(This review may contain spoilers).
After watching this movie, I have some very mixed feelings. I did enjoy it for what it was, but I can’t deny there were certain parts that did disappoint me.
I think perhaps the strongest part of this movie was the humour. There were times I found myself laughing out loud. However, I did find the scene with Poe and Hux talking (or not, rather) at the beginning was very awkward humour, as it referenced things that don’t actually exist in the Star Wars universe.
I felt this movie tried too hard to be like The Empire Strikes Back. I have to admit, I liked Rey a bit less than I did in episode seven. I felt she didn’t have quite the same personality I’d seen in The Force Awakens.
While it was good to see some of the conflict in Kylo Ren, I didn’t really feel like he was as interesting a villai as he could be. While it was good to see some of the background between him and his uncle, there wasn’t really a lot shown about him and his parents…even though Han wasn’t in the present day.
While I did like seeing the film focus more on Finn and Rose as well as just Rey training with Luke, I was questioning the wisdom in the actions they took. Poe didn’t seem quite as responsible as he was in the first movie and I felt the other storyline could have been worked in a lot better. And I have to say, DJ was quite a disappointing character. I had the feeling he was supposed to be a rogue like Han Solo, but he just wasn’t that interesting.
I did think there were some areas where it was hard to suspend my disbelief and although I do want to watch the third movie in this trilogy, I’m not too fussed about seeing this movie again. I’m hoping the final film will pull this trilogy back to the level of at least The Force Awakens.
Ink of Blood 