I saw it yesterday at IMAX, first impression was that I really enjoyed it from beginning to end. My 2nd impression now that I've had a day to digest is that I really like where this movie takes things. It really turned a lot of ideas on their head. It did little to answer fan questions from Force Awakens and I appreciate that they took some more risks here and now have set the table for other movies that don't have to follow the same narrative and can now be more of their own thing. I enjoyed Luke Skywalker the most as we did get to see some real character development. I like the idea that the Jedi are really no better than anyone else other than having an affinity for the force and have their own flaws. I think this is illustrated nicely though Yoda's appearance and reassurance that failure is the greatest teacher of them all.
The way things were handled in regards to the Resistance and First Order felt more like they were taking things more seriously in regards to respecting chain of command, and the fact that these are both organized military operations and not just 1 group of armored bad guys vs the good guys who almost always win despite impossible odds. Another point I liked as well was realizing that not everyone believes that the only way to win is to fight and defeat your enemies. The Force Awakens I found it hard to take the resistance as seriously when they were preparing the assault on StarKiller base, it just felt like a few flyboys all of a sudden could come up with a 5 minute plan to win. Here with the trying to escape with little fuel left the stakes were more desperate and the ones in command needed to be more thoughtful and measured in how they handle things. Lives do matter when you're on the brink of elimination so don't just throw them all away.
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