Star Wars: The Last Jedi - Review Thread

Count me in among the "I liked it, but I'm kinda torn" crowd.  I definitely plan on seeing it again because I really want to solidify my thoughts and also because when I first walked out it this afternoon, I was having trouble making heads or tails of my opinions.  But in reading through a lot of the Likes/Dislikes brought up in this thread so far, I find myself agreeing with nearly every point brought up.  I'll also just add that I thought the film felt overlong, the same plot could've been more concisely told with at least half an hour of less screentime, and toward the end, I thought it started to suffer somewhat from Return of the King syndrome.  Was it just me, or did anybody else feel like there were, like, at least five or so times where it felt like the end credits were about to start, but then the movie just kept going?  And when they finally DID, the moment they chose to end on was kind of...obligatory?

RIGHT NOW, if you asked me, I'd say I prefer The Force Awakens.  It's more focused, tightly-paced and tonally consistent.  Though there are certain scenes alone here that best that film.  This is still also more compelling overall than Rogue One, which mainly suffered from underdeveloped characters.  So...yeah.  What a weird final product this turned out to be.  Currently hovering around 3 out of 4 stars.

THE LAST JEDI - Review

SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW. YOUVE BEEN WARNED!! IN FACT DONT BE IN THIS DISCUSSION TIL YOU SEE IT!!

I’ve had a day to collect my thoughts on the movie. I left the theater thinking – this made me feel like a kid again, watching a Star Wars movie. I finally see some of the issues and criticisms people have brought up. Now I think I see at least what they were trying to do – the key is in the conversation between Luke Skywalker and Yoda, where Yoda essentially says that failure is an important part of growth.

This is a movie where everyone fails.

Rey was convinced that she could turn Kylo Ren back into Ben Solo, and even stand up to Snoke. She tried and failed on both accounts. But we do see her better coming to terms with her own powers, and taking steps to make this journey on her own without relying on a father/mentor figure.

I wasn’t able to re-watch TFA, but IIRC Finn was never that big on the resistance. He’d become disillusioned with The First Order but was mostly in it thanks to his friendship or whatever it is with Rey. So we see him at the beginning this movie recognizing that the rebellion is f’ed and trying to sneak out and lead Rey away from them. He ends up getting drafted into a save the rebellion plot, and I think the casino scene was him seeing more of the “this universe needs someone to stand up for the little guy” kind of mentality. He fails in his mission, but ultimately embraces being a rebel soldier when he fights and defeats Phasma. By the end of the movie he’s gone from wanting to bail, to being willing to sacrifice his life for this fight. ...As for Rose and the whole romance thing, I don’t think she actually love loves him...remember at her beginning, she’s got a mild case of hero worship towards him. She’s also still broken up over losing her sister and probably a bit vulnerable/not wanting to lose more comrades. I don’t see this as her having fallen in love with him after half a day.

Poe starts off as the cocky, reckless hot shot who thinks he can do everything. He fails spectacularly with his plan and the mutiny. He has to learn to put more trust in his superiors, and that sometimes you can’t just shoot your way out of trouble. We see him having learned his lesson when he accepts the order to fall back on the battering ram cannon.

Luke failed Kylo as a teacher, and then failed Leia’s trust in taking care of her son. His self-imposed exile was him not really being able to deal with/address this failure, and it affected him so deeply that he was willing to let the entire Jedi culture die with him. He had to learn to accept it and move on, and he did as he talked with both Leia and Kylo, expressing his regrets over what happened. At the start of the movie he wants the Jedi to die out, but by the end he’s comfortable with passing the torch to Rey and trusting her, even if she may fail along the way.

So it’s a character story more than anything else, and I feel like the characters have made progress and grown through their failures. But I’m not sure if the movie really pulled it off successfully. I’ll need to see the movie a couple more times for a final verdict.

9/10

When I came out of The Force Awakens two years ago, my opinions of the film were pretty easy to discern. Overall, I thought that movie could stand to be more creative and had some little problems, but the greater package was clearly of value. That film did a really effective job laying the ground work a new trilogy while also working as a rock solid action-adventure movie. It had some issues, but it was also clear to me that The Force Awakens was a good film and my two rewatches since have played out pretty well exactly the same. Coming out of The Last Jedi, my feelings are a lot more conflicted. I still pretty firmly believe that the film is of value, but it’s difficult to gain a precise perspective given the discrepancy between “good” and “bad” is a lot more wide this time around.

This review is going to avoid spoilers, but talking about this movie does require talking about the plot to some extent, so if you haven’t see the film and wanna go in completely blind, stop reading now. Basically, The Last Jedi is structured similarly to the Empire Strikes Back, half the film is dedicated to a young would-be Jedi training with a strange hermit, while the other half deals with the rest of our heroes in a desperate race against the clutches of the Empire (or in this case The First Order). The stuff that works best here is easily the Jedi training scenes. Basically everything involving Luke, Rey, and Kylo Ren is very good, with much of it bordering on greatness. Luke’s character growth since Return of the Jedi is very well-drawn. The film also wisely explores what has become of Luke through his relationship with Rey, meaning that we as an audience learn what has become of Luke through her eyes, simultaneously seeing her grow as a character. Crucial to this is Kylo Ren, as we learn more about his relationship with Luke and how the ending of The Force Awakens has effected the character.

All three major actors involved in this plot line kill it. Mark Hamill is able to evoke the Luke Skywalker of old while simultaneously bringing a world weariness to the role this time around which is entirely appropriate. The result is a character who lives up to the mantle of a Jedi master while simultaneously subverting it, and Hamill also nails the films emotional beats (a moment shared with Carrie Fisher’s Princess Leia is especially touching). Rey is also challenged emotionally in new was and Daisy Ridley brings the right amount of pathos and humanity to the part. Finally, Adam Driver’s Kylo Ren continues to be the most complex of the new characters and elevates what I already loved about his performance in The Force Awakens. These storylines culminate in not one, but two excellent confrontations in the third act, both of which with creative twists and emotional resonance.

These are the moments where The Last Jedi is not only at its best, but is also able to top pretty well-everything in The Force Awakens. Unfortunately, that’s only half of the movie. The other half, dedicated to the resistance certainly has its moments, but it’s also full of mediocrity and a handful of bad decisions. The big problem here is filler. Finn (John Boyega) and new character Rose (Kelly Marie Tran) have an extended mission on their own which, though adding some character, is largely pointless to the overall emotional thrust of the movie and the bond which is supposed to develop between the new characters never really resonates. What’s more, not only is this section a bit of waste, but it’s goofier tone and more leisurely pace actively diffuses the tension of the First Order’s pursuit of the Resistance. Consequently, any scenes set on Resistance ships are actually kind of dull. In general, the movie has a hard time figuring out what to do with Finn. A later confrontation with Captain Phasma feels completely tacked on, especially given Finn confronting the order which trained him was already present in The Force Awakens. It’d be different if this confrontation between Finn and Phasma was able to present something new or if Finn’s arc in this movie had been set-up as to be about confronting his past with the First Order, but that isn’t really the case. In fact, I’m not totally sure what Finn’s arc was supposed to be here. It seems different at certain points and the note the film ends on is itself contradictory to an earlier scene.

One character who does have a clear arc is Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac), and it does tie into the broader themes of the movie (how one deals with personal failure and its consequences), but it’s handled a little bit clumsily. Though the movie seems pretty firmly committed to presenting Poe’s personal failure and its major consequences, it’s ultimately brushed off as being more endearing than a genuine flaw. Poe still learns a lesson, but the impact is lessened by a desire to exonerate the character before the arc is even finished. The greater flaw at the heart of the non Jedi/force related stuff is these storylines don’t really have a central focus. So many characters are off doing their own thing and the script never really coalesces everything back together. Instead, sections of the film feel more like a collection of stuff. Some of it very good stuff. Later scenes of an infiltration mission with Finn and Rose are fairly effective in isolation, and I also dug Benicio del Toro’s more nihilistic and morally compromised character, but he didn’t really fit this movie. In fact, the character would have felt a lot more at home in Rogue One, where the character’s ambivalence to the war would have complimented the fatigue of that films cast, who too were exhausted by the struggle. Not only that, but he would have represented a type of temptation, something those rebels could become were they to give up their ideals and it would have added some tension to that movie. Here, the character, and the notion that all the fighting is pointless is introduced, but dropped shortly there after without really mattering. We a similar beat when the film introduces the notion of class disparity in the Star Wars universe, but then does nothing with it.

From a production standpoint, The Last Jedi is certainly impressive. The film’s action scenes generally work pretty well, the performances are universally good, I like the art direction, and generally speaking Rian Johnson does a very good job at the helm. Where he falters a bit is tone. Already, the humour in The Last Jedi has become a point of contention with fans and I wanna make clear that the comedy itself is not really the issue. There should be comedy in a Star Wars movie and some of it does work pretty well. The problem is certain specific uses of comedy. The film frequently indulges in bathos, which is essentially when a meaningful or dramatic moment is undercut for the sake of a laugh. There was a little bit of this in The Force Awakens, but it’s far more pronounced here and it leads to some moments losing their dramatic power. This is evident in the film’s opening scene, and it’s also how Johnson chooses to introduce Luke’s arc in the film. Both moments immediately undercut the drama, setting a goofier tone for elements which end up serving as the dramatic crux of the film.

Overall, it’s hard to know what to make of The Last Jedi. Its best moments are truly awesome but the missteps are vast. Beyond the nitpicks, beyond anyone accusing fans of being too attached to the originals, The Last Jedi does have serious problems in terms of writing, pacing, and tone. The very fact that large chunks of the movie are kind of disposable is a huge problem. These are things which are not easily ignored, nor should they be. And yet, I keep coming back to the moments of the film which work, which are highly impressive, exciting, and moving. I’m still not quite sure what to make of this movie. At the moment, I’m resigned to a gentleman’s B, but there’s definitely room for this grade to change in the future. Whatever happens, The Last Jedi is definitely something worth seeing, but I don’t see the masterpiece so many seem to be declaring.

B

STAR WARS: EPISODE VIII - THE LAST BONER



Is anyone gonna fuck in these movies? First, they cocktease us with Poe and Finn. Disney was destined to break new ground with the first ever male gay couple in a major Hollywood blockbuster. But nooooo... they had to throw in Rose. This ain't Titanic. Toss that bitch off the ship. Now they have a whole movie with sexual tension between Rey and Kylo Ren and it leads to nothing. This motherfucker killed Snoke for you. At least suck his dick. Speaking of which... what happened to Snoke? He was supposed to be this badass villain and he goes out like Darth Maul. This ain't the Phantom Menace. Did George Lucas break into Rian Johnson's house at night and secretly re-wrote his script? This is Episode 8. It's the middle chapter of the third trilogy. It's the cliffhanger. The audience is supposed to leave the theater hyped for the finale. Instead... there's nothing left to get excited about. Snoke is dead. Carrie Fisher is dead. Luke is a ghost now. Rey and Kylo Ren ain't fucking. What's gonna be the plot of Episode 9? Blow up another Death Star?

People are complaining about Poe, Finn & Rose, Leia randomly using the Force and all sorts of nonsense. But all of that is the least of this movies problems. It killed all the tension halfway through the trilogy by ignoring the most logical plot point. Rey and Kylo Ren have to fuck.

Hear me out, folks.

Luke Skywalker is a dick. He runs away. He goes into hiding. He refuses to join Rey and the Resistance. That leads to the sexual tension between Rey and Kylo Ren. Instead of training to become a master Jedi, Rey spends the whole movie having Skype calls with a shirtless Kylo Ren. By the way, if your audience didn't laugh their ass off at shirtless Kylo Ren, you watched this movie with the wrong crowd. Anyway, Rey having been disillusioned by Luke, goes to join Kylo Ren and defeat Snoke. That's when you end the movie. When Kylo Ren turns to Rey and says, "you ain't a Skywalker or Solo. You're a nobody. Come join me and have a purpose in this story", that's when Rey is supposed to say yes and cue Episode 9. Instead we get this finale that feels like the conclusion of this particular saga. Other than Kylo Ren still being alive and the war still going on, nothing was set-up for Episode 9. The audience is left with this feeling of, "that's it? We're done?" Just because the war isn't over doesn't mean anything. This war has technically been going on since Revenge of the Sith. It's the personal stories that we care about. Right now, the stories are over. Rey is the new hope. Kylo Ren has embraced the dark side. Finn is no longer a coward. Poe has learned to be a better leader. Tell me. What's next? The final confrontation? Bo-ring. It doesn't matter if there's no emotional stakes.

Let's hope J.J. Abrams can prove me wrong.

Fixed.

Your welcome to fallow whatever review you like. i saw that video and really there not that funny and kinda bugged me with there rutine.

Are we 100% sure these characters aren't siblings?

Alright, but they could be cousins.  Luke seemed to know where Jakku was, maybe he got drunk there and fucked Rey's mother.

I'm with Neverending. Rey was nobody.

I don't understand why so many are obsessed with Rey's lineage.  Why should she be the child of anyone of consequence?  Nobody worries about who Obi-Wan's parents were, or Yoda's, or the Emperor's.  Making Rey the child of Luke or Obi-Wan or Leia adds nothing to her as a character.

It's because Luke was the last Jedi. Anakin slaughtered everyone at the end of Sith. If Rey wasn't a Skywalker, what the fuck was she supposed to be? Johnson realized she had to be the rebirth. Luke tried to be that but he has that Skywalker blood tainting everything. That's why I think it makes sense for Rey and Kylo to fuck. Kylo is the last Skywalker. He needs to keep the blood alive. It makes sense for Rey to be tempted, and even join him for a period, for her to realize who she really is and what she really needs to do. Kylo has to die. That Skywalker lineage needs to end. It would have given Episode 9 more emotional resonance. Instead, she moves a bunch of rocks and now we're likely to get a generic action movie for Episode 9.