I've seen it. I loved it. I loved it more than Force Awakens, I think, and it may be my favorite Star Wars movie. I have plenty of quibbles (and ironically, I arrived at my quibbles faster than I did for Force Awakens, which I thought was perfect after my first viewing). But overall I think it's the most ambitious Star Wars movie and it delivers on probably 85-90% of what it reaches for.
Unfortunately Spoiler (Move your mouse to reveal the content) Spoiler (open) Spoiler (close) I waited 30 years to see Luke Skywalker milk a freaking space cow. It's such a weird movie because many times it starts to do something that is different and interesting, but then it takes another turn and it just turns it to crap. SPOILER (Move your mouse to reveal the content) SPOILER (open) SPOILER (close) There is a scene where Kylo Ren has a chance to murder Princess Leia, but hesitates to take the shot. Then another Empire goon takes the shot and Princess Leia is blown out into space. I'm sitting there thinking this is great. Now they can play off of that with Kylo's guilt that he thought of doing it but could't. Plus how lucky for them that they killed Princess Leia so early in the movie and she passed away in real life. And then it happens... A dead Princess Leia floating through space uses the force and flies through space looking like something out of Superman Returns and enters her ship and survives being in space. There is no facepalm meme good enough to describe what I felt when I saw that. And the film repeats this over and over and over. They kill Snoke only to just proced with Rey the good guy and Kylo the bad guy. Why not go all in and turn it on it's head. Have they both be bad and join forces and Luke needs to save them in the 3rd. Or have Kylo go good and Rey go bad. They just resolve it in the most generic and boring of ways. Completely wasting the shock of killing the supposed super bad guy. Who died like a donkey BTW. Not to mention the 3rd act and what they did to Luke Skywalker, who dies on a rock from I don't know what. Using too much force. The movie made a point of showing Luke had his X-Wing on the island. Why of why could they not have him leave and go save his friends and sacrifice himself to let them get away. If you are going to kill the character. Why have him die on the island like a coward. In the end people will tell you it is so different, but really it is different just for the sake of being different. Nothing is in service of the characters or the story. As a matter of fact the way this film ends there is no need to even do an Episode 9. There is absolutely no where to go. I thought JJ Abrams had a tough job making Episode 7 but following up this mess. Man I do not envy him. SPOILER (Move your mouse to reveal the content) SPOILER (open) SPOILER (close) Princess Leia is the only original still alive, and she passed away in real life. How they thought it was smart to keep only the weakest actor of the original 3 alive in the story is beyond me. The super bad guy is died and died like a chump. Even Darth Maul died better than this clown. He was reduced to a plot device with no substance. So what can an episode 9 offer? Another battle between Rey and Kylo Ren. When she already beat him in The Force Awakens. Is there some tension there? Anyone doubt the outcome? Such a disappointment. I knew Disney would suck the life out of Star Wars, but I thought it would take more than 3 movies to do it.
I enjoyed it. Where I thought Force Awakens was formulaic, there were a couple times in this movie where I was genuinely surprised. Which isn't a bad thing. If I have one major complaint, well... Spoiler (Move your mouse to the spoiler area to reveal the content) Show Spoiler Hide Spoiler It's Luke. It's gotta be Luke. I wouldn't have a problem with Luke's character arc in the movie if he were Obi-Wan or Yoda, but it's the hero. He's one of the heroes in cinema. Fans have been waiting decades to see him again. And he basically pulls an Obi-Wan. That's it. I've been waiting 30+ years to see Luke again. Let him be a bad-ass one last time. Remind everyone why everyone thinks he's this 'legend' they think he is. And then kill him off if you have to. Don't just have him be a glorified doorstop. I understand it's the new kids movies, but Han I felt got a legitimate sendoff at least. Luke's was...eh.
Saw it yesterday, thought it was prequels level bad. The first 30 minutes or so were some of the worst SW I’ve ever seen. The dialogue was terrible, it answered zero questions, the entire scene with Del Toro’s character felt like it belonged in another movie. I really, really disliked this movie.
I think I've figured it out. There must be different versions of the movie out there being shown in theaters. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Must be because I see a bunch of people thinking this is a good movie. Is Rogue One still being shown in theaters? It's been out over a year now. No SW movie should have that much slapstick humor in it, it just doesn't work well and it kills the movie. The first 30-45 minutes was some of the worst SW ever made, and yes that includes the prequel. Earlier this year Mark Hamill said "I at one point had to say to Rian, ‘I pretty much fundamentally disagree with every choice you’ve made for this character. 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." And he's 100% spot on with that assessment.
What can I say? I've loved Star Wars my whole life. I think the prequels are awful. I loved The Force Awakens and thought The Last Jedi was even better. Rogue One was entertaining but the lead character was extremely forgettable, which weakens the movie pretty significantly in my opinion. I thought the humor in The Last Jedi was funny, it derived genuinely from character, and it was not of any appreciable higher frequency than Force Awakens or the original trilogy. (If you've got a problem with "slapstick" in a Star Wars movie then we need to have a conversation about Ewoks.) I loved what this movie did with Luke Skywalker, despite what Mark Hamill thinks. As to your complaint that it answered "zero questions," I think one of the great things about the movie is it shows us that perhaps the questions we were dwelling on since Force Awakens are not as important as the new themes and ideas that The Last Jedi introduces.
We're going to have to agree to disagree with this one. As someone who can still remember watching Empire for the first time at a Drive-In, I too have loved Star Wars my whole life. I also think the prequels are awful, but while I enjoyed The Force Awakens for what it was and really didn't have a problem with it, I think The Last Jedi was just a bad movie. I think the humor killed the movie, Poe and Hux, man that genuinely made me cringe. Speaking of Hux, he was reduced to nothing more than a tantrum-throwing teenager. Luke and the lightsaber, killed the moment. How they handled Snoke, I thought was an absolute joke. What happened to the Knights of Ren? The entire Canto Bight scene felt out of place. How quickly Rose fell in love with Finn? that felt forced. Lastly, I thought Laura Derns acting was bland. I think that not answering the questions felt like a cop-out. The biggest question that was answered also felt like it was a bit contrary to the build up in TFA. Overall, bitterly disappointing and at times cringe-worthy. I am glad you enjoyed it though. My wife really liked it, my 11 year old less so. He thought some of the jokes were funny, and some were as he said "dumb".
This movie was dreadful. It had potential in certain points but it just made the wrong decision whenever it was tasked with taking the next step. Dante is absolutely right about the humor. That was one of the worst parts and horribly enough something I picked up immediately. The first scene with Poe when he does that Spoiler (Move your mouse to reveal the content) Spoiler (open) Spoiler (close) holding on the phone joke. The draw it on and on and on and on. It immediately turns the villain Hux into a buffoon not to be taken seriously. And was dreadful to sit through. Compare Poe’s joke with his first joke on TFA about not understanding Kylo Ren when he is speaking with his mask. They have the joke and the scene immediately proceeds. No need to beat the audience over the head with it. You can compare that with a lot of the humor in the originals. Han Solo in the prison floor rescuing the princess. “We are all fine, how are you?” Boom the music pics up the scene continues. He doesn’t say it again. It doesn’t become any funnier. The film just continues with that beat you over the head humor for 2 1/2 hours. So many cringe moments. BB-8 in the casino or Chewbacca eating. All of it painful. Then the film just fail miserably at building up anything. This is supposed to be a trilogy right? Three interconnected films. The second film should raise the stakes. Empire is so beloved because it takes our heroes and kicks them in the balls. It leads you into the third film with doubts about the outcome. Was Rey challenged, defeated, pushed to grow in anyway? She already defeated Kylo Ren in the previous movie. He is now supposed to be the big villain who looms over her in the next film? There are no stakes there is no tension. At the end of Empire you do not in anyway believe Luke can beat Vader. I just feel like they fooled people into thinking they got something new and original by remixing Jedi and Empire together and people are clinging to that and overlooking all the other major flaws in this movie. When I got out the theater I seriously considered maybe I saw a different cut because I could not believe all of the positive reviews from the press.
I found the movie to be ok but too long. Have a few serious issues with certain scenes and plot lines but expect when I see it again a second time, either in theaters or at home, will enjoy more of the movie. The one criticism I have no qualms with regarding this movie is the question of, how this trilogy is gonna end? Which I think I would be more ok with if the talk of Rain Johnson's next trilogy doesn't appear to no incorporate any of the new main characters from this trilogy. If I knew all of the new characters stories weren't somehow gonna be tied up in one last movie I would feel a better.
You are not alone in this. There is a huge disparity in the critics vs. the audience rating for this movie on Rottentomatoes.
One thing in particular I read a spoiler free review before seeing the film that said the humor in the film was perfect. Just the right balance that any Star Wars movie should have. It took the film less than 5 minutes to have me questioning what that guy was smoking.
I haven't seen the movie so I can't comment. But if the choice is between a director who takes some risks which fail like Rian Johnson has apparently done or a totally risk-free remix of familiar stuff like J.J. Abrams did, I still prefer the former.
Well if you did not like The Force Awakens you might have completely different feelings about this film, provided the humors, plot, or character arcs do not bother you. In defense of The Force Awakens I would say that making that movie is by no means risk-free. It's a very fine line to walk when remixing one of the most beloved film franchises of all time. There are not many reboots out there that enjoyed the acclaim that Force Awakens received. It's no simple task. After seeing this film, I would have preferred to continue with JJ to be honest with you. Then as far as the idea that Rain Johnson took a lot of risks. Well I put forward that The Last Jedi is just a remix of portions of Empire and Jedi. SPOILER (Move your mouse to reveal the content) SPOILER (open) SPOILER (close) He takes the one of the bigger plots from Empire, that of the Falcon is unable to go to light speed and being chased by the Empire and turns it around by making it the entire Rebel fleet that is unable to go to light speed. The biggest Degobah point of the cave where Luke fights Vader only to see himself is used in this film and applied to the question of Rey's parents. The film then brings in the 3rd act of Return of the Jedi and Rey turns herself in to Kylo thinking she can save him. Just as Luke did to Vader. The big change is Kylo immediately kills the Emperor (Snoke) where as Vader waits until Luke is about to be killed. He then tosses in a little more Empire as Kylo asks Rey to join him and together they can rule galaxy. For the conclusion he takes the Battle of Hoth and remixes it Helms Deep from Lord of the Rings. As Leia sends out a call (light the beacons) and hopes someone will come to their rescue. Everything is a remix.
I found this to be a huge improvement on Force Awakens... while not flawless by any stretch, episode 8 is an actual story with an actual theme and everything! As opposed to a series of familiar events loosely connected in an attempt to prey on nostalgia and piece together JJ's infamous (and infamously contrived) "mystery box". Force Awakens was fun the first time through, and Rogue One was pretty... but this is the only good SW movie since ROTJ. Too bad JJ is coming back to ******** it up in Ep 9... oh well. We can't have everything.
I agree. I can definitely see the flaws with the Casino sequence from a plot standpoint, but it was also a really important way to introduce actual themes, as EruditeHobo says. One of TLJ's strengths is it gives us a view of the wider universe in which the First Order v. Resistance battle is taking place, and in so doing makes the movie about stuff, more than just the hero's journey.
We have to agree to disagree. There is nothing redeemable in that portion of the film. Spoiler (Move your mouse to reveal the content) Spoiler (open) Spoiler (close) After the bit with the arms dealer who sell both to the Empire and the Rebels all I could think about was who is finnancing this. Especially after Snoke died and Kylo took ever. Where is he going to get the money to back to the arms dealers. So uneccessary to make a point in the most basic of ways.
I am disappointed.... the first 30 minutes was bad, but it did get better. Here are some of my thoughts: -- Princess Leia flying in space?? The internet is calling her Mary Poppins. -- Poe was Star Wa's answer to Maverick(Top Gun). He looked cool in Force Awake. In Episode 8, he looked liked a loser who screwed things up. Oh.... he led a mutiny and people actually died(someone got shot) for it. He should be tired for treason. Hold and Princess Leia loved him afterward. -- So in the middle of a battle, Rose and Finn sneaked off to find a codebreaker! And they got caught for a parking violation. Seriously??? The gambler who mistook BB8 as a slot machine was worst than anything Jar Jar Brinks did. -- I was disappointed that Finn was going to die. "You can't kill him on episode 8". Oh.... he survived. I was liked : "huh????" So Rose saved him so that everyone would die. -- The Space horses were from Never-ending Story, right? The horse keeper kids were from Olivier Twist! That blond boy in the end would become the new Jake Lloyd (young Anakin). -- I am from Hong Kong. I did not mind how they casted two Asian actors in Rogue One, but the fighting scene was awful. It was a water downed version of everything I have seen in Asian martial art movies. And they were not going to break into the Chinese market with that. However, Snoke's red bodyguards were the coolest things I have seen. And I grew up with a lot of martial arts movies too. Nothing especially Asian-looking martial arts is going to impress me and they did. -- I did not like Kylo Ren in Force Awakens, When Adam Driver took his helmet off, he reminded me of the Ramones. It was actually funny! In Last Jedi, Adam Driver was damn cool. He had that angry lost soul. I agreed with Snoke that he should lose that silly mask.
Voiced by Mark Hamill, apparently. https://screenrant.com/star-wars-8-last-jedi-mark-hamill-voice-cameo/
Overall, I liked it. I think Johnson took to the task of undoing the prequels and TFA's fetishizing of the original trilogy and succeeded in making the franchise expandable into the future (beyond C3PO and the Skywalker bloodline). It's certainly a bit uneven. There are minor plot points that don't make much sense, but that's pretty much par for the course in any franchise these days. The main structural problem I have is that it seems to happen immediately following TFA. The nice thing about the original trilogy is that there is time built in between the movies where the characters' relationships have been given room to grow. Here, all the new characters still seem to be within a week of meeting each other, so we have to go through unnecessary introductions between Finn and Rose where they could have had a pre-existing relationship that might have felt more organic. I really liked the Rey/Kylo relationship, though. I loved the cool lightsaber battle with the red guards. I liked Luke's arc. I'm happy it expanded beyond the binary good vs. evil to some more complicated themes. I'm looking forward to seeing it again to see how it feels on a second viewing.
Thought it was fine for half the movie, and a complete mess for the other. It's far from prequel bad, as it's at least somewhat competent. But it's definitely not a movie that has made me excited to see any more Disney Wars. It kind of felt like a bunch of b story lines all shoved into one movie. The Finn and Rose stuff felt like a filler episode for a Saturday morning cartoon. Also Luke should have been the easiest character to recreate, and it amazes me just how horribly they messed it up. Mark Hamill called him Jake Skywalker because he's so fundamentally different compared to his Luke. I'm okay with him being a jaded hobo. But you have to at least support such a drastic change in character. Which this movie did a pretty bad job doing. Kylo/Adam Driver was good. His story is maybe the only one left I'm still interested to see.