Star Wars Episode 8: The Last Jedi (2017)

[Roy Munson]

All these fucking movies and whatnot confuse the hell out of me.

So, Star Wars was the first movie, but it's really the fourth, or some such shit? Then Empire and Return of the Jedi, then there were three that came way later, but are the first three? Now there's a Star Wars Part 8, so I'm assuming there was a Star Wars Part 7 - what was that one called?

Then there's Solo and Rogue One with the chick with the bangable dumper.

she died in that movie... it was sad... but it set up A New Hope nicely.

 

[Superbelt]

I think you have me confused with someone else. I dont think I have complained about the political tilt in the new movies. I see it, and I understand why some would be bothered, but I personally am somewhat blind to it. I rather enjoyed Solo, for example, even though I saw why others would get bent over it.

I am pissed about the Akbar thing because it doesn’t make sense from a story telling POV. It is a wasted opportunity. Similar to my frustration with Leia ignoring Chewy upon Han’s death and instead consoling Rey. That just doesn’t make sense.

I was fine with Akbar dying like that. It's more realistic.

Not everyone gets to die a heroic and purposeful death. Sometimes, shit just gets blown up, and you're in the wrong spot.

 

[Roy Munson]

I was fine with Akbar dying like that. It's more realistic.

Not everyone gets to die a heroic and purposeful death. Sometimes, shit just gets blown up, and you're in the wrong spot.

something about a trap.

 

[calsnowskier]

I was fine with Akbar dying like that. It's more realistic.

Not everyone gets to die a heroic and purposeful death. Sometimes, shit just gets blown up, and you're in the wrong spot.

Sure. But I am not watching an epic story about randomness. This is fantasy. Wrap everything up nicely, please. Especially when the alternate is so out of left field.

 

[Clayton]

Reminded me a lot of Looper. It was interesting, exciting and left a lot on the table and destroyed its own mythology as it spent so much time building it up.

I'd argue the lead up to the fight in the red room was as good as Star Wars gets. I get why people didnt like the 2nd act misdirection that much, the casino planet, Rose, Leia Jesus, etc., but the only part that keeps it from being a classic for me is how they mishandled the end of the movie.

If they would've had Luke Skywalker get an actual epic fight before going down to a new bigger threat then Id let everything else pass like so many other flawed superhero movies.

As sjw as people claim, the movie somehow managed to make Finn avoid the obvious romance with Rey and the backup romance option with Poe. I honestly didn't think they could walk that back and the whole Rose character really is the center of a lot of mediocrity.

 

[Superbelt]

Sure. But I am not watching an epic story about randomness. This is fantasy. Wrap everything up nicely, please. Especially when the alternate is so out of left field.

I disagree. This is sci-fi fantasy, not a Disney fairy tale.

I don't want to see everything follow a formula and get tied nicely with a bow in the end.

I want a story.

 

[calsnowskier]

I disagree. This is sci-fi fantasy, not a Disney fairy tale.

I don't want to see everything follow a formula and get tied nicely with a bow in the end.

I want a story.

But having a major(ish) character die off screen while having a brand new character make a huge sacrifice is just wasted, lost emotion. Having Akbar fly into the Super Star Destroyer makes US feel the loss, not just Leia. We don’t know who Pink Hair is. We couldn’t give a shit if she died or not. We are not invested in her story. We are, to an extent, invested in Akbar. His sacrifice hits us in the feels.

 

[chf]

because it doesn’t make sense from a story telling POV.

That's not going to work around here.

 

[calsnowskier]

That's not going to work around here.

Sorry...

 

[chf]

Sorry...

Forgot my sarcasm emoji. No apology required.

 

[RobBase]

I think you have me confused with someone else.

I do. I apologize.

 

[calsnowskier]

Forgot my sarcasm emoji. No apology required.

I was playing along. I can usually see sarcasm (usually).

Quick advice...

FIRST read my posts with humor in mind, THEN read them seriously if the humor doesn’t fit. I am rarely 100% serious and love me some dry humor.

 

[calsnowskier]

I do. I apologize.

Just don’t let it happen again and we will be fine.

 

[RobBase]

Just don’t let it happen again and we will be fine.

A lot of posters here whose names starts with Cal. Sometimes it's a blur.

 

[Taddy Mason]

Ended up seeing this movie for a second time awhile back as well.

Initially I thought this movie was solid. The Rey/Kylo stuff was great. Luke was.....interesting I guess. I enjoyed his part at the end of the film at least. Problem was most of the movie involves the fleet and the absolutely retarded Finn/Rose subplot but I overlooked that at first.

Upon a second viewing, it doesn't get any better and the flaws really start to show (much like The Force Awakens). I liked the Rey/Kylo stuff more the second time around but hated the fleet and Finn/Rose shit more too. This definitely isn't a bad movie, but I've come to the conclusion that it really isn't good either.

Biggest problem areas IMO:

Holdo - Yeah this was stupid as shit. She was an idiot and as somebody mentioned it should have been Ackbar sacrificing himself.

Leia Space Mary Poppins - Dumb as hell. Should have just killed her off. If she can survive that shit there are very few ways she should actually be able to die. No clue what they do with Leia in the next film.

Finn - Could have been interesting in this movie, wasted him on a pointless fetch quest. Should have sacrificed himself at the end.

Rose - Movie is just better if she isn't in the film.

Phasma - I don't even know what the fuck they are doing with this character. She does nothing in the first film except get thrown in a trash compactor and somehow escape Starkiller Base before it's blown to hell. Then in TLJ she gets the shit beat out of her by Finn. She's probably still alive somehow, but nobody will care.

Yoda - Seems like a ghost that can shoot lightning would be pretty helpful in a fight.

The other big complaints I've heard were mostly about Rey's parents and Snoke supposedly being nobodies with no real back story. That doesn't bother me. Any explanation for their backgrounds was probably going to be goofy anyway.

I only watched it once during a midnight viewing opening night in New Zealand (at which time I was pretty tired). I'll catch it again the weekend. That being said, I did not like it.

On your problem areas, I'll disagree with the first (Holdo)

Next four are right on point, as far as I'm concerned. I forgot whatever the yoda piece is for the moment. But I agree the biggest problems were, Finn side story went no where, until you want to put in the arc that he was going to sacrifice himself, until that didn't happen, because some lady who some him being a shitty coward fell for him and pulled the same exact maneuver he was doing to save his friends, only her move should have killed them both.

Outside of that, felt Snoke was a wasted arc, which ended with a horrible death when a majority of the kylo/rey storyline was how he was manipulating their minds to not be able to see the obvious. I know people have countered with, palpatines death was weak, but still, they could have done more with that character.

 

[Superbelt]

But having a major(ish) character die off screen while having a brand new character make a huge sacrifice is just wasted, lost emotion. Having Akbar fly into the Super Star Destroyer makes US feel the loss, not just Leia. We don’t know who Pink Hair is. We couldn’t give a shit if she died or not. We are not invested in her story. We are, to an extent, invested in Akbar. His sacrifice hits us in the feels.

Ackbar isn't really majorish, anyway. At least not in the main cinematic storyline.

He didn't have many lines. People like him for "It's a Trap." He's a lot like Boba. Lots of hype for having done pretty much nothing notable in the OT.

Boba also went out like a bitch.

 

[Roy Munson]

Ackbar isn't really majorish, anyway. At least not in the main cinematic storyline.

He didn't have many lines. People like him for "It's a Trap." He's a lot like Boba. Lots of hype for having done pretty much nothing notable in the OT.

Boba also went out like a bitch.

 

[calsnowskier]

Ackbar isn't really majorish, anyway. At least not in the main cinematic storyline.

He didn't have many lines. People like him for "It's a Trap." He's a lot like Boba. Lots of hype for having done pretty much nothing notable in the OT.

Boba also went out like a bitch.

If you are looking for consistancy, at least in the bad decisions, than mimicking Boba’s bad death with Akbar’s is a good thing. If you want them to learn from their mistakes, than Akbar’s death is beyond cringe-worthy.

 

[juliansteed]

I really didn't like this movie much at all but seemingly for different reasons than most of its "haters". There are lots of little things that bug me only because I already dislike the movie. I could probably overlook most of those little things if I otherwise liked the movie. For me it comes down to a few big things.

The ridiculous amount of obnoxious attempts at lame humor that was often poorly timed. I get that a certain amount of humor has always been present in Star Wars and I'm fine with that. But the humor in the originals just seemed to work much better. I don't know what the exact formula is for how much humor is acceptable or when to have it, but in my opinion this movie failed miserably while the originals succeeded. The movie starts off with what appears to be a serious scene and goes into a ridiculous prank phone call gag that included a "your mother" joke. For some reason Hux actually engaged Poe in this nonsense instead of just blowing him up. Of course this is just one example where Hux was made to look like a fool for the sake of some lame gag when after being somewhat Hitler-esque in Episode 7. It seemed just about every time there was a serious scene, they had to insert some humor in there. But yeah the movie and its tone suffered greatly in my opinion because of the horrible over-the-top humor. Perhaps Rian Johnson should have written a sequel to Spaceballs.

This one isn't exclusive to TLJ but is a problem with the sequel trilogy in general so far. Episodes 7 & 8 just seemed so disconnected from one another. Having 3 different directors and 3 different writing teams write each movie with absolutely no outline (which was the original plan before Abrams was asked to write/direct 9) was an absolutely horrible idea. Abrams set up a few mystery boxes. The 2 writers/directors clearly had different visions. Rian Johnson even started writing Episode 8 before the script for Episode 7 was finished FFS! As for the parts that he did save until after the movie, Johnson seemed to write more in response to fan speculation that arose from Episode 7 than he did in response to the actual movie itself. If he didn't want to connect Rey to any characters from the past that's fine. But just leave it alone then. Rey's questions about her parents in Episode 7 were why they left her and when are they coming back. Who they were was the fans' question. I suppose he answered both but why they left her was just sort of mentioned in passing while the big "reveal" was that they were nobody. Pretty sure when JJ Abrams gave us that vision and we saw a clip of a young Rey being left behind, it was heavily implied that her parents were leaving the planet on a ship, not selling her off for drinking money. Are there no bars on Jakku? Did they have to go to another planet to get drunk? Did they just goto another planet for fun? It seems they could have bought a lot of drinks with whatever money that would have cost them.

Also both writers don't seem to want to earn anything. They keep wanting to make the good guys look like the underdogs who are losing the war but keep giving them the "W" in just about most battles, at least any that involve our named characters. Not only that but this trilogy seems to want to follow the path of the original trilogy, but wants to forget that the good guys won that war, so why are they now back in pretty much the exact same position at the start of this trilogy as they were in the original? Yes 30+ years have passed so it's not out of the realm of possibility that the state of the galaxy would change but give us something as to how that change occurred! That's why a little backstory on Snoke would have gone a long way despite not needing a backstory for The Emperor in the original trilogy. Snoke was introduced into an established universe and somehow created an army (including a larger more powerful Death Star) without the benefit of tax payer funds and without the government in power doing much to put a stop to it. We were still world building when Palpetine was introduced. We didn't know the state of the galaxy before he came into power so the backstory mattered a lot less, but we eventually got it anyway.

Finally the story just wasn't very interesting to me. New Force powers don't really excite me and I feel like way too many were introduced all of a sudden. It's always been vague what the Force can and can't do but now it just seems like it can or can't do whatever each new writer's plot requires of it. The Kylo and Rey stuff was alright but not enough to get me excited about this movie. A low-speed chase through space was boring. None of the characters (old or new) were very interesting to me either.

 

[Edonidd]

I really didn't like this movie much at all but seemingly for different reasons than most of its "haters". There are lots of little things that bug me only because I already dislike the movie. I could probably overlook most of those little things if I otherwise liked the movie. For me it comes down to a few big things.

The ridiculous amount of obnoxious attempts at lame humor that was often poorly timed. I get that a certain amount of humor has always been present in Star Wars and I'm fine with that. But the humor in the originals just seemed to work much better. I don't know what the exact formula is for how much humor is acceptable or when to have it, but in my opinion this movie failed miserably while the originals succeeded. The movie starts off with what appears to be a serious scene and goes into a ridiculous prank phone call gag that included a "your mother" joke. For some reason Hux actually engaged Poe in this nonsense instead of just blowing him up. Of course this is just one example where Hux was made to look like a fool for the sake of some lame gag when after being somewhat Hitler-esque in Episode 7. It seemed just about every time there was a serious scene, they had to insert some humor in there. But yeah the movie and its tone suffered greatly in my opinion because of the horrible over-the-top humor. Perhaps Rian Johnson should have written a sequel to Spaceballs.

This one isn't exclusive to TLJ but is a problem with the sequel trilogy in general so far. Episodes 7 & 8 just seemed so disconnected from one another. Having 3 different directors and 3 different writing teams write each movie with absolutely no outline (which was the original plan before Abrams was asked to write/direct 9) was an absolutely horrible idea. Abrams set up a few mystery boxes. The 2 writers/directors clearly had different visions. Rian Johnson even started writing Episode 8 before the script for Episode 7 was finished FFS! As for the parts that he did save until after the movie, Johnson seemed to write more in response to fan speculation that arose from Episode 7 than he did in response to the actual movie itself. If he didn't want to connect Rey to any characters from the past that's fine. But just leave it alone then. Rey's questions about her parents in Episode 7 were why they left her and when are they coming back. Who they were was the fans' question. I suppose he answered both but why they left her was just sort of mentioned in passing while the big "reveal" was that they were nobody. Pretty sure when JJ Abrams gave us that vision and we saw a clip of a young Rey being left behind, it was heavily implied that her parents were leaving the planet on a ship, not selling her off for drinking money. Are there no bars on Jakku? Did they have to go to another planet to get drunk? Did they just goto another planet for fun? It seems they could have bought a lot of drinks with whatever money that would have cost them.

Also both writers don't seem to want to earn anything. They keep wanting to make the good guys look like the underdogs who are losing the war but keep giving them the "W" in just about most battles, at least any that involve our named characters. Not only that but this trilogy seems to want to follow the path of the original trilogy, but wants to forget that the good guys won that war, so why are they now back in pretty much the exact same position at the start of this trilogy as they were in the original? Yes 30+ years have passed so it's not out of the realm of possibility that the state of the galaxy would change but give us something as to how that change occurred! That's why a little backstory on Snoke would have gone a long way despite not needing a backstory for The Emperor in the original trilogy. Snoke was introduced into an established universe and somehow created an army (including a larger more powerful Death Star) without the benefit of tax payer funds and without the government in power doing much to put a stop to it. We were still world building when Palpetine was introduced. We didn't know the state of the galaxy before he came into power so the backstory mattered a lot less, but we eventually got it anyway.

Finally the story just wasn't very interesting to me. New Force powers don't really excite me and I feel like way too many were introduced all of a sudden. It's always been vague what the Force can and can't do but now it just seems like it can or can't do whatever each new writer's plot requires of it. The Kylo and Rey stuff was alright but not enough to get me excited about this movie. A low-speed chase through space was boring. None of the characters (old or new) were very interesting to me either.

The humor was another of my big problems with it. Because again it felt like they were trying to follow a recipe but just didn't understand it. They would be telling their story (not even commenting on how bad the story was) and then realized this is where the recipe called for a joke. So they stopped telling the story, added s joke, and then started the story back up.

When you think of some of the best humor from the original trilogy it was inserted into the story. "I love you. I know" "This is some rescue" "Who's scruffy looking?" "And I thought they smelled bad on the outside." All of these were completely in character, and in fact help define and develop the characters. They didn't pull you out of the story, they drew you in.

The pilot guy and the Imperial commander guy having a prank call wasn't in character for either of them. It turned the commander guy from a big bad guy giving Hitler esque speeches before blowing up planets into just a caricature. Rey telling Kylo to put on a shirt turned her from a serious aspiring jedi out to save the day into just a teenage bimbo girl distracted by a pretty boy. None of the jokes helped develop the characters, none of them kept the story moving, none of them drew you into the story. They were just looking for cheap laughs.