5punk

is quite a good send off for Hugh Jackman's Wolverine and Sir Patrick Stewart's Xavier.

The plot twist with David not being Walter near the end was incredibly obvious, but also somewhat daft as I'm not entirely sure how he changed clothes and cut his hand off in the 30 seconds from when the two surviving humans ran outside and left him and Walter fighting.

Also, the lack of facemasks. Prometheus showed the team going planet side and donning enviroment suits. Why the hell would this team decide going for a jaunt in normal hiking gear on an alien world is perfectly acceptable?

I was hugely underwhelmed. Throughout the film I was sat there thinking "really, is this it?". A lot of stuff just didn't work for me. Main issues below in no particular order:

* Out of place humour. The opening scene contains a really poorly timed comedy "skit" that feels really awkward. I remember cringing at it thinking they're now trying to do the "Marvel thing" with light breezy quips undermining any moments of tension. I know I've complained before about other films (notably the DC lot) having no levity, but we now seem to have entered a time where it's impossible not crowbar a joke into every fifth scene.

* Massively contrived and ridiculous plot point i.e. the "chase" with the rebels fleeing the First Order. I mean, what the fuck was that all about? It's so incredibly weak I can't believe they couldn't think of anything better to do. I was going to make a separate point on the pacing of the film, but I think that all comes down to this part in particular. I think it's supposed to be tense, but it just comes across as pointless. And why wouldn't Holdo reveal the plan about using the transport ships to get to the planet? To what end was that kept secret? All it meant was that created a more or less pointless sub plot about going to find a master code breaker and going to a casino planet and hacking into FO flag ship and zzzzz. Just a mess.

* Leia 'flying' back to the ship after being shot out into space. I actually rolled my eyes hard at that point. At that stage it really wouldn't have surprised me if prequel Anakin had showed up as a ghost or something.

* Snoke. I actually thought Snoke was really good and interesting (even if he did remind me of Tywin Lannister from Game of Thrones every time he was on screen), which is why it's strange he just seemed to be completely wasted as a character.

* Lack of Finn and Rey interaction. For me the chemistry between the two was a highlight of episode VII, but as they're rarely together in this one it's a notable absence. Instead Rey spends most of her time with...

*Kylo Ren. I had high hopes for him at the beginning as it seemed like we were getting a properly conflicted and interesting character. Now some people might say "oh but he was conflicted, look at how he killed Snoke!". Nah, not buying it. His character barely changed.

* General Hux. Pantomime villain. He was just a joke every time he was on screen.


Any good stuff? Yep, some:

* Luke. I liked him, could've done with seeing more of him to be honest

* Snoke. As mentioned above, shame he was wasted

* Rey and Kylo taking on the praetorian guard

* The lightspeed ramming of Snoke's ship


Having read/watched other reviews of the film, I am apparently in a massive minority with this view.

No, you're not in a minority. Saw it last night with a group and about half of us came out with mixed feelings on it.

• Re: Hux: I quite like him, narf the only pantomime bit I thought was OTT was with Poe on the radio when he was on the bridge. He loathes Kylo Ren, so I'm hoping something is done about that in 9.
• Re: Leia scene: It was bullshit. I'd have *maybe* given it a pass if it was a Jedi/Sith Master doing it, but as it was, it was crap. Would have been an excellent point to either kill her off, OR as he was flying around at that moment for Kylo Ren to have captured her. Also killing Admiral Ackbar like that was unforgivable.
• Re: Chase: I concur the chase as a plot was a bit rubbish. I understood the character development aspect with Poe wanting to do action right there but Leia and Laura Dern's character having a more strategic plan and it being a lesson for Poe, but still wasn't really enough to sustain the film.
• Killing Luke off felt like a cheap "shit, last film killed off Han, wonder if we can get away with killing another big one off?" type move especially as it didn't have the same gravitas or really actually do much for the plot. Also *very* surprised that bit wasn't cut during this year's post production considering Carrie Fisher's unfortunate death. It also shat on the plot a bit, as Yoda specifically told Luke to stop being an angsty teen, learn his lesson and to train Rey and not let her fall to the dark like Kylo Ren did. Very much suspect he'll have a large role as a horse Ghost in E.9 though.
• I felt the film tried to ape Empire too much. horse Awakens was a homage to all three films, but this stuck a bit too close to Empire. IE, Rebel base on a white world + ATAT and landspeeders + an evacuation and escape. Jedi Master being reluctant to train a new student but relenting. Said student going off early before training is complete. "Unrequited" "I Love You" scene.

For the first half of the film I was most annoyed by the constant character switching. The Rebel officer who starts to brief them after Leia does her daft Superman routine, who then immediately hands over to Admiral Holdo, was the most obvious. The rest kind of panned out with Rose's story, but for a while it was a bit of a chore. It felt like they were trying to show off all the incidental detail they were putting in, which would work far better by staying in the background.

I liked the Kylo Ren switching thing, although it did make me wonder mid-film why anyone would trust any Jedi, light or dark. I also liked how there was no bloody Death Star. Finally they've worked out that those things are shite. I liked how the big Dreadnoughts scream as they come out of hyperspace. I like how there were subtle little signals, like Luke not leaving footprints, and the kid at the end making the broom come to his hand. Most of the silly jokes were misplaced, but I liked it when Yoda twatted Luke on the head with his stick.

I got vibes of both Empire and RotJ from it, and I think they were trying to wrap up the homages in that film so they can move into new territory with the next one. Sure, the battle scene looked like Hoth (complete with a single old-school AT-AT, oddly), but I don't think it breaks the fourth wall to have two ground battles in 30 years.