The most original Star Wars film to date

Rating: 7/10 (17 December 2017)

Okay. People need to calm down and just breathe for a minute.
Is this the best Star Wars movie yet? No. Are all the questions answered in the ways in which we expected? No. Is this an incredibly new and needed take on the Star Wars universe that we needed? Absolutely.
I love Star Wars. Always have. When I came out of the theater I would have given this movie a 10/10. Then, after some reflection, probably a 6. Now, after thinking through it and processing it, an 8. And a solid 8 at that. In fact, the only major problem I see in this entire movie is the Rose/Finn arch/storyline that was completely unnecessary and out of place. It slowed down the film (a very long film, at that) and just felt strange and unwanted. Rose (while fine as a character) is unneeded entirely. She should have been a very small character that is likable and it one of the surviving resistance members who has a crush from afar and sacrifices herself in the next movie and dies. Or she could have sacrificed herself in the movie and I would have been fine with that too. No need at all for her to travel with Finn and do all that stuff. In fact, that trip wasnt needed at all. If they did have to go on that trip, it shoud have been Poe that joined Finn. A "Buddy Mission" would have been so much more interesting and would have given us a chance to see Finn and Poe's relationship/friendship actually grow. Then, Poe should have been the one that slammed into Finn's speeder at the end saving him from death. How much better would this have been?? Would have given so much needed gravity to their friendship. This way, when one of them inevitably dies in the next movie (probably Poe) it will be much more sad/emotional.
Okay. That was the only gaping negative. People complaining about Luke being crabby/pathetic and whatnot? so what. He is absolutely right. The Jedi should be brought into question. They haven't always done the greatest job and he sees this and have been thinking this for years. They literally couldnt see that Palpatine was the emperor and he was RIGHT UNDER THEIR NOSES. They kinda sucked sometimes. I also loved the parallel's between him and Yoda - they were both very powerful jedi who ended up getting kinda weird living in total isolation. Loved it and the fact that he was so hesitant to train Rey - loved that. Also people annoyed at Snoke dying - I get it. Unanswered questions or whatever. But can we just appreciate the originality of this, turning the whole idea of this evil hooded emperor behind the henchman (Maul, Dooku, Grievous, even vader). Who was Snoke? he was "the emperor" in a star wars film and now he is gone and thats all we need to know. He's dead now and Kylo is unhinged and unchecked and has complete power. I love it. People complaining about Rey's heritage being nothing special. Absolutely love it. Georg Lucas spent so much time in the prequels trying to tie everything up in perfect litte bows that everyone would be satisfied about (ie. "ohhhh Darth vader created 3po. Thats so cool" "hey look - there's chewy! I didnt know he had already met Yoda" ect ect) How about we just accept that not every single thing in star wars is connected and that sometimes people just arise out of nothing to greatness (like the real world). Lastly, Johnson took some generous liberties with the Force and I thought that was great. There is so much to the force - why not continue to explore it and it's limits?
Some more things I loved - I actually never knew if our heros were going to survive. I thought Finn was going to die twice. I thought Rey was possibly going to join Kylo. I thought Leia died. I genuinely didn't know what was going to happen. I was actually surprised in the 8th movie of a saga. When does that happen? Also, and maybe the best thing about the entire movie, completely original storyline. No massive super bases destroyed. No planets blown up. For once, just completely survival and I thought that was great. Sure - a 2 hour chase before your fuel runs out isn't the most genius plot line ever or anything but, again, original. Rian Johnson did an amazing job with the fight scenes. There were just some absolutely beautiful shots and scenes that i will remember for movies to come.
This was a great movie and a great star wars movie. People need to calm down and think of the positives because there are many. Daisy Ridley, Mark hamil, and Adam Driver were the highlights. Every scene they were in couldn't have been acted better.
Ultimately, this was my third or fourth favorite Star Wars movie and I think if Rose was cut, it would have been my second behind Empire. Can't wait to see if again and see the third installment.