Spoilers Star Wars: The Last Jedi - Grading & Discussion

Or send out fighters. Or just go a little faster.

 

Of course, you could also ask why the Resistance wouldn’t just jump to a friendly system in the Republic that could help them instead of hanging around in the middle of nowhere. There must be somewhere they could have gone that would hold the First Order off long enough for them to refuel and find a way to deal with the tracker-thingy on their ship.

 

Is that for you to decide?

 

Let it go, mate.

There are new movies to hate.

Hey, my rhyming skillz are sorta great!

ETA:
Of course it isn't my decision ... but take it as friendly advice ... that harping on movies nearly two decades old isn't exactly the most constructive use of one's time.

 

I liked the movie. I think it's easily the third best Star Wars film (In both directions). The first film since the original trilogy to really add something new to the story instead of just repeating previous plot points or adding detail to already known ones.

I like that Rey's parents turned out to be nobodies because it officially severs the fate of the universe from the Skywalker bloodline. I like the psychic and emotional bond between Kylo and Rey though I think the resolution of that could have been executed better. I really like the visuals on the salt planet, with the red trails on the white backdrop, and I liked Luke's emotional journey and the emotional nuance of Luke and Kylo's memory of his lapse of judgment when he tried to kill him, and the 'projection' twist. Also, I like that the story was more focused and didn't have too much time waste setpieces like the 'Escape from the tentacle monster'. And I like that Finn got a love interest besides Rey so he's no longer chasing the unavailable.

One thing I really thought was good for the franchise was establishing the point that 'The Jedi do not own the force', and ending the Jedi line does not mean ending the light side of the force.

There are of course some flaws like with any film. Like, they can't get people off the ship but Finn and Rose can make it to the casino in a pod in half an hour without being tracked? And, perhaps BB8 was a little too helpful in some cases?

My ranking of the Star Wars franchise would be:
Empire Strikes Back
Original
(Long distance)
The Last Jedi
Rogue One
Return of the Jedi
The Force Awakens
(Long distance)
Prequels, whatever order you like

 

(Just read some of the other posts)

And no, it doesn't bother me what direction they took Luke. Okay, maybe they shouldn't have had him try to kill Ben, but they made it clear it was a snap emotional reaction and he had decided not to go through with it before Ben perceived what he was going to do. So they got dirt on a paragon, big whoop. He repeated history with the mistake Obiwan made with Anakin, and he cost his sister and best friend their child in the process, you think he's not going to second guess every decision he ever made?

The only way to keep a paragon a paragon forever is to end the story.

And yeah, now that I think about it, the whole situation about the fleet being able to stay ahead of the Empire but only for a few hours was a pretty contrived ticking clock plot device. So that's a flaw we agree on.

 

It... didn't really live up to my expecations, to be honest. I dunno, this trilogy just isn't clicking with me, for some reason. I kind of wish they committed to the idea of blowing up the whole Jedi vs. Sith / Rebels vs. Empire status quo, ala Kreia's plan in KOTOR 2, rather than pulling back from it and nope, Rey stays good, Ren stays evil. And I was pretty pissed they killed off Snoke without giving us any backstory on the guy.

The whole fleet pursuit storyline felt super Battlestar Galactica-esque, didn't it?

 

Just got out the theater. Really disliked it. Very boring. Too long. I just wanted it to be over honestly.

 

If he were so powerful, he wouldn't have died. And if he really wanted to save the galaxy, he would have ended Kylo period.

Rogue One was not Luke, Han and Leia. It was great. The torch can be passed without killing the torchbearer. I would rather not have Luke in the movie at all if this is what was going to happen to him.

Again--the most hopeful, optimistic, heroic character in the franchise spent the last decades of his life alone, bitter, and completely the opposite of what he once was. Terrible.

They introduced some terrific characters in the last two movies--but both those movies were tainted because of some idiotic need to kill the legendary characters.

You don't move on from characters like that by killing them and demanding that the fans follow the new characters. What happens is fans become bitter and angry at the franchise they loved. The writers create an animosity--that's just dumb.

 

There's a few little interesting moments in this movie, but most of the time it's just spinning its wheels.

There's too many little side bits and micro-twists going on. This happens, then that happens, oh but wait we gotta do this! But we can't because we've gotta do this first! ect. ect. ect. Very clumsy storytelling. The side excursion to the casino planet felt like something out of the prequels.

The "bad guys" feel like parody's of villains. General Hux is over the top and just dumb. While there was some semi- interesting stuff with Snoke, he was diabolically generic.

The humorous moments are awkwardly placed and never really hit.

The movie is too long.

BORING.

 

Based upon what, exactly? One, I enjoy discussing the PT as much as I don't really care for the movies as a whole. There is fantastic art direction, some different things that wouldn't have been done before, as well as some nice visuals.

Secondly, I engage with movies in a different way every time I watch them. I find something new to analyze, discuss and read about. I enjoy sharing that and discussing it.

If that's a "waste of time" then so be it. But, I'm already on a TrekBBS where a 50 year old show is discussed

 

The opening crawl made it sound like there was no Republic after the events of The Force Awakens. The First Order controlled the galaxy, and the only even remotely friendly people to the Resistance were the people in the Outer Rim.

 

No, the writers create a story. Fans that decide it wasn't what they imagined create the animosity. Fans decided a long time ago what this movie was going to look like. And despite the marketing LITERALLY telling them "This isn't going to go the way you think!", they still cling to their imagined storylines and their hopes. I'm not criticizing, it's what almost all of us do.

I haven't mentioned it in a couple of posts, so let me reiterate: I totally understand why people are not liking the developments with Luke. It's absolutely the right of any viewer to feel that way if they choose. But I'm really glad that the filmmakers are being bold. Are doing things that aren't just more of the same. I like it precisely because it isn't what I would have done. Feel free to disagree. My biggest, though not my only by a long shot, complaint with The Force Awakens was that it rehashed what had come before. The Last Jedi didn't, and I respect it for it.

As for the film itself. It earns it's developments in my mind. Your mileage may vary. But I thought the thematic elements and the tensions it created between expectation and payoff were handled quite well. Better than the actual motive plot, certainly. To a certain extent that may have been due to Hamill's performance, because he absolutely goes for it with the material. His scene with Yoda had me on the verge of tears, as did his reunion with Leia.

It remains to be seen whether the new characters can carry a film on their own. I have my doubts, honestly. And I expect Ep9 will be a much safer, more nostalgia friendly film, especially with Abrams at the helm. But I enjoyed The Last Jedi, on the whole. Didn't love it, but liked it. It challenged me, as a viewer and as a fan.

 

Just watch TLJ today. It's an enjoyable but flawed movie.

The good:

• The visuals were amazing (as to be expected).
• All of the cast was great and I really like all of the characters.
• The movie was well paced. It slowed a bit in the middle, but all-in-all it seemed like a very fast 2.5 hours.

The bad:

• I get that Rey is strong with the force, but she seems to have greater ability than almost any Jedi we see in the PT with only a few days (at most) of training. I know that people will compare Rey's training with Luke's in ESB, but Luke had trained under two Jedi masters (one for probably a few hours and the other for probably a couple of weeks) not to mention close to a year in between ANH and ESB to kind of familiarize himself with his abilities. As best as I can tell, Rey was scrounging for parts only a week or two before the events we see in TLJ.
• Snoke... this was a insanely powerful and manipulative force-user who was able to seduce Kylo away from Luke, one of the greatest Jedi in history, build an army and navy under the nose of a (presumably) galactic superpower, the New Republic, build a superweapon to destroy said superpower, and make his first order the supreme military power in the galaxy... and he gets taken out as easily as a redshirt in TOS.
• Luke's demise... I can't put my finger on it, but somehow it just didn't seem fitting. I didn't mind that Luke had a crisis of conscience due to Ben and he wasn't the legend he (and the galaxy) thought he was, but the force projection thing and then dying... I realize that he sacrificed himself to save Leia and the Resistance, much the same as Ben sacrificed himself to save Luke, Han, Leia and the Rebellion. I don't know... I guess it fell flat with me.

 

NONE of these fraking fans know what the frak they want-they're just like Trekfans in that regard. I too may be planning a vacation from the Star Wars fan Facebook group I'm a part of for just that reason that you've mentioned.

This essay shows how full of it fans are.

 

Complaining because other people don't agree with you about a movie is so last decade.

 

This is the same thing that could be said about Man Of Steel, Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn Of Justice, Suicide Squad, and Justice League, as well as the new Star Trek movies and the new TV show. But most people can't or won't make the connection.

Bitching about the third movie in a trilogy because it went unexpected places with the story is foolish, but apparently nobody's told the fans of this franchise that.

 

This was the second movie, not third.

Nevertheless, we'll probably all live longer if we praise/criticize the film and not the fans.

 

The fans are being full of shit right now, and I reserve the right to do so as a fellow fan.