Original post author: Ryan
Trust me, this post contains no The Last Jedi (2017) spoilers. However it does contain spoilers for the The Force Awakens (2015).
The second installment of the new Star Wars trilogy was released a few days ago. Jess snagged us some movie tickets for Friday night at Jordan’s Furniture (the best place to see a movie, if you didn’t know), and we enlisted our friend Casey to watch Violet (thanks, Casey).
I build these movies up a lot in my head. I might be fanatical. I strictly avoid reading/watching/hearing anything Star Wars related – I didn’t even know who was directing this movie. I have a romanticized idea that I will sit down in the theater without any preconceived notions and get blown away by something great.
So, I obviously had expectations – but let me dial it back a little bit. I know I can’t ask for Disney to deliver us another “The Empire Strikes Back”. I’m really just looking for three things: a good story, some good characters (I’d argue those were already created), and a lot of that familiar Star Wars aesthetic.
Star Wars fans had to endure a pretty bad spell from 1999 to 2015. During that time, three Star Wars movies were released that didn’t really accomplish any of those three wish-list items. The story lines were dull, the characters were dull, and the aesthetic was nowhere to be seen. Then, there was all of the merchandise. It might be hard to take a Star Wars fan seriously when people see nothing but R2D2 pencil erasers, Yoda backpacks, Lightsaber candies, and Chewbacca slippers for 20 years. Don’t get me wrong, I love my Star Wars juice glasses – but I eventually started to wonder if the general public remembered that all of this nonsense actually started with three good movies, and it’s not all about Darth Vader driving mugs.
In 2015, Disney released their first movie to reboot Star Wars. Overall, I’d say it was very good. It hit all three of those wish list items. I’d say the “good story” task was only lightly accomplished, but it did a really great job at hitting on the Star Wars aesthetic. Plus, it introduced a new cast of good characters while staying true to the old characters. It left off on a pretty great cliff-hanger ending. If you don’t know, it ended with the new protagonist, Rey, finally finding an old, wizened Luke Skywalker in a remote hideout on the edge of the galaxy. Rey hands Luke his old lightsaber, and then without any dialogue, it ends.
Now we are caught up to this weekend. While walking into the theater, Jess and I had to dodge people walking out from the previous showing because we were afraid of overhearing spoilers. I had to overt my eyes from posters and video screens showing previews while waiting in line. We managed to get our concessions and a set of decent seats.
If I did a good enough job with this post, then you’ll understand that when the iconic opening frame flashes onto the screen “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…”, I am happy. I am happy regardless of how many of those wish list items get accomplished.
While staying true to my promise of no spoilers - I will say that I had a great two and a half hours. There was action, there was suspense, there were lightsabers. If you're a fan of the franchise even a little bit, I encourage you to get out to the theater and experience that pang of joy and anticipation when you see the opening frame.
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