![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
From the guy who brought you the most Star-Wars-y Star Trek movies ever, it’s the most Star-Wars-y Star Wars movie ever!
The first question: How did Ben Solo / Kylo Ren get so screwed up? Odds are, Han and Leia were likely terrible parents. Leia is angry, impulsive and, while very competent, she tends to monofocus (all just like her father). Han is not very competent, even at the things he thinks he’s good at. He was an adult already into his routine when New Hope happened; it’s not surprising he couldn’t maintain being a “hero” and went back to his old routine when things got tough. He owes money to everybody and can’t find his unique ship until he trips over it—Chewie rolls his eyes when Han says he’ll handle things. When he tries to appeal to his son on the catwalk, he approaches him strategically, not like a father. He never formed a proper emotional bond (except, perhaps, with Chewie) and never knew how.
(I’ve seen a fan theory that Han was actually force-sensitive, and it manifested as insane luck. I’d buy it.)
And similarly, Luke tries to recreate the Jedi Order, a system that was problematic to begin with and that he had never personally experienced. It’s entirely possible that Leia and Han sent Ben to Luke when he was five years old. At which point, Luke screws up like his mentors before him and, like Obi-Wan hid in a cave and Yoda hid in a swamp, goes and hides on a mountain in the ass-end of nowhere.
Everything going wrong for the heroes of the original trilogy is entirely in character.
Jethrien had issues with Rey’s ability to take on Kylo Ren in lightsaber combat. I think the earlier movies showed that—especially if you’re particularly strong with the force—the training is mostly just demonstration and practice. Everybody’s cool with the idea that Rey can do a mind trick in three tries after seeing it done only once, right? This stuff just comes easily when you’re an adept. Also, Rey was shown earlier to be a really good fighter with a staff. Besides the fact that Kylo was injured, we don’t know if he’s actually any good. He’s a spoiled child who clearly wasn’t properly trained, and he relies on force powers much more than actual fighting. He’s never actually fought another force-user before! So I thought that battle’s outcome was totally justified.
I was a bit upset that Finn could fight with a lightsaber as much as he did and not cut off his own limbs. I’ve heard theories that he’s going to turn out to be force-sensitive; I would be totally down with that.
Ivy described Poe Dameron as, “The hero of a different story,” and I think that’s very accurate. Apparently not having him die in the TIE fighter crash was an afterthought, but I didn’t see a plot hole there: Finn’s ejector seat blasted him some distance away, clearly Poe’s did too. A sandworm ate the ship, and when he couldn’t find Finn or BB-8, he figured he’d make his way back to the Resistance base and regroup.
And even if I didn’t read Tumblr, I would have spotted the Finn/Poe ship from light-years away. And Finn/Rey, for that matter. Finn just makes heart-eyes at everybody.
Overall: The prequel trilogy is what happened when Lucas took Star Wars in a direction he thought was best. This is what happens when a New Hope fanboy takes over. It looks, feels and has beats just like the original movie, and I’m totally down with that. And hey, women and minorities in starring roles! Woo!
The first question: How did Ben Solo / Kylo Ren get so screwed up? Odds are, Han and Leia were likely terrible parents. Leia is angry, impulsive and, while very competent, she tends to monofocus (all just like her father). Han is not very competent, even at the things he thinks he’s good at. He was an adult already into his routine when New Hope happened; it’s not surprising he couldn’t maintain being a “hero” and went back to his old routine when things got tough. He owes money to everybody and can’t find his unique ship until he trips over it—Chewie rolls his eyes when Han says he’ll handle things. When he tries to appeal to his son on the catwalk, he approaches him strategically, not like a father. He never formed a proper emotional bond (except, perhaps, with Chewie) and never knew how.
(I’ve seen a fan theory that Han was actually force-sensitive, and it manifested as insane luck. I’d buy it.)
And similarly, Luke tries to recreate the Jedi Order, a system that was problematic to begin with and that he had never personally experienced. It’s entirely possible that Leia and Han sent Ben to Luke when he was five years old. At which point, Luke screws up like his mentors before him and, like Obi-Wan hid in a cave and Yoda hid in a swamp, goes and hides on a mountain in the ass-end of nowhere.
Everything going wrong for the heroes of the original trilogy is entirely in character.
Jethrien had issues with Rey’s ability to take on Kylo Ren in lightsaber combat. I think the earlier movies showed that—especially if you’re particularly strong with the force—the training is mostly just demonstration and practice. Everybody’s cool with the idea that Rey can do a mind trick in three tries after seeing it done only once, right? This stuff just comes easily when you’re an adept. Also, Rey was shown earlier to be a really good fighter with a staff. Besides the fact that Kylo was injured, we don’t know if he’s actually any good. He’s a spoiled child who clearly wasn’t properly trained, and he relies on force powers much more than actual fighting. He’s never actually fought another force-user before! So I thought that battle’s outcome was totally justified.
I was a bit upset that Finn could fight with a lightsaber as much as he did and not cut off his own limbs. I’ve heard theories that he’s going to turn out to be force-sensitive; I would be totally down with that.
Ivy described Poe Dameron as, “The hero of a different story,” and I think that’s very accurate. Apparently not having him die in the TIE fighter crash was an afterthought, but I didn’t see a plot hole there: Finn’s ejector seat blasted him some distance away, clearly Poe’s did too. A sandworm ate the ship, and when he couldn’t find Finn or BB-8, he figured he’d make his way back to the Resistance base and regroup.
And even if I didn’t read Tumblr, I would have spotted the Finn/Poe ship from light-years away. And Finn/Rey, for that matter. Finn just makes heart-eyes at everybody.
Overall: The prequel trilogy is what happened when Lucas took Star Wars in a direction he thought was best. This is what happens when a New Hope fanboy takes over. It looks, feels and has beats just like the original movie, and I’m totally down with that. And hey, women and minorities in starring roles! Woo!