At one point in the movie, Luke warns Rey "this is not going to go the way you think." The movie then proceeds to go exactly where you would think any Disney movie that is trying to appeal to all ages and demographics and be the least offensive thing possible, would go. The movie continually promises you that it will rise above and show you that it's more than a Disney kids movie. Surely they'll do something interesting. Surely this room that Rey senses and says she sees in her dreams will lead somewhere, right?! Surely this connection between Rey and Kylo will mean SOMETHING later in the film. Maybe, just maybe Luke is right and this will NOT go the way you expect your average blockbuster to go. Surely they'll take these characters somewhere interesting! But no, this guys exactly where you'd expect a Marvel movie to go.
This "hope prevails, good guys prevail without losing anything" might have been serviceable in any other dumb action movie, but this movie set itself up to be so much more. There's so much talk of Rey turning to the dark side or Kylo turning to the light, and that scene where Kylo killed Snoke and fought alongside Rey was fantastic. I remember thinking "wow! Nice job movie!" I honestly believed Kylo managed to defeat the dark side, and redeem himself, but alas, the movie ends with a bombastic climax where Rey is the hero and Kylo is the villain. Nothing changed from the beginning. The movie set up a connection between these two, showing them communicating with eachother through the force, and I remember sitting there thinking "damn! This is interesting stuff. I wonder what the connection between these two is! Do they go way back?" But it turns out Snoke was manipulating the two because he knew that it would lead to Rey coming over and trying to convert Kylo. Make a twist 101: a twist shouldn't make things less interesting. It turns out there's no connection between the two. Kylo doesn't turn to the light. Rey doesn't turn to the darkness. It's just a rubbish climax. I'm not excited for the next movie because Disney refuses to take this characters anywhere interesting.
It was blatantly obvious that Luke Skywalker is in this film to make Disney movie without an attempt to properly use him. Rey doesn't learn anything from Luke. She was great with the force in TFA and she is every bit as good at it in this film. I don't see why she needed to be trained by Luke except for Disney to put butts in seats. All that talk about "the force is more than just making things fly, it's what binds things together" is hollow feel-good bull crap that amounts to nothing. That Yoda scene was also bizarre and I still have no idea what sense to make of it.
I wasn't invested at all in Finn's character: he has no depth and no character development. I honestly don't know why he has to be in these movies: he doesn't add much except an opportunity to pad out the film. I didn't care at all when Captain Phasma showed.
One of the worst things you can do in a movie is remind viewers of how better it could be. In an ideal world, Disney would care more about telling a compelling story instead of tying it up in the blandest and safest way possible, something this movie constantly reminds you of. The Marvel movies are forgiven for their predictable stories because i) those movies know what they are don't promise anything else, leaving little room for disappointment and ii) those movies are built differently. They're built like a cinematic universe, where the joy is seeing the characters crossover, exploring different genres and themes and spending more time with these characters throughout films. This Star Wars trilogy is standalone. It's a self-contained story. The appeal of these movie isn't crossovers or anything - it should be telling a good, self-contained story. Which this movie doesn't do, because they have to appease as many people possible. But honestly, it even made me less excited for Infinity War. I know people are going to go into IW with higher expectations being the culmination of everything the MCU has led up to, but it's going to be just as risky as your average Disney movie - which isn't much.
I could go into the overuse of humour, the lack of interesting action sequences or the forgettable score which is just a rehash of previous Star Wars movies, but my biggest issues are all the missed opportunities that would've ACTUALLY excited me for the next movie.
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