STAR WARS VIII - "The Last Jedi" - Movie Discussion

[zskid00]

Perhaps, but the Germans needed allies to become a sustainable threat.

[Shewie]

 

To those who haven't seen it yet... yesterday #trending5 globally.
Those bunch are the reviewers that Rian "Some Guy" Johnson was afraid of...
One of the best reviews out there. You can play it as a podcast but back to back is a great review to see/hear.

 

 

Edited December 21, 2017 by Shewie

[mizeur]

17 minutes ago, zskid00 said:

Perhaps, but the Germans needed allies to become a sustainable threat.

WWII Germany was also engaging in a conflict in a multi-polar international political environment. Star Wars is about a hegemony going through a coup/civil war.

The First Order and Resistance both obviously have allies within the hegemony. The storytelling just never bothers to show us much of the world beyond the 2 combatants.

[wotguvnotmeguv]

I’ve seen it twice.

On first watch, midnight on day of release, I came out really, really underwhelmed.

After second viewing I’d forgiven certain things, and there were some background things I missed first time round which were good to see.

Overall though, it’s far too long, the casino section is pointless and unimpressive (very 90s-calibre effects in parts), several deaths are annoying, and various storytelling decisions are twisty in a really unsatisfying and clunky way. Luke’s PLANET OF MYSTERY, pent up over two long years, is just rubbish. Every time we were there and a CGI character entered the frame, I just wanted a cut to something happening in space.

There are exceptionally good bits, but on the whole I think they’ve gone the wrong way in several areas.

Ultimately, I wanted it all building to a Force and saber-frenzied ending. What we get is a rug-pull that already leaves Ep IX work to do in currying fan favour.

Also, Daisy Ridley is really, really bad in this film. I enjoyed her work in TFA, but she is not good here.

[jeff_14]

2 minutes ago, wotguvnotmeguv said:

I’ve seen it twice.

On first watch, midnight on day of release, I came out really, really underwhelmed.

After second viewing I’d forgiven certain things, and there were some background things I missed first time round which were good to see.

Overall though, it’s far too long, the casino section is pointless and unimpressive (very 90s-calibre effects in parts), several deaths are annoying, and various storytelling decisions are twisty in a really unsatisfying and clunky way. Luke’s PLANET OF MYSTERY, pent up over two long years, is just rubbish. Every time we were there and a CGI character entered the frame, I just wanted a cut to something happening in space.

There are exceptionally good bits, but on the whole I think they’ve gone the wrong way in several areas.

Ultimately, I wanted it all building to a Force and saber-frenzied ending. What we get is a rug-pull that already leaves Ep IX work to do in currying fan favour.

Also, Daisy Ridley is really, really bad in this film. I enjoyed her work in TFA, but she is not good here.

Just saw it a second time yesterday and had the exact same thoughts except that I liked Daisy Ridley. Even Adam Driver has grown on me. But this is a misfire on many levels. I’ll be surprised if Johnson still gets to do his own trilogy after this.

[stackables]

In my opinion the new movies have not produced any characters I really care about.  There are not really any great scenes that standout.  Even the prequels had some really cool characters introduced.  Grievous and Maul really standout as super cool characters.

[exciter1]

1 hour ago, stackables said:

In my opinion the new movies have not produced any characters I really care about.  There are not really any great scenes that standout.  Even the prequels had some really cool characters introduced.  Grievous and Maul really standout as super cool characters.

The battles and large ship sequences really stand out to me.  I think they are great.  As far as over the top cool characters, I agree, pretty thin there.

[Val-E]

I don´t remember any great dogfights in the last two films. Airwolf had better combat scenes.

[exciter1]

12 minutes ago, Val-E said:

I don´t remember any great dogfights in the last two films. Airwolf had better combat scenes.

The fleet showing up on Scarif and the use of the hammerhead was worth the price of admission for me in "Rogue One".

[mudcatsfan]

15 minutes ago, Val-E said:

I don´t remember any great dogfights in the last two films. Airwolf had better combat scenes.

When the Resistance showed up on Takodana and Poe took out like 9 Tie's and 10 Troopers on one strafing run, that was pretty epic.

2 minutes ago, exciter1 said:

The fleet showing up on Scarif and the use of the hammerhead was worth the price of admission for me in "Rogue One".

Agreed!

[mudcatsfan]

1 hour ago, stackables said:

In my opinion the new movies have not produced any characters I really care about.  There are not really any great scenes that standout.  Even the prequels had some really cool characters introduced.  Grievous and Maul really standout as super cool characters.

So that makes you,,,,,,,,,,,,,about 22-26?

[stackables]

1 minute ago, mudcatsfan said:

So that makes you,,,,,,,,,,,,,about 22-26?

Not sure what you mean by that comment.  Is that suppose to be a jab?

[mudcatsfan]

3 minutes ago, stackables said:

Not sure what you mean by that comment.  Is that suppose to be a jab?

It's a jab, but without ill-intent.

You mention that you like Grievous and Maul but found no characters here to like.

That makes me think you were probably "prime star wars age" around Ep 1 and Ep 2 which would make you around 22-26 years old now.

I say that because I had the same issues when I hated Ep 1- Ep 3 in my twenties.

So now the question is, was I right? Or are you also a 40-ish nerd like me, but you hated it?

[Darth_Raichu]

1 hour ago, stackables said:

In my opinion the new movies have not produced any characters I really care about.  There are not really any great scenes that standout.  Even the prequels had some really cool characters introduced.  Grievous and Maul really standout as super cool characters.

Are you telling us you felt something other than indifference when Maul was cut to 2 at the end of Phantom Menace??

Maul & Grievous did not have any personalities to speak of until they were on CW cartoon.

[stackables]

1 minute ago, mudcatsfan said:

It's a jab, but without ill-intent.

You mention that you like Grievous and Maul but found no characters here to like.

That makes me think you were probably "prime star wars age" around Ep 1 and Ep 2 which would make you around 22-26 years old now.

I say that because I had the same issues when I hated Ep 1- Ep 3 in my twenties.

So now the question is, was I right? Or are you also a 40-ish nerd like me, but you hated it?

I didn't like the prequels but they had more memorable characters.  The movies just suffered from terrible casting and horrible dialogue.  I really thought the characters they introduced were still very cool though, Greivous and Darth Maul stood out as the 2 best.  The new movies have a bunch of humans.  No cool alien looking main characters.  And I am your age.

[Jeff Mack]

Grievous was a very cool looking character, but the way it was portrayed in the movies was horrific.  The coughing, voice, etc killed the character for me.  Could have seriously been made more badass.  When he was killed, I didn't really care.  Darth Maul was definitely a cool character and George did it right.  When he came on screen I cared what was going on.  He seemed ruthless and made a great leadin for darth vader. Should have been around at least one more movie if not all 3 prequels.

[kumas]

TLJ was terrible mess and killed all the thrill for any future SW movie

[stackables]

1 minute ago, Darth_Raichu said:

Are you telling us you felt something other than indifference when Maul was cut to 2 at the end of Phantom Menace??

Maul & Grievous did not have any personalities to speak of until they were on CW cartoon.

I was pissed.  I was like there goes the best part of the movie. Obviously Grievous was fleshed out in the cartoon but he still stood out as a very interesting character who you wanted to learn more about.  I honestly could care less if any of the new main cast died.  I was actually hoping Finn succeeded in his suicide run ha. Without an interesting backstory, Rey bores me and Poe is just a "rambunctious" pilot who needs to be put in his place....boring

[California92563]

There have been some good dogfights in the new trilogy and like exciter mentioned the space battle alone in rogue one was worth the price of admission. 

[mudcatsfan]

4 minutes ago, stackables said:

I didn't like the prequels but they had more memorable characters.  The movies just suffered from terrible casting and horrible dialogue.  I really thought the characters they introduced were still very cool though, Greivous and Darth Maul stood out as the 2 best.  The new movies have a bunch of humans.  No cool alien looking main characters.  And I am your age.

Ok, i can get on board with some of that. I do think there was some fantastic character creation ruined by dialogue in the Preqs.

So are you saying you enjoy the new humans, just wish some of them had been aliens? I could see that.

I think Poe is great, Hux is a hoot, Rey is pretty good, and Kylo Ren is fantastic.

He goes from ROARING, to a very vulnerable "Join me............please"

I like the nuance in his character and how I didn't FULLY know what he was going to do in that climactic throne room scene

[exciter1]

11 minutes ago, mudcatsfan said:

Ok, i can get on board with some of that. I do think there was some fantastic character creation ruined by dialogue in the Preqs.

So are you saying you enjoy the new humans, just wish some of them had been aliens? I could see that.

I think Poe is great, Hux is a hoot, Rey is pretty good, and Kylo Ren is fantastic.

He goes from ROARING, to a very vulnerable "Join me............please"

I like the nuance in his character and how I didn't FULLY know what he was going to do in that climactic throne room scene

Is it wrong that I care more for Adam Driver as an actor than I do for Kylo Ren as a character.  I really like Adam's portrayal of him in TLJ, but I still don't care for the character that much.  I think we'll see plenty of aliens in "Solo", but it would be nice if one of the main crew in this trilogy was also alien, besides Chewbacca.

Check it out, Poe and Padme are doing it in this one...  "Annihilation"

 

[Darth_Raichu]

4 minutes ago, stackables said:

I was pissed.  I was like there goes the best part of the movie. Obviously Grievous was fleshed out in the cartoon but he still stood out as a very interesting character who you wanted to learn more about.  I honestly could care less if any of the new main cast died.  I was actually hoping Finn succeeded in his suicide run ha. Without an interesting backstory, Rey bores me and Poe is just a "rambunctious" pilot who needs to be put in his place....boring

So the best part of the movie was a short red guy who did not have any back story,  hardly any line, and cut in half by the end.  Was he memorable because of the character or just because the rest of PM sucked???

For the record, I also think Finn should have died vs the cannon, BUT make his sacrifice meaningless since the cannon would fire anyway.  Yes I like my story dark

[exciter1]

So the best part of the movie was a short red guy who did not have any back story,  hardly any line, and cut in half by the end.  Was he memorable because of the character or just because the rest of PM sucked???

For the record, I also think Finn should have died vs the cannon, BUT make his sacrifice meaningless since the cannon would fire anyway.  Yes I like my story dark

I cared more for Darth Maul after interacting with Ray Park at SW Celebration and watching his panels.

[stackables]

1 minute ago, Darth_Raichu said:

So the best part of the movie was a short red guy who did not have any back story,  hardly any line, and cut in half by the end.  Was he memorable because of the character or just because the rest of PM sucked???

For the record, I also think Finn should have died vs the cannon, BUT make his sacrifice meaningless since the cannon would fire anyway.  Yes I like my story dark

He was memorable because he was actually a menacing bad guy who looked and played the part.  If you prefer you villains/bad guys to be like howdy doody Hux or emo Ren then so be it

[California92563]

26 minutes ago, Jeff Mack said:

Grievous was a very cool looking character, but the way it was portrayed in the movies was horrific.  The coughing, voice, etc killed the character for me.  Could have seriously been made more badass.  When he was killed, I didn't really care.  Darth Maul was definitely a cool character and George did it right.  When he came on screen I cared what was going on.  He seemed ruthless and made a great leadin for darth vader. Should have been around at least one more movie if not all 3 prequels.

Plus at the time with maul there was a lot of mystery shrouded around him and that added quite a bit to him.