My New Favorite Episode

Rating: 10/10 (16 December 2017)

Okay, I'm not the best at judging movies I love. I think TPM and AotC are perfectly acceptable installments of the franchise. I guess I'm sucker for special effects and nostalgia and all that (though I'm not the biggest fan of TFA). I really enjoyed this movie. It's like the satisfying payoff Marvel fans have been waiting for in Infinity War. I may need to watch it again to feel out the problems, but for a first watch, it was great. It answered so many questions left from TFA and even showed flashbacks to what Luke was up to these past thirty years.
So I have waited for, well, all my life for Luke to pass on his role as the hero and add to the Hero's Journey as a master. He does this the only way he can. Once, he was a proud Jedi Master, but now he is a failed hermit, just like Yoda was when Luke met him. Yoda had a positive attitude, but Luke took his failure to heart and refused to train Rey. I can see why Hamill disagrees with Luke's character, but I understand it well enough to see that there's a bright side to it. Luke takes a while to warm up to anything, and knowing from my own failure, it's hard to answer the call when opportunity rings. In fact, it's part of the Hero's Journey.
Rey doesn't give up on Luke. Likewise, she doesn't give up on Ben. Rey even states that she can see conflict in Ben and she thinks she can turn him. Rey has a great amount of perseverance and integrity to her duty. Rey gets the feel of what a Jedi is supposed to be, and she sticks to it rigidly. Maybe the texts would have been useful, but the old republic, the new republic, and the ancient Jedi are all gone, so it's time for the Jedi to adapt and rise while closely watching the hypocrisy Luke talks about.
This movie raises the stakes and intensifies the war. There has never been a worse time for the Resistance. The numbers weren't even so bad for the Rebellion. They went down to one ship, backed against a corner, and one man stood to show that they wouldn't go down without a fight. Luke struck right to the core of Ben, which is proven by how badly Ben feels the need to destroy Luke. It's like the Joker with Batman; if Batman kills the Joker, then the Joker wins.
On another note, the toying of the First Order with the Resistance echoes Poe's toying with General Hux. Yes, they could have slaughtered the Resistance at any point, but without hubris, what hope would we as fans have? The Resistance uses everything possible to stave off extinction, and it's just brilliant. Finn and Rose have to break the rules to ensure the survival of the Resistance, and Finn has a great payoff for his past with Phasma.
Ben and Rey's relationship is interesting, but I have to see it again to really dive into that part. I thought the jaw-dropper with the lightsaber was an incredible touch, but I can't wait to see how they develop later on.
And major fan service in Yoda, though not in Obi-Wan. Well, Yoda calls out Luke for not having read the ancient Jedi texts. I think it would have been nice to have McGreggor in the scene to have a level-headed conversation between the three of them, like they did in ESB, but I was satisfied that Yoda not only appeared, but he also has become more powerful than one could imagine in controlling the weather. Just me, though.
And one thing I need to say is that the trilogy is not complete. I know there were parts of AotC and ESB that were respectively completed by RotS and RotJ. Additionally, it's a different part of the story. It's about the grandson of Darth Vader (not Vader's son; not Vader himself), a spunky, fresh heroine, and some people connected by the Force. The Force itself is conflicted. It seems that it wants balance, meaning equality in the dark and the light sides. However, the fans, at least I, mostly imagine the will of the Force as being overcome with the light side. I understood that as happening at the end of RotJ, but I learned with TFA that Force needs that balance.
I'm sorry for my ramblings. I think this movie deserves to have its place next to the rest of the Star Wars series. So, like it or not, it gets such a place. Needless to say, the action was superb, the actors played their parts well, Carrie Fisher had a fantastic final film, Hux and Ben will be settling a score soon, Rey will train the new order of Jedi will come through and trample the First Order. But will there be balance, or with the Force be left in light?