supposed to be his enemy, and sometimes, a hero. Those pleading puppy dog eyes and trembling lips did a lot to elicit sympathy from filmgoers. That he’s also sexy didn’t hurt.

Fourth, both the films and ancillary material showed Ben was subjected to abuse and suffered greatly for the mistakes of his elders. Ben was targeted at conception and suffered with voices in his head most of his life. A kitchen droid tried to take him out. His parents were too busy doing whatever to really give him the attention he needed, even though Leia was aware some outside force was after her son. His parents ultimately feared him and his emotional freak outs. Han and Leia shipped him off to Luke’s poor man’s version of Hogwarts, leading to some deep abandonment issues. Luke almost killed him in his sleep. The very popular The Rise of Kylo Ren comics series basically acquitted Ben of everything he supposedly did leading up to his fall. Then Kylo is verbally and physically abused by Snoke. This has created a tremendous amount of sympathy for Ben, especially by those who have struggled with any number of real-world problems. They identified with him. Hollywood as of late has coded a lot of villainous or antihero characters as having mental illness or being neurodiverse or having addiction problems as well as enduring physical and verbal abuse. I get that writers want to enrich these characters and make them relevant to a modern audience and that actors like the challenge in playing them but I also think Hollywood is being a little irresponsible about it. Not only is it potentially stigmatizing it also seldom has a solution to those characters’ arcs other than death. How is someone living with bipolar disorder or autism finding a kindred spirit of sorts in Kylo/Ben going to feel about the constant message that such a life isn’t worth living? Ben just suffers and suffers and suffers and gets nothing for it.

Fifth, we’re presented with material depicting Ben’s youth. Ben, when he’s not getting the stuffing kicked out of him by life, is quite lovable and as a child, adorable. At least with Anakin Skywalker, we’re supposed to appreciate the tragedy of a good person who was loved falling to the Dark Side. With Ben it makes us love him 10x more and at the same time make us even more upset they unceremoniously killed off that darling little moppet who played with butterflies, ran around the house naked, and begged his daddy to come home.

Sixth, it didn’t seem like Ben was sufficiently loved either in the films or by Lucasfilm. Or, to put it this way, whatever gestures Han, Leia, or Luke tried to throw Ben’s way were cases of too little too late. I always wondered why, if Leia knew Snoke was manipulating Ben, she didn’t go out to find the mo-fo and kill him? I would! Leia tries to reach out to Ben in TROS but in the movie it comes off as her distracting him so Rey could inflict a fatal wound. In fact, the weird thing about TROS is it feels like Leia was trying to take out Ben all along: the distraction, ensuring Rey takes up her “Jedi path” which Leia knew full well this would somehow lead to Ben’s death, and finally her disappearing the same time he does. It’s weird! Han tries to save Ben but he’s a muggle who’s no match against his unstable son gifted with magic powers and lightsaber abilities. Luke apologizes in TLJ but never had anything to say to his nephew again. Adding insult to injury, the Blue Ghostie Exposition Scene From Hell establishes Luke and Leia as resigned to Ben’s fate all along, kicking their flesh and blood to the curb for a surrogate more to their liking. It’s horrible! The worst is of course his soulmate barely reacting to his death. In the end nobody cared. He’s like the kid who cleans up his act, gets good grades, gets into a decent college, and his family couldn’t care less. The movie abruptly kills him off and it’s on to cheering and celebrations. Nobody remembers or speaks of Ben and he’s not seen again in any form. Four-five months after the film has come out, there’s no official Ben merchandise or collectibles. It’s like “Ben Solo? Don’t know him.” You just know that every time the Star Wars social media team has to mention him or post something with him in it, they’re muttering under their breath, “Oh God, here it comes again.”

So they got a number of fans to empathize with Kylo/Ben and hope for his redemption as well as a chance at happiness after a lifetime of abuse and suffering, only to kill him off in a sudden and graceless manner. There’s no payoff for Ben or the audience. He’s just...gone. To us it doesn’t seem right. It seems cruel and unjust. But fans are also a tenacious lot so they’re hoping Lucasfilm will realize it made a mistake and correct it. In the meantime, Ben lives on in our fan fics, edits, fan art, and fan merchandise.

#ben solo #ben deserves better #reylo #kylo ren #adam driver

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sonofsallyjackson · 4 years ago

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Family Never Truly Leaves Us: Chapter 1 featuring Baby Lost Trio

AO3

Summary: Thalia Grace was very good at finding her family. Keeping that family together was a completely different story. Her first family collapsed when her brother’s disappearance became too much to bear. She died for her second family, only to wake up years later and not recognize them anymore. Her third family is literally twenty-odd teenagers and an immortal virgin goddess, but she’s never been one for traditional.

AN: Basically this is a three part story that was inspired by @silima’s incredible art of the lost trio together as kids. I mean just look at it. Baby Piper, Leo and Jason are absolutely adorable and deserved to be celebrated. However, this turned into a Thalia piece and the three different families she’s made for herself. As I initially planned to have this chapter out by Jason’s birthday and it’s now the last hours of Leo’s, I cannot hope to have the next section up by Annabeth’s birthday even if that’s my unofficial deadline.

Thalia Grace was very good at finding her family. Keeping that family together was a completely different story.

Her first family was one pulled together just as much biologically as it had been by circumstance. Beryl Grace lacked the maternal instinct necessary to be a good mother, but she did have a strong ability for finding people who might be useful to her. Of course, her definition of useful was particularly fickle. Some days useful meant the literal king of the gods, who she would beg to make her queen of his dominion, to revere her above all others. Other days it meant the personal assistant, all too willing to fill their mansion with a never-ending supply of alcohol. On the best days, it brought Tristan Mclean, Esperanza Valdez and their children into their lives.

Beryl had mocked her agent at first. You really couldn’t get me anything better? The Oscar committee hates fantasy. But she had wanted to dive back into the world of Hollywood elite where she belonged. She wanted to prove that her second child didn’t mean she had let herself go or was less worthy of the public’s adoration. If anything Beryl claimed to six-year-old Thalia, I’m more worthy. Who can say they’ve attracted a god twice?

They met in the middle, as Beryl Grace’s fame was crashing, and Tristan Mclean's was preparing for a meteoric rise. He'd worked with the director on a few minor projects, but it was his first starring role in such a big-budget film. Regardless, it had taken a little convincing. After all, he was a single father with a daughter under the age of two, and his closest family was halfway across the country. But the director was insistent, sending scripts, pictures of the prototype animatronic dragons, and finally, a pretty young woman from the special effects department who also had a little kid. Esperanza Valdez and her honest approach to how she was handling her "tornado with legs" did more to calm his fears than anything else did. Tristan signed on enthusiastically after making sure childcare was handled.

Beryl Grace didn’t bother to consider something as bland as childcare. After all, she accumulated a list of nannies over the years. No one stuck around very long. The latest, Mrs. Costa, thought their house was haunted. She didn’t like the way wind danced through the house or the lightning that flashed even when the sky was completely clear. One day Mrs. Costa ran out of the house, screaming that the baby was floating and needed to be exorcised.

"I don't have time to be dealing with this, Thalia." Beryl snapped as if this was all Thalia’s fault. “I’m calling the studio.”

It turned out the studio had no problem with adding two more children to their makeshift daycare. Beryl Grace dropped them off at Tristan Mclean’s trailer, apologizing all the way as she runs to makeup. The trailer was a mess of children’s toys and storybooks. Thalia was not impressed, but Jason squealed excitedly at the other children already on the floor. The girl definitely dressed herself, decked out as she was in a rainbow tutu, a camo t-shirt and rainboots despite the fact they’re in the middle of a drought. The boy didn’t say anything but offered Jason the red block he’d previously been playing with. He’s smaller than Jason, with dark curly hair and an infectious smile. Thalia’s never felt more out of place as she watches the three of them play. She’s used to being Jason’s whole world, the one who always keeps him entertained and safe. The blond intern boredly watching them, jumped to her feet as the door opened again. A woman slightly younger than her mother with dark skin and twinkling brown eyes smiled at her easily.

"Thanks so much for covering for me, Sarah. We should be good to go. I only had to explain the controls about six times to Pat.”

"Really, Esperanza? They're letting Pat handle it." There's clear annoyance in her voice, but she also seems resigned to the fact.

"It turns out being the producer's son has its perks." Esperanza patted Sarah's shoulder encouragingly. "If it were up to me, you'd be the one running it.”

“I’ll come get you if we run into problems, but I think you’re good to stay with the kids.” Sarah glanced in Thaila’s direction as if to remind her boss of their unusual charges.

“Well, you’ll know where to find me.”

After Sarah had left, Esperanza set her walkie talkie on the table before kneeling down, so she was eye to eye with Thalia. "Hello Mija, you must be Thalia. I don't know what your mother told you, but my name is Esperanza. I’m going to be looking after you and your brother today.”

Thalia nodded uncertainly. She was used to new people coming into their lives, but that didn't mean she liked it. And she knew all too well, that even the people with the brightest smiles could bring trouble.

"The other little munchkins are Piper and Leo." Piper didn't even react to her name as she was too busy building a tower, so a giggling Jason could knock it over. Leo, on the other hand, gave his Mama a curious glance before promptly shoving a block in his mouth.

“Jason tries to eat everything too!” Thalia said with a slight laugh.

“They tend to do that at this age. It helps them explore their world better.” Esperanza gently encouraged Leo to take it out only to have her son holding tightly to her like a spider monkey.

Thalia sort of understood that. She didn’t understand the world either, but she didn’t think knowing how blocks tasted really made Jason any more of an expert.

“Most of the toys we have are meant for someone their age, but I’m sure we can find something for you to play with.”

In the end, Thalia settled down with a stack of paper and crayons. She sat as close to Jason as possible, just on the outside of the trio’s little circle. Even though she already felt like Esperanza was better at keeping an eye on Jason than Mrs. Costa, Thalia continually checked in on her brother, although her glances slowly subside from one for every new line she added to her drawing to only when she grabbed a new crayon or when one of the kids let out an indignant squawk or a giggle.

When Piper requested a song for naptime, it’s easy to slip into a gentle sleep until the trailer door opened, and Thalia heard her mother's voice.

Beryl fluttered her eyelashes at Tristan as she leaves exaggerated kisses on her children’s heads. “I really can’t thank you enough for helping today.”

He let out the hearty genuine laugh that he’ll be known for one day. “It was all Esperanza, really.” He said as he offered the other woman a smile. “In this industry, single parents need to stick together. Helping out for the week is the least we can do.”

It ended up being much more than a week.

Many days on set are often the same as their first, although a collection of toy cars, a robot, and a pair of lightsabers are added to the more toddler-friendly options. There are days when the kids are so full of energy there’s no possible way to stay in the trailer. The trio ran laps around the trailer or race between wherever Thalia and Esperanza are standing.

Sometimes if they promise to be good, they even go on adventures to see different parts of the studio lot. The women in the hair and makeup department dote on Piper. Leo is happiest in his mother’s workshop. Jason proclaimed he wants to be exactly like the stunt actors, which made Thalia’s heart skip a beat. Despite all of the cool things she’s seen on set, Thalia loved the days they watch their parents act the most. When Thalia watched her mother, she felt like she understands why Beryl is so determined to make it here. She thrived in front of the lights and camera. There's an ease to her smiles that Thalia hasn’t seen since her father left.

After one late-night shoot where the children all slept over in the Mclean house, the families traded the trailer for their homes. Esperanza's schedule barely overlapped with the other two. She got to set early to set up her machines, or she went later for the nightly repairs. In the hours where makeup calls overlapped with set-up, a tired production assistant lazily watched the kids in Tristan’s trailer. There are days where Beryl filmed, and Tristan didn't, and vice versa. Days when Tristan took all four children because Esperanza needed to get some decent sleep. They look out for each other. While Beryl was not thrilled about the idea of two additional kids in her house, it’s a lot easier to keep a babysitter than a nanny.

Undoubtedly, this strategy would have been completely impossible if the three toddlers hadn't been friends. Luckily, the kids got along almost too well. Even if they saw each other nearly every day, separating them was a nightmare. They also were more than willing to help out in each other's schemes. Jason’s determination to put absolutely everything in his mouth had only grown as he got older. Sure things kept falling off of high shelves as if pushed by some invisible force, but Thalia thought she’d probably be able to handle that if it hadn’t been for Leo. He was a week younger, but when he got the occasional look of mischief on his chubby face, Thalia knew it was over. She’d walked in from school twice now to find Jason chewing on something she knew was in one of the locked cabinets and Leo proudly smiling on the counter.

Of course all good things come to an end. Thalia worried that with no movie bonding the three families together, everything would fall apart, that she and Jason would be left to their own devices. She realized she shouldn’t have worried when Beryl mentioned they’re spending the Premiere night at the Valdez’s. Three assistants needed to sew Beryl into a form-fitting dress with embroidery that looks like the night stars. Her mother may have looked radiant on the red carpet, but Thalia preferred Esperanza’s mismatched pajamas and the genuine smiles she gave as she tucks the four of them in.

In the end, the film flopped. The only things critics deemed worthy of any praise are Esperanza’s mechanical dragons. The fans seem to prefer the shirtless Tristan Mclean scenes. It had the potential to be a cult classic one day, but Beryl Grace didn’t care about being famous someday. She wanted the world now when she’s young and beautiful. She already deserved the world.

It was probably for the best that Beryl misses most of the party. It's the easy sort of affair that she would hate. She's always been one for spectacle, and three kids sitting in highchairs flinging red frosting at each other was not a spectacle. She chose her career over her son’s third birthday. It didn’t even surprise Thalia anymore.

“You know I can’t Thalia. My agent says this is a big opportunity we’ve been waiting for. I just know it’s the one.” Beryl said as she pulled up to the Valdez’s apartment building.

Thalia didn’t mention that every audition, every lunch, every cocktail hour seemed to be the one lately. Her mother is frazzled in a way she’s never seen her before. She hasn’t accepted that there is no new movie coming. A new blonde-haired, blue-eyed ingenue showed up in Hollywood every day, and they’re almost all younger and easier to work with than Beryl Grace.

“I’ll be there later, Sweetie.” She handed Thalia a disposable camera. “You’ll just have to show me what I miss.”

It’s almost funny how their birthdays align so perfectly. Piper’s is in June and Leo and Jason’s a week apart. They held the party together since the kids wouldn't know differently anyway. Unlike Beryl, Tristan took the day off from auditions. Esperanza had already spent the entire night before making enough food for an army.

Thalia blew up a hundred silver balloons, never realizing that an eight-year-old should have been out of breath much sooner and that without helium, her balloons should stay firmly on the ground. Some of them do, but most float easily around the apartment. Piper and Leo bounced one back and forth to each other, giggling the entire time. Jason practically pounced on one and tries to eat it. It pops beneath him, which seemed to be enough to convince him not to put this strange thing in his mouth. He joined the other two, although he took great pleasure in hitting the balloon as hard as he can at Thalia to convince her to join them.

There’s easy laughter, homemade tamales, and little shouts of “Tree! Tree! Tree!” as the birthday kids marched around the room, announcing their age proudly for everyone to hear despite not mastering the sound an h makes. The pictures Thalia took are more for herself then Beryl, to remind herself of how happy she was. This is probably for the best as Beryl never asks to look at the pictures.

Maybe in another world, Thalia would feel like it was impossible to go to school, to leave Jason alone with their mother or the nanny of the month for the day. But in this world, Thalia has other adults in her corner. The three children stayed together in a play-pin in Esperanza’s workshop or Tristan’s office as he looked for his next big role. It wasn’t an ideal scenario since by the time they were three and a half, they were more than capable of making a break for it. But they’d learned early not to touch anything besides their toys, that masterful escapes were meant for playing in the yard or for grabbing extra crayons and that if necessary the parents could find other arrangements, potentially separate arrangements. Personal assistants and nannies filled in where the parents couldn’t, but these had been hired by parents who actually cared about their children.

School was hard enough in this world where the letters floated off the page, and Thalia couldn't sit still, so Thalia truly couldn’t imagine a worse one. But after school, when there were no glowering teachers or odd children with one eye, Thalia relaxed. She sat at the short wooden table in whoever’s living room they were staying at for the day and stubbornly work on her homework as Leo put together puzzles, and Piper roped Jason into creating larger than life storylines for her Barbies.

Piper seemed to know when her homework made her want to scream because she would ask in her sweetest voice, “Tally, play now?”

“Who am I today, Pipes?”

Jason might try to hand her the doll he'd previously been sucking on, but usually, Piper had something very specific in mind. There’s Sofia, the redheaded murder suspect complete with purple crayon scars. Or Ama, the princess in disguise that Jason attacked with a pair of safety scissors, so she's almost bald. Or a million other characters with intricate backstories.

Piper occasionally needed to pause their play because “Jason was doing it all wrong” or because she needed to ask Leo to build their characters a castle out of Legos. But overall, Thalia could play with the kiddos for hours after school.

Occasionally things were bad. Beryl would be sent home from a shoot early, alcohol heavy on her breath. Daytime soap actresses were a dime a dozen, and no one had the patience for a woman past her prime who could barely remember her lines and couldn't even stand without swaying. (Beryl’s character was given a brain tumor to explain her behavior and allow the writers time to get rid of the fan favorite.) Those days featured doors slamming and screaming. If they’re at the Grace Mansion, Thalia made sure the kiddos were safely out of sight and occupied, before ducking behind the kitchen counter so she can call for reinforcements. Mostly though, she found about these sorts of days after the fact, when Tristan’s assistant drove the two of them home, and there would be broken glasses and picture frames with their mother passed out in her bedroom.

Despite this, Thalia grew up loved, even if that love didn’t come from her biological parents. Tristan tried to entice her to read even though it's hard. He pretended he needed someone to run lines with and encouraged Thalia to be as dramatic as possible. Somehow it didn’t matter that the words are swimming in front of her, she’s only nine, and the idea of collapsing dramatically into fake tears is so much more powerful than her fear of getting something wrong. It certainly helped that her captive audience of toddlers seems to love everything she did. Piper and Jason always seemed to giggle when she reads the lines in a sing-song voice, so Thalia goes out of her way to do it, even when the part didn’t call for it. Esperanza played rock music that allowed Thalia to scream out her frustration and dance around the kitchen in the Valdez apartment. It's a wild mass of limbs, and she doesn’t even know which language Leo is yelling in half the time. But it feels right. She has a family that loves her.

When they moved out of the mansion into a cramped apartment, Thalia told herself it didn't matter. This cold house with its glass walls and minimalist furnishings never really felt like home. The new apartment sort of did after Thalia covered her side of the room in scotch tape and pictures. She's collected evidence of everything her mother missed during her auditions, her soap operas, and eventually her hours as a waitress. There's Tristan playing ring-around-the-Rosie, and Piper refusing to wear anything not dinosaur themed. Jason smiling despite his stitches because he tried to eat a stapler. Leo stands proudly in front of his first project, little wrench still in hand. There's a slightly blurry picture of Esperanza teaching her how to make enchiladas. Thalia captured everything. Maybe someday her mother would see them and be sorry she missed this.

On Thalia’s 10th birthday, her mother didn’t give her a gift. It’s almost like she can’t see her anymore. Beryl spent the entire day reminiscing about Zeus. Thalia is not her own person. She’s her father’s black hair and startling blue eyes. She has Zeus’ determined face and his chin. Thalia is proof that in the long scheme of things, Beryl has won, won the affection of a god, and that no matter how much further they fall, no one can take that prize away from her.

Thalia didn’t particularly like the idea of being the child of a god, especially since she hasn’t seen her father since Jason was born. She wasn’t sure she truly believed it either. It seemed like just another fantasy Beryl latched onto the idea in a drunken haze. Thalia barely saw her mother sober anymore. If she was a child of a god, Thalia should feel powerful and important. Instead, she's just alone with her baby brother on her birthday.

She got birthday phone calls from both the Mcleans and the Valdezs, but they’re not here. It’s three days before Christmas after all. Esperanza’s extended family in Texas took the holiday very seriously, and Tristan finally had a long enough break from shooting to go home to Oklahoma. She smiled brightly when they gave her presents later, a leather jacket and extra cameras, and doesn’t tell them the truth that even thinking about her birthday made her heart ache.

In the weeks leading up to Jason’s fifth birthday, Beryl got worse. She didn’t acknowledge her children, wandering the house in a daze, muttering under her breath.

Thalia put on a brave face and told Jason, “Mom’s just practicing for a new role,” but she was terrified.

Thalia saw her arguing with people who aren’t there, her mother’s eyes wide and tortured. None of her pleas made any sense. "No, you can't have him. I need more time." “He’s my son, not hers! You didn’t even let me name him.” “Why can’t you protect us?”

Jason nearly threw a tantrum when Beryl suggested they have a birthday picnic. “No! We always celebrate with Piper and Leo!”

Thalia glared at her mother before kneeling to face her brother. "We'll see them tomorrow, Jay. But for now, we'll go see the woods and the stars. You'll be able to run around as much as you want."

“Really? As much as I want?”

Thalia almost groaned, knowing she'll regret those words later. She’ll have to chase him down, and Jason runs like he's practically flying.

Beryl gave her a grateful look, but Thalia didn’t return it. Sure her mother was making an effort, but they both deserve so much more after everything she has put them through.

Jason was the only one to speak the entire drive to the state park. He sang the alphabet about six times and twinkle-twinkle little star twice. But he never stopped talking, not even as Thalia unbuckled him from his car seat, and the three of them walked through the state park.

Beryl’s hands shook as she set their picnic basket by the pond. “Sweetheart, I think we forgot the blanket. Why don’t you run back to the car and grab it?”

“Sure,” Thalia shrugged. “Jason, why don’t you come with me?”

He looked ready to shout that he’ll “race her back” when Beryl put an arm around his shoulder, a sickly-sweet smile on her face. “Really, Thalia. I can watch my own son for two minutes.”

Thalia swallowed. She seemed more put together today, but her mother is an actress, and appearances can be misleading. Thalia practically ran from their spot near the ruins to the car.

It took a few minutes to realize there was no picnic blanket. Thalia wanted to think it's a coincidence that Beryl actually thought they brought the blanket, but the sinking feeling in her stomach let her know it was likely always a distraction, a wild goose chase to get her away from Jason.

Thalia slammed the trunk of the car closed. Ten minutes. How much trouble could her mother cause in ten minutes? She ran until her lungs hurt, her heart throbbing in her chest. The path was uneven under her worn-out sneakers. Thalia tripped over a tree root and barely noticed her scraped knee as she set off again. It felt hard to breathe, but Thalia isn't sure if that's coming from her worry or her running.

Upon first glance, the meadow with the ruins of the old house was empty. As Thalia got closer, she saw her mother hunched over on the ground. Beryl was sobbing like she would never run out of tears. She’s alone.

Thalia couldn’t help but shake her mother desperately, “What’d you do? Where is he? How could you?” The questions rolled out of her uncontrollably.

She was barely gone ten minutes, but it felt like something has drastically changed.

“Hera claimed him. He’s as good as dead.” Beryl was able to manage between sobs.

Her mother had no right to cry. She didn’t know Jason, not really, not the way Thalia did. She didn’t know that Jason liked to pretend he can fly and preferred the Buzz Lightyear band-aids when he inevitably scrapes himself up jumping from furniture or the playground equipment to demonstrate. She didn’t know that Jason liked to build block towers just as much as Piper did, but he liked knocking them over more because he got to roar like a dinosaur or howl like a wolf. She didn’t know about the bird’s nest Jason decided to camp outside protecting because he was worried the mama bird wouldn’t come back. Thalia knows those things. She thinks he’s the most important person in the universe and now he’s gone.

They stayed for two hours. Thalia combed every inch of the area, looked behind every tree, in every bush. She screamed Jason’s name until she can’t anymore. When Beryl dragged her away from the site, Thalia didn’t even have the energy to fight her.

The drive home was oddly silent without Jason’s chatter.

Beryl disappeared into the confines of her bedroom as soon as they got home. She would wallow in her own grief away from her remaining child. Beryl knew Thalia deserved to be comforted, but she also knew that people seldom got what they deserved.

Thalia ran to her spot behind the kitchen counter. She wished it was a normal day as she picked up the phone. She wanted to just be able to call Esmeralda and tell her that her mother was having a rough day, to ask that someone come pick up Jason and her. But this time was different. This time Thalia calls 911.

The police cars pulled up to their apartment in a flurry of sound and lights. Thalia can’t move from her spot behind the counter even when they demanded someone open the door. She hugged herself tightly as her mother opened the door.

"Really, Officer, I don't understand what the problem is," Beryl said earnestly but firmly kept them outside.

“We have a report of a missing child from a Miss Thalia Grace.”

Thalia can’t see her mother’s face, but her mask must not firmly be in place. They knew something was wrong, even as Beryl attempted to push them away. "Oh, that's just my daughter. What a frightful imagination she has. I'm sure it's nothing, Officers. I'm sorry for bothering-.”

A female officer cut off Beryl's apology. "Even If it's just a simple mistake, it's still best that we talk to her. We'll even let her know that this isn't the sort of thing to joke about."

Thalia felt her tears grow heavier at that. There is no way she could ever joke about this, not with a memory of her baby brother singing twinkle twinkle little star running through her head.

The officer walked past a reluctant Beryl into the apartment. Her partner, a Hispanic man with greying hair, stayed with her mother as she sought out Thalia. The blonde woman didn't need to look far before she found her curled in a ball in the corner against the lower cabinets. Thalia was a mess, covered in scrapes and dirt from her time spent searching for her brother. The officer gingerly sat down across from her.

“You must be Thalia. I’m Officer Joan. You did a really good job calling us tonight. I know you told the person on the phone a little bit of what happened, but can you tell me everything please?”

Thalia’s words spilled out of her, a desperate flood of information on the off chance that literally anything is even the slightest bit helpful in finding Jason. She didn’t know if these people even can help. This felt strange, like her one-eyed classmates or her mother begging people who aren’t there, but Thalia needed them to be able to do the impossible anyway. She won’t ever forgive herself if the police could have done something and they didn’t

When she finished, Officer Joan nodded to her partner before helping Thalia to her feet. "Now, I know this isn't going to be fun, but we need to take your mom to the station so we can ask her more questions.

Thalia nodded, slightly unsure. She understood, but every second that someone wasn’t looking for her brother was time he could spend hurt. Why weren’t they moving faster?

“Do you have someone you can stay with while we do that? A relative?”

When the police car pulled up to the Valdez apartment, it is seven hours since she last saw her brother. Thalia thinks it isn’t possible to cry anymore. She’s done almost nothing but cry since Jason disappeared. She used up all her tears.

Esperanza answered the door with a look of confusion on her face. Her curls were already wrapped in a purple headscarf. Her fingers kept her thin robe closed over her nightdress. The look of confusion turned to one of worry when she saw Thalia. Officer Joan briefly explained the situation, but Esperanza never truly took her eyes off Thalia’s face.

“Tally!” Leo exclaimed as he saw the people at the front door. He peered around their legs eagerly before the smile fell from his face. “Where’s Jay?”

Thalia broke down into a fresh set of tears.

“Leo, why don’t you go pick out another book to read while I get Thalia settled?” The little boy looked confused. Thalia and Jason were a package set. If Thalia was here, his best friend should be too.

Esperanza pulled Thalia into a tight hug. "Oh, sweetheart, everything's going to be alright. You just let it out. I know it's been a hard day."

Esperanza maneuvered the two of them, so they're sitting on the sagging couch, all the while clutching her tightly. Esperanza wrapped her in a blanket and fixed some hot chocolate before she finally left to put Leo to bed.

After Leo’s safely asleep, Esperanza came back with a washcloth and a glass of water. She doesn’t force Thalia to say anything. She merely wiped away the grime of the day from her face before gently helping the girl lay down with her head in Esperanza’s lap. She ran her fingers through Thalia’s short hair until the girl settled into an uneasy sleep.

The police come back the next day. She remembered getting frustrated that they were here again, asking her the same questions instead of being out there finding her brother, but the rest of the interview is a blur. She sat on the couch, watching the rain pound harshly against the glass. A flash of lightning illuminated the sky, and Thalia prayed to whoever may be listening that Jason is somewhere safe and dry. The thunder didn’t stop all day.

Her mother must have been sober enough to give the performance of her life because she wasn't charged for Jason's disappearance. There is no body. It's Thalia's word against hers, and Thalia was just a kid. Still, the papers had a field day. “Who is Beryl Grace’s super-secret custody agreement with?” “Did Disgraced Soap Opera Star Kill Her Own Son?” “Where is Jason Grace?” Her brother’s face smiled at her on the cover of tabloids for weeks, and it just felt like too much.

Thalia tried to stay. She really did. She barely entered the apartment that she shared with her mother, instead crashing on Esperanza’s couch or the guest room in the Mclean house. These people seem to understand, at least. They’ve seen Beryl Grace at her worst. They believe Thalia without question. Although after Tristan gets reprimanded for drawing negative attention to himself, they don’t press the issue publicly anymore. No one says it, but the odds are Jason is dead already.

Thalia pretends she doesn’t hear Esperanza and Tristan’s frantic whispers late at night, knowing they’re talking about what to do with her. She ripped down every photo she ever put on her bedroom wall the one time she can bring herself to go back inside the room she shared with her brother. She can’t look at them, can’t see Jason grinning back at her with a red party hat holding up three fingers proudly or Jason making funny faces with Piper and Leo, without wanting to scream. Thalia tried to avoid looking at Piper and Leo’s disappointed faces. They don’t understand what’s happening, but their best friend is gone. Their little questions of “But is Jay coming back tomorrow?” break her heart. She can’t bear to stay here, but she also has nowhere else to go.

In the end, Thalia didn’t make the decision to leave so much as the monsters did.

She noticed the looming shadows before she saw them. Thalia ducked behind a mailbox to get a better look at them. They're over double her size, with wild eyes, pointy teeth, and hairy arms covered in tattoos. Their clothes wouldn’t look too out of place at a rock concert if it weren’t for their necklaces. The giants proudly wore chains with everything from beaded necklaces to gleaming weapons attached to it. Souvenirs, Thalia thought to herself. The spoils of war from the people who they killed before. She would not let herself be next.

“The hero is close. Their scent is strong.”

Thalia did not feel like a hero, especially as she studied the swords and spears that rattle against their chests. She’s only ten years old, but no one else on the street seemed to notice them.

"You better be right, brother. Halfblood is a treat, but I'm hungry now." Scraps of blood-soaked denim clung to the ogre's face.

Would they just eat whoever they come across if she didn’t come forward? This is a busy road, only a few blocks from the school. They could grab anyone; her classmates are at risk the longer she stays hidden. She knows in her bones that she’s the person they’re looking for. She may not know the word “Halfblood," but it felt right to her. Thalia wished she was in a position where she could fight, where she could leap up and just fight them. But all she has is a backpack, and as scary as math is, she didn’t think her textbook can do much damage.

Thalia was so absorbed in trying to think of an escape plan, something that both didn't draw attention to herself and minimized the casualties, that she didn't notice the hand inching toward the mailbox until it was too late. She jumped back.

The giants leered at her. “Little hero. I see we won’t have to wait long for dinner.”

She’s not an especially fast runner, but she is small enough to maneuver quickly, to change paths even as they lumbered toward her. They recognized that they could not win on speed alone. They use the very features of the street as projectiles. The giants lift cars as if they weigh nothing. Shop awnings fall in their grasp. Thalia did everything she could to avoid them.

Still, it was not enough. The stoplight may not have hit her, but she needed extra time to jump around it to avoid the sparks flying off it. It was time she did not have to lose.

Thalia can’t explain why she did it. Her back was against the rough concrete wall. She was out of options. So Thalia raised her right hand and directed it toward the closer giant. She just wanted a way out of here, any way. The lightning flashed until there was nothing left of the giant but the smell of burning flesh and his spoils of war.

“Child of Zeus, you shall pay for that.” He lunged for her, but missed, his hand impeding deep into the wall behind her.

Thalia swallowed, surprised despite the absurdity of her current situation that her mother was telling the truth. A god. Her father really had been a god. After Jason had disappeared, Thalia had completely dismissed the notion. What sort of god didn’t even protect his own son?

"I will have revenge, godling." The remaining giant ripped one of the streetlamps up from the base. It flew to her left, even if the miss was a little too close for comfort.

Thalia tried to recreate the feeling, the tug in her stomach, but no matter what she did, she could not summon more lightning. She had another option, though. The giant may have disappeared, but his necklace of souvenirs had not.

Thalia tugged a spear loose from the chain. It feels right in her hand.

“There is no escape, little hero. I will feast on your bones.”

Thalia didn’t have any time to think as the monster stalked forward. There was no time to worry about all the ways this can go wrong, that she's never held a spear, let alone thrown one. She flung the spear with all her might, hoping it would go straight.

Amazingly it did, and the Laistrygonian howled as he disappeared.

Even as the ogre crumbled into dust, Thalia kept panicking. He said her scent was strong, which meant more monsters would be coming. What would happen if she was with Piper and Leo next time? They were just little kids. Plus, Tristan and Esperanza had gone out of their way since they’d met to make sure that she was safe and loved. It wasn’t fair to involve them or put them at risk.

Thalia couldn't be here the next time a monster attacked. She wasn't going to let them get hurt. Thalia couldn't watch someone else she loved die and know she could have prevented it. She had to gather some supplies first, but then she was leaving. If the price to pay for her family’s safety was never seeing them again, she’d gladly pay it.

#pjo #percy jackon and the olympians #pjo/hoo #hoo #thalia grace #jason grace #leo valdez #piper mclean #my fic #Esperanza Valdez #because she's an icon in this #silima #moh tag #because I think you told people it was alright to tag you in content we hoped people would see #my writing

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hamfistedmorals · 5 years ago

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Rise of Skywalker: Initial Thoughts and Feelings

As a movie, it was engaging. As a Star Wars story, it hooked me. But as a conclusion to this particular trilogy? As a final chapter to the entire saga? Oh boy, was it a hot mess.

BEWARE OF SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT

(Disclaimer - I’m one of the 5% of Star Wars fans that loved The Last Jedi, so that might influence my opinion, but I’ll try to keep things unbiased.)

It was all over the place, and I mean that quite literally.

We got to see so many new locations, and most of them seemed interesting. Unfortunately, because of the breakneck pace and the ticking clock, the film doesn’t spend any time developing these places apart from Exegol - and that’s only planet who’s name I can remember. Adding on to the map of a Galaxy Far, Far Away is always a good thing. But so many new locations in one movie, with our heroes jumping back and forth every ten minutes...doesn’t make this universe feel larger. Actually, it makes it feel smaller. In past Star Wars movies, it would take time to go from one planet or star system to another. But that really doesn’t seem to be the case here. If there’s one problem that’s been semi-consistent throughout this trilogy, it’s the confusion of timing. (What’s the point of the title crawl if Episode 8 is going to pick up immediately after Episode 7? But I digress.)

The Dyad in the Force is easily the most fascinating concept of the entire trilogy.

I braced myself for the movie to ignore the connection previously established between Rey and Kylo Ren, as it ignores so much of Episode 8. But no, Rise of Skywalker actually build on the bond between these two characters and gives us more amazing scenes of them interacting entirely through their connection in the Force. We learn that they are essentially a one-of-a-kind anomaly, that Palpatine can use to restore his life energy. Rey and Ben even learn how to use their bond by the end of the film. It’s a new idea that Star Wars hasn’t done before and I kinda love it - I just really wish they had explored it more, and better outlined what it is, where it came from, and how it works. Then again, after how much people hated the Midichlorians, I expect the writers are hesitant to give any answers about how The Force works.

I also appreciated the official introduction of Healing, as a Force Power.

Say what you will about some of the Force-Abilities introduced in TLJ, but this one makes perfect sense. So much so that I’m pretty sure it’s already a thing in Star Wars video games? It was well foreshadowed and it played a role in Rey and Ben’s final fight, as well as that heartbreaking climax. Honestly, I truly thought Rey was dead in that moment. I teared up, thinking that her parents’ sacrifice was for nothing. Wondering if Finn could sense that she was gone. Wondering what Ben would do without her, since he had no one else. To be honest, I almost wish Rey had stayed dead, since as it stands...we have a redeemed villain sacrificing himself to save the hero that redeemed him...sound familiar? If Ben had lived, and Rey had died, it could have been a tragic inversion of Return of the Jedi, instead of just a retread. But oh well. I had a feeling they were going to kill off Kylo Ren anyway.

It feels like they did have plans for Finn, but never properly carried them out.

Rise of Skywalker very clearly implies that Finn has discovered that he’s Force-Sensitive. Which is a good idea, it just comes out of nowhere. Apparently, that’s what he was going to tell Rey - JJ has clarified it. One problem...that’s not a detail that should be confirmed in an interview. It should be answered within the movie. There were two separate conversations about Finn wanting to tell Rey...something, but the film never comes back to that or gives it any conclusion. Likewise, the idea of Finn being force-sensitive is only ever foreshadowed, never brought to light. Overall, Finn got some great moments, like when he met Jannah and got to connect with another former Storm-trooper...but his overall character arc in this film never got off the ground.

Was it just me...or was Poe constantly angry throughout the movie?

I don’t know if this was just Oscar Isaac’s frustration slipping through, or if it was meant to be the stress of the war, or something...but Poe was in a bad mood in just about every scene. But just like with Finn, this never gets resolved or even really acknowledged. Didn’t Poe go through an entire arc in the last film about learning to be less of a hot-head? For some reason, he and Rey are at each other’s throats...even though the end of the last film hinted that they found each other attractive? He does get some backstory as a Spice Runner (though they don’t explain what that is. Maybe it’s answered in one of the books, I dunno.) and we get to meet Zori, who is truly a charming and compelling character. Even if she was only written in as a final “no-homo” to Finn and Poe, I wanted to learn more about her.

They did Rose dirty. They did her so dirty.

She should have been an official member of the squad in this film, not relegated to cameos. There was no reason she couldn't have been more involved. Her romance with Finn should have been addressed. Even if it was just him gently letting her down, they ought to have mentioned it. Regardless of how you feel about Rose and that particular pairing (Personally, I adored her) it's downright strange that she's so absent from the story when she was a main character last time. Gee, I wonder why this was done? Could it be because the character was eviscerated online by a group of hardcore “fans” who compared her to Jar Jar Binks? Who not only made racist, sexist, and body-shaming comments about the character - they drove Kelly Marie Tran off social media? It really seems like downplaying Rose in this film was a direct response to how unpopular she was, and that isn’t fair to the character or the actress. It just seems...cowardly.

The CGI on Leia...could have been better.

Not gonna lie, it might have been safer to simply reveal Leia’s death in the title crawl and open the movie with her funeral. Don’t get me wrong, I was initially quite impressed with how they managed to re-create Carrie Fisher. It was nice to see her training Rey, and we even get an answer to the age-old mystery of why she never became a Jedi. But as Leia’s scenes went on, the cracks started to show. It became very noticeable after a while that she would never adjust her standing position or really move at all. So many of her lines were shot to avoid showing her face while she spoke. Don’t get me wrong, I understand why it looked this way. I’m just saying that as a viewer, I noticed. Leia’s death scene was the worst offender of this. By the way...what exactly killed her? She apparently gave the “last of her energy” to call out to Ben, but...nothing beforehand indicated that her health was failing, so why would a simple telepathic message consume all her life energy? She’s done it before. Either way, the death scene was kinda lame...but other characters reactions to it? Hit me right in the feels. Chewie’s breakdown tore me to pieces. I wanted to hug him. And as for Ben...

That Han Solo Cameo

I’m impressed, first of all. We all though Han could never come back since he wasn’t force-sensitive, so he wouldn’t get a spirit form. But the great thing is, Han didn’t come back - not really. It was all in Ben’s head, hence the lines echoing his father’s death. I love how Leia’s death, compounded with Rey healing Ben and all but telling him that she would be with him if he wasn’t on the dark side, is what ultimately swayed him to turn back. When he called Han “Dad...” In that broken voice, and Han just said “I know...” Honestly, that was the best scene in the movie. Ben previously said to Rey that the Dark Side was in her blood, so she couldn’t escape it. It was so clear that he felt that way about himself too, which may have been part of why he turned. Seeing Han was a perfect reminder that he had more than just Vader in his ancestry.

Chewie’s “death” was the other scene in the movie that took my breath away.

Echoing the Force-Battle over Anakin’s lightsaber, Rey and Kylo Ren have a tug-of-war for the ship Chewie is on, and in her rage, Rey accidentally conjures Force-Lightning and blows up the ship, shocking everyone. It demonstrates Rey’s power, as well as her natural leaning toward the Dark Side (through anger.) It also foreshadows her lineage. Plus, the whole concept of accidentally killing your beloved friend..It’s got so much tension, so much emotion - it’s fantastic. Only one problem...Chewie survived, and we find that out not even five minutes later. Honestly, it’s the last movie. Anything goes, you can kill off main characters, even beloved main characters. All of the emotional drama that this scene brings to the table stops mattering once you find out Chewie’s alive. I would love to see Rey actually have to deal with the consequences of what happened, for the movie to explore how it makes the other characters feel about her. On the other hand, one of my first thoughts after it happened was “Geez, if the fandom hated her before...” All the fans who complain Rey is a Mary Sue (She’s not) Yeah, they’d never, ever forgive her if she was responsible for Chewie’’s death.

I can’t decide how I feel about Kylo Ren repairing his mask.

When I first realized it was happening, I was disappointed. In a way, it undoes his character growth in Last Jedi when he rejected his hero worship of Darth Vader - and even did what Vader could not, slaying his master and living to succeed him. Kylo Ren surpassed Vader once he stopped trying to be him, and that was awesome. But between bringing back the mask (with the painfully on-the-nose line about the “cracks in your mask”) and the reveal that “Snoke” is still alive, all of Ben Solo’s coolest moments from TLJ have been reversed. On the other hand... the Kylo Ren mask is, and always was, a symbol. In TFA, it reflected a pretentious attempt to be more like Darth Vader. But in this movie, it seemed to reflect Kylo Ren embracing the image of being the “Big Bad.” much like how Luke embraced his status as a legend, just before he died. And I’m not gonna lie, seeing the words “Supreme Leader Kylo Ren” in the title crawl was quite satisfying. Not to mention, at the end of the day...it’s all an act. Kylo Ren has always tried very hard to be “evil” but his heart just isn’t in it. He’s trying to be something he’s not - so maybe it’s okay if the mask comes back.

Let’s rip this band-aid off: Bringing Palpatine back was a mistake.

If they needed a greater-scope villain for the climax after Ben was redeemed...why not use Snoke? Apparently, they’re the same person anyway, and people were mad that Snoke died without having a greater story to tell. Palpatine’s return goes entirely unexplained. He just hand-waves the issue by quoting Episode 3. As a viewer, why should I feel triumphant when Rey kills him at the end, when as far as I know, nothing is stopping him from returning again? After all, he survived certain death before, and we don’t know how he did it. (This is what I mean when I say the film is good by itself, but highly flawed as a continuation of existing Star Wars.) Palpatine’s return devalues Anakin’s sacrifice. It weakens both Vader and Kylo as villains because it removes their agency - we now know they only turned because Palpatine manipulated and groomed them. They’ve made him the greater-scope villain of every single trilogy, which just feels weird. I always thought the overarching villainous force of Star Wars was supposed to be, y’know, the Dark Side and it’s tempting call. That anyone could potentially succumb. But speaking of this film rejecting the idea of “anyone” being special...

Rey...did not need to have a bloodline.

You need Palpatine to have a reason that he’s so intrigued by her? You’ve already got that - she’s part of an anomaly in The Force that no one’s ever seen before. Need a life-changing shock that pushes her closer to the Dark Side? All you have to do is let Chewie stay dead, and have it be her fault. As much as I have genuinely loved Rey’s character growth and I always enjoy watching her, I can’t help but feel like giving her a bloodline at this point was at least partially done to mitigate the claims that she’s “too powerful.” Not to mention, it ruins the reveal at the end of The Last Jedi, and it’s one more thing that makes the Star Wars universe feel smaller. Coming from a powerful bloodline shouldn’t be a requirement for changing the fate of the Galaxy. Sure, Force-Sensitivity is often hereditary, but not exclusively. Besides, there are more people out there attuned to the Force that just the Skywalkers, Palpatines, and Kenobis. Why couldn’t Rey just be one of them? If Star Wars really is going to go on forever, it can’t simply be the continuing sage of two or three families screwing up the Galaxy.

What’s up with the super-rushed tone of the ending?

So, Rey and Ben share a kiss - whether or not you ship them, this moment is wholesome, heartwarming, and so earned - But then Ben immediately, and I mean immediately falls down dead. He doesn’t get any last words or even a last moment. (Come to think of it...does Ben have any lines at all after his scene with Han? I...don’t think he does. That’s just weird.) Nope, he just fades into the Force so quickly that I didn’t even realize what happened at first. Rey makes it back to the Resistance base and reunites with her friends, but they don’t share any dialogue either. No final moments, not even Finn telling Rey that he’s Force-Sensitive. Disney gets to check off their diversity clipboard by having two nameless women kiss in the background, and Rey then visits...Tatooine, of all places, to bury The Skywalker twins lightsabers. Because you see, a Jedi’s Weapon deserves respect. Burning them? Shameful. But burying them, A-Okay.

Rey is never shown mourning Ben Solo.

Whether or not you think he “deserved” redemption, the film clearly sided with the idea that he did. It based a lot of it’s conflict on Rey and Ben being a hero and a villain who also cared about each other. Going so far as to include the Dyad, and give them a kiss scene. So it’s bizarre that Ben’s death doesn’t seem to affect Rey. She doesn’t even have any sort of reaction to it, but she does have a gold lightsaber now. Which is so incredibly cool that it baffles me that they didn’t let her have it sooner. She never gets to really use it. A random local shows up, for no other purpose than to ask Rey who she is. Rey looks on to see Luke and Leia’s Force-Spirits give their blessing (No Ben, for some reason.) And she then introduces herself as Rey Skywalker. Because they had to justify that title somehow, right? Then the scavenger-turned-jedi, who started out all alone on a desert planet but found a family through her travels...ends her story all alone on desert planet. Hey, wait a minute-

The problems of this trilogy boil down to the fact that it had two writers, with two different visions for the characters.

Perhaps the death of Snoke, the introduction of Rose, and Rey’s lack of lineage directly conflicted with J.J.'s plans for the new trilogy...but The Last Jedi happened. It's canon now. Trying to pretend otherwise doesn't "fix" that. Having moments that directly contradict the previous film, even taking intentional jabs at it (looking at you, Force-Spirit Luke) is a waste of time and honestly feels...kind of immature? As a writer, I’m sure it isn’t easy, but you've got to work with what you have, follow the ideas and plot threads introduced, or else none of it will feel organic. So many moments like repairing Kylo Ren's mask, bringing back Anakin's destroyed saber, giving Rey a bloodline...they just cause whiplash.The only arcs that really continue through each movie are Kylo Ren's redemption, and Rey's identity issues. The writing of Episode 9 does everything it can to erase the ideas of Episode 8, and as a result, the entire trilogy feels directionless. The story feels like its at war with itself. I understand if Rian left J.J. in a compromising position, but sometimes you have to let go of ideas if they can no longer work in your story, however much you want them to. And, not to pick on J.J. too much, but...if he really had a major plan for the trilogy, then why didn't he stay to write Episode Eight? He left the second chapter of the trilogy to an entirely different writer, so...what did he think was going to happen?

It’s a good movie. It really is. I was on the edge of my seat. If you’ve never seen the first two films, you’ll likely enjoy the hell out of it. But if you’re hoping to get a satisfying conclusion for the characters you’ve grown to care about...well, I’ll just say that I didn’t find that here.

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leafsoared · 5 years ago

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welp. i saw it. and..... it was certainly a movie. *le sigh*

OKAY. I got out of this movie about 45 minutes ago, so these are just brain farts. but here we go.

WHAT I LIKED:

ben solo / kylo ren’s arc. because he actually... had an arc. i liked that he died?? it made sense. it worked. i even cried! (i loved the moments at the end when he was just ben and adam played it so differently than he had up til then and yes. good. like that moment when he’s fighting the knights of ren?? and the awkward little shrug he does before kicking their asses??? it was the first moment in the trilogy i thought ‘oh yep that’s han solo’s kid.’ and he actually got to smile an honest to god smile?? he was a flawed, fucked up character who, imo, was one of the most original choices the whole trilogy made. to have an antagonist like that.

speaking of han solo. the WAILING noise i made....

i thought what they did with leia was as good as it reasonably could have been. and yes i wept like a tiny child. and the fact that she and billie lourd got a moment was lovely (and billie basically wearing leia’s endor outfit in the final battle made my heart grow about 14 sizes)

MERIADOC BRANDYBUCK!!!!!! he had like 6 lines but my baby was there and he was good. at least rose got to hang with SOMEONE cool...

chewie and the medal. was it blatant pandering? yes. was i okay with that? yes i was.

dark rey looked badass.

i mean rey was generally just the baddest of asses and i appreciate that the other characters recognized this and were like ‘yep we’re just gonna follow her it’s all good.’

trio banter! i was never that committed to the idea that they needed to be together because i don’t think even the first film really set them up as a trio the way the OT set up theirs, but... the chemistry was good! they had jokes! poe doesn’t like bones! who knew?

BABU FRIK IS MY NEW BOYFRIEND. he and baby yoda need a roadtrip spin off show where they zoom around the galaxy being polite to people

SPACE HORSES AND BADASS LADIES RIDING THEM.

rey’s lightsaber’s cool.

WEDGE. ANTILLES. that was one i genuinely was not expecting and i sat bolt upright in my seat. (i know that ‘resistance reborn’ has something to do with this but i haven’t finished reading that yet so.... oops?)

the luke/leia flashback was a bit uncanny valley (especially on leia) but it was nice to see

ummmmmm..... i’m starting to run out of things i liked because there was so much that was just.... meh. a lot of nice moments in a big old pile of bland, unseasoned oatmeal mush.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE:

welp. the rest of it? I MEAN. there were so many good ideas or good moments or good characters that then.... got brushed past so quickly we hardly got a chance to get to know them!

this movie had about 87 macguffins. honest to god it felt like watching someone play a videogame where in order to complete one quest, they have to do about 12 mini quests to collect random items. the locations were all gorgeous! but they felt! pointless!!!!

Fucking. Palpatine. I’m not necessarily against the idea of palpatine being back. but they didn’t??? establish it????? ever?????? not even in TFA???? i mean, tfa had about as little world building as was humanly possible to include so maybe that’s not a surprise....

i’m so angry about the rey reveal. regardless of one’s feelings about some of the choices in tlj, the idea that rey wasn’t from some special bloodline was so good. she was just her own person. she was strong with the force and what made her special was what she chose to do with it. not because she had some legacy in her dna that she had to fulfill or defy or whatever. she was an ordinary person who could do extraordinary things. but nope! she’s palpatine’s granddaughter apparently! because if you’re gonna pander to fan theories, why not just choose the stupidest one???? the audience in my showing audibly groaned.

and of course there’s no explanation about WHY he was back. or how. he just was. zooming around on his big ass space cherry-picker.

i liked zori (sp?)! but like jahnna (sp???) we barely got to know her. her existence in the movie was so fleeting it was like the studio went ‘well let’s have poe flirt with his ex who looks like a member of daft punk so the sjws will stop asking for finnpoe!’ again. she was fun. i liked her. i even think she and oscar isaac had chemistry (though OI could have chemistry with a brick wall). i just wish there had been a POINT to her. honestly she’s a character i might totally take up as a muse....

SPEAKING OF POE. so.... he has a sketchy criminal background now? ugh. he had sketchy background just so they had an excuse to go to sketchy planet, not because it was particularly enlightening to his character.

i know star wars dialogue has ALWAYS been clunky, but this felt especially clunky??

finn yet again had nothing to do. jj tried to retcon the wrong aspects of tlj. what he should have fixed was finn’s storyline. what he did was ruin rey’s. and rose tico’s. fuck you jj for sidelining her. and like???? the idea of finding a whole bunch of fellow first order defectors??? WAS SO GREAT AND THEY DID ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WITH IT. GGAAHHHHHH.

anyway, i could keep nitpicking, but honestly one of my biggest problems was that it just.... had no stakes. i mean, technically there was a lot at stake, but the movie rushed through it so quickly that even some of the genuinely nice character beats felt hurried and there wasn’t time given to just feel them. the big tension didn’t feel like the culmination of anything except this single movie. like yes this film was more like tfa than tlj, but it didn’t even do justice to that movie! the beats of this film all were so much like rotj, there was no suspense. there were no sacrifices beyond what you could see coming 1000 miles away. it just felt like an inevitable avalanche of meh thundering to its conclusion. i hate to say this bc he’s my fave of the ST, but poe maybe should have been shot down in that last battle???? so at least the big climax felt.... serious? bc the only sacrifice was a character from the comics that only a fraction of the audience will care about.

speaking of that..... I WILL NEVER FORGIVE JJ FOR KILLING SNAP WEXLEY FUCK YOOUUUUUUUUUUU SIR.

anyway. my sour feelings were summed up by the last line of the movie. i so desperately wanted rey to answer the question ‘rey who?’ with something like “rey. it’s just rey.” like she’s done a thousand times before, but this time, saying it with contentment and acceptance. instead we got “rey skywalker.” i wanted to see a young woman who, having learned about her past and freed herself from it, chose to just be herself. no other legacies, no other baggage. she was just rey. being who she was, choosing her own path for herself. but instead she’s hitched to a different legacy that’s not even really hers. i get what they were going for with the jedi legacy and luke and all that and i’m sure some people will love it. but it was such a disappointment to me.

this trilogy - which has things i do genuinely love! - just felt like an ill-planned exercise in corporate greed that didn’t actually have a vision for what it wanted to be. it didn’t want to be anything but a rehash of movies we’ve all watched already. i feel like bobo the fool for expecting (hoping) for something more but. welp.

#❧ oғғ тнe вrιdge (ooc)#none of this is coherent #it's all just brain droppings #and i have more feelings #if anyone wants to come scream with me in my ims #but yeah. yeah.#blarg.#tros spoilers

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kyloreyorgana · 5 years ago

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STAR WARS 9 ! TROS SPOILERS !

In case this is not obvious enough, this post will contain SPOILERS for the last Star Wars movie, which I’m just now coming home from. These are my first thoughts. I have tried to tag as best I could so that people who mute the tags don’t see my post. Do not proceed f you don’t want to read any spoilers.

You have been warned. Long (and I mean LONG) post ahead.

First of all, I’m happy to be back y’all! Just with TLJ, I come from months (or has it been years already ?) of inactivity to jump right back into the fandom, as obsessed as I was back when I came home from TFA. Which is funny because at the time TFA came out, I had lost all interest in Star Wars and heard so many critics from people who’d seen it and said it was horrible and that Disney basically sold the franchise to the devil that I didn’t even want to see it, to keep the good memories closer to my heart. One night, one month after its theatrical release, I thought “aw fuck I might as well see it, at least for Carrie, Mark and Harrisson” so I went to the cheap theater that was near my home... I had zero expectation, and really I think it’s the reason why I loved the movie so much. I didn’t chose to ship Reylo, this ship whacked me like Harley Quinn’s oversized hammer with the Hades and Persephone aesthetics. When I came out, completely mesmerized with what I had just seen, I jumped on Tumblr as soon as I got home, and I ended up creating this blog just days later. I wanted more and more, fics, metas, fanarts, headcannons, theories, cracks, I could never get enough. For TLJ and TROS, I had lost most interest in the fanfics and the fandom (because as much as I love the movies and some people in the fandom, most of it can eat shit as far as I’m concerned). I heard so many critics of TROS already, I was afraid I was going to be disappointed. But I loved it. Only Star Wars can make me go from utterly uninterested to “Wow I can’t wait to see this new Star Wars in theater, what a time to be alive”, to a stage of total obsession that lasts for months. And that is the reason why I don’t give two shits about anyone disliking the movies. It’s sad you didn’t like them, but it made me feel the same way I felt right back when I was a child watching the original movies with my father. It feels like home. And that is the best thing I could ask for.

Like in TLJ, I cried as soon as I heard the first note of the opening. The last Skywalker story, the last time I ever see my Space Mommy on the big screen...

I know the Reylo community is about to be nuts. The whole movie, like TLJ before it, is basically a series of things we’ve already done in fics and theories. I am 100% positive I have read a fic where Rey and Ren try to hold back a ship with the Force and Rey ends up involuntarily shooting lightning. Whichever one of you did it is probably going to have a stroke in the theater. I nearly did.

And really, I wish I could see the look on the Antis’ faces when they see the movie. I’m sure it is a sight to behold. I wanted to scream “TAKE THAT, BITCHES” more than once. As in TLJ.

My biggest fear was what they would do with Leia. I knew Disney said they wouldn’t use CGI and chose to stick with the scenes Carrie had already shot, and I was afraid it wouldn’t honor Leia’s legacy. Well I... have mixed feelings. While the way they used Carrie’s scenes and made it look like she really is here is to be lauded, it sometimes feels like Leia had nothing interesting to say but they tried to put her in a dialogue anyway, because she needed to be seen doing (or rather, saying) something in the Resistance. And about her death... I still can’t put my finger on what exactly I didn’t like about it but I felt like something was missing. Watching the scene, at first I didn’t know if she was having a heart attack or if she stabbed herself or chose to give up her life because she somehow felt it was the moment, I’m still not sure just why she did what she did. I wish they put something more to motivate her decision and explain what exactly she does. I don’t know, a flashback of Leia holding baby Ben, a little more dialogue, something. Not just Leia suddenly getting up and going to bed whispering her son’s name.

I knew I was going to be disappointed. Among all the celebrities’ deaths, Carrie’s is the one that affected me the most, and believe me I was a wreck when Bowie passed. I miss her, I think about her every single day. And Leia deserved more, much more. When I saw TFA, part of the reason why I loved the movie was that, even though it pained my heart that Han and Leia’s son turned out this way, I thought they would make it right. I spent hours imagining a scene in the 9th movie where Ren would defeat Rey (incapacitate her the Skywalker style cutting her hand or something) and approach to give the killing blow, and Leia would enter the scene, pick up Rey’s lightsaber, look her son dead in the eye and say “Over my dead body, son”. Because Leia would never give up without a fight, even with her son. And she would get her son back, and her story arc would have been completed. I would have paid good money to see this.

Episode 9 was supposed to be Leia’s movie, just like ep. 7 was Han’s and ep. 8 was Luke’s. When Carrie died, I knew it would be compromised and it broke my heart, because Leia deserved better. She lost everything. Her parents, her planet, her father, her husband, her son, her brother, the Rebellion, the Resistance, everything. She fought all the way, all her life even faced with the worst odds she never gave up hope, she inspired hundreds of people to keep fighting for what is right, and she would never have a satisfactory ending. What a fucking heartbreak. She didn’t even get to see Lando. Leia deserved more. Every little girl in this world who grew up with her as a role model deserved more. But c’est la vie, as we say in French... My only solace is that I know fanfics and fanarts are going to make me feel a little better about it.

Of course I cried every time I saw her on screen, and especially when they honored her body, as we all honored Carrie when she passed away. This was one of the many fanservice moments, and surely the one I liked the most, although there was some concurrence (more to it later).

Another thing I didn’t like is what they did to Poe’s character. Many people disliked TLJ because of it, which they attributed to a political agenda of hate on men. This is so ridiculous and has already been debated enough that I won’t get into it. I did like the evolution of his character in TLJ, because for me it was an interesting character development as well as a good message: wartime is not only about barging in fights head first, shoot first think later, as is, let’s be honest, everything Anakin ever does. At one point, the narrative of the reckless hero who saves the day when a situation seems impossible and everyone begs him not to do it gets old. Sometimes in war, you have to think ahead, to plot, and yes, listen to what your allies have to say. And it actually was a good critic of toxic masculinity. Could the conflict between Poe and Holdo have been avoided with minimally sane conversation ? YES. But the message was here (as were Holdo’s hair and dress and WOW gurl) and I thought that was it, and Poe would evolve into a wiser person.

But this Poe is, at least in the first half of the movie, not very likable. Hear me, I never really liked Han Solo (never been into macho men) but I really loved Poe in TFA because he was genuinely nice and brave. Here, he’s bitter and annoying. I told myself that he was jealous of Rey because he heard of Finn’s crush on her and he wanted to keep Finn all for himself, which I know is just a crack headcannon, but hey, anything to make it better I guess.

Of course, I’ll never forgive Disney for not making FinnPoe a thing, when even Oscar Isaac ships them hard. And trying to make Poe flirt with the other girl (whose name I even forgot and whose face we didn’t even see, now tell me again how Star Wars has been corrupted by feminists... sigh) Speaking of, it is me or did two women kiss at the end ?

I liked the new droid, it reminded me of my puppy. But at the end, it was just another fanservice moment, it didn’t really do anything useful onscreen apart from being cute and funny.

When Rey was finally revealed to be a Palpatine as I hoped, I giggled like a wee girl. Watching TFA, I begged the old gods and the new that they wouldn’t make her another Skywalker, because it would’ve spoiled the Star Wars spirit for me. The whole franchise, in my opinion, is a story about fighting for what you believe is right, no matter who you or your parents are or where you come from. Even though Luke and Leia’s ended up being Vader’s children, they weren’t the only meaningful characters. Anakin was basically a Space Jesus and went from a total nobody to the Chosen One. I didn’t want Rey to be a Skywalker because it would mean that your importance would only ever lay in your bloodline, and that is depressing and totally against the spirit of the Rebellion/Resistance: no matter who you are, you can fight for what is right. For this reason, I wished for Rey to be either a real nobody or Palpatine’s granddaughter, which is also why I liked the fact that Han and Leia’s son turned out bad, even though it made me sad for them (Leia didn’t deserve this). No matter your bloodline, you can always make things right, or fuck up badly if you let yourself be taken away. And, of course, the reveal that Rey and Kylo Ren are two sides of the same coin (aka one of the many times where I picture us Reylos screaming CALLED IT in our seats) was exactly what I hoped for, a beautiful balance. I didn’t share Palpatine’s implication that a Palpatine and a Skywalker are meant to work together, though. That is not how I choose to interpret this duality. That is not what they end up doing, anyway.

Speaking of that old pal Patine, seeing the trailers I feared I would feel nauseated that they chose to reanimate the Big Old Villain, just like they reanimated the Even Bigger Death Star in TFA (how lazy can you be ?). But I enjoyed it. What saved it was Palpatine’s will to be killed by Rey to perpetuate the Sith rite of passage. I don’t even care if it’s cannon or not. I was afraid they would recreate Vader’s dilemma in ROTJ with Rey, but I liked the choices she made. And the throne scene worked for me. Like the rest of the movie it was flawed, for instance we don’t even get an explanation on how he survived. Just like we don’t even get what Finn wanted to tell Rey, even though it was emphasized several times. Was it a love declaration ? What happened to the rushed romance with Rose in TLJ ? (What happened to Rose, actually). While we’re at it, why did Palpatine want Ren to kill Rey ? So many questions. So many flaws.

And, of course I cannot comment this film without mentioning my sweet star-crossed lovers, Rey and Ben. First, I’m really eager to see your reactions. We did it, Reylos! Years of hate and slander and we were right all along. Let’s rejoice.

I like Rey’s evolution. For the moment, I don’t feel like I have too much to say about it (which is fine because this post is way too long already). I like the way she handles her emotions, I like her choices and her character evolution.

And Ben. Oh, sweet Ben. Although I think the part where he gets his old mask fixed wasn’t necessary, I kinda like what they did with him as well. I must say though that I liked his hair in TFA better. Oh boy, I loved Kylo Ren but I absolutely adore Ben Solo. And I think the way the movie depicts him even surpasses some fics. The moment when Rey gives him the lightsaber and he gets up and does the Han shrug ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I almost lost my mind. This ties with the hommage to Leia’s body as my favorite fanservice moment.

And their relationship... Look, I know I wet my pants really enjoyed myself in TLJ when they held hands, but that scene felt rushed even for me who ships them with the force of a thousand suns. Like many things in TLJ (and, as I said, also in TROS) it felt like things I had already seen in fanfics, but in the fics I enjoyed the most Rey had tried to kill him at least 5 mores times before even agreeing to have a one-on-one conversation with him. Their romance in TLJ felt like it was hormone-driven, but I get Johnson couldn’t really do a slow burn in 2 hours. When Leia died and they both felt it in the Force, I could feel that Rey wanted to touch him, to confort him, to grieve with him. I’m glad she didn’t. It wasn’t time. And I really like that she told him she wanted to hold Ben’s hand, not his. And Ben, the Dork Knight, finally realized that if he wanted The Girl, he shouldn’t, you know, threaten her and chase her but get back to the Light Side like she begged him multiple times. Because he really isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer, this is apparently what makes him choose to tip over. That or the fact she saved his life. I was still frustrated by Leia’s death so I don’t know if I’m not entirely convinced because it happened just after, I’d have to watch it again. I liked Han’s moment, though.

And in my opinion, Rey and Ren’s fight on the wreck of the Death Star is as good as Anakin and Obi-Wan’s. My Reylo heart will always have a special place for their couple fight in TLJ (aka the best non-sex sex scene in cinema, don’t @ me) but I also liked this fight in light of their relation. Surprisingly, it reminded me more of their fight at the end of TFA, when we see Ren holding his blows and Rey barging in. I thought it was endearing.

The end. Oh my god, the end. I can’t wait to see the first gifs and I really really can’t wait for the HD gifs, because oh boy, I now only live for Ben Solo’s smile. That’s it, I found my will to live, my depression is cured. And the way he handles Rey’s body with the utmost care (while Finn apparently watches it and does or says nothing). And that kiss... And the SMILE. And the KISS.

Oh, dear gods. Oh dear.

I can’t wait for the first fics in which Ben doesn’t die and they live happily ever after on Tatooine or Naboo or wherever they damn want. Or the fics where he is indeed dead and they still share a beautiful relationship (if Force Ghost Luke could get his X-Wing out of the water, I’m eager to imagine what Ben would do with his Force dick, tongue and fingers. Forgive me, it’s getting late and I’m still flustered thinking of their kiss)

And the fact that she declares herself a Skywalker ? I know a lot of people are disappointed in this, but apart from the fact that she completely deserves the title in my opinion when she inherited the will of both Luke and Leia, which is reason enough, she is absolutely married to Ben and deserves her place in that family. Also, it’s again a beautiful way to remind you that bloodlines don’t matter as much as what we choose to do with our lives. And while I’m glad they showed Leia’s Force ghost (I would’ve been really mad if they didn’t) I’m super frustrated they didn’t show Ben’s. What am I to believe, that he gave his life for her, became one with the Force and vanished into litteral nothingness for him to never be seen again ? Like hell I don’t. Again, counting on the fics and arts to right this wrong.

The movie sure has its flaws, and I still have many unanswered questions, like what the fuck is the badge Maz gives Chewie, or how Rey does her lightsaber staff at the end, and I wish they explained some things better. I wasn’t sure if the saber Leia wanted Rey to have was hers or her mother’s. Most of those questions will be answered by bigger geeks than me in this fandom, so I really can’t wait to read from y’all.

I know a whole lot of people are going to hate the movie. The antis, the gatekeeping trve fans (already I’ve seen people say that those who enjoyed the movies are not Real Star Wars Fans and welp, we’re going to see a lot of shit). The manbabies who genuinely believe in a feminist takeover and see equality as a direct threat. I’m specifically happy they will be disappointed while I got the privilege of enjoying Star Wars as much as I did. It’s not my fault, or Disney’s fault even, that they turned out to be on the Empire’s side. And the day has not come when I defend a megacorporation.

Leia was the first SJW. The Resistance lives on. People will always fight against evil, like it or not. I know the world is a shitty place and we don’t have much hope nowadays for things to get better, and Star Wars has always motivated me to keep going and stick to my values and my convictions. I felt chills several times in the movie, like at the end where everyone comes to fight, and now I’m more willing to keep fighting than ever. For Leia.

Godspeed, Rebels!

#star wars spoilers #tros spoilers #star wars #the rise of skywalker #ben solo #rey #kylo ren #palpatine #alright now I go to sleep

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seekinghappenstance · 5 years ago

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In the Heart of the Sea (2015)

Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Tom Holland, Ben Whishaw, Cillian Murphy, Benjamin Walker, Brendan Gleeson

Director: Ron Howard

In the Heart of the Sea is based on a nonfiction book penned by Nathaniel Philbrick and is predicated on real life tragedy of the Essex —a whaling ship that was sunk by a humongous and fearsome white whale. The events later became the inspiration for Herman Melville’s classic novel Moby Dick. The film is set in 19th century, a time when people light up oil lamps using whale oil, especially sperm oil which has been known to be an efficient oil for lighting fuel. During that time, the world loves a good whale oil, leading whaling to become one of the biggest industries. Novelist, Herman Melville (Ben Whishaw) has finally tracked down Tom Nickerson (Tom Holland), after catching wind of the tragedy happened 30 years ago. Nickerson worked as a cabin boy and became a castaway on Essex after being the vessel was annihilated by a herculean sperm. Initially, Nickerson refused to spill the horrific and strange tale, but later changed his mind after his wife intervenes. In Nickerson’s tale, he narrates story about ins and outs on the Essex that focuses mostly on first mate, Owen Chase (Chris Hemsworth).

The veteran whaler, Owen Chase who would like to sign up for the vessel’s captain to participate in whaling. However, the veteran whaler is hired as first mate because of low status. Chase is unsatisfied with the owners’ decision, instead, the title of captain is bestowed upon George Pollard (Benjamin Walker) who comes from a prominent and well-established whaling families. In truth, Pollard is inexperienced. Anything happens In the heart of the sea never rains but pours. First, the first mate and the captain always have conflicts due to Chase being discontented for not receiving the title of captain and Pollard being jealous of Chase’s skills on the ship. Suddenly, no one seems to put their differences aside to work together to hunt down more whales at new place. Whaling is not always full of joie de vivre. The crews are quick to learn that the mythical herculean white whale is aggressive. The creature damages and overturns the ship, unscrupulously and vehemently. Many crews have been killed by drowning and falling debris. Of course, the whole ship is on fire fueled by whale oil which nearly kill them. As a result, those who are survived from whale attack are stranded at sea and sustained by limited food and water until they have to be cannibalistic after running out of supplies. From standoff adversaries to whaling yarn to survival tale, the transition is dramatic because no one would have thought that whaling can go wrong with crews on huge ship.

Here’s a few honorable moments I’d like to mention from the film. One of my favorite scenes is when Nickerson is commanded by Chase to crawl into the gory hole of a whale with a bucket to collect the precious oil as the teenager is the smallest size of crew member. While filling up the bucket Nickerson almost throw up (same when I was watching), imagine how strong the smell would be inside the whale’s hole (it might smell like fish and blood). The scene looks disgusting (as it should be), according to the Holland, the goriness and blood are actually made of jello.

The next scene is cannibalism. This is the scene that I did not see it coming as I was expecting the castaways were able to make their ways back home before taking survival to the most extreme. The idea of cannibalism starts to burgeon after one of the crew members has died on whaling boat. They have shown hesitation, reluctance, and sadness before they cannibalize the crew member whom they perceive him as one of their dearest comrades. However, we don’t get to see them chewing on the dead man body which may have earned the film an Oscar nomination. If the scene actually exists I’d think their emotions are going to be melancholic and powerful as they require mettle and daring in order to survive.

The other scene is a pure sadness that brings friendship and brotherhood to another level. The indefatigable friendship between first mate, Owen Chase and second mate, Matthew Joy (Cillian Murphy). Chase is the first who discovers Joy’s head injuries after Essex was destroyed by the white whale. The aftermath has caused serious injuries on Joy’s head that Joy tries to hide it from his crew members, however, Chase eventually found out everything after questioning Joy many times. Days later, the crew members have found an isolated island and quickly learned that the island is inhabited where there is no sources. Before the crew members left, Joy has made the decision to stay as he is too emaciate and weak to leave. Chase tries to comfort Joy by reminding him that they are going home soon, hopping to change his mind and he doesn’t. Chase did his best to comfort Joy by promising that he will send boat to him, then he will play cards with him when he gets home, (probably) knowing that Joy will pass away very soon. Ugh, my heart is with you, Matthew. Here’s the most saddest scene in the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Es-7__fJn8

Overall, the movie is great at story-telling but it is lacking the vision but it is not too bad with many amazing scenes and acting skills. However, this film flops with $11 million box office debut. The only answer is that the film being released alongside Star Wars: The force Awakens. Undoubtedly, Star Wars has created an universal brand that holds a special place in many people’s hearts and Moby Dick is just a classic novel that no many people can be able to recall. Considering that Moby Dick stories may be new to many of us including myself and this is why lightsaber is more appealing to all gen. On the contary, I still find the high budget film In the heart of the sea is one of the genuine story-telling movies.

#movie review #movie critique #in the heart of the sea #chris hemsworth #tom holland #cillian murphy #ben whishaw #adventure #drama #adventure-drama film #Happenstance Found

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benisasoftboi · 5 years ago

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Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, As Explained By Someone Who Has Not Seen It

So ages back I posted a long explanation of Star Wars, despite the fact that I have only seen one Star Wars movie, The Last Jedi, due to social obligations (and someone else paying for my ticket). People apparently thought it was kind of funny.

I’ve now seen two Star Wars movies! I watched the Holiday Special at my university’s Bad Film society a few weeks ago! It is... a piece of media that exists.

I haven’t seen the new one though, and I don’t intend to - but what I have seen is a lot (a LOT) of hot takes on Twitter from people who do care, which I think is basically the same thing. This is my understanding of what happens. Almost certainly in the wrong order. Spoilers ahead (probably)

Keep in mind that I very nearly posted this under the title ‘Return of Skywalker’, before thinking to check. That’s the level I’m on

The most positive thing I’ve seen said about this movie is that it’s fun to watch and you don’t have to think too much about it. I don’t mean to make it sound like I think that sounds like a bad thing - my (genuine) favourite film trilogy is Night At The Museum for that very reason

Other people say it’s shallow and stupid and pandering and formulaic and etc. etc. etc., the same criticism people tend to make of Marvel movies mostly (another popular franchise I don’t understand the appeal of), which does sound like a bad thing. I don’t know who to believe. Do not try to tell me

So there’s this Finn guy, right? I don’t know anything about him, just that he’s played by John Boyega (right...?). So he didn’t get together with Rey, and this is bad, and somewhat racist, because he was clearly in love with her

But then he also doesn’t get together with Poe, and this is bad, and very homophobic, because he was clearly gay and in love with him

And then he ALSO doesn’t get together with Rose, and this is bad, and pandering to the racists who hate her actress, because he was clearly in love with her

Whatever the case, he definitely should not have ended up with whoever it was (if anyone) he did end up with

Also Rose was barely in the movie because of how much hate she got last time, and when she was she was Leia’s ‘Holdo’ (???), and Poe did end up with someone and it was very clearly in attempt to confirm how Very Heterosexual he is

Oscar Isaac is displeased

There was a gay couple (sources vary on the genders) who kiss very briefly and this is Big Representation that the Gays should be Grateful for, give us your money, Gays, we care about you

It was not cut in China

Also, Rey and Kylo Ren kiss! This is the most romantic film moment of the decade and a perfect culmination of their character arcs and the best part of the movie

But it’s also forced and bad and sets feminism back ten years and is a romanticised abusive relationship because he’s irredeemably evil

Kylo Ren dies? After they kiss and slash things with their swords? And I think he’s redeemed before that but of course, the only true redemption... is through death!

Which sounds terrible to me, but I’m a massive sucker for Redemption and Redemption Arcs and then seeing how all the characters actually deal with the consequences of the Redemption, so I’m pretty biased against Redemption Through Death as a plot point (also, it’s lazy), but it’s nothing to do with this guy specifically. I really don’t know enough to say whether he deserved it

He might get revived in a comic or animated series, coming soon to streaming on Disney+!

Snoke is back because he has clones, which is not intimidating and is actually just really, really funny. Characters having clones is not the intimidation factor movie makers apparently think it is. Clones are just kind of inherently funny

One of my favourite clone stories is the Time Squad episode Day of the Larrys. The clones open a gay nightclub. Mark Hamill was in that too

Rey turns out to be the granddaughter of the Evil Emperor from the first trilogy. I think he’s in it by either ghost or clone shenanigans

I haven’t heard anyone say who the grandmother is. But I know what that guy looks like, so for her sake, I hope they did IVF

She has a yellow lightsaber, which sounds ugly, but I haven’t seen it so

I haven’t heard much about purple haired lady from the last movie, don’t know if she’s still around

Apparently Luke changes his mind about everything from the last movie like ten minutes in

I thought he was dead but it kinda seems like death doesn’t mean much in this universe because ghosts

I know Leia is in it. Lots of people thought she would die since Carrie Fisher (a person who the more I learn about, the more I have a massive amount of respect for - unusual for celebrities these days) very sadly died in real life. I haven’t heard either way in the movie, just that she was in at least some of it, and it was nice to see her again (done with reconstructed footage from previous films, apparently). I can’t really criticise that - I’d probably feel the same if I saw it, even as a non-fan of the series

I have also heard that some of the reconstruction was creepy though

I’ve heard that there’s a lot of scenes with the gold robot (C3P0?). I’ve heard he is snarky. If this is true, this is the one thing that could actually get me to see this film. As I’ve said before, I love robots, snarky ones even more so. Robots make everything worth it

No word on the little blue or orange robots

Chewbacca nearly dies but doesn’t? I don’t know, I now glaze over in self defense when I read that name because of that one scene in the Holiday Special. You know (or you’re lucky)

Finn is something called ‘Force Sensitive’ but is weirdly coy about it and this was only confirmed in an outside interview with the director

Someone sticks a mask together with Space Duct Tape

Space battle, pew pew, phwoom phwoom, EXPLOSION, ratatatatatat, defyiiiiiing gravity, USE THE FORCE, pew pew pewpewpew, ANOTHER EXPLOSION - I assume

Okay I stuck that Wicked reference in there as a joke that I’m sure only I think is funny, but now I desperately want to be put in charge of writing a sci-fi trilogy where there will be an over-the-top Broadway-style musical number half way through the third movie just for the sake of baffling critics and audiences alike

In the meantime, while I work on figuring out how to achieve that dream, I have plans to go see Cats again

#star wars #the rise of skywalker #the rise of skywalker spoilers #rise of skywalker #rise of skywaker spoilers #tros #tros spoilers #luke star wars #someone said that was funny last time #leia star wars #kylo ren star wars #rey star wars #finn star wars #beating the joke into the ground star wars #star wars negativity #cats #misc

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thearabkhaleesi · 7 years ago

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STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI - EASTER EGGS, TRIVIA, AND THINGS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED

Disclaimer: I did not find all of these easter eggs myself. I watched many Youtube videos and read many articles and gathered the best easter eggs and connections to the Star Wars movies and I compiled them into one organized post. Enjoy!

Obvious SPOILER WARNING!

Mark Hamill played 2 characters

Of course, Mark Hamill plays Luke Skywalker in The Last Jedi, however, he also had a secret second role! Mark Hamill asked director Rian Johnson to give him someone to play in the movie’s Canto Bight casino scene. He plays a CGI character (and changes his voice) for a character by the name of Dobbu Scay. It’s unknown at the moment who Dobbu Scay was in the scene, but we do know that the name is an anagram for editor Bob Duscay.

Leia trained to be a Jedi

It was understood in the script, though not necessarily in the film, that Leia had begun training as a Jedi shortly after the events of Return of the Jedi. Motherhood, and later, discord in the Galactic Senate caused her to cut short her tutoring. This explains how she is able to use the Force to create a bubble of air around her and return to her ship after the bridge of the Raddus is destroyed. An entry in the canonical tie-in Visual Dictionary confirmed this as well.

(below: art by Jason Felix)

Clues that Luke wasn’t actually on Crait:

Luke looks much different than how he looks most of the film, with a shorter, darker haircut and darker clothes

His lightsaber was blue. Luke’s blue lightsaber was the one that he lost in Empire Strikes Back and eventually gets destroyed in The Last Jedi. After Empire Strikes Back, Luke has a green lightsaber.

It is established that there is no way in or out of the base

Luke’s X-Wing is shown to be underwater on Ach-To, indicating there is no way off the island after Rey leaves.

He makes no footprints on Crait. The film zooms in on Kylo’s red footprints during the scene, since the planet of Crait is covered in salt. Luke makes no footprints at all, since he isn’t actually there.

The Jedi texts

In the film, Yoda beats Luke to burning the tree (which contain the ancient Jedi texts), and says that Rey already knows everything that the books could tell her. Later in the film, when Finn gets Rose a blanket on the Millennium Falcon, the books are there in a blink and you’ll miss it moment! This teases that Rey could have stolen the books and Yoda was covering for her.

Ahch To Tree

The tree on Ach To protecting the Jedi texts is known as an Uneti tree. The character Chirrut Imwe from Rogue One carries a stick made out of wood that comes from the same type of tree wood. Also, in the film, Rey is drawn to an ancient tree and the library by a chorus of whispers; those whispers are actually a chant with a connection to “Star Wars Legends” and the Force, saying “some sort of Force mantra”, as sound editor Matt Wood described.

Luke is The Last Jedi

Once the title was revealed, many people speculated who the last Jedi could be. Throughout the press tour, director Rian Johnson insisted that Luke was always who the title was referring to “in his mind”. In the film, it is confirmed that Luke was the last Jedi, however, after his death, the last Jedi is now Rey.

Rey’s Parentage

It was claimed that Rey’s parentage would be discussed in The Last Jedi, and when Kylo tries to convince Rey to join him, he tells her that her parents are nobody, and that she knows its true. Many fans speculated on who her parents could be since the release of The Force Awakens, and were taken aback by Kylo’s claim. It is unknown whether or not his words are the truth as no official confirmation was made and Kylo could be lying just to get her to join him.

Luke’s compass.

In the Star Wars Battlefront 2 video game, Luke finds a compass. And in The Last Jedi, Luke is shown to have the same compass in his hut, which could have helped him find Ach To.

Luke’s burn

When we see Rey handing Luke the lightsaber at the beginning of the film, it zooms in on a shot of their hands and Luke’s robotic hand is shown to have a burn mark on it. This burn mark is a result of a blaster shot from the fight at the Sarlacc Pit in Return of the Jedi.

“Laser Sword”

In the film, Luke refers to lightsabers as “laser swords”, which is a reference to George Lucas, who called them laser swords before they came up with “lightsabers”.

Colored milk

In A New Hope, we see blue milk at Luke’s home on Tatooine. Then, in Rogue One, as an easter egg, we see blue milk again. And in The Last Jedi, we see Luke milking one of the animals on Ahch To and drinks its milk. While some people say they see it as the classic blue milk, others claim they see it as green (I did too).

Luke’s sunken X-Wing

When Rey looks on the cliff at Ahch To, she notices that there is a sunken X-Wing in the water, which is what got him to the island; this is also a reference to his training on Dagobah.

Luke’s door

When Rey busts in on Luke’s hut, you can tell that the door to Luke’s home is a re-used piece of Luke’s X-Wing. In addition to that, this easter egg goes even even deeper since in Empire Strikes Back, Yoda’s hut on Dagobah was similarly fashioned out of his escape pod from Revenge of the Sith.

Celebrity cameos

Many celebrities had cameos in The Last Jedi.

Joseph Gordon Levitt and Noah Segan: Joseph Gordon Levitt and Noah Segan, were in director Rian Johnson’s first film, Brick. Since then, Rian included them in every film he worked on since (The Brothers Bloom, Looper and now The Last Jedi). Segan appears briefly as a Resistance X-Wing pilot, while Levitt appears as a voice actor, playing the character of Slowen Lo in the casino scene. He’s the one who rats Finn and Rose out to the casino guards.

Justin Theroux and Lily Cole: Justin Theroux (from the Leftovers, Jennifer Anniston’s husband); he played the master codebreaker that Finn and Rose were looking for, the man who was gambling and wearing the lapel pin and white suit. British model Lily Cole played his girlfriend.

Warwick Davis is the character who mistakes BB-8 for a slot machine.

Some reports claim that Princes William and Harry had cut cameos as stormtroopers, whereas other reports say that the Princes are the stormtroopers in the elevator when Finn, Rose, and DJ are on board the ship to disable the tracker.

Tom Hardy and Gary Barlow are the stormtroopers with the weapons to kill Finn and Rose at Phasma's command.

Ellie Goulding is one of the background soliders on the Resistance's main ship, the Raddus.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this”

The phrase “I’ve got a bad feeling about this” is in every Star Wars film to date, but shocked fans as it didn’t seem to be in The Last Jedi! The reason for that was that it wasn’t said in English - it was said by BB-8!

No Lightsaber duels

While lightsabres are used often in the film, there are no lightsabre on lightsabre fights. The only time you see a pair of sabres clash, is in the Luke / Kylo flashback.

The Beastie Boys

JJ Abrams started a trend in The Force Awakens, including Beastie Boys references in the sequel trilogy. In TFA, we saw a new type of creature known as the Abednedo, with the one we see named Ello Asty, a reference to the Beastie Boys album, Hello Nasty. Rian Johnson included a character from the same race named Slowen Lo (voiced by Joseph Gordon Levitt) asa reference to the Beastie Boys song “Slow and Low”. Since Abrams is directing Episode IX, it’s likely we’ll see another Abednedo character with a name inspired by the Beastie Boys. (below: Ello Asty)

Director cameos: Gareth Edwards & Edgar Wright

Gareth Edwards, director of Rogue One, has a cameo on The Last Jedi as a Resistance solider during the battle on Crait; he was next to the soldier that tastes the salt. Additionally, director of The Last Jedi, Rian Johnson, had a cameo as a stormtrooper in Rogue One. British director and Rian Johnson’s friend, Edgar Wright also has a cameo in this scene, as does Ant-Man writer, Joe Cornish.

(pictured below: Gareth Edwards’ cameo, followed by Edgar Wright, his brother Oscar, and Joe Cornish in costume, behind the scenes of their cameo)

Maz Kanata’s “The Rocketeer” Jetpack

In the film, Maz Kanata is seen over a hologram, wearing a rocketpack/jetpack and as she turns, you can see the details more clearly. This pack is designed to mirror the jetpack that is worn in the Disney film The Rocketeer.

Raddus

In Rogue One, a character named Admiral Raddus, who was the head of the Alliance Fleet, sent his fleet to support Rogue One on their mission, which allowed the Rogue One squad to deliver the plans for the Death Star to Raddus’ ship. However, Raddus died when Darth Vader boarded his ship. However, he is not forgotten, as in The Last Jedi, the main Resistance cruiser is called The Raddus.

Foreshadowing in Kylo Ren flashback

In the flashback where we see what caused Ben Solo (aka Kylo Ren) to turn against Luke, a shot shows his lightsaber on his bedside table, with his calligraphy set/pen crossing the handle of the lightsaber; the placement of the calligraphy pen is placed to look like his future, Dark Side lightsaber (see below: credits to starwarsstuff on Twitter).

Snoke’s ring

In The Last Jedi, Snoke is wearing a ring which has a deep meaning. The ring is made of obsidian mined from under Darth Vader’s castle, and it shows the Four Sages of Dwartii (Sistros, Faya, Yanjon, and Braata)

Losing a limb

Throughout the Star Wars saga, in the 2nd movie of each trilogy (Original/Prequel/Sequel), the protagonist loses their hand (Luke/Anakin). However, in the Last Jedi, it is actually the antagonist, Snoke, who this happens to; Snoke loses his arm/hand when killed by Rey and Kylo. The lightsaber cuts through Snoke’s torso and arms. Thus, Snoke encounters the "limb loss" in a less than noticeable way, keeping in the tradition.

Carrie Fisher’s dog - Gary

In the scenes in Canto Bight, we see many different types of creatures in the casino, and one of the aliens (who appeared in an official still of the film) is actually the late Carrie Fisher’s dog, Gary, in costume! (He’s the dog-like creature on the man’s hand behind Rose). Apparently, when watching The Last Jedi, Gary recognized Carrie and his ears jerked up every time she was on screen.

Han’s Golden Dice

In The Last Jedi, Luke gifts Leia with Han’s golden dice from the Millennium Falcon. The diceare considered an Easter Egg in the previous films, only appearing very briefly in A New Hope, since the prop guys forgot to include it in later scenes and films.

Admiral Ackbar

Admiral Akbar, who is best known for saying “It’s a trap!” in Return of the Jedi, appears in The Last Jedi, but unfortunately later dies as a result of a trap.

Darth Sidious

Luke refers to Emperor Palpatine as Darth Sidious, making it the first time we’ve heard anyone refer to him by his Sith title since the prequels.

Rey exploring the Dark Side

The entire scene where Rey explores the Dark Side’s pull is a call back to Luke's experience with the Dark Side in Empire. And her heading into the Dark Side hole to find her parents, only to see her own reflection, is a call back to Luke fighting Vader, only to see his own face reflected back at him inside.

Battle on Crait / Battle on Hoth

The final battle between the Resistance and the First Order on Crait has a lot of similarities to the Battle of Hoth from Empire Strikes Back: the villains use walkers to assault a Rebel/Alliance base on a planet with a white surface, and the heroes use speeders to hold them off while everyone escapes.

Kylo taking Rey to Snoke: Return of the Jedi parallels

This entire scene is a parallel to one from Return of the Jedi, when Darth Vader brings Luke before the emperor. It's all there:

Rey willingly goes to Kylo, just like Luke surrendering to Vader on Endor.

Rey is put in handcuffs - just like Luke

Snoke removes Rey's handcuffs. just like the Emperor did to Luke.

While in the elevator going up to Snoke, Rey tells Kylo that there's still good in him, just as Luke said to Vader on Endor.

The red-colored guards (Snoke’s Praetorian Guards and Palpatine’s Royal Guards)

Snoke making Rey look out the window at the Resistance fleet getting attacked, just like the Emperor telling Luke to watch the Rebel fleet get attacked.

Rey's lightsaber on the arm of the chair, like the Emperor did with Luke’s

Rey tried to grab the lightsaber using the Force, just like Luke, but both were unsuccessful.

Rey and Luke being tortured

Kylo betrayed his master, Snoke, to save Rey just like Vader killed the Emperor to save his son.

When Snoke interrogates Rey using the force, the Emperor's theme can be heard playing in the background, with the camera panning to Ren as this happens. This exact same moment happens in Return of the Jedi when the Emperor is shocking Luke with force lightning and the camera pans to Vader, with the same theme playing.

Luke and Obi Wan in battle

During his final scene with Kylo, Luke refenrces Obi Wan and quotes his line “”, and the way he stands and lets Kylo run through him, parallels what Obi-wan did when fighting Vader for the last time.

Luke and the horizon

Moment before Luke’s death, he sees two setting suns, a direct visual callback to the sunset on Tatooine, when his journey first began.

Leia - A New Hope callbacks

A scene in the movie, Leia fires her blaster at Poe to stun him, and she is wearing all white with her head covered, just like when she fired on stormtroopers and was stunned by them stormtroopers in A New Hope. Of course, we also see R2D2 show Luke her message to Obi Wan.

Jurassic Park reference

When the new race creatures on Canto Bight, the Fathiers, stampede through the casino, a shot shows liquid in a glass on a table ripples due to their footsteps. This is a reference to the same way the water ripples when the T-Rex is approaching in Jurassic Park. (Laura Dern, who played Vice Admiral Holdo, starred in Jurassic Park as Dr. Sattler.)

Halved villains

Snake’s death is the second time a member of the Dark Side was cut in half from a lightsaber - the first person was Dark Maul, who was killed by Obi Wan in The Phantom Menace.

Kylo uses Vader’s flight tactics

During the space battle, Kylo Ren spins his fighter exactly the same way Anakin does in Episode 1.

DJ and Lando

Benecio Del Toro’s character (the codebreaker who helps the First Order) is never referred to by name in the film, but marketing material for the film refer to him as DJ. It was later found that the writings on his hat, are Arubesh (a language from the Star Wars universe) for “DON’T JOIN” (DJ), foreshadowing his betrayal. It is easier to see on the Funko Pop doll version of DJ, which was released months before the movie, a clue to his character’s role spotted by fans. Additionally, his character is a parallel to Lando in Empire Strikes Back - both are characters who seemingly help our heroes but are secretly helping the enemies instead.

Leia’s hair

When Han reunites with Leia in The Force Awakens, he says "you've changed your hair". When Leia meets Luke in "The Last Jedi", she says "I've changed my hair".

Luke’s blue and green lightsabers

This is the first Star Wars movie where we see Luke using both his blue lightsaber (which had belonged to his father Anakin, and which is now wielded by Rey) and his green lightsaber.

No Skywalker At the End

This is the first live-action movie in the franchise to break with the tradition to have a member of the Skywalker family in the closing shot. All previous movies included either Anakin, Luke and/or Leia in the final shot. Although Luke and Leia feature in the final scene, the closing shot only shows one of the young slave boys on the casino planet Canto Bight.

Force sensitive child

The final shot of the movie shows a kid on Canto Bight mopping, then with the Resistance ring and staring at the stars with hope. However, many people missed the fact that the child is Force-sensitive; when he reaches out to the mop, instead of grabbing it, it moves to his hand.

BONUS: THE LAST JEDI FORESHADOWING IN ROGUE ONE

In The Last Jedi, when the Resistance escapes the First Order after fleeing their old base on D'Qar, they jump into hyperspace and land in the middle of nowhere, as Finn says. But soon the First Order catches up to them, revealing that they have figured out how to track ships through lightspeed. It is a big deal since no one has been able to track ships through lightspeed until then. However, this plot point was subtly foreshadowed in Rogue One! Towards the end of Rogue One, when Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor are searching for the Death Star plans in the Scarif data banks, she mentions some of the projects in the Imperial archives, including "hyperspace tracking"! This means that the Empire had been working on the technology used in The Last Jedi during the time of the Rebellion, and that the First Order developed and used it against the Resistance. This Easter egg was discovered when Lucasfilm executive Pablo Hidalgo quoted a fan’s tweet that pointed out the connection (x).

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chasiingfreedom-blog · 7 years ago

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██▒ GENERAL

NAME: unknown, but for all intents and purposes he goes by Finn ALIAS(ES): FN-2187, Eight-Seven, Traitor, Big Deal GENDER: male AGE: 23 DATE OF BIRTH: 11 ABY OCCUPATION: Stormtrooper, unofficial leader of his four-unit FN squad, ex-Stormtrooper/Defector, almost-space pirate, Resistance/Rebel Scum, Prince of Artorias, Grey Jedi ( FITE ME IN THE CLUB THIS WILL 5EVER BE MY FAV THEORY ).

██▒ APPEARANCE

EYE COLOR: Dark brown HAIR COLOR: Jet black HEIGHT: 5′10″ SCARS: A lifetime worth of various physical scars from training with the First Order. The most prominent are the ones that can’t be seen, the scars littered across his brain and upon his heart. BURNS: The lightsaber burns that cauterized into scars from his battle with Kylo Ren, on his right shoulder and across his back.

OVERWEIGHT: Being overweight doesn’t exactly meet First Order specifications, where BMI is a definitely a thing that’s closely monitored and maintained. It’s also hard to overindulge when you’re only ever given a set amount of food that wasn’t designed for flavour but nutrients and efficiency. Finn might really go hard when he experiences first hand what real food could taste like, but keeping fit has been ingrained in him that going overweight wouldn’t be an issue even then. UNDERWEIGHT: He was as close as he was going to get to being underweight as a kid, where the First Order trained them hard from the get go and he was slow at eating at first that his food was always taken away when he didn’t eat fast enough in the allotted time and he’d burn more calories than he ate.

██▒ FAVORITE

COLOR: Anything but red or white. Maybe shades of brown, like the colour of his jacket, the first thing he’d ever owned, the colour of Poe’s eyes, the colour of Rey’s hair… HAIR COLOR: No preference. EYE COLOR: No preference. SONG: If it’s not First Order-issued he’d love it. Probably something instrumental, so he can feel the music without having to worry about language barriers or not understanding the themes he’s not used to yet. MOVIE: Something comedic, since life could always use some laughter, or dramatic, to focus on other people’s problems than his own, or something educational, since Finn loves to learn new things. TV SHOW: Generally same genres as movies? In a modern verse he’d definitely be the type to watch National Geographic or HGTV and yell at people who chose the wrong house on House Hunters lmaO Definitely be crying a river at This Is Us. FOOD: Anything; he has a lot to make up for after years of food that tasted like cardboard. Something with lots of protein because he’s used to that or something he can eat with his hands/finger food, because he’d get taste and touch sensations in one. DRINK: Water, protein shakes ( unfortuately or not ). Much like food, he has a lot of make up for and try. He’d be more reluctant on alcoholic drinks since he’d like to be alert but he’d want to taste it at least once. BOOK: Something educational, like history that he has obviously been taught wrong on in the First Order or mission reports PASSED UNIVERSITY: Never been. In a modern verse you bet your ass he passed in the top one percentile. HAD SEX: Not yet 8D HAD SEX IN PUBLIC: No, and though he would literally have no shame in doing so ( communal sonics are a thing in the First Order okay, he wouldn’t blink an eye at a naked body, male or female ) he wouldn’t necessarily be open to it? It’s just a very private moment that he’d like to keep between him and his partner and not share with curious onlookers. GOTTEN PREGNANT: No ( but you know what Oscar said, you dunno what’s going on with these aliens anything’s possible lmao ) KISSED A BOY: Yes ( fite me in the pit he kissed Slip okay ) KISSED A GIRL: Yes ( thanks Rose ) GOTTEN TATTOOS: There was a time I believed the First Order, like, tattooed barcodes of stormtrooper’s designation somewhere but I’m not sure where I am with that. Either way it’s something he’d be open to, whether to cover that up or just because. GOTTEN PIERCINGS: No. Not sure if he ever get a piercing? On the off chance that he would it’d probably be something not conventional like a nipple piercing or something lmAO HAD A BROKEN HEART: Yes, and not strictly in the romantic sense. BEEN IN LOVE: He could’ve been? How does one ever know they’re in love tbh STAYED UP FOR MORE THAN 24 HOURS: It’s not really a thing that happens in the First Order, but I feel like that first night after he crashed on Jakku would’ve been the first he’s ever been up for more than a day because it was just not safe to sleep.

██▒ ARE THEY

A VIRGIN: Yes. Who wants to help change that 8D A KISSER: He would love kissing. SCARED EASILY: He’s high-strung and paranoid for sure, but escaping from the First Order who would kill him on sight ( or worse, capture and re-condition him ) tends to do that to a person. He’s also quite afraid of losing the people he cares about or seeing them in danger, especially to the First Order ( Finn screaming Rey’s name in TFA will forever haunt me ). JEALOUS EASILY: Envious, not jealous. He’s never really had anything or anyone to lose to be jealous of. The only thing of value he ever had was his position as “teacher’s pet”, and he was more worried about losing the praise that he longed for than being bitter about someone else receiving it instead. He would always focus on the pain of losing something than the anger of losing it that usually goes with jealously. TRUSTWORTHY: In spite of the environment he’s had to grow up in, Finn is someone you can put your trust in, if you could get past his past. He doesn’t lie often ( partly because he’s rather bad at it ), and when he does his heart is in the right place; whether it’s to save his life ( saying he was with the Resistance ) or to save another’s life ( both times to save and protect Rey ). He’s incredibly loyal to those he trusts, but it’s gaining his trust that’s the issue. DOMINANT: On the battlefield, for sure. It’s what he’s been trained to do, what’s gotten him considered to be promoted, after all. In terms of intimately, he could be? Top from the bottom lmao It’s more something he’d rather share than take on solo. SUBMISSIVE: As good as a leader as Finn could be on the battlefield, he's also pretty good at taking orders ( except for, y’know, orders he doesn’t fully agree with ). Intimately, again, it’s something he’d like to share. But if anyone’s deserving of being doted and loved on it’s Finn, and he would never be with someone he didn’t trust and feel comfortable enough to be submissive with. A lot of people would think he'd want complete control of his life after everything he’s been through, but sometimes he would just want to let go and know that someone would be there for him. IN LOVE: thread dependent. SINGLE: Currently, yes.

██▒ RANDOM QUESTIONS

HAVE THEY HARMED THEMSELVES: Not in the conventional way. Finn beats himself up real good in his head and it shows in how he views himself. He also tends to push himself past his limits physically like he did right after he woke up from a coma, which stems from his time in the First Order where he had to be the best, had to be useful to have any purpose. THOUGHT OF SUICIDE / ATTEMPTED SUICIDE: A lot of people would call what happened on Crait a suicide mission, but Finn didn’t see it so much as wanting to kill himself and more like the canon had to be stopped, the First Order needed to be stopped, and this was the only way to do it and he was hell-bent on completing it. Finn doesn’t want to die, especially not before he’s truly even lived, but ironically he constantly finds himself in situations where death as an outcome is very likely. WANTED TO KILL SOMEONE: Wanted to kill someone, no. Wanted to wreck someone until an inch of their life, or wish someone fell off a cliff and died, definitely, but he wouldn’t want to actually kill someone himself. It’s not something he enjoys. Besides, there are worse things than death that could be done. DROVE A CAR: He can pilot speeders. HAVE/HAD A JOB: No, unless you consider being forced to become a stormtrooper a job ( though even if you did he never got paid for it, nor will he get paid for being a part of the Resistance so... ). He almost had a job had he joined Sidon Ithano’s crew on Takodana, if that counts? lmao

██▒ FAMILY

SIBLINGS: verse dependent ( *winks at @starsrebcrn* ) PARENTS: unknown ( verse dependent ) CHILDREN: None unless you count BB-8 wut, but if you don’t think Finn would take in the kids that he saves from Project Resurrection ( yeah, there’s an official name to the First Order kidnapping children and forcing them to be stormtroopers ) then you don’t know Finn. PETS: None, but Big Deal Jr. the Huttlet was a thing that’s lmAO ( @ziinariya knows what’s up ) and I can get on board Finn owning a dog named BB-9E.

RULES: repost, dont reblog! TAGGED BY: @stillsolo TAGGING: @glaadiolus @starsrebcrn @ziinariya @wingresistance @roguecaptain @crowningcarnage @cobaltsister @dvrksiider @rosehoped @disacquiesce @madecur @ariadne-inthesky @neversith @lightsiided @scavengered @hopegave @nctsith @chisparks @rebellionheir + anyone who wants to do it tag me!

#long ass post warning #y'all know the drill you don't gotta do this of course <3 #♚◜ уσυ ∂σи’т киσω α тнιиg αвσυт мε 「 about finn 」#♚◜ HEADCANON

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theputterer · 7 years ago

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ooh star wars asks! hmm ~ there are a lot of interesting questions. is it excessive if i ask more than one? well we'll go with: 11 most underrated character? & maybe... this is probably not fair but i'm also interested in your opinions on 20 bc we've talked about it a little before

ask ALL THE QUESTIONS MY DUDE

11. who is the most underrated character?

is Cassian considered to be underrated

this is kind of a tricky question to answer because i have a poor grasp on exactly how much “regular folk” know about STAR WARS… i kind of want to say Bail Organa, because he’s such an interesting figure, and i don’t think we talk about him enough. both of Leia’s parents get underwritten next to her birth parents, but a lot of who Leia is is entirely due to Bail and Breha. Bail is so cool, particularly in the prequels, where he’s in so many scenes, but just at the back; he was there for SO MUCH, and the galaxy owes him so much!!! this is a founder of the Alliance!!!

in the Old EU, Bail and Breha are key to the funding of the Alliance in particular. Garm Bel Iblis, and Corellia, bring in the weapons and ships; and Mon Mothma brings in the soldiers, but it’s Bail and Alderaan who have the credits. i think about this a lot, particularly now, with the precariousness of Leia’s Resistance, which is notoriously poor. how often does she think of Bail, and his work in getting the Alliance up-and-running? Leia’s ability to command and lead is something she would have learned from Bail and Breha; particularly, her ability to reach agreements and sign treaties.

Alderaan was known for being a peaceful planet, yet it’s the one that gets annihilated. i wonder how that might have shaped Leia. it makes me think of how in current EU canon, Leia is against the signing of the Military Disarmament Act post-Battle of Jakku; and how might have been motivated over this fear of what happened to Alderaan, and her belief that the galaxy needs a ready-to-roll galactic military.

tl;dr: Bail Organa’s legacy endures through the actions and beliefs of Leia Organa, and I don’t think we talk about that enough.

20. what do you hope will happen in future movies?

hahahaha oh my dude.

i’m trying to generally be More Chill about the future movies, because they are far far out of my control. but here are some thoughts on what could be cool:

-EPISODE IX: Time jump between VIII and IX. I’m thinking five years, as that’s a time jump we could reasonably see in the faces of the young actors. Rey has a double-bladed green lightsaber (tribute to Luke, and also “I didn’t know there was this much green in the whole galaxy.”) Finn is a Jedi, as is Connix. (Billie Lourd with a lightsaber is as close as we’re gonna get to Leia.) Someone has a lightsaber that belonged to Leia. Rose as a Jedi would be cool too, why not. Gay Poe forever. (also Oscar Isaac with gray hair!!!! do it!!!!) Kylo Ren is gonna bite it, in a kamikaze run against the First Order in the Falcon, which dies with him.

-there’s gonna be an Obi-Wan movie at some point, c’mon

-i would LOVE to see The Maw, though it looks like SOLO might be doing that??? give me The Maw. i am here for The Maw.

-technically Iego and the Angels has already appeared in the animated series but i want to see that in live action

-i’d like a trilogy taking place a longer time ago, about the Jedi. maybe the very first Jedi. I just want more Jedi.

but i really want an entirely different story, outside of the Force and the Jedi, and I think we’ll get one. I want STAR WARS to truly expand itself and explore that massive galaxy it takes place in.

thank you for the asks!!!! this is fun!!

from this post

#callioope #ask #star wars

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mothermaidenclone-blog · 7 years ago

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Star Wars: The Last Jedi or Women Are Back in the Pilot Seat

I loved Star Wars: The Last Jedi. I loved it so much that I didn’t take as many notes as I should have because I was having so much fun watching it. I was also so excited to see it that I forgot to bring my notebook, so the notes I did write are on unfolded pick ’n’ mix bags, so this will probably be a much shorter review than this film deserves.

*Star Wars: The Last Jedi spoilers follow*

It seems wrong to start anywhere but with Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher). Leia is very much in charge, and is not afraid to slap sense into her troops when she has to - literally in the case of Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac). Additionally, she is not only strong in terms of leadership, resolve and principles, but also with regard to the Force. It has always been said that the Force is strong in her family, but so rarely do we get to see Leia display any of this mystical power herself. In The Last Jedi we see her survive in the vacuum of space for a short while and propel herself back to the safety of her vessel. However, she is not presented as invincible; after this incident she needs intensive medical care. If Leia was presented as impervious to harm, all of her feats of bravery and willingness to fight for good against enormous odds would have less significance, as she would have nothing to fear. Therefore, this vulnerability only emphasises her courage.

The final power that Leia displays is that of her maternal bond with Kylo Ren (Adam Driver). Kylo murders his father, Han Solo (Harrison Ford), in the previous film, but is unable to kill Leia in The Last Jedi, despite having the opportunity to do so at a distance - in a space battle. He stabbed his father at close range with a lightsaber, but cannot bring himself to press the button that would remotely destroy his mother. This suggests that the maternal connection he shares with Leia is so much more powerful than that of the one he shared with his father on some innate, instinctual, emotional level.

Kylo also experiences a very intimate connection with another woman in this film, Rey (Daisy Ridley), so much so that Rey actually cries when touching hands with him through the Force. As an orphan who grew up alone in the desert, this reaction is hardly surprising, considering not only the connection experienced through physical touch but also their shared power. This power is integral to Rey’s character, as it is made clear that she is one of the strongest Force users, strong enough to shock renowned Jedi Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) into saying, “I’ve seen this raw strength only once before […]. It didn’t scare me enough then, it does now.” Rey’s abilities are made all the more impressive when it is discovered that her parents were nobody, scavengers who sold her for alcohol money - she doesn’t come from a line of Force sensitive royalty like Luke or Kylo, she didn’t inherit this power, it’s hers and hers alone. Alone might be the key word here, as Rey has been isolated her whole life: first in the deserts of Jakku, and then more figuratively from her friends, as she struggles to cope with her new, unique abilities. This loneliness highlights Rey’s greatest strength, her dedication to her principles. When she begins to experience this intensely personal link to Kylo, and he goes on to tell her, “You come from nothing. You’re nothing, but not to me”, she resists the temptation of joining him. Rey fights the urge to stay with someone who empathises with her, and also who negs her quite impressively to make it appear as though he’s the only person in the universe who understands her. She abandons possibly her only chance for a true connection with someone to stay true to her beliefs, morals and friends.

Another returning character is Captain Phasma (Gwendoline Christie), who puts in only a brief appearance but continues to demonstrate excellent martial skill nevertheless. She does fall in combat but firstly, she is a baddie and good must prevail in the Star Wars universe and secondly, we all know that falling down a big hole doesn’t actually mean you’re definitely dead in a Star Wars film.

Some new heroes make an appearance in The Last Jedi, most prominently, Rose Tico (Kelly Marie Tran). When we first meet Rose, she is completely in awe and starstruck at meeting Finn (John Boyega) and seems to serve to bolster his ego, but it quickly becomes apparent that she is, instead, a very strong moral compass. She is honourable and determined, openly scornful of the casino metropolis of Canto Bight; where Finn is dazzled by it’s opulence, she calls it out for its hedonism and exploitation by saying, “I want to put my fist through this beautiful city.” Rose is also very intelligent, as she is the one who figures out the solution to their tracking problem. She is all of these things whilst grieving for her sister, Paige (Veronica Ngo), who we see heroically sacrifice herself to save the Resistance at the start of the film. It is also important to note that these sisters are Asian, as however wonderful all the other women have been, so far they have all been white. I did initially hang my head in my hands when, after bravely preventing Finn from completing a suicide mission, she snogs him and appears to die. However, once it is clear that she survives, I was less annoyed by the kiss, as to me it seemed less romantic and more of a way of Rose really trying to convey her message to Finn, “We’re not going to win this war by fighting what we hate, but by saving what we love!” Obviously I am projecting a lot here, and this kiss is still aggravating and pointless, I have just chosen to interpret it as a gesture of a more symbolic love for humanity, when it’s almost certainly the beginnings of a romance storyline.

Another new introduction was Vice Admiral Holdo (Laura Dern). Holdo assumes command at a point of crisis; Leia is incapacitated and the First Order are bearing down on the Resistance with no prospect of escape. She is decisive and firm, acting in what she believes to be the best interests of the majority, admonishing Poe for being brash and impulsive. Holdo is unafraid to make hard decisions, ultimately volunteering for a mission that she knows she cannot survive, to save the rest of the Resistance. Also, she looked completely fabulous, her costume design was incredible.

In addition to all these credited characters, women are just very present in this film from the beginning, occupying positions in the background for both the First Order and the Resistance. Also, we see female fighter pilots and it’s a white man who dies first, so thanks for not going down that road, The Last Jedi.

Overall, there are so many strong female characters in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and they are strong in so many ways; emotionally, physically, mystically, intellectually and as friends and leaders. The joy of seeing so many women in a Star Wars film is still a beautiful thing, and as a little girl who used to talk to Yoda when she was troubled, I’m delighted there’s a whole pantheon of amazing women for little girls today to choose as their imaginary friends.

And now for some asides:

Ummmm, no thank you gross alien milking scene with extended eye contact, no thanks.

Everyone lost their mind over Porgs, but is no one going to say how great crystal foxes were? Or how fabulous evil BB-8 was?

I’m so glad we saw the return of the ultimate fashion icon, black-is-the-new-black Luke Skywalker.

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unexpectedreylo · 5 years ago

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Here It Is: My Spoilerific Review/Post Mortem of TROS

When I saw The Last Jedi two years ago, the movie haunted me for days, for weeks, for months. It inspired the imagination, dragging me into the world of Reylo and reassuring whatever reservations I had about the post-Lucas sequel trilogy.

The Rise of Skywalker haunts me too but more in a “Demon House” kind of way. It fires up the imagination, but more in the sense that it keeps you up at night thinking of all of the ways it could’ve been better.

This isn’t to say I hate the movie. I don’t. It’s not even entirely or mostly bad which is what makes it extra frustrating. You can laugh your way through a total disaster like “Cats” or “The Room” but a movie with plenty of promise and of talent behind it that makes some bad decisions is tragic. Especially since this is the closing chapter to a trilogy and the saga itself.

You can see there are bones for what could’ve been a really good, maybe even great movie. One of my favorite parts was the opener where Kylo Ren literally descends into hell/the underworld to confront the devil for no other reason than he didn’t even want Satan above him, a man who serves no gods or devils. (That right there is a classic Byronic hero.) Exogol is a great haunted house/spooky setting. The revelation that it was Palpatine manipulating him all along was a shocker and makes Ben’s story that much more poignant. I also really liked the contrast with Rey’s introduction, a beautiful shot of her in the verdant forest floating among rocks as she’s meditating. She is Persephone in her element (which makes the ending all that more baffling but don’t worry, I’m getting to that).

This sets the stage for the revelation that the two are part of an intriguing concept, a Force dyad, kind of a Star Wars version of soulmates maybe even twin flames. The two just had to acknowledge the feelings between them, reunite, and take out the Sith trash while Rey finally confronts her own dark side. I don’t mind the latter concept at all because with the trilogy’s thickest plot armor, I think it’s valuable to put her in some peril and to have her better understand Kylo/Ben.

Abrams also wanted to recapture the feel of 1980s blockbusters like the Indiana Jones films or The Goonies, both made by his old mentor Steven Spielberg. That’s most palpable when the Space Scoops Troop, er “trio,” falls into quicksand and pokes around an underground cave looking for one of the film’s many MacGuffins. Abrams does good set pieces and powers them along with snappy dialogue. Like TFA, it’s peppered with some genuinely funny scenes.

If nothing else, you can’t blame the cast for any of the film’s problems. Everyone does the best they can with what they’re given and the long-standing chemistry between various pairs (Adam and Daisy, John and Oscar, Adam and Harrison Ford for example) do a lot to serve their scenes. I think Oscar’s best scene was when he confesses to Leia lying in state that he doesn’t know if he can be the leader the Resistance needs. It’s an honest, human moment. Daisy continues to infuse Rey with her natural luminance. I particularly liked the few quiet moments she has, such as meeting the children on Pasaana or healing the snake. It shows her compassion and foreshadows healing Ben.

Daisy does pretty well with what she is given about struggling with her dark side. (Remember, she didn’t write her own screenplay.) Maybe it’s unpopular to say this but I kind of liked her brief turn as “Dark Rey.” I have no doubt had she turned dark she would be pretty scary. Her desire for revenge and fear of her own nature--driven by genetics or not--were intriguing concepts and I thought she tried to make the most of it in her performance.

Ah Adam Driver. God bless that man. He brings his considerable A-game 100% of the time no matter what and it shows. He could sell sand on Tatooine. I have no idea why they put the mask back on him other than a marketing department decision as I suspected, but taking it off when he’s making his appeal to Rey before she leaps out to the Falcon carries a gravity few people can pull off. His reconciliation with Han was one of the film’s highlights. For once the repetitive nature of the script actually worked in TROS’s favor, as Kylo retraces his steps in that fateful scene from TFA and finds a way to clear his conscience. I also think this was originally meant to help the audience forgive him, especially since right after this he renounces the dark side. Which makes later choices baffling, which I’ll get to. Driver’s shiniest shining moment though is when he is once again Ben Solo. Deprived of dialogue for the rest of the film other than “ow,” he nevertheless manages to convey a different personality that is very much Han Solo’s son. His fight scene is right out of a 1970s martial arts movie, imbued with determination and sass. I want to see a trilogy about THAT guy.

The Reylo scenes are, well, until it goes south, wonderful. Some of us would’ve preferred a lot less fighting but I see it as mostly Rey trying to deny herself and Kylo not being sure if he really wants Rey to turn to the dark side. (On that note, I wish we’d seen Rey’s vision of sharing a throne with Kylo rather than just hear her talk about it.) As I predicted, the turning point of the relationship came after the lightsaber battle on the Death Star wreckage. I find it interesting that Kylo hesitates to kill Rey--partially because of his mother’s influence--and it’s she who could’ve killed him. She immediately recognizes the dark side was turning her into something she didn’t want to be and nearly costs her the man that deep down she loves. She heals him completely and along with her confession that she would’ve taken Ben’s hand, his soul is nearly healed by the power of love alone. Which makes the film’s later choices baffling. If you think about it, Ben’s turn is even more dramatic than Vader’s. Vader chose his son over the Emperor at the last minute, some inkling of his light still there shining through at the right moment under duress. Ben flat out rejects the dark side of his own volition. That is pretty powerful. Which makes the ending far more painful.

Rey and Ben’s one big romantic moment was tender and sweet and that was a pretty good kiss. We finally get to see Ben’s big toothy grin. Even though we all hate it, Driver did an amazing job conveying first his sorrow over Rey, then his relief, his joy, his love, and finally his strength leaving him.

Visually, the film looks great. I think J.J. did an even better job shooting this film than TFA. Adding to the visuals is the fabulous art direction. They hired supervising art director Paul Inglis immediately after his previous flick Blade Runner 2049 came out, and that decision paid off. This leaves the film with a number of beautifully-rendered scenes, whether it’s the haunted house scary underworld beneath Exogol, Kylo Ren’s starkly white quarters, the landscapes of Pasaana, the stormy seas around the Death Star II’s wreckage, the shot of Rey hesitating in the Star Destroyer’s hangar before leaping out to the Falcon, or Rey meditating among the floating rocks during her introduction.

I liked D-O and Babu Frick. I even liked the lady who complimented Kylo’s helmet.

Where do I start having problems? The first time I saw the movie the scenes with Leia didn’t bother me but the second time I saw it, it was far more apparent they wrote around the bits of footage they had left. It was a valiant effort to make Carrie Fisher part of the last film she never had the chance to perform in but it didn’t feel organic. Since Leia dies during the movie anyway, I don’t know why having her pass away offscreen in between TLJ and TROS is less merciful to the audience than having her body lie beneath a sheet for half the film. No wonder Billie Lourd skipped the premiere of this flick. I couldn’t take it if it were my mother either.

On my second viewing, the Resistance base scenes started to get on my nerves. Maybe it’s because I got tired of looking at the same group of like 10 people over and over. Maybe I was annoyed that the only purpose of those scenes was to earnestly spout exposition. Now, exposition is important. I’m surprised Abrams, notorious for not bothering with it even if it’s necessary, even did this much. But there was something about George Lucas’s Rebel base scenes that made these people look and act like guerrilla soldiers. Maybe it was Lucas’s experience shooting films with Navy guys as a student, or his documentary style. Abrams’s Resistance behave more like college students and activists than soldiers.

But TROS’s biggest problems lie in its breakneck pacing and its writing. Parts that should’ve had greater emotional resonance don’t because it moves along too fast. I would’ve sacrificed one of the set pieces/action scenes or chuck one of the pointless new characters for the sake of deepening the relationship between Kylo and Rey or showing us more Ben Solo.

Some of the characterizations seemed off. I know a lot of fans are deeply unhappy Rose Tico didn’t get to do much but I was surprised to see her in it even to the degree she was there. What gets me about the whole Rose thing was her relationship with Finn is totally forgotten FOR NO REASON. Really, why drop it? There was no narrative purpose for doing so!

General Hux is totally wasted in this film, reduced to little more than a cameo. Sure it might be a surprising twist that “I am the spy!!!” (LOL) but his reasons for it are totally OOC. He might despise Kylo Ren but to the point of helping the Resistance? This is the guy who cheerfully blew up the Hosnian Prime system and wanted to blow up more. He’s evil, a psychopath, a true believer in the First Order. He might give the Resistance a tip that would result in embarrassing Kylo Rey and use that to start a coup against him but just helping the Resistance out of petulance and spite? Nah.

Poe tries in this film to be a combination of rogue and deadly earnest idealist, but you generally don’t find those two qualities in the same person. One second he’s talking about smuggling space dope, the next second he’s saying stuff like “Good people will fight if we lead them!”

Finn, God love him, is reduced to largely running around yelling, “Reeeey!” and eagerly trying to tell Rey something but the film never really got around to what it was. It wasn’t until a Q&A session that Abrams revealed Finn was trying to tell Rey he was Force sensitive (something that should’ve been developed over the course of the trilogy). Abrams had time to show us a random lesbian kiss for representation points, but no time for Finn to tell Rey he was Force sensitive? Huh?

The story not only contradicts the previous films--I wonder if Abrams even saw his own movie TFA much less anything else besides the OT--it contradicts itself throughout. Palpatine’s return is never really explained and his motives with Rey keep changing. MacGuffins are added on top of MacGuffins with side missions thrown in. Chewbacca is blown up then he’s miraculously alive on another transport we didn’t see. Abrams and Chris Terrio didn’t just add to Rey’s origins, they blatantly spackled over it and TLJ’s overall message. Discovering one is of evil origins is a gothic storytelling trope but really, it should’ve been developed since the first film so it doesn’t feel like whiplash from something else. Everyone keeps telling Rey don’t be afraid of who you really are, but Rey ultimately does nothing but run from who she really is. With each reversal, retcon, or contradiction in the film, it leaves a mess. We’re supposed to believe Rey was better off sold to Unkar Plutt than be with her not-so-bad parents? Who the bloody hell had sex with Darth Sidious? You mean to tell me Luke and Leia knew all along Rey was a Palpatine but they never bothered to say anything and somehow they had more confidence in her than in their own flesh and blood? Oh while we’re at it, I noticed the second time I saw the movie they straight up gave away Ben’s death before it happened! WTF? “Leia saw her son’s death at the end of her Jedi path.” It seems like Luke and Leia were resigned to Ben’s fate as some horrible destiny that couldn’t be changed but Rey was still an open book to them. That’s so stupid and really fellow OT fans, how does this respect our childhood faves? Han comes off as the only decent person in this thing.

Rey and Ben taking on the Emperor was a great applause moment, the dyad unified against the ultimate evil. For the most part it was fantastic...until The Yeetening. Two things annoy me about the remainder of the conflict against Palpatine. One, Rey and Ben should have destroyed Palpatine together. If Rey could do it on her own then what the hell did she need Ben for? He could’ve sat out the rest of the movie at Starbucks and remained alive while Rey killed Palps on her own. There’s no point to their combined power because it wasn't necessary. Two, while poor redeemed I-turned-back-to-the-light Ben was crawling up the pit with no help from anyone, every good guy we ever knew of in Star Wars, even from the cartoons, is giving a voice over pep talk to Rey. (It seems cheap too since we don’t see the characters. Avengers Endgame did this kind of thing far better.) How about if the pep talk was given to the BOTH of them? That Anakin Skywalker, the man Ben had idolized, had time to say “wakey-wakey” to his tormentor’s granddaughter and not his own grandson is appalling. The third thing is while Darth Vader defeated Palpatine with the love for his son and his long-gone wife, Rey defeats Palpatine simply with power. Rey and Ben’s love for each other could’ve been the force that defeats the Sith once and for all but for some reason it doesn’t occur to Abrams and Terrio.

I could’ve forgiven most of this--the jar of Snickles and all--had they got the resolution right. But they didn’t.

ROTJ and ROTS’s endings were masterful. ROTJ gives you an idea of what trajectory our heroes were likely to follow: Han and Leia were going to end up together, Luke was going to bring forth the next generation of Jedi. ROTS sets up Obi-Wan on Tatooine, Yoda on Dagobah, Leia on Alderaan, Luke on Tatooine, Darth Vader on a Star Destroyer, and poor Padmé on her way to Star Wars Heaven. I have no idea what happens to Finn. Maybe he’ll train with Rey. Maybe he’ll go to college. Maybe he’ll backpack through Europe. I have no idea. His story just stops. Same deal with Poe. Aside from getting shot down by Zorii, what’s he going to do? The film gives zero indication. It goes from the Free Hugs session to Rey squatting at the old Lars homestead.

The biggest crimes though occur to Ben and Rey. Ben’s death sucked all of the air out of the film. Yes, it’s beautiful that Ben loved Rey so much and so selflessly he was willing to surrender his life for hers. It’s beautiful that it never mattered to Ben who Rey was, whether it was “nobody” in the last movie or the granddaughter of his tormentor/enemy in this one. Had the Palpatine concept been there all along, there would’ve been something sweet about healing the rift originating in the prequels. But I wanted Ben to live. I wanted for once for someone to address the issue of atonement but Terrio and Abrams were too lazy to bother. If The Grinch could be redeemed AND find atonement with those he wronged in a 30 minute Christmas special with commercials, then why not Ben Solo in a 150-minute movie?

I could have lived with a sacrifice arc though had it been handled correctly. But they flubbed it big time. The sacrifice isn’t honored at all. He just dies, he vanishes as Leia’s body vanishes, and he’s “never to be seen again.” Or mentioned. Rey barely reacts on camera. It’s as though reviving Ben from certain death, choosing good over evil, making a valiant attempt to save his girlfriend armed only with a blaster, and giving his life for hers weren’t valued by anyone. The movie didn’t give a damn. When Vader died in ROTJ, he at least had final words with Luke who then burns Vader’s remains on a pyre. We see Anakin restored to his true self join the Force Ghost crew at the end of the movie. We got none of this with Ben.

It’s also the most frustrating and disappointing disruption of a romantic arc since 1980′s “Somewhere In Time.” In that film, Christopher Reeve travels back to 1912 and finds true love with Jane Seymour. Everything is going great and Reeve’s character has made the choice to stay in that time and marry Seymour. Then he pulls out a 1979 penny and is sent “back to the future” as Seymour screams. At least that film though had the decency to reunite the love birds in the afterlife. Which might explain why the movie still has a cult following to this day. Tragic love stories always make sure there’s some kind of catharsis for the audience. Rose takes Jack’s name, lives her life as he asked her to do for him, tells his story, and reunites with him when she dies. Romeo and Juliet are united in death and the healing of their respective houses begins. Even Padmé got a state funeral and had the legacy of her children. There was no such catharsis for Rey and Ben.

Rey ends up right where she started: alone and in the desert. She got the Dorothy ending, there’s no place like home. But the difference is Dorothy is a child not yet ready for the big scary world and the answers to her problems weren’t out there but right where she was. Rey is a grown woman. She should’ve been treated like one. Instead she is deprived of her lover/soulmate and while such a separation should have been painful, it doesn’t even register. She has a “found family” but they’re not there with her. She’s in a home others tried to escape from, haunted by ghosts instead of being among those she loves. Taking the Skywalker name seems tacked on, as though they realized if the name is to live on somebody needed to take it. Why not then just have made her Han and Leia’s or Luke’s daughter in the first place? It’s worse when you remember it’s a Palpatine who’s usurping the name. Or when you realize she’s still hiding who she is.

Here’s what would’ve been better. Rey tells the Resistance about the pure selflessness of the Skywalkers and she wants that to be the core value of the new Jedi going forward, where every new student was going to learn their story. Then we see her anywhere but Tatooine, happy and surrounded by students of all ages. Maybe Finn training too. She sees the approving Force ghosts of Leia, Luke, and Anakin. Then Ben, clearly a different entity, materializes beside her.

Or something, anything other than what we got.

It’s as though they kept making story decisions without giving any thought at all to their implications. They tried to do too much while being lazy about it. They went for expedience--copy pasting ROTJ when convenient--over meaning.

The ending accomplishes what no other Star Wars film has done to me in 42 years of being a fan...it broke my heart and fulfilled my worst suspicions about where the ST was going to end up, largely due to its deflating ending and terrible denouement. It leaves for me and many other fans a big gaping open wound, not closure.

Ultimately the sequel trilogy’s biggest flaw is that there clearly was no plan. What we got was a billion dollar game of exquisite cadaver with no real design for characters, their arcs, the story, or even what message these films are supposed to have. Every decision was based on the director’s own ideas along with corporate meddling. So we get conflicting ideas and blatant spackling over what the last director didn’t like. Was Kylo Ren meant to be a guy we love to hate or a lost boy we want to come home? Was Rey a heroine we can all aspire to be or a lost princess of darkness? What the hell was the point of Finn or Poe? What does this add to the saga overall aside from more stuff? Who are these films even for, old OT fans or young fans? I believe it’s this lack of a plan that has generated so much confusion and bitter internet wars among fandom.

#reylo #tros review #spoilers #rey #ben solo #kylo ren #ben solo deserved better #rey deserved better #we all deserved better

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carrie-organa · 7 years ago

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Thoughts on the TLJ spoilers

So I read the spoilers, one from reddit today and another from a tumblr post about a month ago, and I have some thoughts. Discussion of possible spoilers under the tag.

We’ll start with the more recent reddit plot “spoilers” because I…wow.

“rey = palpatine” this is actually said on both speculations but if Rey isn’t a skywalker/solo then I’m more inclined to believe that she is Rey Nobody. The tumblr post did offer more evidence, in that it described a real scene in which Rey’s dad is a stormtrooper. Unclear how they get to her being a palpatine, it’s the more out there theory between the three popular ones and I just…I don’t get the gut feeling about it that I do the others. I’m disinclined to believe it.

“kylo and rey are the most powerful force users ever” I don’t know how they’d even establish this and it just seems too on the nose. They’re powerful for sure, and obviously they’re going to work together, but the whole yin and yang thing only works so long as it doesn’t turn the two characters into the Wonder Twins. Disinclined to believe it. This isn’t mentioned in the older tumblr post.

“Luke no longer sees himself as a jedi” even though Rian Johnson has said that the title refers to Luke. They could be lying I guess but come on. Luke may be out of the game but he’s still a jedi. That’s the whole point.

“Kylo Ren still sees himself as a Jedi” dude, once again, kylo may be conflicted but I find it very hard to believe that snoke would let him think he’s still a jedi. The whole undercover theory was debunked a while ago. Let’s move on.

Speculation regarding Snoke’s motivations. More inclined to believe just because we haven’t heard anything about it. Plus, it seems like the kind of tragic thing that RJ would do. Might be true, might not.

“Star Forge is now canon” one of those common sense leaps, perhaps?

“Kylo finds Rey and Luke by reaching out to Rey in the Force” this is definitely something that’s going to happen but again - Adam filmed in Ireland and since the First Order doesn’t have the map, he has to get there somehow.

“Poe goes extremist, but sees the error of his ways” the selling point of TLJ is that “the lines are blurred” Poe is so committed to the cause that the only way to blur those lines for him is to make him go too far. Not exactly a leap but it definitely will happen

Points about the Resistance at Crait are, again, pretty common sense.

“Luke wield’s Vader’s lightsaber, but isn’t evil” I guess this is possible, because Luke needs a saber and it doesn’t seem like Rey builds her own, but also it just doesn’t ring true for me. There is so much dark energy surrounding that saber that I don’t know if Luke would glorifiy Vader by using it. But I suppose RJ could do it. So maybe.

“Kylo’s saber is purple” well since purple sabers are generally used by jedi with closer ties to the dark side, could be true, but anyone with a working knowledge of jedi lore and sabers could make up this plausible headcanon.

How Kylo destroyed the temple showed up in both posts. The accident, and Luke sending him away in his grief, just seems accurate. Especially given the Bloodline plot with Leia’s secret. I think it’s true. It makes Kylo more relatable and tragic, enough to make GA find him redeemable. I like it, I hope it’s true.

Rey killing her parents accidentally also is cringey but I guess could be a thing. I’m disinclined to believe it though.

Both posts mention Leia dying, which seems to have been debunked by basically every cast interview. KK herself, and Mark more recently, said that 9 was going to be Carrie’s movie. They’ve had to rework a lot of the script, they wouldn’t be making as much of a deal about giving her proper closure in 9 if she died in 8. I think Leia lives.

The Finn speculations are entertaining but I’m not sure I see him becoming the leader of the resistance, especially because of Laura Dern’s character. Finn winning the fight with Phasma but sparing her seems likely, just because of who Finn is. Also Gwen is awesome so they should keep her.

Rose being Force Sensitive AND a skywalker is too much. If someone is Luke’s kid it’s Rey, as much as I’d rather her not be.

“BB8 is the one who makes Poe see the error of his ways” uhhh, BB8 does it? Not like, Finn or Leia or basically anyone else. I love BB8 too but imagine that disaster of an emotional scene with BB8 beeping and Oscar Isaac crying like “yeah buddy i don’t know who i am anymore either”

The running joke about Chewbacca naming his porg makes me smile, so I hope it’s a thing.

“Ben turns on Snoke when Snoke asks him to kill Rey” I believe it, especially given Daisy and Adam training together and the increasing likelihood of the throne room fight. They need a motivation, Kylo needs to be redeemed and the way he does that is by saving Rey. Once again - kinda common sense if you’ve been paying attention.

There’s some stuff about the ancient Jedi believing in some kind of rule of twos thing but…idk doesn’t seem legit and it’s too on the nose.

“When Ben and Rey kiss, it literally creates life” BRO. Bro. They’re not going to kiss. Anybody’s feelings about reylo not withstanding, in the previous movie he did forcibly interrogate her. How much character growth can someone do in 2 hr and 45 minutes to make that make sense? It doesn’t, and I hope it doesn’t happen, even as a fan of Kylo and someone who doesn’t mind reylo.

Hux becoming the leader of the First Order after assassinating Snoke. I don’t buy that they spend all of TFA hyping this dude only to turn around and kill him in the second movie. Hux gets a bigger role, definitely, especially when Kylo defects, but I don’t think he assassinates Snoke. Yet.

“Luke stays out of the fight. But he doesn’t hesitate to defend himself.” I…yes bro (sorry for assuming your gender, reddit user, but come on) Luke doesn’t want to be in the fight. I’m seeing him as a cooler Yoda. Will fuck you up but is grumpy about it.

So in conclusion, this reddit speculation is as a whole, full of shit, mostly because of the reylo kiss, leia dying, and the whole spiel about jedi/ force soulmates.

Thanks for coming to my ted talk and if you want to read a TLJ speculation that actually seems legit go visit this tumblr post

#tlj spoilers #tlj speculation #star wars

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wonderfulworldofmichaelford · 7 years ago

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Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi review

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR THE NEW STAR WARS MOVIE, AS GIVING MY HONEST OPINION ON THE WHOLE THING IS NOT SOMETHING I’M CAPABLE OF DOING WITHOUT DISCUSSING THE WHOLE PLOT. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Star Wars is a franchise very near and dear to my heart. Ever since I was a little boy I’ve been watching these films, filled with a sense of wonder and excitement as I was whisked off to a galaxy far, far away. I always found myself to be an anomaly among Star Wars fans, as I’ve managed to find enjoyment in the first seven movies; even the prequels are films I don’t really hate, and as derivative as The Force Awakens was it was still a lot of fun. So when I heard how incredibly divisive The Last Jedi was, so divisive that half the fanbase was petitioning to have it stricken from canon while the other half was praising it as one of the best Star Wars movies to date, I figured this would be yet another example of me ending up enjoying a Star Wars movie that was controversial among fans.

I was wrong. Kind of.

I was really disappointed by this movie… and I was really disappointed because a lot of this movie really is as good as some people are saying. I totally see why this is the most divisive Star Wars film to date; there are just just so many great moments interspersed with so many boneheaded decisions, that I can see why anyone would love or hate this. I don’t know if I’m really in either camp. I don’t know how to feel at all. And so, in a break from the norm, I’m going to skip the plot summary here, and I am going to do a sort of bullet point list of the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of this movie and my reasonings for why I liked or disliked said points. It’s a bit of a departure from the norm, I know, but so is this movie.

And again, before we get into it… MASSIVE SPOILERS BELOW:

The Good

Luke Skywalker: One of the absolute best aspects of the movie is Luke. Mark Hamill is at the top of his game here, delivering a very complex performance of a bitter, jaded Luke who has failed in a deeply profound way. It is revealed HE created Kylo Ren in a moment of typical Skywalker impulsiveness, and has had to live with this failure for years. He also gets a lot of funny moments, such as in the recreation of the ending of The Force Awakens; after being handed the lightsaber by Rey, he pauses for a few moments, then chucks the lightsaber over his shoulder before walking away. This really sets the tone for how his character is going to be for the whole film. Then there’s his final showdown with Kylo Ren at the end, which is pretty awesome in and of itself, especially considering… Luke was never there. He was astral projecting from half a galaxy away. Fucking. Awesome. Of course, the toll of this ends up with Luke becoming one with the Force… and while this disappointed me at first, the gorgeous final shot of Luke looking at those two suns before vanishing, perfectly bookending his journey… it was beautiful. I can accept it, even if it hurts. Luke’s portrayal here in the film may be divisive to some fans, but not to me.

Princess Leia: I have absolutely nothing bad to say about Carrie Fisher’s performance. Nothing. This is the last time we’ll get to see her in Star Wars, and she gave it her all. And, best of all, we FINALLY get to see her use the force in the most epically gonzo way you could ever imagine. She uses the Force to survive in the vacuum of space and fly back to safety. Leia could have easily been killed off at that point too, which makes this all the more awesome. Almost every scene she was in had me tearing up, particularly her final interaction with Luke, in which he says “Nobody is ever truly gone.” He’s right. Carrie Fisher and Leia will always be with us, in our hearts, in our memories… God, I’m crying just writing this, time to move on….

Poe: It was good that Oscar Isaac convinced J. J. Abrams to let Poe Dameron live, because boy does he really bring a lot to the table here. Hotheaded, reckless, but with an indomitable spirit and his heart truly in the right place, Poe is the heroic rebel he deserved to be in the previous movie, but never got a chance to be. Not much more to say other than he was great here.

Snoke: Look, I’m a sucker for Andy Serkis. Snoke was cool, creepy, mysterious, and one of the most nightmarishly powerful Force users in the franchise. He had that massive Star Destroyer, he had that gold robe, he had that fucked up face… and in his first scene here he basically calls out Kylo Ren for being a whiny little bitch and tells him to take off his stupid mask. Snoke is a fucking baller… which is why what happens to him two thirds of the way through the film pisses me off (but we’ll get to that later). Trust me, I was fully expecting to find Snoke a massive letdown, but instead I felt more like the movie let down one of the most intriguing antagonists Star Wars has produced in a while.

The Praetorian Guard: On the subject of Snoke, his space samurai ninja laser guards are nothing short of awesome. Following in the footsteps of the legendary stormtrooper with the testicular fortitude to fight off a lightsaber-wielding Finn with nothing but a stun baton and sheer chutzpah, these guys steal the show in their single awesome fight scene, in which together they manage to nearly kill Rey and Kylo Ren. While that might not seem as badass as one regular stormtrooper against a lightsaber-wielding Finn, please recall Rey and Finn are both powerful Jedi who were both trained, however briefly, by some of the most powerful Force users in the galaxy. The fact these guys survived more than ten seconds is nothing short of impressive.

Vice Admiral Holdo’s heroic sacrifice: While Holdo herself, as a character, is… well… pretty sloppy and poorly done overall, her final moments are perhaps the greatest heroic sacrifice ever put to film. Faced against Snoke’s massive ship, which for the record is the width of the state of Rhode Island, and seeing the fleeing rebels get blasted to bits, she turns her ship around, aims it at Snoke’s ship, and activates lightspeed. What follows is one of the most epic and gorgeous shots of the saga; it’s completely devoid of sound, just the sight of Snoke’s ship crippled and the other Star Destroyers bisected. The only reason the scene was silent was likely because they couldn’t get the rights to “Rules of Nature,” which would be the only acceptable thing to play over such an incredible moment.

Yoda: Motherfucking Yoda appears, of all people. Voiced by motherfucking Frank Oz, of all people. And he’s an actual puppet! Of all things! This is the Yoda we all know and love, and even after being dead for decades the little guy is still the biggest baller who ever lived, calling down lightning from the heavens and chastising Luke for being a doofus. Boy was this an unexpected appearance, but damn if it wasn’t a welcome one.

Captain Canady and Paige: The commander of the Dreadnought, I’m pretty sure Canady was the only competent member of the First Order in the entire film. He only appears in the opening scene of course, since as a bad guy he’s required to die, but he really steals the show there alongside the heroic rebel Paige who manages to blow him up (which he seems to gracefully accept in his final moments). Seeing the hypercompetent badasses of both sides is a great start, I must say.

Kylo Ren and Rey: These two finally feel like a proper antagonist and protagonist. They’re very fleshed out and given quite a bit more depth here, with a lot of their more controversial aspects toned down. Ren no longer throws tantrums and acts like a Darth Vader wannabe, Rey gets her ass handed to her a few times and is frequently tempted by the allure of darkness… overall, this movie handles them both a lot better than the previous film which, while not bad, was more of a groundwork for them than anything.

Hux becoming the First Order’s Butt Monkey: I don’t have much to say about this beyond… it’s funny to see Hux get slapped around by everyone.

The Bad

Rose: Rose was truly a pointless character. I have nothing good to say about her, she was an utter waste of space, her subplot with Finn wasn’t interesting, her chemistry with him was lacking, her romantic feelings for him are just exacerbated hero worship… she’s quite frankly one of the most annoying characters in the Star Wars canon, and remember that the Ewoks and Jar Jar exist. It’s a real shame her awesome sister died and we got stuck with this schlub for the movie.

DJ getting shafted for screentime: Now DJ himself is a pretty interesting character, adding a shade of gray to the typically black-and-white stories; he even points out the moral ambiguity of the war that’s being fought. Here’s the issue: they write him out of the movie fairly quickly, without him really getting a chance to shine. He has maybe ten, fifteen minutes of screentime before he betrays Finn and Rose and then fucks off, never to be seen again? Fucking lame. Hopefully he can come back in the sequel, because he deserved a lot better.

Finn: He went from being the best new character of the last movie, to… this. It’s not even so much that he’s a bad character now or anything, but John Boyega is given nothing interesting to do here, and Finn’s character just seems stalled. He doesn’t really progress or develop in any way that feels meaningful.

The casino plotline: Rose and Finn go to the casino to find a hacker. Hijinks ensue. Hijinks that end up amounting to nothing at all and actually end up worsening the situation of the rebels. While I do like all the unique aliens that appeared in the casino, it’s not worth it for such an utterly meaningless plotline that ended up hindering rather than helping. Still, this plotline is not nearly as bad as some people make it out to be. It just feels like some of it could have been trimmed, since so little of it ends up mattering.

The Ugly

Killing Snoke: The worst problems of The Last Jedi lie in how they take all the interesting concepts that were teased in The Force Awakens and then just toss them out the window. Case in point: the mysterious, nightmarish Snoke, built up as the successor to Emperor Palpatine and who is established as a Force master able to pull off some wicked moves… is sliced in half two-thirds of the way through the film. Nothing is revealed about who he is or what he had in mind for Kylo beyond the most basic things. Now, one COULD use the excuse that Palpatine was not exactly fleshed out in The Return of the Jedi, and yet he was still a pretty awesome villain… but the issue with that is that Palpatine at this point had three prequels to flesh him out, so saying “Oh that’s how it was in these old movies before we had characterization!” is BULLSHIT. Making an interesting villain and then tossing him aside like he’s nothing is fucking retarded, no matter what way you slice it. Oh, a nd while we’re on the subject…

Phasma: Once again, Phasma is reduced to an utter joke. She actually has a very rich and complex characterization and backstory… seen in comics and prequel novels but not in the movie. In the movie she gets hit with some Bond villain stupidity and is bested by Finn in one of the shortest fight scenes in the movie. And then she (maybe) dies. If this is truly the end for her – which I have my doubts about – then she truly is the poor man’s Boba Fett and an absolute waste off a character.

Rey’s parents: After all the mystery and buildup to who Rey’s parents could be, the rampant speculation driving fans wild as they tried to uncover the answer, after all the teasing from the creators… it’s revealed they were just a couple of lowlife drunks who sold their kid for pocket change. Like this could be an interesting twist – Rey being a nobody is a pretty shocking subversion of audience expectations – but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth for a lot of reasons. It just feels like, on top of the twenty other twists the movie throws at you, like overkill. This big mystery people were theorizing over? Well fuck it, it doesn’t matter.

Killing Admiral Ackabar: Look, I understand why they did it, his actor passed away so the character dies with him… but god, killing one of the most iconic alien characters of the franchise like that just feels really fucking cheap. And then he gets mentioned one time in passing. I GET he was never a major focus or anything, but this is Admiral “IT’S A TRAP!” Ackbar we’re talking about. The fans love this guy, if you’re gonna kill him you could at least afford him some more respect and dignity than getting blown up and then mentioned in passing.

What now: My biggest issue is that, now that all the mysteries of the previous film have been tossed aside or answered anticlimactically… what else is there to do? There’s nothing like at the end of The Empire Strikes Back, where Han was frozen and needed to be saved and Vader was still out there, planning his big move. The movie kinda just… ends. Oooh, the rebellion is alive! Kylo Ren is the Supreme Leader of the First Order now! None of this feels compelling or exciting, none of this feels enticing the same way the cliffhanger at the end of The Empire Strikes Back did, the movie this film is aping quite a bit from. They kinda shot themselves in the foot repeatedly here; maybe they can put some unique spins on the story, but they really ruined a lot of the interesting ideas that were set up in Episode VII. It’s gonna be hard to feel totally interested in whatever comes next unless they have an exceptionally massive selling point, especially now that the Han and Luke are both dead in-universe, while Carrie Fisher’s death means Leia’s role in Episode IX is being removed.

In Conclusion

There is a lot of stuff I loved, and enough stuff that I hated that it keeps me from loving the movie. It’s the epitome of a mixed bag, one you’ll probably either end up loving or hating; maybe you’ll be like me and find it to be a mixed bag as well, but it does seem to be a movie that elicits only the most extreme of responses. Can I recommend this? You know… yeah. As much as I hate a lot of the decisions they went with here, there IS enough of that Star Wars quality to give it a watch. And if nothing else, seeing Carrie Fisher’s final performance is worth the price of admission alone. This movie is dedicated to her, and you know what? With her performance here, this is definitely a film worthy of being dedicated to her memory.

Maybe I need to watch it again to truly like it, or maybe I’ll still dislike it, or maybe I’ll even hate it more. Who really knows? There’s only one thing I know for sure: anyone who signs the petition to remove this film from canon is an absolute waste of oxygen and needs to sit in the corner and reevaluate their life. Get over yourself you fucking losers.

#Review #movie review #Star Wars #The Last Jedi #TLJ #Rey #Kylo Ren #luke skywalker #Jedi #Disney #Snoke #Carrie Fisher #Mark Hamill #Poe #Finn

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