It's Monday.
I waited exactly four days to post this review, so if you haven't seen this movie yet, then too bad for you lol. But a little disclaimer: there will be spoilers if you haven't seen this movie yet. So from here on out, it's on you if you keep reading past this point.
First I want to say that this movie was AMAZEBALLS!
From the opening moments of this film the special effects and grand scale was put on immediate display. The crashed Star Destroyer that Rey was going through put a nice touch on bridging the old with the new. And when I say the old with the new I mean that Rey was essentially showing how The Empire was no more than a remnant of the past; nice touch there J.J. But from that moment I just knew how much things were going to be on a grand scale. While on Jakku we got to see a lot from Rey's moral conflict with the counting of days on her wall, the clever guest appearance by Simon Pegg & the return of the Millennium Falcon. A lot essentially happened subtly after the no so subtle opening scene with Ren.
To be honest there is just so much that went on in that movie that I'm ready to watch it again. I was so stoked to see all of the events unfolding in typical Star Wars fashion and for a good 2hrs and 40 some odd minutes, I was a kid again. Watching the first meet up between Rey & Finn, Poe & Finn, Poe & Ren, Ren & Rey, the awesome first time that Han, Chewy, Finn and Rey all met, Leia & Han reuniting; there was so much that my mind couldn't take it all at once.
If you're a person coming into these movies with no idea of what went on in the previous films, then you need to start with those. Those movies definitely setup the precursor to everything in this movie. The way that J.J. crafted this movie from being neither just a reboot or sequel in the franchise was nothing short of amazing. he combined new and old together while making sure that the old influenced the new just enough to make the new want to be greater than the old, literally.
Ren is instantly made from this person you feel sorry for to the person who you wanted to see die the most. For a moment there I was counting on Han to do the Han thing and slip away to fight another day, but he didn't and ultimately that's what did him in. The movie literally had everything you wanted in it with a great pace. I'm familiar with J.J.'s style due to the reboot of Star Trek and I was hoping he would bring that style of story telling that kept the foot on the peddle only to slow it down to turn the curves, aka make that all important emotional connection.
While watching this for the first time I didn't have a single feeling of "well that was corny", everything had me in awe. The only gripe I had was with Captain Phasma and the lack of utilizing such a bad ass looking character. But from what I hear is that she's going to have an even bigger and badder role in the future installments, so I'll wait to pass judgement on her character. Lupita Nyong'o as Maz Kanata was pretty awesome as well, providing that Yoda level of wisdom when we needed it the most. Hopefully her character will return with a bang as she had an important role in such a short amount of time. I'm also keen to lean just how she came into possession of Anakin's & Luke's lightsaber.
At the end of they day this movie was the one movie I was looking forward to all year, and it didn't disappoint. In a year when movies have been alright at best, Star Wars transcended that in a big way. Also the fact that there has been so much going on in this country in terms of racial injustices and injustices towards women, J.J. and his team managed to craft roles into subliminal political statements. Where Charlize was kick ass in Mad Max, Daisy excelled at doing the same thing for Star Wars. Speaking of which, her light saber duel is one that needs to be seen, she went all out and left me wanting more.
Feminism 2 - Sexism 0
If you haven't watched any of these movies then I suggest you do so for the sheer fact that this movie bridged the world of new and old together so seamlessly. Great job J.J. and crew, great job. I'm definitely recommending this movie and I also agree that this movie is the best on in the series to date. I'm going to go as far as giving this movie an A+ on my scale because of all of the things it did right. If you've seen it then let me know how you feel about it in the comments below.
Until next time!
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