Spoilery thoughts on Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

[alias_sqbr]

Non spoilery review

*********SPOILERS*******

So.

I was spoiled for exactly one thing going into this film.

During conversation yesterday with a friend who doesn't care about Star Wars but loves finding out spoilers:

Friend: I can't believe Reylo is canon!!
Me: SPOILERS DUDE
Friend: Oh, sorry! Just kidding!

Me before the movie: Ok that "Just kidding" seemed like an attempt at back-pedaling but surely if Reylo actually happened I would have heard the internet explode by now.
Me during the movie: Reylo is obviously not actually going to happen, they're clearly setting up Finn/Rey, but...this sure does FEEL kinda like a Reylo fic lol. I guess the Reylo shippers will be happy.
Me when Kylo turns good: Huh!
Me when Kylo tenderly cradles Rey's body: Uh
Me when Kylo and Rey kiss: OMG???????

And then he died! After saving her! And she went off into the sunset with Poe and Finn!!!! THAT WAS MY IDEAL REYLO SCENARIO. I woulda liked her and Finn and Poe to be established as a poly triad but that wasn't actually going to happen.

I mean it was cheesy as hell and his redemption was pretty underwritten, but the whole movie was cheese.

There's definitely some issues with how POC are treated in this move (and trilogy overall), Finn was The SideKick in a way I don't think he would have been if he was played by a white guy. But he got some cute moments and at least they didn't actively torpedo Rey/Finn like I was worried they would (that's my ultimate OTP for this trilogy. I just think Reylo is fun for angsty spice and Poe/Finn/Rey is cute)

I liked the moment between him and the other former storm troopers even if it was a bit underwritten.

Also ridiculously cheesy but enjoyable: Rey being Palpatine's granddaughter. Like there was ZERO setup, it was shoe-horned in and ridiculous, just like him being back at all, but if we had to have shoe-horned in ridiculousness that was a fun direction to take things.

(I liked the whole "your backstory doesn't matter" etc stuff from TLJ more, but this was never going to be that movie)

Rey killing Palpatine would have been more satisfying if they hadn't made "Rey must absolutely not kill Palpatine" a major plot point FIVE MINUTES EARLIER. Since they were cribbing from Return of the Jedi so aggressively I don't know they they didn't have Kylo kill him in a final self sacrifice. Then again him saving Rey's life in a final self sacrifice was a nice end to his arc of moving past selfishness and murder.

I feel like if they were going to redeem Kylo they could have made him less completely awful in the earlier movies, but...let's face it they were making it up as they went along.

I loved Hux's end. Totally appropriate. I was worried we were going to be expected to like him but no.

Keri Russel's character was...fine, even if it felt a bit like a half-hearted attempt to make Poe seem less gay, but could have done with looking less like a sexy Daft Punk backup dancer.

I noticed a bunch of female voices to storm troopers, which was interesting. Also a brief f/f kiss during the final celebration that would be very easy to remove for international audiences lol.

The alien festival felt like Exotified Alien Diwali which is a bit unfortunate, but at least the aliens didn't turn out to be evil or die?

Shipping Lando/Han/Leia extra hard now fyi. Also Lando/Chewie.

I understand why Rey went back to Tatooine: it's where the movies started, but also where Anakin came from. But I kinda like the idea of Rey going back to Naboo, where not only Padme but Palpatine came from. Also she would LOVE all that green and water. So that's my personal headcanon for what she does next.

Comments

[sylvaine]

PALPATINE'S GRANDDAUGHTER. Omfg lol how entirely unnecessary.

[alias_sqbr]

It's pretty amazing, especially since we went from "Palaptine died 30 years ago" to "Palpatine is alive" to "Palpatine is alive, had a son, and that son is Rey's dad" very quickly.

[lizbee]

I was spoiled for a lot of things, but I wrote "Rey Palpatine" off as a joke. And I laughed really loudly in the silent cinema, which was awkward.

...even if it felt a bit like a half-hearted attempt to make Poe seem less gay...

It felt like they were doing a LOT of work to no-homo Poe, from introducing his ex-girlfriend to having him reluctant to hold hands. I'm honestly amazed at how the trilogy took me from indifference to active dislike over three movies.

[skygiants]

lol I just left a comment on your post about bursting into the exact same laugh in the theater

[pedanther]

I just sort of sighed wearily at the Rey Palpatine revelation.

If they were trying to no-homo Poe, they undermined a lot of their work with the scene where Poe ardently informs Finn that he can't go on without him.

[alias_sqbr]

Heh, agreed.

[alias_sqbr]

I still like Poe, but this has involved a lot of ignoring his most egregiously awful actions and just looking at Oscar Isaac's pretty face.

[skygiants]

I'm still really bummed about Finn's sidekickization -- from the first movie of the new trilogy he's been the character I was most invested in and I just wanted him to get a proper protagonist arc! But I did like the big hug at the end.

"Ah," I said, as Rey and Kylo slaughtered dozens of Palpatine minions, "we can kill literally anyone else but killing Palpatine is off limits and an immediate fast track to the Dark Side? OK, sounds like Star Wars." But then she killed Palpatine ten seconds later anyway, so.

Hux's end was, indeed, deeply hilarious.

[alias_sqbr]

Ah but they were murdering with ~love, so it's ok.

[waterscroll]

Thank you for the spoilers! I was shipping Reylo hard after TLJ, but mostly because I thought they had interesting conversations and wanted to watch them have more of them. Sounds like we get Reylo but not interesting conversations, which is unfortunate.

[alias_sqbr]

Yeah I...would not recommend this film for the interesting conversations. Dialogue exists to create Feels or do setup for the next thrilling action sequence.