Earlier today (it's Sunday as I'm writing this) I got in my viewing of the new Star Wars movie, The Rise of Skywalker. I've been looking forward to this all year and had a great time with the movie. I've loved Star Wars my entire life and have really appreciated having a new movie every year for the past 5 years. Though after this movie, it's going to be a few years before the next. I guess a break is in order (grumble grumble). I'm no movie critic or reviewer, but I thought I'd discuss it a little. Just in case I get spoilery, it'll be under the break. Mobile readers... uh, it might get spoilery below.
Celebration is happening this weekend. Best thing about these mega cons for those who don't attend is the flux of news that comes from them. That means the first trailer for Star Wars IX : The Rise of Skywalker. Which of course means I've been an emotional tornado since waking up today. Joy, excitement, happiness, pure bliss. Star Wars is the reason I'm into the things I'm into and something I purely love. But enough about my feels and more onto my thoughts. Thoughts other than fist pumping and making noises that make the dogs bark. I don't have dogs, but that's what's wrong with yours.
I've been a huge fan of The First Order since they were revealed and that opening shot of the Tie Fighter heading right into Rey is awesome. The First Order to me is just so menacing. Like, ok, The Empire was of course the big bad. But The Empire fell and the follow up HAS to be a force to reclaim what they had. The First Order doesn't pull punches and is genuinely scary. They are the space military equivalent of a slasher movie killer. Not to mention, the imagery is awesome. I love the black and red combinations. Love the Storm Troopers. Love Kylo Ren's look, and seeing him putting his helmet back together makes me oh so happy.
My love for licensed merchandise is no secret and that's another fault of Star Wars. The prospect of all that fun stuff coming tied into this movie has me literally salivating in anticipation. Force Friday is October 4th this year, and I'll be directly at my local Walmart after getting off work that morning to check out the goods. I'm a fan of Hasbro's standard 5 point 3 1/4 line and can't wait to dig into the goods. I hope At Games Star Wars consoles will be out by then, I figured they'd have the Marvel ones out in time for Avengers 4, but guess not. I wonder if they'll start pumping out the Disney ones by Christmas, maybe even as Disney Plus launches.
After what felt like an eternity after our purchasing the tickets in October, I saw the newest Star Wars movie last night. I went in completely excited and left completely happy. I won't go into anything that could be considered spoiler related but do plan to give my thoughts here. Star Wars transcends movies to me, it is something that I love and is very dear to me. It's the exact starting point for all of my interests and has always been something of a friend to me my entire life. I think of it as a family member and hold it in a special place.
The Last Jedi is a excellent movie that follows the warning that Luke gives in the trailer in that this is not going to be what you think. TLJ doesn't bow to fan speculation and outright dares to be what it intended to be. Something that I believe is the source of anger some feel towards the movie. I've noticed this time and time again and notice it again. When fans swear one thing and it end up being something else, they more than often don't handle it well. Myself, I was pleased. Not everything has to be more than it is. Sometimes a character can be who they are without the relation of another to lean on.
TLJ is a story about loss and redemption. It's a story about making mistakes and learning from them. It's a more story based movie that leans on characters learning their place in things. The story carries the characters into their respective individual arcs that's full of twists and as the trailer told us from the beginning, doesn't go as you think it will. That's the hook of the movie and where it's beauty resides.
Visually the movie is striking, with stark colors and mixing the themes of ugliness underneath/hidden beauty. It delivers a mix of warmth and love with dark cold violence. If I have any complaints is that a few bits of cgi looked like they could have been done better. Nothing major, to me anyway. Because once again, as the story tells us, it's what's below the surface that counts.
In all, I love the movie and am 5 million percent happy with what I saw. I love Star Wars and my happiness with a new movie each year cannot be beaten. Thank you Disney for giving me this world where I get this magical experience once a year.
