An aquaintance tells me as one of my friends asks him what he thought about the new movie. He said between Luke hiding like a coward instead of fighting and Leiaās weird Mary Poppins scene in space that many people in the theatres got up halfway through and left. He said that he found it boring because there wasnāt enough action, it deviated from the vision of the original trilogy. Kylo Ren was a weak character, he just found excuses to fuck shit up when he was angry. At this point I had to speak up. I told him I thought the new movies were great, especially this one considering the amount of representation they had in it. He quickly interrupted and told me that they always had that, there were plenty of poc and women in lead roles before. I donāt think he got what I meant.
It goes beyond what gender you are, or what your skin color is; I mean Leia, General freaking Leia, has always been a badass. And who could forget the charming Lando Calrissian, that smooth talking, perfect smile, hero of episode 6 who led the attack and brought down the new Death Star. But in the new movies, they literally CENTER around these characters; Rey and Finn are the main protagonists. And you better believe I recognized Diego Lunaās accent in Rogue one the moment I heard him speak for the first time. But I have more to say about the movies, if only he had let me.
There is an aspect about all of the characters that are so unbelievably....HUMAN. Yes Luke hides away from everyone and chooses not to fight. Why? Because of shame: he failed his pupil in a moment of weakness, that inadvertently caused him to turn over to the dark side. He failed his sister and his best friend who trusted their son to his care and training. He fears that he will fail again with Rey, which is why he is so reluctant to train her.
And Rey, letās talk about Rey here, sheās a nobody scavenger from Jakku who just happens upon a droid that changes her fate. She quickly joins the rebellion and becomes a hero and is earnest to become a jedi. She makes new friends and fights fiercely to protect those friends. Yet despite this, she still feels incredibly lonely. She longs to know who her parents are, and the heartbreak she experiences when looking in the cave and only seeing her reflection reminds her of how she has always been alone. This is how she is able to connect with Ben, a person that she saw as a monster, that she called a monster and wanted to kill. She risks everything to face Snoke and try to bring Ben back from the dark side.
And Ben. The Antagonist that no one can really hate. He takes an assumption of Kylo Ren in TFA, a typical baddie with some serious anger management issues. BUT in TLJ, we see his real character revealed: a young man with some inner turmoil and fear, who feels betrayed by his teacher, someone who he looked up to for so many years. Here was someone who, multiple times could not bring himself to kill his mother, though he had multiple opportunities to. Heck, even in TFA, he struggled for a bit before killing Han. He agrees with Rey when she calls him a monster in the beginning, he doesnāt try to justify his actions. He suffers abuse and is repeatedly manipulated by Snoke. And he finally outwits the ugly, evil bastard and kills him for Reyās sake. He offers Rey a home, a partnership, and companionship, because now they have a connection to each other of vulnerability. Like he barely met this girl not that long ago and is offering her a place of second in command of the ENTIRE GALAXY. Itās not about good and evil any longer , Itās differing viewpoints between the two, which is why it is so hard when they finally fight each other.
Thatās what I love about it most of all, is there is no cut and paste good guy versus bad guy. There is a lot of each personās own sense of justice. Poe: exploiting every opportunity to strike the empire, but at the cost of heavy casualties. Finn: who originally was just trying to escape and yet is willing to sacrifice himself if it means the rebels can escape safely. General Leia: sheās already lived through one war and for the love of God, how many more of her soldiers and friends would she have to watch die before her eyes? The Vice Admiral (sorry I forget her name): who is hanging on to hope when everything looks hopeless, and knows the importance of retreat. Rose: who hates the injustice and treatment of the children on Canto Bright most notably, because that was her childhood; she looks up to Finn as an inspiration in the beginning, but quickly sees his flaws. And the hacker: the one who exposes that war is only for a profit regardless of which side you take.
Yes there were some cheesy scenes, yes there were not as many action scenes as previous movies, but the ones in there counted, like when homegirl turned the ship into light speed and plowed through the first order Rambo style, me and several others in the theatre cheered. And the showdown between holographic Luke and his nephew. Epic CGI Courtesy of Disney that brought to life the Star Wars universe in the best possible way (not hating on the original, like can you imagine if they had the same technology that we do now?). Freaking great one liners! āYou were always scumā āRebel Scumā These new movies are so great, and just cause you liked the originals better doesnāt mean you can discount just how beautiful these new movies are being executed. I love the vulnerability, I love the gray areas, I love all the character development
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