STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI

If you have seen STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI, how would you rate it?


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Dragonlordxxxxx

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Update: December 14, 2017

Dragonlord’s Review of STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI
(Minor Spoilers)

Bottom Line: Severely underwhelming. All I kept on thinking throughout was, “Really, this is the best story you could come up with?”

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Star Wars: The Force Awakens rehashed lots of elements as well as the narrative structure from A New Hope. Fans were hoping that Star Wars: The Last Jedi would break free from this cycle and give them something bold and original for the sequel. The Last Jedi opens with the First Order arriving at the Resistance base with the rebels in the middle of evacuating just like in Empire Strikes Back. D’oh! It’s not exactly the same but it’s similar in nature. The space action sequence was well done and highlights Poe Dameron’s (Oscar Isaac) heroics.

The highly-anticipated meeting between Rey (Daisy Ridley) and Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) was a dud. Whatever thoughts of epic or special moments you were anticipating, discard them now. Junk those “Eye of the Tiger” music that’s playing in your head. Nothing really extraordinary happens during her training and the interaction between the two characters doesn’t live up to expectations. Even when the only notable lesson Luke teaches her is a Force meditation, Rey still comes out more powerful than before after leaving the planet.

The First Order fleet catches up to the few remaining rebel spaceships thanks to their new lightspeed tracking device and a slow, unexciting pursuit begins as the Resistance ships, with only 6 hours worth of fuel, have to keep on running with the First Order right behind their tail. It is more boring and uneventful than it actually sounds. Plus there are a lot of holes with this scenario (unlimited force field, TIE fighters could have easily chased after the rebel ship, etc.). It also kills the tension when small rebel ships are shown coming and going any time they want.

Finn (John Boyega) and Rose (Kelly Marie Tan), a Resistance maintenance worker, break off from the pack in their spaceship to go to a casino in Canto Bight to look for a master codebreaker. The whole side adventure with Finn and Rose is just a waste of screen time because not only are the events that happened on their mission uninspiring, these two characters are not interesting enough to care. Along the way, they meet a shady character named DJ (Benicio Del Toro) who agrees to help them out with their First Order problem. This is another Empire Strikes Back throwback with Canto Bight as Cloud City and DJ as Lando Calrissian. Something happens later that makes this whole trip pointless.

Now this is where killing Han Solo in The Force Awakens was a premature mistake. If they kept Han alive, not only would he have given The Last Jedi a much needed boost in charm and personality but he would have surely accompanied Finn and Rose on Canto Bight where Han would have turned that bland mission into an entertaining segment. With the exception of Rey, these weak-ass new generation characters are lackluster, having Han around would have offset this. Also, Han and Luke needed to see each other one last time before Han dies.

Half of the cast is terrific, it’s just the script that doesn’t give their characters justice properly. Daisy Ridley still brought the same charisma and beauty from TFA that makes Rey such a compelling character. But if you didn’t like Rey in TFA for whatever reasons you had, you probably won’t like her here either. Mark Hamill as the older Luke Skywalker was good but disappointed with the direction they took the character in. They don't even deliver what fans truly wanted to see out of Luke (see spoiler box below). Carrie Fisher was outstanding as General Leia as she exhibits strong leadership, warmth, humor and a really cool and very memorable character moment. Aside from throwing another hissy fit/temper tantrum, Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) is a more interesting and nuanced character in here, and his scenes with Rey were intriguing.

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Aside from his solid action scenes at the beginning, they really didn’t know what to do with Poe Dameron as he is just going through the motions. They even give him some mutiny subplot that amounted to nothing except to kill time. BB-8 was adorable of course but they went overboard with making him into a fighter. Chewbaca was so marginalized he might as well have been a cameo. Finn was more likable here than in TFA. Rose felt tacked on and this is completely shallow on my part but I wished they switched places with her sister, Paige (Vietnamese stunner Veronica Ngo), who was easy on the eyes.

Whatever respectability General Hux (Domhnall Gleeson) garnered in The Force Awakens is totally gone now as he is made into a laughing stock and the butt of most of the jokes. Supreme Leader Snoke is a bust. All the build-up amounted to nothing (see spoiler box). Snoke’s CGI was unnecessary as his appearance can be easily copied with make-up and prosthetics. Captain Phasma, who looked really cool but was utterly useless in The Force Awakens, had more to do in here but still falls behind the Porgs as memorable characters go. Benicio Del Toro was wasted in here but I feel the payoff for his character will be on the third movie.

Just as you thought the movie is going to end, surprise, there’s still 30 minutes left. Although it amounted to nothing, the visual imagery of the Rebel speeders rushing towards the walkers leaving behind a trail of red dust is just stunning. To the surprise of no one, the special effects are amazing and the sets are remarkable. Traditionalists will be happy to know that they maintained the retro tech look to make it compatible with the original trilogy. Aside from Empire Strikes Back, there are reused moments taken from Return of the Jedi as well. The lightsaber action seemed more grounded. I personally would have love to see a more fantastical approach to the fight scenes.

The first 80-90 minutes is pretty dull. Throughout I kept on thinking, “Really, this is the best story you could come up with?” For a Star Wars movie, the story felt a bit generic and the direction they took it in was disappointing. After watching The Last Jedi, you will be more appreciative for The Force Awakens. Whatever flaws The Force Awakens had, at least it was fast-paced, engaging and exciting for the most part.

The Last Jedi subverts a lot of fan expectations by answering 2-years worth of theories and resolving character arcs in an unsatisfactory manner. There is no problem with subverting expectations but give the viewers something memorable and exciting in return instead of just rehashing elements of Episodes V and VI and introducing new but asinine storylines like the spaceship chase or the insipid Canto Bight scene. One has to wonder why they couldn't keep the same writers for all three movies in this trilogy. At least it would have a cohesive voice and direction.

The Last Jedi is solely written and directed by Rian Johnson, the same filmmaker that gave us the smart, trippy sci-fi thriller Looper. And that's why it's so dismaying to learn that this is what he came up with for Episode VIII. It's also disconcerting to know that Rian is set to write and direct the first movie of a new Star Wars trilogy. Let's all hope he can come up with something better than this because the franchise won't survive if it's the same quality as The Last Jedi.

Updated Rating: 4/10

I really thought Leia was dead when she was sucked out into space. I was thinking at that time that it was not a good sendoff for that character. So I was relieved that she miraculously was still alive. As for the absurdity of it, I can understand why people will hate it. But for me, it wasn't really anything ridiculous. She is a Skywalker after all. We don't know the extent of her training in the Force for the 30+ years we haven't seen the character. Her Force powers kicked in and saved her life. It also wasn't anything super extraordinary what she did, she just pulled herself to the nearest door. As you know, there's no gravity in space. So a simple tug or push can send you off to another direction. I've read that it takes 15 seconds for a person to fall unconscious in space (I don't have a data for how long can a person survive in space though). She was floating in space for what seemed less than a minute, so it's still not totally absurd to think that her special connection to the Force helped saved her. Besides, this is a universe where people can levitate X-Wing Fighters with their mind, so not that hard to believe for Leia to do what she did.

Puppet Yoda looked bad. They probably used the same puppet from the original trilogy. I don't care, it still looked bad. Give me CGI Yoda any day.

The Return of the Jedi carbon copy was so evident when Rey surrendered herself to Kylo Ren and then presented to Supreme Leader Snoke. Snoke then tortures Rey in front of a conflicted Kylo.

Snoke’s death was a surprise. Thought we would get one more appearance from him in the next film. For all the build-up the character he had in the past 2 years, Snoke’s arc was a letdown.

I think a Kylo Ren turn would have been also interesting. But then, who would have been the big bad after Snoke died, General Hux? LOL.

Vice Admiral Holdo (Laura Dern) was an idiot for not telling Poe about her plans which forced Poe to take drastic actions. They also did a poor job with the reaction time when the First Order started shooting at the escape ships, it took like forever for Holdo to come up with a decision to ram the enemy with her ship in hyperdrive.

Holdo's hyperdrive suicide run was awesome though. Now that is something we haven't seen before from Star Wars. Makes you wonder why they haven't used this tactic before.

As fan service goes, this does not deliver. Fans wanted to see Luke wreck havoc on the First Order, similar to how Darth Vader’s ending scene in Rogue One. Instead we got a hologram fight between him and Kylo. It was good, mind you, but not really the most optimal epic moment we were all hoping to see.

Rian Johnson subverting fan expectations for The Last Jedi is similar if they killed Thanos midway in Avengers: Infinity War or revealing that after collecting all six Infinity Stones, it did absolutely nothing.

Speaking of fan service, after two years of speculation and theories on Rey's parents, The Last Jedi gave a big fuck you to super die hard fans when they reveal casually that Rey's parent are just ordinary people or nobodies who sold Rey when she was young.

Luke and Leia reunited for a brief time was heartwarming. Love Leia's line about her hair.

Seeing how things unfolded with Luke (astral projection fighting Kylo and then dying at the end), they should have just revealed that Luke already died many years ago when Kylo crushed him with the rocks and Rey has been interacting all along with a tangible Force Ghost.

The third movie of this new trilogy is going to feel a significant drop in box office since it's going to lack star/nostalgia power since Han Solo is dead, Leia will probably not be seen for the most of the next movie (since Carrie Fisher died) and Luke will now just be a Force Ghost and disappoint the billions of fans wanting Old Man Skywalker from physically fighting the bad guys. The way The Last Jedi ended will also lower the anticipation for the third movie since most of the old characters won't show up, they answered the important questions (unsatisfactorily) and resolved most of the major plot. At this point, nobody will care if the Resistance is still struggling at the end of this movie.
 
Speaking of hot, as I said in my review I know this is shallow but I wished Rose switched roles with her much hotter sister Paige.

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Update: December 17, 2017

STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI Opens to $220 Million in U.S., Hits $450 Million Globally


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Disney and Lucasfilm's Star Wars: The Last Jedi delivered an early Christmas present for Hollywood and theater owners with a near-record $220 million debut in North America, the second-best showing of all time behind Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

The Last Jedi opened a mere 11 percent behind The Force Awakens' record-shattering domestic launch of $247.9 million on the same weekend in 2015, a rare feat in the age of sequels. Revenue for the weekend spiked more than 30 percent over the same weekend last year, helping to narrow the yearly gap from 4 percent to 3 percent.

Internationally, director Rian Johnson's tentpole took in $230 million from 54 markets for a worldwide launch of $450 million. The Last Jedi came in 20 percent-25 percent Force Awakens overseas, where sci-fi can be a tough sell. The big question mark is China, where Last Jedi doesn't open until Jan. 5. IMAX theaters turned in $40.6 million globally.

Buoyed by glowing reviews and an A CinemaScore, The Last Jedi is one of only three films to open to $200 million or more domestically after The Force Awakens, Universal's Jurassic World ($208.8 million) and fellow Disney title The Avengers ($207.4 million), not accounting for inflation. And the Star Wars series is now the first film franchise in history to see two installments clear $200 million in another win for the Disney production empire and marketing team.

The Last Jedi — otherwise known as Episode VIII — reunites many of the new Star Wars actors introduced in The Force Awakens, including Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis and Lupita Nyong'o, along with original stars Mark Hamill and the late Carrie Fisher, to whom the movie is dedicated. Franchise newcomers include Kelly Maria Tran, Laura Dern and Benicio del Toro.

The story picks up immediately after the events of The Force Awakens, with Rey (Ridley) seeking out Luke (Hamill) to help the Resistance (led by Fisher's Leia) and its fight against the villainous Kylo Ren (Driver) and The First Order.

The movie came in well ahead of last year's stand-alone film, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story ($155.1 million). Globally, Force Awakens and Rogue One went on to to earn $2.1 billion and $1.1 billion, respectively.

The Last Jedi blasted off just as Disney announced its $52.4 billion bid to buy major 21st Century Fox assets, including the film studio, home of George Lucas' first six Star Wars movies prior to selling Lucasfilm to Disney.

In a twist of fate, the only film daring to open opposite the event film was Fox's Ferdinand, from Fox Animation and Blue Sky Studios. Ferdinand placed No. 2 with $13.3 million from 3,261 theaters, the lowest debut of any Fox Animation/Blue Sky title. At the same time, Fox believes the movie will enjoy a strong multiple over the holidays thanks to younger tots and their parents looking for something to do. In 2015, Fox's Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip opened opposite The Force Awakens to $14.3 million on its way to collecting a total $85.9 million domestically.

Weekend Box Office: 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' Opens to Near-Record $220M in U.S., Hits $450M Globally
 
After giving the movie some more thought I'm even more upset about how bad it was. Holy hell I just read that there are quite a few people calling this one of the best star wars, some even saying its better than ESB. Are they just trolling? Lemme list just some of the issues with TLJ:


1. horrible plot:
-rebel ship floats through space for around 2 hours of movie time then rebels escape

2. pointless side stories:
-the entire casino part was a waste of time
-Fin and the two pointless characters boarding the Destroyer was a waste of time

3. pointless characters:
-mechanic asian lady
-the code breaker dude
-Phasma (lol at bringing her back to kill her again)
- the king of irrelevancy; Finn

4. Way to much humor:
-is this star wars or guardians of the galaxy?
-so much forced humor that it was hard to even take any parts serious
-Mary Poppins flying Leia lol

5. The movie destroyed any interesting cliffs/ story lines:
-Snoke was a huge can with no story
-nothing interesting about Rey's backstory
-Luke just disappeared
-The rebels and the first order are pretty much depleted so they aren't threatening at all anymore
-the only villain is temper tantrum Kylo who was proven to be inferior to Rey once again (she even had to save him lol)


Overall probably my least favorite star wars ever. The only ones that may be worse are Phantom Menace and Clone Wars (Even the plot of those movies were far better than TLJ though)
 
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I actually thought Snoke was fantastic until the end. His demeanor, his power (really f'n strong), and his throne room was an awesome set piece.

Snoke and Luke were; by far, the most interesting players in this trilogy.

I guess I just have to accept that this trilogy is for the new fans that gravitate more to the new characters.
 
That movie was fucking horrible and if you disagree, you're a fucking idiot. You're entitled to be one, it's okay, but fuck me that movie jumped out of the realm of "Decent" when Leia flys back in the ship like Neo in Matrix Revolutions and idc if that's a spoiler you fuck right off.

Fuck that movie was bad.

Even the original trilogy is overrated. These are just popcorn movies. Calm down.
 
Aren't you people ever tired of politics? Why do you watch every movie with this mindset. You see the world the way you want to see it. The truth is that we live in a melting pot and I'm totally fine with having minority characters. Maybe you should get out of your redneck town and move to a bigger city

What do you mean "you people?" You think Im alt right? Lol...

I guarantee I am more passionate/knowledgeable about Star Wars than anyone on this website. Pointing out the clear political pandering done in this movie to appease an "audience" of far left feminists (who have written multiple articles about the movie as a sign of empowerment to women), somehow makes me political... mmmk.

P.s. - I like Rey, and Finn would be good if he toned the comedy down a bit. Poe is clearly Wedge 2.0, but less interesting and with forced jokes that turn Star Wars into Guardians of the Galaxy.
 
Even the original trilogy is overrated. These are just popcorn movies. Calm down.

Come on. Popcorn movies don't span 40 years and illicit this time of response from moviegoers.
 
What do you mean "you people?" You think Im alt right? Lol...

I guarantee I am more passionate/knowledgeable about Star Wars than anyone on this website. Pointing out the clear political pandering done in this movie to appease an "audience" of far left feminists (who have written multiple articles about the movie as a sign of empowerment to women), somehow makes me political... mmmk.

P.s. - I like Rey, and Finn would be good if he toned the comedy down a bit. Poe is clearly Wedge 2.0, but less interesting and with forced jokes that turn Star Wars into Guardians of the Galaxy.



Yeah you sound just like one of those nut jobs. You probably just listened to this guy before making your posts.
 
What do you mean "you people?" You think Im alt right? Lol...

I guarantee I am more passionate/knowledgeable about Star Wars than anyone on this website. Pointing out the clear political pandering done in this movie to appease an "audience" of far left feminists (who have written multiple articles about the movie as a sign of empowerment to women), somehow makes me political... mmmk.

P.s. - I like Rey, and Finn would be good if he toned the comedy down a bit. Poe is clearly Wedge 2.0, but less interesting and with forced jokes that turn Star Wars into Guardians of the Galaxy.

I think Poe is much more than Wedge 2.0. The idea of grooming Poe to lead the resistance is one of the more compelling storylines in this new trilogy, IMO.
 
I'm reading some of you guys being super upset about the movie and calling it bad.

But like, you have to remember the key to Star Wars: Fun. None of the Star Wars movies had big, complex, Oscar-worthy stories. They were built on familiar stories in a new setting. Unfortunately, that setting isn't new anymore. But the movies are still super fun. I laughed at the jokes, was impressed with the effects, and had some emotional moments in the theater.
 
Come on. Popcorn movies don't span 40 years and illicit this time of response from moviegoers.

It is a popcorn movie, that isn't necessarily an insult. The franchise is famous because they built an entire new universe with cool characters. That doesn't mean the stories are amazing. I would never include any star wars film in my top 10.
 
I laughed out loud when Leia floated through space without a suit on and survivied.

Very underwhelming movie. No reason to handle Luke like they did.

Snoke could have been an interesting segment, then get's shown for a mere coupke minutes. We didn't even get to see him fight.


I know a lot of people are talking shit about Leia floating through space but that's actually very plausible especially with the power of the force. You can survive in space about 15 seconds without a space suit. Now they stretched it to about 30 secs but still I really had no issue with that scene.
 
I had actually liked the idea of Ultron in Avengers 2 and thought he could have been a very cool villain if they had invested more time into him and his existence. (I just rewatched that movie recently. .forgot how bad it was--thanks Whedon)
This is a problem with a lot of films though..and it's not just a Disney thing.
Too many movies focus entirely on the good guys and think that just putting up a giant orc, or dragon is good enough for a bad guy.
It's insane that writers, directors, etc STILL haven't learned this lesson.

What's the most famous line from Star Wars? "I am your father" who said it? The bad guy! Why is The Dark Knight loved as much as it is? It's not because of Batman....
If you have a great villain, it makes your hero and movie all the more better.
I really don't understand why studios constantly do fuck all with the bad guys.
Instead of 30 minutes at a casino and racing giant giraffes on steroids, we should have been learning about Snokes, the dark side, building up Ren to be an actual bad ass. Id then be a lot more invested and interested in how Luke and Rey would counter

It depends a lot on the story your telling but I'd agree that Ultron and Kylo have similar issues, both are characters who need complex motivations and individual arcs yet don't get enough time devoted to them.

In that respect Kylo is very different to Vader who as iconic as he was is actually mostly a foil for Luke's character in the originals. Kylo is far more independent though and demands more in the way of motivation and general time spent on him.

What material we do get in this film though is I think clearly the most successful part of it, there just should have been a whole lot more at the expense of a lot of irrelevant messy plotting elsewhere with the Snoke confrontation and immediate aftermath probably being the climax.
 
I'm reading some of you guys being super upset about the movie and calling it bad.

But like, you have to remember the key to Star Wars: Fun. None of the Star Wars movies had big, complex, Oscar-worthy stories. They were built on familiar stories in a new setting. Unfortunately, that setting isn't new anymore. But the movies are still super fun. I laughed at the jokes, was impressed with the effects, and had some emotional moments in the theater.

That's part of my issue though is the first half of that movie was anything but fun. It started off ok and I expected it to be a bit slow at first but half way through I was just like get going already. Thankfully the second half was much better.
 
I had actually liked the idea of Ultron in Avengers 2 and thought he could have been a very cool villain if they had invested more time into him and his existence. (I just rewatched that movie recently. .forgot how bad it was--thanks Whedon)
This is a problem with a lot of films though..and it's not just a Disney thing.
Too many movies focus entirely on the good guys and think that just putting up a giant orc, or dragon is good enough for a bad guy.
It's insane that writers, directors, etc STILL haven't learned this lesson.

What's the most famous line from Star Wars? "I am your father" who said it? The bad guy! Why is The Dark Knight loved as much as it is? It's not because of Batman....
If you have a great villain, it makes your hero and movie all the more better.
I really don't understand why studios constantly do fuck all with the bad guys.
Instead of 30 minutes at a casino and racing giant giraffes on steroids, we should have been learning about Snokes, the dark side, building up Ren to be an actual bad ass. Id then be a lot more invested and interested in how Luke and Rey would counter

It worries me that they are not just assuming consumers don't want depth and thought, but that there is a concerted effort to CREATE consumers who don't want depth or thought.
 
That's part of my issue though is the first half of that movie was anything but fun. It started off ok and I expected it to be a bit slow at first but half way through I was just like get going already. Thankfully the second half was much better.

I'll have to watch it again, but I don't remember being anything other than entertained for the duration of the movie. Even the slower stuff worked because they threw in some fun gags.
 


Yeah you sound just like one of those nut jobs. You probably just listened to this guy before making your posts.


This thread is rich, Im apparently alt right, and like Stefan Molyneaux. You got me pegged down completely...
 
It worries me that they are not just assuming consumers don't want depth and thought, but that there is a concerted effort to CREATE consumers who don't want depth or thought.
There seems to be some sort of idiotic notion that you can only do one or the other..you need to either appeal to the lowest common denominator, or be overly complex.
You can make an interesting, deep story, and still appeal to a wide audience.
Cartoons do it all the time.

But yea, it feels like they WANT to make everything as simple as possible.
It's surprising and depressing how many people are happy with what they're getting these days
 
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