Spoilers ahead. Be warned!
Terrible movie
1 Like
i didn’t like it too much either.
the message they were sending was a forget the old, this is the new generation sort of thing. well then why not make a new franchise instead of using star wars? i like the old characters, new ones are mostly duds. but now the old ones are all dead.
the casino part was a bit prequelish too. how did that end up in the final movie? not a fan of rian johnson.
2 Likes
I find SW to be such an overrated franchise, especially as it pertains to the modern era. To me it’s had two and a half good films; New Hope, Empire and the first half of Return of the Jedi (before all the Ewok shit). And now I can’t even watch those because Lucas had to make it so the only copies available for purchase has his jarring, shitty CGI scenes inserted.
I haven’t seen Last Jedi and will probably wait. TFA was a step up from the awful prequels, but it didn’t set my world on fire.
I really love it but I think everybody can agree that casino shit was just unnecessary and somewhat ridiculous. Okay, sure, unnecessary because it has no baring on the story in the end, but also because it was a ridiculous plan to begin with. And how close was this casino planet anyway? They just happened to be nearby? I disliked everything about it.
Also, Laura Dern? Am I supposed to know who this is? They act like I should be impressed she’s taking over, and later when her and Leia have a heart-to-heart I had zero impression of them having a pre-existing relationship. It was ridiculous. And why do they have one woman announcing Laura Dern is taking over? “Hello everybody, let’s pull together, someone else is taking over and that someone is not me, so here she is, the lady herself, Laura Holdo Dern. Please hold your applause.”
Same thing with Benicio del Toro. They way he was revealed from the shadows was ridiculous, like I should have known who his character was? They should have had Lando in there. That would have been cool.
Oh, but back to Laura Dern, loved her light-speeding through the First Order Fleet. Great scene, very well done from the visuals to the audio… great. Anything bad I said about the character is forgiven because of that one scene.
So there are bits and pieces of lameness, but there was more that I absolutely loved. I think they nailed the RotJ Yoda. He was quirky and playful, not like the prequel Yoda. Even the appearance he looked cool. And I’m glad they brought back the concept of the Jedi Ghosts (even if I don’t generally like that aspect of the story, I like the callback). I think this is the first time they’ve been able to interact with the world… is it?
Why didn’t Yoda show up 10 minutes earlier, by the way? Ghost Yoda busy, was he?
Interesting side note on the Yoda scene: Yoda says something along the lines of “that tree doesn’t contain anything that girl doesn’t already have,” implying Rey knows the force or whatever. But if you check, she stole the books and they’re on the Millennium Falcon.
I like what they did with Luke’s character, and I like the relationship between Kylo Ren and Rey. I like that the big reveal with Rey is that she’s basically a nobody, and I like Kylo Ren using that against her.
I do like them killing Snoke off like they did, but I wish they’d done something to explain his origins. He’s obviously very old so he was around throughout the the original trilogy and even possibly the prequels. There was definitely something interesting they could have done with that.
I’m thinking, going forward, the next episode will show the rebuilding of the rebellion and Rey training a new generation of Jedi while Kylo Ren is training some Sith (Knights of Ren? Noticeably absent so they have to show up in the next movie). They they’ll just go crazy on each other at the end.
They seem to imply that Rey has a balance of the dark and light within her. Like she’s perfectly fine facing the dark side and not being a jackass about it. The scene with her and the mirror thing was trippy and cool.
I give Rian Johnson credit for doing something new and interesting but I think he took some leaps that didn’t quite work. Still loved it overall, my complaints don’t really reflect my enjoyment of the movie overall.
1 Like
I watched it last night and I’m just…confused. I think I’ll break it down by character because it seemed like every single one of them went on a different path than what most of us expected.
Leia
How in the f-in hell does she awake in space and “fly” back to the ship. There’s like, no trace of her in any other movies being that force sensitive and now she’s flying through space (and carving down a door, without a lightsaber). I’m not mad, just…confused.
I do like that she played such an important role as a leader. When she recovering, it was so clear that the resistance was clueless as to what to do without her. That scene in the mine when she’s standing and looking out into the salt field…nerd chills.
Ok, so…she’s alive at the end of this movie, but Carrie isn’t with us anymore. What’s going to happen??
Luke
I like how he kind of resembles Yoda in ESB. Old, routine life, forgot about the force and stubborn in not wanting to train another padawan.
I almost thought that him taking all that canon fire in the final scene was utter bs, until we realized he was a hologram. That was a pretty good twist.
I wish he had actually had a little bit more screen time with Chewie and R2. Even better if it was in the Falcon and going somewhere.
Rey
So now we have a nobody who’s potentially stronger than the son of a Skywalker blood line? The f were they thinking? Yah, I understand the new trilogy should be about the new characters, but this is so hard to believe. She didn’t need to be a Skywalker, but at least…a someone. Nonetheless, I’m curious as to what they do with this.
The training with Luke was kinda meh, but then again, when you look back at Empire Strikes back, the most Luke did was do a hand stand and balance Yoda on his legs while lifting rocks.
Finn
I think of all main characters, Finn stayed true to his original characteristics from Force Awakens and it was a good to see that he didn’t return to the First Order or all of a sudden become a Jedi.
His fight with Phasma was kinda meh though. I thought they would do more with that scene.
Poe
I really didn’t see him as a trigger happy fly boy in Force Awakens, but it’s very clear that he’s a Maverick-like character. It was interesting to see his character expand this way. However, there was time when he started to get a bit annoying.
Him taking on the entire fleet in the first scene was pure bad-ass.
Chewie
How come we didn’t get to see him and Luke interact more…or just get to see more of him? Boo.
Rose
Ok, what was her purpose? She could break the code for the light speed tracker, but when she first meets Finn, she says she works with pipes all day. How do those two add up?
Aside from Finn needing someone to accompany him on his mission, I felt she played almost no role in this movie.
That kiss? Blegh.
Hux
It’s really clear that Hux was getting roughed up by Snoke (and/or Ren) in the first scene when he’s on the bridge. It’s clear he was getting a shit ton of blame for letting the resistance slip out of their hands at Starkiller.
All in all, something seemed off about The Last Jedi. Lack of Han Solo? Lack of an actual lightsaber duel? I enjoyed it, but I’m not sure if I hate it or really like it at this point in time.
Like previous episodes, I’ll probably watch a pirated copy and forget about it half an hour later. Disposable entertainment for the disposable generation.
Kylo Ren lied to her just to get her to join the dark side.
i don’t think so, the final scene was of more nobody kids with force powers.
all of that side story on casino land seemed to be about these poor kids oppressed by the rich. so now you can relate to star wars also if you are a nobody, or a fat asian. gotta cover the demographics.
I like it. Such a big deal was made about who her parents would end up being, it’s a relief that it’s not some over-the-top twist. It’s also the simplest explanation. Plus, Anakin was also a nobody.
I don’t think Kylo Ren was lying. There was emphasis on the fact that she came to the realization on her own.
The Last Jedi is different, but I think that’s why I like it. It was weird and didn’t play it safe.
I feel bad for those casino slave kids. Can you imagine? They let those animals break out and let Finn and Rose get away. They got such a whipping. That wasn’t a “woo hoo!” moment, that was “oh jeez… they’re in for it…” moment.
There was one scene where Luke connected with Leia and, immediately after, Kylo connected with Rey (or vice-versa, I can’t remember). For me, that was a huge sign that there must be some kind of stronger connection between the two of them.
Also, I believe that if that was the truth, that Rey’s parents were no-one, they would have included a mini flashback where she remembered or when Kylo really saw their faces. Like this, with no proof but the word of a messed-up and desperate man I can’t really believe it.
A critique I haven’t seen yet and something that pissed me off a lot is how they canceled Finn/Poe relationship. I think they had a great chemistry in the first movie and even the actors seemed to approve of it. I was happy to finally see a different kind of couple in such a big franchise as Star Wars.
I think Rose Tico was kinda cute but she has no chemistry with Finn. They seemed to be more like brother and sister. Meh…
snoke said that he made their telepathic connection thingy…
and besides it would feel pretty lame to get double swerved if they do decide rey has some important characters as her parents.
Snoke said he planted the doubt into Kylo Ren’s head which made him bring Rey to them. I originally thought he was claiming he was the one connecting with her too, but he clarifies in his next sentence.
There’s really no satisfying conclusion to the “Rey’s parents” question.
Yep he wasn’t lying.
After our screening, in addition to Luke Skywalker himself, TLJ’s writer-director Rian Johnson came for a q&a & to mingle. So re: Rey’s background, here’s a gist of the conversation Rian had with someone in attendance (paraphrased):
Person: “I can’t believe Rey’s parent’s are random drunks.”
Rian: “No, Kylo Ren tells Rey her parents were random drunks.”
Person: “He seems very convinced.”
Rian: “I think Kylo does believe that what he’s saying is true, but that doesn’t mean it’s fact. Also, keep in mind that Kylo Ren would have told her anything regardless, i.e. the worst thing she could hear, to turn her to the dark side.”
Person: “So Rey’s parents aren’t random, nobody drunks who died?”
Rian: “I can’t and won’t say.”
Personally I think even Rian doesn’t definitively know, because now it’s up to JJ Abrams to come up with all the answers in Ep.IX. That, or they have an answer that they are nimble with and are ready to change… depending on what gives most dramatic and narrative heft.
1 Like
Straight from the writer-director’s mouth: The final scene was about Luke Skywalker’s deeds becoming the spark that will light the fire that burns the first order down. (Answer to Leia’s earlier comments) His legend has now stoked a new hope (
).
Awww shiet.
They found the original molds used in Empire to create these exact replica puppets. Then they brought Frank Oz back. Can’t be more faithful than that. 
That’s interesting. It is frustrating that they haven’t really told us what Rey does and doesn’t know at this point. In the first movie of this new trilogy, she says they’ll come back for her… but without any information on what she remembers and how old she was when they left her we really have nothing to go on. She seemed to believe her parents were nobodies, so she had to have been really young.
There’s also Slashfilm’s interview with him where they ask about this subject (but he doesn’t go as deep as that Q&A). Though I don’t think slashfilm have been objective on the movie at all. Listening to their podcast they’re too geeked out on it.
Goddamn it that’s an embarrassing to quote. I obviously meant his appearance was cool, but you obviously got that.