Board 8 > Star Wars Episode 9 Discussion SPOILERS

(+) Yeah! (+)

I really enjoyed it. I havent looked into why people werent so fond of it.

Other thoughts:
Chewie finally got his medal
What did Finn want to tell Rey?
RIP Leia and Ben

Its late. Probably more to say later.

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Really enjoyed it overall, just thought the pacing was a little too fast and there were a couple plot points that I wasn't a fan of, most of all the fake out Chewie death.

Ben's character arc through the three films is great. That little Han Solo shrug he does after Rey passes him the lightsaber is so perfect because Kylo Ren would never do that, but Ben Solo would.

Also 3PO was hilarious this movie, dude was on point.

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Murphiroth posted...

most of all the fake out Chewie death

Oh right, yeah that was one part I didnt like. It seemed pointless because they revealed the fake out 1 minute later.

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I am really mad they made Rey a Palpatine. Literally the best thing about her character is that she's nobody, related to nobody important. That makes the galaxy feel bigger, because it conveys that anyone can be important, anyone can be a hero. Instead we have this galaxy-wide war being reduced to a soap opera spat between the Skywalkers and the Palpatines.

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I'm fine with either option for Rey. Being a nobody works for the reasons you stated, but being related to someone works too because the entire main saga IS the Skywalkers vs. Palpatine saga so it's fine IMO.

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Another thought. If Palpatine didnt tell Rey about his plan, she probably wouldve just killed him sooner and it wouldve worked.

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Great_Paul posted...

Another thought. If Palpatine didnt tell Rey about his plan, she probably wouldve just killed him sooner and it wouldve worked.

Maybe. Once she agrees to do it he says to start the ritual and all his worshippers start chanting, so it may require a bit of prep work.

I got the vibe Palps spirit was piloting his corpse like a meat puppet from the way he was rotting, no wonder he wanted a new body.

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The dead talk again. Lot of ghost stuff.

Teleporting jedi-magic tricks. I think besides Kylo, C3PO was great.

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I think the biggest issue of the trilogy is how the direction changed each movie. The first part of this movie was insanely rushed because they wanted to set up something entirely different from what TLJ did and a lot of things in the movie really needed more build-up, everything was so sudden.

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Yeah it's pretty lol when you introduce a plot element as big as Palpatine being alive in the TEXT SCROLL. Really lets you know that this movie is going to start fast.

I liked this movie a lot and I think it kinda redeemed the trilogy for me personally. I didn't like Ep 8 very much for the record.

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Sitting in the theaters chatting with my group as the end credits roll.

Is this the most nostalgia-heavy movie in history? I feel there could have been 100 nostalgia bombs.

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It's very pretty.

I'm sure I'll have one of the Palpatine column of lightning into the fleet frames as a screensaver before too long.

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Closed the review thread in order to consolidate posts from here on out.

So I love Bens arc through the trilogy but Ive gotta say its super weird that he said very close to nothing in his redeemed form. And by very close to nothing I mean that he audibly said ow when he leapt down that chasm on Exogal buuuut I think that was his last line. lmao

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Alright, the freshest thoughts I've put to writing:

• The movie felt its length. This wasn't 2:30 that just whizzed by; if anything, it felt longer to me, and that wasn't due to fatigue from a late-night showing.
• The focus for the first half was very strange. The big trio's adventures ran so long, but there wasn't any explanation as to how Palpatine returned. This is the main plot point and Abrams presumably thought any explanation would have sounded ridiculous, but I probably would have preferred something over literally nothing.
• Again, the Rey/Finn/Poe adventures were too lengthy and I think a good chunk of it could have been trimmed. Unlike RotJ's first act in Jabba's palace, these scenes weren't nearly as fun and unneeded to pad an already long movie. They were also stupidly paced, like half a dozen locations in the first 40 minutes. I've already forgotten why much of that stuff was important.
• This might be an unpopular take, but I still have trouble buying Leia as this incredible leader. The performance from Carrie Fisher, god bless her, just didn't pack that kind of presence. I saw a frail old woman for three movies.
• I really began to see the problem many people have with Abrams as a director - feels and melodrama over sensible plotting. There was so much stuff in here that didn't make sense (beyond Opening Crawl Palpatine, which a viewer has to immediately accept, lest I can't see them enjoying the movie). Example: Kylo Ren, on the cusp of vanquishing Rey, hesitates and allows himself to be struck down because his mom used the Force to call him "Ben" once. Why would that be powerful enough to turn a guy who killed his dad like a year prior?
• I thought Kylo's sacrifice was well done. That kiss, however, was not. I didn't see that coming AT ALL and am pretty shocked they threw it in there. That wasn't a part of Ben/Rey's relationship. An overwhelmed embrace would have made way more sense.
• Keri Russell looked amazing in her suit. I think she just leapfrogged slave Leia and any other Star Wars heroine in the rankings.
• I was pleasantly surprised to see Harrison Ford back for a scene, and somehow looking younger than he did four years ago imo.
• A lot of the nostalgia was so on-the-nose but I couldn't help be drawn in. The Jedi voices speaking to Rey at the very end was a very special moment.
• Prequel stuff! Palpatine rehashed one of his most famous prequel lines, and they brought in Hayden fucken Christensen are you kidding me
• My single favorite scene in the move: Wedge. I can't explain why, but seeing Wedge was the ONE moment that sent chills down my spine and tears in my eyes. More than Han, Luke, or Lando. I did not expect Wedge and it hit me like a truck.

Overall, I felt it was a very flawed and messy film, but I don't think I'll grow to dislike it more over time like I did with TLJ. If anything, maybe the opposite will be true, but who knows. Palpatine as a whole is a tough pill to swallow, and maybe I'll grow cold to his introduction once time has simmered my opinion down.

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Today's poll of the day should have had some middle ground for us that watched the movie.

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Loved the movie although I do wish there had been more to Ben vs Knights. He could have dominated them a bit with the Force before obtaining the lightsaber. Either way still loved his arc, he remains my favorite new character.

Also had a good laugh in the theater, when fangirls squealed at the kiss then let out a groan of dismay immediately after lmao

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So Im not surprised but also lol: DJ from The Last Jedi was not in this movie and thus he got away scot free.

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Great_Paul posted...

Oh right, yeah that was one part I didnt like. It seemed pointless because they revealed the fake out 1 minute later.

I feel like this fake out or instantly fulfilled foreshadowing that was in the movie hurt it a bit. Like it's all over the place. Although the thing about that dude being the spy, while obvious like once you see him on the screen, was pretty good.

The callbacks to other movies in the franchise were very welcome.

I also wonder what their future plans are for the cast, especially Finn who probably has the most untapped potential, especially after he's more or less shown to be force sensitive. It doesn't have to be a movie, but I think people would appreciate continuation in a canon format.

Finn also never told Rey what he wanted to say. There were quite a few things set up in this movie that pretty much guarantees they aren't done with these characters.

Can't wait to see more of Rey's new lightsaber, good color choice.

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GildedFool posted...

It's very pretty.

I'm sure I'll have one of the Palpatine column of lightning into the fleet frames as a screensaver before too long.

i literally had this thought during that scene. hah!

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Palps firing off a Force Storm was the biggest nod to the EU these films have had and it was dope.

I'm glad I didn't read the leaks beforehand, reading them off as a list of bullet points with no outside context made them sound stupid, but stuff like the Jedi speaking to Rey worked so much better in the film than on paper.

SaveEstelle posted...

Closed the review thread in order to consolidate posts from here on out.

So I love Bens arc through the trilogy but Ive gotta say its super weird that he said very close to nothing in his redeemed form. And by very close to nothing I mean that he audibly said ow when he leapt down that chasm on Exogal buuuut I think that was his last line. lmao

He definitely should have had more time as Ben, his mannerisms and even that "ow" were clearly not Kylo and it would have been nice to get a couple of lines.

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Ackbar Jr. showing up a few times was nice.

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Flawed, messy, and enjoyable AF is my thoughts on this movie.

The jedi talking to Rey was actually perfect tho and I will accept no hate towards it.

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I was wondering if any of those jedi voices were actual identifiable Jedi from other medium. other than Yoda obviously. Like was Obi wan's voice in there? Or someone from anything else besides the main series?

I laughed thinking about how C3PO was built to not be able to read Sith... by kid Anakin!?

Han's appearance was great, nostalgia bomb be damned

Why did the other systems all of a sudden respond to the distress signal now, but not in TLJ during that battle?

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i thought it was pretty obvious that the Chewie death was a fake out when it happened if only because you didnt physically see him die. That scene was still great though, when she unexpectedly uses the force lightning

Stormtroopers getting mind tricked was funny again like it was in TFA

I kind of missed who the female bounty hunter was, her relation to Poe and why she was so willing to help given what appeared to be her situation on a heavy sith planet

And Leia dying from thinking Ben was killed only to have him revived like 5 seconds later. Should've waited before making assumptions tbh.

Anyway it had its flaws but still the best of the 3 imo. Carrie got top billing which was cool

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WiggumFan267 posted...

I was wondering if any of those jedi voices were actual identifiable Jedi from other medium. other than Yoda obviously. Like was Obi wan's voice in there? Or someone from anything else besides the main series?

Ahsoka's voice was def there.

WiggumFan267 posted...

Why did the other systems all of a sudden respond to the distress signal now, but not in TLJ during that battle?

Who fucking knows.

WiggumFan267 posted...

I kind of missed who the female bounty hunter was, her relation to Poe and why she was so willing to help given what appeared to be her situation on a heavy sith planet

His ex from when he ran spices. She was doing illegal shit anyways so it's not like she wasn't at risk. Also not sure she was actually supposed to be a bounty hunter rather than another smuggler but meh.

WiggumFan267 posted...

And Leia dying from thinking Ben was killed only to have him revived like 5 seconds later. Should've waited before making assumptions tbh.

Didn't she die to send him a message, and that message is why Rey was able to kill him(if she didn't heal him right after doing so)? That's what I thought happened in that scene, because Leia's voice is what distracted Ben in the fight...

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Leia didn't die from thinking Ben was killed, she died from the strain of reaching out to him, much like Luke did.

As for Jedi voices there was Yoda, Anakin, Obi-Wan (both actors), Qui-Gon, Mace Windu, Aayla Secura, Luminara Unduli, Adi Gallia, Ahsoka Tano, and Kanan Jarrus. So a mix of main characters from the PT and OT, background Jedi from the PT, and two characters from TCW and Rebels.


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And I think they responded to the distress signal now because it's a much worse situation. Palpatine's message went out to the entire galaxy, and he has a massive fleet of planet killers and is about to send it out to wreak havoc. The Battle of Crait was one battle. Also Lando and the Falcon went to a more populated space lane and IIRC Crait was isolated.

I wish we'd actually seen the ships gathering, we didn't need the "oh I wonder if they'll show up" moment, we know they will, so instead show us Lando gathering the fleet.

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profDEADPOOL posted...

Didn't she die to send him a message, and that message is why Rey was able to kill him(if she didn't heal him right after doing so)? That's what I thought happened in that scene, because Leia's voice is what distracted Ben in the fight...

Ohhh that makes way more sense. The way it was set up, it was right after Rey "kills" him so I thought it was some kind of tie to that

Murphiroth posted...

As for Jedi voices there was Yoda, Anakin, Obi-Wan (both actors), Qui-Gon, Mace Windu, Aayla Secura, Luminara Unduli, Adi Gallia, Ahsoka Tano, and Kanan Jarrus. So a mix of main characters from the PT and OT, background Jedi from the PT, and two characters from TCW and Rebels.

Ahh I'll have to listen for at least some of the ones I recognize on a 2nd view


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Aayla Secura is Jennifer Hale so that was pretty recognizable for me, and Kanan and Ahsoka jumped out at me as well.

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I can't believe they reference the Fortnite event

I don't know how to feel about Rey being a Palpatine. If she HAD to "be someone", then a Palpatine is the better choice. But I liked her being no one, and that whole thing felt like it was just retconning what TLJ did.

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GANON1025 posted...

and that whole thing felt like it was just retconning what TLJ did.

Yeah there definitely was a lot of that.

Rey goes from a nobody to a Palpatine.
Rose gets the Jar Jar treatment by becoming a character who is just there sometimes.
Kylo Ren destroys his helmet which gets rebuilt.
At the end of TLJ it looked like it was maybe going to set up a Rey and Poe romance.

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Reviews were stupid and killed the movie for no reason
It was fine, nothing terrible, borderline "great" even
Solid 7.5, imo

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Murphiroth posted...

just thought the pacing was a little too fast

Totally reminded me of
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VX5au0LOJp8


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I would've been fine with Rey Palpatine if they hadn't given us the "no one" thing in TLJ. It still kinda works, but I wish it felt less like a retcon.

Great movie though! Best of the sequel trilogy. I'd rank them 9 > 8 > 7.

Best moment was motherfucking Wedge Antilles showing up.

The legend.

The one and only man who killed two Death Stars.

Rogue One himself.

Great_Paul posted...

What did Finn want to tell Rey?

"I ship Reylo"
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It was okay. I think the other two films were better in this trilogy, but it doesn't deserve a 58% or whatever RT has it sitting at right now. It's not the greatest film ever but it's at least a solid 7/10.
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Almost 100% I think Finn wants to tell Rey that he thinks he has a force connection.

I think at least that makes the most sense.

The sole qualification for a good Star Wars movie is how much time Palpatine is on screen. Now you might say, wouldn't this make TPM better than ANH and ESB? Well. you said it not me.

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where the f is dj

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I yelled loudly when he quoted the Tragedy of Darth Plagueis

just silence in the theater and Palps says unnatural and like a lightsaber lighting up, my voice YEAAAAAH!


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Whiskey_Nick posted...

I yelled loudly when he quoted the Tragedy of Darth Plagueis

just silence in the theater and Palps says unnatural and like a lightsaber lighting up, my voice YEAAAAAH!

i laughed really loudly for like 3 seconds when he said "Do it!"

You mean DEW IT.

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Just got back and uh, Jesus tapdancing Christ that movie was a complete mess. There are so many things about it that had me holding my head in my hands, and I'm saying that as someone who enjoyed both TFA and TLJ during my first viewings. I think more than any of the others this movie felt straight up like weird fan fiction given a crazy budget.

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I am surprised this has so much user high score. What is there to like here? People are strange.

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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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Overall loved it so so much.

There were definitely issues, pacing was way too hectic, could have made the film 4 hours long probably.

Not using the force ghosts of all the Jedi at the end when their voices are there was both great and bad. Great because they made the focus Rey instead of distracting, but bad because I really selfishly wanted to see them all behind her and then last as all the Sith and all the Jedi are there you have Anakin appear and shift the balance. Have him pass on being the chosen one to Rey or something cheesy.

I teared up many times, and full on cried 3 times. When Chewie reacted to Leia. When Luke lifted his X-Wing with the old music. And the entire end of the movie i was balling. Very sad that Star Wars is over. (I mean Disney will make more but maybe they won't make an Episode X)


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Also the cheap shots and dismissal of Episode 8 was blatant and petty.


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Retconning episode 8 is just making episode 8 worse, not 9

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WiggumFan267 posted...

I was wondering if any of those jedi voices were actual identifiable Jedi from other medium. other than Yoda obviously. Like was Obi wan's voice in there? Or someone from anything else besides the main series?

Luke, Yoda, both OT and PT Obi-Wan for some reason, Mace Windu, Qui-Gon Jinn, Adi Gallia, Aayla Secura, Luminara Unduli, Ahsoka Tano (who was last seen still alive post-RotJ, so this is the first news she's dead), and Kanan Jarrus.

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Good:
Chemistry between the main 3 was good stuff. I had fun whenever they were on screen together
I liked how fast it was, but this is also a bad point
Adam Driver man. Great work all-round, especially when he showed up on Exogol and had those subtle Han Solo mannerisms
A ton of little references I enjoyed, particularly all the Jedi voices bringing back McGregor, SLJ, etc without it being obvious and overbearing (like having them all show up as Force Ghosts would have been). This is even better having read the topic and discovered they used Ahsoka and Aayla Secura.
Comedy was mostly pretty good.
Good, satisfying ending.
I like how they hinted at Jedi Finn, probably in a Disney+ series tbh. I'm into that
I liked Hamill and Ford's scenes.
The score has always been good and it was still good. Rey's theme is great.
Visually super, though still not as good as TLJ. There was nothing here to match the breathtaking scene of Luke walking out to fact the First Order. But it was still very nice to look at. Some great set design too.
Puppet Maz was a surprising, nice change.

Bad:
I said I liked how fast it was but I also didn't like that I felt as if I was watching the highlights of like 2 or 3 Star Wars movies. Kinda went both ways on that one. The comparison to the Old Spice ad is pretty good, especially in the early scenes
I needed more of McDiarmid chewing the scenery
Some of the Force powers were a bit convenient? Weird that I found that a problem in this one but not TLJ
I think even Force Awakens had more guts - Chewie should have just died. There being a second transport out of nowhere was so "???"
Rey being a "nobody" was good, why did you ruin that god damn you rabid SW fans. Could also say the same about the way Rose was benched. Fucking shameful pieces of shit. And fuck Disney for caving to the bastards that levelled racist and sexist abuse at KMT and hounded her off social media.
Spy Hux was fucking laughable, probably the worst plot point in the three movies. I get that he was against Kylo but it didn't work.
The Carrie Fisher scenes were too obvious. You could say Daisy Ridley didn't sell them well enough but it is a tough sell when everyone knows going in what Disney did.

I'd say I liked this less than Episode 3, the first of the Disney movies I'd say that of. However, it still had a lot going for it and I ultimately enjoyed myself.

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