#let it be known if you come into my inbox defending reylo i will not be answering

[stilesssolo]

So what did you think about Rise of Skywalker? 👀

Alright it’s been like a month so I feel like I can talk about this now? Be warned, spoilers ahead

So like honestly I’ve seen so much backlash over the movie and really I… enjoyed it?? Did I have some issues with it? Yes. Was it the most groundbreaking film ever? Obviously not, but like… has Star Wars ever been completely groundbreaking? I know and love the original trilogy dearly, ESB is my favorite movie ever, but like… obviously the technology and world building was revolutionary and completely shaped the genre. That’s not what I mean. But like… let’s not forget that when we are introduced to Luke he is playing vroom vroom with his toy spaceships and complaining that he can’t go to Tosche station. These movies have never been known for being like, the deepest, most meaningful, highest quality films ever made? I feel like people’s expectations were way too high? 

I really loved all the parts where Rey and Finn and Poe were adventuring. (Still a little pissed they erased Poe’s Rebel parents’ backstory and made him a drug dealer but whatever.) I loved Leia actually being shown as force sensitive. I loved the camaraderie and the new characters and how all the parts of the story seemed relevant (like I loved Rose in TLJ but her and Finn’s plot felt SO irrelevant.) I thought it was fun and fast paced and yeah there were some things that came WAY out of left field (which I totally think is because JJ went back and had to rewrite stuff Rian set up, so if they had worked together to make the trilogy more coherent it would have been much better… like the Rey being a Palpatine thing seemed SO random) but honestly I enjoyed it overall. 

My biggest complaint is with Kyle Ron and I knew that was gonna be it going in. Like, I knew they were gonna redeem him. Do I care about him at all? No. Do I think he deserved to be redeemed? Not really. I think they didn’t do a *terrible* job with his redemption arc but I still feel like he didn’t really deserve the chance. Even when we got his whole backstory and found out Palpatine was manipulating him and blah blah I was like okay… cool motive still murder?? If you wanna tell a story about someone being brainwashed to be evil and do  terrible things and then choosing the light for themselves and becoming a better person all from their own free will, like… Finn is RIGHT THERE, Disney. Especially with the addition of Janna and the other ex stormtroopers? I feel like that had a lot of untapped potential to be a really cool thing and instead we were focusing on angsty emo white man #46. That story’s tired, dude. Tell me something else. 

Needless to say I hated the R/eylo kiss at the end. I thought it was such fan service and so forced and I feel bad for anyone who has suffered from physcial or mental abuse having to sit in that theater and watch everything that Kylo did to Rey be erased completely– and not only that, but for her to forgive and reward her abuser with a kiss. Honest to god as much as I wanted her to just straight up wreck him (girl why did you heal him after you stabbed him. Shoulda just left him there) I think that the moment would have been more powerful if she’d just taken his hand. I think their relationship would have been better if it had more sibling vibes (or was just nonexistent, but I was self aware enough to know we weren’t gonna get that at all going into this movie.) 

But yeah. All in all I thought it was fun and enjoyable. There were moments I really loved and moments where I sobbed and moments where I was angry but I truly did like it a lot. I’d give it like… a 7 out of 10 probably? That would have gone up to an 8.5 if Disney weren’t COWARDS and let Finn and Poe kiss at the end. 1.5 seconds of two women we don’t know and have never seen before kissing after the battle does not count as LGBTQ+ representation, Disney. Do better. 

(Also, in conclusion: my favorite part of the movie was when Harrison Ford appeared on screen for about sixty seconds and my sister turned to me and went “every single Disney+ subscription paid for this one singular scene.” Thanks Baby Yoda for bringing Han Solo back.)