Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (December 2017)

[Julius]

5 minutes ago, bob said:

  Hide contents

Force ghost being able to directly interact with stuff.

 

Spoiler

To be fair, we saw Obi-Wan’s Force spirit interact with leaves and branches, and even leaning against a tree, on Dagobah in ROTJ.

And even then, I think that it’s important to remember that Yoda’s actions (such as blasting the tree with lightning) are taking place on a world immensely pure and strong with the Force. If Ahch-To is to be thought of as an amplifier - which I think it should be, considering the supposedly impossible feat that Luke achieves towards the end of the film - then I think it makes sense that Yoda’s Force spirit would be able to materialise in such a way, and interact with the world around him in the way that he does.  

 

[Fierce_LiNk]

I've just got back from seeing this. I'll need a second viewing to allow me to appreciate the film a bit more and to fully digest it all. My first impressions are that I am quite underwhelmed and that I felt it was a bit disappointing in many places. There were certain things that I liked, but ultimately a lot of energy was "wasted" in certain areas.

 

Spoiler

I liked the development of Kylo Ren. A much more refined character than the one that appeared in The Force Awakens. Clearly there's a lot of conflict with the character and his scenes with Rey acted were well balanced, as intended.

The surprise inclusion of Yoda! Also, the more playful Empire Strikes Back/Return of the Jedi Yoda! Loved his scene.

I enjoyed the Rey and Luke moments and thought it was interesting seeing a much older and jaded Luke on screen. Very much in the mould of Obi Wan in A New Hope. 

The Millenium Falcon sequence at the end looked fantastic as it manoeuvred through the caverns/caves. A classic Star Wars type of moment.

Spoiler

A lot of the film was centred around Poe, who I found quite difficult to like in this film. I understand that he's trying to be built up as a cocky-Han-Solo-type-of-guy, but it didn't come off well at all, imo. Found it difficult to enjoy his scenes as he just came across as quite bratish and reckless, and not very heroic. It didn't feel like the same character from The Force Awakens.

Finn was completely wasted in this. I felt like his character was sidelined and give a really stupid, unneeded plot to that Casino planet place. That whole sequence felt very prequel-trilogy, including the chase scene. Pretty bad, imo.

The lack of a really good light-sabre fight. Disappointing, especially as there are several characters in the film who could have contributed to a great fight scene.

Captain Phasma. A disappointing end to a depressingly unfulfilled character. Could have been the Boba Fett of this trilogy.

Snoke. So...just as he was beginning to get a little bit interesting (he can use the force, awesome, let's learn more about him) they get rid of him. In a very anti-climactic way, too. He didn't even get a good on-screen death. Again, depressingly unfulfilled. 

Spoiler

Leia. Her death scene was actually ok. I thought it was built up and executed relatively ok...but the preceding scene where she flies back to the ship whilst in deep space was just absolutely hideous. Awful, awful scene and up there with the worst bits from the prequel trilogy. To make matters worse, the character does nothing for the rest of the film, bar the odd line here or there. They could have quite easily kept her blatantly on-screen death and then cut her for the rest of the film. The scene itself looked abysmal and so out of place. Shocking that it was allowed to be kept in the final movie!

Benecio Del Toro's character...wow. I didn't even know he was even in the film, so I perked up when I saw this obviously great Oscar winning actor on screen. What a disappointing character that he has been given. What's with the stutter/stammer, too? The plotline that he was involved it was, again, so badly out of place and pointless. They didn't need that "Casino" planet area and could have quite easily merged his character and Rose together into one, so that she was able to access the information needed to get rid of the tracker. Waste of a good actor.

The more I think about it, the more disappointed I feel. Definitely need a second viewing, but I'm in no rush to see it again. 

Just wondering whether this current conveyor belt of Star Wars films is hindering the series somewhat. This could have been better with a bit of tidying up and better editing. A bit more time in the oven and a few cuts to certain scenes here and there. Maybe. 

[Julius]

10 hours ago, Fierce_LiNk said:

Just wondering whether this current conveyor belt of Star Wars films is hindering the series somewhat. This could have been better with a bit of tidying up and better editing. A bit more time in the oven and a few cuts to certain scenes here and there. Maybe. 

The film was locked in months ago, earlier than any other Star Wars film, so I think the director and Lucasfilm would have to disagree that it needed more time.

If there’s any problem with the film to do with the editing process, it’s probably going to be how the pace was effected by what was left on the cutting room floor: 50 minutes were cut from this film, and - considering how the film lacks three traditional acts and just seems to flow instead - from the little we know about what was cut (from the Art of The Last Jedi and set leaks) the film might have once been very different to how it turned out. It seems that Rian filmed a few more threads than we got in the film (for obvious reasons), but, more importantly, it seems that he might have filmed entire alternative sequences which could have been interchangeable with what we got in the film.

[somme]

11 hours ago, Fierce_LiNk said:

 

  The Terrible (Reveal hidden contents)

Leia. Her death scene was actually ok. I thought it was built up and executed relatively ok...but the preceding scene where she flies back to the ship whilst in deep space was just absolutely hideous. Awful, awful scene and up there with the worst bits from the prequel trilogy. To make matters worse, the character does nothing for the rest of the film, bar the odd line here or there. They could have quite easily kept her blatantly on-screen death and then cut her for the rest of the film. The scene itself looked abysmal and so out of place. Shocking that it was allowed to be kept in the final movie!

Benecio Del Toro's character...wow. I didn't even know he was even in the film, so I perked up when I saw this obviously great Oscar winning actor on screen. What a disappointing character that he has been given. What's with the stutter/stammer, too? The plotline that he was involved it was, again, so badly out of place and pointless. They didn't need that "Casino" planet area and could have quite easily merged his character and Rose together into one, so that she was able to access the information needed to get rid of the tracker. Waste of a good actor.

The more I think about it, the more disappointed I feel. Definitely need a second viewing, but I'm in no rush to see it again. 

 

4

Exactly how I feel. And yeah that Leia bit was the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen in a Star Wars film, including Jar Jar.

[dazzybee]

I was the same, I will say even more time gone and I start thinking about the positives and getting very excited to see it again; I still don't think it will be amazing; but I think I'll appreciate it a lot more.

Spoiler

You say she could've been the boba fest of this trilogy, but he's barely in it and had an underwhelming death scene, I think she is exactly the boba fest of this trilogy. 

Spoiler

I still think the "comedy" devalues some serious/weighty scenes and moments. Though I do hope I tap into the comedy more the second time now I will be used to it; felt so out of place and non-starters comedy....

Although I love Snokes death; I still crave seeing Snoke go up against Rey and Ren... it's. Star Wars film and we don't get one proper lightsaber duel, this would've been perfect.

I'm over smoke being killed off and Reys parents being nobodies; I actually think they're great decisions however underwhelming it felt, dramatically I think it probably was right. Ren being the supreme leader is a new approach to Star Wars; and Rey being a nobody  is far more interesting then being born into it....

The Finn subplot will NEVER be good; not only is it a terrible scene, with terrible CG; it doesn't even more the plot forward much; very very cheap... and I'm stilling having nightmares about the BB8 coin shooting bit.... 

I hope Lukes death feels more powerful the second time rather than - errr, what?!?! 

Argh, I just need to see it again, then I'll know what I think...

 

[bob]

 

I don't really see it as a death as such. I think Obi Wan, Yoda and Luke all just became one with the force, i.e they achieved enlightenment and left their bodies behind.

Overall I really liked it. It was too long though. Could have cut the casino scene, and then the last 15 minutes wouldn't have felt so drawn out.

Loved Snokes death; it really shocked me when he died. I thought he was just going to get his hand chopped off (it is Star Wars after all), so when he fell in half, it was quite a surprise. Keeping him alive for much longer and it would have just been the same as the whole Anakin/Senate relationship in the prequels. I don't really care who Snoke was.

Some of the jokes hit, others missed, but overall I didn't mind the humour. A lot of the humour in previous films has been a bit clumsy, so it kind of fits.

Lukes 'fight' at the end was awesome. I did not see that coming, so it was a great twist.

I can't wait to see it again actually. The end was ruined a bit because of how long it felt, so I'd like to watch it again knowing exactly how long is left.

 

[EEVILMURRAY]

This borrowed more from Return of The Jedi than Empire Strikes Back than I thought it would.

However though, not a bad film.

Spoiler

I hope he comes back. He seems so powerful that it's surprising he hasn't been around before and to have such a quick ending.

 

[Agent Gibbs]

18 hours ago, Fierce_LiNk said:

I've just got back from seeing this. I'll need a second viewing to allow me to appreciate the film a bit more and to fully digest it all. My first impressions are that I am quite underwhelmed and that I felt it was a bit disappointing in many places. There were certain things that I liked, but ultimately a lot of energy was "wasted" in certain areas.

 

  The Good (Reveal hidden contents)

I liked the development of Kylo Ren. A much more refined character than the one that appeared in The Force Awakens. Clearly there's a lot of conflict with the character and his scenes with Rey acted were well balanced, as intended.

The surprise inclusion of Yoda! Also, the more playful Empire Strikes Back/Return of the Jedi Yoda! Loved his scene.

I enjoyed the Rey and Luke moments and thought it was interesting seeing a much older and jaded Luke on screen. Very much in the mould of Obi Wan in A New Hope. 

The Millenium Falcon sequence at the end looked fantastic as it manoeuvred through the caverns/caves. A classic Star Wars type of moment.

  The Not So Good (Reveal hidden contents)

A lot of the film was centred around Poe, who I found quite difficult to like in this film. I understand that he's trying to be built up as a cocky-Han-Solo-type-of-guy, but it didn't come off well at all, imo. Found it difficult to enjoy his scenes as he just came across as quite bratish and reckless, and not very heroic. It didn't feel like the same character from The Force Awakens.

Finn was completely wasted in this. I felt like his character was sidelined and give a really stupid, unneeded plot to that Casino planet place. That whole sequence felt very prequel-trilogy, including the chase scene. Pretty bad, imo.

The lack of a really good light-sabre fight. Disappointing, especially as there are several characters in the film who could have contributed to a great fight scene.

Captain Phasma. A disappointing end to a depressingly unfulfilled character. Could have been the Boba Fett of this trilogy.

Snoke. So...just as he was beginning to get a little bit interesting (he can use the force, awesome, let's learn more about him) they get rid of him. In a very anti-climactic way, too. He didn't even get a good on-screen death. Again, depressingly unfulfilled. 

  The Terrible (Reveal hidden contents)

Leia. Her death scene was actually ok. I thought it was built up and executed relatively ok...but the preceding scene where she flies back to the ship whilst in deep space was just absolutely hideous. Awful, awful scene and up there with the worst bits from the prequel trilogy. To make matters worse, the character does nothing for the rest of the film, bar the odd line here or there. They could have quite easily kept her blatantly on-screen death and then cut her for the rest of the film. The scene itself looked abysmal and so out of place. Shocking that it was allowed to be kept in the final movie!

Benecio Del Toro's character...wow. I didn't even know he was even in the film, so I perked up when I saw this obviously great Oscar winning actor on screen. What a disappointing character that he has been given. What's with the stutter/stammer, too? The plotline that he was involved it was, again, so badly out of place and pointless. They didn't need that "Casino" planet area and could have quite easily merged his character and Rose together into one, so that she was able to access the information needed to get rid of the tracker. Waste of a good actor.

The more I think about it, the more disappointed I feel. Definitely need a second viewing, but I'm in no rush to see it again. 

Just wondering whether this current conveyor belt of Star Wars films is hindering the series somewhat. This could have been better with a bit of tidying up and better editing. A bit more time in the oven and a few cuts to certain scenes here and there. Maybe. 

I agree with all of that really, a lot of set up plot lines we really wasted and supremely underwhelming I liked a lot of the film but felt underwhelmed overall

Spoiler

II didn't like Rey'so parents being nobodies, sure I get the idea but it felt utterly off! They spent 7 building up how she was strong in the force,  dropped hunts about her being a skywalker even to the point of Maz basically saying she was one! It now makes little sense for the Skywalker sabre to have called to her

It would have made more sense for her to be a skywalker, a new hope 

They threw away characters like Maz, Snoke and Phasma unnecessarily

And despite the reasoning to keep Carie's scenes intact, I feel her final exchange with Derns character should have been recut to have leia on the bridge, have scenes of her on the bridge used and have her take the lightspeed death. Then Derns character could be used for Leia's intended role (and not waste a good character)

A lot of the humour was out of place, like after deaths or powerful moments, star wars has humour but it felt too much, forced and like padding

I need a second viewing, it's a good film with some serious flaws and certainly not the modern empire far too many paid off critics claim

Edited December 19, 2017 by Agent Gibbs
Auto correct mistakes

[EEVILMURRAY]

Taken from IMDb

After reading the script for the film, Marl Hamill told director whatever, "I pretty much fundamentally disagree with every choice you've made for this character [Luke Skywalker]. Now, having said that, I have gotten it off my chest, and my job now is to take what you've created and do my best to realize your vision."

 

Couldn't agree more.

Spoiler

Luke is such a pussy in this film. He doesn't try to confront the problem once until the very end, and even that was by proxy.

 

He followed the Jedi theme of running away. Obi Wan did it - technically as he was guarding Luke. And that was after he ruined Vaders shit. He even went back for more and let himself die.

Yoda went into actual hiding, but even he had a crack at Sideous.

Luke had a fleeting Dark Side moment and got knocked out by Kylo pulling his hut thing down (in both versions of the flashback) wakes up, has a little sob over the dead younglings (Obi Wan didn't take that kind of shit) and then flittered away to Ireland to sulk.

Then he came back! Ooooh shit is about to get real! Nope. It's just a Force prohection before he becomes an actual ghost. Wasted.

I think Facebook Messenger sponsored this film. And it wasn't needed.

[Cube]

10 minutes ago, EEVILMURRAY said:

Taken from IMDb

After reading the script for the film, Marl Hamill told director whatever, "I pretty much fundamentally disagree with every choice you've made for this character [Luke Skywalker]. Now, having said that, I have gotten it off my chest, and my job now is to take what you've created and do my best to realize your vision."

 

Couldn't agree more.

You should also use this quote to put what Mark Hamill said into context.

Quote

You quelled my fears, listened to my endless stream of terrible ideas & occasionally used a few here & there. 

He was talking about an early draft, things were changed and he came around to Rian's ideas.

 

@Fierce_LiNk

Spoiler

While she didn't have a lot to do during the remainder of The Last Jedi, the final film was supposed to have a larger focus on Leia. They felt like it would be extremely disrespectful to cut out her parts in this film. 

 

[EEVILMURRAY]

2 hours ago, Cube said:

You should also use this quote to put what Mark Hamill said into context.

He was talking about an early draft, things were changed and he came around to Rian's ideas

IMBd isn't that comprehensive when it comes to that (I think) 

 

Either way. His gut instinct was right. Rian fucked up.

[Julius]

27 minutes ago, EEVILMURRAY said:

Either way. His gut instinct was right. Rian fucked up.

Let’s see...

• the film has hadone of the best opening weeks of all time at the box office. 

• it is critically acclaimed. 

• more and more fans will likely come back around to it - and enjoy it - in the coming weeks, months and years. 

If we want to say that Rian f*d up, don’t we need to determine what, exactly, constitutes a f*k up when it comes to films in the first place? Who, exactly, decides whether it has, or hasn’t, “f*d up”? 

Forgive me - and I have a fair number of problems with the film, despite loving it - but I’m struggling to understand why fans are acting like their gut instincts from their initial viewing of the film are right above all else. To each their own, and I respect the subjectivity of film and other such media, but remember how TFA was widely adored, both critically and by the audience, only to see that initial adoration wane in the following weeks, months and years?

As a Star Wars fan, I knew going into the film that it might take a few viewings to fully appreciate the positives and negatives about the film, and apply that to every new Star Wars film that I watch. I know that I’m not just going to watch the film a few times in the cinema, and that my appreciation of the film might change, for better or worse, well beyond its theatrical run. For example, I enjoyed the prequels growing up, went through a phase of not enjoying them, before coming around to enjoying them again, understanding the directorial and musical context of the films. Sure, the execution still isn’t the best thing in the world and it has a ton of problems, but the films are never going to be changed, so why not just appreciate the best moments that they have to offer? Likewise, I watched ANH and ROTJ prior to TESB, and enjoyed all three of those films, but they fell by the wayside when I was younger thanks to the rapid pace and theatricality of the prequels. Of course, now, understanding them in a greater context, I can greatly appreciate them, flaws and all, as arguably the great film trilogy of all time; yes, even the special editions.

I really enjoyed TFA. I really, really enjoyed TLJ. Do they have problems? Sure. But does that change what I enjoy about them? Absolutely not! I’ve learned to just try to take these films in as they come, and whilst I might lean one way or the other on them, I rarely ever have an informed opinion on them - in the context of how my opinions about the other films were formed - until months or years down the line.

Its difficult to understand where you and many others are coming from without context: how has Star Wars changed your life, if it has at all? What were your expectations and mindset going into this film? Did you enjoy The Force Awakens and it’s characters? Why/why not? What are the worst - and best - parts of The Last Jedi, to you, and why?

Edited December 21, 2017 by Julius Caesar

[Daft]

Disney do it again. They make yet another (live-action) film that's entertaining to watch but falls apart utterly when put under any scrutiny. 

I did not like The Force Awakens, and during the first few minutes where Poe puts Darth Wesley 'on hold', I though I was going to suffer for the next two hours. That bit was so achingly bad.

I was pleasantly surprised by the good, not surprised at the amount of crap, but overall it felt like a smaller more human Star Wars – and while it failed a lot with the human aspect, I respect it for trying.

Laura Dern was the standout character. What she did, was maybe my favourite singular Star Wars moment ever visually. It was like someone sucked all the air out of the room. It really should have been Leia who did that.

Finn is an awful character. His side story was awful. Captain Phasma...is – and always has been – dire. Ray has no character development and Daisy Ridley is not great...but I'm not sure how much I put down to her, because how her character is written is just not compelling and I like to give actor the benefit of the doubt; give them shit to work with, they'll spit shit out right back in your face. Get rid of Finn and Rose, and...like Poe doesn't even meet Ray until the end and it's the second film. There are just too many disjointed bits.

I love Luke. I love mark Hamill. I don't agree with how he was handled but I can accept it.

I did not mind Leia's space angel moment. And I can't tell you why, because it was fucking absurd.

Adam Driver was great, but I felt wasted a tad.

And Snoke... I hope to see more of him but at the same time, plz foreshadow. Just a tad. His death seemed so final.

I'm actually excited to see where it goes. For all it's wrongs, it wasn't as asinine as The Force Awakens.

[Ashley]

I saw it Monday and enjoyed it.  It had its faults, but Star Wars always has been a campy space romp so I'm not sure why it seems to suddenly be an issue.  Sure, some parts were stupid but it was exactly what I expected from the film.  Plus Porgs and BB-8.

I'm glad they tried things a bit differently though, although I still balk at the "you need to let go of the past" from a franchise that is now on an annual cycle.  But still, at least they seem to be expanding it out from the Skywalker-centre.

[EEVILMURRAY]

On 21/12/2017 at 9:18 PM, Julius Caesar said:

Let’s see...

• the film has hadone of the best opening weeks of all time at the box office. 

• it is critically acclaimed. 

• more and more fans will likely come back around to it - and enjoy it - in the coming weeks, months and years. 

Yeah, it's comes as a total shock to the globe that a mainstream Star Wars film would be successful. 

[Fused King]

The joke I laughed at the loudest was the moment where they show a space ship is landing with lots of steam.

I'm all like 'Hmmmm, that looks a lot like an iron. They're really basing ships on an iron now...heh'

Then the camera zooms out and shows that it is actually clothes being ironed.

This was a good scene. I enjoyed this.

Oh, and if we do not get at least a light saber duel akin to the masterfully executed Duel of Fates I will be disappointed in this trilogy.

Edited December 24, 2017 by Fused King

[Agent Gibbs]

points Most of the i mentioned above i can get over after a second viewing,

Spoiler

 

snoke was handled badly over two films so perhaps cutting their losses was a good idea

Rey's parentage could still be up to debate, the source of information wasn't trustworthy as both Ren and Snoke (who manipulated the link for both of them) had a reason to turn Rey, so making her no longer care would be in their benefit.

And in reality Snoke, Phasma and Maz might of had potential but they were handled badly enough that it doesn't matter if they are gone

The real problems i have now, are still that Leia should have taken Holdo's fate and Luke

The more i think about it the whole him trying to kill Ben makes absolutely no sense! Luek Sykwalker, ever the optimist, on learning the Tyranical Genocidal Vader is his father did not give up on him, perused him and succeeded in turning him, going on to save the galaxy.

Then In his own temple, supposedly he was training a new batch of Jedi and everything is going well, he notices at the last minute that Ben has a darkness in him like his father (why exactly did he say Vader at this point at not his Father or Anakin?)  and decided he had no chance of preventing his fall and would just kill him? WUT? it might make sense if they'd set up things weren't going well and Luke was already in a dark place, but for someone with his track record to sudden;y think he wasn't capable is madness - or rather its lazy writing to set up a reson for Rey to not trust Luke and set up a point for Ren to have turned! they threw Luke and his Character development of the previous films under the bus to give motivation to two characters

 

Its just bad writing for some characters

Edited December 24, 2017 by Agent Gibbs

[EEVILMURRAY]

17 hours ago, Fused King said:

Oh, and if we do not get at least a light saber duel akin to the masterfully executed Duel of Fates I will be disappointed in this trilogy.

Any decent lightsabre action would be lovely.

[Ashley]

42 minutes ago, EEVILMURRAY said:

Any decent lightsabre action would be lovely.

[Fierce_LiNk]

I've just come back from seeing this a second time. Carrying on our Christmas tradition of watching a film on Christmas Day in Belgium. Usually, I like to just enjoy the film after seeing it once and then I'll watch it again later to form a better opinion of it. We saw this about a week or so ago and I came out of the cinema with very mixed feelings, with a sprinkling of feeling underwhelmed and a bit disappointed. After coming out of the cinema a second time, I...feel decidedly similar to how I did the first time around. 

First of all...Finn:

Spoiler

What a disappointment his character is in this film. His entire "sidequest" is bad. As in, prequel trilogy levels of bad. It just seemed like they threw in all of the bad pieces of the film that they knew were a bit rubbish and put them altogether into this little arc. Phasma, Del Toro's character, Casino-world. Plus, the added bonus of throwing in Maz Kanata in there, which just reeks of "we didn't know what to do with this character". Urgh. The entire sequence does not hold up well at all and it's going to look even more terrible on repeated viewing in the future. The only redeeming feature is that Rose could become quite useful in the future. Maybe. Her only reason to exist seemed to be so that Finn wasn't lonely on his sidequest and to give a bit more meaning to that bomber who dies at the start of the film.

Secondly, Poe:

Spoiler

Really, really unlikeable. There's no real reason to root for him in this film. I thought he was an interesting addition in The Force Awakens and I was intrigued to see how they'd develop him in this film. The answer...one dimensionally. Rah, rah, blow things up, oh I keep making mistakes, but I sorta lead everyone out in the end (if we ignore the fact that Rey does the real work here). It's just disappointing that these characters were introduced in The Force Awakens and they are more or less undeveloped, with the exception of Rey and Kylo.

Things that I liked:

Spoiler

Rey and Kylo Ren's scenes were great viewing and were one of the strengths of this film. I definitely feel that Kylo is more of a presence in this film and there's finally a bit of menace to him. 

Rey and Luke's scenes were great, although I still am undecided about Luke's characterisation. Leaning towards the negative with that, but the scenes with Rey and all that took place on the island were interesting.

Luke's scene with Yoda. Magical. Brilliant scene and it was just nice to see that playful Yoda again.

Millennium Falcon on the salt planet. Again, excellent, especially where it opened up into that cave during the chase.

The design of the animals was classic Star Wars and had the right balance between cool and cute. 

The dislikes:

Spoiler

Pasted from my previous post, because these didn't really change:

The lack of a really good light-sabre fight. Disappointing, especially as there are several characters in the film who could have contributed to a great fight scene.

Captain Phasma. A disappointing end to a depressingly unfulfilled character. Could have been the Boba Fett of this trilogy.

Snoke. So...just as he was beginning to get a little bit interesting (he can use the force, awesome, let's learn more about him) they get rid of him. In a very anti-climactic way, too. He didn't even get a good on-screen death. Again, depressingly unfulfilled. 

Leia. Her death scene was actually ok. I thought it was built up and executed relatively ok...but the preceding scene where she flies back to the ship whilst in deep space was just absolutely hideous. Awful, awful scene and up there with the worst bits from the prequel trilogy. To make matters worse, the character does nothing for the rest of the film, bar the odd line here or there. They could have quite easily kept her blatantly on-screen death and then cut her for the rest of the film. The scene itself looked abysmal and so out of place. Shocking that it was allowed to be kept in the final movie!

Benecio Del Toro's character...wow. I didn't even know he was even in the film, so I perked up when I saw this obviously great Oscar winning actor on screen. What a disappointing character that he has been given. What's with the stutter/stammer, too? The plotline that he was involved it was, again, so badly out of place and pointless. They didn't need that "Casino" planet area and could have quite easily merged his character and Rose together into one, so that she was able to access the information needed to get rid of the tracker. Waste of a good actor.

Overall, I don't feel that it's here nor there. Some good parts, some bad points, a few moments that are underdeveloped and a few parts that could potentially lead on to good things, but perhaps won't do if this film is anything to go by. I've seen it twice and I am in no definite hurry to see it again. There's a large part of me that wonders if they've gone in with the mentality of "setting the pieces for the final, big part of the trilogy, the big showdown"...but I really don't feel that it's developed enough to be that type of film. To me, this is almost part 2 of 4, not 2 of 3. It's just not compelling enough, or there are not enough compelling characters for it to be considered the second act of three. At least, in my opinion. 

[Cubechris]

By no means perfect, but there is a lot to like here. I enjoyed it. 

[Will]

I quite enjoyed this and holding the new trilogy away from the rest and on their own, I think it's a decent series so far. What I find hard to understand is why these films exist in the first place, and quite how they are relevant as 7, 8 and 9 of an ongoing series.

To me, you could make these episodes 107, 108 and 109. Or equally, they could be a trilogy set many years before Episode 1, were it not for the inclusion of some characters we already know. Really though, if Han, Luke and Leah were completely different people it wouldn't have any impact on the story whatsoever and that makes this trilogy weaker and less enjoyable for me. I was expecting VIII would tie them all together a bit more, and while IX could still do that, I think it's too late to make enough of an impact while still allowing them to finish off the series in a neat way.

On 12/26/2017 at 6:49 AM, Fierce_LiNk said:

To me, this is almost part 2 of 4, not 2 of 3. It's just not compelling enough, or there are not enough compelling characters for it to be considered the second act of three. At least, in my opinion. 

I think this is getting to the crux of the issue, for me this needed to feel like 8 of 9, and we're just a few hours from the end of something epic and I can see the full story arc, where it's all been leading to, and can't wait to get there. Instead, it's starting to feel like a TV show that should have ended a few seasons ago, but they just can't stop themselves.

[Jimbob]

Saw this last night, stayed spoiler free so i went in not knowing much about it.

Spoiler

It felt too much against the Rebellion this time around.  Like everything they were doing, the New Order caught up.  I get that they need a movie to show that, but for me it felt off.  And i guenuenly thought they had Kylo turn from Dark to Light when he killed Snoke (Snoke being killed that way wasn't great, it felt weak).  But remaining on the Dark side afterwards, nice twist.  I loved the development of Kylo and Rey's characters throughout, it was a highlight of the movie.

I know Leia had some understanding of the Force, but flying back into the ship.  Honestly, they should have left the character to die in space.  Poe is trying too much to be another Han Solo, and it's showing it in a bad way.   Luke and Rey's scenes were good, and they had some development to them.  But starting off with Luke basically hiding away not wanting to help anyone because of his failure with Kylo when he was training him.  That didn't seem like Luke to me, but it made it up with Yoda in the end convincing him to help.

The end scenes were good, in fact it was better than parts of the movie.  I knew something was up when Kylo basically bombarded Luke with everything they had, and he just brushed it off.  And his death (if you can call it a death, more departing as one with the Force) was a surprise.  Thought he'd come back and finish teaching Rey how to be a Jedi.

Overall, Last Jedi suffered from middle film issues.  Felt like it could have been better if they paced it better in places.  And i don't see why they had the need to make a new Trilogy, the one-off movie Rogue One was better as it was a 1 movie story.

[Jon]

Wasn't overly impressed with this. Like The Force Awakens, it seems to be be a myriad of recycled plot ideas from the original trilogy with no substance. The whole space scene with Leia was frankly absurd and really had no time for Luke's arc at all.

[Sméagol]

Well, it took me over a month, but I finally went to see it today.