What are your thoughts on Star Wars: The Last Jedi (WARNING! SPOILERS DISCUSSED HERE!)
Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2017 9:47 pm
So....I saw the fan event premiere of The Last Jedi last Thursday night. A few days prior, on Monday December 11th, I made the mistake of lurking around on Reddit to try and find a minor leak. I found two MASSIVE leaks that everyone was griping about: Snoke dies and Luke dies. I though to myself, "Surely this is fake. I'm going to keep looking around these posts to find someone that can disprove these leaks". Not only did I get further confirmation that the leaks were true, but I also saw even more leaks.
With all that being said, it was still much different to see it unfold on the big screen than just reading the plot points online. Overall, I thought it was a well done movie, and I enjoyed it. I actually went the very next night to see it a second time, and I'm taking my Dad to see it on the 30th as a Christmas present to him. So yeah, I believe it's not the steaming pile of trash that many, many, MANY fans claim that it is. However, I also don't believe this movie is the second coming of Christ like the critics seem to think it is. In fact, I still think The Empire Strikes Back is the best movie in the Star Wars franchise.
The best way I can describe this movie is that it's a great movie with some questionable plot decisions, but even those questionable decisions were pulled off pretty well for what they were. With the exception of Leia turning into space Mary Poppins. That was truly stupid both in concept AND execution.
The other decisions I felt were questionable were the following:
1) Luke is cranky and not remotely the same Luke Skywalker we know and love for almost the ENTIRE movie. He becomes the old Luke basically at the end of the movie. I expected him to be a cranky codger for part of the movie, but I would have liked to see him be "awesome old-school Luke" for a longer period of time than what we got to see.
2) Snoke died before we got to see him truly be productive on-screen. We understand he's been this "big bad" off screen, but it would have been nice to see more of this before killing him off. I would have even been okay with him still dying in THIS movie had they done more with him in The Force Awakens and the first part of this movie. I'm not even talking about a backstory either. I came to grips a few months ago that Disney hates the prequels, even though that are cannon, and wants to emulate elements of the old trilogy. One of those elements is that the Emperor didn't have a backstory. He didn't even have a name at that point. He was just a big bad that was Vader's boss, and he didn't get a backstory until the prequels. However, in spite of a lack of backstory and only being in the entirety of Return of the Jedi (plus one hologram cameo in The Empire Strikes Back), the Emperor felt like a REALLY powerful threat, and it felt like he did a lot with his presence in the limited screen time he had. I never got that from Snoke. He was supposed to be insanely powerful, and potentially more ancient than the Sith themselves, but for me personally...I never felt that threat. Granted, his telekinesis through the force on screen was pretty insane. He tossed around Hux and Rey like rag dolls.
Anyway, before I get off point too much, his death was a waste of character potential. I really hope that Dave Filoni creates a new animated series that takes place between episodes 6 and 7 in order to address the rise of the first order, the rise of Snoke, and discuss is origins. Not to mention, we could see a non-geezerly, but not super-young, Luke, Leia, and Han.
3) The story arc with Rose and Finn was a complete waste, and it also undermined the pseudo-romantic chemistry that Rey and Finn had in The Force Awakens. It's as if Rian Johnson said, "Sorry J.J. Abrams..I don't like the idea of Rey and Finn together, so I'm going to force a new girl in the story for him. This way it can free me up to start some chemistry between Rey and Kylo, and then hint at future chemistry between Rey and Poe right before the ending credits". The arc itself was a waste of time because in the end, the mission was a complete failure, and if they had just stayed on the ship Admiral Holdo's plan would have worked.
4) I don't particularly care for how Luke died. Not necessarily THAT he died...just how. Straining himself but utilizing force projection and then fading into nothing was kind of...meh. Not to mention, knowing that it was just a force projection being shot at by all of those AT AT Walkers makes it less cool that he didn't have a scratch on him when the dust settled. How much cooler would it have been if he had physically been there and STILL not had a scratch on him?
5) Captain Phasma is basically the new Boba Fett. She's way over-hyped by both Disney and the fans, and yet she does nothing of true significance on screen other than be useless and die. This is exactly how Boba Fett was movie-wise. He basically did nothing, fans somehow loved him, and then he died at the beginning of Return of the Jedi.
6) There was not a single true lightsaber duel in the entire movie. Rey and Kylo Ren teamed up and used their lightsabers to fight off the Praetorian guards after Snoke's death, but they never fought each other. When Luke "fought" Kylo at the end, he was just deceiving him with his force projection and his lightsaber itself was an illusion. He basically dodged the whole time and stalled for time in order for the resistance to escape. Once again, not an actual lightsaber duel, even though two lightsabers were ignited.
Now, with all these things being said, this is how I feel that each of these were at least pulled off somewhat well for what they were.
1) Luke may have been a cranky hermit most of the movie, but that opened the door for some other awesomeness. YODA. Yoda's force ghost shows up, harasses him a bit in his Yoda kind of way, and shows that even after Luke learning and growing for a lifetime....Yoda still has things to teach him. Aside from that, the out of character nature of Luke's personality throughout most of the film makes it all that more satisfying when we see him be his old self at the end.
2) While Snoke did die prematurely in my opinion, the WAY he died was really interesting. Granted, we all like to see a big sweaty "boss battle" every now and again, and truthfully...Kylo Ren is NOT strong enough to kill Snoke in a head to head battle. However, using trickery and deception was an interesting route to go. The whole time, Snoke was monologuing about Kylo Ren having "no conflict in him", "fully embracing the dark side", and finally "igniting the lightsaber into his greatest enemy". 100% of this was true. Yes, he had affection for Rey, but that didn't mean he was conflicted. He had truly embraced the dark side, no fuss...no muss...no conflict. And at that point, Snoke WAS his greatest enemy. So yeah, Kylo using the force to turn the Skywalker family lightsaber slowly towards Snoke and igniting it with the force...all while he was monologuing with his eyes closed....yeah, I kind of liked that. Would I have enjoyed a big sweaty "boss battle"? Sure. Was this cool too? Absolutely.
Oh, also, it was kind of necessary to get Snoke out of the way in this movie in order for them to not copy the old trilogy format of an Emperor/Vader scenario. Early in the movie when Kylo smashes his helmet, I think that's the point where he makes the conscious decision to stop trying to be Vader, always the apprentice but never a ruler, and start just being Kylo Ren, a ruler.
3) As far as Finn and Rose's story arc was concerned...as useless as it was, there were still some good elements. First, unlike a lot of fans, I enjoyed the personality of Rose's character. Second, if they REALLY feel the need for Finn to have a different love interest than Rey, at least he had good chemistry with Rose. Lastly, DJ the "mast codebreaker", had a very entertaining personality. I really hope he comes back in episode 9 and isn't a one hit wonder.
4) Luke's death. Yes, it sucked seeing him die, and it also sucked that it didn't even happen in person. I absolutely would have rather him been physically present for the battle. With that being said, force projection is a cool new ability to showcase that we'd never seen before. Also, it made him look pretty hardcore in a different type of way. Instead of showcasing skills of hardcore fighting on the battlefield, he showcased hardcore force-based skills through meditation. I mean seriously...he projected himself from across the galaxy. Wow.
5) There's not much to redeem about the Phasma situation other than the fact that her melee fight with Finn was actually pretty cool and well choreographed in my opinion.
6) The lack of true lightsaber duels was beyond disappointing. However, the fight with the Praetorian guards was really cool. Good choreography, high intensity, and the fact that the fight was taking place in the throne room was cool.
I'm sure there were other things I liked about the movie, and other things I disliked that I'm just not thinking of at the moment. Overall though, I do believe it's an enjoyable movie. Just not as amazing as the critics are saying it is.
What are your thoughts on the movie guys? I'm interested to hear some other opinions.
With all that being said, it was still much different to see it unfold on the big screen than just reading the plot points online. Overall, I thought it was a well done movie, and I enjoyed it. I actually went the very next night to see it a second time, and I'm taking my Dad to see it on the 30th as a Christmas present to him. So yeah, I believe it's not the steaming pile of trash that many, many, MANY fans claim that it is. However, I also don't believe this movie is the second coming of Christ like the critics seem to think it is. In fact, I still think The Empire Strikes Back is the best movie in the Star Wars franchise.
The best way I can describe this movie is that it's a great movie with some questionable plot decisions, but even those questionable decisions were pulled off pretty well for what they were. With the exception of Leia turning into space Mary Poppins. That was truly stupid both in concept AND execution.
The other decisions I felt were questionable were the following:
1) Luke is cranky and not remotely the same Luke Skywalker we know and love for almost the ENTIRE movie. He becomes the old Luke basically at the end of the movie. I expected him to be a cranky codger for part of the movie, but I would have liked to see him be "awesome old-school Luke" for a longer period of time than what we got to see.
2) Snoke died before we got to see him truly be productive on-screen. We understand he's been this "big bad" off screen, but it would have been nice to see more of this before killing him off. I would have even been okay with him still dying in THIS movie had they done more with him in The Force Awakens and the first part of this movie. I'm not even talking about a backstory either. I came to grips a few months ago that Disney hates the prequels, even though that are cannon, and wants to emulate elements of the old trilogy. One of those elements is that the Emperor didn't have a backstory. He didn't even have a name at that point. He was just a big bad that was Vader's boss, and he didn't get a backstory until the prequels. However, in spite of a lack of backstory and only being in the entirety of Return of the Jedi (plus one hologram cameo in The Empire Strikes Back), the Emperor felt like a REALLY powerful threat, and it felt like he did a lot with his presence in the limited screen time he had. I never got that from Snoke. He was supposed to be insanely powerful, and potentially more ancient than the Sith themselves, but for me personally...I never felt that threat. Granted, his telekinesis through the force on screen was pretty insane. He tossed around Hux and Rey like rag dolls.
Anyway, before I get off point too much, his death was a waste of character potential. I really hope that Dave Filoni creates a new animated series that takes place between episodes 6 and 7 in order to address the rise of the first order, the rise of Snoke, and discuss is origins. Not to mention, we could see a non-geezerly, but not super-young, Luke, Leia, and Han.
3) The story arc with Rose and Finn was a complete waste, and it also undermined the pseudo-romantic chemistry that Rey and Finn had in The Force Awakens. It's as if Rian Johnson said, "Sorry J.J. Abrams..I don't like the idea of Rey and Finn together, so I'm going to force a new girl in the story for him. This way it can free me up to start some chemistry between Rey and Kylo, and then hint at future chemistry between Rey and Poe right before the ending credits". The arc itself was a waste of time because in the end, the mission was a complete failure, and if they had just stayed on the ship Admiral Holdo's plan would have worked.
4) I don't particularly care for how Luke died. Not necessarily THAT he died...just how. Straining himself but utilizing force projection and then fading into nothing was kind of...meh. Not to mention, knowing that it was just a force projection being shot at by all of those AT AT Walkers makes it less cool that he didn't have a scratch on him when the dust settled. How much cooler would it have been if he had physically been there and STILL not had a scratch on him?
5) Captain Phasma is basically the new Boba Fett. She's way over-hyped by both Disney and the fans, and yet she does nothing of true significance on screen other than be useless and die. This is exactly how Boba Fett was movie-wise. He basically did nothing, fans somehow loved him, and then he died at the beginning of Return of the Jedi.
6) There was not a single true lightsaber duel in the entire movie. Rey and Kylo Ren teamed up and used their lightsabers to fight off the Praetorian guards after Snoke's death, but they never fought each other. When Luke "fought" Kylo at the end, he was just deceiving him with his force projection and his lightsaber itself was an illusion. He basically dodged the whole time and stalled for time in order for the resistance to escape. Once again, not an actual lightsaber duel, even though two lightsabers were ignited.
Now, with all these things being said, this is how I feel that each of these were at least pulled off somewhat well for what they were.
1) Luke may have been a cranky hermit most of the movie, but that opened the door for some other awesomeness. YODA. Yoda's force ghost shows up, harasses him a bit in his Yoda kind of way, and shows that even after Luke learning and growing for a lifetime....Yoda still has things to teach him. Aside from that, the out of character nature of Luke's personality throughout most of the film makes it all that more satisfying when we see him be his old self at the end.
2) While Snoke did die prematurely in my opinion, the WAY he died was really interesting. Granted, we all like to see a big sweaty "boss battle" every now and again, and truthfully...Kylo Ren is NOT strong enough to kill Snoke in a head to head battle. However, using trickery and deception was an interesting route to go. The whole time, Snoke was monologuing about Kylo Ren having "no conflict in him", "fully embracing the dark side", and finally "igniting the lightsaber into his greatest enemy". 100% of this was true. Yes, he had affection for Rey, but that didn't mean he was conflicted. He had truly embraced the dark side, no fuss...no muss...no conflict. And at that point, Snoke WAS his greatest enemy. So yeah, Kylo using the force to turn the Skywalker family lightsaber slowly towards Snoke and igniting it with the force...all while he was monologuing with his eyes closed....yeah, I kind of liked that. Would I have enjoyed a big sweaty "boss battle"? Sure. Was this cool too? Absolutely.
Oh, also, it was kind of necessary to get Snoke out of the way in this movie in order for them to not copy the old trilogy format of an Emperor/Vader scenario. Early in the movie when Kylo smashes his helmet, I think that's the point where he makes the conscious decision to stop trying to be Vader, always the apprentice but never a ruler, and start just being Kylo Ren, a ruler.
3) As far as Finn and Rose's story arc was concerned...as useless as it was, there were still some good elements. First, unlike a lot of fans, I enjoyed the personality of Rose's character. Second, if they REALLY feel the need for Finn to have a different love interest than Rey, at least he had good chemistry with Rose. Lastly, DJ the "mast codebreaker", had a very entertaining personality. I really hope he comes back in episode 9 and isn't a one hit wonder.
4) Luke's death. Yes, it sucked seeing him die, and it also sucked that it didn't even happen in person. I absolutely would have rather him been physically present for the battle. With that being said, force projection is a cool new ability to showcase that we'd never seen before. Also, it made him look pretty hardcore in a different type of way. Instead of showcasing skills of hardcore fighting on the battlefield, he showcased hardcore force-based skills through meditation. I mean seriously...he projected himself from across the galaxy. Wow.
5) There's not much to redeem about the Phasma situation other than the fact that her melee fight with Finn was actually pretty cool and well choreographed in my opinion.
6) The lack of true lightsaber duels was beyond disappointing. However, the fight with the Praetorian guards was really cool. Good choreography, high intensity, and the fact that the fight was taking place in the throne room was cool.
I'm sure there were other things I liked about the movie, and other things I disliked that I'm just not thinking of at the moment. Overall though, I do believe it's an enjoyable movie. Just not as amazing as the critics are saying it is.
What are your thoughts on the movie guys? I'm interested to hear some other opinions.