WARNING - SPOILERS
There were lots of pros and cons to this episode of Star Wars. I went to see this movie because I love the original Episodes IV, V, and VI and have seen all the later movies, and taking into account that there has been a Star Wars film out around Christmas every year, it has become almost a tradition to go watch them in theater. Also, I think that half the people that saw the movie went just to be able to see him because of the disappointment of Episode VII only featured Luke Skywalker in the last minute of the movie and he didn’t even say anything (don’t get me wrong though, I really liked Episode VII probably even more than VIII). I love going to the Edmonds Theater because they usually have movies playing for longer than other theaters, and the employees are so enthusiastic about Star Wars.
Now, I’ll start off by mentioning the things that I didn’t like about the movie, or the parts where I was just confused. My biggest complaint about the move was the weird scene where Leia uses the force to float back to the spaceship after hers was blown up in an attack. I have no problem with the idea around the scene because she does have the force in her, as it runs in the family. However, I thought the editing was absolutely horrible. The pose they had her in made her look like a witch and also because her eyes were closed it seemed like she was dead anyway. Next, although they were cute, the little bird-like creatures on Ahch-To seemed out of place. The impression I got was that the only reason they were added into the movie was to be cute and were in place of the adored Ewoks. The short comical clips, like the one with Chewbacca roasting one of the birds, were kind of cheap and I feel like they again could have done a much better job if they had just spent a little more time on the details. At the end of the movie where Luke does the teleportation-hologram thing, I was confused. When Kylo Ren touched Luke he went right through him, but when Luke saw Leia in the Resistance hideout, he was able to hold her hand and give her the dice that had belonged to Han Solo. Then, once the Stormtroopers break into the hideout, Kylo is able to pick up the dice. Finally, what surprised me most was the fact that Luke died and Leia didn’t. Because of the unfortunate death of Carrie Fisher, I went into the movie expecting Leia to die, so now I am curious to find out whether in the next movie she will appear at all or if they will use CGI to show her death.
However, despite all of these things I really liked the movie. I love Ray’s character and the has to figure out how to do everything essentially on her own since that’s how she survived growing up. Of course at first it was disappointing that Luke was so pessimistic about the Resistance, but in the end it was cool to see how he helped them escape. Also, it was interesting to see the new aspects of the force that Luke showed or that Rey and Kylo discovered. Their whole connection where they were able to see and speak to each other at random times was confusing, but I think it has to do with how strong the force is within them. I was confused though at the timing of the connections and also why Luke was able to see Kylo at one point when they were talking. One of the scenes that I thought was especially creative visually was when Rey was on Ahch-To in the dark spot where there were all those reflections of herself.
If you like the Star Wars series I would definitely recommend watching the movie. If you haven’t seen the movies, I would recommend watching the whole series before the newest episodes (or at least the original three).
There were lots of pros and cons to this episode of Star Wars. I went to see this movie because I love the original Episodes IV, V, and VI and have seen all the later movies, and taking into account that there has been a Star Wars film out around Christmas every year, it has become almost a tradition to go watch them in theater. Also, I think that half the people that saw the movie went just to be able to see him because of the disappointment of Episode VII only featured Luke Skywalker in the last minute of the movie and he didn’t even say anything (don’t get me wrong though, I really liked Episode VII probably even more than VIII). I love going to the Edmonds Theater because they usually have movies playing for longer than other theaters, and the employees are so enthusiastic about Star Wars.
Now, I’ll start off by mentioning the things that I didn’t like about the movie, or the parts where I was just confused. My biggest complaint about the move was the weird scene where Leia uses the force to float back to the spaceship after hers was blown up in an attack. I have no problem with the idea around the scene because she does have the force in her, as it runs in the family. However, I thought the editing was absolutely horrible. The pose they had her in made her look like a witch and also because her eyes were closed it seemed like she was dead anyway. Next, although they were cute, the little bird-like creatures on Ahch-To seemed out of place. The impression I got was that the only reason they were added into the movie was to be cute and were in place of the adored Ewoks. The short comical clips, like the one with Chewbacca roasting one of the birds, were kind of cheap and I feel like they again could have done a much better job if they had just spent a little more time on the details. At the end of the movie where Luke does the teleportation-hologram thing, I was confused. When Kylo Ren touched Luke he went right through him, but when Luke saw Leia in the Resistance hideout, he was able to hold her hand and give her the dice that had belonged to Han Solo. Then, once the Stormtroopers break into the hideout, Kylo is able to pick up the dice. Finally, what surprised me most was the fact that Luke died and Leia didn’t. Because of the unfortunate death of Carrie Fisher, I went into the movie expecting Leia to die, so now I am curious to find out whether in the next movie she will appear at all or if they will use CGI to show her death.
However, despite all of these things I really liked the movie. I love Ray’s character and the has to figure out how to do everything essentially on her own since that’s how she survived growing up. Of course at first it was disappointing that Luke was so pessimistic about the Resistance, but in the end it was cool to see how he helped them escape. Also, it was interesting to see the new aspects of the force that Luke showed or that Rey and Kylo discovered. Their whole connection where they were able to see and speak to each other at random times was confusing, but I think it has to do with how strong the force is within them. I was confused though at the timing of the connections and also why Luke was able to see Kylo at one point when they were talking. One of the scenes that I thought was especially creative visually was when Rey was on Ahch-To in the dark spot where there were all those reflections of herself.
If you like the Star Wars series I would definitely recommend watching the movie. If you haven’t seen the movies, I would recommend watching the whole series before the newest episodes (or at least the original three).