So I finally came home after 3 weeks of outdoor toil in pleasant sub-zero conditions, because someone lovingly scheduled work at sea for the middle of December (because of course the people making the decisions are not the people actually freezing outside at any point, but whatever). Anyway, I am indeed alive and, priorities being what they are, I made it to a late-night showing of The Last Jedi, woo! I got a really nice print with my ticket, too.
Short version: I like it the more I think about it and I can’t wait to rewatch, I loved how meta it was and the points it was making, I felt very catered to in various ways, including politically, which is always nice.
Rambly spoilery thoughts under the cut.
I loved so much about Luke (I first typed “everything” here but then I remembered the... milk... and noped out, ay). I felt his arc, while painful in many ways, was very on point and appropriate and made perfect sense. The whole going from cutting himself off from the Force, to more powerful than you can possibly imagine, not in a fight an entire army with a laser sword “badass” way, while still echoing those words - it was so... Jedi. The projection scene with all of its building hints that something is up was amazing, and one of the parts I’m most looking forward to seeing again. The binary sunset, an image carved so deeply into my mind way back when that’s stuck with me so closely and for so long that I can’t help but slip it into so many things I do - seeing it here, and in such a very... purposeful and peaceful full circle context, sure was something. Those kids at the end there? Playing with their Luke Skywalker action figure and being inspired by his tale? The best kind of meta. I actually have a ton of feelings and thoughts about the entire being a legend thing and making people into legends and sources of hope and all but I’m still processing.
Yoda! Yoda!!! Suddenly I was a tiny kid watching a worn out VHS of Empire again. The little troll, damn, nothing the girl doesn’t already possess, huh, I see you there, I see you. And with such a good lesson about failure - one that I feel echoes nicely throughout the movie.
Can we take Gwendoline Christie and put her in a big franchise where she won’t be criminally underused? Thanks. I was really, really looking forward to a whole Phasma vs Finn thing, as Finn and his story and the whole renegade stormtrooper thing ended up being my favourite parts of TFA, so while the scene was cool, and Finn well and truly finding and choosing his place and life as Rebel Scum was wonderful, it was all way shorter and less prominent than I expected, alas (would’ve been nice to see some of that “surviving at all costs, loyalty to nothing and nobody” from Phasma contrasted with him here - maybe in the, uh, next one? Because she totally survived that fall, right? Of course she did.). MORE FINN.
Every second of Leia’s screentime was a gift, she is powerful in so many ways, both as a direct actor and as an icon and beacon of hope for so many, I dearly loved how this was all acknowledged (some of it with a big whiff of FINALLY! for me). I am saddened by the way this whole movie was building up towards a big Leia arc in IX which we now won’t see, and I genuinely don’t know what they’ll do with the story. “No one's ever really gone.” wow, thanks for that shot direct through my goddamn heart. Also, I’m looking at you, AO3 Leia/Holdo tag. I’ve got my eye on you.
Rose I love to bits and I am so glad we got to meet her. It might sound silly but the best way to summarise my feelings on her would be, honestly, if she were an actual person and we met in real life, we’d get on like a house on capitalism-hating fire. Her quote about protecting what you love as the true point of resistance is a huge and important thing, I think, and for me tied into the whole thing about... basing your actions, your activism, what you try to do and what you fight for, on furthering a cause you care for and a desire to genuinely improve the world and the rights and lives of a certain group of people, as opposed to doing it to tear someone else down, prove yourself superior or make yourself look good in some way. I would have liked to see more of her and Finn’s relationship developing (and reeeeally really hope there’s nothing resembling a love triangle in the next movie, nobody needs those).
The (non)answer given here about Rey’s parentage is, honestly, what I’ve pretty much been rooting for. Between this and Rogue One, I dig the stepping away from dynasties and secret family ties and bloodlines as the sources of power and heroism. And the Force bond thing threw me back to KOTOR2 and ah, Kreia.
Also just... casually seeing women everywhere? Pilots, engineers, bridge crew, on all sides? It just felt... good.
I have very, very little personal emotional investment (to put it mildly) in Kylo Ren but I liked the direction he was taken here, the subversion of Rey’s and some of the audience’s expectations or even wishes re: redemption etc. (with another bit of the theme of drawing on stories and legends that the OT became - Luke got through to Vader in the end there, right? That’s how it’s going to go, right, how it’s supposed to, when Rey tries it?).
Porgs were pretty cute and not obnoxiously overused as I vaguely feared they might end up being.
Location shooting for Canto Bight was done here - not in the exact city I live in, but altogether close enough for the “wretched hive of outwardly more high-class scum and villainy drawing their obscene wealth from war profiteering” to hit very close to home in ways I’m sure were not intended.
Conclusion: would probably watch 5 movies about Finn and Rose Destroying Capitalism, thanks.
YES YES YES SANTA CLARITA AU I LOVE THAT SHOW AND WHEN I SAW IT I THOUGHT OF HEATHERS AND YOU DID IT AND AHHHHHHH
lol!! i actually watched it again after I posted that and it’s still funny. Though a lot more vomit than I remembered I think just because I blocked it out lmao
