Jan. 5th, 2020 03:20 pm
Thoughts about a Star War
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thrillingdetectivetalesToday, I inflicted Rise of Skywalker on myself. I have some thoughts.
First things first, Rose Tico deserved better. It's an issue that's not necessarily specific to her as much as it is endemic to the Star Wars franchise as a whole, but anyway, she was introduced as a character with so much potential in TLJ and was barely tertiary in ROS. I don't know if she was cut out because of all the weird racist backlash that Kelly Marie Tran caught when TLJ came out or if it was just a symptom of yet another creator being like, "Ah, I'm going to leave my very important mark on this historic franchise" but whatever, she deserved way better than she got. I'm pretty sure Dom Monaghan's unnamed character shares an equivalent amount of screen time and may have more actual lines. I'ma be pissed about this one for awhile.
On that note: was anyone going to tell me Dom Monaghan was in ROS or was I just supposed to watch the movie myself!? My nerd heart was delighted to see him, even though I don't think he really added much to the narrative, overall.
Speaking of the narrative, what the fuck is even going on in Star Wars anymore? Like, does anyone know? Do the writers know? I sure as shit don't. I thought I did, but any grasp I had on a reasonable plot line was drastically loosened in TLJ and utterly obliterated in ROS. All I know for sure is that, while I enjoyed getting to see Adam Driver not wearing that stupid fucking mask, Kylo Ren aka Ben Solo absolutely didn't deserve his redemption arc, such as it was. He did literally nothing to earn it.
I'm actually not opposed to a redemption arc for someone like Kylo Ren. In fact, I think it could be a really interesting story to follow someone who's done deplorable things and see them change and learn, but it happened really fast with Ren and at no point did he ever explicitly express regret for what he did. We get his emotional moment talking to Han—you know, his dad, who he killed in cold blood for power—but I would argue that that's not his actually taking responsibility for the severity of his actions. I honestly feel like he kind of got robbed of a proper redemption narrative in the way that they handled it. Although, his immediately keeling over and dying after kissing Rey (blech!) was absolutely hysterical. (I spent a lot of time flipping the screen off in this one. Thankfully there were only three of us in the theatre.)
The Finn/Poe stuff was pretty choice for all that it was subtle. (The hand on the back of Finn's neck when they're reunited at the end! My heart!) I could have lived without the ham-fisted attempts to give them both beards—"Rey, there's something I need to tell you" and Zorii Bliss, respectively. Zorii actually seemed cool as hell but, as with many characters introduced in Star Wars, she existed only to inform Poe's backstory rather than really having one of her own, and I'm so far over that shit I can't even remember last time I saw it in my rearview mirror. The same is true of Jannah, though she wasn't introduced as a beard, necessarily. Another in the long, long line of women who were created to add context to a male character or serve as a convenient plot point—Captain's medal and weird horse-like beasts, anyone?—but could and should be so much more than that!
Likewise, I'm kind of bored of the whole "giant universe-saving plot structure" thing. I would love to see a more character oriented Star Wars story where we got to spend some quality time with a set of characters and actually learn about them. Instead of, you know, just being told they were a spice-runner and expected to read something into that. Like, imagine how cool it would have been to actually get to see Rey train and struggle with learning the truth about her ancestry and shit without it running up against all the fuckboy First Order bullshit in the background!
I'm also not sure that I buy that Leia would have kept from her that she was a Palpatine. As someone who's struggled with the knowledge that they're related to someone who did horrible things, and as someone who's shown to visibly support and offer guidance to Rey, I just can't fully believe that she would keep it to herself. I understand that Abrams et. al. were trying to set her up as a sort of sly, knowing, behind-the-scenes sort but that just isn't Leia's style, or has everyone forgotten the original trilogy already?
Overall, it was a fun watch but probably not enough to recommend further exploration of the Star Wars film franchise to me. Though I did come through with some ideas to finally try my hand at Finn/Poe, should the desire strike, so that was nice. Anyway, I'll just be rolling around in the extended universe stanning Ahsoka Tano if anyone needs me.
First things first, Rose Tico deserved better. It's an issue that's not necessarily specific to her as much as it is endemic to the Star Wars franchise as a whole, but anyway, she was introduced as a character with so much potential in TLJ and was barely tertiary in ROS. I don't know if she was cut out because of all the weird racist backlash that Kelly Marie Tran caught when TLJ came out or if it was just a symptom of yet another creator being like, "Ah, I'm going to leave my very important mark on this historic franchise" but whatever, she deserved way better than she got. I'm pretty sure Dom Monaghan's unnamed character shares an equivalent amount of screen time and may have more actual lines. I'ma be pissed about this one for awhile.
On that note: was anyone going to tell me Dom Monaghan was in ROS or was I just supposed to watch the movie myself!? My nerd heart was delighted to see him, even though I don't think he really added much to the narrative, overall.
Speaking of the narrative, what the fuck is even going on in Star Wars anymore? Like, does anyone know? Do the writers know? I sure as shit don't. I thought I did, but any grasp I had on a reasonable plot line was drastically loosened in TLJ and utterly obliterated in ROS. All I know for sure is that, while I enjoyed getting to see Adam Driver not wearing that stupid fucking mask, Kylo Ren aka Ben Solo absolutely didn't deserve his redemption arc, such as it was. He did literally nothing to earn it.
I'm actually not opposed to a redemption arc for someone like Kylo Ren. In fact, I think it could be a really interesting story to follow someone who's done deplorable things and see them change and learn, but it happened really fast with Ren and at no point did he ever explicitly express regret for what he did. We get his emotional moment talking to Han—you know, his dad, who he killed in cold blood for power—but I would argue that that's not his actually taking responsibility for the severity of his actions. I honestly feel like he kind of got robbed of a proper redemption narrative in the way that they handled it. Although, his immediately keeling over and dying after kissing Rey (blech!) was absolutely hysterical. (I spent a lot of time flipping the screen off in this one. Thankfully there were only three of us in the theatre.)
The Finn/Poe stuff was pretty choice for all that it was subtle. (The hand on the back of Finn's neck when they're reunited at the end! My heart!) I could have lived without the ham-fisted attempts to give them both beards—"Rey, there's something I need to tell you" and Zorii Bliss, respectively. Zorii actually seemed cool as hell but, as with many characters introduced in Star Wars, she existed only to inform Poe's backstory rather than really having one of her own, and I'm so far over that shit I can't even remember last time I saw it in my rearview mirror. The same is true of Jannah, though she wasn't introduced as a beard, necessarily. Another in the long, long line of women who were created to add context to a male character or serve as a convenient plot point—Captain's medal and weird horse-like beasts, anyone?—but could and should be so much more than that!
Likewise, I'm kind of bored of the whole "giant universe-saving plot structure" thing. I would love to see a more character oriented Star Wars story where we got to spend some quality time with a set of characters and actually learn about them. Instead of, you know, just being told they were a spice-runner and expected to read something into that. Like, imagine how cool it would have been to actually get to see Rey train and struggle with learning the truth about her ancestry and shit without it running up against all the fuckboy First Order bullshit in the background!
I'm also not sure that I buy that Leia would have kept from her that she was a Palpatine. As someone who's struggled with the knowledge that they're related to someone who did horrible things, and as someone who's shown to visibly support and offer guidance to Rey, I just can't fully believe that she would keep it to herself. I understand that Abrams et. al. were trying to set her up as a sort of sly, knowing, behind-the-scenes sort but that just isn't Leia's style, or has everyone forgotten the original trilogy already?
Overall, it was a fun watch but probably not enough to recommend further exploration of the Star Wars film franchise to me. Though I did come through with some ideas to finally try my hand at Finn/Poe, should the desire strike, so that was nice. Anyway, I'll just be rolling around in the extended universe stanning Ahsoka Tano if anyone needs me.
no subject
I'm also not sure that I buy that Leia would have kept from her that she was a Palpatine.
Exactly! It was so strange. I would have much preferred if no one knew, because it seemed like they were building up to Rey being a "nobody" and not having all of the family baggage the way Leia and Luke (and Kylo) always did.
And when Finn said he had something to tell her, I really thought he was going to tell her what her last name was (I didn't even realize the much more likely scenario that they wanted a beard for Finn). If Kylo and the entire order knew, maybe Finn knew that she was a Palpatine.
The Finn/Poe scenes are what made the movie enjoyable imo.
The Zorii scenes were so cringe-worthy. It was just an attempt to push back on all the speculation as to Poe's sexuality. I just don't get Disney's obsession with keeping their male leads all macho and super flirty. With the tiny backstory, it almost seemed like they were trying to make him even more like Han.
no subject
Yes! Same! Like, if you’re gonna redeem the dude and make me believe he’s actually worthy of it, having slaughtered his dad and a bunch of kids and entire cities and planets-worth of people, let him actively earn that within the narrative. Also that Rey would be at all into “Ben” was totally unbelievable. She didn’t even know Ben! Why would she have wanted to take his hand??
If Kylo and the entire order knew, maybe Finn knew that she was a Palpatine.
Ooohh this is actually a really good thought!!! Would be way way better, though like. Kind of pointless to include it if you’re not going to give us the actual reveal in this movie either way. I did enjoy how jealous Poe was of it, though.
With the tiny backstory, it almost seemed like they were trying to make him even more like Han.
I one hundo percent believe they’re trying to do him up as the “new” Han, which is stupid because Poe’s not like that at all. Like, Leia wouldn’t have left Han in charge of her entire fucking army if he was, even though she loved him very dearly, but she bequeaths it to Poe which is more than enough to speak to a drastic difference in root character even if Han and Poe share some traits.
no subject
Yeah, it was cute to see Poe jealous. Either way, it was weird for them never to reveal what Finn was going to say. What's the point of keeping it a mystery? Especially since they ended with the core three hugging it out, which I was super surprised by. I half-expected Finn and Rey to kiss, and Poe to kiss Zorii. And they did have that f/f kiss thrown in, so it just seems like they were trying to cater to as many people as they could and leave everything open-ended.
Yes, totally! Poe's leadership skills and strategizing/planning skills should have really been at the forefront - these things make him much different right off the bat. I did love that the first thing he did was admit he needed help, though, and then get Finn involved. I don't know if Han would have ever done that.
no subject
I am very Pro Ahsoka, I have a funko pop of her on my desk at work :)