Spoilers Star Wars: The Last Jedi - Grading & Discussion

Hell, we still know more in the ST than we did in the OT since we have the earlier movies to use as background.

 

They're being addressed and refuted because they're bullshit, made (as I said before) by whiny fans that wanted the EU/Legends to be canon when it most obviously wasn't anything but a series of licensed tie-in novels.

At least Kennedy and Lucasfilm have sense compared to DC and Warners, who just fired Zack Snyder despite all of his Snyderverse movies (that includes Wonder Woman) making similar amounts of money at the box office.

I'm sorry, but I'm a liberal (pragmatic progressive) who happens to agree with said people concerned about said ethics in said reporting; Sarkesian & company are full of it, and if she and others like her are so concerned about video-games, they need to make said games themselves, not just hector the industry (be the change that you want to see, as the saying goes.)

 

I understand that novels and comics are good for filling in these voids, but I still think it doesnt give them a pass on completely ignoring the topic on screen. The films should standalone, not require a novel or two of backstory.

Personally, I haven't found it easy to get through any of the new Star Wars novels (haven't explored the old either). So I don't see why I should be forced into pushing my way through them to understand a fairly important part of a movie.

 

I agree

 

In point of fact I don't think the OT even mentioned the Sith by name!
Indeed, although the term dates back to the Sith Knights from the earlier drafts, I think the only the Sith were even inferred was though licensed media (picturebooks and the like) which labelled Vader as "The Dark Lord of the Sith".
Indeed, if you go by the movies all on their own, it wouldn't be unreasonable that Vader is still considered as much a Jedi as Obi-Wan, ("A young Jedi named 'Darth Vader'...", "Your sad devotion to their ancient religion..." et.) though one that had betrayed his own order. A Ronin to Kenobi's Samurai, if you will.

We were also never told what the hell the Clone Wars were about, nor the identity of Luke & Leia's mother! That last one I find interesting since prior to the prequels, several EU stories treated this as some big important mystery instead of what it really was: just a blank that George hadn't filled in because it didn't matter.

Back when this happened I remember a lot of similar discussions and the conclusion I came to is that there really ought to be some in-universe explanation as to why this isn't done more often since it's clearly effective. I mean if it's a simple mass-to-energy conversion than an old, worthless junker of a freighter loaded worthless but very dense ore slag with only a barely functioning hyperdrive could be used to take out Star Destroyers.

If I had to come up with a reason why this isn't the case, it would probably have to be along the lines that doing so causes a local disruption or anomaly in hyperspace that fucks with local lightspeed navigation. Even a small one could strand all ships within system to sublight speeds and a bad one too close to a major hyperlane could risk permanently cutting off and isolating whole swaths of the galaxy. So it's not a case of infeasible so much as "almost always a terrible idea." The hyperspace equivalent of a dirty-bomb.
Of course none of this needed to be explained in either TLJ or TCW, because it's something everyone present already knows. It'd be like someone yelling about the properties and effects of a fission warhead detonation during a nuclear attack.

Side note: I kind of really wish *this* is where the "Great Hyperspace War" from the EU got it's name rather than the rather disappointing and uneven story of "that time the Sith Empire showed up out of nowhere and were summarily genocided by the Jedi." I mean imaging an ancient war where half the galaxy was devastated because some faction or another started using hyperspace weapons as a first resort. An interesting twist might be that this is the reason the "Unknown Regions" are so difficult to get into and seems to contain a number of ancient Jedi sites. It would basically be a no-man's land made up of half of what used to be the Old Republic.

I think a lot of people seem to get a little hung up in the term "ghosts" as so far as I can tell, it's a term only ever used by fans and I'm assuming some old RPG sourcebooks (that's where a surprising amount of terminology originates.) IIRC in the scripts they're only ever described as "shimmering images/figures"

The term is also a bit of a misnomer in that they're not really the souls of dead people that have come back from some afterlife: they're still very much alive people that shed their physical forms to achieve oneness with the cosmic force that binds the universe together. In a very real way they *are* the force made manifest while also still being themselves.

I think part of the misconception about their ability to interact with the material plane stems from Obi-Wan's line: "If you choose to face Vader you must do it alone. I cannot interfere."
I don't think this is meant to be taken as he is literally incapable of interfering so much as he *really* should not and as such *won't* do it. It's akin to a rational person saying "I can't smash this random bystander's face in with a house brick." It's not an objective statement on reality so much as a statement of personal intent.

From an objective standpoint of *course* they can interact. Ignoring for a second the repeated examples both major and minor: as stated above, in a very real sense they *are* the force and the force being capable of influencing the material world is the very foundation on which the concept of Jedi abilities are founded.

 

But none of that is important to the movie, it's all just background that has nothing really to do with what's actually happening on screen.
All we need to know is that the First Order is the new Empire and that Snoke is their Supreme Leader and he turned Ben Solo into Kylo Ren and that is exactly what the movies tell us. Everything beyond that is just extra details that aren't really necessary to understand the current story unfolding onscreen.

 

If you want video games to be considered an art form, you’re going to have to accept criticsism are part and parcel of that. And by ‘accept’ I mean ‘don’t dox, harass, pry into people’s sex lives, and send bomb threats.’ At least.

I’m also having a laugh because ‘be the change you want to see’ is exactly what Kylo tried to pitch to Rey.

Kylo: If you don’t like the way the universe is Rey, it really is best that you become an all powerful dictator by my side.
Rey: There’s like, a million better options man. Just because I can tell my roof is leaking, doesn’t mean my best options are ‘silently put up with it’ or ‘personally build a new house with my bare hands’. Plus, this whole little movement you’ve got going here was started on the basis of, you know...propagating genocide and the forces of pure evil. So I really don’t think it’s possible for its possible for this little shit show to enact a ‘fresh start’ with that being it’s founding ideologies. Sane and decent people certainly won’t be willing to associate with it-
Kylo: *tries to cut her in half with a sword*
​

Actually, whilst we’re on the subject of dealing with critics, knock it off the with constant ‘they’re only complaining because they cling to the EU.’ It’s presumptuous, to put it mildly. Most of them haven’t even mentioned the EU.

 

For me I think its important in creating an immersive environment as well as characters the viewer can connect with. But those are just my personal hangups with Star Wars in general and probably why I have a harder time enjoying the films like others do.

 

Even when I was fully immersed with TPM (I read as much as I possibly could before the film) I didn't enjoy it. So, it's a duel edged sword.

 

Although it wasn't as bad as The Force Awakens, it was still pretty underwhelming. The characters they have introduced for this new trilogy are overacted and just not all that interesting, and the old characters they are using are shells of their former selves. They have also rushed many aspects of the story. It is not as well planned, well put together, or well executed as previous films. This is no doubt the weakest of the three trilogies. I honestly think these movies would have been far better if Lucas was in charge of creating them (despite his faults in creating the prequels).

The one thing I did like was the main light saber battle. That was a cool scene that took me by surprise. Still doesn't make up for much though...

"F"

 

http://toofab.com/2018/01/03/anders...campaign=zergnet_2394172&adid=zergnet-main-lp

Anderson Cooper walked out on The Last Jedi.

 

"Colbert compared it to having sex and then realizing you're just not that into it and should try again later."

lolwut

 

He walked out because he was distracted by work and wanted to give the film the proper attention that he believes it deserves. He told Stephen Colbert that he's going to go back and watch it again.

It's called a joke. It makes contextual sense when you watch the interview.

 

Cooper was probably distracted thinking about how much New Year's Eve was going to suck with Kathy fired.

 

More than any Star Wars film of the OT or PT, this film generated two strong camps from the start: those who thought the film was terrible with the 1st (and only) viewing, and like you, others who see the flaws the more TLJ is carefully analyzed. Even The Phantom Menace, with its flowing river of flaws, the Jar-Jar minstrel show, and just about everything being about flashing lightsabers (or the promise of seeing it), did not inspire such rapid condemnation.

Yes, despite Leia never displaying or mentioning any developed, on screen Force ability other than receiving Luke's call for rescue in ESB (and no training), she can survive the vacuum of space, pull herself back to the ship with no lingering effects. Any talent or inherent ability must be shaped (trained), otherwise, Luke would have lasted all of 2 seconds if he tried facing Vader with the training and knowledge he had at the beginning of ESB. It would have been sensible character development (not be found in this sequel series) to have Leia either show or refer to some training she had in between trilogies, so there would be the chance to build audience expectation of what level of power she possesses, and used at the right time--even in that "space walk" scene, but that was a lost (and significant) opportunity.

Ah yes, the tripped-up, childish Public Service Announcement about greed, arms dealing, animal abuse, etc. filtered through the mouth of a pointless character (Rose), when a more effective message would have come from Finn--a person who (having worked for both sides of the larger galactic ideologues) would be able to effectively, believably convey why the casino culture was wrong or had to be destroyed as part of the greater conflict. Nope, that was not going to happen because Johnson, Kathleen Kennedy, et al., had to make it all about this pointless character who--ultimately--was there to keep Finn from Rey.

They wanted to rip Sidious, but lacked the skill to actually create a mastermind emerging from behind the scenes a Palpatine was in ESB to ROTJ.

From the tone of responses and analysis, I doubt future reactions will be one of mirth, but the same kind of disgust or flat out rejection seen at this time.

 

because...

 

I thought the movies did that fine without any of the extra background you are looking for.