in the sense of the story Rose is given an important role (find the weak point)--but it's one she executes silently and off-camera.

"never be afraid of who you are" some of these Leia bits really cohere in an uncanny way. Others...eh. Like the little faux-conflict Rey and Leia have about leaving.

They should have just cut it to bare minimum and not shown off.

but let's not forget either, the only people who "knew" that Tarkin in ROGUE ONE was "bad special effects" were people who knew that Peter Cushing was dead.

Ren getting his helmet reforged is a good beat showing him losing humanity, like when the Terminators put on sunglasses. And cutting off the nice alien's head is a good YICK moment. He's palpably fallen after the Emperor's temptation.

The Pasaana festival is nice "what we are fighting for" moments that are too seldom in Star Wars.

It's enough to make me wish *this* planet got blown up, for pathos.

the "they fly now" scene...yeah it's dumb and bad. moving on.

"you didn't say my name sir but I'm all right." Tony Daniels BRINGS it for this one.

i like that this is the star war where they HEAL the Obligatory Monster

the whole Ochi mythology is pretty goofy but I like the idea that he hurt the snake and the snake killed him

in the novel Rey mind-tricks Finn into letting her confront Ren alone. I'm pretty sure the movie directly contradicts this because you always hear the mind-trick sound on the soundtrack and you don't here. I also don't think the actors are playing that. That Is Good.

i have to think they gave Ren a different ship cause it was hard to buy Rey cutting through those thicc struts on the Silencer (plus they are full of missiles)

I go back and forth which ship I like better...it's kind of a wash. The Silencer is more unique but it also looks more specialized, whereas the Whisper is clearly a modified TIE/sf (which is a bomb-ass ship) which fits with it just being Ren's ride here.

I like the Force duel that Rey can only win by going super dark side!

I dislike the death fake-out(s).

I'll leave off here for now. I think the blocked-memory setup with 3PO was a really clever idea that could have streamlined the story and let Tony Daniels play some really interesting material...and somehow neither happened.

ok I'm back in it. as much as the "Ochi of Bestoon" stuff is real awkward (Jedi Hunter? But not an Inquisitor? Who was he supposed to be working for from Luke's POV, Snoke?) there's something to having Rey fly around in her parents' killers ship, mythically speaking.

the theme of unity is returned to throughout, the strength in the main trio becoming the strength of the Galaxy Fleet, with a specific motif. nice follow-through and resolution from the end of TLJ.

kindness and respect for droids and acknowledgement of *their* inner life is serviced by the BB-8 / D-0 story

HOLY SHIT THERE'S A *T-18* JOKE

KING SHIT, FAIR PLAY JJ

Zorii's first scene makes no sense and really kicks off the movie's "character bloat" problem. Sorry but it's true.

Wow, "Rothgar Deng" gets nearly as big a close-up as Cyborg John Williams

Babu Frik is...fine? idk why people went crazy over the lil guy.

in the "Terminator 2" category of "stuff that is genuinely good but wrecked by preview spam"
-"taking one last look at my friends"
-the Galaxy Fleet

Also the Knights of Ren are totally fine? They are silent and creepy and track the good guys then go out in a wild fight scene. WHAT DID PEOPLE WANT ANYWAY

Zorri "I tried to capture and sell you but got beat down" was simply not the character to give the "there's more of us" theme

running and gunning through the Star Destroyer is what I always want Star Wars to be

again the whole "TRoS is embarrassed by TLJ" idea is belied by the fact that they had every excuse to drop the Force Bond stuff after Snoke's death and instead they super lean in and it's gold

interesting parallel that Rey and the Falcon were both looked-for and yet still lost on Jakku...

all of the "temptation" scenes are actually better than the ones in other films.
-Palp doesn't actually offer Luke anything he *wants* in RotJ
-This is fixed in RotS but through kind of unclear and stretch-y plot mechanics

whereas in TRoS:
-Kylo to Rey: you have to join me or the Emperor will find and kill you
-Palp to Rey: you have to join me because then you can give the order to save your friends from my cult

the tension is better & you feel like Rey actually has to find her way out of the trap

"People keep telling me they know me. I'm afraid no one does."
HELL of a goddamn line, both textually and meta-textually.

it's...not clear at all why the Falcon's landing gear would be damaged

and I know I said that I'd avoid counterfactuals but it's BLOODY INSANE that Jannah and crew aren't in Stormtrooper gear as this would get you a nice tension pump fake and a boatload of "show-don't-tell"

also I have said, and I stand by, the fact that this movie goes way too INDIANA JONES with all the MacGuffins

but

the bit with the dagger does MAKE SENSE when you consider that the greatest power of the Force HAS ALWAYS BEEN PROPHECY.

so no nobody stood there with an easel and made the dagger while they were looking at the Death Star ruin, Palpatine or one of his cultists just used Space Scrying and designed an elaborate pathway back to Exegol in case he wanted to send an agent, like Ochi, out.

this doesn't really explain how all the Destroyers can get back but they must have Wayfinders of their own because anything else would be quite stupid.

In retrospect and with hindsight Finn telling Jannah about the Force is supposed to be the payoff of the "secret" business but it doesn't play and it should have been dropped.

the movie introduces an idea that it doesn't have time to explore about the Force...

...that it's actually trying to break Stormtrooper conditioning. this is FASCINATING and suggests that Finn's defection is actually the inciting incident of the entire trilogy. (Poe doesn't escape, Rey never leaves Jakku or is killed by the FO, Leia is killed by Starkiller Base)

I think there's an actual skull in one of the Stormtrooper helmets on Death Star II but I'm afraid to go back and check X_X

john williams going FUCKING INSANE with the RotJ musical callbacks

Leia and Dark Rey both saying "Don't be afraid of who you are" is highkey dat good Force shit

watch the blocking: Ren ONLY gets and destroys the wayfinder because Rey has not properly confronted her Dark side yet.

JESUS Adam Driver builds in a shudder after Rey says "Give it to me" that plays like SHE ALMOST MIND-TRICKED HIM

here's my read on the duel: there are a couple of "yin-yang" moments like in RotS where they can't hurt each other because their movies are too similar. Rey tires first, which is good for Ren because he wants a stalemate--turn not kill.

and then the Leia stuff and blah blah.

there's a lot of blood on the Anakin saber but it still makes sense that it's Kylo's saber that nearly kills Ben

what do you even say about Ford + Driver Mk. 2?

if you need An Explanation say that the image of Han is how Ben Solo's spirit reasserts himself over Kylo Ren. Or don't. It just plays.

"what she stood for, what she fought for, that's not gone."

"do you honor what they fight for?"

"I love you."

"I know."

"Dad, [I'm sorry]."

"I know."

now that the Sith Final Order is touching off let's hit them:
-I really dig em once I realized that they're the Second Foundation!
-I suppose Palpatine can teach people how to come to Exegol too per his lines to Pryce. I mean he's outing himself to the galaxy anyway.

Hux would probably hate that he's the only reason the galaxy gained its freedom (he leaks the presence of the old-style Destroyers, Rose finds their weakness). GOOD.

Given that Star Destroyers are fairly tough to kill once their shields are up, that they can jump from anywhere to anywhere, and they've got those super-kyber cannons (probably mined out of Ilum) they are pretty much the best superweapon yet. Tech gets smaller and more elegant.

it's still not really clear why you'd target Kijimi. Apart from it being literally the laziest thing Pryde could think of, it having been the planet he was orbiting at the time!

"A Jedi's weapon deserves more respect" is a brilliant line. It shows Luke's growth (and knowing irony), it's him channeling Yoda's snark, AND it's a DIRECT callback to Obi-Wan's running gag in Episode II! If this makes ya mad I got no patience for ya.

plus Rey burning the TIE is the same retreat from duty as Luke burning the tree. He was wrong, she was wrong, and she "grows beyond."

"SOME THINGS ARE STRONGER THAN BLOOD."

That's IT! That's the whole THERE there!

Leia can train the granddaughter of her greatest enemy and not say a word because it's bupkis! Rey is the hero because of her choices.

people kind of dismiss this but it's both a big deal and an important message. the whole idea of the Skywalker Saga was supposed to be about Literal Blood Family, but then it's not!

So yeah. There's power in her blood. She's an X-Man. But everybody EXCEPT Luke and Leia thinks it's CORRUPT power. But Palpatine's choices in fact cannot dictate her choices. There's no such thing as Evil Power, only power used for evil or good.

Leia trusts the daughter of the devil to save the galaxy and complete the work she's been doing for her whole life. Cause she earned it.

yeah, the bit with the X-wing plays for me, what of it

the whole galaxy following Red Five into battle because they believe in the Jedi, WHAT OF IT

Rey wearing the Rebel helmet again!

"They'll come if they know there's hope." THAT being the difference between the Battle of Crait and the Battle of Exegol. It's an important thread to pull through and not just forget. Poe's journey toward faith >>>> the spice smuggling thing

"What our mothers and fathers fought for" A+++ line for Poe given his mother and his father fought Death Star II

I'm also a damn fool for the R2+Poe team up.

ANYWAY. "taking both swords to Exegol" reveals Rey's battle as being a spiritual one. Even as a husk, the emperor can destroy her in any physical contest. She has to confront temptation and redeem the Jedi. It's a symbolic battle, not an assassination attempt.

that poor B-wing getting decapitated is still more than that ship got to do in JEDI

ok it's so easy to miss that I actually missed it but Finn sees through Pryde's strategy with straight-up JEDI SHIT which is actually a great payoff for *waves hand* like everything

cavalry charge on a Star Destroyer is more good-ass shit that the preview campaign wrecked

they are pretty restrained with McDiarmid here. there's less of him than in like...any prequel, or even JEDI

I suppose yall gonna tell me that a faction that seems numberless and terrifying but is actually only intimidating due to their unity and is only one planet out of the whole galaxy is not thematically or culturally relevant.

The FO are channers, the Sith are proper Nazis

"you can't be a Jedi because you're my {grand}daughter."

Ben doing the "don't look shot" and the "shrug of kicking your ass" are my religion

REY TELEKINETICALLY FLINGS FIRED BLASTER SHOT INTO GUARDS HOLY MY SHIT

difference between Thrawn and Palpatine:
Thrawn: "oh noes, this one thing I had no way to know about is my undoing"
Palpatine: "oh noes, that secret you were keeping from me in order to defeat me once and for all is YOUR UNDOING"

odd note: the Resistance has switched to using Greek letters to designate squadrons, just like the old TIE FIGHTER game!

it's honestly nice that Lando and the Galaxy Fleet are THE tide-turning moment

NABOO FIGHTERS

Palpatine zapping the Galaxy Fleet is maybe like one beat too many in the general back-and-forth. Endor didn't need a beat like that.

these days the "big blue beam in the sky" is a bit overplayed!

!

DED

so, just like in RotS, if Palpatine had just STOPPED trying to kill someone with lightning for five fucking seconds he would have kept his face

but he can't, because...he's just the Dark Side.

we should also appreciate the First Order Star Destroyer shooting ITSELF down...because of Finn.

I don't really know why Rey just keels over. It's like "this moment needs to happen, therefore it happened."

that said, it IS a little bit important that unlike Plagueis, Sidious, and Vader, Ben Solo learns how to save others from death.

Just not himself.