Star Wars the last jedi

[The Basket]

Er....
Not a fan.
Big fan of star wars. But not of this.
Kinda not my star wars.
Reading comment between people who love it and people who hates it.
But not for me. Don't want to be angry but it doesn't do anything for me.

 

[fubar57]

The last Star Wars movie I saw was the first one but then again, the last movie I sat in a theatre to watch was Never Say Never Again in '83

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

I loved it. I found it was refreshing, but still had the star wars feeling to it. At some point you have to move on to the new characters if you want to keep the movies alive. I think this accomplished that.

 

[parsifal]

story was a little "force fed" with all these seemingly arbitrary add on scenes . I liked it, as did my son, but as a long time fan, I found it dragged a bit

 

[The Basket]

Not to get into spoilers for those that ain't seen.
There are factors at play. Is this entertainment? Of course although it's run time was way too long for my poor old bladder. But to me star wars is more than entertainment or box office or even a night out at the movies. The reviews and rants are between the lovers and the haters. Probably need to write a 5000 word essay to fully explain but the working title would be 'i have a bad feeling about this'

 

[Wayne Little]

I loved it. I found it was refreshing, but still had the star wars feeling to it. At some point you have to move on to the new characters if you want to keep the movies alive. I think this accomplished that.

Right there with you Chris....

 

[The Basket]

Let's say you become chief designer for Ferrari. Lovely job, red paint, 2 seats V12 engine. Sorted. But instead you design a 18 wheeler rig instead. There is nothing wrong with a big truck but it's not a Ferrari. You expect things from a Ferrari which don't include trailers or the need for haulage space.
That my problem with Star Wars. I expect a star wars film. Now, you could argue that the film was good....and fair play to you. But why not call it Battlestar Galactica instead? Unless it has the star wars baggage then it ain't star wars. It becomes some random film. You can grow the franchise and grow the characters but if you sell hot dogs and suddenly you sell cars then you can't call yourself a hot dog seller no more.
That's my rambling take on it.

 

[nuuumannn]

Right there with you Chris

Me too. Entertaining film.

The problem I have with hype is that fans in particular get their hopes up expecting one thing and when they don't get it, they gripe. Yep, Basket, I get what you are saying, but I think it is most definitely a Star Wars film; here's why.

It has Star Wars type characters, as well as obviously the original cast, there's annoying but cute random aliens (are the porgs really that annoying - they provided a bit of comic relief and we got to see Chewie throwing a little tanty in the cockpit of the Falcon again!), there's characters that should be likeable that annoy fans, there's subtle humour, something that the first three had, but the prequels had little of, there's an almost irrelevant sub plot going on behind the main plot, its riddled with plot holes and inconsistencies - why is this an issue? All Star Wars films are like that! There's intrigue surrounding a central character and its origins, there's family drama, there's psychopathic bad guys that betray others to achieve their own ends and do crazy stuff for cinematic effect to achieve it, there's epic space battles (yeah! Why we love Star Wars!) and cool space ships, random planets and grubby worn technology and droids, there's the force, reinstated as the mysterious energy it was intended to be (no midichlorians!). And Yoda is a puppet again!

Yes, the plot is slightly contrived and a bit corny, but it's a Star Wars film! The thing is, it doesn't pander too much to the kid's toy market, unlike Return of the Jedi, The Phantom Menace and The Clone Wars, all of which were shameless marketing exercises. It is also a more nuanced and mature film (for a Star Wars film) than the others, which sets it aside immediately - for a Star Wars film. I think in time to come it'll be recognised as being up there as one of the best Star Wars films, along with Empire.

I saw a comment on youtube that summed up some of the disappointment that fans have shown (not me, I'm a fan, too); Too much like the originals - The Force Awakens, too little like the originals - The Last Jedi - even though I think it has a lot of Empire Strikes Back dna in it, although not a deliberate rehash like The Force Awakens.

Too much?

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Let's say you become chief designer for Ferrari. Lovely job, red paint, 2 seats V12 engine. Sorted. But instead you design a 18 wheeler rig instead. There is nothing wrong with a big truck but it's not a Ferrari. You expect things from a Ferrari which don't include trailers or the need for haulage space.
That my problem with Star Wars. I expect a star wars film. Now, you could argue that the film was good....and fair play to you. But why not call it Battlestar Galactica instead? Unless it has the star wars baggage then it ain't star wars. It becomes some random film. You can grow the franchise and grow the characters but if you sell hot dogs and suddenly you sell cars then you can't call yourself a hot dog seller no more.
That's my rambling take on it.

I don't know, because it was a Star Wars film? Felt like a Star Wars film. Looked like a Star Wars film. Sounded like a Star Wars film. Must be a Star Wars film...

 

[The Basket]

I can't go into details as that would be a spoiler and I ain't that guy.
But last film I saw in cinema before Last Jedi was Blade Runner 2049 and that stomps Last Jedi as a film and as cinematic art. However Blade Runner gets less score on Rotten Tomatoes than Last Jedi. Go figure.
I thought Rogue One was good although I was so-so with Force Awakens.

Last Jedi gets 92% on Rotten Tomatoes which makes it into the top 100 films ever made. Go figure.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

It's all subjective and opinion.

I did not care for Blade Runner for instance.

To pass off ones opinion as end all be all is impossible. Everyone has their own tastes and likes.

 

[mikewint]

Everyone has their own tastes and likes.

Truer words were never spoken: De gustibus non est disputandum.
Star Wars fans are a diverse group and I think it depends on exactly when you entered the saga. I stood in line for 3 hours to see IV New Hope and was blown away. Initially I was very happy that Disney bought Lucas out Star Wars but then the more I thought about it the more I worried about what a HUGELY PC company like Dizzy was going to do (Lucas original inspiration was that the Rebels were the VC and the Empire was the USA) to Star Wars and these last two have born that out in spades. Have you noticed, by chance, that ALL the strong characters who lead are female and all the evil characters are white males? Did you notice that the new leads are a young white women, a black man, an Asian woman, and a Latino. Oh yea, again the baddies are all white males. Glorious PC-dom here we comith.
I think that if you entered the saga as I did you developed the story in your own mind. Lucas himself stated that he envisioned a trilogy of trilogies wherein I -III were the beginnings and establishment of a Galactic Republic and its degeneration into an Empire. IV - VI were the growing Rebellion, defeat of the Empire and re-establishment of the Rebublic. VII - IX were the degeneration of that new Republic, i.e. Cyclic history.
The Force Awakens was IMHO a joke, a total rehash of IV just with new characters like Rey (lives on a desert planet, collects junk, Force adept witn zero training, dreams of seas and oceans never having seen any, speaks fluent Wookie never having seen one, ect.) So I had hopes for the Last Jedi chapter breaking new ground. And boy did it shatter that ground.
SPOILERS AHEAD.......
Where to start.... Rey - one of the big build-ups in Force was Rey's parents...WHO were they and why did they abandon her. After all the build-up and speculation and dragging out .... Nobodies WTF???
Snoke - introduced as THE most powerful and MOST Evil character. No mention of who he is or where he comes from. My thought was that he is/was Mace Windu who survived his fall and had come to hate the Skywalkers or also I thought he was Palpatine who also survived his fall (did any of you think it was ridiculous that Masters of the Force like Mace and Palpatine would just fall to their deaths and could not summon enough Force to arrest their falls???) Any way this Most Powerful and Most Evil Force Adept gets simply cut in half by an unwatched light saber and is gone...WTF???
Knights of Ren - remember the big build-up...where is they????
Luke Skywalker - what a sad dismal treatment of the hero of 5 previous movies. Even Mark Hamill rebelled at the writers treatment of his character and insisted on re-writes. The Jedi decorated hero of the rebellion abandons all his friends and twin sister, exiles himself on Ahch-to, plunders his X-wing for parts, survives in an old Jedi temple by "MILKING" ugh Alien "Birds" of green milk UGH!! and spearing giant "fish". Remember the big build-up about Luke's Light-Sabre. It "called" to Rey, was somehow in the possession of Maz Kanata, and when Rey returns it to Luke he tossed it away like garbage....WTF??? Luke refuses to train Rey though she wanders into that silly cave of mirrors where she only sees reflections of herself (shades of Luke on Dagobah). Then in the big turn around Luke suddenly appears millions of LY's across the galaxy to Crait (anyone else develop a longing for Red Velvet Cake?), calls out Kylo, but Kylo seems to cut Luke in half when Luke disappears and is back on Ahch-to where he vanishes into a pile of robes (a fate reserved for a select few like Yoda, and Obi-Wan. Anakin and Qui Gonn had to be cremated. Apparently the Force allows you to project yourself across the galaxy (when did that happen??? WTF) AND now Force ghosts can actively take physical form and interact with the living and zap trees on fire. When did THAT happen...WTF
Stormtroopers have always been a joke and couldn't hit the broadside of a barn but NOW the ultimate....The ENTIRE First Order Fleet of hundreds of front line spaceships cannot catch or track ONE old freighter and they have to wait until IT RUNS OUT OF GAS!!! WTF & WTF.
With Fisher dead Leia had to be written out but that silly Mary-Popins spacewalk and then half the movie in a coma. Rey has to tell Leia that Luke is gone but Leia still survives. She can't be in the next film so...WTF Whose the next leader?? the Hothead Poe???
Then there's DJ (well they are remaking Roseanne) who is this new Gomer? Anyone notice he cares ONLY about money and sells out Finn and Rey then vanishes in his spaceship filled with Credits ( think his ship might be the Annual Bird of Prey and he has a big Sheepdog as a Pal).
Former SW Fan

 

[The Basket]

This is pretty much how I feel.
They had a precious jewel called Star Wars and did everything they could to smash it.
Fiat own Ferrari so they could put the Ferrari badge on any awful Fiat hatchback and call it a Ferrari. They don't because it would ruin the Ferrari brand.
And that's what Star Wars is...a brand. Not just a film or toys. It's a brand you buy into because it has a mystique than you want to be part of.
And it just feels that Last Jedi is just taking the urine. It just feels like cultural vandalism.

Mark Hamill has gone on record saying this ain't my Luke Skywalker.

 

[mikewint]

Apparently there is an on-line petition that Dizzy recall the Last Jedi and remove it from the Star Wars Trilogy and then re-make the film. Not that it will get anywhere...Tis the year of the anti-Hero

 

[The Basket]

Maybe we can create a Kickstarter fund to buy back the rights from Disney.
All we need to raise is over $4 billion.
Chicken feed.
My new Star Wars film is going to be Sith and Boba Fett and his bounty hunters fighting over hookers and casinos to be the biggest drug dealers in the galaxy.

Not an ewok or porg in sight. I haven't decided on the levels of nudity yet.

It's John Wick v Goodfellas v The Sopranos v Porn hub.

 

[fubar57]

 

[mikewint]

 

[Rogi]

It felt like the Jason Bourne of Star Wars when I'm expecting James Bond, that's the easiest way I can describe it without spoilers. It was good I liked it but it isn't a standard or general star wars movie.

 

[The Basket]

I have to clarify that my views on the new Star Wars is nothing to do with an Asian lady being a star of the film.
I often watch Asian ladies in movies so I don't want to be tarred with that brush.
But this time of year is about the chosen one who was conceived by virgin birth and that is of course Anakin Skywalker.
May the Lord of the Sith be with you.

 

[Wayne Little]

It Quacked like a duck to me....