"Star Wars: The Last Jedi (Spoiler free)" Topic

Anyone else seen this?
I went this morning and enjoyed it, lots of plot twists and big explosions! There are several humerous bits as well, and the 2 and a half hour run time seemed to fly!
Not as good as 'The Force Awakens' to me, but well worth a watch.

If it's worse than Force Awakens, it's off my list.

I plan on seeing it tomorrow morning.

Yeah, I was just "OK" with TFA, but have been hearing from many that like this one loads better. I will catch it the middle of next week.

I really enjoyed it – more so than The Force Awakens. More humour than I remember than previous Star Wars films.

Once more a plot redo but it does have some nice parts. Still think rogue one is my favorite "new' Star Wars Movie.

Uff… Can't stand Rogue One. I found it pretentious and boring. I'll watch TLJ tomorrow.

I saw it today. I too think that it is better than The Force Awakens.

Saw it last night. While there are some plot elements taken from Empire, it's not as bad a TFA's.

I really enjoyed it, and plan to see it again (in a better spot in the theatre than the side chairs).

I just came back from seeing it and I really liked it a lot.

The length of the film was not a problem in fact it went by fairly quickly.

The only thing I didn't like was that gold plated droid,other than that I've no complaints.

I saw it last night.

There were several times while I was watching, that I caught myself thinking, "this is really well done."

The acting is very good. The editing and pacing weren't on par with ESB, but then again, what movie is? The special effects were excellent. Each of the 4 main plot threads were well handled.

Occasionally there were sequences that were quite simply brilliant. There is a journey of self discovery that was inspired in it's conception and superb in it's execution. Too bad it really doesn't provide a lot of illumination.

The new characters all hit at or above their weight. Holdo is more than meets the eye. Rose gives a voice to the people ground under the weight of the conflict. Benecio del Toros' DJ is a quirky masterpiece of ambiguities. He is the walking embodiment of "many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view."

There is a lot of humor. Much of it is handled more deftly than in TFA. In TFA Poe sparred with Kylo. "Do I talk first or do you?". A similar banter occurs early on in TLJ and works much better.

There are logical holes. Much is made of the First Order being able to track Resistance ships. The Falcon was successfully tracked in ANH, so what's the big? There is a glaringly simple solution to the First Orders' inability to overtake the Resistance ships that seems to elude everyone in a well tailored black jacket.

There were issues with some sound quality. Many times dialogue got lost in the noise. Some quiet scenes were marred by muddy enunciation.

There are emotional payoffs aplenty. One had half the theater on their feet.

TLJs greatest weakness is it's character development in the last 3rd of the film. After one critical plot resolution one of the main characters is relegated to being little more than a bit player. Another is reduced to an overblown caricature. I guess that was necessary to set up the final confrontation, but it felt like it broke the arc of the story as a whole.

On balance the movie is very good. Better than TFA and Rogue One.

See it.

I was 9 when I saw my first Star Wars movie-the original- first run. I grew up with Star Wars. Star Wars was my absolutely favorite thing ever.

I lived through the horrid prequels.

I didn't love TFA but enjoyed it.

I liked Rogue One, but it was flawed.

I went into this excited and with zero preconceptions.

I hated it. I've never walked out on a movie in my life- and I've seen some real clunkers. I had to really force myself not to walk out of this.

It felt like a paint by numbers Star Wars movie made by Committee.

It was perhaps the most cynical thing I've ever seen designed to click off mental fan triggers. You could almost hear the writers saying, ‘Here's the scene with this Star Wars trope, and we'll follow it with that Star Wars trope and the fans will eat it up."

Say what you will about the prequels, which were junk, but at least George Lucas believed in it earnestly and that came through. That at least had a heart. This felt packaged, plasticized and shoved in a box.

It was cosplay Star Wars and nonsensical from start to finish.

And before you call me a fascist hater, my favorite character (beyond Luke) is Finn. He had heart. The rest was like a shiny car showroom. You might find the product aesthetically pleasing, but in the end they are all about selling it to you.

Rey is better than the last movie. Carrie Fisher is terrific except for one scene that strains all credulity. Chewi is a walking prop. Poe is really good.

No spoilers-just opinions.

Laura Dern was ok (and I really enjoy her as an actress), but the worst Admiral ever (a good leader communicates the plan. They don't let panic foster- and why was an Admiral in battle dressed like she had popped in after a gala festival?). Who was Snoke? Who cares? Literally not the writers. Hey, there's Phasma, oh. I even liked Kylo this time and hated him in TFA.

I can't say I disliked any character this time around. (Except for general what's his face- he was so hammy it hurt).

The comedy felt forced but with a few hits that were good laugh out loud moments.

Overall it just felt like a meal with beautiful looking everything that when you bite into it, tastes like it rotted.

Oh, and space physics have never been Star Wars' greatest strength, but this time it was off the charts.

I should love this movie. I love anime, and this is full of anime nods. But they felt flat. I love space battles and this is full of them. But they felt nonsensical. It had the most epic lightsaber duel ever, but it felt derivative and called back to The Matrix. Then end it with a scene right out of the most cynical Star Wars Wal Mart commercial ever.

It was all flash and very little substance.

I've seen every Star Wars movie at least twice, but not this time.

It took them 40 years, but they finally made me not care about Star Wars any more.

It's like an old friend just died in his sleep and that makes me sad.

I feel like Disney saw me as a sheep who would just giggle and clap at every machine tested scene. I'm not a sheep, Disney.

Thought it was good – just don't think about physics of space combat, but then it is a Star Wars film! Some rather interesting nods to the other films mainly tESB and RotJ – though not necessarily outright borrowing as in TFA. And none of them worked out as you might probably expect. Could have lived without some the contemporary and not so contemporary colloquialisms that were dropped into the script. I've never heard that before from SW scripts and they really jarred. I thought they had a good stab at the dichotomy of legendary resistance heroics versus actually having a successful military organisation that lives to fight another day! Though the character development of Finn and Poe respectively was perhaps a little simplistic.

I have to say I liked the nod towards competent fleet officers being screwed over by the ideological, politically appointed, offices as at least a fig leaf to explain the loss of First Order vessels! The only serious deus ex machine was the last cruisers jump to hyperspace, but at least those on the Star Destroyer bridge knew what was happening!

The jedi stuff was okay, the bit about balance was at least better than the stuff about midi-chlorians, but I was left wondering just how much of what was said, particularly by Snoke, was true or just manipulation…

As for the tracking of the rebel fleet through hyperspace I think the idea was they can track a single without a transponder being on board as in New Hope.

It will be interesting to see what they do with the third film since most of the old guard is gone – and I think consciously so on the part of the script writers.

Just came from the theater and I must say I enjoyed it a lot. I went to watch with very low expectations. I have been surprised, for the best.

To TG

I can't fault your sense that TLJ played to, and on, your expectations. To be sure, franchise movies like this are market tested to insure they hit all the right fan buttons. I imagine before any script work was done on TFA, extensive analysis was done. It probably came back that "Star Wars" in the title was worth $150 USD million at the box office. Add in Fisher, Hamill and Ford and that became $250 USD million.

So the story had to be about 30 years after RotJ and everything has already gone bad. As one reviewer opined, its too bad that all the struggling to defeat the Empire in IV, V and VI basically came to nothing.

All dramatic presentations try to draw their audience in then try to excite and gratify their expectations and hopes. Mayhaps TLJ was a bit ham handed at it.

As Yoda might say, "at the populists at both ends of the spectrum the Canto Bight sequence was perhaps aimed? Hmm? Hmm?"

I agree Finn really came into his own on this one. I wonder what Maz Kanata would make of his eyes now?

I think that Holdo's unwillingness to share her plan was a necessary plot device to keep the audience guessing about whether she is a fool or a tool, or a traitor, or just running a desperate gamble, until the final reveal. The tracking issue could have meant a traitor on board. If the crew knows the plan, how long before the baddies do too?

It may take some time to sort out the LucasFilm/Lucas to LucasFilm/Disney transition. Despite its' status as a stand alone project, Rogue One turned out to be a bookend prequel to ANH, ending mere minutes before the other began. What should have been a seamless narrative is jarred by having LFL sanitize Han's killing of Greedo, who made it painfully clear he had no plan to take Han alive, while LFD is, at the same point in the story, having Captain Andor execute a friendly informant whose only crime is being too slow and disabled to avoid capture. Ouch.

So JJ is now back at the helm of episode IX. I have a bad feeling about this. Hopefully he'll be able to resist the temptation to resort to time travel (again.)

I can't say I'm looking forward to the solo Solo movie. The trailer for that one is going to have to have to really knock it out of the park to get me to go. Otherwise I think I'll probably spend that weekend having my own Harry Potter marathon.

There is still a lot to be resolved in IX. There was a BIG data bomb in the discussion of the night the new Jedi Temple was destroyed. We still haven't resolved everything from Rey's first Force vision. And we still know very little about the status, plans and capabilities of the Force Ghosts. There was a big reveal in TLJ, apart from the one we should all know about by now.

If Anakin can manifest in Kylo's presence we should be in for some real fireworks.

Ah, we now have only have 2 years to wait.

Disney Star Wars is, like most modern mainstream entertainment, *almost* (but not quite) as much fun as a lecture on gender theory delivered by an angry lesbian.

I enjoyed it, but felt it wasn't as good as it could be.

It felt a little "small" compared to some of the other movies. I liked TFA a little better, and Rogue One is very good.

Empire Strikes Back still remains the best "middle" movie of the trilogies!

ESB is, and will likely remain, the best of them all. We loved ANH, but knew there had to be sequels. We waited, then ponied up our money and waited in the dark…

Hopeful, but fearful.

ESB started iffy. The trope of our hero near death. The anguish as the hanger doors closed. The inevitable rescue. Scruffy nerf herders. It looked like it was going to be a hollow shadow of the first.

Then all hell broke loose.

The walkers.
The ion cannon.
The thump to get the power back on.
The asteroid chase.
Never tell me the odds.
Found someone you have.
Skywalker must not become a Jedi.

At some point you realize ESB isn't going to be as good as ANH. It's going to be way better.

I'm a nice man.
That is why you fail.
You got a lotta nerve coming here.
We would be honored if you would join us.
I feel terrible.
No, there is another.
You'll find I'm full of surprises.
That's impossible!
Ben, why didn't you tell me?

And we have been hoping that lightning might be caught in a bottle again ever since.

A lot of movies anymore don't seem like they fulfill their potential. I described Ragnarok to a friend as being like cotton candy. Sweet and fun, but when it's gone you wonder, was that it?

I saw The Man Who Invented Christmas. It's a beautifully staged and organized story with a brilliant core concept. As Dickens is writing and trying to deal with his family and finances it becomes clear that he and Scrooge are far more alike than he wants to admit. There is a superb opportunity for them to seek redemption together, but Scrooge gets reduced to a self justifying 1%er. He comes damned close to quoting Ayn Rand. In the end the redemption of neither of them makes any sense.

It was so simple to do, but they fumbled. Scrooge is afraid to care about anyone because it tore his heart out to watch his sister die. Dickens is afraid he'll fail and let his family down the way his father did. In the end they're both afraid. And that fear closes their hearts.

KPinder, intriguing description explanation of "The Man Who Invented Christmas." I'm sorry now that I let if slip out of my sight at the local theater, but I'll keep an eye out for it down the road.

It bears remembering that as a wee shaver I first cut my teeth on the 1951 Alastair Sim film of the story. It will thus always be the definitive version for me, notwithstanding the book. I think it does a better job of fleshing out Scrooge as a relatable character.

Re Last Jedi:

First, I'm a fan so the following comes from a Star Wars fan perspective.

It's the first Star Wars film I left disappointed and not up for seeing again. Probably a better film than the prequels but lacking their gee whiz enthusiasm and at least attempts at new ideas.

Plot: convaluted and contrived. One long sub-plot ends up amounting to nothing. Slow-mo space "battle" not very interesting or logical. Conclusion tries to evoke Empire but really makes no sense – tip to screen writers don't remind us of a great scence from a prior movie and then deliver an inferior version – it only hurts your film by contrast.

Characters: Luke/Mark Hamil – the old grizzled version is the saving grace of the movie. We are judging Carrie Fisher bowing out as Leia more with our hearts than what is up on screen but that's OK. New characters OK to good (Rey). New villain reminds us of whinny early Vader of prequels. Imperial officer a useless buffon (how can we be losing to such nitwits). Virtual performance from Rogue One better than live Imperial officer of Last. Some humor but most forced and unlike prior Star Wars levity inorganic.

Battles: (what Star Wars films usually always deliver on – even prequels) – worst of the entire serias. Physics terrible (bombs don't "drop" in space). The film makers again evoke a classic battle from Empire and then deliver a pale inferior version. Final battle has no pay off at all (other than the suggestion we will have to wait for 10 year olds to grow up and join rebellion). One ballet like fight sequence has attracted critical praise. Unlike normal gritty Star Wars fights its chorographed to the hilt – beautifual as dance and fake as crap as a fight. No epic shoot outs with Storm Troopers (who are more incompetent than usual) as Rogue One and even Awaken delivered.

Tied with Phantom Menace as weakest in serias.

Due to major plot developments you will still have to watch it to keep up with events. Suggest afterwards treating yourself to Rogue One followed by New Hope as a palate cleanser.

TomT