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Spoilers Star Wars: The Last Jedi - Grading & Discussion

Grade the movie.


  • Total voters
    290
Doesn't matter. Let them do something different that what, currently, is extremely predictable and safe.

It isn't vital to the story. It's just a trope, and well worn out by now. There is no reason to keep because "Star Wars." That is poor logic at best.

Nonsense. Star Wars is not the average film story. Its roots--the very reason the series--was born of old, traditional storytelling motifs, and the romance--usually coming alive during difficult situations--is one that had an impact on characters and situations in the OT/PT. Removing that behind some questionable notion of something being "worn out" is simply altering something for the sake of it, and not understanding why the Lucas concepts worked at all. It was certainly more than flashing glow sticks and ships performing barrel-rolls in space.
 
Had no hook ups whatsoever.

Besides the obvious fact that the archetypal Star Wars ‘fairytale’ movie lacks a romance (aside from Owen and Beru),

Typical of you to lie your way around "Star Wars" being a reference to the OT.PT series, not the 1977 film alone.

Sigh.
 
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Nonsense. Star Wars is not the average film story. Its roots--the very reason the series--was born of old, traditional storytelling motifs, and the romance--usually coming alive during difficult situations--is one that had an impact on characters and situations in the OT/PT. Removing that behind some questionable notion of something being "worn out" is simply altering something for the sake of it, and not understanding why the Lucas concepts worked at all. It was certainly more than flashing glow sticks and ships performing barrel-rolls in space.
Yes, it is if it is using well worn tropes. It isn't "questionable" to evaluate what tropes are being used, especially as cultural storytelling needs change. As important as it is to understand why Lucas' stories work, it is just as important to recognize where things can change. In my opinion, TLJ does that.

In my opinion, I didn't see the romantic chemistry between Rey and Finn, primarily due to their backgrounds. I saw friendship with the possibility of romance, but not a foregone conclusion. Which, in my opinion, is a trope in Star Wars that needs to die. The idea that there is two male leads, and one female lead and that it is inevitable that the female lead will end up with one of them. It's very predictable and unnecessary, and frankly, unrealistic.

The Anakin-Padme romance just sickened me as a woman. WTF was she thinking?
It is very creepy. I apprecieate the lady's perspective on that relationship.
 
Typical of you to lie your way around "Star Wars" being a reference to the series, not the 1977 film alone.

Sigh.

No lies here. I was referring to the whole franchise. The franchise, in its entirety, was originally conceived as one, romance-free, movie.

I did make that very clear before, but I guess in your haste to reply you must have accidentally cut it out of your quote.

Maybe you didn’t know that ‘conception’ basically means ‘the very first point of creation?’ I suppose it was hasty of me to assume.

...emotionally stunted guys with obvious anger issues and a questionable mental state.

It’s that unblinking stare, the rats tail, and the barely legal status.

It’s the way he tramples any boundaries she tries to set up, murders children, and uses his psychic powers to spy on her whilst she’s sleeping...

*sighs*

He’s just so dreamy.:adore:
 
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Yes, it is if it is using well worn tropes. It isn't "questionable" to evaluate what tropes are being used, especially as cultural storytelling needs change. As important as it is to understand why Lucas' stories work, it is just as important to recognize where things can change. In my opinion, TLJ does that.

It seems out of place when the romance among some of the main heroes motif--two trilogies in--is suddenly abandoned. If this sequel series wanted change, it had that in all of its upending of the Force and its interpretation by good and evil sides. That was major enough, as the Force (rather, its influence) is the SW series' framework and mover of events (and probably inspired the most heated arguments among SW fans). Further, the other change was--obviously--Rey as the central hero of the heroic trinity (like Luke, the only one displaying Force ability in her trilogy so far).

In my opinion, I didn't see the romantic chemistry between Rey and Finn, primarily due to their backgrounds. I saw friendship with the possibility of romance, but not a foregone conclusion. Which, in my opinion, is a trope in Star Wars that needs to die. The idea that there is two male leads, and one female lead and that it is inevitable that the female lead will end up with one of them. It's very predictable and unnecessary, and frankly, unrealistic.

I think you are forgetting the fairy tale ground this series springs from. If you were talking about the MCU, DCEU or Star Trek franchise, I would agree, but part of the SW series appeal is that it does operate in that "long time ago" / "far, far away" realm, where certain traditional ideas still exist against a film landscape that does not share its--some would say antiquated--sensibilities about characters.

It is very creepy. I apprecieate the lady's perspective on that relationship.

Now all I imagine are those red "X" warning signs about Anakin from the Red Letter Media review of AOTC...

But the point Lucas was making is that in some relationships, true love forgives all human failings. One partner loving/supporting after the other has committed some terrible act is actually not uncommon in real life, as some will forever rationalize the partner's misdeeds as being aberrant behavior not in line with his or her true self as they intimately know it. For example, Padme could understand the killing of the Sandpeople as being brought on by Shmi's kidnapping/abuse/death. In ROTS, although she suspected he might have had a hand in the attack on the Jedi temple, she still disbelieved Obi-Wan's revelation about Anakin murdering the younglings.

To her credit, she did pull away from him on Mustafar, fearing how far he had fallen (IOW, she was not skipping through fields of daisies, oblivious to what was happening), but even at that point, she felt he was still good in his core, reasoning justified by Luke in ROTJ, but the romantic tragedy is that she would never live to see him return to his true self. Related on other side, Anakin lost the only person who probably had the chance to bring him back to the light in the PT period (it certainly was not Obi-Wan or Yoda), but as everyone knows, his own inability to accept loss as natural & his possessive ("evil") side were the very things which destroyed the couple. This was not like the looney woman who married Richard Ramirez or the flock of women who pledged undying love to Manson while he was in prison. There's no fascination with / acceptance of crimes or immoral acts, and that's the essential difference: understanding why Anakin killed Sandpeople in a fit of tragedy-fueled revenge is not accepting it, or shoving it into a closet as if to forget it happened. She knew Anakin had problems, but she also realized he was good.

So, I cannot write off that relationship as "creepy".
 
Maybe you didn’t know that ‘conception’ basically means ‘the very first point of creation?’ I suppose it was hasty of me to assume.

Perhaps you need to grasp the fact that GL conceiving--or forming his SW plot did have romance as a part of the tale. By the time the '77 film was being produced, it is clear, GL's fairy tale influences were present (which did not pop out of thin air on the set), with an apparent triangle (Luke still having his crush on Leia well to the end of the film / Han flirting with Leia). Again, that did not just not pop out of thin air, or was first dreamed up for ESB. Of course, in your usual attempt to lie and twist your way around issues, you were commenting on the idea of romance in the original film (only referencing Owen and Beru in the 1977 film), as a weak attempt to isolate one film from the subject--the two complete trilogies in order to make....no point at all.

Yawn.
 
It seems out of place when the romance among some of the main heroes motif--two trilogies in--is suddenly abandoned. If this sequel series wanted change, it had that in all of its upending of the Force and its interpretation by good and evil sides. That was major enough, as the Force (rather, its influence) is the SW series' framework and mover of events (and probably inspired the most heated arguments among SW fans). Further, the other change was--obviously--Rey as the central hero of the heroic trinity (like Luke, the only one displaying Force ability in her trilogy so far).
So, the Force can change but not the characters response to it?

I think you are forgetting the fairy tale ground this series springs from. If you were talking about the MCU, DCEU or Star Trek franchise, I would agree, but part of the SW series appeal is that it does operate in that "long time ago" / "far, far away" realm, where certain traditional ideas still exist against a film landscape that does not share its--some would say antiquated--sensibilities about characters.
Here's the thing about mythology-it reflects the times and cultures in which it is crafted. The idea that somehow Star Wars cannot evolve because of fairy tale tropes is a fallacy. Fairy tales evolve with the culture, not the other way around.

Now all I imagine are those red "X" warning signs about Anakin from the Red Letter Media review of AOTC...

But the point Lucas was making is that in some relationships, true love forgives all human failings. One partner loving/supporting after the other has committed some terrible act is actually not uncommon in real life, as some will forever rationalize the partner's misdeeds as being aberrant behavior not in line with his or her true self as they intimately know it. For example, Padme could understand the killing of the Sandpeople as being brought on by Shmi's kidnapping/abuse/death. In ROTS, although she suspected he might have had a hand in the attack on the Jedi temple, she still disbelieved Obi-Wan's revelation about Anakin murdering the younglings.

To her credit, she did pull away from him on Mustafar, fearing how far he had fallen (IOW, she was not skipping through fields of daisies, oblivious to what was happening), but even at that point, she felt he was still good in his core, reasoning justified by Luke in ROTJ, but the romantic tragedy is that she would never live to see him return to his true self. Related on other side, Anakin lost the only person who probably had the chance to bring him back to the light in the PT period (it certainly was not Obi-Wan or Yoda), but as everyone knows, his own inability to accept loss as natural & his possessive ("evil") side were the very things which destroyed the couple. This was not like the looney woman who married Richard Ramirez or the flock of women who pledged undying love to Manson while he was in prison. There's no fascination with / acceptance of crimes or immoral acts, and that's the essential difference: understanding why Anakin killed Sandpeople in a fit of tragedy-fueled revenge is not accepting it, or shoving it into a closet as if to forget it happened. She knew Anakin had problems, but she also realized he was good.

So, I cannot write off that relationship as "creepy".
Not every relationship falls in to perfect molds. Padme demonstrates great love for Anakin, but as the films progress she is violating her own principles of pacifism, and anti-war and comes to Anakin's side to a certain point.

It is tragic, but it is also creepy. Anakin keeps forcing a romance towards her until she finally falls in to a caregiver role with the Sandpeople. And then, she blindly accepts his slaughter of Geonsians, and the army of the Republic.

It isn't just that it s creepy. It's also that if undermines Padme's character in a way that is never addressed.
 
I've to stand corrected - Leia's "force pull" was reacting to the other ship. (Still, 15 seconds in and there would be some unwanted health problems)

The funny thing is Rey/Kylo shipping is what passes for the SW fandom in the PRC and that was the country with the 3rd largest international box office for the Disney SW sequels only preceded by the UK/US (before TLJ bombed) . Which I think says it all about the state of SW there.

Okay, so a lot of people in China don't like Star Wars. Not everybody needs to like it, as country or individual, surely? Is there still any freedom to choose? I'm sorry the movie bombed over there. Should I buy a couple of tickets to help, it probably costs a lot less per ticket there too compared to the US or EU...
 
Sickened you? Why? Like some of the old stories & fairy tales Lucas was inspired by, it was meant to be an important romance--but a tragic one.
He goes on a psychotic rant about how he murdered an entire tribe of sand people, pointing out that he even killed women and children. I don’t know how many women you’ve ever talked to, but the majority of us consider that a pretty major red flag. It’s the least romantic thing I can imagine. In real life, Anakin would be sent to a mental hospital instead of getting married to Padme.

I’ve begun to see the entire prequel trilogy as a story of how the Jedi turned a young boy into a monster who turned on them. Sidious isn’t the true villain, the Jedi Order and their rules are.
 
Which is why the Jedi must end. They are not the heroes.
Luke was. He was willing to give up training to save his friends, he rejected the advice of Obi-Wan and Yoda then saved his father from the dark side. Yoda realizes this in TLJ, which is why he burns the tree and gives Luke that last lesson about failure. The Jedi failed and Luke trying to repeat their way caused him to fail, now Rey can learn from them and not repeat them.
 
He goes on a psychotic rant about how he murdered an entire tribe of sand people, pointing out that he even killed women and children. I don’t know how many women you’ve ever talked to, but the majority of us consider that a pretty major red flag. It’s the least romantic thing I can imagine. In real life, Anakin would be sent to a mental hospital instead of getting married to Padme.

I think it's one of the more overlooked details of the PT that Padme was almost (but not quite) as much of an emotionally immature basket case as Anakin. Most of which I'd attribute to a very truncated childhood followed by a life of living within educational and political institutions with very little opportunity for non-professional social interactions, but also a certain personal naivety and maybe even something of a nightingale syndrome when it comes to her romantic partners and their flaws (I mean just look at Clovis!)

Granted, even taking that on board; sympathising with someone who just confessed to a multiple homicide of effectively defenceless (to a Jedi) men, woman and children is more than a *bit* of a reach, but here we are regardless.
 
Sickened you? Why? Like some of the old stories & fairy tales Lucas was inspired by, it was meant to be an important romance--but a tragic one.

BINGO. It's amazing to me how people don't get this... books and movies aren't just meant to be a reflectio of life, they're also meant to be lessons. What a boring lesson it would be if every character in a book or movie or a TV show did what we SHOULD do.
 
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