Morgan DeAtley’s review published on Letterboxd:
I remember the day I saw this movie like it was yesterday. I’d never been more excited for anything in my life, and I’m not sure I can say I’ve ever been that excited for anything since, except maybe the Last Jedi. I went with all of my friends for on the Thursday night it opened. It seemed impossible that we were even there, in line to see Star Wars: Episode 7. But we were, and we saw it. And it felt like we had all witnessed a miracle. It felt like watching the original trilogy for the first time, but better, because it was that feeling combined with the fact that it was all new.
The next two weeks were Christmas break, which meant that I was going to spend those weeks in absolute ecstasy. I didn’t spend one moment not thinking about Star Wars. Rewatching the original trilogy, playing the old games, reading comics, theorizing, all of it because something I loved had been so lovingly resurrected and recreated. It was one of the greatest times of my life, being able to live in that space and share it with my friends. I was in a really, really bad spot in my life before, and it was exactly the shot in the arm I needed to keep going. To just escape for a while into something that existed purely to give me joy.
It’s honestly kind of bittersweet watching this again. So much has changed in the four years between that Christmas and now. And now we get to see it all come together this Christmas, which, again, is going to be extraordinarily bittersweet. I’m not sure I’m ready. I don’t want to say goodbye to these characters, this story again.
Anyway. Good movie.