Pokematic Reviews Star Wars Episode 8 The Last Jedi (Spoiler Free with Warning)

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

Ahhh Star Wars, it's a franchise I'm a big fan of (see my review for Episode 1 3D,  Force Awakens Spoiler Free and Spoiler Full, The Phantom Edit, Rogue One, and Attack of the Phantom), and I was quite happy when Disney injected some much needed life into the films (though I do wish they didn't hand the games license to EA, how much longer do we need to wait this out?). Well, it's time to review Episode 8, The Last Jedi. I'll keep things spoiler free for first part, then I'll go into some spoilers in the second part.

OK, so right off the bat, I need to say this has a lot of laugh out loud moments. Like, there were at least 10 times I let out more than just a faster than average exhale, these were real "hahehehehe." Don't get the impression that this is a comedy though; this is an action movie and it has a lot of that, but it probably would have been a little too heavy if they didn't have the bits of comedy. And don't be scared, this isn't "Jar-Jar being a slap stick cartoon character" comedy, this is "3PO telling R2 to 'let the wookie win' after learning about wookie nerd rage" comedy. All the comedy is very in character and reasonable within the cinematic universe that has been crafted.

The next thing I need to say is this movie keeps you guessing and the last third or so of the movie is nothing but twists. I won't go into detail here (that's for the spoiler section), but man alive, as we're approaching the climax I was thinking "alright, time for some action with..." only to have it be the complete opposite of what I expected. Then when I was kind of catching onto what they were doing and expecting the unexpected, they went into going with the expected that threw me for an even greater loop. Wow, well crafted twists, which I'll get to in the spoilers.

The last big thing I'll mention is this movie is very polarizing among the starwars community, not in the Star Wars Episode 1, "that...didn't suck...right?..I mean it's Star Wars" denial kind of polarizing (which, for the record, is my favorite Star Wars film; if I didn't wear my fandoms on my sleeve, I would call it a guilty pleasure). It's a real debate as to if it was good or not. There are a lot of things to dislike, particularly with Luke. I'm not going to go into detail here, but it's worth warning that Luke takes a pretty dark turn in this movie, and it kind of feels like character assassination at times. It's not full character assassination (there is a reason for what he does), but it's kind of hard to come to full grips with it.

Before I get into spoilers, just a couple of technical things. The music was great as always. John Williams strikes gold again. Then there's the visuals. Recent movies have been kind of "uncanny." They still have a lot of the model designs, but it's all CGI, so my brain gets a little confused having seen the other movies so many times (and primarily on VHS might I add). But, the visuals are still good. The movie is also long, but the pacing keeps it alright.

It's a pretty good movie. Hopefully you enjoy it. If you don't want spoilers, this has been Pokematic, signing off, and bu-bye. OK, now for spoilers.

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OK, the first thing first, the 2 parallel stories. There's the "Luke trains Rey" story, but there's also the "rebels vs the first order" story. I'll get to Luke and Rey later, first I need to talk about the...underwhelming? rebel vs first order conflict. It opens pretty strong, the rebels are trying to get to the outer rim where they can set-up base and regroup, and the first order is on their tail and is doing the unthinkable, tracking them through light speed. I suppose in the star wars universe that would be difficult and considered impossible, but I'll get to science anger later. Well, when a giant first order fighter ship comes out of light speed, Poe (the fighter pilot from Force Awakens that befriends Finn) sets up a bomber run on the ship, and it's very remenicent of bomber runs in war time films, where the fleet of bombers have to survive enemy attacks while approaching their target. It's very high energy and very costly in that all the bombers and most of the support X-wings are destroyed after a remaining bomber narrowly manages to drop her load on the target before being blown-up, by the force of gravity, through open bomb bay doors the pilot is in without an oxygen mask. The scene is very powerful, as we see the face of distress as each pilot is blown up, with the final bomber pilot desperately trying to get the release controller to fall to her hand while we watch her do her duty and die with tears in her eyes.

But with that in mind, I just can't help but get angry at the science. I get it, Rian was going for the "world war 2 bomber run" feel, and it works, but I just can't get past the fact THAT THEY'RE IN SPACE! There is no gravity, and no atmosphere. The pilot was in the bomb bay, with the bomb bay doors open looking down onto ship below. This universe has not established an "air trapping technology that acts as a barrier between space and atmosphere," at least not in the movies. While I've seen it in the REAL battlefront games (not the EA garbage), I've not seen it in the movies. There is a small argument to be made regarding things like the deathstar hanger, but those are large ships with the express purpose of having shipping and receiving. Seeing that I see airlocks on higher profile entry points, I'm left to assume it's rather costly technology, to the point it would be cost prohibitive to have it on bomb bay doors of a bomber. But OK, let's assume it does have that passive barrier, I mean the primitive gungans have it for underwater. This doesn't stop the gravity problem. I'll suspend my disbelief regarding artificial gravity on ships within the interior. I mean, this is the world of controlled lasers after all. However, I take problem with that artificial gravity extending beyond that of the ship all the way down to the impact point of the bombs. The bombs fell under the force of gravity, and they appeared to be accelerating at a constant rate meaning the center of the gravitational pull was at the ship. They were pretty far away, I can't believe that the artificial gravity would be able to extend that far. It just doesn't work like that. Errrrrrg, OK, that rant is over.

I do have to comment on one thing. In this big battle, Poe follows Battlefront 2 space battle tactics (the real battlefront 2, on PS2 and XBOX Classic; not EA). On a failing ship, Poe flies into the hanger of the first order ship, blows up some component of the ship, and hijacks an enemy ship. That was my favorite part of battlefront 2. I loved flying a marine into the hanger of the enemy, go to the life support system and engine room to blow it up from the inside and steal an enemy ship to hurt them with their own arsenal. Oh it was so cool to see that happen on the big screen, and hopefully they included it as an allusion to the real battlefront 2.

Back to the story, general Leia is distraught, because these weren't pawn, they were people, with loved ones, and while they took out a major first order destroyer, the cost was too high. She scolds and demotes Poe, shortly after having the command deck of her ship get blown up by the first order that tracked them out of light speed, with everyone dying in the empty vacuum of space, with her surviving only through her force power. See, real science that's defied within the logic of the universe through the magic of the force. This puts her in a coma and she is replaced by her second in command, which causes tension between flyboy Poe and by the numbers general. I gotta say, the conflict is pretty good as Poe wants to take the big risks with high reward potential, whereas the general wants to play it safe. This is increasingly complex because the rebels are running low on fuel and can't outrun the first order. However, they can keep out of range if they just stay far enough away, with the big plan to buy time until they come up with a better plan. Time is of the essence, because they can't stay out of range forever. It's a race against the clock, a simple conflict with high stakes as we see ship by ship run out of fuel and fall back to the first order's fire with their only hope to send all the crew to a ship that's further upstream. We even see the captains stay behind and go down with the ships that will add more weight later.

OK, last science nit pick, then I'm done. During this conflict, when the ships run out of fuel, they decelerate and behave like a ship running out of fuel on the open sea (turning, twisting, rocking with the current, and slow down). Again, vacuum of space without gravity. One efficiency of space travel is that one only has to expend fuel to get up to speed and/or change direction; but once a course is set, one only has to coast at a constant speed because there is no drag and natural forces acting against you requiring you to keep expending energy to maintain propulsion. You could make the argument that the ships are using fuel to maintain a constant rate of acceleration and that's how the first order catches up because the rebel ships are now moving at a constant speed (and with no real points of reference in space, the camera could be moving at the same rate of acceleration as the ships giving the illusion of slowing down), but the ships don't maintain their direction as the first order catches up to them, they twist and turn as they run out of fuel suggesting an external force acting on them. It just makes the science nerd in me scream. OK, that's it for the science rants.

OK, enough rebels for now, time to talk about Luke and Rey. This is where most of the controversy within the community stems from. As was hinted in episode 7, Luke doesn't want to be found, but on the final shot, Mark Hamill has some "hope" in his eyes as Rey hands him his old light saber. Here though, when Rey hands him it, he throws it away (which was handled quite funny), because he's done with the Jedi and wants to see it end. We know Luke feels guilty about Kylo, and Rey knows it too. Her goal is to convince him to train her as she can stop him. This is a very interesting and layered problem. Obviously, there's the whole "Rey wants to learn, but Luke doesn't want to teach her" bit, which we've seen in the past with Anikin and Luke as the potential students (Anikin by the council, Luke by Yoda). Unlike the council and Yoda, Luke isn't hesitant to teach Rey because she's too old, or annoying, or any other reason of "the student," Luke doesn't want to teach her because he as the master is not ready. He feels responsible for Kylo Ren, he does not think he's a good teacher, and he does not want to risk creating another Kylo Ren. It's a very interesting character struggle, that come to think of it is entirely within reason. Think about it, Anikin was taken in by one of the best Jedi in the galaxy, Qui-Gon, and Luke studied directly under Qui-Gon's apprentice AND the wisest Jedi in the galaxy, Obi-Wan and Yoda. Both of them had formal training under experienced Jedi masters who knew how to teach the force. Luke on the other hand, was really made it up as he went along. Luke didn't learn it all, he didn't have enough time with Jedi mentors to learn all the ins and outs of the force. This is why he holds his failure of Ben Solo so close. A lot of critics basically say he's being selfish, and I don't blame them, but I understand where he's coming from. It also adds time for us to see hermit Luke and his daily routine, which had some good laughs.

One thing I found very interesting is what beak's Luke's position to not train Rey. Rey goes to the Jedi temple Luke made with the remaining sacred jedi texts. As she's reading them, Luke confronts her and they have a heart to heart where Luke agrees to train her, just the 3 fundamentals. Fist thing, mediclorian haters will love this. When Luke is explaining the force, he explains how it's the energy that binds everything together, and that when he dies, the force will live on, and how the Jedi are a religion that's goal is to harness the force. While it doesn't necessarily retcon "Jedi germs," it definitely retcons "Jedi germs gives Jedi their powers" and it's a genetic mutation or whatever. This basically says "anyone can use the force, some are just more gifted than others," kind of like algebra. Similarly, it's through this exchange where Luke see's that Rey isn't power hungry, she just wants to carry on a legacy and bring balance to the universe. There is one plot hole here, and that's "where did these texts come from?" Luke was not an original Jedi, the Jedi temple was destroyed along with the texts (LucasArts Battlefront 2 cannon as my main reference), and only Obi-Wan and Yoda survived. The most I can figure is Yoda had them in his hut on Degobah and Luke took them after Yoda died. But who knows.

While this is happening, we get some Kylo Ren development. Thoughout most of the movie, Kylo Ren is torn. This is first pointed out in a meeting with Snoke. Snoke tells Kylo "you are still conflicted, there is still good in you" (or something to that extent) to which Kylo responds "no, that died along with my father." This meeting is happening with the first in command of the first order, who also has an err of hesitancy to him. I see that mainly when he and Kylo are talking to each other. It's very interesting, because it feels like neither of them are really committed to galactic conquest (a feeling I kind of got in episode 7). A lot of their actions kind of have this immature "really guys, I'm one of you, and I'll prove it" feeling. This is a very different perspective from other villains in the series. I had no trouble believing that Palpatine, Duku, Vader, Tarkin, or any other villains were in this 100%, but the again, these guys were also much older, with an ideology they firmly believed in. With Kylo and the first commander, I get the feeling that they wanted to start something, but it grew outside their own control. This is done INCREADIBLY subtly, with it all being within their mannerism. When Tarkin blew up Aulderon, he had a very calm and calculated demeanor, like this was just "business as usual." When the first commander of the first order blew up Coruscant, he had a nervousness in his tone and mannerisms, like "OK, I'm really going to do this, I'm going to kill millions of innocent people, oh this is crazy." Duku, Vader, Tarkin, and the rest of them were all following Palpatine's lead, and Palpatine was pure evil. Kylo on the other hand feels like he started this with his top commander to carry on the dream, but it got too big. It gave a very different feeling to the kinds of people that are in the first order.

Kylo and Rey have these random "mind links" where Rey and Kylo see each other in the same rooms and talk to each other. During these encounters (after their initial "what's going on" encounter), they try to bring the other to their side. What's really interesting is the power dynamic between these 2. Whenever we had "light and dark confront each other," it's always been "impressionable light apprentice against powerful dark master," be that Anikin and Palpatine, or Luke and Vader. With this though, Rey and Kylo feel like they are on equal levels. While Kylo is a more experienced and trained dark jedi, Rey is more secure in where her moral compass points. These even themselves out in the power struggle, making for a very interesting character progression. Kylo uses his power and knowledge as an argument to his side (I can teach you what Luke won't), whereas Rey pulls at Kylo's conflicted soul as an argument to her side. During these encounters, neither seem futile. It's not one sided like the past. All the time it feels like it could go either way, which I really welcome.

This also ties into why Luke is hesitant to teach Rey after lesson 1. Luke teaches Rey how to find a connection to the force, but as he does he sees the great latent power in her, and it scares him to where he says "no more." I believe it's around this time that Luke tells Rey the backstory to Kylo Ren, and how Kylo lashed out, killed all the other apprentices, destroyed the temple, and started the first order. He had the same latent power that Rey has, and he wasn't going to do that again. It's a very hard back story, one Luke feels responsible for. It's pretty difficult for Rey to accept.

Oh, but then it gets better. What Luke said was true, but from a certain point of view. During the "Ben Swolo" encounter (the one where Kylo Ren doesn't have a shirt on that's become a meme), Kylo tells Rey there's more to the origin story. See, he didn't just "randomly lash out and destroy what Luke had built," he did it defensively. Luke feared him, and was ready to kill him in his sleep. During this flashback, Luke looked really evil, and mean. The lighting caused by his light saber made it really eerie, and atmospheric. What's more, this makes Ben a more interesting case. Unlike other Sith lords who were seduced by promises of power and glory, Ben was driven to the Sith by the Jedi. This makes Kylo Ren a very conflicted individual, and why he has an err of "I didn't have a choice, I did what was best for me and I'll live with my path in life." He's a much better character for it. However, it really hurts Luke's character. Luke isn't perfect, but he's good. It's really hard to imagine him doing something like this, which is kind of character assassination. This is a major complaint from critics, and I get it. This isn't the Luke that we know. Also, it sews a major seed of doubt in Rey. Yes, Rey calls Kylo a liar, and refuses to believe it, but Kylo does the whole "search your feelings, you know it to be true" sort of thing. This is when Rey does her most growing as a character.

After this, Rey confronts Luke about this. She is angry, and at the breaking point. She even draws her light saber on him demanding to know why he tried to kill Kylo. This is when Rey almost is turned, but once again, the story is true, from a certain point of view. Luke explains what happened in full. Luke saw the great power in Ben, and sensed Snoke's power attracted to him. One night, he went to Ben as he slept to see if he could tell Ben his concern, but he couldn't, and in a brief moment of desperation he drew his light saber to end it. That moment passed almost as soon as it came, but when Ben awoke all he saw was his master looming over him ready to strike, and in that moment he was a scared boy who ran away from danger. While Luke is narrating the story, the narration isn't necessary. The expressions could tell the entire encounter without the narration, a very powerful bit of acting and directing. Again, it's character assassination of Luke, but it is a reasonable direction. Again, Luke is figuring this out as he goes. He doesn't know how to teach students, and how to handle the dark side. He knows how to say no, but he doesn't know how to tell others. It's really quite powerful.

Before I get back to the rebels, I need to wrap up a couple of things here. Chewy befriends a puffin thing, after eating one of it's friends. It's a really funny scene. Also, after Rey and Chewy leave, Luke decides he's going to burn it all down, end the Jedi and destroy the sacred texts in his little temple. Who joins him? Master Yoda as a ghost. When Luke can't bring himself to burn it down, Yoda summons lightning and starts the fire. In this, we get a nice conversation between Luke and Yoda, about how the old ways are over, and Yoda helping Luke to forgive himself. I don't remember all the particular, because IT WAS PUPPET YODA!!!!! Yes, I am a puppet Yoda purist. I accept episode 2 and 3 because they needed Yoda to do crazy acrobatics and whatnot, and it wouldn't look good to have him suddenly turn from puppet to CGI, but I own episode 1 on VHS twice because I need puppet Yoda. I don't know if they made a new puppet or used the old one, but it was brilliant and I love it.

Now that I've explained Rey, Luke, and Kylo, time to get back to the Rebels. We left off with the First Order in pursuit of the Rebels. Leia is comatose, and most off their back-up has been destroyed. Their fuel reserves are running low, and the things seem bleak. Back to the story. Finn enlists the help of Rose, the sister of the bomber that was killed in Poe's bomber run. His plan, find a hacker that can get into the First Order ship and turn off the tracker. He figured out that the first order is tracking them through their main ship, and if they can turn it off, it will give the rebels just enough time to get away to safety. They go to Rose's old home planet, a casino planet. Aside from the humor BB8 causes with people thinking he works there or is a slot machine, it's a story of "all the glitter's isn't gold." The way Rose was hyping it up, it sounded like gangs were going to mug them and steal their ship or something, but they run in with the law because they park on a public beach. Everyone there is fancy, and ritzy, and sophisticated. But we soon find out that the nice place is held up on the backs of slaves, whom are sympathetic to the resistance, and one of them has force powers. It's pretty interesting.

Now we get to twists. The heroes think he's one of the gamblers, but he turns out to be a stuttering prisoner. When the hacker steals a ship, we learn that the ship belonged to a weapons dealer. First we see this dealer sold to the first order, so it's OK, he was a bad guy; but then we see that he also sold to the resistance, so it gets murky. It's quite interesting to see this "it's not black and white, good and evil" in the universe, some people just do what works for them. Then there's the break in. They sneak on, steal some uniforms, and get to the place. As they're getting done, successfully hacking the ship, they get caught. I didn't see that coming. Then the hacker makes a plea bargain, where he sells out the rebels, because "it's just business." There's a pretty awesome fight scene with Fasma making a return, and they get away back onto rebel ship.

Now for the largest twist. Rey confronts Kylo on his ship. I saw a lot of parallels between this and Episode 6 with Luke and Vader. It worked pretty well. We see Rey tempted by Snoke. Snoke apparently did the mind-link with Rey and Kylo. It was all part of his plan, and he wants Kylo to end her. Kylo is conflicted though, and we can really see it in his mannerisms. Now for a twist, while Snoke was torturing Rey, Kylo takes his light saber and kills Snoke. Cuts him right in half using the force. A lot of parallels to episode 6, again. Then there's this big hand to hand fight scene with Rey and Kylo against Snoke's guards, with them improvising light sabers as needed. And right when we think Kylo had a change of heart, he offers Rey a chance to rule the galaxy with him, now that Snoke is dead he doesn't have to answer to anyone. And this is what changed him to be a true Sith. All this time, Kylo thought what kept him from being a real Sith lord is his bond to his past life, but it was really his bond to Snoke. This is cemented by Kylo's mannerisms. Now, there is no more confusion, no more conflict, he is evil. Wow, really well done. Now he is the Sith he hoped to become, and is a true villain.

Now for more twists, the acting commander's plan was to buy as much time as possible, then let the fleet escape on escape pods to an abandoned rebel base. Poe doesn't agree with this plan, because Finn is running his hacking plan, and he does a mutiny to let Finn do his thing. Then when Finn gets back defeated, Poe agrees with the plan, but only after Leia awakes and agrees with the acting commander. All the rebels are fleeing with the last ship taking the fire as it's about to run out of fuel. However, the first order is onto the plan (thanks to the hacker) and starts taking out rebel escape ships. Then in a final act of courage, the acting commander turns the ship to the first order fleet, and jumps to light speed, ramming them and destroying some of the ships. This was really cool, because we've heard about how important it is to make your course during a jump to light speed. This was the aftermath of it.

Now the movie could have ended there, but then there's a "Hoth battle" (I call it that because that's what it's based on). Now, more twists. The rebels get into some junkers to make one last stand against the first order as they try to get away, and the first order is getting a cannon ready to beak open the defenses. Finn figures he can stop it by flying directly into it, but he's stopped by Rose. And then there's the big final battle between Luke and Kylo. Luke flies to the planet, reunites with Leia shortly, and then steps out onto the battlefield. Kylo orders all fire be concentrated on him, but it fails, requiring Kylo to fight him one on one. Oh, it was such an epic battle, with words being as strong as the actual battle. It was a battle of minds and will as well as a battle of power. Then, in another twist, Luke ends up being a projection of himself from his island. Then Luke dies and falls into the force. The movie kind of ends after that. I find it ironic, the movies killed off all the original characters, except the one who's actress died.

All in all, it was an awesome movie. I can see where people find problems.. I have my own problems with it too. This isn't a movie for the simple viewing. It's complex, takes a lot of risks, some of which work and some that don't. Hopefully if you watch it, you can enjoy it. I really enjoyed it. This has been Pokematic, signing off, and bu-bye.

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.