Rey was deep in her Jedi training under Leia Organa, using the lightsaber of the departed Luke Skywalker. One day, together with her friends Finn, Poe, Chewbacca and C3PO, she went to investigate a certain inside intel they received from within the First Order about the precise location of the resurrected Sith Lord Palpatine, who was again threatening inter-galactic peace. Meanwhile, the specter of Palpatine promised Kylo Ren control of the whole Empire that should he be able to kill Rey specifically.
From this initial premise, writer-director J.J. Abrams made sure that the adventures and revelations of this ninth (and supposedly final) episode of the Star Wars Skywalker saga would go as fans would expect. There were so many fan service moments throughout this movie, bringing back old characters and recreating memorable scenes, both nostalgic and humorous. Unlike the divisive Episode 8 by Rian Johnson, this Episode 9 was a safely-fitting finale for a beloved film series that spanned more than forty years.
While Abrams dropped several surprises along the way, they were not anything too subversive to the spirit of the series. I could even venture to say that everything would happen as you would predict them to happen, in order to wrap everything up in one neat package. There were subtle little clues scattered in the exposition in the first hour which alert fans will pick up and assemble to get ready for the coming climax. There were triumphant moments to cheer for, for sure, but not exactly the "jump-up and whoop" variety.
Daisy Ridley as Rey has embodied her being the Last Jedi completely by this time. John Boyega and Oscar Isaac were having fun with their bro-mance banter between their characters Finn and Poe. With his stony facial expressions, Adam Driver still vacillated between Kylo Ren and Ben Solo personas, until the last moment. Even if we have only known these characters for three films, we are already invested in their story so much, we care about revisiting their past and anticipating their fate.
Exceedingly high expectations may cause some fans to be underwhelmed. This had everything a grand finale was supposed to have -- action, humor, nostalgia and heart. Sacrifices had to be made for the common good. All the good guys had their dignity intact, while the bad guys got their comeuppance. Some may complain that there were too many things going on, but hey, J.J. Abrams had to tie up 40-years worth of loose threads to provide proper closure for all the characters and their loyal fans, and I thought he so did very well. 8/10.
No comments:
Post a Comment