Episode 8: Wasted Opportunity

Rating: 3/10 (17 January 2018)

First, I want to address the fact that the fans are getting so much hate regarding their expectations. Despite what some of you may think, our expectations regarding the characters was all created by the lore provided in TFA. If Disney didn't want us to have expectations, than they shouldn't have created the lore that fostered the possibilities for growth. Also, unlike other reviews, I will not be addressing Luke Skywalker. I'll admit, I didn't like his character that much, but he wasn't all that different from Ulic Qel-Droma (Redemption) and Jedi Master Lucien (KOTOR). Rather, I'm going to focus primarily on the major issues I had with TLJ.
Snoke: Episode 7 provides us with a mysterious figure who was well trained in the dark side of the force. He has clear battle marks of either force lightning or a saber. Additionally, we are informed in books that he is not a sith. So who trained him? Where's he from? How did become so powerful? What was full plan for Kylo Ren? What was the rest of the training in had in mind for Kylo Ren when he said it was time to complete the rest of his training? These were all elements raised in episode 7 and it was all "cut" down in episode 8. We were either given no details at all or the answers were basic with 0 depth. What happens? He dies and we learn almost nothing about him. So exciting!...
Kylo Ren: Why does Kylo Ren have such a massive fascination with Rey? (Based on his reaction towards the first order officer when he was informed that BB-8 had help escaping because of a girl. He never had this kind of reaction to anyone else, so why Rey?) How will Kylo Ren continue the remainder of his training? He doesn't really. He just keeps doing his own thing. Snoke doesn't continue his training. Instead, he's the same whiny emo kid that is laughable instead of terrifying. Rather than a Star Wars character, I felt like he was something out of a sitcom and I was just waiting for a laugh track to play.
Finn: Will Finn and Rey continue to develop their relationship in episode 8 now that we see a romance blossoming between them? Nope, some no body, that contributes nothing, shows up.
Rey: Who are her parents? No one important. Is Rey related to Kyle Ren? Nope, she's an average Joe. Why is Rey so strongly connected to the force? Just cause. Will Luke teach her the ways of the force? Nope. He gives her 3 lessons and only 1 we get to see. I honestly loved Rey. I thought she was a wonderful and exciting addition to Star Wars. I felt she was a great symbol for young girls everywhere that they could be heroes too. However, as much as I still appreciate Rey, her origin was a completely wasted opportunity.
Knights of Ren: they played a mysterious role in Kylo Ren's destruction of the Jedi temple, yet they make no appearance in episode 8 and are given 0 mention. How is it that Luke doesn't mention these cohorts of Ren at all when they clearly played a major role in the destruction of the temple?
Phasma: this was a great chance to flush her character out a bit more; however, she gets a small handful of lines and gets almost less time than she had in episode 7. This was a massive waste.
Too many new characters. J.J. Abrams already had a ton of potential growth for the new characters he added to the roster. Johnson added a whole new slew of characters that either had no depth, died, or were flat out boring. Rose, for example, had a flushed out back story, but it was dry and stereotypical. (I was a slave and suffered under the rule of the first order, blah, blah, blah, heard it before with the Empire).
Rushed romance and useless character. Rose barely knows Finn, in person, for more than 12 hours and she tells him she loves him?! Talk about a Disney moment much. The reality is she was a star struck horny teeny bopper who just lost her sister recently and was looking for someone to lean on. That's not love. She had practically 0 purpose in the film. Yes, she saved Finn, but she had no idea Luke was going to show up. If Luke never arrived, Rose's act to stop Finn would have doomed the entire resistance as the drill would have broken down the entrance and the first order would have killed everyone, including Finn, thus nullifying Rose's act of saving him. She was also clearly a plug. Disney released videos on facebook later to justify Rose by saying having an Asian female lead was a step forward for the franchise even though we already have had at least 3 Asian leads, 2 of which were in Rogue 1 and they were awesome! Plus, there was a female Asian who was a Jedi Knight that wielded a green lightsaber in the colosseum in TCW. So her presence, although clearly a plug, was not a step forward. Instead, she some how made Jar Jar look good. Furthermore, Disney shouldn't just be throwing in actors based on race. They should be adding them because their character actually has a function in the story.
Leia's use of the force: Leia some how has a strong connection to the force and uses advanced Jedi techniques to save her life in the vacuum of space and yet we are given 0 details as to how she learned these abilities. We don't know if Luke trained her or if her connection is as strong to the force as Luke's. All we knew from ROTJ was Leia had a connection to the force like Luke and that's it. So how did Leia know to use such advanced force abilities to save her life? Before anyone says, "Luke must have taught her cause it's been 30-40 years", Leia was busy rebuilding the New Republic and eventually had to create the Resistance as the New Republic was disassembling their militaristic might. Without explanation, it just seems as though Leia could use the force to save her life at the right time simply because.
The music: completely forgettable. Every Star Wars movie has at least one memorable soundtrack to match a scene that makes it unforgettable. (I.e. episode 1 *duel of fates*, episode 5 *the Imperial March* episode 4 *intro theme for the first time* episode 3 *battle of heroes*). Episode 8's music was bland and not a single person I spoke to, after the viewing, could remember a single tune. For a movie that people claim to be the best Star Wars film, how is it that almost no one remembers a single tune after first viewing?
In the end, TLJ was a terrible movie full of plot wholes and ignored the lore they created in their own films. They used plugs for the sake of mass appeal and attacked their fan base when the fans expectations were let down. Though the average viewer may not remember TLJ, the fans will remember it as the worst Star Wars movie of all time.