Game of Thrones S08E04 Review: The Last of the Starks

After saying goodbye to those that died in the battle against the White Walkers with funeral pyres, those who survived celebrate at a feast at Winterfell. As Gendry leaves the feast to find Arya, Daenerys calls out to him, revealing she knows him as Robert Barartheon's son, and names him Lord of Storm's End in a move to secure his loyalty to her. Gendry finds Arya practising archery and asks for her hand in marriage, which she declines.

Jamie, Tyrion, Brienne and Podrick play Tyrion's drinking game, and afterwards Jamie follows Brienne to her quarters where the pair make love.

After the feast Daenerys finds Jon in his room and tries to reconcile their relationship after the revelation of their heritage by trying to convince Jon to never tell anyone. Always the honourable man though, Jon is insistent that he must tell Sansa and Arya.

The following day at the war council Daenerys is eager to move their armies to King's Landing, while Tyrion continues to caution against any irrational decisions, and Jon agrees that if they wait Cersei out the people of the city will rebel against her, while Sansa is adamant that their armies get rest after the battle of Winterfell. Jon and Ser Davos plan to take the King's Road with the Northern troops with the remaining bulk of the Dothraki and the Unsullied, while a smaller group return to Dragonstone with Daenerys and her dragons. Jamie decides to stay at Winterfell with Brienne.

Sansa, Arya and Bran take Jon to the Godswood to caution him against Daenerys, and tell him that they don't trust her. There he feels compelled to confess the truth about his true heritage.

That night Jamie and Tyrion are confronted by Bronn, who reveals Cersei has sent him to kill them, but admits he knows that Cersei is on the lovely side, so he has come to them to ensure he gets a better offer from those he thinks will win the war, and Tyrion offers him Highgarden.

Arya, on horseback, approaches The Hound as he rides out of Winterfell heading for King's Landing. They both have unfinished business and don't plan on coming back, and they leave together.

Tyrion tries to convince Sansa that she should trust Daenerys, as he needs them to be allies, and she reveals to Tyrion Jon secret.

Tormund farewells Jon, telling him he and the free folk are returning to the true North, and Jon offers him Ghost, who he thinks also belongs there. Sam and Gilly also say goodbye, revealing that they are pregnant.

As Daenerys returns to Dragonstone her ships are attacked by Euron's Greyjoy fleet. Rhaegal is killed, and her boats are destroyed - Tyrion, Varys, and Grey Worm wash ashore - but Missandei is captured and Euron takes her back to King's Landing.

Varys speaks candidly with Daenerys after the attack and tells her, like Tyrion earlier, that she risks becoming what she swore to defeat if she attacks the Red Keep and kills thousands of innocents to get to Cersei. Tyrion suggests that they wait for Jon and the armies to arrive at King's Landing and demand Cersei's surrender, offer her her life in exchange for the throne. Later, Varys reveals he no longer trusts Daenerys to be the best ruler of the realm.

Back at Winterfell under cover of night Jamie prepares his horse to leave and is confronted by Brienne. She tries to convince him that he's a good man and that he doesn't need to return to King's Landing to try and save and ultimately die with Cersei. He tells her that he is not a good man, and that he has Cersei are both hateful and rides away.

At the walls of King's Landing Tyrion, accompanied by Daernys, Varys, Grey Worm and a small group of Unsullied, tries to convince Cersei to surrender for her unborn child. She ignores him and has Missandei killed by The Mountain atop the walls of the city.

Game of Thrones S08E03 Review: The Long Night

As the armies fighting for Winterfell prepare for the arrival of the dead on the battlefield Melisandre arrives on horseback and uses magic to light the Dothraki's swords on fire. Jorah leads them to the dead, but their flames are quickly extinguished, before he and a few others retreat to the battle line. The dead attack and despite Jon and Daenerys using Rhaegal and Drogon to set them on fire, the Night King shrouds the battle in clouds of darkness, making it difficult for them to see. Edd is killed saving Sam. What remains of the armies retreat behind the trenches, and Melisandre again uses magic to set them alight, in the dragons' absence.

Due to their insurmountable numbers the dead eventually push through the barricade and start breaching the walls of Winterfell. Lyanna Mormont is killed by a giant, but not before she takes it down with her by stabbing it in the eye. See Beric pleads with a distraught Hound to join them in the fight, but he is reluctant to until he sees Arya fighting. Arya tries to hide from a hoard of white walkers in the library of Winterfell, and Beric and the Hound come to her aid - Beric sacrificing himself so she and the Hound survive, barricading themselves in the great hall where Melisandre is hiding. I was hoping for more of a significant death from Ser Beric considering how many times the Lord of Light resurrected him. Furthermore, these chase scenes seemed highly illogical considering the magnitude of battle going happening at Winterfell - as if there would be any places in the castle isolated from the fight.

During a dragon back fight between Jon, riding Rhaegal, and the Night King, riding Viserion, the Night King falls to the ground, but Rhaegal is badly injured and also falls with Jon. Daenerys uses Drogon to burn the Night King, but he is immune to its flames, and she flies away when the Night King throws a spear at them. Jon chases after the Night King trying to prevent him from reaching Winterfell. The Night King catches him doing so and raises those who have already died in the battle from the dead, including the tombs of those who lie in the crypt beneath Winterfell. Daenerys returns with Drogon to save Jon from the dead, and and he picks up the chase of the Night King, but Drogon is set upon by white walkers and Daenerys is thrown to the ground in the fray. Having heard Rhaegal's wails, Jorah arrives to protect her. As Jon makes his way through Winterfell he encounters several other characters fighting against the dead, in a supercut of scenes beautifully scored by Ramin Djawadi's 'The Night King' which rivals his excellent 'Light of The Seven' from the season six finale, 'The Winds of Winter'. It's a cool and dramatic sequence, and the stakes are raised exponentially with the Night King raising more dead, but it's also tarnished with some silly character decisions (Daenerys allowing Drogon to be swarmed by white walkers; Jon confronting Viserion), and lessened by the fact that there were no significant character losses despite the insurmountable amount of foes they face (no one on the ground at Winterfell, or in the crypts, perished).

The Night King arrives in the Godswood and Theon is the only man left standing between him and Bran. He charges at the Night King, who grabs his spear, snaps it, and stabs Theon with it. Theon's death was expected, with his redemption arc completed this season by saving Yara from Euron in the premiere and returning to fight and die for the Starks, but it was emotional nonetheless, with Bran's parting words to him, 'Theon, you're a good man', giving him a cathartic finale.

As the Night King approaches Bran, Arya jumps out of nowhere and attempts to stab him with the valyrian steel dagger (which she did not give to Sansa). He grabs her by the neck and she drops the dagger - before catching it with her other hand and stabbing him in the stomach, killing him and all of the other white walkers in the process. Arya's defeat of the Night King was a cool and surprising moment, but I didn't find it particularly fitting. Up until this very battle Arya hasn't even had any experience with the white walkers, so for her to save the day doesn't seem particularly earned, whereas for characters like Jon and Bran, or seven hells, even Sam, it would have been a well deserved character moment. It also puts to question her potential role in Cerise's defeat, will the writers be willing to give Arya that sought after honour as well?

Jorah falls with the white walkers, succumbing to his stab wounds sustained trying to protect Daenerys. Jorah was never going to die any other way, one of the few loyal and honest characters on Game of Thrones until his end. It's unfortunate that he wasn't given more to do since returning to Daenerys' side late in season seven, particularly since one of the series' other most loyal and honest characters, Brienne, received so much screen time and fulfilling character moments in the last episode.

The episode ends with Melisandre fulfilling her prophetic death by basically killing herself, she walks out of Winterfell, takes off her necklace, ages dramatically and falls into the snow and dies. Again, a rather disappointing end for such a contentious character. She was surprisingly instrumental in this episode despite being absent for more than a season, but her character motivation was always so strongly linked to the prophecy of the prince who was promised - a battle she will not be apart of or witness - so to have her act so selfless throughout The Long Night seemed out of character, as was her decision to die.

Game of Thrones S08E02 Review: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms

With Jamie arriving in Winterfell alone - without the Lannister army Cersei promised to help fight in the looming battle with the White Walkers - Daenerys holds a small council meeting to determine whether Jamie is trustworthy and if he should be aloud to stay and help with fight. Daenerys chastises Tyrion for believing his sister, just as Sansa did in last week's episode, and rightly so - it seems a like a very odd mistake for him to make, even with Cersei using her pregnancy as a way to convince him of her commitment to helping defeat the dead. Nevertheless, Jamie really dies want to fight for the living and there are some nice callbacks to the 'beyond loyalty' conversation he had with Brienne in the season six finale that helped convince him he needed to finally question Cersei, as well as Bran repeating 'the things we do for love' line from the series' first episode in which Jamie fatefully pushed him out of the Winterfell watchtower. It's fitting then that Brienne convinces Sansa of Jamie's honesty, although a just as convincing argument for Sansa would have been remembering what happened to her the last time she refused to trust her. An obviously distracted Jon, agrees with Sansa, and an also obviously perturbed Daenerys allowed it. She may be their Queen now, but the Starks still outnumber her. Of course, Jamie always has the option of telling the true story about his nickname as 'The Kingslayer', which Tormund amusingly gets wrong as 'The Kingkiller' later in the episode, but I've always loved that it's a little known fact in Game of Thrones (only Brienne, and perhaps Tyrion, know the truth), and Jamie earns that much more respect as a character that he has never tried to earn people's trust on his road to redemption by telling this story. Speaking of that road, later in the godswood of Winterfell Jamie apologises for pushing Bran out of the Winterfell watchtower all all those ago and asks him why he didn't reveal what Jamie had done. Bran replies that he can't help them if he let them murder him, but when Jamie asks about afterward he ominously replies, 'How do you know that there is an afterwards.' It could be foreshadowing Jamie's end, but I really hope he survives the Battle of Winterfell if only because I want him and Cersei to have one last scene together. His departure from King's Landing at the end of season seven felt very un-earnt and rushed.

Arya questions Gendry on whether or not he's made the weapon she asked him to make last week, to which he replies he's too busy melting down Dragonglass to make other weapons for the army, revealing his reluctance to let Arya fight. Typically, Arya goes into faceless man mode and shows him her throwing skills all while lamenting her eagerness to meet the White Walkers, which Gentry describes as death. Although Arya's story arc has stumbled at times, mostly due to slow pacing in seasons five and six, she's always been one of the most strongly driven characters of Game of Thrones with her list of names, but unfortunately confining her to Winterfell has stifled her and she now seems somewhat purposeless. She later shares a drink with the Hound atop on the walls of Winterfell where he complains that she's too quite and she responds by saying that she's changed. They are interrupted by Beric Dondarrion who apologises for kidnapping her many years ago. As with last week's episodes, having these long separated characters reunite are ripe to garner some interesting character moments - but they continue to feel underwhelming pointless. They happen, but nothing seems to happen within these moments, either. Later, Gendry gifts Arya with her weapon and she asks him what Melisandre wanted with him when he was sold to her by Beric and and the Brotherhood Without Banners. He reveals that he is Robert Baratheon's bastard and that she wanted him for his powerful blood. The talk of her using leeches on his naked body prompts Arya to ask him about how many women he's been with, and she reveals she would like to try sex before dying. Although it was easy to see coming from last week's heavy flirting, this pairing feels wrong on several levels to me. Their age difference, while not exponential, becomes a little creepy when you remember there initial character relationship within seasons two and three in which he was basically a substitute older brother to her. More importantly, it feels out of character for Arya. As mentioned she has always been a very focus-minded individual, particularly now as a man of faces,  and having her suddenly become interested in Gentry and sex just feels like a poor attempt at giving her something to do.

Jorah tries to convince Daenerys of Tyrion's continued value to her despite his mistake in underestimating Cersei, and one has to wonder just how much she will continue to need Tyrion with his knowledge of the Houses of Westeros and politics becoming less important in the grand scheme of events, particularly when she she has someone as loyal and wise as Jorah by her side. He also asks her to make peace with Sansa, which is a hopeful idea if for nothing more than the fact that some critics have noticed that the powerful female characters of Game of Thrones all hate one another. But having everyone be friends does not make for compelling viewing, and neither does it fit with Daenerys or Sansa's characters. It's a brave move for Daenerys to make, even if it was at Joran's behest, to ask Sansa why they are at odds with one another and open a dialogue about what Jon means to both of them, and how she is now temporally setting aside her sites of the Iron Throne to help Jon and the North. It's a compelling argument about what Daenerys is sacrificing for him, even if their chemistry stills rings untrue, but just as Jamie questioned Bran, Sansa questions Daenerys about what happens after, and of course, she still wants to sit on the Iron Throne and rule over Westeros, including the North. They are interrupted by Theon's arrival and he informs them of Yara's return to the Iron Islands to take them back in Daenerys' name, and he expresses his wish to fight for Winterfell if Sansa wants him.

At another council meeting in which battle strategy is being discussed, Bran reveals that they can lure the Knight King to Winterfell, specifically the godswood, by using him as bait. Theon offers himself and the Ironborn to defend Bran as reparation for taking Winterfell from him. Theo's redemption is something I've want to happen this season, and after recusing Yara from Euron last week this seems to be happening, but much like Bran's omnious statement to Jamie, you can't help but think that Theon will make the ultimate sacrifice to protect Bran. It would be a great sense of symmetry after every thought he had killed him for so long, I just hope the pair of them get to have a deeper conversation about it while they're waiting for the Knight King. Similarly, I hope there's an opportunity to delve into his and Sansa's relationship more. Although the age difference if similar to that of Arya and Gendry, there were minimal scenes of the pair of them together in the first season and what they've both been through, particular at the hands of Ramsey, gives them a strong bond - not necessarily a romantic one, just one that could provide more worthy character moments as the series draws to a close.

Those as Winterfell unsuccessfully try to get some rest before the battle, Tyrion and Jamie sit drinking in front of a fire in the great hall and Tyrion laments, in another callback, that he always wanted to die in his bed with a belly full of wine and a women's mouth around his cock. The statement feels odd coming from him now, in a surprising revelation of character growth. Jamie tells him that whoremongering is still an option for him to which he replies its not - at least he still has his drinking habit. They are joined by Brienne and Podrick, and then by Sir Davos and Torment, as they all try to keep warm while contemplating their imminent deaths. When Tyrion tries to comfort them by reciting how many battles they've all been in and won, Torment asks why Brienne is not a knight. Jamie tells the group that any knight can make another knight and offers to knight Brienne. She
graciously accepts. It's a well-earned moment for the character, but in a series in which knights are mostly known for being rapers and pillagers, and are nicknamed 'Kingslayer', and not necessarily honourable and just, it seems like an odd moment to be emotionally invested in.

In the crypt Jon is brooding in front of Lyanna Stark's grave and he reveals to Daenerys that he is Lynna's and Rhaegor's Targaryen son, Aegon Targaryen, making him Danery's nephew. She is understandably bewildered and is suspicious that Bran and Sam are the only ones that knew this secret. If it's true, she tells him, he'd be the last male heir to House Targaryen, and he'd have a claim to the Iron Throne. Although he obviously loves her and would renounce his title for her (he pretty much did as much when he agreed to be the Warden of the North), it will be very interesting to see what action Daenerys will take with this new information. Would she be willing to kill Jon to ensure her legacy and seat on the Iron Throne?

True Detective 3.3 Review: The Big Never

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After being informed that the Purcell's have received a note stating that Julie is still alive Hays and West re-examine their investigation to see if they can uncover something they have missed. Mainly, why did Will and Jamie tell their father that they were going to meet the Frankie Boyle when, after interviewing him, he informs them that he had never made concrete plans or met up with the Purcell's outside of school. What were the Purcell children doing and who were they meeting? They return to the Purcell's to look through the children's possessions again they find a map, along with some handwritten notes with messages: 'It's alright', 'I'm always here', 'Don't listen', 'I'll always keep you safe'. The messages were in a sketchbook found in a Hoyt Foods bag, where Lucy Purcell previously worked two years ago on the chicken line. Coincidentally, Hoyt Foods also runs the Ozark Children's Outreach Centre, which has put a reward out for Julie's safe return to her family, causing a lot of false tips for the case (although, it turns out, the companies board cleared it with the count prosecutors office).

Later during another search party West finds dice to a game they believe Will was playing, and a bag of toys, as well as the site of Will's murder before his body was moved. The site is near a farmhouse the original search missed as the farm road wasn't on any maps. The owner tells them that he already spoke with the police, and that in addition to seeing Will and Julie multiple times, he also mentions a black man and a female driving around in a brown sedan. Be refuses to let them search the property without a warrant. West and Hays take the toys back to the Purcell's to identify, but neither recognise them despite having their children's prints on them, in addition to a set which they couldn't get a match for. West spots a family photo album that he hadn't seen before, as Tom had only taken it out since the children had been missing. Inside is a photo of Will's first communion, him posed with his hands in prayer the exact same way his deceased body was posed.

In 1990 the deposition continues, but now it is West recounting the events above in 1980. Hays and Amelia visit the Walgreen in which Julie's fingerprints were found. Hays expresses how tired he is with the case being in their lives, but Amelia suggests that she uses her book as an excuse to find out more information about Julie from the police. Hays goes to Walmart to shop with the kids while she does this, and Rebecca goes missing, causing him to panic. Amelia returns home giddy with success but Hays is angry as he doesn't want it in their lives any longer.

West visits Tom Purcell to ask how him how he feels about the case being re-opended and the discovery of Julie's prints, and we learn that Lucy has passed, perhaps a suicide, and that Tom is five years sober. Tom then asks West to pray with him. He alter leaves a message with Hays and work, whom he hasn't seen in nine years, telling him he wants to meet. They meet at a bar and he asks Hays to become a detective again under him, as he is in charge of re-opning the Purcell case.

In 2015 Hays and his son Henry visit the Doctor about his memory loss and it is all but confirmed that he has Alzheimer's, but he tells Henry he will kill himself if he is put into a home. He continues his interviews with Elisa and she throws him off guard with testimonies of witnesses who claim they were never questioned by police during the initial investigation. Some of these witnesses also claim to have seen the brown sedan the farmer mentioned driving around Devil's Den they day the Purcell's went missing, as well as the black man. Later in his study as he is trying to record things to remember Hays has visions of Amelia who implies he is worried about them finding something he left in the woods, and she tells him to finish it.

Rating: 3.3/5

True Detective Season 3.2 Review: Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye

Having found Will's body and fearing the worst about Julie, Hayes and West start following every lead possible. They talk to everyone who works with Tom Purcell at Wilson's Bodyworks where they make parts for schoolhouses, they talk with the Purcell's extended family, where they find out that Tom's mother thinks Julie might not be his child. Most notably they talk to Dan O'Brien, Lucy's brother who presumably drilled that peep hole in Will's closet. But all of these leads turn up nothing.

It's only when Hayes invests the help of his future-wife Amelia after an emergency town meeting that they get a lead. Armed with a picture of the mademade dolls that were left near the site of Will's body, a young friend of Julie's reveals to Amelia and later Hayes and West that he believes Julie was given one of the dolls on Halloween.

After a convincing Star Wars lightsaber impersonation from Hayes, he and West take it to their superiors, specifically Greg Larson, who Hayes believes foolishly squanders their only lead by reporting it on the news, which interrupts his unofficial date with Amelia.

Following a lead from a Vice Cop, Hayes and West track down a man with a prior conviction in regards to who is going by an alias, but while he's violating his parole, he has a credible alibi.\

The pair get called back to the Purcell home where a note has been delivered:

Much like the detectives throughout its second episode, True Detective leaves its audience frustrated and almost bored as Hayes and West trudge through a series of unfulfilling leads in Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye.

Rating: 2.5/5

True Detective 3.1 Review: The Great War And Modern Memory

True Detective's third season premiere sees Vietnam war veterans-turned detectives Wayne Hayes (Ali Mahershala) and Roland West (Stephen Dorff) investigating the disappearance of two children, Will and Julie Purcell, in West Finger, Arkansas, 1980.

Ten years later, in 1990, Hayes is being interviewed during a deposition by his superiors about the case - but he is unaware why, then in 2015 he is being interviewed in his own home by a reporter, with his son Henry (Ray Fisher) by his side, again in relation to the Purcell case.

It's a lot to take in in the first couple of minutes of the premiere and it's obvious True Detective once again isn't too concerned about unneccassrially confusing audiences by jumping back and forth through this timelines. Mahershala, however, navigates Hayes through his years skilfully.

Thankfully, this episode spends most of it's time at the very beginning of the Purcell case with Hayes and West (and the audience my extension) methodically trying to figure out what could have happened to the Purcell children and who the suspects are. Naturally, their almost-separetd parents Tom (Scoot McNairy) and Lucy (Mamie Gummer) come under suspicion, and their bereavement and blaming of one another almost comes under risk of being cliche (plus the unfortunate Hayes re-telling of the situation in future timelines confirms that Tom is not involved). Lucy's brother Dan, however, is revealed as having stayed with them recently, and also seems the likely culprit of owning the Playgirl magazines hidden under Will's bed and having drilled a peep hole in his closest into Julie's room.

Other suspects include a group of older students from West Finger High School, Freddy Burns (Rhys Wakefield, who will always have a great appearance for a villainous character), Brett Woodard (Michael Greyeyes), and Alan Jones (Jon Tenney) who are seen menacingly staring down Tom and Julie as they ride their bikes past Freddy's purple Volkswagen beetle, and again later riding their bikes at the town's local hangout, Devil's Den (and once again Hayes' retelling narrative makes the scenes without him being featured very annoying, as he could not have possibly know what was happening making him an unreliable narrator).

Hayes and West visit the school to ask about Will and Julie and question the boys, and meet Amelia Reardon (Carmen Ejogo) a schoolteacher who we learn is married to Hayes and writing a non-fiction book, Life and Death and The Harvest Moon, about the case by 1990, and who has passed by 2015.

As the first day of the investigation comes to a close in 1980 Hayes discovers one of the children's bikes near Devil's Den and follows a trial that leads him to a handmade bride doll of straw and hay on a tree stump, he finds another on higher rockier ground and there in a crevice he finds Will's deceased body, hands posed in prayer, presumably killed by head trauma.

Hayes is shook and is desperate to continue looking for Julie, but in 1990 he learns that the reason he is being questioned by his superiors is that Julie's fingerprints have been linked to a robbery meaning that she is alive.

Despite a disorientating first couple of minutes, and the continuing difficulty the multiple timelines often forces True Detective to have, The Great War And Modern Memory was an entertaining start to the season.

Solo: A Star Wars Story Film Review

Based approximately ten years before the events of Star Wars: A New Hope (1977) a young Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich) and his girlfriend, Qi'ra (Emilia Clarke) attempt to escape the shipbuilding planet of Corellia where they live as orphans and are forced too steal for criminals in exchange for protection. Qi'ra is caught as they're fleeing planet, and in order to prevent his own capture Han enlists in the Impeiral Navy as a flight cadet, vowing to return to Corellia to rescue Qi'ra. Three years later while fighting for the Empire on the planet Mimban, Han meets a group of criminals who are undercover as Imperial soldiers and planning to steal an Imperial ship to use for their next job - stealing a shipment of coaxium (hyper fuel) on the planet Vandor. He convinces them to take him and his newfound friend, Chewbacca, as an extra pair of hands on the mission in an attempt to get enough credits to return home to Corellia to rescue Qi'ra.

From there the film is a fast-paced, action-adventure full of fan service moments chase sequences and moments long-time Star Wars fans will enjoy like Han first meeting Chewbecca and Lando Calrrissian.

Solo boasts an impressive cast, playing a variety of entertaining characters. Emilia Clarke is a capable as ever as Qi'ra, despite some questionable characters motivations, as is Woody Harrelson as Tobias Beckett, the leader of group of criminals Han encounters. He is joined by Val (Thandie Newton) and alien Rio Durant (voiced by Jon Favreau), who both end up being underused. Donald Glover is perfect as Lando Calrissian, but his co-pilot L3-37 (voiced by Phoebe Waller-Bridge) steals the spotlight as an outspoken female droid. Paul Bettany plays the most lively and charismatic villain the Star Wars franchise has seen in crime lord Dryden Vos. And for all the concern about Alden Ehrenreich's portrayal of Han Solo, he does well, adding a nice touch of naivety to the young, wise-cracking smuggler.

The film looks spectacular, with a number of new planets and ships for Star Wars fans to admire, particularly in the action sequences. Dryden Vos' yacht floating through the clouds is one such example. And the score is as good as always, with composer John Powell incorporating a lot of John Williams' pieces from previous Star Wars films.

The film only starts to falter when, as hardcore Star Wars fans will do, you begin to think about it too much. It's odd that ultimately a film marketed as the origin story of Han Solo isn't really that at all. Had the entire film revolved around his time and escape from Corellia it would have been, but as it is Han is still very much an enigma. He is a character clearly desperate for an outlaw image, but none of his actions in the film will generate questions of his morality from the audience - he is the hero no matter what he, or the film, wants us to think. This is in spite on him joining the Empire as an Imperial trooper (something I personally find very uncharacteristic), and his actions towards Beckett at the end of the film.

Similarly, a masked gang of pirates called the Cloud Riders skirt around the edge of the film as obvious foes to the protagonists, yet a third act twist sees their previous actions forgotten as they reveal themselves as trying to spark the rebellion against the Empire. The most painful of these character motivation problems lies with Qi'ra, easily the films worst female character. By the end of the film you still have no idea where her allegiances lie, with her childhood sweetheart Han or the criminal syndicate in which she works - Crimson Dawn. It's easy to say her allegiance is to herself, but then give her a reason to act this way. Unfortunately her time between attempting to escape with Han and coming to work for Vos is left unexplored, leaving audiences unenlightened.

Rating: 3.5/5