Star Wars: The Last Jedi (Rian Johnson, December 15, 2017) Movie • Page 154

Wow. I’m surprised by all the mixed reactions in here. Though I guess Rogue One had a lot upon release on Chorus as well.

 

I asked my wife “is he fucking floating?”

 

I have so many other movies I need to see but I really want to go to this again.

Also why has nobody mentioned how insanely awesome Snoke’s throne room was? One of the coolest sets in the franchise.

 

I'm trying to do some mental gymnastics to tie Finn's arc to something bigger or some kind of message but I can't. I need to see it again to see if it was all as pointless as it seemed.

 

It really was and his guards were totally badass. Loved their reaction when Kylo stood up in anger against Snoke.

 

It was mainly tied to Poe’s arc but also I feel like a lot of people aren’t giving Finn’s arc enough credit. Like, it is the weakest arc in the film but it’s there.

Finn defected from the First Order because his conditioning didn't take and the violence at the beginning of TFA was too much for him to handle. But he joined the Resistance mainly because he cared for Rey, but also because it was a sort of purpose for him where he now had none. But he had no real personal connection to the cause itself. But even in this film, at the beginning, he was ready to abandon the Resistance to save himself and Rey, rather than staying and trying to help save the ships. So, he clearly wasn't in this for the right reasons and, much like how he was going to leave at Maz's cantina in TFA, he tried to leave again here. But his time with Rose changed all that. It made him realize that he was now just as much a part of the Resistance as anyone else, and a part they needed to be able to rely on. His big moment came when he struck down Phasma and we got that awesome moment where she said "You were always scum," to which Finn replied "Rebel scum" (one of my favorite moments in the film, btw). And then, not long after that definitive moment of acceptance of his place in the world, he was ready to sacrifice himself for the cause. That's development, even if it wasn't handled as well as it could have or should have been.

 

The more I'm thinking about this film the more I dislike it. It's so weird, I loved individual scenes, it was beautifully shot, the acting was great but I think a lot of it just felt hollow to me. So much of it was just lacking depth which really shouldn't be a problem in a 2 and a half hour movie. The humour was genuinely funny when it came in but just felt so out of place and distracted from everything else. I'm just really disappointed.

 

Agree. Finn's finally ready to fight the First Order. I think he's poised to be a key leader for the rebellion in IX, that definitely doesn't happen without his arc here.

 

Yeah I agree. I just added this to my prior post, actually:

 

I don't think this was posted

 

Poor Maz. Lupita Nyong'o deserved better than a 30-second Skype call during a game of Call of Duty

 

Staying out of the thread from now until I see it this afternoon. The mixed responses honestly haven't lowered my excitement at all, now I just want to see WHY this is so divisive! See y'all on the other side!

 

I'm convinced a huge part of why this film is so divisive is because it defied pretty much every expectation and fan theory that's been thrown around for the last two years, and people are evaluating it in relation to what they built up in their heads, rather than what it actually is. Possibly Johnson's greatest accomplishment here was to actually make a film that the internet was incapable of crowd-sourcing the plot to.

 

I enjoyed this movie a lot. Even a lot of the stuff people didn't like, I thought was pretty cool. I don't know, I'm sure some y'all honestly feel this way, but it seems like some people are just trying to get their hot takes out there too fast.

 

I like this movie for a lot of the same reasons I love Lynch. We didn't get answers to some questions people where begging to get. The idea of the force we've had for 8 other movies is subverted in interesting ways. And certain plot threads either don't resolve at all or resolve in ways that aren't clean. There were multiple times where I thought I had figured out how the rest of the movie would go, I was wrong almost every time.
I think a couple of characters could have been handled better. If Phasma had been reintroduced on the casino planet negotiating an arms deal, out of uniform I think it would reduce how jarring her appearance and departure are. Plus I binge watched GoT this year and need more Gwendoline Christie!

 

Haven't read through this thread to avoid accidentally hovering over spoilers but it seems like 90% of the internet hates this movie. Wow.

 

My biggest issues with the film aren't the questions it does or doesn't answer. They're the schlocky jokes (mostly with Luke, from throwing the lightsaber behind him to milking that cow thing and getting milk all in his beard), hollow CGI world-building (the casino and animal chase, which George Lucas probably nutted himself over in glee. It felt like the prequels again) and the insane floating Leia scene. I'm not all that upset that Snoke died or that Rey's parents aren't important or that the Rose and Finn plot took time away from the better stories. Some of this just felt beneath Rian Johnson. I don't know if that was Disney being too heavy-handed or what, but I was disappointed given what a creative filmmaker he is.

 

While I , of course, had some thoughts about where it was going... I didn’t really speculate too much and didn’t put much stock into any one theory. Perhaps this helped me be far more positive on this than others.

 

That's actually a good idea re: Phasma! Would've been cool to see her there, and have her be the reason that particular mission went south on them. Also would've given an extra dimension to the BDT betrayal, like when did he cut the deal? On the planet, with Phasma, or after? Further, it dovetails nicely with my long-running complaint that the Phasma/Finn conflict should've been a through line for the whole trilogy. Not having that has been the biggest wasted opportunity for some strong character work for Finn. For example, Phasma should've been the one Finn fought on Maz's planet, not a random storm trooper. I'll trade the meme for a satisfying continuing plot thread that lasts the entire trilogy. Also they shouldn't have killed her in this one, so Finn would have someone to fight in IX. She would be, like, the last continuing reminder of his connection to the First Order, and when he finally overcame her in IX his full trilogy arc would be completed. Instead we got a decent but short fight scene in this one and now she's gone.

 

alot of Reddit hasnt been kind fwiw

 

That one part of that new Luke book that I thought would tie in did so in exactly the way I thought it would. And then another part tied in far more directly than I thought it would.

The book was still not great in how it was presented, but it helped prep me a bit more than I thought it had.

 

I didn’t try to think of what could happen or made many theories, other than who I thought Rey was related to, prior to seeing the film and it still felt weird to me. A part of me feels like Rian went in solely wanting to write plot twists that wowed people and threw them off and he accomplished that. Some of them were just badly executed imo. I get that Johnson wanted to show Leia was strong with the force, but making her stand in an exploding room which then sucked her into the vacuum of space and freezing her to death, only for her to thaw herself out and fly back into the ship despite not being able to breath was outlandish. The fight scenes were great though, as well as the scenes between Rey and Ben.

 

I noticed this as well. I mean, I get having critiques, but people are going in on this movie unnecessarily in my eyes.

 

Throwing the lightsaber was schlocky? Huh. Also the milk thing was just some general weirdness that, frankly, these movies could use more of. The OT was weird, too. Be more weird, Star Wars.

As for "hollow CGI world-building," I'm confused as to what your criticism was? When you say "world-building," do you mean that you didn't like them fleshing out the Star Wars universe by creating, essentially, a pleasure planet for the wealthy with casinos and horse betting? Because that was pretty cool and well-designed, whether it actually worked from a story point for you or not. Or do you mean you thought there was too much CGI? Because they built something like 125 sets for this film, and Johnson originally wanted to build around 160 (per the article posted not too long ago in this thread). Also per that article, George thought Johnson wanted to build too many sets, as in, there was too much practical work done here, so I don't know how much George was really "nutting" over anything about how this film was made.

As for the Leia scene, I already explained my thoughts above about why that scene works and makes sense.

You say you think Johnson is a creative filmmaker, and then criticize his creative choices (like the milk thing, you really think Disney wanted that moment in the movie? Really?). This film felt unlike any other Star Wars film has before, mainly because they appear to have really let Johnson do his own thing with minimal interference.

 

For those wondering about that Leia scene, the Visual Dictionary companion reveals that she was actually Luke's first student, before deciding to solely focus on her other duties. So, if that allows anyone to swallow that pill a little easier...

Also, totally do not believe what Kylo told Rey about her parents. For now, at least. The specifics of what he said just don't add up.