Better the second time. Watched it in Ultra AVX (sound was aamazing, shaking the seats), and was able to sit at the back which really changed the experience from being able to follow the action scenes better and the 3D not being such a distraction.
Seeing it a second time allowed me to focus more on the plot and characters than the nostalgia factor and it just flushed it out much better for me.
For me, all of the connections made for Rey to be a Skywalker by Luke, fit just the same for her to be a Skywalker by Leia. I still think they are going to turn out to be siblings. her natural affinity for the Falcon, Chewy likes her, Solo's a father figure, just seems like there are just as many signs pointing to Solo as Skywalker. There are a few things I noticed:
Rey has a small hand-made doll on her shelf of a rebel pilot orange jumpsuit, presumably Luke.
She when she talks about who she's waiting for, she uses "they", not him or her. Could be just a writing device to keep it hidden, because it could still mean one person, but just something I clued into.
I didn't like the scene with the space pirates for some reason. Firstly, it was unrealistic how the things devoured the pirates almost instantly and they weren't able to out run them, yet old ass Han Solo could. Plus why did that thing decide to drag Fin through the ship instead of eating him right away like everyone else? It was an OK introduction to Solo, but I kind of wish they had just immediately left in the Falcon when the pirates arrived. It would have made more sense. And why keep BB-8 out in the open when it could have hid with Rey and Fin. Short scene so whatever.
I think Snoke might be tiny, and the hologram is just made huge to have him tower over everyone. And his face made me think that he might be a character from the past who has been heavily scarred either by some perceived death, or by being warped by the dark side, but I can't think of anyone it could be so it's just a musing. Plaegius does make the most sense.
I think R2D2's revival was more tied to the lightsabre than it was to Rey herself. I think Luke gave Maz the lightsabre to give to the right person at the right time. Maybe Rey herself, or just "the right one" so to speak, but more likely the former.
How did Rey and Leia know who each other were at the end? They had never interacted at that point, maybe she heard something from Han, but that's about it. She must have some knowledge of who Rey is. But Rey seemed to know her too. I dunno.
My friend liked the idea of her being a Kenobi and so do I. I think that would be cool.
She also mentioned to me before seeing it that the Fin and Poe dynamic has a homoerotic undertone, or "Poemance", as she referred to it. It made me laugh during the movie because there are a few "Top Gun" type moments. On a more serious note, I thought their friendship (and particularly Poe's willingness to divulge classified information to a stranger) was rushed on first viewing. Not so much the second time around for the friendship, Poe was obviously very thankful for the help from Fin. As for the blabber mouth, yeah not sure about that.
Fin was better the second time around, I think he nailed the kind of naivity that would come from being sheltered and pigeonholed into a soldier's life, while also being a human and growing up around what is presumably all men (something I thought of, doesn't seem liek the fFirst Order is as as gender diverse as the Resistance, outside of Phasma. Although it's hard to tell as none of them speak). Will Fin try to go train as a Jedi? It would be easy enough to get to Luke and Rey now that they have the map. Or will he want to join Poe as a soldier for the Resistance?
Good stuff. Can't wait for Part 8.
__________________
|