Christmas season has been super busy but I managed to finish my full saga watch-thru culminating in seeing TROS last night. Quick rapid fire thoughts on the final films:

TFA - I like this movie quite well. It’s not perfect but it overcomes it’s faults with an exciting (if familiar) story, good characters, and all the trappings I want from a Star Wars film. I like Rey as the protagonist. I enjoy the idea of a stormtrooper with a conscience who defects. Even though I used to think she was underutilized, I like how Captain Phasma is a total coward. Harrison Ford NAILS his performance. And Kylo Ren is a fascinating villain.

TLJ - This film is and has always been very uneven to me. Some very high high-points but also some very low lows. I enjoy finn’s confrontation with phasma but I do wish they had kept the deleted scene where he confronts her about her cowardice and traitorous behavior in TFA. I’m not a fan of Luke’s motivation for going into hiding (murdering his nephew feels too out-of-character. I think they could’ve easily had him confront Ben in a different but still devastating way.) but I don’t mind him being in exile. I think the best part of the movie is Luke’s lessons to Rey about the force and the Jedi. In fact, this film has the best single explanation of what the force is that we’ve ever gotten. I also enjoyed how it tied into the prequels and the Jedi getting it all wrong. Love that portion of the movie! I also love Luke’s confrontation with Kylo Ren. I thought it was a fitting and powerful end to Luke’s story.

TROS - without spoiling anything, I thought it was… weird. Kinda like the prequels I felt that the overall story was fine and maybe even good, but the execution felt so not like a Star Wars movie. I dunno. I need to see it again.