Star Wars: The Last Jedi (Official Thread)

[CHL]

Spoiler

I didn't meant it as "birthed by the Force" like Anakin did. Snoke pretty much tells Kylo that as he grows stronger, someone will show up to counter him, that's just how the Force works.

There's a bunch of examples of kids coming from nothing and becoming hugely powerful with the Force. Rey is one of them, it's just that in this case we know why she was "lucky" to get all that power. And at the end of the movie we see a poor kid from Canto Bight being force sensitive and even "using" his power by moving a broom towards him.

That's why I'm not sure we are gonna see the end of the Kylo/Ren story in IX. Johnson set up too much shyt for it to be wrapped up in just 1 movie.

They can always pull out of their ass a kid Luke had in between Ep. VI and VIII if they need another Skywalker too

And god forbid, but if this ends up with Kylo turning back and being a "normal" dude, then he'll just have kids with someone

Spoiler

Absolutely, most powerful Force-sensitives don't arise from a powerful bloodline (Yoda, Palpatine, Mace, Obi-Wan etc). It’s just that in Rey’s case, it’s been established that she is as powerful if not more so than the Skywalker’s.

And that’s true, an child of Luke’s could suddenly show up we do have 30 years of Luke’s life I account for

I agree, Kylo's arc doesn't seem as though it only has one Episode left. However how do you see IX concluding if “Supreme Leader Ren” is still at large?

 

[Optimus Prime]

- just got out, loved the movie

- I thought Finn was overall fine but his story line was really only a vessel to get him to that final fight with Phasma that you see in the trailer. At the end that battle really didn't connect to the A/B plot that much. Although, when he was in the same room with Leia and Poe, he was the go to guy in regards to how to defeat whatever weapon the FO was about to use against the rebels. I don't blame him trying to get away from the Rebels at the beginning because none of their plans worked mainly because of Poe

- Its Poe that really looked bad in TLJ imo. I could see if I was a fan of Poe, I might be pissed how RJ portrayed him in TLJ
especially if you hate women
Dude was getting sonned the whole movie including getting slapped in the face for being a dumbass
I got to go read those Poe Dameron comics to see if he's really like what they portrayed him in TLJ.

- Thinking more about it as I drove home, Rian Johnson seems to be in the camp that thought TFA was too much like ANH. I thought he went out of his way to get rid of most of those OG Trilogy similarities and forced (pun intended) the franchise to a new direction which is probably why Disney gave him the keys to a new trilogy:

Spoiler

1. Killing the old, decrepit SITH lord in this early in the trilogy was a big deal. RJ didn't like that JJ recycled that master/apprentice storyline from both the OG Trilogy, Episodes 1-3 and every mostly every other Star Wars property it seems. Making a young and powerful Kylo the overall big bad without a master or apprentice was a pleasant surprise IMO.
Also, not trying to redeem Kylo was a welcome development. I was worried that we were going in that direction with the Kylo/Rey lightsaber battle. RJ realized that Kylo CANNOT be redeemed and he cemented that with TLJ.
2. Leia actually used the Force multiple times
In the OG Trilogy, we have never seen her use it other than looking around for Luke including TFA. IMO its cool to know that she actually did some training with the force

3. RJ killing off the rest of the OG Rebel fleet like Akbar and the the X-wings was symbolic IMO and with Leia gone in real life, all we got is Chewy, R2D2, CP3-0 and the Falcon.

3. Luke and Yoda actually burning all the old JEDI stuff was also symbolic. I thought Yoda telling Luke that those books were worthless was
Going forward I think that's the scene that will symbolize the new direction for the franchise. Yoda and Luke pretty much saying we too old for this shyt. Yoda telling Luke to show out one more time before he comes home and then leave this shyt to the kids
But knowing that Luke can still show up in IX like Yoda did and be a physical presence is good to know

4. We actually got to see a Jedi use the Force at its max for the first time
Yoda popping up and using his Disney newly acquired "Storm" powers to burn down the Jedi temple and Luke using it for the final battle with Kylo like we have never seen before was
We got the great lightsaber battle with Kylo/Rey so I didn't mind we didn't see Luke use it that much during his battle with Kylo because we will get plenty more of those in the future.
Only small complaint was I wish Luke's lightsaber was Green

- I'm expecting a big time jump with IX. There's no need to continue right after the end of VIII and the last scene seems to support this notion. The rebellion needs to be rebuilt along with the Jedi and It would be a good way to write Leia out by letting her die peacefully. I'm thinking 5-7 years would be a good number with the first scene being Leia's funeral.

- I'm going to go see it again in real IMAX when I get a chance. I saw it in a regular theater. The space battles are the best of the franchise and I would recommend to anyone to see this in LiMax at least.

 

[HipHopStan]

Just saw the Mary Poppins scene, you've got to be kidding me

Hahaha!

Spoiler

When Leia, Admiral Ackbar (), and everyone else got sucked out, I was like " Well, at least they won't have to explain her absence in the next one." Then, they showed her body floating through space and I was like " I guess this is the final goodbye to Le...*she wakes up* Wait? What's going on?" Then, she starts heading back to the ship as her theme plays and I was like "Is this shyt for real? " Then she got inside and I sat there thinking " That...kind of took me out of the movie."

I know she's force sensitive but damn.

 

[Jmare007]

Spoiler

I agree, Kylo's arc doesn't seem as though it only has one Episode left. However how do you see IX concluding if “Supreme Leader Ren” is still at large?

Spoiler

I don't have a good answer for that right now breh, I can't come up with anything very compelling. You pretty much have to give the Rebellion big enough of a win to give them time to keep rebuilding but not big enough to decimate the First Order and give Kylo a reason to slow down and go gain more knowledge, maybe even take an apprentice, he's been looking for one since we first met him

It's also why I'm scared of what JJ might do to this new direction. He pretty much has free reign to do a time skip - which is pretty much a neccesity considering how VIII ended - and re-retcon Johnson's work and add a bunch of new "mysteries" I hope Kathleen Kennedy has a short leash on dude.

 

[Tasha And]

I was like this at least 4 times

 

[CHL]

Spoiler

I don't have a good answer for that right now breh, I can't come up with anything very compelling. You pretty much have to give the Rebellion big enough of a win to give them time to keep rebuilding but not big enough to decimate the First Order and give Kylo a reason to slow down and go gain more knowledge, maybe even take an apprentice, he's been looking for one since we first met him

It's also why I'm scared of what JJ might do to this new direction. He pretty much has free reign to do a time skip - which is pretty much a neccesity considering how VIII ended - and re-retcon Johnson's work and add a bunch of new "mysteries" I hope Kathleen Kennedy has a short leash on dude.

If only RJ hadn't turned down Lucasfilm's offer for IX

 

[Jmare007]

If only RJ hadn't turned down Lucasfilm's offer for IX

He giving us a whole new story and trilogy though. And this time he doesn't have to deal with a prequel he felt the need to "reboot", nor does he have to worry that much about cannon. He pretty much can do whatever the fukk he wants as long as it makes sense in the Star Wars universe

But yeah, I would've liked him to hand pick the next writer or at least have a couple of meetings to map Ep. IX out.

 

[Groot]

We are Groot?

 

[Groot]

I am Groot...​

 

[CHL]

He giving us a whole new story and trilogy though. And this time he doesn't have to deal with a prequel he felt the need to "reboot", nor does he have to worry that much about cannon. He pretty much can do whatever the fukk he wants as long as it makes sense in the Star Wars universe

But yeah, I would've liked him to hand pick the next writer or at least have a couple of meetings to map Ep. IX out.

Yeah, I assume he's had meetings with the Story Group regarding IX, and will still have some involvement during production.

Hopefully RJ's trilogy revolves around the birth of the Jedi, the birth of the Sith, or the beginning of the Rule of Two/Darth Bane

 

[NinoBrown]

Worse than TFA, this is the AOTC of the NT....

 

[invincible1914]

Spoiler

breh when he has the showdown with Kylo and the frame cuts to him levitating on the island using the Force I lost my shyt

The entire theater started applauding, it was as a special moment

Spoiler

Shyt was beautiful. Why he had to fade out though . Rey is cool and all but sometimes you gotta give the people what they want. I’m in it for Luke and I’m checking out for the rebellion. Bunch of bums living in his shadow

 

[Jmare007]

Spoiler

Shyt was beautiful. Why he had to fade out though . Rey is cool and all but sometimes you gotta give the people what they want. I’m in it for Luke and I’m checking out for the rebellion. Bunch of bums living in his shadow

Spoiler

He's stronger now breh. After years blocking his connection to the Force you now what that man is capable of now that he's a Force Ghost?


Yoda created a lighting storm with his finger . Luke might fukk around and take down a First Order Dreadnought just to give Kylo the

 

[Groot]

Worse than TFA, this is the AOTC of the NT....

I am Groot?

 

[Drew Wonder]

Maybe it's because I didn't like Force Awakens and went into this with lower expectations but I liked this a lot more than I expected to like it. Still thought it had some major issues though.

Spoiler

I was legit impressed with how risky and ballsy this movie was. If you've been waiting for a Star Wars movie that doesn't play it safe and formulaic, this is it.

I love how Luke explained the Force and how Rian Johnson visualized it. The mirror scene with Rey, the way the Force "connects" everything, the connection between Rey and Kylo, Yoda's cameo and the knowledge he drops on Luke, all very well done

The movie itself was gorgeous. Awesome cinematography and action scenes with the standouts being Rey and Kylo vs. the Royal Guard, the suicide hyperdrive, and everything on the salt planet at the end

Acting in this was top notch. Mark Hamill's best performance in a Star Wars flick even if I had some issues with where they went with his character (more on that later). I don't know what kind of acting classes Daisy Ridley took but she gives a MUCH better performance here than she did in Force Awakens and I liked her character a lot more here.

Adam Driver was great, Kylo went from a character who came across as whiney wannabe Vader in the Force Awakens to a dude who was genuinely in turmoil in this one. Kylo was the best part of the movie for me

I liked that there was a constant sense of danger in this movie. Like you always felt just how fragile the Resistance was and how it could all be completely destroyed with one bad move. However, they definitely stretched the chase aspect of the film way too thin. Like how hard was it for the First Order to just catch up with them? Lol. Narrative-wise, the whole movie is basically the rebels escaping from Hoth in Empire Strikes Back but stretched to 2 1/2 hours lol. Felt like they could've expanded the Resistance's subplot a bit more

Boyega does a good job with what he's given and Finn is less of a bumbling weakling in this but in general I'm just not really feeling his character. I think RJ tries his best to make the most of a character with a weak foundation but if you look at his arc in the whole movie, his mission and the whole subplot at the casino just didn't seem to matter much

I have a lot of mixed feelings with what they did with Luke and I feel like how you feel about this will make or break the movie for you. It was cool to see both Luke and Kylo's perspective of what led to Kylo turning but just something about how it all went down just doesn't feel true to his character. I didn't have an issue with him having a brief moment of wanting to kill Kylo before coming to his senses and I understood his disillusionment with the Jedi order, but I just can't imagine Luke going into exile and hiding like that. This is a dude who takes constant punishment in the OT but keeps coming back stronger. And if you're gonna have him hide and turn his back on everyone, the payoff needs to be stronger than what we get at the end, even if the scene with him facing the First Order was well done. It was an awesome display of power but I needed more than just him "distracting" the First Order. Just felt like they could've done more with him at the end to justify his earlier actions

Snoke was a mixed bag. He did come across as menacing especially with him throwing Rey around like she was nothing but while his death was really well-staged, I'm disappointed that we really didn't learn anything more about him. They'll have to really do something special with Kylo in the 3rd one to justify killing off Snoke so easily

Poe- I like that he had more to do but he really came across like an a$$hole in this movie lol. Just constantly fukking things up and taking Ls as a result. He was the Finn of The Last Jedi lol

Rose - She was aight I guess, idk didn't feel like she had much chemistry with Boyega and her character wasn't particularly interesting to me. Her sister's one scene in the bomber hit me harder than any of her scenes. I wish the sister was more of a major character.

Leia - Carrie gives a much better performance here than she did in Force Awakens but seriously, wtf was up with her floating in space scene? Lol. They should've either had Leia died or find a better, less corny way of having her display her power.

Casino - It's weird. I do feel like the entire casino segment had some great world-building and genuine creativity but it felt like it was part of a completely different movie. Shyt felt like a Luc Besson sci-fi flick or something lol. And the narrative payoff wasn't good enough to justify spending so much time here. They easily could've cut 15 minutes of this subplot or just get rid of it all together. Feel the same way about Benicio's character who had some cool moments but just felt kind of pointless overall

As someone who did not like the Force Awakens, I have mixed feelings about Rian Johnson basically saying "fukk it" and either ignoring or not really paying off on a lot of the ideas and characters that JJ Abrams introduced. Yes, I understand wanting to do something different and unpredictable and I think there are moments here that are much more creative than anything Abrams came up with. But some of the twists and commitment to not following JJ's formula came at the expense of a cohesive narrative. There were a lot of moments here where it just didn't feel like a sequel to the Force Awakens, let alone a Star Wars movie. Johnson really went completely left field with a lot of shyt and it's gonna take me some time to figure out whether I liked the risks he took or not. A lot of it depends on what they do in the 3rd movie and whether or not they can successfully tie everything together. But with this film it's pretty clear that there's no overarching plan with the new trilogy and they're pretty much making it up as they go along.

Off first watch, overall I'd give this somewhere between a B and a B+. Very solid, entertaining film with a few things keeping it from being great. Not sure where I'd rank this yet in the entire series. People who are sick of how formulaic the Star Wars films are will probably enjoy this. More conservative fans who want their Star Wars movies to feel like "Star Wars" will probably hate it. I'm somewhere in the middle. I want the Star Wars films to take narrative and artistic risks but I also want them to feel like cohesive parts of the same story. And that was my main issue with the Last Jedi.