Missed Opportunities

Rating: 3/10 (4 January 2018)

The movie can most simply described as a series of seemingly unrelated, yet aesthetic, short stories that Disney idea-vomited out without any intention of weaving them into a more meaningful plot. Minus 2 big characters and a TON of resistance ship passengers who hold no emotional attachment from the audience (well except Admiral "Trap God" Ackbar, R.I.P.), the movie leaves off right where it started: a scarce resistance army fleeing the endless first order horde.
A good story must have a seemingly impossible obstacle for the protagonists to overcome so that the audience gets maximum satisfaction out of that moment when that story's Luke finally finds a way to beat that story's unstoppable Vader. There is this universe-wide mutual agreement that the first order is kicking ass, which is confusing because of the consistent on-screen losses the First Order racks up. We don't actually see any of these First Order victories unless you count the blowing up of endless resistance ships mentioned above. The Dark Side has become so feeble that we don't even enjoy when Finn beats Phasma or Kylo and Rey stab Snoke in the back. Snoke is the only formidable villain in the movie and he falls victim to a swoop of the force that Brutus would be proud of. Phasma, who so many fans were excited about, loses again in a familiar confrontation with the defected stormtrooper who previously refused to fire his blaster (at least she didn't give away the codes without hesitation this time). I want to see Kylo use that pubertal anger on something other than a control panel. I want to see him furiously lay into a relevant resistance character. Through two movies, Finn is the only character Kylo has beaten fair and square. Yet, he continues to strike down potent characters when they are not looking. The trailers suggested Rey's flirtation with the dark side and I don't really see what that weird mirror scene had to do with the dark side at all. I was expecting some 'deal with the devil' situation where the dark side offered her the answers she was looking for if she only join them, creating a struggle within Rey. Don't even get me started on First Order General Bill Weasley.
Luke is the face of the Star Wars franchise. Even at the end of The Return of the Jedi, Luke's power is still raw and untamed. The possibilities for seasoned veteran jedi master Luke Skywalker were endless, but Luke's new Disney persona (openly detested my Hamill himself before Disney paid him to take it back) only added another tween EMO personality to a trilogy that already had one too many to start with. The whole island plot disappoints because it failed to convincingly explain the Jedi's hypocrisy- they were self-proclaimed peacemakers, but they conveniently got to choose when and how the republic finally achieved "peace". This was already thoroughly explained in the prequels. Rey's "training" consisted of Luke telling stories of his regrets and creepily gazing at her backside while she swung a lightsaber at a rock. Surely they could've incorporated some feeling of enlightenment in the force or where she fits into the force's plan. Despite my disappointment in Luke, scenes of him with Leia, R2 and Chewie were enjoyable and he looked awesome!
I wasn't sold on Finn originally but I convinced myself to give him a chance past TFA. He proved himself to be increasingly detrimental to the new trilogy. He is the main source of this frequent forced humor that TLJ has gotten a lot of heat for. Limit the humor to Chewie, the droids and the little puffin-hamsters. Letting Finn sacrifice himself right when he finally was close to seeing Rey would have been perfect dramatic irony. He is also part of the most inconsequential, politically motivated subplot Star Wars has ever seen. The whole Canto Bight casino subplot achieved absolutely nothing except for the development of this awkward love triangle with Rose (who no one gives a damn about) and Rey. Apparently having an overkill of racial and gender diversity among the protagonists and almost entirely white men opposing them wasn't enough so they threw in some attacks on the upper class and a dash of animal cruelty as well..? Extremist views are even glorified when Finn says, "It was worth it though, to tear up that town, make 'em hurt." This same town he was in awe of until Rose told some sob story about a group of people (not even the exact same people!) that she assumed were just like the guests at the casino. They just stole Benicio del Toro's 'collector' character from Guardians of the Galaxy and slapped a lisp on him. Absolutely nothing was added to the big picture from these story arcs.
This leads me to the main problem of this movie: they were afraid to take risks! It was almost like they wanted to, but took the easy way out at the last second. They tease a battle between Luke and Kylo that quickly turns into a force projection cop out. If Luke is going to die anyway, why not have him be present for it? Take a risk! The battle in the throne room was awesome and set the stage for limitless opportunities for twists and turns, but instead, Kylo and Rey band together against the praetorian guard just to... go right back to the same side that they started. Take a risk! The praetorian guard were impressive additions and put up a sufficient fight, but their leader is already dead so I'm confused on why they're fighting at all. The flashbacks to Kylo's turn at Luke's jedi school entailed no events that we couldn't have predicted after TFA. Take a risk! Snoke was pure evil, had the potential to be the first strong dark side character, and instilled curiosity about his identity, his motivations, and his role in Kylo's turn. They decide to answer none of these questions and give him a pathetic death. Take a risk! O I forgot they did take a big risk, by having Leia survive in space and perform a 1970's style Superman float back to the cockpit, securing the dumbest scene in Star Wars history. I'm convinced the Leia space scene and the whole casino situation were meant for deleted scenes in the DVD release that they just forgot to take out.
I had a lot of problems but there was no doubt the movie had its moments. Poe (Oscar Isaac) was awesome even if his first scene surviving taking out all of the turrets on a star destroyer was a little absurd. Isaac and Carrie Fisher really built in each other in the scenes that they shared. I loved the Yoda scene. Rey and Kylo's scenes together were gripping. BB8 never disappoints. Admiral Holdo, The successor to Leia, had a strong character progression that had you rooting against her to start only to show herself more and more likeable throughout the movie.