What a flawed masterpiece.
Single largest issue - Using the ORIGINAL Rey’s theme during the training sequence on the island. Did NOT fit the scene. Was really sad because it was my favorite musical piece from TFA, and had it been recorded to fit the tone of that scene, might have been great.
Preferred Saga:
1/2: Hal9000
3: L8wrtr
4/5: Adywan
6-9: Hal9000
As for Rey learning the force beyond this film, I think it’s clear, as Leia says, that she has everything she needs between the books, ghost Luke, and Leia herself. Not to mention the whole thing about some lessons she needs to learn by herself.
Phasma seems to exist to fulfil the director’s love for other movies - Phantasm with JJ and RoboCop with Rian (while selling toys). I feel bad for Gwendoline have to speak nonsense about the character at press junkets.
I think Gwendoline Christie is awesome. I’ve seen her interviewed a few times and she compered the Rogue One panel at Celebration London - comes across as a really cool person. She herself would say that she’s a square peg in a round hole, and there aren’t many roles for a lady with her physical characteristics, but im really pleased she has a place in Star Wars and I hope Phasma is back again in Ep IX.
There was a shot of an X-Wing under the water. And when Luke showed up at the end to fight Kylo Ren. I had thought he pulled the X-Wing from the water and flew it there. But of course we learned it was just a force projection or something. Though this whole force projection thing is pretty lame. It’s just a way to get Kylo and Rey to interact without using a telephone or something.
I actually thought the Force projection thing was alright. That was I think the only time this movie ventured somewhat successfully out of its own comfort zone. Sure, it’s not the most outrageous thing you could think of, but at least it’s something we haven’t seen in a Star Wars movie before.
I actually thought the Force projection thing was alright. That was I think the only time this movie ventured somewhat successfully out of its own comfort zone. Sure, it’s not the most outrageous thing you could think of, but at least it’s something we haven’t seen in a Star Wars movie before.
Except every single person in the galaxy for the past 8 films, including extremely powerful Jedi and Sith characters, all had to use the holographic projection communication system. But what did the know anyway when we have force FaceTime.
I actually thought the Force projection thing was alright. That was I think the only time this movie ventured somewhat successfully out of its own comfort zone. Sure, it’s not the most outrageous thing you could think of, but at least it’s something we haven’t seen in a Star Wars movie before.
Except every single person in the galaxy for the past 8 films, including extremely powerful Jedi and Sith characters, all had to use the holographic projection communication system. But what did the know anyway when we have force FaceTime.
Did you miss the part where it kills Luke?
Random thought: Why did Chewie cool that Porg anyway? Didn’t have him down as a ‘well done’ kinda guy.
War does not make one great.
I actually thought the Force projection thing was alright. That was I think the only time this movie ventured somewhat successfully out of its own comfort zone. Sure, it’s not the most outrageous thing you could think of, but at least it’s something we haven’t seen in a Star Wars movie before.
Except every single person in the galaxy for the past 8 films, including extremely powerful Jedi and Sith characters, all had to use the holographic projection communication system. But what did the know anyway when we have force FaceTime.
I didn’t get the impression that Force users could just do this kind of thing casually. It probably cost Luke his life. This really doesn’t bother me too much, as there are much worse things to nitpick.
I actually thought the Force projection thing was alright. That was I think the only time this movie ventured somewhat successfully out of its own comfort zone. Sure, it’s not the most outrageous thing you could think of, but at least it’s something we haven’t seen in a Star Wars movie before.
Agree. I like the Force projection. New stuff is cool if it’s good.
War does not make one great.
He’s sitting on THE Jedi rock. I imagine that single place lets your project yourself. I will say though, I was disappointed in how they handled Luke’s wardrobe and hair. He needed to stay Hermit-like on Ach-To, and fight Ben in his Master outfit. I REALLY hated the split cloak. It made certain scenes confusing. Originally I thought the Tree fire was in the past.
Also, anyone have a problem with Yoda’s stumpy right ear?
Preferred Saga:
1/2: Hal9000
3: L8wrtr
4/5: Adywan
6-9: Hal9000
He’s sitting on THE Jedi rock.
Ah, so that’s what they’re singing about in ROTJ:SE…
I feel like the ST collectively (so far) feels jarring. TLJ is extremely well written and put together, and successfully executed its apparent goal of subverting what came before (including, no, especially) TFA. However, it does feel like a smartass taking a turn at telling the story (y’know, when people tell a story one sentence at a time).
I feel disappointed that I didn’t get the legendary Luke, and the movie actively wants me to feel that way, so I can’t fault it for that. I was someone who, when they announced they’d be doing 7, 8, and 9, ventured into the post-ROTJ EU to take in the broad strokes of the continuing adventures of the legendary Luke Skywalker. (This trailed off when they announced the EU was no longer canon at all, not that I was expecting them to be beholden to it. I figured they’d probably ignore the EU and contradict whatever they happen to contradict, leaving the EU to deal with it.) Luke is a different character here and the film deliberately thwarts everything that I went into this moving looking forward to. And… it did so in a series of 9 movies with only one left.
If your small town has an apple pie baking contest, and someone submits the best peach cobbler in the world… what do you do? I don’t know, this movie more than any previous one is hard to swallow, by design, which is good and bad which is good. I’ll have to chime in later after a week or more once I can sit with this.
Luke’s plot line is literally about how he was hyped up to be the Luke of legend and TFA and yet isn’t. Both Rey and Luke acknowledge this, but then Rey says they need a legend, to ignite that spark of hope.
So at the end, when Luke shows up on Crait, he’s not the Luke that failed that we saw on Ahch-to, he is the Luke of legend (with the sword of legend), and his standing up to the whole of the First Order and Kylo Ren and emerging without a scratch is what inspires hope of rebellion the galaxy over, as we see in the final scene.
Yes, yes and YES!
Luke was written and acted brilliantly. I think there is enough depth to make for quite a few viewings, pulling out more nuances each time. God damn…
And even after Luke “died”, the dice stayed real just long enough to connect kylo Ren and Rey one last time… snoke was long dead at this point. So was that just luck, or did Luke do that?
If Anakin can make himself look like he never fell to the Darkside as a Force ghost, I have no issues with Luke appearing to everyone looking like when they last saw him. (Or a last known image of him.) Had Rey been there, she probably would have seen him differently.
Think of it like the Salt Vampire posing as Dr. McCoy’s old flame on The Man Trap episode of Star Trek. McCoy sees his old love, looking exactly as he last saw her. Kirk sees an older woman. Soon the be drained of all salt in his body Redshirt #1 sees a hot blonde.
Where were you in '77?
It’s a Jedi trap !
There was a shot of an X-Wing under the water. And when Luke showed up at the end to fight Kylo Ren. I had thought he pulled the X-Wing from the water and flew it there. But of course we learned it was just a force projection or something. Though this whole force projection thing is pretty lame. It’s just a way to get Kylo and Rey to interact without using a telephone or something.
You’re forgetting that Vader was in thought communication with Luke at the end of ESB. ROTJ would have had a similar scene, but it was cut. The way Rey and Kylo were communicating was new even to him. And Kylo wasn’t able to see much beyond Rey. I doubt either could interact with the other’s surroundings.
Where were you in '77?
What a horrible film
J
Demand a refund next time. 😛
Where were you in '77?
Here’s a pretty good article about the film: https://www.avclub.com/part-kurosawa-part-wile-e-coyote-the-last-jedi-boldl-1821291545
RE: Ackbar vs. Holdo, the author of this piece has a good point in a response to a comment:
Lotta folks seem to think that her role should have gone to good ol’ Admiral Ackbar, but I get Johnson’s intention: Everybody likes Ackbar, and the audience needs to be fooled into Poe’s point-of-view.
Probably why she didn’t get a proper ‘hero’ introduction as well. It’s a trade-off, but one I liked given where and how it’s taken: this is all Poe’s point of view - to the very end, and that’s why his turn into a proper leader works in the finale.
The more I think about it, the more I appreciate how well-written this film is.
Poe got a bunch of people killed because he was reckless and disobeyed orders. But it’s cool because ‘Ah, that’s just how Poe is, the little scamp’.
It’s war, and that’s not his first, nor his only deed.
If he kept pulling stuff like that in an actual war, his superiors would have him shot in the head.
Thankfully, this is drama (with a slant towards action adventure). This is a character flaw, not a movie flaw - I really don’t get the complaints here. At worst, I’d put this in the same ballpark as Chewie being best friends with Lando at the end of ESB, even though he probably should’ve murdered that traitor the first chance he outgrew his usefulness (which would have been almost immediately).
I’m sure when Chewie calmed down he realized Lando had no choice if he wanted to protect the workers of Cloud City and their families. Did you even watch ESB?
Where were you in '77?
Whoever voiced the Mon Calamari character in Rogue One didn’t sound too different from Ackbar.
I didn’t realize it was someone else. Whoever that was could have done it for this. I agree, by the way, it would have had a lot more weight if it had been him. Either way, I thought the silent visual of the rebel ship hitting the First Order ship was absolutely fantastic. Second only to the shot of Leia looking out from the base on Crait. The total solitude of that shot was VERY moving.
Full review later.
I think I heard audible gasps in the theater during that shot.
Where were you in '77?
My theater all shouted “Holy shit!” when that Rebel Ship went through the Destroyers. Very moving scene! Very beautiful!
SPECULATION
Did anyone but me notice Poe Dameron woke up THREE times after passing out in this movie, all three times after a Force Sensitive (Rey or Luke or Leia) did something with the Force? This guy is obviously force sensitive, which also explains his immense piloting skills and his “hello, I’m Poe” to Rey at the end, setting up a relationship.
WHAT HAVE I DONE?
The Ancient Lore
Kenobi: A Star Wars Story
Harry Potter Revisited
Game of Thrones Film Edits
Titanic Restructured
… and more.
I think I heard audible gasps in the theater during that shot.
I was one of those people! It was worth the theater experience just for that moment. Kinda similar to when the Falcon is first revealed in full view in TFA, but this scene was way more satisfying for the “gasp” effect from me and many other audience members. Loved it!
The Rise of Failures
I definitely noticed at least one of those times. In the comics, Luke gave Poe’s parents a sapling from the tree in the Jedi temple on Coruscant that he recovered from one of the Emperor’s research installations. Growing up around that tree probably endowed him with some level of Force sensitivity.
“hello, I’m Poe” to Rey at the end, setting up a relationship.
Didn’t they already meet during TFA ending ? (you know, when they complete the map, they are in the very same room looking at the very same map…)
If TLJ tells anything, it’s stop trying to figure out uninteresting things and stop elaborating lame theories.
blabla Snoke blabla Rey’s parents blablA Maz blablabla…
(Johnson is trolling SW fans like a Master… it’s so funny reading reviews of his anti-SW flick 😃)