Star Wars Episode VIII - The Last Jedi thread

[The Avenger]

I guess i'm in the minority - I really liked it.

 

When I was a kid I was never into the original series - of course I saw all of them in the theater when they came out, but I never really was a big Star Wars fan. Fast forward to having my own kids who are big fans of the originals and I've been sucked back into the franchise.

 

Overall the movie was very entertaining and I like the mix of old and new characters. There were definitely parts I thought could have been cut - some of the minor story lines were really unnecessary and didn't add anything. On the other hand, a few scenes will no doubt become iconic to the franchise - there were a number of times where the audience cheered as I thought, man - that was awesome!

 

As a graybeard I loved Mark Hamill - I was never a Luke Skywalker fan, but boy did I love his character in this film - possibly one of my all-time favorite movie characters - absolutely loved it. 

[shrader]

Just got back and I thought it sucked. They could have salvaged it if they completely cut out the whole casino planet subplot. It would have been passable if it was shorter.  The ending really didn’t make much sense either. 

 

They setup Finn for a very big moment late but then threw it away for no good reason. I guess they figured they had killed too many people already. 

 

And damnit, Ackbar deserved better. He should have at least died in a trap. 

Edited December 18, 2017 by shrader

[Jerry Christ]

I detest Skywalkers........so this movie was great!

 

Poor people who get stuck in a box with their lil fairytales. New Age, got to change with the times.....

11 hours ago, shrader said:

Just got back and I thought it sucked. They could have salvaged it if they completely cut out the whole casino planet subplot. It would have been passable if it was shorter.  The ending really didn’t make much sense either. 

 

They setup Finn for a very big moment late but then threw it away for no good reason. I guess they figured they had killed too many people already. 

 

And damnit, Ackbar deserved better. He should have at least died in a trap. 

My wife who was a bigger star wars fan than me said it was one of the best parts showing where the girl lived and the animals.......which was part of where the casino was....I like how it showed how government ruled everywhere and then the simpletons who carry the weight still go strong.

 

Being open to perception of what the story or director is trying to do can be hard sometimes for some people.

 

 

[shrader]

24 minutes ago, Jerry Christ said:

I detest Skywalkers........so this movie was great!

 

Poor people who get stuck in a box with their lil fairytales. New Age, got to change with the times.....

My wife who was a bigger star wars fan than me said it was one of the best parts showing where the girl lived and the animals.......which was part of where the casino was....I like how it showed how government ruled everywhere and then the simpletons who carry the weight still go strong.

 

Being open to perception of what the story or director is trying to do can be hard sometimes for some people.

 

 

 

Condescending much?

 

Different people are going to view movies differently.  This one didn't work for me, but the two of you liked it.  That's fine by me.  Personally, that whole subplot didn't add enough to the movie in exchange for the amount of time it took.

 

One other thing that I didn't really like was giving the heroic sacrifice to a character no one really cared about.  With the amount of death's they included, they could have given that role to someone far more meaningful than Laura Dern's character.  It should have been either Ackbar or Leia.  Then again, I will readily admit that I say Leia there in hindsight knowing that Carrie Fisher is no longer with us.

[LeGOATski]

51 minutes ago, shrader said:

 

Condescending much?

 

Different people are going to view movies differently.  This one didn't work for me, but the two of you liked it.  That's fine by me.  Personally, that whole subplot didn't add enough to the movie in exchange for the amount of time it took.

 

One other thing that I didn't really like was giving the heroic sacrifice to a character no one really cared about.  With the amount of death's they included, they could have given that role to someone far more meaningful than Laura Dern's character.  It should have been either Ackbar or Leia.  Then again, I will readily admit that I say Leia there in hindsight knowing that Carrie Fisher is no longer with us.

I wonder what Abrams does with Leia. That's a huge issue.

 

Kylo's struggle with his parents was heavy in the last movie, but held very little weight in this one.

[LeGOATski]

1 hour ago, Jerry Christ said:

I detest Skywalkers........so this movie was great!

 

Poor people who get stuck in a box with their lil fairytales. New Age, got to change with the times.....

My wife who was a bigger star wars fan than me said it was one of the best parts showing where the girl lived and the animals.......which was part of where the casino was....I like how it showed how government ruled everywhere and then the simpletons who carry the weight still go strong.

 

Being open to perception of what the story or director is trying to do can be hard sometimes for some people.

 

 

The problem is that the film lost focus because of that. That aspect of the universe could have been portrayed in a better way. It was also an aspect we were already made aware of through, well, every other Star Wars movie. (A lot is being made of the fact that anyone can use the force....ummm...no ****, Sherlock.)

 

None of the characters progressed significantly except for Luke. In that regard, the "New Age" took a back seat. Rey went through a lot...and ended up in the same spot: not sure of her place -- not sure of how to realize her potential -- not taking the next step towards leadership (she's still just "that girl with awesome Jedi potential who's done some things" -- this was already established in the previous film). All other Stars Wars films actually advanced all of it's character's stories consistently. It's main protagonist significantly. This movie did not. It failed badly in that regard and left everything up to the third movie.

 

The Force Awakens and Rogue One stories were told well. They were focused. The Last Jedi was scatter-brained. It's surprising, really.

[shrader]

12 minutes ago, LeGOATski said:

The problem is that the film lost focus because of that. That aspect of the universe could have been portrayed in a better way. It was also an aspect we were already made aware of through, well, every other Star Wars movie. (A lot is being made of the fact that anyone can use the force....ummm...no ****, Sherlock.)

 

None of the characters progressed significantly except for Luke. In that regard, the "New Age" took a back seat. Rey went through a lot...and ended up in the same spot: not sure of her place -- not sure of how to realize her potential -- not taking the next step towards leadership (she's still just "that girl with awesome Jedi potential who's done some things" -- this was already established in the previous film). All other Stars Wars films actually advanced all of it's character's stories consistently. It's main protagonist significantly. This movie did not. It failed badly in that regard and left everything up to the third movie.

 

The Force Awakens and Rogue One stories were told well. They were focused. The Last Jedi was scatter-brained. It's surprising, really.

 

I will say that they advanced Ben significantly.  He's still just a whiny kid though who falls victim to fits of rage.  I completely agree with your other comment about his struggle with his parents.  He hesitated to pull the trigger on mom, but then there was no follow-up on that.  Everything bit of doubt about him switching sides after that was solely about his connection to Rey.  Maybe he assumed she died when the other ships fired and moved on.  He would have felt that in the force though.

 

Now that I'm a few more hours removed from seeing it, I was probably a bit harsh.  I did enjoy the second half, but it took way too long to get there.  I really wish they had found a way to tighten things up significantly.

[LeGOATski]

2 minutes ago, shrader said:

 

I will say that they advanced Ben significantly.  He's still just a whiny kid though who falls victim to fits of rage.  I completely agree with your other comment about his struggle with his parents.  He hesitated to pull the trigger on mom, but then there was no follow-up on that.  Everything bit of doubt about him switching sides after that was solely about his connection to Rey.  Maybe he assumed she died when the other ships fired and moved on.  He would have felt that in the force though.

 

Now that I'm a few more hours removed from seeing it, I was probably a bit harsh.  I did enjoy the second half, but it took way too long to get there.  I really wish they had found a way to tighten things up significantly.

I think that's the problem I had with that significant twist involving Kylo. It didn't carry any weight. There was no significant change in him, good or bad. When Vader did the same, it was a huge moment. Everything in this movie just fell flat, besides Luke's stuff, and that's a result of poor story-telling. That lack of focus.

[apuszczalowski]

1 hour ago, LeGOATski said:

I wonder what Abrams does with Leia. That's a huge issue.

 

Kylo's struggle with his parents was heavy in the last movie, but held very little weight in this one.

I would say he continued to struggle since he had the chance but could not shoot down his mother's ship. 

[unbillievable]

2 hours ago, Jerry Christ said:

I detest Skywalkers........so this movie was great!

 

Poor people who get stuck in a box with their lil fairytales. New Age, got to change with the times.....

My wife who was a bigger star wars fan than me said it was one of the best parts showing where the girl lived and the animals.......which was part of where the casino was....I like how it showed how government ruled everywhere and then the simpletons who carry the weight still go strong.

 

Being open to perception of what the story or director is trying to do can be hard sometimes for some people.

 

 

 

So how many people could they have saved by jamming them into the 2 person shuttle that was able to go to the casino and back? 20? 30? 50? All of them?

This movie felt like it was written during filming.

 

Anyone trying to inject some political, philosophical, or even logical sense into this movie is fooling themselves. There is a laundry list of idiotic plot holes and that's just from first impressions on premiere weekend. Wait until the fanboys analyze it.

 

Maybe the director (Rian Johnson) should have focused on making a better movie.

[Jerry Christ]

From my understanding he was giving the go to write out all the past. That itself was the companies statement "Let's the past die".........that was for all of the viewers to know that star wars past is gone. Anyone can be a jedi  with the force........all the historical facts of jedi aren't important.

 

Let the past die......just that.....was simply told to us.

 

I think just like the past 2 triologies they fail to develop characters besides the main one or two. But there is only so much you can do with a casting like GoT. Somethings will fall by the wayside.

15 minutes ago, unbillievable said:

 

So how many people could they have saved by jamming them into the 2 person shuttle that was able to go to the casino and back? 20? 30? 50? All of them?

This movie felt like it was written during filming.

 

Anyone trying to inject some political, philosophical, or even logical sense into this movie is fooling themselves. There is a laundry list of idiotic plot holes and that's just from first impressions on premiere weekend. Wait until the fanboys analyze it.

 

Maybe the director (Rian Johnson) should have focused on making a better movie.

again, I can tell you and others hated it....blame yourself for having high expectations of what you wanted to see. They never promised us anything. You and others have came up with theories or questions. Don't blame a movie for not making you happy. It's not a fairytale........you are not always going to know where they are going with it.

 

I'm happy with it but again, I'm a darkside fan.

[Wayne Cubed]

I saw the movie opening night and it took me a while to gather my thoughts about it. Much like Anakins lightsaber, I'm really torn. Loved and disliked it at the same time. Want to see it again to confirm my thoughts. Having said that, here's my review:

 

I've seen all of of Rian Johnsons films, so I kind of knew what to expect from him. RJ likes to take a story, strip it back and completely focus in on the central characters/story and for me, in this 2.5 hour movie, there is a very good 1 hour 45 min movie.  Disney gave RJ license to write the movie as he saw fit and he did just that. You could tell which characters and which story he really wanted to focus in on but it's almost like Disney said or Johnson  thought you can't forget about these other characters so you need to find something for them to do. Which is the biggest problem with the film, for me. You can tell he doesn't care about these other 2 stories that are going on at the same time. The Luke/Kylo/Rey is the story RJ wants to tell.

 

My other problems with this film is that RJ has basically undone everything that was established in The Force Awakens. Everything that was said to be important in TFA is now not important. Rey's lineage, not important. Snokes mysterious back story, not important. I feel like this movie is the first chapter.  RJ should have just written/directed TFA because none of the characters have been advanced . Which is another part that bothered me. The Rey/Kylo fight scene was epic but I can't stand when people are telling a story and they have 2 opposites team up and fight only to end up right back where they started. I'm also not sure Kylo is a strong enough "baddie" to carry this the rest of the way. Also Superman Leia, just no. 

 

Things RJ did well include how he reconciles Han Solos death. I thought TFA did a horrible job with his death and the characters involved. Solo, a massive character in this films history got a terrible send off. He dies and it was like no one gave a crap. Welp, lets just carry on and go. RJ does a good job with bringing that back in. Although he's now guilty of doing the same thing with Luke. I do like that RJ killed off this whole midichlorians crap. How he explains the force, I thought was brilliant.  He also has a lot of good little touches throughout the film. The scene with Luke and Yoda, is one of my favorites. It's like they picked up where they left off and that felt like the scenes from Empire and Jedi with Yoda. Love that RJ used puppet Yoda too.

 

I'm still looking forward to Episode IX, it'll be interesting how this story is wrapped up.

[teef]

i saw it saturday morning.  lump me in with the meh crowd.  it's a solid movie, it's just my least favorite of the "new" three that have come out.

[T-Bomb]

Man, I have not even seen Thor Ragnarok yet, really have to see Star Wars in the theater...

 

Is the last Jedi better than Rouge One? 

On ‎12‎/‎14‎/‎2017 at 9:34 PM, BigDingus said:

 

Force Awakens was officially Episode 7, this is 8, and episode 9 will be in 2019. It's part of a new Trilogy but still directly following the original movies.

 

But like BillsEnthusiast said, they are doing stand alone stories like Rogue One for the years in between. Next year will be the Han Solo stand alone film, and 2020 will have another one (speculated to be an Obi-Wan film with Ewan McGregor reprising his role).

One more "but," Disney apparently LOVED Rian Johnson's job with The Last Jedi (this movie) so much, they just announced they're handing him the reigns to make a 100% completely new trilogy set in an entirely different part of the galaxy and unrelated to any of the previous movies. From the Original Trilogy to the prequels and now to this new trilogy, they've all been connected to the Skywalkers and the battle between Jedi & Sith. What Rian Johnson was given was complete freedom to go his own route, completely unrelated to any of those aspects, and offer us a completely different story from another corner of the galaxy.

But there's no announcement on when writing or casting will begin on those, and it may not be for several years down the line.

 

In the same galaxy?

[Mark Vader]

3 hours ago, Wayne Cubed said:

I saw the movie opening night and it took me a while to gather my thoughts about it. Much like Anakins lightsaber, I'm really torn. Loved and disliked it at the same time. Want to see it again to confirm my thoughts. Having said that, here's my review:

 

I've seen all of of Rian Johnsons films, so I kind of knew what to expect from him. RJ likes to take a story, strip it back and completely focus in on the central characters/story and for me, in this 2.5 hour movie, there is a very good 1 hour 45 min movie.  Disney gave RJ license to write the movie as he saw fit and he did just that. You could tell which characters and which story he really wanted to focus in on but it's almost like Disney said or Johnson  thought you can't forget about these other characters so you need to find something for them to do. Which is the biggest problem with the film, for me. You can tell he doesn't care about these other 2 stories that are going on at the same time. The Luke/Kylo/Rey is the story RJ wants to tell.

 

My other problems with this film is that RJ has basically undone everything that was established in The Force Awakens. Everything that was said to be important in TFA is now not important. Rey's lineage, not important. Snokes mysterious back story, not important. I feel like this movie is the first chapter.  RJ should have just written/directed TFA because none of the characters have been advanced . Which is another part that bothered me. The Rey/Kylo fight scene was epic but I can't stand when people are telling a story and they have 2 opposites team up and fight only to end up right back where they started. I'm also not sure Kylo is a strong enough "baddie" to carry this the rest of the way. Also Superman Leia, just no. 

 

Things RJ did well include how he reconciles Han Solos death. I thought TFA did a horrible job with his death and the characters involved. Solo, a massive character in this films history got a terrible send off. He dies and it was like no one gave a crap. Welp, lets just carry on and go. RJ does a good job with bringing that back in. Although he's now guilty of doing the same thing with Luke. I do like that RJ killed off this whole midichlorians crap. How he explains the force, I thought was brilliant.  He also has a lot of good little touches throughout the film. The scene with Luke and Yoda, is one of my favorites. It's like they picked up where they left off and that felt like the scenes from Empire and Jedi with Yoda. Love that RJ used puppet Yoda too.

 

I'm still looking forward to Episode IX, it'll be interesting how this story is wrapped up.

Good review.

 

As I stated before, I really enjoyed this movie. I love what Rian Johnson brought to this story. Yes there were things that I didn't care for. The casino planet was not that interesting, and Finn's new friend was boring. Having said that, without that whole sequence we would not have gotten to Benicio del Toro's character, who I thought was a great addition.

 

I'm a bit surprised at how much dislike this movie is getting from some people here, but you can't please everyone. I don't have any preconceived notions with this saga, and I will just take it for what it is.

 

I agree with Jerry Christ, don't set yourself up for something you are not going to get.

[BuffaloHokie13]

21 hours ago, shrader said:

Just got back and I thought it sucked. They could have salvaged it if they completely cut out the whole casino planet subplot. It would have been passable if it was shorter.  The ending really didn’t make much sense either. 

 

They setup Finn for a very big moment late but then threw it away for no good reason. I guess they figured they had killed too many people already. 

 

And damnit, Ackbar deserved better. He should have at least died in a trap. 

I found myself wishing that arc was replaced with a couple flashbacks to flesh out Kylo turning. One with him training at Luke's academy, and one to add some depth to his relationship with Snoke.

[LeGOATski]

3 hours ago, Mark Vader said:

Good review.

 

As I stated before, I really enjoyed this movie. I love what Rian Johnson brought to this story. Yes there were things that I didn't care for. The casino planet was not that interesting, and Finn's new friend was boring. Having said that, without that whole sequence we would not have gotten to Benicio del Toro's character, who I thought was a great addition.

 

I'm a bit surprised at how much dislike this movie is getting from some people here, but you can't please everyone. I don't have any preconceived notions with this saga, and I will just take it for what it is.

 

I agree with Jerry Christ, don't set yourself up for something you are not going to get.

We shouldn't expect character advancement and story lines that make sense? A movie that flows well with the rest of the series?

 

They gave Johnson the responsibility of making a trilogy that has nothing to do with this Star Wars story. I can tell he'll be really good at it. 

Edited December 19, 2017 by LeGOATski

[meazza]

3 minutes ago, LeGOATski said:

We shouldn't expect character advancement and story lines that make sense? A movie that flows well with the rest of the series?

 

They gave Johnson the responsibility of making a trilogy that has nothing to do with this Star Wars story. I can tell he'll be really good at it. XD

 

What exactly do you mean by nothing to do with this Star Wars story? It feels like everyone who didn’t like the force awakens found it too similar to a new hope and yet everyone seems to be disappointed that this wasn’t an empire copy paste.

[LeGOATski]

6 hours ago, Wayne Cubed said:

I saw the movie opening night and it took me a while to gather my thoughts about it. Much like Anakins lightsaber, I'm really torn. Loved and disliked it at the same time. Want to see it again to confirm my thoughts. Having said that, here's my review:

 

I've seen all of of Rian Johnsons films, so I kind of knew what to expect from him. RJ likes to take a story, strip it back and completely focus in on the central characters/story and for me, in this 2.5 hour movie, there is a very good 1 hour 45 min movie.  Disney gave RJ license to write the movie as he saw fit and he did just that. You could tell which characters and which story he really wanted to focus in on but it's almost like Disney said or Johnson  thought you can't forget about these other characters so you need to find something for them to do. Which is the biggest problem with the film, for me. You can tell he doesn't care about these other 2 stories that are going on at the same time. The Luke/Kylo/Rey is the story RJ wants to tell.

 

My other problems with this film is that RJ has basically undone everything that was established in The Force Awakens. Everything that was said to be important in TFA is now not important. Rey's lineage, not important. Snokes mysterious back story, not important. I feel like this movie is the first chapter.  RJ should have just written/directed TFA because none of the characters have been advanced . Which is another part that bothered me. The Rey/Kylo fight scene was epic but I can't stand when people are telling a story and they have 2 opposites team up and fight only to end up right back where they started. I'm also not sure Kylo is a strong enough "baddie" to carry this the rest of the way. Also Superman Leia, just no. 

 

Things RJ did well include how he reconciles Han Solos death. I thought TFA did a horrible job with his death and the characters involved. Solo, a massive character in this films history got a terrible send off. He dies and it was like no one gave a crap. Welp, lets just carry on and go. RJ does a good job with bringing that back in. Although he's now guilty of doing the same thing with Luke. I do like that RJ killed off this whole midichlorians crap. How he explains the force, I thought was brilliant.  He also has a lot of good little touches throughout the film. The scene with Luke and Yoda, is one of my favorites. It's like they picked up where they left off and that felt like the scenes from Empire and Jedi with Yoda. Love that RJ used puppet Yoda too.

 

I'm still looking forward to Episode IX, it'll be interesting how this story is wrapped up.

Well said, but I don't agree with that last paragraph. Solo died at the end of TFA. The reaction to it from Chewy, Rey, Finn, Leia, etc. was great. That huge long hug from Leia to Rey was powerful, considering they had just met for the first time and Han Solo was their only connection. I guess they could have included some ceremony or something, but they were still in the heat of a war, which we see picked up right away in The Last Jedi. RJ's treatment of Luke's reaction was just fine. He didn't really add anything.

 

How RJ explains the force was already how it was explained in the original trilogy. There was no change.

 

Loved the scene with Yoda, though. Really great.

 

Your middle paragraph is spot on. Those are huge issues.

4 minutes ago, meazza said:

 

What exactly do you mean by nothing to do with this Star Wars story? It feels like everyone who didn’t like the force awakens found it too similar to a new hope and yet everyone seems to be disappointed that this wasn’t an empire copy paste.

The movie was mostly meaningless.

 

I'm not in that group, since I liked TFA. Loved Rogue One. With those, we got good Star Wars stories and new, interesting characters.

 

I do agree that DJ is a great character. Can't wait to see what else might happen with him.

[Joe Miner]

50 minutes ago, meazza said:

 

What exactly do you mean by nothing to do with this Star Wars story? It feels like everyone who didn’t like the force awakens found it too similar to a new hope and yet everyone seems to be disappointed that this wasn’t an empire copy paste.

 

The first half of the movie was 3 storylines.

 

Rey (not) training with emo Luke with way too many attempts to make Lucas cream his pants with differing alien cameos.  Milking a whatever the !@#$, Chewy eating a chicken, and the ewoks taking care of the temple.

 

A slow race to run out of gas while the guy that's all action learns that being a leader isn't always about action.  Because the first lesson with the bombers wasn't enough, he needed a remedial lesson that drug out over the course of the low speed chase through space.

 

A throw away side quest issued by a hologram, to introduce a new boring character that somehow goes from simple mechanic to incredibly integral part of the story based on....? And a another lame confrontation between Finn and Phasma, all to

introduce a code breaker that sells them out at some unknown and highly implausible point in the movie.  Very video game-esque story telling here.

 

I don't really care that I don't know who Snoke was or whether or not we actually found out who Rey's parents were, or that we didn't see the knights of Ren, or any other part the internet is crying over. 

 

Those 3 parts of the first half of the movie sucked all on their own.