I did look up what the planet was actually called instead of just calling it Space-Monaco - apparently I didn't read the name very closely, though. :)
I agree, the Ahch-To scenes were all excellent, and one of the main reasons I'm putting the movie in the 'interesting failure' category rather than the 'total mess'. It really feels like that was the story Johnson wanted to focus on.
Maybe I'm just uncharitable, though, because I don't see any reason Rey should be interested in 'redeeming' Ren in the first place. It has, after all, only been days since he was torturing her, days since she saw him kill Han. She seems to lose her own motivations so she can play out - as you said - a tired old story just so we can have that inversion of expectations. But at this point, they've set up Kylo too well to be irredeemable that it becomes increasingly implausible that people keep trying to give him second chances.
Maybe I just really hate the guy too much. Not Adam Driver - he's doing a fantastic job portraying an utterly loathsome little worm given too much power. But I'm kinda looking forward to him meeting some ignoble end, and am hoping the writers will have enough sense not to give him a third chance.
Finn's story frustrates me the most, because there's a lot of potential there, but it all felt very vaguely sketched out. It just throws ideas out there - the galaxy being built on slavery and greed, which should really impact on Finn, given his background, but he's almost literally just along for the ride when Rose smashes up the casino. Being forced to confront his past by infiltrating the First Order, but nothing specific to him comes of it - I hear there's a deleted scene where he tries to convince other storm-troopers to desert? I wish that had made it in. And the way it ends, with him almost literally being told the moral by Rose, rather than reaching that conclusion himself, is just utterly awkward storytelling.
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ninetydegrees
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on 2018-01-06 12:35 pm (UTC)I agree, the Ahch-To scenes were all excellent, and one of the main reasons I'm putting the movie in the 'interesting failure' category rather than the 'total mess'. It really feels like that was the story Johnson wanted to focus on.
Maybe I'm just uncharitable, though, because I don't see any reason Rey should be interested in 'redeeming' Ren in the first place. It has, after all, only been days since he was torturing her, days since she saw him kill Han. She seems to lose her own motivations so she can play out - as you said - a tired old story just so we can have that inversion of expectations. But at this point, they've set up Kylo too well to be irredeemable that it becomes increasingly implausible that people keep trying to give him second chances.
Maybe I just really hate the guy too much. Not Adam Driver - he's doing a fantastic job portraying an utterly loathsome little worm given too much power. But I'm kinda looking forward to him meeting some ignoble end, and am hoping the writers will have enough sense not to give him a third chance.
Finn's story frustrates me the most, because there's a lot of potential there, but it all felt very vaguely sketched out. It just throws ideas out there - the galaxy being built on slavery and greed, which should really impact on Finn, given his background, but he's almost literally just along for the ride when Rose smashes up the casino. Being forced to confront his past by infiltrating the First Order, but nothing specific to him comes of it - I hear there's a deleted scene where he tries to convince other storm-troopers to desert? I wish that had made it in. And the way it ends, with him almost literally being told the moral by Rose, rather than reaching that conclusion himself, is just utterly awkward storytelling.