This Is How It's Going to Be

[ricevermicelli]

So here's the deal: I can't be cynical about Star Wars. I know a lot of people who are over it, or done with it, and feel like it's unoriginal - I hear you all, and I just can't care.

I didn't see the original trilogy at all until I was in high school, and I didn't actually get to watch the movies until I was in college. I cannot tell you how important Princess Leia was to me - secretly at the time, less so now. Leia is only waiting to be rescued because she knows rescue is coming. Leia is not going to sit back and be helpless just because she needed a pair of faux-stormtroopers to open the door. Leia was in that cell with a torture droid, her home planet was blown up, and when the guys get there, she's not even crying. Seeing her again, older, sadder, still working for a better world - this is what prayer looks like to an atheist.

Further, at least some of Leia's efforts are possibly paying off. There are women all over the place here, pilots, mechanics, doctors, scavengers, smugglers, officers, bartenders. The original trilogy was kind of a sausage fest. This is a delightful improvement. So is Rey. I would personally cut J.J. Abrams a check for the scene where the self-rescuing ingenue dashes out of the cockpit to congratulate her gunner on his shooting.

Lots of plots are retreads. How many versions of "Henry VIII goes nuts and gets married again" have I gotten though? How thrilled am I to show up every time someone comes up with another way to commit Robin Hood to film? Serenity was the plottiest bits of a bunch of Firefly episodes patched together with duct tape and baling wire. Persuasion is Pride and Prejudice but eight years later. Much Ado About Nothing (which I have seen in two movies and a whole bunch of times on stage) is about 50% Romeo and Juliet, with less dying this time. So yes, there's a cute robot here, and a plucky kid from a desert planet, and a guy who almost chickens out instead of being a hero, and a planet-destroying battlestation where the contractors cut costs by omitting handrails. This is the movie I expected to see. It feels like running into an old friend.

Comments

[blk]

Yes yes yes yes.

In some ways I think I lucked out because I went into the movie with expectations that were pretty much met exactly. I saw older beloved stars, was given plenty of nods to old favorite bits, got several main characters who I really liked, who acted well, who had chemistry together, and who didn't act like spoiled whiny children, and got some new interesting aliens (HOW cool was Maz). Yeah, it's a lot of rehash, but I still found myself eagerly waiting to see what would happen next for the entire 2 hours+ of the movie, which is rare.

[zuleikhajami.livejournal.com]

It was a great movie with interesting characters from the first scene, but even if it wasn't, it all would have been worth it for the moment where Luke/Anakin's lightsaber flew past Kylo Ren and into Rey's hand.

Also, BB-8 was so freaking adorable I have no language for it. I was a total BB-8 skeptic going into the movie, but he really was as cute as all the Internet squeeing demanded.

(but Kylo/Rey shippers freak me out a bit. I don't exactly judge, but I also don't understand.)

[ricevermicelli.livejournal.com]

Um. Adam Driver is wielding some hotness, but no one should sleep with Kylo Ren. Anger management issues aren't sexy.

[dmyersta.livejournal.com]

Lol. Agreed!

I saw episode 1 with jar jar binks in the theater as my first Star Wars experience and I've seen bits of empire strikes back over the years, but I don't have the original movies in my head/heart unlike the princess bride which as a family, we saw 15 times in the theater when it first came out.
I loved Lea and Hans solo and was (perhaps disproportionately) upset when they killed him off. Kylo Ren seemed like a two/three year old having a temper tantrum at times and at other times like a moody middle schooler so I found myself going into unsympathetic teacher mood and had trouble taking him seriously. Perhaps that is why I felt such righteous indignation and desire to heap punishment on his head when he killed his dad. I really enjoyed the movie until that moment. It went flat for me after that scene and I was just waiting for it to end.

[blk]

Kylo Ren was going full steam ahead on the idea of channeling the dark side of the force through pain, hatred, and anger. By the end of the movie, I think he seemed so pathetic because he was feeding so desperately off of that.

[zuleikhajami.livejournal.com]

Exactly.

I do not ship anyone in the new series, and I like that. Romance has not been Star Wars strength.

[robbbbbb.livejournal.com]

There is the beginnings of a relationship forming between Finn and Rey, but it is good because it isn't sexy. It is instead a deep friendship forged in trying circumstances that is going places.

I enjoy that because it feels natural, but it is also pure. It's virtuous, and I love that about their interactions.

[ricevermicelli.livejournal.com]

I don't know how virtuous they are. It's not clear what sexual experiences are available to stormtroopers (probably nothing good), Rey sure looked lonely, these are healthy young people of compatible species, but they were sort of awfully busy and I doubt either of them has figured out how to get a thing started.

Rey had to leave Finn back on wherever with the medical facilities, and I worry that this is an attempt to introduce romantic tension in the next movie.

(I bet Poe knows how to get a thing consensually started. He's both a good and handsome guy. He may or may not have taken anyone up on the opportunity, but I can't imagine he hasn't fielded plenty of offers. My polyamorous heart is hoping for a sane triad I know Disney will never commit to film.)

Agreed. (These ARE the droids we are looking for)

[mizarchivist]

I feel like BB-8 is a direct apology for Jar Jar. I also have been loving the Emo Kylo Ren twitter feed. It's the best because it's true. That kid must be quite the tool of the First Order if he's allowed to be that much of a fuck-up and not get force-choked by the new faux-emperor guy.

Anyway, Yes. What you said. I spent the entire movie squeeing. It fulfilled everything I wanted and then some. I hope #8 is as good.

[vizsludraugas.livejournal.com]

I actually plotted for months to surprise my nephew with tickets to this (it opened on his birthday), but the whole time, I was worried the film was going to suck.

I was so glad it didn't. And you've captured everything I like about it.

[drwex]

I'm glad you reviewed it and even more glad you liked it.

I heartily agree with the self-rescuing princess's awesomeness. The scene in the cell where she figures out the Jedi mind-trick is BRILLIANT.

[robbbbbb.livejournal.com]

I get what you're saying about how you connect with Rey. That's great.

I am more interested in Poe Dameron, who is an absolute alpha male, in every sense of the word, yet he never feels the need to be a jerk to anyone. He's strong, confident, and highly skilled. He is also passionate, respectful, and kind. While in the middle of escaping from a Star Destroyer on sheer guts and will he has the presence of mind to make a connection with a guy and give him a name.

I hear a lot about "strong female role models." Yeah, that's all well and good, but I want strong male role models, too, and I want them to look like Poe. I can point at that guy and say to my sons, "There. That's what it's like to be a good man.

This is a movie that is interested in virtue. Poe is and old-fashioned man: Strong and courteous. Finn crawls out of a moral sewer on sheer willpower. Rey wrestles with her destiny. (And that Force Dream sequence is lovely at both expressing her destiny and making her afraid of it. I get why she doesn't want anything to do with Anakin's lightsaber!) Kylo Ren is the inversion of virtue: He is childish, ill-tempered, and self-centered. The dark side has won him over because he sees no reason to moderate his character flaws.

There's a lot of talk about the structural or narrative choices in the movie. But it has a strong moral center, and that's why I loved it.

[ricevermicelli.livejournal.com]

Yes! This too! The best resistance pilot is daring, funny, handsome... and kind. Much ink has been spilled on this elsewhere, and I am responding basically to say how much I love this also.