Rise of Skywalker

Skywalker saga ended neither with a bang nor a whimper. It just collected as much money as it could by upsetting the least amount of people.

Did I like the movie? It was fine.

It wasn't Endgame or the Dark Night Returns. Then again who could have expected that it would be?

Abrahms is a not a risk taker; he is a big tent guy. After the Solo "failure" and all the flack from The Last Jedi, Disney wasn't about to go bold either.

So, we end up with a movie that ignores its predecessor and sidelines one of its major characters. It provides the desperately needed redemption arc and the Reylo kiss. It is large on set pieces and action, but short on character.

At least for Rise of Skywalker, Abrahms didn't just try to remake Return of the Jedi.

I actually thought that have Palps be the true big bad was a pretty great way to tie everything together. I even thought that making Rey his granddaughter made a lot of sense thematically.

It makes more sense that a child of darkness can bring balance by embracing the light, then that a boy scout could do it by redeeming his corrupted father.

Rey chooses her own path in a way that none of the Skywalker ever could. Anikan was naive, afraid, and hungry - a slave boy who knew little but fear and poverty until he became powerful. Luke was just naive - a farm boy who didn't believe that people could truly be evil. Poor Ben never had a chance; he was trapped in the shadow of his grandfather and his uncle with all the privilege and expectations that came along with that legacy.

Like Anikan Rey knows poverty, but unlike Anikan she knows freedom. Like Luke she believes that people are good, but unlike Luke she knows that they are also cruel. Unlike poor Ben, she grows up a nobody, but unlike Kylo is a true heir to great power.

Unlike any of the Skywalkers, she finds her own path. Luke and Lea offer her some training, but most of what she knows of the Force she learns from studying of the ancient texts. She has no story to follow and must forge her own.

Sadly, her story, much like Anikan's in the Prequels, deserves a better telling.

Rise of the Skywalker is a fine spectacle and worth the price of admission. It ties a bow on one big bad while leaving open the possibility of sequels.

The Galaxy far, far away is still a mess. Rey's story is not resolved.

Maybe in five years, Disney will get some auteur to restart the story.

Wonderland

Bug has wanted to see this movie since it came out. The only hitch has been scheduling. We finally had to just make it work and do a mid-week matinee.
The movie was a good kids movie. The plot was predictable. The animation was colorful; the music was good. The characters were all conventional. The themes were also conventional.
I loved that the protagonist was a girl who was imaginative, smart, and a builder. June is definitely a STEAM queen and that is great.

Female Super Heros

Over the last few weeks I have had the great joy of watching super hero movies with my daughter. She doesn't love them as much as I do (I was a nerdy little white boy growing-up and needed some high power role models.) She does like the ones where the leads are strong, powerful women.
A couple of weeks ago we saw Wonder Woman on iTunes; yes it would have been better on the big screen, but one must make do. It was a great movie and part of what made it great was that Diana never had to stop being a woman to be super. Part of her power came from her empathy which in our culture is considered a more feminine quality.
Yesterday we saw Captain Marvel. It was not quite as great a movie as Wonder Woman - from a storytelling perspective. The whole memory loss thing, while doing what it needed to do, felt a little clumsy and the big surprise felt a little forced. However, it provided a whole range of strong women. Carol Danvers is a bit more of a hard ass than Diana. She clearly didn't grow up surrounded by love and encouragement. She definitely embodies the higher, faster, stronger ethos of the more typically male super hero crowd. Even better than Carol Danvers, however, is her best friend Maria Rambeau. Maria is emotional, caring, and a badass pilot without needing any super powers. The fact that she is African American and a single mother make her even more amazing.
It is a great thing that as a culture we are producing more complex and amazing woman to inspire our children.