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Twitter Users Celebrate Best Part of ‘The Rise of Skywalker’ With the Ben Solo Challenge

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Adam Driver is Kylo Ren (via Disney)

For most of the Star Wars sequel trilogy’s runtime, Adam Driver’s Ben Solo is a dour, moody villain, swinging drastically between cool rage and hotheaded tantrums. It’s a convincing performance, though its over-the-top nature seems to dare the audience to laugh at Ben and his immaturity rather than with him. However, for the last 10 to 15 minutes of The Rise of Skywalker’s runtime, Ben has a change of heart, and here the audience gets to see Adam Driver’s range as he impressively morphs Ben’s character into a compelling hero. The comedic relief is still there- “ow!”- but so is a real sense of heart and charm, with Driver even taking one key moment to play homage to his character’s father, Han Solo.

This comes as Ben faces down the Knights of Ren, seriously outgunned with just a blaster at his side, kid. However, just as he’s surrounded, Rey senses Ben’s danger though the force and somehow hands him a lightsaber to fight back. Revealing the saber as if drawing it from a sheath slung over his back, Ben arms himself and does a little “it’s on” shrug, acknowledging his previous embarrassment while seeming to chuckle at turning it back on his opponent.

It’s a great moment on its own, but what really makes it work is its clear homage to Han Solo’s signature shrug in Return of the Jedi, which he similarly gives right after Ewok reinforcements help him turn the tables on the Imperial army that previously had him outgunned. If anyone doubted Ben’s commitment to his father’s memory before this, seeing the edgelord embrace a moment of levity helps seal his turn to the light side for good.

via GIPHY

It’s no surprise, then, that Twitter’s taken this moment and run with it, partially because of it being one of the film’s most memorable bits, and partially because of the ease of recreating the special effect at home. All that’s really needed is some dramatic swagger, and a good reveal waiting behind your back. Hence, the Ben Solo challenge.

The Challenge first kicked off when Twitter user Mike loves the shrug (@testtube27) posted a video of himself recreating the scene with a toy lightsaber and his best Adam Driver impression, starting a hashtag asking others to join in. Since then, the trend has gone viral, with some users posting more straightforward imitations…

While others of course bring the platform’s typical snark to the already funny bit:

Mike, of course, approves of these comedic takes, tweeting out a response telling others to go wild and make it their own:

Meaning that he definitely got his baguette wish, along with a few other standout comedic takes:

Including a special crossover with Disney’s other nerd culture empire:

All in all, the past few days have been a fun and surprisingly positive time for Star Wars fans on Twitter, which comes as somewhat of a surprise after the tepid reaction to Rise of Skywalker. But according to an interview with Time Magazine, this was apparently Mike’s goal all along.

“It’s not a secret that a lot of the fan response to the new Star Wars has been really negative,” he told the outlet. “So I wanted to take a moment that seems to be universally loved, that everyone seems to really enjoy, take that moment and just let everyone have a go.”

Mike also followed up his tweet by sending his praise to The Last Jedi, calling it the “Best Since the Original Trilogy.” And with children being one of the most popular audiences for the Ben Solo Challenge, that seems more than fitting.

It seems that, regardless of where people are landing on the latest entry in the Star Wars universe, there’s still something inspiring for us to find in the Galaxy far, far away.



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