I hate to play this card, because it is overused and totally unfair, but I have to say that as a parent I find the relationship between Han and Kylo Ren compelling and I do think itās an epic way to die.
One of the things that bothered me going in was how they could justify the end of the Han Leia romance. But having a kid go to the dark side would do it. Their scenes together are very short, but pretty emotional.
Hanās death is the parallel for Obi-wan Kenobiās death in the first film. Obi-wan doesnāt go out Like a badass either, but It provides motivation for Luke/Rey/Finn to personalize their opposition to Vader/Ren. As far as the level of impact, if anything other than a Butch and Sundance style blaze of glory could be epic, I would think this counts. The moment where he touches the kids face before he dies nearly kills me. Heās knowingly sacrificing himself in an attempt to save his son, and he still loves him even after heās been murderedā¦ I care about Kylo Ren because I care about Han and Han cares about him. I think this brings up lots of interesting questions now too. We as the audience (most of the people I talk to at least) hate Kylo Ren and want to see him get killed. But what about Luke and Leia? What about Rey? If you hunt down someone you hate and kill them isnāt that a dark side thing to do, even if itās justified? In Revenge of the Sith when Anakin kills Count Dooku (sorry to bring up the hated prequels) no one thinks he doesnāt deserve to die, but itās clearly part of Anakinās slide to the dark side. Luke became a Jedi by NOT killing his father. Can he now kill his nephew? My buddy is super upset with Luke for being AWOL. But I think this is another compelling story. Is taking vengeance for the destruction of his Jedi trainees an acceptable path?
I took my wife to see it, along with my son and nephew for the second time. She loved it and we both agree that we really want to learn more about the new cast and find out what happens next. I think they left us in the dark on a lot of things on purpose. The suspense for the plot of this film was so effective and Iām sure they want to keep it going for the next one.
On a sort of unrelated and lengthy ramble, I really like the parallels to the first film(s). People can criticize it if they want to, and of course their opinion is no less valid than mine. But I donāt think they just didnāt have any ideas and so rehashed old ones. Remember, there is almost nothing original in the first Star Wars movie if you pick it apart. Between Kirosawa and Flash Gordon the basic plot and character archetypes were well trod even before Star Wars. Itās the combination of elements, the special effects, and the fun way the characters interact on screen that makes the movie good. Things like opening the movie with a visual effects shot of a massive Star Destroyer filmed from underneath in a way that immediately tells you almost everything you need to know about the bad guys in the universe. I think Abrams and co. figured, instead of trying to outdo the original trilogy letās take those elements that people love and reorganize them in a way that creates something new but familiar. If you think about just Hanās death scene, that actually has elements from all three original movies. They are blowing up the bunker (Jedi), confrontation between father and son on a catwalk (Empire), and the death of the hero/mentor in front of his young protege (Star Wars). Yeah, itās derivative, but purposefully and thoughtfully derivative. I like that. And the movie is filled with those elements that are fun to think about as well as bits of fan service trivia (Finnās storm trooper number is FN 2187 and Leia was held in cell block 2187 on the first Death Star - and yes I am such a nerd that I just know that off the top of my head).
One thing that I donāt see people really talking about is how, underneath the fun adventure the back stories are tragically, soul crushingly sad. How did this little girl get abandoned as essentially a slave on this planet? How did Lukeās new Jedi order fall apart and Han and Leia lose their son to the dark side? Itās all terrible and sad. My only real complaint is that I had hoped for happy endings for my childhood heroes.
Sorry for the ramble. TL;DR I saw it again and still love it.