Star Wars: The Last Jedi – Stampede
Apparently considered a “divisive” movie, Rian Johnson’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi took great care to layer in multiple threads of character development and political reference. One such layer involved the excellent new character of Rose Tico (Kelly Marie Tran) travelling with Finn (John Boyega) and BB-8 to the casino resort of Canto Bight, in search of a Code-breaker to help them enter a First Order base and destroy its ability to track the Rebel ships as they attempt to escape.
As they arrive at the resort, Finn remarks on how much fun it all looks, and Rose encourages him to “look closer.” She then explains that this is where she and her sister were raised, in slavery to the wealthy business men who profit from selling weapons to both sides of the galactic conflict simultaneously. While the Rebellion and First Order are up there in the stars, killing each other in the name of freedom and the pursuit of power, the rich get richer and play down here without a care in the world.
When they fail in their mission, Rose decides that they should go down fighting – and she persuades a young stable boy to help them liberate the large creatures used at the resort for racing. Climbing onto the back of the lead creature, Rose and Finn then lead a spectacular stampede – right through the heart of the resort and tearing it down as they go.
It’s a chaotic, but glorious scene in which we see Rose experiencing the joy of reclaiming her power – from the tyrants that ruined the childhood she shared with her sister, and from the rich business owners who oppress the masses still. At a time when she and Finn are convinced that they’re out of options, this is the most rebellious act they can undertake, to strike a blow on behalf of their brethren – and they quite rightly savour every gallop of it.
Kong: Skull Island – Opening Sequence
2017 had many powerful opening sequences, it seems – but standing out among that crowd is Jordan Vogt-Roberts’ first reel of Kong: Skull Island. These first few minutes are the gold standard of how to open a movie. It’s highly unusual, in that there’s no dialogue – despite high action and intimidating violence. There is only the sound of their footsteps, their grunting, the ocean, the jungle, and, well…
The screen flickers into life with a view of the Pacific Ocean, and an idyllic beach in the foreground. Without warning, a World War II U.S. war plane nose-dives straight down, into the sand. The pilot – already ejected – floats down to the beach under his parachute and struggles to free himself from it as a Japanese plane and ejected pilot come down on the same beach. The men pause for a moment to look at each other, before the U.S. pilot draws his pistol and shoots at the Japanese pilot. The Japanese pilot draws his weapon, and the two men dart off into the jungle.
They fight bitterly through the undergrowth, and burst out into a clearing before realizing they’re on a cliff-edge. As they continue to wrestle, the Japanese pilot draws his sword, and appears to have the upper hand on his U.S. counterpart when a giant ape hand suddenly appears over the top of the cliff. The two men halt their fight, and turn to watch – mouths agape – as the hand pulls on the cliff, and the head of an enormous ape comes into view.
Cue: Titles.
