How I would Improve Star Wars Episode 9

If it's not a good game or catholic...who do you call?...why Pokematic "hi."

So Star Wars Episode 9 The Rise of Skywalker is a terrible movie, I reviewed it here and was nicer than I should have been, because after letting it settle more I really hate it. Others have done a better job than I explaining why it's bad, but the main problem I want to talk about is "bringing back Palpatine, that'll solve everything." I know JJ was in a bind after Ryan decided to throw out all the foundation that JJ laid for him, and JJ thought Palpatine was his only choice, but I have a much better way of "gluing back together what Ryan shattered." I'll handle this point by point of what Ryan broke, what JJ thought he was doing with Palpatine, and how I would solve this.

But first, why is it bad to bring Palpatine back to life. In Episode 6 Return of the Jedi, Vader throws Palpatine down the reactor shaft, thus rejecting evil and redeeming himself to bring balance to the force. It's a major sacrifice since it costs him his life, and is the entire arc of Annikin, from fall to redemption. By bringing Palpatine back to life, it renders the events of episode 1-6 completely worthless. There have been many other people who explain it in greater detail, but this is the probably the biggest reason.

OK, so the first reason JJ brought back Palpatine is because Rey needs lineage. In episode 7 if was strongly hinted at that Rey's parents were something special, and that's why she is so naturally talented with the force, and who her parents were would be revealed in future films. Then in episode 8 it's revealed that her parents are nobodies because Ryan wanted to subvert expectations. JJ was probably going to establish them as "grand jedi that left the order" or something like that, and then that would play into her arc, but then Ryan said "nope, she's just special because anyone could be special." JJ was now stuck with "OK, I still need to make her descended from someone, and they have to be already established, and it would have to be from the prequels since a grandparent would be from that generation, guess I'll go with Palpatine since Jedi back then were celibate." Here's how I would fix this, make her a descendent of Qui-Gon Jinn. How would this be possible? Qui-Gon is a gray jedi, while he is loyal to the light side of the force, he does not subscribe to all of the teachings of the current jedi way (case in point, training Annikin even though he is too old). While it is the rules for Jedi to be celibate so they can fully commit to being a Jedi and not let emotional ties cloud their judgement (like what happened with Annikin and his mom and Padme), I can imagine Qui-Gon having a 1 night stand with someone without it corrupting his judgement. Like, if Qui-Gon saved some leader on an assignment and their custom was "when our leader is saved by a powerful worrier, we insist that said worrier mates with a woman from our tribe so that their genes would be passed on and make our society stronger, here are examples of other worrier savior descendants that had no emotional involvement from their father that helped keep us safe," and Qui-Gon saying "it is against the Jedi code to form emotional attachments to others, but my mission is to establish the future safety of this city and if this is how you deem necessary then I will assist."

Now how does this tie into the events of Episode 9? The big problem Rey has is she has no direction, and is conflicted about her lineage. Her master Luke is dead, her father figure Han is dead, Leia isn't a good teacher and is distant (because of real world complications), Rey needs guidance as to how to handle her power and no one can help. This is where Qui-Gon comes in. It's been established that dead Jedi can return as ghosts and provide guidance for those whom they have a connection with and need the guidance, and Qui-Gon can come to Rey as a ghost when she is in a fit of rage and confusion. I imagine the scene like this.

Rey is on some barren land, yelling and swinging her light saber yelling "why!!!!?? WHO AM I!!!???" or something similar.

She hears a voice "no one said the path of the Jedi would be easy"

"Who's there!?"

She turns around and there is a force ghost of Qui-Gon Jinn.

"Hello Rey, my name is Qui-Gon Jinn, and I am your grandfather."

Rey: What!? But how!?

Qui-Gon: When I was on assignment many years ago, your grandmother bore my child as part of their goal to make their village stronger. That child was your father. Before I could check on your father's force sensitivity, I was killed by Darth Maul while protecting Padme Amadala, the mother of Luke and Leia. Through the force I checked on your father, but he didn't have strong force sensitivity and therefore never became a Jedi. While he may not have been strong in the force, his child was, you Rey. And that is why I am able to talk to you now."

From then on Qui-Gon helps train Rey and we see what a truly wise in force training master can do. He helps Rey understand her powers, helps her quide her mind, and teaches her what he did and gives her a lineage to be proud of. This wouldn't have the same "lengthy process" as other movies like Luke learning from Ben and Yoda, but Liam is skilled in the art of training montages. This also gives us the opportunity to learn more about Qui-Gon, a Jedi who is very complex but who is also not well understood.

OK, next reason for Palpatine coming back is because we need a supreme evil that seduces Kylo and for him to reject and have a redemption. In episode 7 we get Snoke, a sith lord who teaches Kylo the ways of the dark side, whom we haven't heard anything about until now. OK, but maybe he's someone and we'll find out who in episode 8, and then Kylo rejects him in episode 9 like Vader did Palpatine. Nope, Ryan kills off Snoke and has Kylo say "I will rule the galaxy, and I want you as my partner Rey." OK, now how is JJ going to have Kylo reject ultimate evil if the ultimate evil is already killed? "Uhhhh, Palpatine was evil and super powerful, I'll make it so he survives." Here's how I would change it, Kylo doesn't get a redemption arc, he dies evil. It's hard, I know, but bear with me. Palpatine didn't just "come into existence as the most powerful sith lord," he could have been a light Jedi, but was trained as a sith lord by his master either by choice or by force (though I think it was by choice). Count Duku was a respected Jedi master before turning to the dark side, and I get the impression he chose it after seeing the power of the dark side. Kylo Ren does not trust the Jedi after Luke tried to murder him, and he very clearly turned to the dark side by choice, and was given multiple opportunities to reject it but didn't (killed his dad, killed his Sith master but chose to stay sith, probably others I'm forgetting or weren't shown), just keep him a Sith at this point. Sure, Annikin did a lot of bad things (he kills a bunch of children), but at the end of Episode 3 you can tell he has a lot of reservations about it (he's crying in that one scene, he says "it's OK Padme, I'll kill Palpatine and we can live together in harmony, without worrying about the Jedi." He only turned to the dark side because of Padme and was distraught when he couldn't save her. Kylo went to the dark side because he wanted to, and because he thought he had to finish what Vader started. He doesn't need a redemption, just make him evil. This has the added benefit of "not being a rehash of the original trilogy" since Kylo rejecting Palpatine is the same thing Vader did in episode 6.

Making Kylo fully committed to the dark side also gives us the opportunity to REALLY have him reject good, and fix a universe hole. Kylo's whole thing is "I want to finish what my grandfather started." His grandfather is Darth Vader, Annikin Skywalker. There's a scene in Episode 9 where Han comes back as a ghost and gives Kylo one last father-son heart to heart to bring him back, and that doesn't make any sense since Han isn't a Jedi, "so maybe it was a hallucination." Here's the problem, Kylo does not respect Han, he kills him as an act of evil to make him a true Sith. Han wouldn't reach Kylo since he has no remorse for it. Kylo doesn't respect anyone because they'll just get in his way of ruling the galaxy, except for one person. As I said, Kylo idolizes his grandfather, Darth Vader. He's doing all of this "because I need to finish what Vader started." Instead of having "maybe ghost, maybe hallucination Han," have Darth Vader come to Kylo as a force ghost. Here's the scene.

Kylo is building up his forces, getting ready for the final attack on the resistance, talking to Vader's chard helmet.
"At last grandfather, I will finish what you started, the galaxy will belong to us."

James Earl Jones voice: "that is not what I wanted."

Kylo startled turns around to find force Darth Vader in his black suit that Kylo idolizes. "Grandfather?"

JEJ: I did not turn to the dark side to so that I may rule the galaxy

Vader takes off his helmet to reveal Haden Christensen Annikin: I turned to the dark side so that I could stop your grandmother from dying in childbirth, but ultimately I was the one who killed her because I turned to the dark side. I only set out on galactic conquest because it was the path of master Palpatine and he was the only family I had left. Over the years I was corrupted by the dark side and was only saved by your uncle Luke Skywalker, my son."

Kylo: But master Luke tried to kill me grandfather!

Haden: But he chose not to. You didn't narrowly escape, he decided not to kill you. He didn't know how to control your power alone and was scared. His fear lead to anger, his anger lead to hate, and now his hate has lead to suffering, your suffering. The dark side says it has the answers to your problems, but it's not.

Kylo: I?...No, you are wrong. You may not have had the vision, but I do. I will rule the galaxy and finish what you were too scared to.

Haden: Then you are lost grandson. This will not end well for you. *Fades away*

That right there is fully within the rules of the universe (fallen Jedi can come back as ghosts, and Annikin came back to at the end of episode 6), and gives Kylo some REAL conflict.

OK, big climatic fight scene, Rey now trained by Qui-Gon battles fully evil Kylo Ren. Maybe beforehand Rey wants to bring Kylo back to good, maybe at the suggestion of Luke (he did for Vader), but Annikin tells her otherwise, and Qui-Gon is unsure of what the right decision might be. Then in the fight when Rey is down, Annikin in a voice over is telling Kylo "stop, this is not what I wanted" and then maybe Palpatine as a ghost voice says "hahahaha, Vader was weak, but you are strong, you will complete what he finished." He might be a little torn, but he's definitely going for bad. Then Qui-Gon in a voice over says "Rey, you are a Jinn, quide your mind, feel don't think." Rey closes her eyes and quides her mind, and instinctually pushes Kylo off her and deals a death blow. When she comes to she realizes what she's done, but is comforted by Qui-Gon and Annikin, Annikin saying "he was too far gone, fully consumed by the dark side like my master Palpatine," and Qui-Gon saying "and my master Duku, it is never easy to kill, I always had troubles when I was forced to do it, but being able to do the hard things is the true mark of the Jedi." Maybe not exactly like that, but it would be something to comfort her.

Maybe Rey gives Kylo a Jedi cremation, and then as Kylo is burning Annikin and Qui-Gon stand behind her as ghosts, and then Luke and Leia show up next to them, and then Yoda, Alec Guinness's Ben Kenobi (or Ewan Gordon McGregor's Obi-Wan if there's a problem with Alec's likeness), Mace Windu, and Asoka, stand behind them, and then other Jedi on the counsel and in the background show up all giving Rey silent approval. You can keep the final scene of Rey burying Luke's light saber, and the lady asking her "who are you," but instead of "Rey, Rey Skywalker," just have her say "Rey Jinn." That would also fix all the "she's not really a Skywalker, she's stealing the valor," since she really is a Jinn by blood and after the training by skill.

Don't like "Rey is a Jinn and Kylo is truly evil," OK leave everything the same and make JarJar the Sith lord. "JarJar is a Sith lord" is a "respected" fan theory. I say "respected" because it has somewhat far reach, and isn't just one guy's fan fiction.

Make JarJar a sith lord, have him give some monologue about how "it was all an act, the fan theory is true, and now I'm going to finish what Palpatine was unable to complete, and Rey is somehow my granddaughter," you got something. You still have a pre-established character, one whom everyone hates and would enjoy seeing him die, and you don't have to ruin Vader's redemption by bringing Palpatine back. There would still be a lot of problems, but at that point the movie is almost satire and I think people would be able to at least laugh at it.

I know it's not a perfect plot fix, and this is honestly a first draft (because that's how I generally write blogs), but I've been thinking about this for a while and I think this makes episode 9 much better. Well this has been Pokematic, signing off, and bu-bye.

Pokematic Reviews Star Wars Episode 9 The Rise of Skywalker

If it's not a good game or catholic...who do you call?...why Pokematic "hi."

Star Wars the Rise of Skywalker, the final movie in the Skywalker story, and one that has the difficult job of fixing all the damage that Last Jedi did. Yes, I know in my review of Last Jedi I called it "pretty good," but I was blinded by the uniqueness and in denial of how bad it was. No, Last Jedi was bad. Not Solo bad, but there was a lot of irreversible damage to the series that could not be repaired. There have been many people better than I who have gone in depth onto why Last Jedi is bad (MauLer, RedLetterMedia, and Robot Foot come to mind). So I'm going to get this out of the way and state the obvious, this is not a "perfect movie," because it is impossible for this to be a "perfect movie" after what Last Jedi did. I'd go so far as to say it's impossible for Episode 9 to be a "great movie" after the complete destruction of the Star Wars foundation that happened with Last Jedi. Even Orson Welles, Stanley Kubrick, and Quentin Tarantino working together in perfect harmony to deliver the best movie ever couldn't fully bring Rise of Skywalker beyond "well I guess this is the best that could be done given what they had to work with." So bear that in mind when I say "JJ did the best he could given what he had to work with." I'm going to keep this as spoiler free as I can, but there's only so much I can go with.

First and maybe most important, Rey was turned into an ACTUAL character and not a Marry Sue, as best she could. In Episode 8 (and to an extent Episode 7), Rey is just "naturally gifted in the force, she doesn't need to struggle and grow and is boring," (at least that's how the criticism goes, which I agree with to an extent). Now obviously Rey can't "unlearn everything and have a real Jedi training," but there was still room for growth and struggle, and JJ finds a way for Rey to have a struggle, be conflicted, stumble (literally and figuratively), and I think it works, as best it can. JJ finds an interesting way to make "Marry Sue Rey" into a flaw that she must overcome. As Dr Ian Malcolm said, "it didn't require any discipline to attain it. You read what others had done and you took the next step. You didn't earn the knowledge for yourselves so you don't take any responsibility for it. You stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you could and before you even knew what you had you patented it and packaged it and slapped it on a plastic lunchbox and now you're selling it you want to sell it." That I think is the best way to describe Rey's short character arc without spoiling what happened specifically. JJ takes the unearned power Rey has and uses it to build a conflict.

Next, there's a far better overall conflict. While Episode 7 was "lets blow-up the death star" and Episode 8 was "slow moving resources race with some weird political commentary on the economics of war, with Rey not needing Luke's training," Episode 9 was "the First Order is on the rise, the Resistance is on their last hope, it's up to our team to save the day, for realz though." None of this "retell episode 4" or "tell a bad story just to subvert expectations" nonsense. It's really a return to "good guys good, bad guys bad, there is pure evil and there is redemption," which is welcomed because I couldn't deal with another "the bad guys are also the good guys because capitalism is profit."

Another great character building is all the "neutered" characters have returned to their greatness. Poe is respected and not told "sit down and shut up, the grown-ups are talking." Luke isn't a grouchy old hermit that just wants to die (ghost Luke was fully reformed and is the wise old man we wanted him to be). We even see some unexpected returns that REALLY add to the story and do the best they can to redeem themselves after Ryan tried to destroy them.

Now there is a bit of an elephant in the room, and that is Leia. I don't remember who said it (I think it was Midnight's Edge, but I can't find the right video), but I remember hearing "the original plan for Episode 9 was Leia would be the one to complete Rey's training, but with Carrie Fisher passing they had to craft a story around alternate shots and bloopers from previous films." Uuuuuuggghhhhhhh, yeahhhhh, with how few lines and little screen time Leia has you can tell a lot of creative editing had to be done. Again, "they did the best they could with what little they had." I remember someone saying "if they did reshoots of episode 8 to make it so Luke lives and Leia dies after Marry Poppins'ing herself out of space, they wouldn't be in the predicament they forced themselves into." And it's true, you can tell Leia was meant to have a large part in the story but they had very little to work with. I think they did a pretty decent job, I've had to change my vision for short films that didn't pan out how I wanted due to actor conflicts, and while it would have been better to reshoot some things in Episode 8 to kill Leia instead, Ryan left a smoldering pile of you know what for JJ to work with, so it's really the best that could have been done.

Now for action scenes. They were pretty good. I kept my eye on the choreography to see if there would be another "guard fighting the air" bit, and there wasn't from what I could tell. The climatic battle at the end, really entertaining. The back and forth Rey and Kylo have with fighting, really good. What I think I liked most about them is they were more "fights of will and conviction" similar to that of the lightsaber battles of the original trilogy. A lot of critics and analysts have pointed out that the lightsaber battle between Vader and Obi-wan was more taunting and a battle of the mind given weight by the lightsabers, and the same can be said for the fight between Luke and Vader in Episode 6 where more words were said than lightsaber swings. While I definitely enjoy the high energy fights of the prequels, those only really work when it's not "we have loads of character tension between us, we need to talk it out," (Darth Maul said 2 lines, he's just evil and that's all you need to know, Duku is a bad guy and there's no changing his position, Anikin and Obi-wan are young men in their prime and Anikin's rage is at it's boiling point and needs to be released physically, and everyone wants to kill each other). Rey and Kylo are all about trying to turn each other, they don't necessarily want to kill each other, so their fights (along with other fights Rey has) are more talking than fisticuffs. All the action is really good with how it does things.

There's also the overall tone of the movie. Whereas Last Jedi wanted to be "super serious" while also "lulz we're not that serious, here's some jokes," to the point where it was tonal whiplash, Rise of Skywalker had a pretty consistent tone. Yes, there were lighter moments and instances of comedy, but it never really broke the tension because it was done in such a way that it was a failed attempt at breaking the tension, which is how pretty much every other movie was (except for Episode 1, which is probably the most light hearted of the movies because it takes place before the real rise of the sith). One other thing with tone that, while consistent, still caught me off guard, was the swearing. There are like 5 instances of mild profanity (damn and hell), which wouldn't feel out of place unless you're a super fan like me that has basically memorized all the scripts of episodes 1-6 and knows the only other time even mild profanity was used was when Dex said "they're cloners, damn good ones too" in Attack of the Clones. While it's not "bad," it's just "unexpected" (this is how you "subvert expectations" properly).

Now don't get the wrong idea and think "this is all good." The main thing that comes to mind is how Kylo was handled. Throughout the movies I never really bought "he is evil, just confused." He always kind of came off as a "Prince Zuko" kind of bad guy, where "he wants to be an antagonist, but doesn't feel like he's doing it because it's his only option and doesn't REALLY want to be bad." In Avatar the Last Airbender, Zuko was bad because he's a fire bender and he needs to get the avatar to restore his honor, but it isn't fully committed to being evil. I really got that impression in Episode 7 when he threw tantrums and wore the helmet "because he wants to honor his grandfather," and it seemed like Snoke was the puppet master. Then in episode 8 the discussions between him and Rey really felt "I'm not really evil, just confused" (which was really amplified with Luke "I'm going to kill him in his sleep" Skywalker). Now in episode 9, I still can't take him seriously. I don't believe that he is the leader of the first order and he built this because of his charisma; rather he feels like a trust fund kid that wants to impress his dad but doesn't really know how. JJ kind of tries to explain that away with the new villain he introduces (after Ryan kills Snoke off for no real reason), but this is once again "the best he could do," and I can't place the blame on Ryan for this one since it goes all the way back to Episode 7.

Which brings me to the new villain. While this is a really good villain that managed to retcon the nonsense of Episode 8 killing Snoke, he comes out of nowhere and is really confusing. Like, "wait, he was the puppet master all along, and he fits into all of this without having any noticeable influence so far." I mean, maybe after rewatching episode 7 and 8 I could find some hints, maybe, but seeing that I know Ryan threw out JJ's road map for the sequel trilogy, and it's pretty clear JJ threw out Ryan's direction after episode 8, but this really came out of left field and "was the best way they could explain away the problems of episode 8." I don't necessarily "hate" this direction since it was a pretty awesome climax, but it definitely feels "unearned."

There's also the final scene. As nice of a scene it was, it feels "unearned." I won't go into why it specifically feels unearned, because that would be spoiler, but it feels more like raw fan service without actually needing to be there. It ties up a thread that wasn't actually loose, and probably should have remained untied.

Overall, I think it's worth matine price, or at least a redbox rental just to see how it concludes. It's not the best movie out there, and I wouldn't blame you for wanting to skip it. I know I did after how badly I was burned on Solo, and Last Jedi retroactively. However, it's kind of like Aquaman and Wonder Woman, where they technically are part of the Snyderverse of DC movies, but they realize the Snyderverse is trash and do the bare minimum to acknowledge that and try to exist on their own. What I really want is for the fan editors of the world to make an "Episode 8/2, The Real Jedi," where it's like 30 minutes of things that are crucial to the events of Episode 9 (and maybe some battle scenes), but remove all the "subverting expectations" and other character destroying malarkey, because I really would be happy if we could all completely forget that Last Jedi happened. Anyway, this has been Pokematic, signing off, and bu-bye.

Random end card other thought, before the movie there was a trailer for "Free Guy," a movie about a videogame NPC that decides he's going to be a hero, or something. It's a Ryan Reynolds action comedy movie that's being released under 20th Century Fox, and they said "from the same studio that brought you Beauty and the Beast remake, Aladdin remake, and Lion King remake," since those were all under the Disney brand. It looks like a funny movie.

Star Wars Episode 7 The Force Awakens Review (SPOILER FULL)

Welcome to the spoiler full version of Star Wars Episode 7. Here I will analyze ALL the spoilers. I have a spoiler free companion blog you can find here. Turn away now if you don't want spoilers.

Are they gone? OK, lets do this.

If it's not a good game or Catholic...who do you call?...why Pokematic "hi."

So, time to discuss spoiler full review. Well, Snape kills Dumbledoor. Yeah, major spoiler. OK, meme aside, lets look at it for real. First off, I want to say that this movie is very reminiscent to A New Hope; but not copy/paste. Like, you know how Anakin blowing up the droid control ship was like Luke blowing up the Death Star or Qui-Gon dying at the hands of the sith to pass the torch to Obi-Wan was like how Ben died at the hands of Vader to pass the torch to Luke? Yeah it's very much like that. The opening had that "Vader storms the rebel ship" feeling, and then Kylo-Ren stopping the blaster shot was amazing. Like, in episode 4 we had Vader walk in and kill a guy with a single hand. In episode 7, we have Kylo stop a blaster shot in mid air. That's something we've never seen before. Like, no other jedi has ever done that, they always deflect them with the saber. He has to have some SERIOUS power to stop a blaster in mid-air. Just from the opening we get set-up for an amazing story.

Then there's Finn and the storm troopers. Oh man, what a complex character. He REALLY humanizes the storm troopers. Like, we don't want to fully humanize them because they are things to be killed, but the opening makes us not feel for the rest of them. With the clones it's like "OK, they are humanoids, but they aren't human." With the original imperial storm troopers, we got the feeling that they were real humans, but they were still faceless entities. But with Finn and his back story, we got the feeling that these are REAL humans under that armor. But then at the same time, we don't feel bad for them as a whole because we watch them strait up murder a defenseless village. We know they are humans, but they are strait up evil, like the Nazi soldiers in Indiana Jones. There's no problem killing them because of how bad they are.

While I'm at it, let me just finish the villains. The main commander (General Hux) is amazing. Like,  Governor Tarkin was bad, but he just felt like a high ranking official who is patriotic. He doesn't feel like he's loyal to the empire to the death (he doesn't leave the death star because he's overconfident, not because he will die for the cause). Hux however feels like this is his everything. He feels as loyal to the First Order to the level of Kylo-Ren. He feels REALLY complex and is the second most complex villain of the movie. I mean, he blew up the republic as a preemptive strike to prove himself. Tarkin blew up Alderon because it had an enemy base. Hux blew up the peaceful republic not only because he saw them as a possible road block to total domination, but also to prove himself to himself. I want to learn more about him.

But then there's Kylo-Ren, the Sith lord of this series. This guy is the most complex villain in the series. No, not just in this trilogy, the series. Maul and Duku were just bad guys, and Vader has a good complex back story, but his is sort of a "he rolled with the wrong crowd" sort of thing. It's good, but no where near KR. He is the son of Lei and Han, and like favorite student of the last Jedi master, his Uncle Luke Skywalker. He was like his first apprentice as Luke tries to rebuild the Jedi order, but then the sins of his grandfather draw him to the dark side. Anikin fell to the dark side because his desires were taken advantage of by an evil force. Kylo learned the history of Anikin/Vader and saw that he had an unfinished mission. He saw the work of his grandfather and wanted to complete what he started. Then there's the family complexity he has with Han and Lei. Han is still his Chaotic Good (or whatever the term is) and is suspected to be sympathetic to the resistance but not a member, but Lei directly opposes him as she is a head commander of the resistance to the First Order. This whole business of "child opposing his parents to finish what his grandfather started" is amazing, and really questions his dedication to the First Order. Losing his loved ones were what pushed Vader to the dark side, which meant he didn't have any ties to his old life. However, Kylo's parents (and uncle) are all still alive. We watch him prey to Vader's helmet for the courage to continue what he believes in. Then there's the confrontation between Kylo and Han where Han as a great father-son moment of "your mother and I still love you, you can fix your mess if you just come to us." It's a big "point of decision" like "you can go full evil or go full good." By killing Han, Kylo goes completely evil, as his last ties to good are lost. Anikin killed the sand people in hot blooded rage and killed Padme by accident. Kylo murdered his father in cold blood. I can't wait to hear more about this guy.
Oh, and the light saber being unstable when close up to symbolize how he himself is unstable was great. English teachers, that's how to do symbolism.

With the bad guys out of the way, time to talk about the good guys...What do you mean I'm missing some?...Fine, I'll talk about the less important but memorable villains. I guess I'll start with TR-8R, the storm trooper that is taking the internet by storm. His big thing is that he called out Finn for being a traitor and battling light saber Finn with a battle staff. It's a cool fight, and very memeable, but he's really nothing spectacular.
(Oww oww, ok owww, enough with the rocks).
Honestly though, he's just another storm trooper that I guess knew Finn back when he was loyal to the First Order. He shows up, fights Finn, and dies. That's REALLY it. The silver commander trooper is more complex in that she ACTUALLY is more important to the plot than just a little tussle. However, she's still not very complex. She's kind of like Tarkin in that she is loyal to her duty as a high ranking storm trooper, but not much beyond that. He has a sense of self preservation as a 100% brainwashed trooper (or clone) would just say "kill me" before giving into Finn and Han on their attack, but Tarkin probably would have done the same thing, especially since she thought they wouldn't be successful. But hey, at least we now know that the First Order is an equal opportunities employer. And lets not forget the emperor-guy that works in hologram. Right now there's nothing really to him other than "he's evil, and looks like a Marvel villain." Really, look at him and tell me he doesn't look like some space villain from the MCU. I guess we'll learn more about him (like how a Sith can exist after Vader killed the emperor and died later himself), but for now he's just exists because plot. I'm sure J.J. will give us more in future movies since everyone else was so flushed out, but for now he's just Palpatine 2.0.

OK, now for the good guys. I guess I'll start with the bridge between good and evil, Finn. From what I remember, there isn't really a character that was bad and then turned good in the series (well, other than Vader in Return of the Jedi). Finn was the first to really be a bad guy turned good guy that didn't fulfill a prophesy. Then as I mentioned earlier, he REALLY humanized the soldiers of the First Order. His backstory is also pretty depressing. Like, the storm troopers are plucked from their families at birth and then brought up as ruthless soldiers for the first order. All Finn knows is the First Order, and he's been brought up to be a lean mean killing machine. However, he still has humanity as he watches a fellow soldier die in his arms, and then get the order to kill everyone in the village even though they can't hurt him. He then decides to break the one resistance guy out and basically join the resistance. However, he doesn't want to stop the First Order, he just wants to run away. When given the choice between fighting the First Order and escaping to the outer rim, he wants to escape. That is until he sees the awesome might of the resistance, and gets captured in the fight with TR-8R. He then fully joins the resistance and is their inside info to the death planet (I don't remember it's real name, but it's the death star that's built into a planet). He's also rather skilled with a light saber, even though he doesn't have Jedi tendencies. This was a first, since the only time a non-jedi used a light saber was when Han cut open the ton-ton on Hoth, and that wasn't in a battle setting. I was thinking he might be the new Jedi of the movie, but that honor went to the "friend zoning Rey," (even though I don't really think it's romantic since that's a bit cliche).

Speaking of Rey, she is a great main character. Sure, she is kind of a female Luke Skywalker in that she doesn't have any parents on a desert planet, and ends up being a Jedi after meeting an old man who is a mentor to her, and the old man dies to pass on his duty to her...OK she is A LOT like a female Luke Skywalker, but she is the hero of this hero's journey, and those components are pretty important to the hero's journey story. So it isn't EXACTLY lazy. Plus, the way they go about it is different enough that she has a defined character. Luke just grew up with his Aunt and Uncle, Rey was abandoned with the hope of her family returning. Luke left Tatoween because he lost he didn't have any more reason to stay there (his aunt and uncle dying), whereas Rey left Jaku because she accepted that no one was coming for her even after her 15 or so years of hoping and waiting. Ben was just a mentor to Luke, Han was a father figure, making his death all the more devastating. Plus, Luke wanted to be a Jedi like his father; he was ready to take on that responsibility after his old life was over. Rey was confronted that she was a Jedi after she decided to leave her old life behind, and she wasn't ready. It wasn't until push came to shove did she embrace her destiny. She is quite different than Luke after you look beyond the hero's journey components.

I guess I will start with the droids; new comer BB-8 and veterans C-3PO and R2-D2. BB-8 is a nice companion to everyone. Sure, he is vital in that he has the map to Luke, and he's more than just a holder of the map in that I am personifying him wit the the pronoun "he" instead of "it" to demonstrate how much of a character he is, but he is just kind of "along for the ride." I guess R2 and 3PO were "along for the ride" in A New Hope and they got more flushed out in Empire and Jedi, so here's to hoping. But for now he is just a companion that occasionally helps out. As for C-3PO and R2-D2, they are there because they belong to Lei (and in the case of R2, provide the rest of the map to Luke). I'm not REALLY complaining per-se since the droids really are just machines without emotion designed to perform a set of functions. Technically, droids aren't supposed to be complex characters since they aren't alive, so they can get away with just being basic plot devices. There needs to be some kind of container for these crucial map pieces, so why not make them interesting containers with a little depth. Also, the only reason C-3PO and R2-D2 are here is because Lei is here; but since they are her property and are still useful, there really isn't much of a reason why they wouldn't be there. It would be like Grandma not having her iconic purse, or something like that. The droid's existence in this movie isn't organic like all the other characters, but they aren't organic beings so it's actually kind of genus.

Well, since I mentioned her, I'll start talking about the alive returning characters by talking about Lei. In this movie, Lei is about as useful as she was in Empire (more useful than the "damsel in distress" of New Hope, but not the "super fighter, front lines warrior" of Jedi). In this movie she is a top commander of the resistance, and the troubled mother/concerned wife. She is quite useful to lead the resistance and know what needs to happen to stop her son and the tyrannical rule of the First Order. She's a great tactical leader. It's very reminiscent to her role in the Rebellion, and is quite appropriate. Then there's the "troubled mother/concerned wife" aspect. She plays off of Han really well like they did in Empire; lovers quarrel and whatnot. Whereas she was the driving force for Han's future and "breaking his smuggler heart of stone" in Empire, she is the driving force for "breaking his smuggler heart of stone" by being his key to the past. Without Lei, I don't know if Han would have taken on the First Order, so that's pretty important. Also, she is really the humanizing force to making Kylo-Ren such a complex character. Like, with Han as a father it wouldn't be to far fetched for his son to fall in with the wrong crowd. I mean, Han does hang around the bar all day and he got into some major trouble with loan sharks in this movie. Lei however, really has that "caring mother who understands and will do whatever she can for her son" feeling. With Lei and her family stories, you could feel that Kylo-Ren had a good upbringing but was corrupted by his family history. Then there was her line; "he has too much of his grandfather in him." Yes, it is meant to be a call back to Aunt Beru's line "he has too much of his father in him," but her delivery is perfect in encompassing the feeling of "we did all we could, but he is his grandfather's grandson." Plus, we already knew that Kylo "has a lot of his grandfather in him" as shown by how he is preying to Vader's helmet, so this is really meant for looking at Lei and giving a family history that only she could deliver. Plus, she felt a disturbance in the force when Han died. It was very similar to the look that Yoda had during order 66, but it also hints that Lei does have force powers, and maybe we'll see her utilize them and have conflicts with embracing her Jedi powers or continue to be a non-Jedi commander. Lots of opportunity.

OK, so I've been talking a lot about Han with the other characters. Well, that's because he is a major character. Whereas Luke, Lei, and the droids are kind of here to give back story and foreshadowing as well as connecting the movies, Han is a main character that is a major driving force of the movie. I'm not saying that the other returning characters are tokens, but they just aren't as involved as Han. Han is the Ben Kenobe of this series. He is a mentor/father figure to Rey, a legend to confirm the suspicions of Rey and Finn, a guide to the resistance, a strong potential ally to the resistance but conflicted over if he should return to the good fight or not, and the last tie to good that Kylo-Ren has to being good. He is very flushed out, probably more so than in the original series. They took original trilogy Han, made him even more Han, and combined him with Ben Kenobi. That's really the best way to describe him. We see him be a guiding force for the main characters, see him get more flushed out by seeing him smuggle, and he hasn't slowed down one bit. Obi-Wan/Ben slowed down considerably between episode 3 and 4; "Slow dance fencing" Ben was not the same "leap 50 feet in the air fast fighting" Obi-Wan we knew from before. That is not the case with Han Solo. Han is still "that old space pirate smuggler." When he doesn't want to join the resistance, it's not that he can't physically do it, it's that he doesn't want to due to relationship troubles with Lei, guilt from making the enemy, and "I can't fight my son" sentiments. I mean, he was smuggling some super strong monster things when we were introduced to him, and he alludes to commanding a crew of smugglers. Smugglers aren't like loyal soldiers, he had to assert his dominance over these young crewmen. While he probably wouldn't be able to pull off another "rush the death star," he isn't letting his age get in the way.

Then there is Chewbaka, the counterpart to Han. He's really an extension of Han, like he was in the original series. And his cross-blaster. Man, that cross-blaster. It's soooo OP. I expect us to get more development with Chewy now that Han is dead, but for now he's a good extension of Han. My only question now is, how long do wookies stay youthful? I mean, something like 60 years has gone by between the events of Episode 3 and this movie, and in Episode 3 he was like fully grown, and after all this time he's still kicking at full force. Sure, Han hasn't slowed down much at all, but you can tell he wouldn't be able to charge the Death Star anymore. Chewy could probably still run next to a young Han as he charges the Death Star, even though he's like over 100 and isn't a Jedi master like Yoda. Man, that wookie biology I tell you what.

Now there's 1 last returning character to talk about, the driving force of this entire movie, the last Jedi master, Luke Skywalker. Well, in this movie he's more of a plot device. The entire movie is leading up to trying to find him after he went into hiding when Kylo-Ren turned evil. Then when we find him, he doesn't say a word, and just takes off his hood to make eye contact with Rey. It's kind of funny how the character that got all the development in the original trilogy was just a plot device in this film. However, it's not that bad seeing that everyone else is very flushed out, and it opens it up the events of Episode 8, ready for the sequel. I have a feeling that Luke is going to be a Yoda of sorts to Rey. It really worked out alright.

All the other good characters aren't really worth mentioning, so I will tackle the MANY parallels to episode 4. Most of the major ones I've already talked about (Rey is Luke, Han is Ben but also Han, Lei saying "he has to much of his grandfather in him, etc.) There are others as well, like Jakku basically being Tatoween, and that the storm troopers use the same uniforms. These aren't really lazy writing, or trying to play on Nostalgia, or any of that. OK, it's a little playing to Nostalgia. However, it is done quite organically. I don't feel like J.J. wanted to rely on the old movies, but he wanted to put in some things to let people know "I'm handling these right." They aren't anything to complain about. They also don't distract to much. They are handled really well.

And that's my full review of Star Wars Episode 7, The Force Awakens. Be sure to check out my Spoiler Free part if you haven't already. Well, this has been Pokematic, signing off, and bu-bye.