Star Wars VIII: The Last Jedi

[Fritzo]

I left the theater depressed.

Last Jedi isn't a bad movie- it's got great scenery, lots of action, some humor...not bad. However, the forced narrative thing is driving me crazy, and they've done it for the last three movies:

- Forcing women to be in hero/leadership roles. The Asian girl was out of place, the purple haired Admiral Holdo was more of a librarian than a leader (and her entire role should have gone to Admiral Ackbar. ALL OF IT)
- Everything familiar needs to be replaced: C3P0 is nice and shiney and maintained. R2-D2 looks and acts like an old, sick dog. Did he piss of maintenance or something? Also, pick off your heroes for no good reason to make you focus on less interesting new characters. Blah.
- Making up new force powers as you go: Superman fell down this hole in Christopher Reeve era. They made up so much new stuff the Force can suddenly do in this movie, I was waiting for Rey to fling a cellophane "S" wrapper at Kylo Ren

- Deconstructing heroes- people want heroes for inspiration. Broken heroes suck. This is why DC's movies aren't working. Star Wars is falling down this hole too. Instead of leaving the theater happy (like when I was a care-free kid), I left feeling like a 40-something adult that realizes everything is terrible and won't get better.


I have more, but am too depressed to type.

 

[Paladin]

I'm a huge Star Wars fan, while I liked the movie I agree with what most of you are saying. This really falls on Kathleen Kennedy and the execs. This should have been written as a trilogy from the get go, and not written by individuals for each movie.

 

[Homerboy]

And I'm telling you people, it will get much worse once the Han Solo movie is released - they are going to attempt to tell a story that nobody wants to know... and shouldn't know. Han Solo is great BECAUSE of his mystique. No matter what they write it will not, and CAN NOT live up to the expectations that we've consciously (and subconsciously) created in our minds. It will be entertaining and "Star Wars" but we will sit here and bemoan the death of our beloved Han Solo.

 

[Majes]

A lot of these complaints are people seriously digging for something to complain about...
Yes the Leia scene was really awful...
The Cow scene was also jarringly out of place...
But those are pretty much the two most valid complaints about this movie. The rest of the stuff can be explained pretty well.

However, if you want to look at the new series there are much larger issues...
1. Snoke's origin and backstory
2. The First Order's unlimited resources (The backstory for this also sucks... Wendig did an awful job with these novels)
3. We basically know very little about what sort of New Republic was built and how it gets conquered in a matter of "weeks?"

So I guess my problems are still focused on The Force Awakens and all of the terrible plot issues that movie has. This one was a gem compared to TFA.

 

[paperfist]

I left the theater depressed.

Last Jedi isn't a bad movie- it's got great scenery, lots of action, some humor...not bad. However, the forced narrative thing is driving me crazy, and they've done it for the last three movies:

- Forcing women to be in hero/leadership roles. The Asian girl was out of place, the purple haired Admiral Holdo was more of a librarian than a leader (and her entire role should have gone to Admiral Ackbar. ALL OF IT)
- Everything familiar needs to be replaced: C3P0 is nice and shiney and maintained. R2-D2 looks and acts like an old, sick dog. Did he piss of maintenance or something? Also, pick off your heroes for no good reason to make you focus on less interesting new characters. Blah.
- Making up new force powers as you go: Superman fell down this hole in Christopher Reeve era. They made up so much new stuff the Force can suddenly do in this movie, I was waiting for Rey to fling a cellophane "S" wrapper at Kylo Ren

- Deconstructing heroes- people want heroes for inspiration. Broken heroes suck. This is why DC's movies aren't working. Star Wars is falling down this hole too. Instead of leaving the theater happy (like when I was a care-free kid), I left feeling like a 40-something adult that realizes everything is terrible and won't get better.


I have more, but am too depressed to type.

Didn't the little kids at the end give you hope? That was the best part for me. It's what the 3rd movie is going to be about. It's the spark that'll ignight the flame, the rebirth of a franchise.

 

[dainthomas]

I agree with you - except it's not better than Rogue One.

Agreed.

5>4>Rogue One>6>8>7>3>1>2

 

[dud]

I'm a huge Star Wars fan, while I liked the movie I agree with what most of you are saying. This really falls on Kathleen Kennedy and the execs. This should have been written as a trilogy from the get go, and not written by individuals for each movie.

The execs probably don't give a crap. They are laughing all the way to the bank.

The reviews on IMDB (by "professional" reviewers) is a stunning 8/10. Reviews by the common folk are awful. I remember watching the Triumph the Comic Insult Dog skit "Star Wars Nerds". It was hilarious! One line from the video described a bunch of people in line waiting to watch a few of George Lucas' "table scraps". This is what we are getting ... table scraps.

I'm glad to hear that I am not alone and that others feel that the overall franchise is in decline. The first trilogy was fresh and new. It gave us hope. Lucas threw out the second trilogy which was ... meh. This last group of movies (TFA and TLJ) are just tired regurgitation of old theme and concepts.

 

[Homerboy]

Agreed.

5>4>Rogue One>6>8>7>3>1>2

Close, I think I might reverse 7 and 8

5>4>Rogue One>6>7>8>3>1>2
not ENTIRELY sold on that yet though.
7 was more entertaining with many less throwaway parts.

Spoiler: spoilers

WTF was Flinn's point in 8? He was a HUGE part of 7 and this movie he's running off with Rose to get a "code breaker" and they don't even get the right one anyways?

 

[Aikouka]

Close, I think I might reverse 7 and 8

5>4>Rogue One>6>7>8>3>1>2
not ENTIRELY sold on that yet though.
7 was more entertaining with many less throwaway parts.

Mine is 5 > 4 > 6 ~= 7 > 8 > R1 > 3 > 1 > 2

I do think that 6 is arguably better than 7, but it's not by much... so I give them the "almost equals".

 

[Fritzo]

Didn't the little kids at the end give you hope? That was the best part for me. It's what the 3rd movie is going to be about. It's the spark that'll ignight the flame, the rebirth of a franchise.

I think that was their intent, but it wasn't really powerful enough.

As I'm sitting here, I just thought of something that's bugging me more and more...

Spoiler: SPOILER

WHY DIDN'T LUKE'S HAND CLUNK DOWN TO THE GROUND WHEN HE DISAPPEARED????

 

[Exterous]

I think that was their intent, but it wasn't really powerful enough.

As I'm sitting here, I just thought of something that's bugging me more and more...

Yeah I don't get the point. Is the resistance supposed to wait 12 years till those kids are old enough to fight?

Spoiler: SPOILER

WHY DIDN'T LUKE'S HAND CLUNK DOWN TO THE GROUND WHEN HE DISAPPEARED????

Oh - good question

 

[Exterous]

I left the theater depressed.

Last Jedi isn't a bad movie- it's got great scenery, lots of action, some humor...not bad. However, the forced narrative thing is driving me crazy, and they've done it for the last three movies:

- Forcing women to be in hero/leadership roles. The Asian girl was out of place, the purple haired Admiral Holdo was more of a librarian than a leader (and her entire role should have gone to Admiral Ackbar. ALL OF IT)
- Everything familiar needs to be replaced: C3P0 is nice and shiney and maintained. R2-D2 looks and acts like an old, sick dog. Did he piss of maintenance or something? Also, pick off your heroes for no good reason to make you focus on less interesting new characters. Blah.
- Making up new force powers as you go: Superman fell down this hole in Christopher Reeve era. They made up so much new stuff the Force can suddenly do in this movie, I was waiting for Rey to fling a cellophane "S" wrapper at Kylo Ren
- Deconstructing heroes- people want heroes for inspiration. Broken heroes suck. This is why DC's movies aren't working. Star Wars is falling down this hole too. Instead of leaving the theater happy (like when I was a care-free kid), I left feeling like a 40-something adult that realizes everything is terrible and won't get better.


I have more, but am too depressed to type.

I don't think your third issue is that big of one but maybe its because I've read most of the books where they've added a ton of force powers.

Spoiler

But I really agree with your first point especially the second half. He needed (deserved?) more than an off hand mention that he was even in the movie and had been killed off. As for the last one even if Luke did have to die his last 'fight' with Kylo, while cool, probably wasn't the epic scene most were expecting

 

[dainthomas]

Spoiler

As for the last one even if Luke did have to die his last 'fight' with Kylo, while cool, probably wasn't the epic scene most were expecting

But I lol'd at how much the shoulder brush triggered Kylo.

 

[local]

The new trilogy just doesn't have a coherent plot other than murder all the good characters. Overall it seems like it was created by a 7 year old kid as a continuation of the original trilogy while desperately trying to be original and just making a mess. All they had to do was take the Thrawn trilogy, make some adjustments for time, scale up the kids and new Jedi while scaling back the original cast and hit print.

 

[dainthomas]

The new trilogy just doesn't have a coherent plot other than murder all the good characters. Overall it seems like it was created by a 7 year old kid as a continuation of the original trilogy while desperately trying to be original and just making a mess. All they had to do was take the Thrawn trilogy, make some adjustments for time, scale up the kids and new Jedi while scaling back the original cast and hit print.

Great idea, but Disney would have had to give Zahn too much $$ so they'd never go for it.

 

[local]

Great idea, but Disney would have had to give Zahn too much $$ so they'd never go for it.

Couldn't be too much more than what they paid for the scripts they have been using. And they are still using Zahn to write about Thrawn so it isn't like they threw away the character or the writer. I hope that the next trilogy they mentioned in another part of the galaxy is a Thrawn trilogy set in the outer rim using Zahn for the plot, I will probably be disappointed.

 

[brainhulk]

How come in the tag team battle, it seemed like Kylo or Rey weren't using any force powers? I would have appreciated a force push or pull here or there. Or a force choke to a saber throw...

C'mon!!

 

[local]

How come in the tag team battle, it seemed like Kylo or Rey weren't using any force powers? I would have appreciated a force push or pull here or there. Or a force choke to a saber throw...

C'mon!!

Yeah one or two of those pull through the air then chop them in half things would have been cool. Even a Yoda style slam them into a wall would have been nice. But to be fair Rey has about 8 minutes training and the only strong power Kylo has shown is his magic pause button.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

The execs probably don't give a crap. They are laughing all the way to the bank.

The reviews on IMDB (by "professional" reviewers) is a stunning 8/10. Reviews by the common folk are awful. I remember watching the Triumph the Comic Insult Dog skit "Star Wars Nerds". It was hilarious! One line from the video described a bunch of people in line waiting to watch a few of George Lucas' "table scraps". This is what we are getting ... table scraps.

I'm glad to hear that I am not alone and that others feel that the overall franchise is in decline. The first trilogy was fresh and new. It gave us hope. Lucas threw out the second trilogy which was ... meh. This last group of movies (TFA and TLJ) are just tired regurgitation of old theme and concepts.

What I'm getting from people is that die hards hate it. Nit picking everything. Casuals like it cause it's still SW. I'm in between. Im not die hard or casual so I just think it was enjoyable meh. Like a Michael Bay movie. lol.

 

[local]

Like a Michael Bay movie.

That's it, I agree.

 

[tommo123]

I left the theater depressed.

Last Jedi isn't a bad movie- it's got great scenery, lots of action, some humor...not bad. However, the forced narrative thing is driving me crazy, and they've done it for the last three movies:

- Forcing women to be in hero/leadership roles. The Asian girl was out of place, the purple haired Admiral Holdo was more of a librarian than a leader (and her entire role should have gone to Admiral Ackbar. ALL OF IT)
- Everything familiar needs to be replaced: C3P0 is nice and shiney and maintained. R2-D2 looks and acts like an old, sick dog. Did he piss of maintenance or something? Also, pick off your heroes for no good reason to make you focus on less interesting new characters. Blah.
- Making up new force powers as you go: Superman fell down this hole in Christopher Reeve era. They made up so much new stuff the Force can suddenly do in this movie, I was waiting for Rey to fling a cellophane "S" wrapper at Kylo Ren

- Deconstructing heroes- people want heroes for inspiration. Broken heroes suck. This is why DC's movies aren't working. Star Wars is falling down this hole too. Instead of leaving the theater happy (like when I was a care-free kid), I left feeling like a 40-something adult that realizes everything is terrible and won't get better.


I have more, but am too depressed to type.

what new powers? haven't seen it yet and am not afraid of spoilers.

 

[Fritzo]

what new powers? haven't seen it yet and am not afraid of spoilers.

THEN DON'T ASK

 

[Crotulus]

- Everything familiar needs to be replaced: C3P0 is nice and shiney and maintained. R2-D2 looks and acts like an old, sick dog. Did he piss of maintenance or something?

Spoiler

Did you forget the end of The Force Awakens? R2 had been in sleep mode in the corner since Luke disappeared. Rey and Chewbacca left shortly after the map was revealed so he never had time to get cleaned up. If anything I did wonder why C3PO had his red arm replaced while the Resistance was on the run.

 

[Homerboy]

Spoiler

Did you forget the end of The Force Awakens? R2 had been in sleep mode in the corner since Luke disappeared. Rey and Chewbacca left shortly after the map was revealed so he never had time to get cleaned up. If anything I did wonder why C3PO had his red arm replaced while the Resistance was on the run.

His arm was already replaced at the end of TFA

 

[Crotulus]

His arm was already replaced at the end of TFA

Doh! (Appropriate response to you) I forgot that myself