Star Wars Episode 8: The Last Jedi (2017)

[calsnowskier]

I haven’t read any of this thread yet. I wanted to say my piece before my opinion gets totally corrupted by you assholes.

1) I was worried about the little chicken bird things going in, but they really didn’t cause a problem for me. In a perfect world, they wouldn’t be there, but Star Wars is intended for kids, after all, so I am cool with that.

2) The humor in general was not as bad as I feared. Luke swiping the dust off his shoulder was perfect, for example.

3) The first 30 mind or so seemed a redo of Empire. But then it turned quickly into its own movie. I was scared it was just going to be a remake, though.

4) My MAIN gripe about this movie (and it is a pretty big gripe) is that Snoke is now officially worthless. He was a complete waste as a character. What did we SEE him do? Sit on his ass and play some mind tricks. That’s it. Sure, Kylo and Hux feared him, but Kylo was a sniveling, emo teenager and Hux was a ladder-climbing spineless fool. So the fact that these two “worshipped” him doesn’t carry much weight. That said...

5) Kylo Ren killing Snoke was a nice advancement of his character. We have not SEEN a dark apprentice successfully overtake his master yet in the movies. Vader killed Palpatine, but he died in the process, and he did it while turning back to the Light. And we only heard about Palpatine killing Plagueis. We never saw it.

6) Interesting what they did with the “crystal critters”. That same exact thing just happened in the most recent episode of Star Wars Rebels. That couldn’t have been a coincidence.

Of course I need to watch it a few more times, but this is in the same class as Hope and Empire. GREAT addition to the franchise.

 

[calsnowskier]

Oh and R2 playing that hologram from 40 years ago that started this whole journey? Fucking brilliant! That's an example of "fan service" done right! Not only was it great for nostalgic purposes but it absolutely served the story and was very much in character for R2.

That was great!

How about when you see Bobba Fett’s ship come in for a landing... only for it to be a laundry droid ironing clothes?

 

[Gopherfan84]

It's not great, but it's not horrible either. The world creation is something that Star Wars has continued to do well even under Disney. Getting to see Leia actually use the force was nice, though the way she used it was cringe worthy. There were some good scenes throughout.

Having seen the movie now though, I have to agree with Mark Hamill's original take on the script. It was like they took the Luke from the OT and dumped a big load of bantha fodder on his character. He believed his dad, who had done dark and despicable things across the galaxy for decades could be redeemed, but even for a fleeting moment had the thought that his nephew, who hadn't done anything truly dark that we're aware of at that point, cannot and must be destroyed?

Captain Phasma effectively became the new Boba Fett, while Snoke became the new Darth Maul. Characters that were almost criminally underutilized and disposed of far too soon.

I agree that not killing Leia off on-screen was another poor decision by the film makers. The fans deserved a proper send off for her instead of it likely just being a passing reference early in episode 9.

I don't take as much issue with the casino world as some people, though it did drag on a bit too long, as it helped ease the tension of the low-speed space pursuit.

Rose came across as a bit of a fangirl of Finn's to me. She toned it down when they went to the casino world, but then stole a kiss after wrecking his speeder (it is worthy of noting that he didn't return the kiss).

 

[calsnowskier]

That was great!

How about when you see Bobba Fett’s ship come in for a landing... only for it to be a laundry droid ironing clothes?

Am I seriously the only one who noticed this scene? I watched a few Easter egg vids on YouTube, and no one is talking about this...

 

[Mike A. S.]

Am I seriously the only one who noticed this scene? I watched a few Easter egg vids on YouTube, and no one is talking about this...

Do you have a link to that YouTube video with the easter eggs?

 

[Inquisitor95]

Am I seriously the only one who noticed this scene? I watched a few Easter egg vids on YouTube, and no one is talking about this...

I noticed the scene. It's just been so long since I've seen any of the other movies, I didn't realize it was Bobba Fett's ship.

I was like, "What the heck is this ship? It looks like a giant iron. Oh it is an iron."

 

[Mike A. S.]

I noticed the scene. It's just been so long since I've seen any of the other movies, I didn't realize it was Bobba Fett's ship.

I was like, "What the heck is this ship? It looks like a giant iron. Oh it is an iron."

Yeah, I felt the same way as you @Inquisitor95!

 

[MilkSpiller22]

It wasn't bad, but wasn't great... I am not a star Wars fanatic so I didn't come in with unrealistic expectations...

My biggest gripe is how in the first two movies everyone asked WHO is Rey... Luke asked WHO are you to Rey numerous times... the WHY her and all... and we are to believe that the parents she was seeking out were nobodies?? I was expecting her to be the daughter of a sith lord or something...

I guess she still could be... maybe the people that dropped her off were not her real parents... IDK... but why make such a big deal throughout the 2 movies about her origin if she has none...

 

[Mike A. S.]

It wasn't bad, but wasn't great... I am not a star Wars fanatic so I didn't come in with unrealistic expectations...

My biggest gripe is how in the first two movies everyone asked WHO is Rey... Luke asked WHO are you to Rey numerous times... the WHY her and all... and we are to believe that the parents she was seeking out were nobodies?? I was expecting her to be the daughter of a sith lord or something...

I guess she still could be... maybe the people that dropped her off were not her real parents... IDK... but why make such a big deal throughout the 2 movies about her origin if she has none...

I think the director really intended for that to be the truth about Rey's parents...that they were nobodies. But JJ Abrams is coming back for episode IX and I think he could easily turn to the tables if he wanted and just claim Kylo Ren was lying or something and make Rey's parents someone else if he wanted to.

 

[calsnowskier]

Do you have a link to that YouTube video with the easter eggs?

There aare a ton on YouTube. There isn’t just one..

 

[NCChiFan]

Agree with a lot of what was said here. Want to give huge props to Captain Phasma for having the only armor in the galaxy that deflects a blaster shot!

Also, why do folks think she is dead?

 

[DarthVedder]

Agree with a lot of what was said here. Want to give huge props to Captain Phasma for having the only armor in the galaxy that deflects a blaster shot!

Also, why do folks think she is dead?

Dead or not, she's such a useless character. They've built her up so much, having a relatively high profile actress under that armor and having her attending the promotional events, getting interviewed on talk shows and everything, for such a little payoff.

 

[wildturkey]

Dead or not, she's such a useless character. They've built her up so much, having a relatively high profile actress under that armor and having her attending the promotional events, getting interviewed on talk shows and everything, for such a little payoff.

Phasma is kinda like Boba Fett; they look cool but don't actually do much in the movies.

Difference is they didn't treat Boba Fett as a big deal when those movies were released like they are with Phasma. Fett got a cult following as years went on. It's sorta like they are trying to manufacture one for Phasma

 

[Melman]

I don't understand the universal acclaim from "professional critics". Even if you liked the movie, it's fair to say that it is very polarizing, and some parts of it are just insultingly dumb or don't work in any way. Are critics afraid to be overly critical of a Star Wars movie? Are they afraid to be critical of a movie starring a woman and a diverse cast?

Or maybe they're just sucking up to Disney?

 

[juliansteed]

Phasma is kinda like Boba Fett; they look cool but don't actually do much in the movies.

Difference is they didn't treat Boba Fett as a big deal when those movies were released like they are with Phasma. Fett got a cult following as years went on. It's sorta like they are trying to manufacture one for Phasma

Yup. Darth Maul would be more comparable to Boba Fett than Phasma. I don't think they knew how popular Darth Maul would be either or they wouldn't have "killed him off" so early and replaced with him with Dukoo. Although sometimes less is more and maybe that's why both of those characters were so popular despite so little screen time.

Of course, due to their overwhelming popularity both were brought back in the expanded universe and found to not actually have died when we thought they did. I don't see the same thing happening with Phasma.

Her having so little screen time could also have something to do with the fact that she's a pretty big character on one of the most popular shows on TV right now. Then again, she hasn't done much there either for the past couple of seasons and many people think it's due to her role on Star Wars.

 

[wildturkey]

Yup. Darth Maul would be more comparable to Boba Fett than Phasma. I don't think they knew how popular Darth Maul would be either or they wouldn't have "killed him off" so early and replaced with him with Dukoo. Although sometimes less is more and maybe that's why both of those characters were so popular despite so little screen time.

Of course, due to their overwhelming popularity both were brought back in the expanded universe and found to not actually have died when we thought they did. I don't see the same thing happening with Phasma.

Her having so little screen time could also have something to do with the fact that she's a pretty big character on one of the most popular shows on TV right now. Then again, she hasn't done much there either for the past couple of seasons and many people think it's due to her role on Star Wars.

I think her lack of screen time is directly related to the fact that they (mostly Johnson) had no idea wtf to do with Finn. From TFA, its heavily implied that Phasma plays a significant role in Finn's backstory as being part of the First Order so she's a natural foil for him. But TLJ doesn't explore Finn as character hardly at all so their confrontation just felt like checking a box more than anything with real meaning.

The Finn stuff really bums me out. I was so intrigued by him in TFA. You get a Stormtrooper defecting. That's ripe for some great introspective plots. There's all kind of things that could have happened in TLJ for him such as confronting past atrocities he had a hand in, Resistance members being wary of him, Finn second guessing what side he should be on, etc etc. Instead we get a lame goose chase with an even lamer side kick (Rose)

 

[BeaReylo]

I think her lack of screen time is directly related to the fact that they (mostly Johnson) had no idea wtf to do with Finn. From TFA, its heavily implied that Phasma plays a significant role in Finn's backstory as being part of the First Order so she's a natural foil for him. But TLJ doesn't explore Finn as character hardly at all so their confrontation just felt like checking a box more than anything with real meaning.

The Finn stuff really bums me out. I was so intrigued by him in TFA. You get a Stormtrooper defecting. That's ripe for some great introspective plots. There's all kind of things that could have happened in TLJ for him such as confronting past atrocities he had a hand in, Resistance members being wary of him, Finn second guessing what side he should be on, etc etc. Instead we get a lame goose chase with an even lamer side kick (Rose)

I like Finn. He's my third favorite character from the Sequel Trilogy. I was neutral to his story. Didn't love it but didn't hate it either. Now Poe's story I didn't like. That part I will skip over on the DVD/Blu-Ray.

Overall I like TLJ and rank it as the second best Star Wars film. The first time I saw it I wasn't sure how I felt to about it? I knew it was good but I couldn't decide. After reading watching it is liked it way more, probably because of details I missed on my first viewing. Then I watched it for a third time and now I absolutely love it!

Ironically my buddy who I watched it with the first time thought it was incredible. He was so enthralled that he didn't even care that he lost a bet we made about Rey's parentage (he believed she was Luke's daughter, I knew she wasn't); loser had to treat the winner to Taco Bell. While eating he said "defeat has never tasted so good."

 

[wildturkey]

Was talking TLJ with my cousin and his wife over Christmas and I've got a question that stumped us. Maybe one of you picked up on it in dialogue. So you know how the Resistance is being tracked from The Supremacy, The Resistance ships loses fuel one by one, Holdo rams her ship into it, yadayadaya. Well...why didn't they just scatter in different directions from the start? Like if they all hit lightspeed in different directions, only one ship could be tracked, right?

 

[calsnowskier]

Was talking TLJ with my cousin and his wife over Christmas and I've got a question that stumped us. Maybe one of you picked up on it in dialogue. So you know how the Resistance is being tracked from The Supremacy, The Resistance ships loses fuel one by one, Holdo rams her ship into it, yadayadaya. Well...why didn't they just scatter in different directions from the start? Like if they all hit lightspeed in different directions, only one ship could be tracked, right?

They didn’t figure out they were being tracked until they got to the abandoned base. Once the First Order came out if hyperspace, the resistance was about to jump again before Poe(?) realized what was happening and came up with the OJ scenario (low-speed chase).

Remember, the resistance was essentially running on fumes. It was mentioned that they had fuel for another jump, but they would have been completely out when they exited hyperspace. So if they did scatter, they all would have been floating with no way to get the fleet back together.

 

[DarthVedder]

They didn’t figure out they were being tracked until they got to the abandoned base. Once the First Order came out if hyperspace, the resistance was about to jump again before Poe(?) realized what was happening and came up with the OJ scenario (low-speed chase).

Remember, the resistance was essentially running on fumes. It was mentioned that they had fuel for another jump, but they would have been completely out when they exited hyperspace. So if they did scatter, they all would have been floating with no way to get the fleet back together.

Well, they had other small ships that could go out and run errands at light speed (like the one used by Finn to go to the Casino)... I guess using those small vessels to get some fuel was out of the question, right?