So, I really liked it. And one of the reasons I liked it was because of the tropes that were broken. They didn't break all the tropes, which means, that near the end of the movie, I was left in the state of thinking: Anything can happen! Which, for me, means it's a great action and suspense movie.
So, what tropes?
Actor who dies in real life is killed off in the movie. Surely they wouldn't have General Leia survive now that Carrie is dead? Wrong! In what I thought was the for-sure death scene, she Forces her way back to life. And once in the Critical Unit bed, we would surely have a death scene with Rey or Poe crying at her side. Wrong! She comes back large and in control. Surely she would be the one to make the last sacrifice to save everyone. Wrong! She's doing just fine at the end of the movie.
Hot shot hunky pilot saves the day. Poe gambled on a tactic to take out the Dreadnought's guns. His piloting skills would save the day. Wrong! BB-8 nearly had to sacrifice himself to save Poe's recklessness. And that recklessness led to a Pyrrhic victory. The Dreadnought was taken out, but so was all the Resistance's bombers and a lot of lives. When you have few resources, you don't take on someone with greater resources in a tit-for-tat trade-off. You lose. And he disobeyed orders. And his other gambit to take out the Cruise ships hyperspace tracker failed. And his mutiny failed. And his charge against the battering engine failed. His actions led to the severe losses. He demanded information from his superior (who had a plan but didn't tell him). And he behaved treasonously. And he didn't get any girl. The only reward for his recklessness is no court martial.
This is the Saga of a Special Family. Starting with Anakin's 'virgin birth', he was prophesied as the one to restore balance to the Force. And his family: Luke, Leia, and Ben were strong in the force because they're related to him. And this trilogy of trilogies is all about this special family. Therefor, if Rey has especially strong Force sensitivity, she must be of Anakin's lineage (or of some other strong Force wielder... Obi-Wan? Sidious? Snoke?)... Wrong! She's a nobody. Which is the normal thing for this universe. Everyone who was part of the Jedi order before it was destroyed were random beings who were Force sensitive. You didn't have to be born into a special family to be a Jedi (or a Sith). And that is Rey. And the stable boy at the end. We're back to the roots of how the Jedi ordinarily works. The family dynasty was the outlier. But the trilogies tricked us into thinking it's only this family that's got the juice. Nope. Ordinary people can have it, too.
From a Certain Perspective. The story of Ben's turning turned into a he said-he said affair. First, it was Ben turning evil and killing everyone. Then it was Luke, sensing evil, tried to kill Ben, but he escaped. Then it was Luke, sensing evil, was going to kill Ben, but then repented, but Ben didn't know that and escaped. The story kept getting more complicated as seen from different sides.
What a Way to Go. No one should be surprised that Ben killed Snoke. No one. That's what Sith do. Sidious killed Plageius. Vader killed Sidious. The other Star Wars novels and series and comic books make this a regular practice. What was surprising was the ignominious death of a surprise slicing of the abdomen. But where is the deep lore of Snoke's origins? Where is the lengthy chess game extended through three movies to bring him down? Surprise!! He's not the big bad after all. And who cares about some unknown monster who's just a personification of evil? The real threat has an origin story, and conflict, and history with the heroes... Good ol' Ben. That will be a more satisfying battle than with Big Dark Force. And it was surprising how Big Dark Force got it in the end. And he deserved it after the non-stop belittling of his patsy. But, glad he's gone. Besides, there will be lots of novels and other media to delve into there to tell that story....
Porgs! We all assumed they were going to be a plot device. Something cute and annoying that, once befriended, will save the day in their own annoying way. Wrong! They were just cute and annoying. And that's all. Something for a Wookie, whom we can't understand, to interact with who don't have to repeat back what he said in some way to clue in the audience.
The rogue's a rogue. The codebreaker seemed like he was going to be a rogue with a heart of gold when he returned Rose's medallion. Wrong! He totally sold them out. (Anyone who's watched Rebels would see that coming, but not those who only know the trilogies.)
Send out the call, and they'll help us. The resistance is alive and there are people at the edges just waiting for the call and they'll come to save us. Wrong! While we did see the resistance alive with the stable hands, they didn't have the resources to help. When Ep 9 comes, the resistance is going to be starting from scratch. Which is good. It builds on the power of hope and ordinary people to resist tyranny. But for now, the resistance is just the people on the Falcon. Underdogs indeed!
