Nerd Pride Radio

Finally watched the movie yesterday with the family, and have caught up on this thread this morning, so I can finally comment.

It was a pretty okay to good movie. I'd probably give it 2.5 to 3 out of 5 stars.

The Rey/Kylo plot-line was good. The action was good. The whole Finn/Rose plot-line felt forced; it could have been completely eliminated from the movie, made for a shorter movie, and the story would have ended up in the same damn place it ended up anyways. It just felt like a forced way to get Finn facing off against Phasma one more time, and to force BDT's character into the story. The Poe plot-line was weird; hero in the last movie, jackass in this movie. I get he's a hotshot pilot and impulsive, etc., but Leia would have known that and never put him into a position of authority, or would have established with the rest of The Resistance what the boundaries of his authority would be. It just felt hamfisted.

Some of my concerns/questions:

So Finn and Rose are about to be executed with all of these stormtroopers standing around. Then the ship gets split in two, and next we see them, Rose's pulling Finn along and there's almost no stormtroopers and very few bodies lying around. WFT? Did they have standing orders, "If the ship splits in two, everybody stop what they're doing, even if mid-execution, proceed to Rally Point F, then you can go back where you were and continue what you were doing."

I have no problem with Luke having a moment of weakness and considering killing Ben. But Hamill himself said on Twitter in reference to whiny Luke in Episode IV that the whining at the beginning was overacted in order to show how he matures as he goes. So why make him such a whiny old fart? "I failed as a teacher" has already been overdone in this story with Obi-Wan and Yoda, why not invest a bit more effort and give him a better reason for why he acts that way.

The whole premise for the ship not being able to jump to lightspeed and being forced into a prolonged chase was BS. So many tactical holes to poke in that plot-line, many covered here already, that it risks ruining the enjoyment of the movie.

The Kiss (between Rose and Finn): My kids were like, "Why d'ya have to go and do that?!" I was like, "Meh, whatever." I get where they're coming from: not every male-female onscreen pairing needs to lead to romance of some sort. I'm okay with it if it sets up some conflict between Finn-Rey-Rose (Rey seeing Finn worry about Rose the way she worried about him when he was injured at the end of Ep 7), and shows some emotional growth on Finn's part. We'll see.

Rey's parents: If they're nobodies, that's fine. It did feel a bit like a big "F you!" after all they played it up in Ep 7. If they're ultimately nobodies, why not see their faces in the Ep 7 flashbacks? I wasn't invested in them being anyone in particular, so I ultimately don't care whether or not they're nobodies, but it did seem like unnecessary setup in Ep 7 if that was going to be the case.

Snoke's lightsaber death: It was cool and all. And this may not be canon, so I may be off here. But it seems like they've set precedent in the other films that lightsabers need to be held in their hand to work. Everytime a Jedi has dropped their lightsaber, it turns off. In the prequel battle between Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan, and Darth Maul, if you could just turn your lightsaber on remotely and force push it around, WTF didn't Obi-Wan do that in order to try to save Qui-Gon?! Otherwise, it was a good battle scene, and I loved the quick turn-on-the-lightsaber-and-stab-the-guy-through-the-head-then-turn-it-off bit.

Star Wars without romance is weird, and whatever asexual pairings are happening in episodes 7 and 8 I don't consider romance.

I know, I am with you on this but have fears it will happen.

After a second viewing I have thought about it more and have officially updated my star wars power rankings(top film is the best)

Empire
A New Hope
Revenge of the Sith
Return of the Jedi
Rogue One
Force Awakens
The Last Jedi
Attack of the Clones
Phantom Menace

Just saw, I agree with Mike some and Jefe some. Agree the beats were off, especially with the second climax. And there were some TV-style redundancies, character reexplaining their plans and motivations.

I liked the humor!

My main complaint is that in the last two films they are leaning heavily on the suicide sacrifice. Like three times, in this film, at least. Although maybe that was a rule of threes thing? Rose's sister dies with her bombs not on purpose though, Laura Dern actively sacrificing herself but didn't have another choice, and Finn believing it's the way but wrong.

I loved Rose! Id like an "Adventures of Finn and Rose" TV show after this. Emo Kyle Jones has won me over. I'm also glad they didn't turn Rey, you'd have seen little girls in tears, throwing away their costumes.

Poe is still kinda boring. I laughed at his reunion scenes. He reacts to everyone like their puppies he hasn't seen after a long weekend away. "Who's a good BB8? Who's a good BB8? You are! Yes you are!"

I thought maybe it was one of those Forum-Specific Substitutions, like anyone time someone writes Kylo Ren they get Kyle Jones.

It became noticeably excessive as a theme - like, what are you teaching us is good here, think about it? - and then Rose saved Finn and you were like, well, one was for plot, one was for art, and both were setups for this moment, which made all of them seem more stupidly unnecessary.