MattDoc

The thing I love most about it is how it subverts the expected structure of one of these films. It starts with the big action climax and then reduces to the personal. It gives us what we need, but in the wrong order and it works out.

In a lot of ways, it actually reminds me of From Russia With Love, which many hail as the best Bond movie. Instead of getting bigger and showier for the end, it gets more subdued and personal. We don't need bigger explosions, we need more personal stakes.

This movie is everything someone expecting a sequel to a big hit like Star Wars at the time would have hated. Subverting expectations and taking things to dark and different places was the exception, not the rule.

And I'm glad all of the middle chapters of the Skywalker Saga pick up similar themes and subvert in similar ways. Of all of the sequel trilogy movies, the middle chapter is the one that feels like it understood the most from Star Wars, both behind the scenes and the mythology.

I don't think people remember how bad the matte-lines and transparent cockpits were in the original theatrical version of Empire. No one wants that. This film cleaned up beautifully and I'm grateful for it.

I love how Han and Luke keep track of who owes who the same way Obi-Wan and Anakin do in Revenge of the Sith. "That's two you owe me, junior" has the same energy and "but you owe me, and not for saving your skin for the tenth time."