Fairly Schmeh

Rating: 5/10 (3 January 2018)

I wanted to give myself time to sort out my thoughts on this film, and see what others had to say, which seem to be on-par with my feelings, which aren't good. If I were to use two words to describe this film it would be disappointing and boring. I had high hopes for this film since The Force Awakens was good and I loved Rogue One. This, while not a total train wreck just did not have much going for it in way of story, plot, excitement, fun. The script was just terrible. Full of holes, all over the place, meandering and lifeless. This SW edition definitely ranks around the bottom for me with Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones, which were nothing more than long toy commercials. If anyone were to ask me if they should see it I would suggest they see Jumanji instead, which was entertaining, funny, and a lot more fun.
The only two characters in this film I was remotely interested in were Rey and Kilo Ren. And given the large number of characters in this film, that is not a good thing. Rey and Kilo had the only interesting storyline that had any tension whatsoever. And their fight scene with the guards was probably the only bright spot. The Poe storyline was reckless and did nothing to convey him as a competent character. Why wasn't he thrown in the brig or shot out of the airlock like they do to traitors on Battlestar Galactica? The story presented these strong female leaders then reduced Leia and Holdo to these motherly types who think an adult tantruming and acting like an idiot is likable? Poe acting out of impulse instead of thinking got most of their remaining fleet killed all to destroy one measly ship, then after that he continued to disobey orders and tried to do a coup and take over the ship. What leader would think that's adorable??? I was happy to see Laura Dern but then they just reduced her to the typical roll women usually play in films as either sex objects to bolster the men or their mothers.
I did not understand the point of the Rose character. Her sister who died would have made a lot more sense and I was actually disappointed when she was killed. She would have complimented Rey's character and made a much better love interest for Finn, and maybe created some kind of love triangle tension with Rey, who did not seem to care one bit by Finn's affection for Rose. Which, understandable that Rey, the uber Jedi is not going to be threatened by a rando fleet grunt. The only thing I could figure was this was some Disney notes where they wanted Rose and Finn to play the Timon and Pumba of the film, the two bumbling comedic relief to compliment the hero, which is fine for Disney but not appropriate for SW.
I liked Finn in first film and thought he had an interesting backstory, but he just seems to be going nowhere other than aimless adventures, and following Rey around like a pathetic puppy. Basically, there's no Han Solo. Rey is clearly Luke, but she has no suave, competent counterpart. She's basically Batman with a bunch incompetent people around her who seem to pull it off in the end, miraculously, when they all seem like they would quickly end up space dust.
Another reason there is no tension with the characters is they're all awesome at whatever they do. They all just happen to be rockstar pilots even though Finn and Rose are basically the baristas of their fleets, and Rey grew up on a desert planet with barely two coins to rub together. Between starving and being a Jedi, when did she go to flight school? Also, everything's too convenient which reminded me of Independence Day. "Oh, we're locked in jail. No problem, the biggest thief in the universe happens to be locked up with us. Why didn't he escape long ago if he's so good? Who knows, but we sure did luck out!" "Oh no, Princess Leia just got blown into space. Don't worry, she's inherited some Harry Potter magic and will float back to safety."
One thing that stood out that I thought was weird, that Disney would OK an anti-capitalist theme when Disney has a reputation for being one of the more capitalistic/corporate studios, and much more likely to squeeze or strangle the little guy while the execs give themselves 30 million dollar bonuses. Disney isn't at all evil but they run themselves much more like the Republic. A fun studio to work at but not the most fair and you definitely notice a dividing line between the execs and the meager high-skilled workers.
Really, I could go on and on about the problems and plot holes in this film, but, I'm sure I'd just be repeating what others have said. Things I liked about the movie was the two-second appearances of Michaela Coel and Billie Lourde, Laura Dern's small role which was weakened by her acting like a mom, the appearance of Luke and Chewie, even though Luke's character was a weird, curmudgeon hermit. Unlike a lot of reviewers, I liked the humor. I also liked the cute penguin things, which, I hated Jar Jar and wasn't a huge fan of the Ewoks, so, maybe I've softened.
To be honest, I don't know if I'll see the next one. Maybe let's pretend everyone in Rogue One wasn't obliterated and we can just continue with those characters.