Man, that movie was crazy. I didn't hate it, but it was quite a mess, and all the course-correcting made me laugh out loud. I really wish they had made this trilogy having a plan from start to finish, because it's clear this style where JJ Abrams sets things up without having any idea where it's going to lead, Rian Johnson taking the reins and doing his own thing, and then Abrams coming back to tie it all together just did not work. I'm surprised it wasn't a complete trainwreck, but it got kind of baffling at times.
Random thoughts
I admit I was a fan of Palpatine quoting his dialogue from Revenge of the Sith. Dumb fanservice, but yeah, I liked it.
I'm truly sorry, I don't mean to be disrespectful, and I know they didn't have much choice, but the scenes early on with Leia were just awkward as hell. It was so distracting and off. You can tell they were just cobbling together random lines from unused footage of her, and it might have been fine in small doses, but there was stuff like the line about droids were it was just unnecessary and strained how believable it was that she could actually be there. It looked like something out of a parody, it was so poorly done.
I agree that the constant shifting of locations in the first part of the movie felt unusual. I didn't dislike those scenes, but it really felt like stuff that should have happened in the last movie. Having various adventures of different plants is great, but feels out of place considering the grand, looming threat occurring in the finale of the trilogy. The best thing about it however is FINALLY seeing Rey, Finn, and Poe actually doing stuff together, something that was completely lacking in the previous films.
I really liked Rey in this movie a lot more than the previous two. Having her struggle with her heritage and her possibly going to the Dark Side was genuinely interesting, and again, it helps that she actually has strong interactions with her friends, who she never really seemed to be that close with in the previous films.
Also this movie is honestly probably the best C3PO has been in the films since the first movie. Funny enough without being too whiny and annoying.
The whole "I told you your parents were nobodies, and what I meant was they PRETENDED to be nobodies" was awful, awful writing. I don't mind Rey being a Palpatine, but stuff like that really hurt the plot.
The whole idea about Hux being the spy could have been great if it was expanded more. Instead he does it for really dumb reasons and then is soon killed. Ends up being one of the most pointless characters in the trilogy.
I really disliked everything about the clues to try and find the Emperor. It felt like something out of a video game. "Find the next macguffin to lead you to the next level and get the macguffing after it". I also think the plot point of the knife being used to point where exactly the wayfinder is on the Death Star is incredibly stupid. Couldn't the angle of the wreckage have changed at any point over the years? I mean, it's floating in an ocean, constantly being hit by waves, it could have shifted for any reason... And I may have missed the specific details about the knife and the person who made it, but did they go to the wreckage, stylized the knife around it, and then leave and be like "Well, if I ever need to find it again at least I have this knife"? It just feels like dumb, "National Treasure" style writing. There's also the fact that they never even use that Wayfinder, so... yeah, completely unnecessary dumb plot points? Could they not have used anything else to move the plot forward?
The reference to the Holdo maneuver as being a "one in a million" shot was another cheap piece of course-correction. I'm kind of glad they did it, but it was still awkward.
Pretty much everything about Rey confronting Palpatine was the worst part of the movie for me. I still don't really understand what his plan was. He says he wanted Rey to kill him and for her to take on his legacy (and spirit?). I thought that was going to be some kind of trick or part of a larger plan or something, but it doesn't matter because then he just steals her and Ben's life force? Why couldn't that just have been his plan in the first place? At least have it be one or the other. It feels like sloppy writing to just have it change what he wants. He's supposed to be Palpatine, the biggest manipulator in the entire series. The one that spends decades on his evil plans. How was any of his aimless plans supposed to work? He wanted Kylo Ren to kill Rey, but apparently it was his plan all along for her to come to him??? And why does he still do the thing where he constantly tells Rey what he wants her to do even though that guarantees she won't want to do it? It's like when he taunted Luke about going to the dark side, if he just said nothing at all his plan could have worked. It was such a waste to bring back a great villain like him and not have him be competent or interesting at all.
I also really dislike how he was defeated. The great thing about Return of the Jedi is that Luke doesn't win by fighting him or anything. It was really subversive to not have the villain be killed by the hero in a standard way. Considering the theme for this movie was of Palpatine wanting Rey to kill him and how that would be a negative thing, it seemed like the set up for her to find a different way to resolve things... and then she just straight up vaporizes him. Okay. What a terrible way to end it. At least having all the Jedi talking to Rey was a great moment, and it was nice to hear so many Jedi from sources outside the movies show up too.
Seeing Wedge come back was amazing. I'm so glad they didn't kill him off in TFA like they were originally planning to.
So happy that Chewie finally got a medal (not counting the MTV one).
I really wish they had done something with the broom kid.
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Okay, I rolled a 14. What's that mean? Hsu That you're a cheater. This is a 12-sided die. Chan