My Final Thoughts on this Film.
JJ abrams is basically trying to say that Rey uses the lessons she has learned from the legacy characters, and it is that which defines her. She rejects her palpatine lineage and chooses her own identity, which is what she’s been searching for since TFA. Unfortunately Abrams does not understand star wars nearly enough from a fundamental story perspective.
In my opinion Abrams really lacks vision and should never have been allowed to write, nor should have Chris Terrio. You hear things like "We’re really hard on ourselves and constantly saying - It’s not good enough - " I would much rather hear things from them like “wow we are really passionate about what we are trying to say”.
The worst part of the film for me is the Rey vs Palpatine stuff. If you compare it with how Luke defeats Palps there is absolutely no debate. The line alone “I am a jedi like my father before me”, coupled with the fact that he throws his lightsaber away is the ultimate victory over Palpatine. Luke chooses to reject killing both Palpatine and Vader. This is where Abrams shows such an elementary understanding of what George was trying to say in this moment.
Having Rey literally kill Palpatine with the same thing that Mace Windu does in ROTS is so utterly tragically inconsistent with George’s story I cannot even begin to comprehend what he was thinking. Rey literally is using violence to murder this man. Not even Anakin would have done this. “IT’S NOT THE JEDI WAY” -ROTS.
Now you can argue that Rey didn’t kill Palpatine, Palpatine killed himself. But having him die through such horrifying violence totally diminishes Luke throwing away the saber. Luke defeats Palpatine to the very core of who he is without having to lay a finger on him. Abrams totally muddles his own message here, and poses the question “well did Rey actually learn anything” more importantly, “did the audience learn anything?” What does this story have to offer me as a human being? Define my own destiny but make the same mistakes as the previous generation? Defeat evil with 2 lightsabers? Not only am I upset by this film, I believe it comes into conflict with everything George has tried to say over the years. I had fun watching this film, but in a way where I feel like it’s a joke that I don’t have to take very seriously.