ratcreature | Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

I guess this was okay? I didn't feel like squeeing a lot, but it wasn't awful either.

The whole Palpatine having survived as top Sith in the shadows was a bit meh, for me, and the reveal of Rey as his granddaughter left me cold. The thought of him having had sex at some point to procreate is just icky. I guess he wasn't always a resurrected Voldemort-like horror monster, and one shouldn't body shame, but nope. One bio-dynasty of force users would have been enough, imo.

I could have done without the Kylo/Rey kiss before Kylo (or I guess at that point he reclaimed Ben Solo as identity) conveniently expired to become a force ghost, after reviving Rey from the final Palpatine boss fight. And most of my fellow cinema audience didn't seem to be Kylo/Rey shippers either, at least I got a cringey, groaning vibe rather than a cheering one, but perhaps that was me projecting. At least he first healed her and then they kissed, rather than some creepy Sleepy Beauty trope. So that's something.

I expected Kylo to get a redemption arc, though I didn't care much, because to me it didn't feel like we actually saw him work to turn himself around, grow emotionally and feel sorry for his atrocities and the patricide. Apparently being shown mercy by Rey, getting healed by her and then receiving another talking to from his dead dad was enough to make him give up his Sith ambition to rule the galaxy with his dream girlfriend (whom he somehow hoped to win through obnoxious, sometimes violent stalking).

OTOH I wouldn't particularly have wanted to watch a Kylo-centric character study, and film isn't the best movie for that, anyway, and people who like redeemed!Kylo can probably slot the internal growth from their favorite fanfic or something as headcanon.

That Hux turned spy for the Resistance just to get back at Kylo, rather than any ideological reasons, I liked as a petty motivation though, and that seemed sufficient.

Finn finding other former stormtroopers who deserted and refused orders was great. I wouldn't have minded seeing more of them.

I also liked Rey claiming Skywalker as her family name for her connection to Luke and Leia as her teachers at the end, with both looking on as benevolent force ghosts, though overall there were too many force ghosts. Could anyone explain to me though, where her third light sabre at the end came from? I assume she buried Luke's and Leia's on Tatooine as neither left bodies, but how did she get another one?

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I'm guessing that Poe Dameron didn't find a boyfriend?

No, he did not. Rather the opposite. I was really annoyed that an ex-girlfriend turned up whom he asked to stay with them at the end celebration though she turned him down (I forgot her name).

Well, I guess technically she was explicitly only an ex-smuggling crew member, and they started with her feeling angry at him by because him joining the resistance caused them trouble etc. but aside from some help she provided, her purpose was mainly to no-homo Poe/Finn, I felt. It's definitely heterosexual for all main characters, though there's one fig leaf f/f kiss at the final celebration between two characters who don't have names or lives or anything, and are apparently there to show how non-homophobic the movie is or something.

I hope you don't mind me asking, but when in the movie is the girl/girl kiss? I watched it in Hong Kong and I didn't see one...?

During the celebration scene at the end, where we get a focus on different people hugging and such, and Poe exchanges that look with his ex with the focus on him and then her, iirc the f/f kiss was right after that, but definitely during the final celebration.

ETA: I just googled to see whether screencaps were around and didn't find any yet, but did see news articles that claimed it hasn't been censored by China. So if it's been left in on the mainland I'd assume it would be in Hong Kong too? It's not super prominent though, or a very sexual kiss.

Edited 2019-12-21 14:43 (UTC)

Felt the exact same way about the no-homo part.

Yeah, it's just enraging that this is still being done. It's not like I expected an explicit, epic Poe/Finn love story on screen, and I'm not particularly invested in them particularly, but it would have been nice if for once they didn't shoehorn everyone into (implied) het pairs.

Re: where Rey's 3rd lightsaber came from, I assume she made it. It's been sort of part of the lore that's one of the things an apprentice is supposed to learn to do before becoming a Jedi knight, so that was my assumption. Only an assumption, though. :-)

Yeah, though I wonder where she got that crystal from, I thought they were super rare? I remember reading about some special cave that cropped up in TPM fanfic a lot, and had assumed the Empire would have destroyed that like the Jedi Temple.

I hated the reveal that Rey was a granddaughter of some famous villain. Enough with the dynasty shit. I also felt that many of the themes were very on the nose. The bit about droid being useful had to be verbalized. I'm sure we would have gotten that one on our own.

I found most of the plot confusing. The final battle was a rehash of the battle in "The last Jedi" and when Luke got back I got angry. I wanted to like the movie but I hated that apparently not even death has any permanent effect in this Star Wars universe. Luke can still speak and move things, so is he even dead? What was the point of him dying in the first place? I also hated that both Ben and Leia vanished and nobodoy reacted with any kind of shock. I don't remember that being a thing before and it again made me think that nothing really matters in this universe. Not time, not life or death, not even physical matter.

Again "The last Jedi" did it better with Kylo. He already had this emptional moment with his mother and already killed the bad influence in him in killing (or helping to kill) Snoke.

Where did all those shadowy figures in the Sith throne room come from?

The ending made me angry. First of all there were too many endings. I half expected the movie to end with Ben died, liked the hug of the three friends at the end but when Rey had to (again) state the theme of the movie by calling herself Skywalker I was ready to walk out. I though it was very clear she had chosen the resistance as her family a long time ago so most of her arc here felt pointless.

I was a also a bit miffed that they gave Poe a sort of female love interest. I will pretend that he was ironically asking her to kiss him since she knew him.

Yeah, the movie really wasn't good. But it looked freaking amazing.

Yes, I would have liked it much better if Rey came just from regular parents.

Honestly I wish they had just scrapped the whole Palpatine resurrection and had them just fight an imperial military dictatorship, who maybe if they wanted to redeem Kylo Ren, at some point during this movie kicked him out for being a useless incel whiner obsessed with stalking his fantasy girlfriend or something.

And the logistics of the gothic Sith lair planet made no sense. It would be so much better for their military if the leadership didn't put so much effort in separate hidden fleets and creepy architecture, but instead resourced their troops with better body armor and functioning automatic weapons that actually hit people eventually if they are firing enough. But I guess that's what you get with a religious cult at the top rather than some someone whose priority is actually defending or reconquering their empire from an insurgency.

As much as I liked the Stormtroopers who deserted refusing war crimes, I bet more will have done so because they eventually got fed up with getting only shitty equipment and incompetent command and constant suicide missions... Morale has to be permanently at rock bottom.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

and Poe far from the storyline?

Re: and Poe far from the storyline?

Re: and Poe far from the storyline?

Re: and Poe far from the storyline?

Re: and Poe far from the storyline?

Re: and Poe far from the storyline?

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