So, I am going to sum up my thoughts. Lots of spoilers will be here so
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You were warned.
Technically the movie is quite amazing. The problems are in the script and the casting. Last night I had trouble seperating my personal feelings about the Story (and how I feel about the story as a fan of star wars) and the movie on a more objective quality end.
I rank this movie Bellow Return of the Jedi when I take “Everything” into consideration including my thoughts on the story the movie is trying to tell. Excluding my prefrences the story has a lot of problems. Those problems only enhance the things I dislike in the story. It takes the structure of Empire and adds in a layer of unnecessary complication AND escalates the scale of the tension in the “War”. However it doesnt really sell the war in a meaningful way. It also seems afraid to give us a star wars movie that isn’t a war movie and isn’t a movie about Empire vs Rebels. The war is there because the movie thinks you have to have a war in a star wars movie.
They set up the tension in the war plot elements by making a stupid plot, and making a stupid plot that would never happen in an actual military setting. Like the movie being over-complicated and like its escalating tension with a weak part of the movie this is something I can speak to with confidence about outside my personal preference of “Star Wars.” The stupid plot then on Supreme Leader Snoak’s ship got intensified by 3 of our 4 main characters acting inexplicably stupid because it was in the script. And the fact the only ways the over-complication of the plot works is for people to behave stupid for no reason means its a bad plot element.
With two exceptions (Rey and Leia) all the performances were quite good. Carrie Fisher gets a pass because her years of drug use ruined her acting. But the problem comes down to relationships and how they didn’t really work on screen. And the ones that worked were given insufficent screen time. I don’t believe for 1 second Rose was a fan girl for Finn, and I don’t believe for one second she was romantically infatuated with him. And that kiss was fucking awful. I don’t believe Rey has intense emotional feelings for Kylo (one way or another). And I believe ((because Adam Driver is a good actor)) any emotions he has about her are in service of his desire to manipulate her. Kylo and Luke have appropriate chemistry for what their relationship means for the movie. Luke and Leia have appropriate chemistry. Luke and Chewie and Luke and R2 have appropriate chemistry. Poe and Finn have appropriate chemistry.
Because Leia (as the leader of the Resistance) gets a case of the Stupid plot her chemistry with poe is kind of messed up. You feel their relationship on the screen but I don’t think Carrie Fisher has it in her to act to make what the script demanded out of her. I think the guy who plays Poe made it work well enough on his end.
The Laura Dern character was acted like some one who didn’t know how a commander or leader acts. But thats because she like Leia got a case of the stupid plot. But you have in no way shape or form her acting in a way that would give her the gravitas of a respected military/political leader.
The Snoak/Kylo scenes were all very good ((except for the scene with Rey. Which was made stupid because he stopped acting like a Evil Overlord and turned into an exposition machine. BUT thats ok because he was only there to be murdered)) and the Kylo Hux scenes were all good.
The movie didn’t focus on the interesting character dynamics or drivers.
Also I have no reason to believe that Poe and Finn would have any emotional connection to a Random bar NPC (Maza) and I know what the novels say but the Finn/Phasma feud doesnt work because again there is no chemistry there
Fundamentally since the Poe/Finn/Rose subplots happen only because the characters all act inexplicably stupid and unreasonably so the plot can happen its why those parts of the script mess up the pacing of a very good Wuxia/Wushu story with Luke. The only thing of merit that came out of that was the kids in the stable. And you could have plugged them into the movie another way.
In summation: Beautiful, John Williams is still amazing, Rian Johnson was getting the best he could out of the actors ((though they had some chemistry issues…Issues that Rian Johnson cant really do anything about. And I think Disney creative mandated that these other characters were given roles in the movie to benefit larger corporate goals). The Story was done proficiently but its over-complicated.
This is me judging the movie without my personal aesthetics. But Rating it on a scale and continuum of other Star Wars Movies I will put here.
Empire is #1, a New Hope is #2, The Force Awakens is #3, Return of the Jedi is #4 and this comes in at number 5. Part of me wants to put it at #6 but the #6 entry on the list is a movie made for Kids and its not fair or right for me to put this bellow a story that while more proficient in a lot of ways is dumbed down for Children. The Clone Wars animated film comes in at 6, The Phantom Menace at 7, Revenge of the Sith at 8 and Attack of the Clones at 9…..that film was bad