Anyone else see it yet? (Reaction inside, no spoilers. I'm not a monster.)

[Carrie12345]

Dh always wants to see Star Wars the second he can, but then I get stuck not being able to talk about it for weeks.  :glare:

 

Did it meet your expectations? Did it live up to the hype and early reviews?  Were you surprised by any of it?

.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.

 

 

 

.

 

 

 

It met my original expectations, but I didn't feel it matched the reviews I read.  I also didn't feel the story needed 2.5 hours.  

 

Highlight for writing/directing thoughts.  They're not spoilers, but I suppose they could taint the experience.

 

I'm annoyed. Star Wars has always had its own special brand of humor, but this episode said "eff it" and went with more of a Marvel brand of humor.  While I love Marvel humor, this isn't where it belongs.  Luke would never talk/act like that.  I want to say so much more!!!

[BarbecueMom]

I'm going in a couple hours.  That is if I get up and get going this morning...

 

(Gonna have to pee halfway through because I neeeeeeed the coffee today. DH is dehydrating himself so he doesn't miss a second.)

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

Going tonight!  I've tried to avoid reading about it so as not to get my hopes up.  I didn't particularly like Force Awakens, but I loved Rogue One, so I'm sort of overall mixed on the "new" Star Wars.  

 

Something that I loved in the original trilogy is that it was carried really by the force of strong, interesting characters.  I didn't really feel that way about the second set (I, II, III), and felt like Force Awakens was really only interesting because of Leia and Hans.  And now that they are gone... not sure VII, VIII, IX will work well.  Special effects only get me so far, if you know what I mean.  

[gardenmom5]

we're going tonight.   1ds went last night - but I haven't talked to him yet.

[TheReader]

We went last night. 

 

Personally, I loved it. I'm only mildly a fan of the 1st three (I mean, of course I like them, but I'm not a mega fan). The 2nd three were blah mostly; the final one was good, but so so so so sad.  Of this new three, I was super annoyed by Force Awakens. Didn't like it at all. So, this one, I wasn't sure what to expect. 

 

That being said....I so so so so loved it. My favorite Star Wars movie by far. (Oh, re: Rogue One, I liked that one a lot). 

 

replies to your highlighted portion below (highlight to see): (no spoilers)

 

re: the humor, I agree wholeheartedly. It felt so out of place to have laugh-out-loud silliness like that; felt like it interrupted the movie.

re: the story not needing so long....none of it felt super long to me, at the time, although we did look at our watches at one point so maybe it felt longer than I am admitting. I can think of a place or two where they could have edited to fit into a more normal time frame w/o losing anything from the story, but even at that, for me, it didn't feel dragged out or too long.

re:surprises....lots of things surprised me, but no way to really address that w/o spoilers, so I'll leave it at that. 

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

Just got back, very entertaining!  My spoily stuff below...

 

 

The humor was really a surprise.  I didn't mind it, but it's true that it doesn't fit with the series well.  Lots of LOL moments.  The little bird things were just a little bit TOO fake looking for me.  

 

The Finn/Rose storyline seemed... unnecessary.  They went through all this trouble to ultimately fail at their mission, giant explosion and they are somehow the only people left... ehhh... I dunno, just didn't work well for me.  

 

Do we believe that Rey's parents really were nobodies?  I kind of like it that way I suppose.    

[gardenmom5]

ds said he had to really think about if he liked it or not.  there were moments of "greatness", moments of total failure,, moments of "almost".

 

we're all going tonight (except dh.)

[Bluegoat]

Going tonight!  I've tried to avoid reading about it so as not to get my hopes up.  I didn't particularly like Force Awakens, but I loved Rogue One, so I'm sort of overall mixed on the "new" Star Wars.  

 

Something that I loved in the original trilogy is that it was carried really by the force of strong, interesting characters.  I didn't really feel that way about the second set (I, II, III), and felt like Force Awakens was really only interesting because of Leia and Hans.  And now that they are gone... not sure VII, VIII, IX will work well.  Special effects only get me so far, if you know what I mean.  

 

I think that's a true insight - it's was something I really noticed with The Force Awakens.  In the original trilogy, and especially the first film, quite a lot of time was spent on developing character, and if you think about it there is a lot of time where people are just talking.

 

 

While TFA seemed very similar in some ways to the original movie, there were almost no similar kinds of slow conversations.  Much of the time was taken up with action and special effects, and even a lot of the talking that you saw was jokes and even in-jokes.

 

The older movies actually seem slow paced now, though I don't think people thought so at the time.

[Corraleno]

I'm probably in a minority, but I actually liked Force Awakens better than this one. I felt it had more of a story to it, and was less predictable and formulaic. I thought Last Jedi was OK, but IMO it did not live up to the hype from critics. Plus some crucial elements of the plot really bugged me. Highlight for spoilers:

 

There was absolutely NO reason for Laura Dern's character to hide the true plan (that the escape pods would be cloaked and they were heading for a fortified base) from Poe and everyone else. I hate when characters do things that make no sense at all IRL and clearly exist only to further the movie plot. Had she told everyone the plan, Finn and Rose would not have tried to disable the tracker, and the skeezy lock picker would not have given away the fact that the rebels were secretly abandoning the main ship. So the three main "heroes" of the film were personally responsible for the deaths of all of their companions, due to a situation created by the other hero of the film, the self-sacrificing Vice Admiral Holdo. Four people, doing stupid things for no reason, unintentionally ended up killing most of their own people.

 

 

[Another Lynn]

I'm probably in a minority, but I actually liked Force Awakens better than this one. I felt it had more of a story to it, and was less predictable and formulaic. I thought Last Jedi was OK, but IMO it did not live up to the hype from critics. Plus some crucial elements of the plot really bugged me. Highlight for spoilers:

 

There was absolutely NO reason for Laura Dern's character to hide the true plan (that the escape pods would be cloaked and they were heading for a fortified base) from Poe and everyone else. I hate when characters do things that make no sense at all IRL and clearly exist only to further the movie plot. Had she told everyone the plan, Finn and Rose would not have tried to disable the tracker, and the skeezy lock picker would not have given away the fact that the rebels were secretly abandoning the main ship. So the three main "heroes" of the film were personally responsible for the deaths of all of their companions, due to a situation created by the other hero of the film, the self-sacrificing Vice Admiral Holdo. Four people, doing stupid things for no reason, unintentionally ended up killing most of their own people.

 

Just got home from it.  Liked it okay.  But didn't come out thinking it was awesome.  I totally agree with Corraleno's spoilers above.  100%.  

[gardenmom5]

have now seen it. 1ds is now honest - that last night, he hated it.  liked it better tonight.

 

I thought there was good and bad, and wha . . . .???

 

but I'd love to watch a new hope/first trilogy on digital - and the edits george made to the dvd's are horrid, so I refuse to watch them.  george, just put. it. back!  (though my sons assure me, such a thing is out there, if you know where to look.)

[Melissa in Australia]

We are going on Wednesday. I am looking forward to it.

 

 

Ds14 tells me that he is only coming for the Jellybeans and Jaffa. He doesn't really watch movies.

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

I'm probably in a minority, but I actually liked Force Awakens better than this one. I felt it had more of a story to it, and was less predictable and formulaic. I thought Last Jedi was OK, but IMO it did not live up to the hype from critics. Plus some crucial elements of the plot really bugged me. Highlight for spoilers:

 

There was absolutely NO reason for Laura Dern's character to hide the true plan (that the escape pods would be cloaked and they were heading for a fortified base) from Poe and everyone else. I hate when characters do things that make no sense at all IRL and clearly exist only to further the movie plot. Had she told everyone the plan, Finn and Rose would not have tried to disable the tracker, and the skeezy lock picker would not have given away the fact that the rebels were secretly abandoning the main ship. So the three main "heroes" of the film were personally responsible for the deaths of all of their companions, due to a situation created by the other hero of the film, the self-sacrificing Vice Admiral Holdo. Four people, doing stupid things for no reason, unintentionally ended up killing most of their own people.

 

The more I think about it, the more I realize that none of the plot makes any sense at all!   :lol:

 

Highlight to see The tracking beam is only coming from one easily identifiable ship?  There is ZERO built-in redundancy in a technology that is able to create a planet destroying laser beam?  I realize this is sort of a running theme in Star Wars, it just cracks me up.  They didn't have the Cloud a long, long time ago I guess.  Practically the entire fleet of the empire is hell-bent on catching this ship... but don't notice transporters jettisoning the crew toward a nearby planet?  The entire plot seemed to be designed to advance character development, but it wasn't natural.  We needed Finn to finally choose the rebel side.  We needed everyone to see the rebellion was more than the 20 or so people aboard the rebel ship but was a movement with the people, we needed Luke back in the game, we needed Kylo Ren to evolve out of emo teen mode.  All of that was good, but it's like they twisted up the plot to create these situations.  And of course to fit with modern times, we needed to get rid of this idea that there is a good side and a bad side, so we needed a weird hacker to show us that arms dealers are crooked, Luke was going to murder a child in his sleep, and Rey can simply hop in and out of the dark side hole on the island without issue... ?  The bug-eyed lady happened to know where to find the one hacker who could get onto the ship (except apparently there were two hackers who could do it, and he happens to be Finn and Rose's cell mate).  

 

But it's ok because it's Star Wars!  And I'm not being sarcastic.  If I wanted a realistic movie, I could have watched something else.  This movie was fun, laugh out loud, exciting, visually stunning, and Mark Hamill brought his A game and everyone else improved their acting significantly since ep VII.  Totally satisfied customer here.  

 

:hurray:

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

have now seen it. 1ds is now honest - that last night, he hated it.  liked it better tonight.

 

I thought there was good and bad, and wha . . . .???

 

but I'd love to watch a new hope/first trilogy on digital - and the edits george made to the dvd's are horrid, so I refuse to watch them.  george, just put. it. back!  (though my sons assure me, such a thing is out there, if you know where to look.)

 

I hadn't realized the original trilogy were edited again.  I'll have to google about that, as it has been so long between the first time I saw them and now that I own them on iTunes that I don't know what's what anymore.  

 

ETA:  Link with info on the changes to the original trilogy, for other people with too much time on their hands https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_changes_in_Star_Wars_re-releases

*Running off to buy a screen print shirt with Han Shot First written on it*

Edited December 16, 2017 by Monica_in_Switzerland

[gardenmom5]

I hadn't realized the original trilogy were edited again.  I'll have to google about that, as it has been so long between the first time I saw them and now that I own them on iTunes that I don't know what's what anymore.  

 

ETA:  Link with info on the changes to the original trilogy, for other people with too much time on their hands https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_changes_in_Star_Wars_re-releases

*Running off to buy a screen print shirt with Han Shot First written on it*

 

the dvd version of the original trilogy are ALL edited (George called them "improvements". - 'cause adding gore is an "improvement".  blech.) from the original movies.  if you want the "original original" movies - you have to go to vhs.   or the laser disk.

[Alte Veste Academy]

the dvd version of the original trilogy are ALL edited (George called them "improvements". - 'cause adding gore is an "improvement". blech.) from the original movies. if you want the "original original" movies - you have to go to vhs. or the laser disk.

Yes, and this is the sole reason we still have a VHS player, for the original 3 Star Wars movies. LOL

[gardenmom5]

Yes, and this is the sole reason we still have a VHS player, for the original 3 Star Wars movies. LOL

Our vhs player died.

[happi duck]

Finally saw it today!

 

Loved seeing CF and MH!!

[hopskipjump]

I'm probably in a minority, but I actually liked Force Awakens better than this one. I felt it had more of a story to it, and was less predictable and formulaic. I thought Last Jedi was OK, but IMO it did not live up to the hype from critics. Plus some crucial elements of the plot really bugged me. Highlight for spoilers:

 

There was absolutely NO reason for Laura Dern's character to hide the true plan (that the escape pods would be cloaked and they were heading for a fortified base) from Poe and everyone else. I hate when characters do things that make no sense at all IRL and clearly exist only to further the movie plot. Had she told everyone the plan, Finn and Rose would not have tried to disable the tracker, and the skeezy lock picker would not have given away the fact that the rebels were secretly abandoning the main ship. So the three main "heroes" of the film were personally responsible for the deaths of all of their companions, due to a situation created by the other hero of the film, the self-sacrificing Vice Admiral Holdo. Four people, doing stupid things for no reason, unintentionally ended up killing most of their own people.

 

 

The more I think about it, the more I realize that none of the plot makes any sense at all!   :lol:

 

Highlight to see The tracking beam is only coming from one easily identifiable ship?  There is ZERO built-in redundancy in a technology that is able to create a planet destroying laser beam?  I realize this is sort of a running theme in Star Wars, it just cracks me up.  They didn't have the Cloud a long, long time ago I guess.  Practically the entire fleet of the empire is hell-bent on catching this ship... but don't notice transporters jettisoning the crew toward a nearby planet?  The entire plot seemed to be designed to advance character development, but it wasn't natural.  We needed Finn to finally choose the rebel side.  We needed everyone to see the rebellion was more than the 20 or so people aboard the rebel ship but was a movement with the people, we needed Luke back in the game, we needed Kylo Ren to evolve out of emo teen mode.  All of that was good, but it's like they twisted up the plot to create these situations.  And of course to fit with modern times, we needed to get rid of this idea that there is a good side and a bad side, so we needed a weird hacker to show us that arms dealers are crooked, Luke was going to murder a child in his sleep, and Rey can simply hop in and out of the dark side hole on the island without issue... ?  The bug-eyed lady happened to know where to find the one hacker who could get onto the ship (except apparently there were two hackers who could do it, and he happens to be Finn and Rose's cell mate).  

 

But it's ok because it's Star Wars!  And I'm not being sarcastic.  If I wanted a realistic movie, I could have watched something else.  This movie was fun, laugh out loud, exciting, visually stunning, and Mark Hamill brought his A game and everyone else improved their acting significantly since ep VII.  Totally satisfied customer here.  

 

:hurray:

 

We saw it today and I agree fully with the two spoiler-y comments here. The plot was twisted to serve character development - so the plot clunked around more than a little bit.

 

With that said - I barely even care. There was so much that I loved!! My thoughts:

 

Visually - stunning. Best one yet, imo. But yeah - Laura Dern's character's silence was just... :glare: . Everyone there knew Poe would do something impulsive. Who were they keeping this Grand Plan a secret from, exactly, yk? Telling everyone aboard wasn't a bad idea and would have saved an awful lot of lives in the end.

 

Rey - love her, but felt that she just sort of ... waited around ... on that island. Seemed like wasted time somehow (in what way did she improve anything about her skills while on that island? Fighting rocks?)

 

Missed having Finn/Rey in scenes together. They lit up the screen together in the last movie! Only reunited at the end in this one. :/ Boo.

 

IMHO, Kylo Ren is the best villain this story has ever had. I think a lot of it is the actor - I think he's gifted in this role and exhibits the struggle that Young Anakin was supposed to show (but unfortunately, Hayden Christensen just didn't have the acting chops to pull it off...). Loved the scenes with Rey and Kylo together. I think it's the first time the Force has been so concentrated to this absolute Yin and Yang scenario - I like that dynamic.

 

Benicio del Toro was a joy to watch. I wince a bit, though - as he seems the inevitable Han-replacement in the next movie (coming in to save the day). If they don't have him back in the third movie, then his purpose in this one was weird and wasted - but if he's just gonna be a wannabe Han in the next movie... I'm not on board with that idea either.

 

Frozen, flying Leia was bizarre. She looked like a witch flying through outer space and it amused me more than it was supposed to've. It was the strangest thing. But the other scenes with Leia were wonderful. Her wardrobe in this movie was magnificent! Made me so sad. :crying:

 

The ending with the little boy pulling the broom to him (without seeming to realize what he'd done) was perfect. :001_tt1:

[Corraleno]

My thoughts:

I didn't quote the spoiler bits, but I agree with all of it!

[Carrie12345]

I'm going to white out some very spoily questions and comments in this post.  Now that I've had a few days to sit with it, I've circled all the way back, and I'm a little annoyed.

 

So...

 

The hype, the previews, the title, the... misdirection?  I can't be the only one (can I?) who fully expected something bigger to happen with the Jedi religion and light vs. dark.  I can force <haha> myself to accept "The Last Jedi" as nod to the last great master as we know them, but it seems pretty darn clear that the force lives on and will continue to be a matter of choosing light or dark.  "The Jedi must end" didn't really follow through, imo.  Sure, they could call it a new thing, but Rey fully recognized her need to learn more and understand her power. And she's going to have that new generation coming up behind her.  And past masters are pretty much available to come back whenever they feel they really need to, though my whole family agrees that Yoda's ghosting was for crap. It actually took me a minute for my brain to recognize his slight aura.

Anyway, I don't feel like there was enough of a shift to call for the title or the heavily used phrase in the trailers.  The Jedi is going to continue, whatever they wind up calling it.

 

Also, I'm completely unsatisfied with the Luke/Ben story.  We've spent all this time wanting and needing to know how Ben broke bad and why Luke exiled himself, and our answer is that Ben had already been leaning bad and Luke completely cracked for a fraction of a second?  Way too much was swept under the rug for my taste.  They could have made an entire movie on that story line, but they chose to give us, what? Two minutes?  BS.

 

Otoh, I wanted to be mad about what seemed like a bait and switch on Rey's parentage, but I'm actually quite satisfied with it.  Knowing that the Skywalkers aren't going to be a part of the next trilogy, I'm quite content with the "nobodies" theme.

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

We saw it today and I agree fully with the two spoiler-y comments here. The plot was twisted to serve character development - so the plot clunked around more than a little bit.

 

With that said - I barely even care. There was so much that I loved!! My thoughts:

 

Visually - stunning. Best one yet, imo. But yeah - Laura Dern's character's silence was just... :glare: . Everyone there knew Poe would do something impulsive. Who were they keeping this Grand Plan a secret from, exactly, yk? Telling everyone aboard wasn't a bad idea and would have saved an awful lot of lives in the end.

 

Rey - love her, but felt that she just sort of ... waited around ... on that island. Seemed like wasted time somehow (in what way did she improve anything about her skills while on that island? Fighting rocks?)

 

Missed having Finn/Rey in scenes together. They lit up the screen together in the last movie! Only reunited at the end in this one. :/ Boo.

 

IMHO, Kylo Ren is the best villain this story has ever had. I think a lot of it is the actor - I think he's gifted in this role and exhibits the struggle that Young Anakin was supposed to show (but unfortunately, Hayden Christensen just didn't have the acting chops to pull it off...). Loved the scenes with Rey and Kylo together. I think it's the first time the Force has been so concentrated to this absolute Yin and Yang scenario - I like that dynamic.

 

Benicio del Toro was a joy to watch. I wince a bit, though - as he seems the inevitable Han-replacement in the next movie (coming in to save the day). If they don't have him back in the third movie, then his purpose in this one was weird and wasted - but if he's just gonna be a wannabe Han in the next movie... I'm not on board with that idea either.

 

Frozen, flying Leia was bizarre. She looked like a witch flying through outer space and it amused me more than it was supposed to've. It was the strangest thing. But the other scenes with Leia were wonderful. Her wardrobe in this movie was magnificent! Made me so sad. :crying:

 

The ending with the little boy pulling the broom to him (without seeming to realize what he'd done) was perfect. :001_tt1:

 

 

It was sad to see Carrie Fisher.  She was supposed to have a big role in IX as well, I doubt the series is going to be able to hang on much longer now that Han, Luke, and Leia are gone.  

[Bluegoat]

......

 

Otoh, I wanted to be mad about what seemed like a bait and switch on Rey's parentage, but I'm actually quite satisfied with it.  Knowing that the Skywalkers aren't going to be a part of the next trilogy, I'm quite content with the "nobodies" theme.

 

So, something I've learned about this issue below:

 

Apparently it wasn't intended as a bait and switch.  But the director of this film decided not to follow the trail that had been put down in the earlier film.  This is apparently something he does quite a bit - lots of ad hoc writing/decisions based on what seemed good at the moment without worrying how it fits what went before or will come later.

[gardenmom5]

So, something I've learned about this issue below:

 

Apparently it wasn't intended as a bait and switch.  But the director of this film decided not to follow the trail that had been put down in the earlier film.  This is apparently something he does quite a bit - lots of ad hoc writing/decisions based on what seemed good at the moment without worrying how it fits what went before or will come later.

 

fully agree with this and' 

disappointed they chose a director who  lacks cohesion.  :glare:

[OneStepAtATime]

We saw it last night then DS spent two hours analyzing it. LOL. He rated it 7 out of 10 for the benefit of his dad and sister since they loved it but secretly admitted it was more like a 6.

 

There were parts I liked and parts I didn't and parts I think should have been at a different time or maybe pushed to the next movie or not included. Overall the pacing was uneven and character development was uneven and some stuff seemed really clunky to me but I enjoyed it overall and would watch it again.

[Bluegoat]

fully agree with this and' 

disappointed they chose a director who  lacks cohesion.  :glare:

 

I don't think this is really spoiler talk, as it's a general comment and not really about Star Wars (which I haven't seen yet,) but I'll spoiler it anyway just in case -

 

I've noticed a lot of criticism of big films recently, and some expensive tv shows too, for creating all these impressive set-pieces, often using effects but in any case, just these "cool" scenes, or impressive looking, jaw-dropping, whatever.  Maybe the director has imagined this intense scary discussion between characters with great mood lighting.

 

And then the film is all of these strung together somehow, and a lot of the plot exists to serve these scenes or sequences that are supposed to look cool, or please fans, or use impressive technological effects.  

 

And I have to say that it seems to be true - a lot of big money shows and movies are like this - as if they show a test audience all these scraps that are popular and that is how they create a plot or decide what a particular characters will do.

 

I'm not sure how it got to be this way - I can only imagine part of it is the amount of money they cost, but I have seen some screen writers actually talk about doing this and they seem to really buy into it as a way to create a story without any sense of why it creates a really poor story.  It seems really weird to me.  Maybe it's related in part to so many movies being based on comic books?

[gardenmom5]

I don't think this is really spoiler talk, as it's a general comment and not really about Star Wars (which I haven't seen yet,) but I'll spoiler it anyway just in case -

 

I've noticed a lot of criticism of big films recently, and some expensive tv shows too, for creating all these impressive set-pieces, often using effects but in any case, just these "cool" scenes, or impressive looking, jaw-dropping, whatever.  Maybe the director has imagined this intense scary discussion between characters with great mood lighting.

 

And then the film is all of these strung together somehow, and a lot of the plot exists to serve these scenes or sequences that are supposed to look cool, or please fans, or use impressive technological effects.  

 

And I have to say that it seems to be true - a lot of big money shows and movies are like this - as if they show a test audience all these scraps that are popular and that is how they create a plot or decide what a particular characters will do.

 

I'm not sure how it got to be this way - I can only imagine part of it is the amount of money they cost, but I have seen some screen writers actually talk about doing this and they seem to really buy into it as a way to create a story without any sense of why it creates a really poor story.  It seems really weird to me.  Maybe it's related in part to so many movies being based on comic books?

 

I see very few contemporary movies- and watch very little TV.

 

I think too many directors have become enamored of  "effects", and "sets" - that they either don't care or never learned *how* to "tell a story".    because, imo, the story should come first with the hoopla supporting the story - not coming up with snazzy effects to impress the audience, and trying to string a story together out of it.

 

I do prefer old movies. and older tv shows.

 

  one I went and saw a year or so ago - I was really ticked at just how bad it was.  starts off with a great plot (which is what it was advertised as) - and by the end, the story was something entirely different and unrelated to the original plot.   that's just bad story telling.  so what if the writer/producer/director is a known quantity with successful movies under their belt.

[Lady Marmalade]

Interesting thread. 

 

We saw it opening night and loved every minute of it.  LOVED IT!  (Except the Porgs. They were not my favorite, and they could have really done without them.)

 

But I was very curious why people seem so divisive about the movie, and now I have some ideas.  So thanks for sharing your thoughts.

 

One of my new Most Favorite SW Scenes is in this movie.  Previously, in my mind the best lightsaber battle throughout the whole series has been the battle between Darth Maul and Obi-Wan/Qui-Gon.  You can throw away most of that movie (except Qui-Gon) but that lightsaber battle had everything you wanted in a good sword battle.  But with The Last Jedi...

 

That scene with Rey and Kylo Ren in Snoke's chamber?  When they went back-to-back I got chills.  It was SO good.  And as that scene was playing out, there was a really big part of me that wanted Rey to choose to go dark because dang, her and Kylo have some serious chemistry and I think I have a Villian Crush. 

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

To continue on what many of you are saying...

 

The reason why it is particularly upsetting to have a director ad hoc stuff in a film like SW is because (while not all) a large part of the fan base is deeply invested in the SW mythos/canon.  The SW reality should have internal integrity and play according to its own pre-established rules.  This is true for all fantasy world building, and SW is more fantasy than sci-fi, though even in sci-fi, the "science" must work in some consistent way and not be bent to fit plot.  

 

Ultra powerful bad guys can't just show up, be mysterious, then be dead, no explanation.  If Snoke wasn't Sith, what was he?  But of course he must be sith, we can't just throw in some other Force faction never before heard of.  If he's sith, where was he during the Vadar/Sideus timeline?  

 

While it's not horrible that Rey is a nobody... it was a let-down of sorts.  We already know nobodies can be powerful.  Anakin was a "nobody".  Rey would carry more weight as a character if she was rooted in the original trilogy by lineage.  

 

Luke threw himself into danger in the hope that a spark of good remained in Vadar.  But he was going to kill a young boy on suspicion that he had a spark of darkness in him?  His nephew?  No internal consistency there.  

 

Why did that female general have to be such a b-word?  

 

I love Finn's back story.  I love Rose's back story.  Why did they get stuck with such a horrible side-plot?  

 

Ok, ok, let it go, Monica...  

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

Interesting thread. 

 

We saw it opening night and loved every minute of it.  LOVED IT!  (Except the Porgs. They were not my favorite, and they could have really done without them.)

 

But I was very curious why people seem so divisive about the movie, and now I have some ideas.  So thanks for sharing your thoughts.

 

One of my new Most Favorite SW Scenes is in this movie.  Previously, in my mind the best lightsaber battle throughout the whole series has been the battle between Darth Maul and Obi-Wan/Qui-Gon.  You can throw away most of that movie (except Qui-Gon) but that lightsaber battle had everything you wanted in a good sword battle.  But with The Last Jedi...

 

That scene with Rey and Kylo Ren in Snoke's chamber?  When they went back-to-back I got chills.  It was SO good.  And as that scene was playing out, there was a really big part of me that wanted Rey to choose to go dark because dang, her and Kylo have some serious chemistry and I think I have a Villian Crush. 

 

Highlight...

 

I also really liked Kylo this episode.  Loved the shirt-off scene.  :-D  He and Rey are great together and I loved their force connection.  It worked really well.  While I don't necessarily want Rey to be dark, I could see next episode having some need for grudging alliance between the two.  I really hope she friend-zones Finn and goes for Kylo.  I mean, when you are the most powerful jedi (is she a jedi?) left in the galaxy, I just don't think you'll be long-term happy with a former stormtrooper sanitation officer.   :lol: 

 

 

Oh, thought of a little factoid to share.  The title in French was Les Derniers Jedi.  It had not occurred to me that The Last Jedi could be plural until I was buying tickets and saw the French title.  I like it better in English where its plurality is ambiguous.  

[thessa516]

I really liked TFA, but did not care for TLJ near as much. On the other hand, my DH had the opposite reaction. He loved this movie.

 

My spoiler thoughts:

 

I don't like the Finn and Rose story at all. It seemed like filler and totally unnecessary. I think Finn should have become the new Hans-like character, not the Benicio del Toro guy.

 

Hated Laura Dern's character. Her power-tripping behavior killed hundreds of people. She is not a hero for staying behind. They didn't need to introduce this character when they had so many older characters (that they eventually killed) that could make the sacrifice to stay behind and pilot the ship. Also, all the other ships have autopilot except for that one? 

 

Snoke says he caused the connection between Rey and Kylo, but if memory serves me correctly, didn't Rey and Kylo have a shared connection after Snoke was dead. It was when Rey was rescuing everyone at the back of the cave? If so, then they have a connection that is not caused by Snoke, but by some other method. I like the parentage link. I really wanted (and still want) Rey to be Luke's daughter. That would make Rey and Kylo cousins and explain the link between them.

 

Loved Luke's exit. So reminiscent of Obi-wan. My only nitpick is that I wish they would have had him doing the disappearing thing during the fight, not after he stopped and thought about it for a little while.

 

The little boy at the end force grabbing the broom was cute. I heard someone say that this is how the Star Wars and Harry Potter worlds are linked, and I just like that thought in my head. :) 

 

Overall, this left so many questions for me. It doesn't feel like the Last Jedi at all. I wanted some closure while still paving the way for the Star Wars world to continue. 

 

[thessa516]

Yes, oh yes Lady Marmalade and Monica in Switzerland to all your spoilers about Kylo and Rey!

[Cinder]

Yes, and this is the sole reason we still have a VHS player, for the original 3 Star Wars movies. LOL

 

same here

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

I really liked TFA, but did not care for TLJ near as much. On the other hand, my DH had the opposite reaction. He loved this movie.

 

My spoiler thoughts:

 

I don't like the Finn and Rose story at all. It seemed like filler and totally unnecessary. I think Finn should have become the new Hans-like character, not the Benicio del Toro guy.

 

Hated Laura Dern's character. Her power-tripping behavior killed hundreds of people. She is not a hero for staying behind. They didn't need to introduce this character when they had so many older characters (that they eventually killed) that could make the sacrifice to stay behind and pilot the ship. Also, all the other ships have autopilot except for that one? 

 

Snoke says he caused the connection between Rey and Kylo, but if memory serves me correctly, didn't Rey and Kylo have a shared connection after Snoke was dead. It was when Rey was rescuing everyone at the back of the cave? If so, then they have a connection that is not caused by Snoke, but by some other method. I like the parentage link. I really wanted (and still want) Rey to be Luke's daughter. That would make Rey and Kylo cousins and explain the link between them.

 

Loved Luke's exit. So reminiscent of Obi-wan. My only nitpick is that I wish they would have had him doing the disappearing thing during the fight, not after he stopped and thought about it for a little while.

 

The little boy at the end force grabbing the broom was cute. I heard someone say that this is how the Star Wars and Harry Potter worlds are linked, and I just like that thought in my head. :) 

 

Overall, this left so many questions for me. It doesn't feel like the Last Jedi at all. I wanted some closure while still paving the way for the Star Wars world to continue. 

 

 

 

... Read somewhere that Admiral Akbar deserved the heroic "captain goes down with his ship" that the throwaway general got.  Totally agree with that.  

 

It's possible Snoke made the connection but once made, it didn't need maintenance on his part.  

[thessa516]

... Read somewhere that Admiral Akbar deserved the heroic "captain goes down with his ship" that the throwaway general got.  Totally agree with that.  

 

It's possible Snoke made the connection but once made, it didn't need maintenance on his part.  

 

I completely agree on the first one.

 

Second one, nope. Not buying it. ***sticking my fingers in my ears*** There's gotta be something there between them. I'm willing it so.  :lol:

 

And for some reason that reminded me that I really wanted the code breaker to be Lando. Whatever happened to him. I know we're supposed to get spin-offs for Lando and Hans. Maybe we'll see if he shows back up.

[Seeking Squirrels]

We saw it Thursday night at a Comic Con screening. I love doing those! I really liked it. I would much rather keep spoilers a secret for a few weeks than try to avoid them. I hate spoilers. But I have a friend who needs detailed spoilers, so I spent some time messaging with her about it! 

[Bluegoat]

I completely agree on the first one.

 

Second one, nope. Not buying it. ***sticking my fingers in my ears*** There's gotta be something there between them. I'm willing it so.  :lol:

 

And for some reason that reminded me that I really wanted the code breaker to be Lando. Whatever happened to him. I know we're supposed to get spin-offs for Lando and Hans. Maybe we'll see if he shows back up.

 

ETA - actually I've found information now that contradicts this.

Highlight:

 

My understanding is that Billy D Williams wasn't interested.

Edited December 19, 2017 by Bluegoat

[Word Nerd]

I liked it OK for what it was though I was disappointed with Luke's storyline in this one. The Rey/Kylo interaction was the most interesting part of the movie for me.

[Seeking Squirrels]

Just got back, very entertaining!  My spoily stuff below...

 

 

The humor was really a surprise.  I didn't mind it, but it's true that it doesn't fit with the series well.  Lots of LOL moments.  The little bird things were just a little bit TOO fake looking for me.  

 

The Finn/Rose storyline seemed... unnecessary.  They went through all this trouble to ultimately fail at their mission, giant explosion and they are somehow the only people left... ehhh... I dunno, just didn't work well for me.  

 

Do we believe that Rey's parents really were nobodies?  I kind of like it that way I suppose.    

Spoily responses to your spoilers.....

 

The explosion they ran away from was one part that really bothered me. They were pretty much surrounded, if they could get up and run off, plenty of others would have, too. 

 

DH believed Rey's parents were nobodies. My instant reaction when he said it was "he's lying". 

 

 

 

DH thinks Rey will go dark. I'm skeptical, but can see it happening as a result of continued communication with Kylo. 

 

Did anyone else feel that every life-threatening moment with Leia was a bit more emotional and edge-of-your-seat than it otherwise would have been due to Carrie Fisher passing?

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

Spoily responses to your spoilers.....

 

The explosion they ran away from was one part that really bothered me. They were pretty much surrounded, if they could get up and run off, plenty of others would have, too. 

 

DH believed Rey's parents were nobodies. My instant reaction when he said it was "he's lying". 

 

 

 

DH thinks Rey will go dark. I'm skeptical, but can see it happening as a result of continued communication with Kylo. 

 

Did anyone else feel that every life-threatening moment with Leia was a bit more emotional and edge-of-your-seat than it otherwise would have been due to Carrie Fisher passing?

 

 

...

I would love to see Rey go to Kylo for training in IX... that would let them both play on the light or dark decision a bit more.  But while Kylo seems conflicted, I've never seen Rey express any conflict, so I don't know how she could turn dark at this point.

 

I had not realized that they filmed the whole move before Carrie died.  I thought she had died in the middle of filming.  So when she got thrown into space and we see her floating, in my mind, I thought, "Wow, that is such a great end for Leia."  And then she wiggled her fingers and I was all confused again.  After that, every Leila-in-danger moment for me was "Oh, here's where they write her out."  Nope!  I'm sure in retrospect they wish they^d written Leila into the sacrificial role and saved Luke for IX, but too late now.  Carrie was just so great as Leila all the way through.  We'll miss her!

[Lady Marmalade]

...

I would love to see Rey go to Kylo for training in IX... that would let them both play on the light or dark decision a bit more.  But while Kylo seems conflicted, I've never seen Rey express any conflict, so I don't know how she could turn dark at this point.

 

I had not realized that they filmed the whole move before Carrie died.  I thought she had died in the middle of filming.  So when she got thrown into space and we see her floating, in my mind, I thought, "Wow, that is such a great end for Leia."  And then she wiggled her fingers and I was all confused again.  After that, every Leila-in-danger moment for me was "Oh, here's where they write her out."  Nope!  I'm sure in retrospect they wish they^d written Leila into the sacrificial role and saved Luke for IX, but too late now.  Carrie was just so great as Leila all the way through.  We'll miss her!

 

Yes! I got all mushy when she was floating in space and crystallizing, and then she didn't die and I felt a little like I'd been fooled.  So I wasn't totally fooled again, but when the movie ended and she was still alive I kind of wish they'd have done something so that it was obvious she won't be back.  As it is, they're almost going to have to have her die in some important event between episodes, and that's going to feel weird.

 

However, regarding Luke's passing, if he doesn't come back as a force ghost, I'll eat my hat.  I expect he'll have a big role in the next one.

[Matryoshka]

Oh, thought of a little factoid to share.  The title in French was Les Derniers Jedi.  It had not occurred to me that The Last Jedi could be plural until I was buying tickets and saw the French title.  I like it better in English where its plurality is ambiguous.  

 

I haven't seen it yet and I haven't been reading the spoilers, but some kids in my Spanish class shared a clip of one of the actors being interviewed on Mexican TV, and I noticed the title in Spanish was Los ultimos Jedi.  Yeah, wouldn't have occurred to me it was plural if I hadn't seen it in Spanish!  Darn adjective-noun agreement.  :toetap05:

 

ETA: And I should probably head off to see the movie soon, so I can read what you guys are talking about!  :lol:

Edited December 20, 2017 by Matryoshka

[elegantlion]

I saw it yesterday with ds and a friend who had already seen it. I'm a sentimental fool, but I loved it. Quibbles and inconsistencies, yes, but I had several moments while watching. Ds's first film in a theater was episode 1, my friend is a huge Star Wars nerd, I think we've seen all the new movies with him. Then during one scene, I realized that Star Wars has been part of my life for 40 years. I was 10 when I saw the first episode in theaters. This felt like a Star Wars movie. Then we went to Target for some stuff and ds bought me a stuffed porg for Christmas.  :lol:

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

I saw it yesterday with ds and a friend who had already seen it. I'm a sentimental fool, but I loved it. Quibbles and inconsistencies, yes, but I had several moments while watching. Ds's first film in a theater was episode 1, my friend is a huge Star Wars nerd, I think we've seen all the new movies with him. Then during one scene, I realized that Star Wars has been part of my life for 40 years. I was 10 when I saw the first episode in theaters. This felt like a Star Wars movie. Then we went to Target for some stuff and ds bought me a stuffed porg for Christmas.  :lol:

 

As with the other films, I love the experience of SW on a big screen.  I won't lie, it was 2.5 hours of pure enjoyment.  

 

It just unravels when I start thinking too much about it.   :lol:

[Seeking Squirrels]

Yes! I got all mushy when she was floating in space and crystallizing, and then she didn't die and I felt a little like I'd been fooled.  So I wasn't totally fooled again, but when the movie ended and she was still alive I kind of wish they'd have done something so that it was obvious she won't be back.  As it is, they're almost going to have to have her die in some important event between episodes, and that's going to feel weird.

 

However, regarding Luke's passing, if he doesn't come back as a force ghost, I'll eat my hat.  I expect he'll have a big role in the next one.

 

I thought I had read somewhere that they had received permission to cgi her for the next one, presumably just long enough to write her out, not a big role. I could be wrong on that, though, I don't recall where I heard it and can't get sucked into google right now! 

 

I felt the same when she was floating in space. It was an oddly beautiful moment, but also such a sudden, simple way for her to go. So I was happy when she came back, but confused as well. It will be interesting to see what they do with her. And I agree, I'm sure Luke will appear in the next one. 

[goldberry]

 

But it's ok because it's Star Wars!  And I'm not being sarcastic.  If I wanted a realistic movie, I could have watched something else.  This movie was fun, laugh out loud, exciting, visually stunning, and Mark Hamill brought his A game and everyone else improved their acting significantly since ep VII.  Totally satisfied customer here.  

 

:hurray:

 

We loved it.  DH is a big Star Wars guy, I'm a medium.  We both loved it.  Plot holes didn't really bother me, I was happy to see better characters.  Love Mark Hamill in this one.  Satisfied!

[Word Nerd]

I saw it yesterday with ds and a friend who had already seen it. I'm a sentimental fool, but I loved it. Quibbles and inconsistencies, yes, but I had several moments while watching. Ds's first film in a theater was episode 1, my friend is a huge Star Wars nerd, I think we've seen all the new movies with him. Then during one scene, I realized that Star Wars has been part of my life for 40 years. I was 10 when I saw the first episode in theaters. This felt like a Star Wars movie. Then we went to Target for some stuff and ds bought me a stuffed porg for Christmas.  :lol:

 

My first crush was on Luke Skywalker. I realized that it never really went away. 

[Lady Marmalade]

I thought I had read somewhere that they had received permission to cgi her for the next one, presumably just long enough to write her out, not a big role. I could be wrong on that, though, I don't recall where I heard it and can't get sucked into google right now! 

 

I felt the same when she was floating in space. It was an oddly beautiful moment, but also such a sudden, simple way for her to go. So I was happy when she came back, but confused as well. It will be interesting to see what they do with her. And I agree, I'm sure Luke will appear in the next one. 

 

No, the PTB have said that she will not be CGI-ed.  After they did Tarkin for Rogue One, it was clearly possible to do it convincingly, but it has been decided that CGI would not be the way to honor Carrie's legacy.  It will be interesting to see.

[Bluegoat]

No, the PTB have said that she will not be CGI-ed.  After they did Tarkin for Rogue One, it was clearly possible to do it convincingly, but it has been decided that CGI would not be the way to honor Carrie's legacy.  It will be interesting to see.

 

Did you find him convincing?  To me he was very obviously CGI.

[Lady Marmalade]

Lol, so all the "hidden" text makes it hard to go back and find something I wanted to comment on!  Other than the porgs, if I had one thought that keeps coming to me that I am not satisfied about it is...

 

Admiral Ackbar did not deserve that ending.  Just a casual mention that he got sucked into space.   We didn't even get more than a glimpse of him before that event.  

 

Also, on the flip side, I am still thinking about the upscale gambling/casino community.  I just really feel like adding that in (as superfluous as that storyline may have felt to some) added a whole other dimension to the galaxy far, far away that has not been touched on before.  We've only really seen the good guys, the bad guys, and the denizens of society in the scummy cantinas.  For the first time we get a glimpse of some of the well-to-do people in the galaxy, and we get an idea that no everyone is suffering or probably even cares about the good vs. evil going on around them.  

 

I'm seeing it again on Saturday.  I'm looking forward to picking up more details!