NO SPOILERS…SO RELAX!
The saga picks up shortly after the end of The Force Awakens as Rey meets exiled Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, obviously asking him to train her because the Force appears to be strong in her.
Meanwhile, General Leia and the Resistance are in full evacuation mode. They may have destroyed Starkiller Base but some First Order Star Destroyers and a Dreadnaught have come to wipe them out. Things look pretty grim too, First Order forces have conquered other key systems in the chaos beset by the loss of the Republic’s capital and much of its fleet. Leia needs Luke to come back to rally the Republic/Resistance.
That’s it for the plot.
As for the movie itself, it’s a fantastic mix of action, intrigue, drama and dashes of humor which thankfully doesn’t feel contrived.
In short, this is the new trilogy’s The Empire Strikes Back…unless JJ Abrams can pull off an even better Episode IX. Given how I’ve grown to dislike Awakens more over time since it’s terribly unoriginal and I’ve never liked how he crapped on Star Trek. The alleged wonder boy of Hollywood has a tall order.
I know there was a lot of hate out there over those bird-like Porgs, I can assure you they don’t ruin the movie like Jar Jar Binks or the Ewoks. Director Rian Johnson used them well to make a different point, to me they’re like rats or pigeons.
In closing, I saw some other good news. The Han Solo movie will be coming next May. I’m probably late to the party on that yet I saw a poster in the lobby of Alamo Village confirming this.
Alamo Extras: Stop-motion movie of Kenner Star Wars toys attacking a fan in his nightmare; another stop-motion movie of C-3P0 and R2-D2 exploring; scenes from a BritCom called The Goodies in which they have a knock-off R2-D2 called EBGB carrying out mundane English tasks; Star Wars-influenced commercials like George Lucas Japandering in the late Eighties; the Bad Lip Reading episode of The Force Awakens which is great because Mark Hamil provides the Han Solo voice; TV appearances of the original cast; Yoda speaking with Gilbert Gottfried’s voice (not funny); Awakens summarized by an eight-year old; old interviews with the first cast.
I’m glad Alamo didn’t take the easy route and recycled the stuff they used at Rogue One or Awakens. There’s a million things out there to utilize. Can’t wait to see this again.