Not even close... TPM duel is far better.. The Red guards scene was cool in concept but average in execution IMO... Rey's move of dropping the saber to her other hand was cool but overall it was average.. It was better when I though Kylo went to the good side.. Figured that was somehow setting up better things with a new villain or something.
Just got back from second viewing... Hmmmm... I think I just don;t care for these new stories.
What I liked
Kylo Ren - By far the best part of these new films.. The only character that seems to be having something going on around him and inside him all the time. His feelings, emotions, actions, all move his character back and forth... In the end it all puts him in charge of the new order.
Rey's desire to turn Kylo to the good side. I Liked that she had compassion for him...
Snoke - Nice and evil and well preformed.
Star Battle visuals were cool (sorry Jye but it has nothing on Jedi Death Star battle)
Mark Hamill's performance was very good and it was great to see Luke back on the screen.
Luke's interaction with R2-D2
What I did not like
The reason for Rey having all this Jedi power and such great control of it is ignored again. I have to assume Disney just wants to have her be the greatest princess ever.
The casino scene - Obviously but its jnot as long as I remembered so its easier to ignore.. Nice time to take a bathroom break.
The plots revolving around the starfleet chase, Finn, and Poe... Overly long and almost pointless. Could have been done better and quicker in some way. Would have been much better to have Poe and Finn on the mission together.. They are supposed to be the best of friends but they have been spent about 10 min together in this series.. I am surprised they even recognize each other.
Rose - Not as bad as the first time I saw her.. But she is worthless and I don;t like her personality at all.
The Luke and Rey scenes really drag the second time.. Almost an hour on that island and she hardly trains and really learns nothing of the force.. But she does not need to because she is the greatest jedi ever I guess.
SuperLeia
Luke being a hologram - It's a cool surprise the first time but once you know it.. Its actually disappointing that its not really Luke out there.
What I hated.
Laura Dern keeping her plan a secret.. Had she been a real leader like Mon Mothma, then Finn, Poe, and the rest of the rebellion would have known the plan and the rebellion would have had a lot more survivors.. She keeps it secret because there could be know boring subplots without it.
Plus here is an idea... Instead of sacrificing your ships and the captains on board.. How about all of them go in Hyperspace in different directions?? Cant trace all of them...
This rebellion deserves to be crushed.
The overall story line.. Its just not grabbing me. You can tell that the OT and the PT had one person with an idea that saw it threw for better or worse.
The fact that the first film opened up all these questions just to not answer them is sort of frustrating and in all honesty very lazy.
Yest the OT did not explain everything.. But it did not need to. We were stuck in the middle and we found things out as the characters told us.
Problem with this is that these are based on characters and a Universe we already know. So just having a girl be great at the force goes against everything else we know before this... Who is Snoke and how did Snoke rise to power?? Where was Luke, Leia, Han and the rest of the galaxy when the first order began to rise up. How did Snoke Fill Ben Solo's mind with the dark side.. All of this would have made a far more interesting story IMO instead of a story about a girl who is perfect at everything.
And finally I am fine with the multicultural take these films are taking and putting woman in a position of power.. But please cast and write the parts better.. PLEASE!!
