blamebrampton: 15th century woodcut of a hound (Default)
blamebrampton ([personal profile] blamebrampton) wrote2016-01-06 01:15 am

So, I saw Star Wars... [Spoiler free, but opinionated]

I did not expect to see Star Wars. But when I got home from work just before 8pm because I NEED A NEW JOB, poor old Mr B who has been sick as a dog since Boxing Day, leapt up and said MOVIE NIGHT! And given his state of illness (throaty, chesty, achey horror), I felt I had to go along with this plan.

I thought the writing was really lazy, though competent, but I liked the direction, acting, design, editing and music. And I am prepared to give a bit over two hours of my life for the sight of two stormtroopers backing away Slowly and Quietly. I laughed vey loudly.

However. If you're a writer, give your readers a reason for things. A real reason, not 'he's the best pilot in the Resistance' – that's a description. Something like "Poe grew up in the Resistance. He's been flying these planes since he was eight. Stealing them since he was nine, but he never broke one, so we didn't complain …' or 'I met a pilot from the Rebellion when I was 16, and while he told me stories of laying down covering fire on the Death Star attack, I realised, that's what I really wanted to be. So every minute since then, that's what I've trained for. I found out years later that he just ferried the X-Wings around, but by then, I was flight leader, so I didn't hold it against him.'

I just want films that acknowledge that, most of the time, you get good at things by doing things. And that work has worth and value to it and can be a part of the story that makes your character a person.

Which, obviously, means I should say 'Oh, let's watch something small' the next time Mr B has a hankering for big budget. But it was fun, and I didn't need to worry my poor overtaxed brain, and those stormtroopers will bring me joy for years to come.

[identity profile] blamebrampton.livejournal.com 2016-01-08 01:47 pm (UTC)(link)
The Finn characterisation was the most problematic for me, because there were LOADS of reason why he didn't want to be upset in that scene, from bad conditioning to a sense of justice at the massive disparity in force, but we're not given any idea of what's going on. The most rational reading is that he's upset about shooting civilians, except that also makes no sense, because the civilians start shooting as soon as the New Order forces land.

Mr B read it as he's meant to be a coward, but then he's brave as can be the minute he meets Rey. In fact, before that, the escape is pretty damned ballsy, too. Sigh.

Fully agree that at least with Rey there is some way of seeing why she is who she is. I;ll have to hunt down the book and see if it helps :-)

[identity profile] anna-wing.livejournal.com 2016-01-11 04:25 am (UTC)(link)
I really don't think that a coward would have made it past stormtrooper training. That would have to be one of the basic things that the system would be set up to spot and eliminate, one way or the other.

I forgot that the civilians were the ones that initiated hostilities. Perhaps Finn was upset that his buddy got killed. And then everything blew up with the captured pilot, and he acted on impulse while still in a destabilised condition (not having had time to report for reconditioning)and things just escalated from there. It would be fun if later films showing him changing his mind and deciding that he can't stand how badly run the New Republic is and going back to the First Order.