A Non-Hater's Thoughts on Star Wars

I've been a Star Wars fan my entire life.

That fateful day in the theater in 1977 practically defined me. Though I'm not a blind follower by any means. I have been a strong critic of George Lucas and of the prequels.

I maintained a love/hate relationship with the Expanded Universe novels. Anything by Timothy Zahn, Michael Stackpole, and James Luceno is canon as far as I'm concerned. Luceno even made the New Jedi Order more tolerable. But then I can easily ignore Kevin Anderson's books, despite the fanboy love they receive for reasons I cannot fathom.

Yet despite the fact that I am often critical, I really have little bad to say about Disney's Star Wars films. I mean, I understand some of the hate, but most of it falls under stuff that is easy to get past for the sake of everything else that's great about these movies... exactly like the original trilogy.

I am confident that if Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi were released today, they'd be just as divisive. These are NOT well written, masterfully directed films. They have plot holes you can fly a Star Destroyer through. Luke Skywalker, IMHO, was kind of two dimensional.

Yet despite countless plot details that make your brain cramp if you dwell on them too much, the overall story arcs were engaging (mostly thanks to bringing in other writers to create a more solid framework and replacing Lucas as the director in Empire, but I digress).

These movies were fun adventures against a backdrop that left more than enough to occupy the audience's imagination so they could see past the flaws. That is the mindset you should approach the new films with, too.

I loved The Force Awakens and wrote a more detailed review at the time. In short...

While toxic fanboys were calling Rey a Mary Sue, I was like... what film are you watching?  They are very clearly setting Rey up to be someone special. Every time she demonstrated a Force power, I wanted to know who she was. The fact that she could fly and fix the Falcon was no different than Anakin Skywalker being able to build and program a droid with no education, or any other given Jedi being an ace pilot. Rumors abounded about who she was, so it wasn't just me reading too much into things.

So much of that ginned up hate was purely politically motivated, too, which is sad. Extremists on both ends of the political spectrum have declared these movies to be shots fired in the culture war. There is so much virtue signalling coming from all sides it's exhausting. I miss the world I used to live in where people can just enjoy things and ignore these idiots who try so desperately to turn entertainment into something it's not.

It's surreal how the spinoffs are somehow free of all the division, despite the fact that they, too, have prominently cast people of color and strong female leads. But again, I digress.

My biggest complaint about Force Awakens was the fact that it followed the first movie WAY too closely. It was so blatant it jarred me out of the story too many times. And I really did not like the way they started messing with lightspeed space travel. This would become a recurring sin through all 3 of the core films, especially in the second one.

I wasn't thrilled with the idea that Finn could wield a lightsaber, but it was kind of badass. Though I was okay with Rey beating Kylo Ren (who was wounded and had just murdered his father, so he wasn't exactly focused to begin with).

To me it was a solidly told, rousing space opera. Everything I wanted out of JJ Abrams and the franchise.

I really liked The Last Jedi, too. No. Seriously.

Nearly everything that happened in space was hot garbage. The idea of dropping bombs like it's World War II is too stupid to get into for too many reasons. Admiral Holdo was too incompetent for words. It was no wonder the Resistance was losing the war so badly. The whole mutiny plot line was painful. The idea that they could sneak away in those shuttles to a "hidden" planet was absurd. Rose was milk toast on screen.

While I don't go as far as to say the casino planet's subplot was "pointless" I will agree it was... well dicey. If seen though a political lens, it's more virtue signalling pap that amounted to nothing. But I saw it as a major turning point for Finn. I thought it was a well done swerve... set up the typical formula of a quest that will resolve the whole plot and turn it on its ear.

But what redeemed it all, and this confuses people, was Luke and Rey's arc. Remember, I thought Luke was kind of two-dimensional in the original films. Rian Johnson gave him depth. While fanboys were wailing and moaning how Luke was ruined and he'd never quit... I kept wanting to know what must have happened to him to drive him to this point.

Even aside from the revelation of his and Kylo's past, we were seeing a former idealist who was beaten down by a galaxy gone mad. Not even thirty years after his "victory" at Endor, everything was worse off than when he was a clueless moisture farmer. Apathy and cynicism were written all over his face. Mark Hamill gave the performance of his career.

Then the ending saved it all. Luke's final speech gave me chills. The swing from the darkness that dominated the film to seeing signs of hope spreading through the galaxy was powerful. How fans weren't moved by that is beyond me.

On a bad note, though, by tossing out JJ Abram's plot notes, Rian Johnson threatened to turn Rey into a Mary Sue. Now she really could do it all. While I was good with her first fight with Kylo, I was torn watching her kick so much ass vs the Praetorian Guard.

As exciting as the fight sequence was, it made no sense. Force powers are one thing. She should not have had that level of fighting technique without training. That fight really should have gone more like Luke's loss to Vader in Empire... which would have been a great way for Kylo to try to convince Rey how much she needs him. You'd think.

So that brings me to Rise of Skywalker. Loved it!

Warning: SPOILERS ahead. I'm writing this assuming you've seen it. Jump to the last few paragraphs by the photo of Rey, Poe, and Finn if you haven't seen it and care about such things.

On the down side, it opened with more messing with lightspeed. Hopping what I assume was across the planet a bunch of times looked cool, but it was too stupid. After Last Jedi made warships obsolete thanks to a nonsensical lightspeed tactic, now you are rendering the idea of a nav computer pointless because apparently you can jump on the fly? Ugh. And how did the TIEs follow them?

But as I said, I loved it. That moment passed and I had few other complaints.

A lot of people out there whined about too much fan service, but none of those little tidbits came across as such to me. It was nothing like Force Awakens in that regard. There was a scene that showed Leia training. And? Why is a two-second flash a problem? It helped move the plot, so no that wasn't "just" fan service. Chewbacca finally getting his medal. Now THAT was fan service. It was a cute throw in that didn't get in the way of the plot and it made me smile.

People get the weirdest bees in their bonnet. Though I guess the same can be said of me.

Another annoying complaint from some corners of fandom is that they sidelined Rose. Why does that have to be for nefarious reasons or to appease anybody? She just wasn't needed and the crew for that mission was already big enough. Any more would have made it unnecessarily confusing.

Yes, JJ Abrams had to undo a lot to get his story back on track. But all in all I felt he did a great job at it. When the story took off it really took off. I was enjoying the whole ride.

My favorite part was Rey's true origin reveal. It explained pretty much everything and salvaged her as a solid character.

And as if to drive the point home that she was NOT a Mary Sue... she lost the rematch vs Kylo Ren. The dark side would have won if Leia had not intervened in a heart wrenching sacrifice.

Speaking of Kylo Ren, they made him a much better villain over the course of the second two films. His journey from apprentice to Sith to coming back to the light turned out to be a solid story. I was worried about him being so emo in the first one, but in this and Last Jedi he was great.

Finn being Force sensitive only made sense. I figured that was how he broke his stormtrooper programming. It was great to see him get a more serious storyline.

Poe, likewise, got a decent treatment to give him more depth. I would be totally on board with those 3 characters continuing the next chapter of the saga.

Oh, and Babu Frik NEEDS to become a recurring character somewhere. Just saying.

The end battle was pretty cool. I loved the throwaway line where they dismissed the idiotic "Holdo Maneuver" from Last Jedi. That needed to be erased.

But I had two hangups.

First, good GOD is the Force more powerful than it's ever been portrayed before. I cringed a bit earlier when Rey and Kylo were playing tug of war with a shuttle in flight. But the lightning blast in the end battle was psycho. I rolled with it by telling myself that Palpatine is a special case, and that planet was some kind of dark side nexus or something. That big contraption that kept him alive could have been an amplifier.

Though I did like how Rey summoned the spirits of other Jedi to match his power. This idea can be used to explain minimal formal training to gain skills. I could buy that in the Old Republic, the idea of training was almost entirely about philosophy and meditation and honing your natural talents as opposed to having to be taught every aspect of your ability.

Second hangup... the space horses. What? They were assaulting ships coming out of the water. In what way does bringing horses make any sense? On some level I guess they were running with the symbolism of the horses from the previous movie, so that kind of works. But how exactly did that work getting them back on board the shuttles when they had to evac? Plan A was to assault the nav beacon, which was floating by itself with no kind of platform around it. And why could the capital ships jam speeders? They don't jam starships when they get that close. Not to mention, what if they tilted a little to the left?

All for a 2 second frame of the horses charging? Come on JJ you're better than that. Your critics will forever list that scene next to "lens flare" every time your name is mentioned.

But I recognize that those are nitpicks. There was tons to nitpick in the originals, too.

You know, the one where three people waltzed around a military facility the size of a small moon with mysteriously empty hallways, manned by soldiers that couldn't hit an unmoving target. Or the one where the Falcon's lightspeed was out, yet they still traveled the distance between planets in the Outer Rim. Or the one with the fuzzy teddy bears with spears defeating guys in armor and tanks.

I love those movies and I'm guaranteed to see this latest one many times over, too.

Top that off with the spinoffs with completely different tones--a military/espionage thriller in Rogue One and a space-romp heist in Solo--I can't complain about where the franchise has gone. Then there's the Mandalorian, the upcoming Obi-Wan series, and talk of a Knights of the Old Republic series. To me, it's a great time to be a Star Wars fan.