Ok, so I thought I'd start putting reviews on my blog -- movie reviews, book reviews, etc . . . let me know what you think . . .
So, yesterday was my (mumble, mumble'th) birthday and my daughters, lovely girls that they are, took their ol' dad to see the new Star Wars movie. I had kept myself almost spoiler free for this one, so I was eager to see what all the hype and hate were about . . .
Let me say right off the bat that I loved this movie. Yup, I'll come out and say it -- this was a good movie. Don't listen to the haters, this was a very good movie.
But first, let's talk about what it wasn't. This wasn't a George Lucas movie. It wasn't as bad as the prequels. This WASN'T what anyone expected. This was a good thing.
There were expectations of Luke Skywalker coming back and whipping Kylo Ren's tail. Nah -- predictable. Of Rey becoming a Jedi like Luke did in The Empire Strikes Back. Also predictable. What Rian Johnson did was EVOLVE the story and mythos. Rey was the eager student, but Luke was the extremely reluctant teacher. Kylo Ren, while deserving of a long-overdue beat-down, was bested, not by Luke, but by his own anger. It was subtle, something that's not been seen before in a Star Wars movie.
This was Star Wars growing up. Watching Luke become the bad-ass Jedi Master we all knew he could be was awesome and moving. Watching Rey start her Jedi journey. Watching Kylo struggle to reconcile his loyalty to the dark side and the pull of the light side. It was a movie that took the best things about Star Wars previously and moved them forward.
I did have a few gripes -- but they're minor, so I won't go into huge detail. Suffice it to say, I won't be listening to much more hype about the movies moving forward. Not that I don't want to know more about them, but certain characters were built up to almost mythic proportions and their roles in this movie were negligible. That being said, I'm glad they were.
So, there you have it. Go see the movie. Enjoy it for what it is and be glad we still have Star Wars to watch. I'll be looking forward to seeing the Han Solo movie and Episode IX.
Merry Christmas to everyone -- hope we all have a few days of peace and tranquility.
Terry