Opportunity. That is the one word this movie has given me. Despite much criticism from “true” star wars fans, this movie truly has taken its own path into new systems of the star wars universe. I understand the resentment towards this movie, it deviates from normal star wars plots lines and does contain some plot holes, but, overall, it delivers everything we needed. I say needed, not wanted because this movie did not deliver the theories we have all watched videos on youtube for hours upon hours about who Rey’s parents were, who snoke is, and whether or not force ghosts of Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Yoda would appear.

For those who have not seen the movie, I would advise you to stop reading now as I am going to into the plot itself and don’t wish to spoil anything.

For those who have seen the movie, I ask: were you not hooked the moment it began. We get Poe Dameron taking on, for those who don’t know, one of the most elite star destroyers of all time. Not only does Poe mess with General Hux and makes us all die laughing, he blows a lot of things up. Then, we get to watch what it truly means to be a rebel and watch a pilot drop the bombs as she herself is blown into oblivion. That opening scene, something that so many movies in general fail to understand, set the whole precedent for what this movie was going to be: something star wars-like but also unique. Isn’t that what we want? Don’t we want to be ultimately surprised by the jokes made and the comedic relief after we just have waited all this time to see Luke and he tosses his lightsaber? It made us laugh because we didn’t expect it to happen, yet revealed something that was very apparent throughout the movie: Luke still was not ready to be a jedi master. When we went from A New Hope to Return of the Jedi, it almost felt as if he became a jedi knight overnight. It was always one thing that bothered me. Now, 30 years later, he has obtained all the knowledge, even tried to train a new generation, but lacks guidance. He has allowed himself to become so afraid, he isn’t the same Luke we knew in the original trilogy. That last sentence is the reason why so many people are angered, but, in reality, do we expect him to be so powerful, especially after Snoke has done so much harm? Luke has gone to this almost impossible to find system to hide and for good reason as we saw when Rey entered Snoke’s throne room (more on that later) and he threw her around like a rag doll, yet we still wanted Luke to be some all powerful god that could do unimaginable things. He was not. He was the most relatable character, besides Ben/Kylo of course, in this movie. He was scared. He had almost killed his nephew because of his fear and inability to act.

As we all know, to the dark side fear leads as we saw in Anakin. Luke ran and in reality wouldn’t we all? A potential ancient being with limitless power (like causing two people to believe the force is connecting them) is after you and you’re supposed to sit there and take it on alone? Sure it is not the most heroic thing he could have done, but it was quite the twist we needed. Luke refuses to teach Rey and is only persuaded by the hope of reconciling his wrong to Ben and more so Han and Leia. We are so drawn into this hope the Luke will finally prove to us the great force he has been hiding from us, but first, of course, we have to save the animals, that was the one scene that truly just annoyed me. I did enjoy Finn getting his little hero mission although it seemed excessive and entirely unneeded overall, but it was exciting to go to different parts of the galaxy we haven’t seen. Then, of course, we had the ultimate battle with Rey and Kylo. Now, there are already theories flooding youtube that Snoke is not actually dead (most say he either projected himself or Kylo himself projected Snoke) and it would be a crime to introduce the most powerful being in stars wars movies and then have him killed off within the first 2 hours of the movie, but that ultimate fight scene with Kylo and Rey working together to destroy who we can only assume to be the Knights of Ren was pretty much the best scene in the entire movie (other than Chewy eating the Porg while the others watched him). It did echo Anakin’s call to Padme to rule the galaxy with him, and of course the inherent shock and look of sorrow on Rey’s face in reaction to Kylo’s call. Then, once again, another plot hole occurred as she took Snoke’s ship, but then somehow appears on the falcon (the biggest one of course was Leia just floating through space using the force…). Now, when Luke walked out there and was blown to bits by the blaster and cannon fire only to reveal he is actually there and could have used the force to deflect everything, we were all embracing that 10 year old inside of us finally seeing Luke in all his power. No longer a coward, he arrived and was going to face his demons. Wrong. While the reaction was pretty great when you see Luke meditating back on Ahch-To and is projecting himself through the force, it was such a missed opportunity to give us what we, original fans especially, had been waiting for for 40 years. We wanted the ultimate duel between a powerful Luke and a young and powerful Kylo. We didn’t get it. Instead, we got angry Kylo and potential force ghost Luke. While most are angry about this, Rian Johnson has set us up with more questions than answers going into J.J. Abram’s final film codenamed “Black Diamond.” Can we trust Kylo’s assertion that Rey’s parents really were just “filthy junk traders” or “nobody” in Rey’s words? Is Snoke actually dead? How is Leia going to be written out in light of Carrie Fisher’s recent and very sad passing? Most of all, is Rey going to be able to turn Kylo back into Ben? These questions will be the choice of star wars talk for the next two years. I would defer answers and theories to my favorite channel Star Wars Theory. The stage is set for an ultimate showdown between the light and the dark, more than it was in Return of the Jedi. The jedi have not ended, and may even have some hope with that last shot of the child using the force.

We are in the new era of star wars ladies and gentleman. May the force be with the creators, writers, producers, and actors. And may the force also be with you.