We went as a family to see it and were all mightily entertained. In that respect it did its job very well. Overall I liked it - I do however feel that it suffers from an attack of The Stupids and suspect it will not hold up well to repeated viewing, much like TFA which I find less enjoyable each time I rewatch it. I think the problem is that films like this require a suspension of disbelief which is totally fine except they go way over the top on so many things that it starts to verge on the ridiculous. The Disney habit of lurching from one set piece to another is in evidence here, bending the plot out of shape in order to get to the next big punch up or explosion which is usually made garish enough to help you forget that the rest of the movie isn’t making much sense.
Some thoughts (good, bad and indifferent, with apologies for length of waffling):
Poe Dameron is a bit of a jackass – not only is his poor decision making responsible for trashing the entire resistance bomber fleet along with the loss of dozens of lives, he is then directly responsible for screwing up their escape plan to the salt planet resulting in hundreds more deaths, not to mention his misadvised mutiny against the admiralty. This guy would have been shot in the back of the head in any guerrilla army by now, rather than getting a mild slap and some grudging admiration because he is so loveable he can be excused anything.
Hux as an imbecile – “you may be wondering why I keep such a craven around” says Snoke and yes, I really do wonder. I think they just dialled up the stupid on him for comedic effect but at least Domnhall Gleeson is a fantastic actor so worth watching regardless.
Phasma is the most pointless ‘character’ in the entire saga - Even Jar-Jar was more convincing, yes I went there. All of her dailogue in TFA could have been handled by random officers or Hux and she has even less to do in this one. She seems to be there purely to give Finn a nemesis to fight against in an awkwardly convoluted set-piece.
Luke as Kung-Fu Master was great – I love the way that he just tossed that sabre away then pointedly ignored Rey despite her doggedly following him around. Given the Eastern influences into the original movies I thought the whole pastiche of the student begging the master to train them was spot-on. They also gave him real gravitas in keeping his distance and his bitter atonement for his past mistakes. The whole angle with multiple versions of that moment with Kylo was also done well, as was the moment with Rey in the pit. X-Wing in the water is just a reminder to Rey that Luke came here to stay, that thing ain’t flying again after years in the ocean.
What the heck is BB-8 made out of? People are picking it up and throwing it around in both movies, but the shell alone must way hundreds of kilos.
Thought that the Kylo being drawn to the light wilst Rey is drawn to the dark thing was fantastic. Also loved the fact that Snoke wasn't anybody special, just a bad guy with force powers. I think that the question of Rey's parentage is still open but at the same time hugely releived that she didn't turn out to be a Skywalker/Solo/Reincarnation.
Deus Ex Machina all over the place – Leia can now fly like Superwoman in space because the plot needs it right now! We can track you through lightspeed because the plot needs it right now! We can superspeed your X-Wing because the plot needs it right now! We can blow up a rebel base from space during the first ten minutes but not in the last ten minutes because the plot needs it right now! Luke can force project himself into a physical form halfway across the galaxy because the plot needs it right now! We can’t track more than one ship at a time, even though later we can track several at once, because the plot needs it right now! And many many more, far too many to be excusable.
Super flying space Leia – I’m not so bothered by the scene itself, I think it was a missed opportunity for story reasons. If Leia had left us on the bridge at that moment then we could have had a magnificent sequence with her sensing Kylo, Luke dialling in and realising what is about to happen, then Kylo easing off the matricide only for the torpedoes to go in anyway – it would have lent credibility to Luke’s decision to finally get involved, made a stronger case for the introduction of Admiral Purple-Hair (Laura Dern was great but her character was completely redundant), and made Poe’s temper-tantrum and mutiny all the more poignant and relevant given that the fleet would be in complete disarray.
Casino planet – contrary to a lot of the negativity out there I think that these scenes were great. They set up the notion that the new rebellion would come from the lowest quarters, allowed Finn and Rose some bonding time together which makes for some interesting romantic tangles later on, and brought to life that there is more going on in the galactic struggle than simply bad hats versus good hats. It’s also one of few truly original parts of the film that isn’t directly aping ESB and RotJ. I thought that Benicio Del Toro was superb and his character worked in a way that was a perfect fit for the story thread that was being explored. It certainly wasn’t ancillary to the overall plot, however the setup was horribly flawed; going there to find a macguffin on the advice of Orange Yoda in order to solve a ridiculous plot point that was only there in order to make this whole sequence happen in the first place – yeah, okay, not buying it. Which brings me onto…
It felt like two films in one – there’s a natural cutting point where the gang are all going their separate ways, some of them into extreme danger, and with plenty of mysteries still to be unwound. Given that the end note has such a feeling of finality to it there is a sense that this could have been the second and third parts of this new trilogy with any further films being on a complete blank slate. At the end I have to say that I didn’t really feel like I need to see any more of this particular story.
