SPOILER THREAD: The Last Jedi

[Brandon Rhea]

This is the thread to discuss Star Wars: The Last Jedi with SPOILERS.

This is the ONLY THREAD on the site where you can post spoilers. If you post spoilers outside of this thread, you will be banned!

If you don't want to be spoiled, turn back now. Otherwise, enjoy!

 

[Drav]

First! :D

Is there anybody else who have seen the movie yet? I saw it yesterday and I'd love to talk about it.

 

[Tristar]

I give a solid 7/10. I think the initial build up was a little bit too long for my liking and the sudden rush of action towards the end to be satisfying. Do feel like they added a few unnecessary parts to the movie (Not a fan of the sudden 'romance subplot' - but I've never been a fan of those tropes anyway) and that they took too many cues from the sequels.

However the one good thing about it is that the next movie should be unpredictable to a certain degree now that they broke the obvious chain of events.

Also Snoke went out super unsatisfyingly. Hoped some degree of his character backstory will be explored in the movie, but no go. Books simply won't do justice to the amount of questions present in the movie.

 

[Wit]

Personally I loved the Snoke death! He was powerful, but flawed. And for those few moments my mind went crazy thinking we might have a Rey-Kylo team-up destroy the first order. As for the movie itself, I loved it! With the hype and alcohol in me right now I'll rate it a 10/10. Let's see how I think about it tomorrow once the excitement and alcohol has worn off.

 

[Nor'baal]

So, all I can say is ‘Wow’.

Was it the best Star Wars movie ever? No idea - only time will tell, but was it one of the best films I have seen, yes (it had Star Wars in the title after all). Overall, I think the movie was exceptionally well told, with great music and some brilliant cinematography, although I do think that the Snoke set was little bit ‘cheap looking’.

Some of my highlights include Brandons screentime, which actually added a lot of comedy to the film (and some tragedy, Brandons sadness with Chewie and his roasted friends was palpable) - so a breakout star over the movie was certainly Brandon.

Poe was a major star for me, and it was great to see him doing what he does best - also, is it now canon he is a better pilot than Anaking (if so doesn’t that add to the main theme of the movie?).

Talking of the main theme - which in my opinion is ‘Anyone can be special’ in short - I love the Rey reveal, the children at the end, Rose (who IMO contributed to the battle more than ‘sooper powerful jedi’ did) and of course, BB8.

Now I have been raving about this on discord for a while, and I think I may be alone in this opinion however, Canto Bite and what it stood for was a standout moment in the film for me. In Star Wars we fans have always known that there was a selection of people who did exceedingly well of the back of the War, and the way this was shown was fantastic. I have always seen Star Wars as having three sides, Dark, Light and Corruption (as shown in the Tyber Zann Games), and Canto Bite gave a little high five to all us indie players out there.

The set was fantastic, and the location was brilliant (who's coming to Canto with me in the next TL?) but the resemblance the ‘Cops’ tech had to the Imperials was striking enough to make it clear - Rose and Finn got to smash up the playground of the Imperial Elite, and I think it was great.

Did it add to the film? Sure it did - it showed that, with a war happened a few jumps away, there is an elite playground supping champagne and chucking away the profits of murder - it shows that beneath the venere of good vs evil, there will always be a rotting core of humanity, that try as we might, may never go away.

The films message was fantastic, and I am really looking forward to the next raft of books - which could really open up one the background of the first order and the sorry state the Galaxy must be in.

 

[Tristar]

I would personally disagree on the assessment, seeing as Rose and Finn failed in their objective to shut down the tracking beam. One could say her biggest contribution was saving Finn, although another point could be that Finn's death could have destroyed the mini death star and gave what remained of the resistance a bit more time. I understand the idea behind rose's action of wanting to save a hero etc, but I feel as though it did more harm than good.

If it was one good thing that came out of the whole Canto thrash up was the gem of the show, Benicio del Toro (loved his stutter). The show did very well in character progression for Poe and even Rey, although I felt as though Luke's message of the usage of the Force being a constant grey moral area was lost in the final action scenes. I loved the scene where he talked about the old Jedi council and their hubris, and I was excited to see a hatchet finally being buried. But of course it is a star wars movie, and the contrast between good and evil must always be there.

Benicio's character however gives me hope of more indie characters that only add to enrich the lore and story.

In the end though, I did enjoy the movie.

 

[Phil]

Ok, deep breath... I just now got home from seeing this. Right now, I can't really say or tell how I feel about this. It was quite enjoyable, but so many things happened in this film I was not expecting, like Frank Oz coming in as Force Ghost Puppet Yoda.

I may sound cheap, and it would be cheap if it happened... but unless they state it, I doubt Phasma is dead. A little fire ain't going to kill her when that armor deflects freaking blasters with no issue at all.

But... Damn... just... DAMN... I was just not expecting so much stuff to happen... the film itself was dark... I damn near cried when Leia, Ackbar and the other leaders were supposedly killed, only for her to... not die. I honestly thought that was it for her.

But... I cannot but help and feel that the Canto Bite scene reaked of George Lucas's CGI touch on it, as in it had some pretty ridiculous moments in it, but it was not enough to really distract or draw out the movie.

I am curious, and anxious, to see where Episode IX will take us, given as what has now happened. Because right now, I still don't know what to make of "Who Rey really is" and "Who the hell Snoke really was".

 

[Nor'baal]

Personally, I think the absurdity of Canto Bight was what made it so good. The Universe of Star Wars is diverse, and Canto Bight showed that diversity.

 

[Deviant]

Came in with high expectations, and came out satisfied. Very satisfied.

The subplots throughout the film were alright, but I enjoyed everything from Luke to Rey. I'm a huge film fanboy, so I've become pretty accustomed to predicting every twist or turn in most movies I've seen. But some of the twists here was just... unexpected. While mildly unsatisfying, I do love a good twist.

Like Snoke's death? The entire scene I was like, "Ah, he'll live. Rey will barely escape, and we'll see him come the next film. Just like Return of the Jedi." Because, as much as I loved the Force Awakens, I had pretty much assumed Disney was going to follow in the original's footsteps. But nope! Bitch got bisected.

And Rey's parents? Pitch-perfect. All those theories, and all my own little predictions, demolished. While I'm sure a piece of me, if not in everyone, was disappointed by the reveal, I thought it was great. Anakin came from nothing, he was just a slave like his mother. And hell, the galaxy is a big place. The balance between good and evil has always just focused on the Skywalker family. Let's try something new.

Oh, as for people still whining about Rey being so powerful in the force? Snoke explained it himself: "darkness rises, and light to meet it." Kylo was the darkness, and the force brought forward light to meet it: Rey. Kinda like how it brought forward Anakin to bring balance.

At least, those are just my thoughts. Semi-biased, because I'm a sucker for Rey (as you can see).

 

[Brandon Rhea]

Loved it.

 

[Loco]

^Sames

 

[Soverin]

I love that the general consensus has been extremely positive among practically everyone I've talked to whose seen it -- I think a bit of the positivity is definitely coming from hype (I need at least a good week before I stop praising this movie as messiah) but while everyone has a personal opinion, everyone's getting a lot of enjoyment out of Rian's addition.

Personally, I absolutely adored the flick. I was blown away by the rise in stakes, but dude the actor's performances! Driver is a stand out as always, though I expect nothing less as most of his performances have an insanely strong energy, but Kelly Marie Tran and Mark Hamill totally blew me away as well. Also goes without saying that John Boyega, Daisy Ridley and Oscar Isaac were wonderful as well, and I think definitely grew in security and familiarity with the material they're representing? I also took it upon myself to count the celebrity cameos, and felt dumb as hell freaking out in my chair every time I saw a familiar face that probably no one else caught (special mention Michaela Cohl!)

Seeing the movie on premiere also definitely added an entire layer of extra hype. The simultaneous gasp in the theatre when Holdo light-speed blasted the First Order hit me in the chest. The visuals of that moment, and the film in general, totally blew me away. Rey and Kylo turning and squaring off against the Praetorian Guard left me breathless. I loved the imposing use of red throughout that whole scene.

And the humor! I lost it at Luke lobbing the saber over his shoulder. I think it was the first time I'd genuinely laughed at a Star Wars flick since Yoda's introduction in Empire.

I would need like seven years to write about everything I loved but all-in-all I'm so pleased with how Rian elevated the saga, and I'm mad hyped that everyone else seems to be enjoying it as much as I did. Star Wars has always been a cultural phenomena, but I feel confident in my opinion that this movie took things way way above and beyond.

 

[Mr.BossMan]

I watched it with my cousins on opening night in a packed movie theater (Of Course) and it was pretty damn cool. The opening sequence with the Rebels trying trying evacuate from their base was awesome. That instantly reeled me into the movie and the CGI was frickin beautiful as far as the ships themselves. I like Rey a lot more now after watching this movie, she was awesome probably all throughout the movie in my opinion. I know some people gave her hate during The Force Awakens but I think it'd be hard to do the same after watching this one. Her parents being revealed as basically 'nobodies' I thought was a great move. Now it's not just the whole Skywalker family running the show. Plus that scene when Kylo told her about where she comes from was simply gold...how he held out his hand to her offering her a place by his side, I loved it. (Plus that fight scene!) I honestly knew Kylo was fighting to be the number 1 Sith but I hoped and prayed he'd become the good guy in the end. (Secretly hope he still does) Kylo is officially my new favorite Starwars character which is weird because I tend to like the good guys more. But I love him. He was great.

My favorite scene in the movie was when Luke try's to teach Rey about the Force. How he explains it to her and then we as an audience kinda get to see what exactly the force is. That quick montage was cool but is what made it cooler in my eyes was how Rey went straight to the dark energy. That black pit or whatever it was. Then Luke's reaction to her doing that. That scene was probably my favorite in the whole movie.

However the movie did have it's faults in my eyes. Like I honestly think the movie could've been fine without the whole Casino world story arch. That was unnecessary in my opinion and it dragged the movie on. Plus I was really rooting for Finn to die, I thought that would've been an awesome way to go out. It was pretty dramatic and I really thought he was but then, of course, Rose came in at the last second. I honestly didn't like her character really at all. Their relationship also seemed kinda forced.

Also I thought the movie was a bit to comedic for my liking. I hated what happened to Luke, I was praying, hoping, they wouldn't kill him off. That sucked.

7/10 in my opinion.

 

[Soverin]

also I'll just leave this here...

 

[Phil]

So does anyone else find Porgs, paticularly that Brandon one, adorable?

As well as delicious looking? Not so much the Brandon one.

 

[Nor'baal]

So does anyone else find Porgs, paticularly that Brandon one, adorable?

As well as delicious looking? Not so much the Brandon one.

For legal reasons I am obligated to remind you that Brandon did in fact play every Porg. A lot of the scenes had to be shot dozens of times to allow him to act each role, the scenes had then been 'intersected' over one another to make full use of Brandon's talents.

 

[Phil]

For legal reasons I am obligated to remind you that Brandon did in fact play every Porg. A lot of the scenes had to be shot dozens of times to allow him to act each role, the scenes had then been 'intersected' over one another to make full use of Brandon's talents.

Those are some Blu-Ray features I can't wait to see.

 

[Alhon]

Went to see it last night and, on balance, thought it was pretty spectacular. It seemed to me a really good balance between originality and paying homage to the saga's glorious roots. Definitely carved out its own way far better than Force Awakens. Excited for where things go next really.

I would agree with the comments regarding the length, or rather the slump contained within the Casino subplot. Though it was great to see a little more of the galaxy, broaden the lore, and provide some detail on why exactly the First Order are so bad, it went on a bit long, as perhaps did the Admiral/Resistance chain of command subplot. However, my main peeve if I have one is the Snoke appears to have been little more than a space filler until Kylo was ready to take the reins. We could at least have learnt where he came from and how he rose to rule the First Order before he left the stage. The fact he did, however, was a good departure from the traditional trope, as was the truth of Ray's parentage.

PS: As a gay guy, I am still holding out for a Finn/Poe thing. I'll carry on holding out.

 

[Brandon Rhea]

I'm glad we didn't learn any of that info about Snoke. We don't need it. We just need to know he's a creepy cult leader and Kylo got tired of his shit. Just like in Return of the Jedi, we didn't need to know anything about who the Emperor was or how he came to power.

Movies don't need to function as Wookieepedia pages, but now that Snoke is dead, I'm sure books and comics will begin to shed light on him for those who are interested in diving deeper into that lore.

For legal reasons I am obligated to remind you that Brandon did in fact play every Porg. A lot of the scenes had to be shot dozens of times to allow him to act each role, the scenes had then been 'intersected' over one another to make full use of Brandon's talents.

Perhaps the most strenuous part of playing the role of every porg was how in every wide shot of Ahch-To, you heard me squawking. I had to squawk a lot.

It was a difficult but emotionally rewarding experience.

 

[Phil]

PS: As a gay guy, I am still holding out for a Finn/Poe thing. I'll carry on holding out.

If Poe is gay, I see him, after reading so far all the Poe comics, someone who just doesn't have time for relationships like that, and places his duty to the Resistance first.

I'm glad we didn't learn any of that info about Snoke. We don't need it. We just need to know he's a creepy cult leader and Kylo got tired of his shit. Just like in Return of the Jedi, we didn't need to know anything about who the Emperor was or how he came to power.

Movies don't need to function as Wookieepedia pages, but now that Snoke is dead, I'm sure books and comics will begin to shed light on him for those who are interested in diving deeper into that lore.

I suppose that is true. It's worked that way so far for characters like Poe and Phasma and Hux. Explaining every backstory for every new character would just drag on more of the movie, and might be just too much information overload for "some" people.