Star Wars - The Last Jedi (spoilers ahead)

Water Cooler
#1

Everybody - if you’re going to post something with spoilers, please let everybody know.

Some random thoughts…

MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD

I watched it last night. I was…intrigued by it.

It definitely has all the physical elements of a Star Wars movie - AT-ATs, lightsabers, Star Destroyers, etc. But the interaction between the characters and the overall “tone” of the movie is a sharp departure from what I expected to see. Basically, it seems like the franchise is getting somewhat of a reboot. Rather than having classic “good guy vs. bad guy” or “dark vs. light”, there are a lot of shades of grey in the new movie.

They used a lot more CGI in this movie too, which I thought was a bad thing.

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD

  1. Since Carrie Fisher died after filming was complete, I found it odd that they didn’t use that as an excuse to kill off Princess Leia. Now that Luke and Han are both dead, she’s the only hero left.

  2. Leia being able to magically propel herself through space and back to the spaceship (even though everybody else was either vaporized or sucked out and thrown into the cold, dark expanse of space) was really dumb. She’s not a Jedi. And even Jedi don’t have that power.

  3. The whole casino “find the codebreaker” thing was overkill. I think it complicated an already complex story. I guess there’s supposed to be a budding romance or love triangle between Rose, Finn, and Rey. But I thought that Rose’s character lacked a lot of depth. And I’m not sure what Finn is doing at all. Is he a hero? A coward? Here to save the day? Maybe that’s the point they’re trying to make.

  4. I am kinda glad to know that Rey isn’t a Palpatine, a Kenobi, or a Skywalker. Much like the Bushes, Clintons, and Kennedys, the Star War

  5. I know it’s hard to come back from being bisected, but does anybody think that Snoke is really dead for good? And the fact that he has such a small part, and then dies…is that good or bad?

  6. The kiss that Rose gave to Finn was really dumb.

#2

I generally liked it, but not as much as Force Awakens. Just too many things going on, and a few too many jarring cutaways. The Finn-Rose storyline was the weak link. Anything with Rey, Luke, or Kylo was strong.

Regarding Rey’s parentage, that’s just what Kylo told her, and he had reasons at the time to feed her BS. Notably, she didn’t see anyone in the mirror, which hints at a final answer still to come. I still think she’s related to Luke or to Kenobi.

If Snoke is dead, that’s fine. Clears the way for Kylo.

#3

Hated it. The special effects were sweet but I cant force myself to care about any of these characters. Now that the nostalgia is gone I think I’m done paying money to see this dead franchise kicked around, beaten with a stick, and violated through every orifice.

#4

I liked the movie. It was action packed to max, but the trade-off was lack of character development for Rey. She should’ve had more Jedi training with Luke.

It little bit too much comic relief for me. I loved the Porgs though.

The frontal assault on the walkers at the end of the movie was, to me, really dumb.

Snoke is dead, now it’s time for Kylo Ren. Wonder whom he’ll find for an apprentice.

I watched Kevin Smith’s review of the movie and thought it was good.

#5

Everything was stupid about this movie.

I can no longer watch my favourite movie franchise be butchered for the sake of “change”. this movie destroys the legacy and every extra minute filmed is disrespectful to the characters that built this franchise. I was in the theater hoping it would get better by the 20th minute. I ended up just dying for it to finish so no more damage could be done.

My big gripes:

Leia - good acting from her but what the hell was that blown out in space sequence all about. Doesn’t make sense and they should have killed her, not Luke.

Laura Dern/Holdo subplot: I get the need for tension in a space battle but this was just a waste of time so they could progress the Finn/Rose stupid casino story line. The last sequence showing the kids was also a waste of time if they don’t do anything with it and I’m not going to be okay if they come back in the next movie and the rebellion has grown for 10 years so they can incorporate them.

Benecio, waste of screen time, included as if his only job were to get Finn on the same ship as Phasma, who is just the worst thug ever. Not imposing and literally has no specialty cause she never wins. Hux, that radio prank call was just juvenile, I get Solo used to mess with Imperials but he was cool. Poe is just over enthusiastic and a try-hard fly boy. These x-wing sequences are also getting worse with the silly space physics they’re allowing… how his ship gets to do a full thrusters back Immelman turn but First Order doesn’t have the technology despite being richer and more advanced (see easily destroyed dreadnaught) is hilarious. Also, there’s gravity in space now? Why the WW2 bombers and round bomblets in a world with lasers and photo torpedoes?. Rose; waste of screen time, decent from her sister though. Finn, never been a fan, always a coward and selfish, waste of script space.

Snoke - master of the universe, can forcegrip a guy from lightyears away but he can’t sense a lightsaber moving beside him? Woefully under-used, and could have been a great villian if developed further. He had the mystery and the foreignness that could have made for a great lightsaber showdown. Him facing luke would have been great to watch. Instead they accelerated the apprentice becomes master story arc with a weak trick just to get some cheap thrills (Rey/Ren teamup)

Chewie, underused. Another victim of “forced change”

R2D2, 1 scene in the whole movie - fate left ambiguous, didn’t stay with Luke on the island for some reason despite being best buds with him and his dad. Victim of forced change

Ren; better acting but still woeful character arc. Improvement as he’s no longer the worst part of this new trilogy. Should have killed off Leia in this one to complete his Supreme Leader status.

Rey; not good not bad, weak lines and can somehow use a lightsaber with no formal training. Only interesting part is her willingness to dabble with the dark side. Her screen time with Luke was under used.

I think this leads me to the only good part about this movie, and that’s Luke. This franchise has missed him and he put on a great performance despite publically stating he did not approve of this version of Skywalker. Despite being given a shit story arc and incredibly uncharacteristic Luke to work with, he has clearly honed his acting skills in the past 4 decades and boy does it pay off. If he was given a more meaningful role in this movie and less screen time to the ‘change’, this wouldn’t be a complete turd of a movie. HIs chat with Yoda was probably the best and most meaningful part of this movie. Him dying means I will not be clamouring to see the next Episode. Gross misuse of a character and a completely SHIT exit for a screen legend. They have literally killed off the only good part left of Star Wars and they sacrificed him like a g*****n pawn in the opening move. Sure he can come back as a force ghost but there are limitations to what a force ghost can do plot wise.

Special effects: Top notch. That Falcon chase through the salt mines was one of the best I’ve ever seen, however brief.

Battles:

Dreadnaught assault 8/10. Rey/Ren teamup: needed better villains but good choreography; 8/10. Cruiser chase: 5/10, sure the capital ship can’t keep up but what happened to just having your SD jumping to light speed ahead of them? Your’e telling me you can jump between systems but can’t map a jump within a star system? Why not just get your TIE bombers to harass the capital ship? It’s not like you would be able to protect them anyways in an assault? Why not overwhelm them with your TIE fighters and take out the ship guns? You have one giant capital ship and 7 Star Destroyers…you don’t see any fighter support running patrols around the capital ship, its probably because they have none. Hux is utter shite and so is this writer. Literally just wrote that scene to buy time for the Finn/Rose story arc. SH!TE BEGETS SH!TE.

I can’t rant anymore. It hurts just remembering how this film has mis treated its source material and in one fell swoop, destroyed a legacy (possibly GOAT franchise) and future for this universe. I’m speechless.

If you liked this movie, I’m glad for you. You got an action movie, but this is not a star wars movie. It’s a sh!tty convoluted mess written by people who say they are fans but should really have their hands on the keyboard while their Mac laptop is being smashed by a baseball bat.

#6

del

#7

Yup, saw it last night, disappointed. Poorly executed

#8

Upon further reflection, the Finn / Rose story line was so weak that it seriously detracted from the film. With that much time, budget, and creative talent, it’s hard to believe that’s the best way they could integrate Finn. I feel like both the Poe and Finn threads were written around Holdo’s sacrifice. That was meant to be the payoff for those two threads, and while a dramatic moment, I’m not sure it was worth the other silliness.

#9

Verdict: TRUE

#10

Good review by el_macca.

I forgot about the rebel bombers. I was like, WTF?, are they in low orbit of a planet? What’s with the gravity bombs? Also, the skid by Poe’s X-wing…hmmm.

Rey must be far more force sensitive than Anakin ever was for her to expertly wield a light saber and be such a bad-arse. We’re still waiting for an explanation on that one.

Agree with Chewie being an afterthought. WTF? They should’ve used him to tell Luke about what happened to Han.

Snoke’s guards: Are they bad-arse? You would assume so, but we’ve never seem them in action prior to the boss fight. Are they the Knights of Ren? No explanation…

Snoke vs. Luke would’ve been epic. I’m not sure how I would’ve felt if they fought and if Luke let himself be struck down by Snoke, akin to Obi-wan and Vader. I think Luke’s death was very appropriate in the way they did it, becoming one with the force like Obi-wan and Yoda. Not sure about the timing though. I would’ve loved to see more screen time of him. He is the legend! Again, there should’ve been more direct training of Rey! Can’t emphasize that enough.

Captain Phasma: what makes her so bad? Her cool shiny armor?

…The hangar blows up from Holdo’s sacrifice and everyone is dead except for Finn and Phasma’s crew who remain unscathed and in perfect marching formation, yet they have teleported some distance away and now, out of the smoke, come marching to kill Finn once again.

Hux is a lackey to be tossed around like a ragdoll. Doesn’t seem fitting for his rank.

The Finn/Rose thing was fine if you ask me.

I heard that Rian Johnson is going to get his own trilogy apart from the Skywalker storyline. Watch for that kid with the broom at the end to be the branch-off.

Rian Johnson undid a lot of what JJ Abrams established. We’ll see how JJ responds with the third installment.

#11

I don’t have a problem with this. He and Kylo Ren are Snoke’s #1 and #2, and have probably been battling each other for years. The only thing throttling Ren back has been Snoke, and now he’s gone.

The only reason Ren doesn’t kill him is because then somebody else is going to run the military, and it would just be another person to have to “train” (from Ren’s perspective).

#12

[video:https://www.instagram.com/p/Bc_Qn41nskZ/ width:300 height:300]

#13

^this guy gets it.

Also, I can’t believe they did my boi Admiral Ackbar like dat

#14

I’m not a star wars guy but I kind of enjoyed it. I do feel like most huge blockbusters these days could shave 30-45 minutes of their mammoth running times.

It did feel like it was trying a bit too hard to be funny in that Deadpool-like humour.

#15

#16

el_macca nailed it.

Following the disappointment of TFA as a ANH 2.0, I didn’t want to see anymore SW films in the theaters. I re-watched Rouge and got over Jyn somehow becoming a leader without any real track record, work, or rep. So I gave TLJ a chance, particularly since my nephew was in town and wanted to see it.

I tried liking this film, but I just couldn’t. Within the first 15min, I wanted to leave. As el_macca put it, how is it that Finn and Rose can hyperspace away, but some of the New Order armada cannot hyperspace in front of that lone cruiser to flank it? Or not use their clearly large number of fighters (that massive B-2 bomber looking capital ship easily had enough) to overwhelm a rag tag of “Resistance” ships (I really hate this new name for the Rebels). I got excited when the New Order started destroying the little escape shuttles. I thought maybe, just maybe the Resistance would be put out of its sad misery. Especially after I witnessed princess Leia pull some BS Marry Poppins space stunt.

On what clearly was a rip off of Hoth, why the eff did Kylo et. al have to bring some giant stupid “gate cannon smasher?” They still had plenty of star destroyers left; those things are supposed to be able to obliterate the surfaces of planets. Dumb.

One of the biggest issues I take with TLJ is the clear SJW bent. Blatant feminism by making males look like bumbling idiots to artificially empower women. The casino war profiteering / 1% scene. Finn running from the police (I’ve never heard “cops” uttered in these films until now). Freeing the animals. Also, I think Chewie is now a Vegan. The list goes on. It’s just annoying because I never felt Star Wars overly inserted current politics into the films. To be clear on female leads, I openly welcome this as SW has been fairly male heavy. In it’s current form though, it all just feels so artificial and forced. Can they not take a cue from GoTs? Plenty of women in powerful positions there and most earned or at least have a decent back story as to why we should accept their post. It feels more natural and we don’t really care whether it’s a women, man, gay, shemale, or whatever as everyone is pretty much the same field.

Critics (91% approval on Rotten) somehow have rated this turd on the same level as Shawshank and others. However, fans at just a 51% approval rating tell a completely different story (it’s sad Disney is trying to blame that on bots, but that clearly isn’t it if you look across multiple sites).

I’ll dare say it, even Eps. 1-3 were better than this trash. Yes you heard it first from CFABB; bring on the Jar Jar. Incredibly flawed and poorly acted, at least there was some semblance of character development, proper story arcs, and natural beginnings and endings.

I just can’t anymore. Star Wars is dead to me. RIP: 1977-2017.

#17

so happy i have never seen more than 10 minutes of any star wars movie

#18

I can never ever take you seriously again.

#19

I’m kinda with CFABB on that point… I think I miss George Lucas…

#20

I just saw it. The funniest part to me were the red body guards defending that ugly dude. They would randomly do ballet looking moves in the background when stuff was going down. Like really, if you need body guards, are you really going to have them at the edge of the room 100 feet behind you? What are they protecting you from? The glare from the windows? Still think Star Wars would be better as a television show that would allow more character development