Thinking about it more, I guess my like of Canto Blight was letting the Goat/Horse things free was alright, while I laughed a little at BB-8 being armed with excessive coinage (though I did start wondering how he stored it all), but I’m thinking nothing else really sung out to me. (and again it was a bit too “almost nothing worked out”)
Though I will say the scene with R2-D2 and Luke was probably one of the better way to use a Nostalgia callback compared to TFA.
I like that Artoo gave Luke a bit of a beep lashing, (and Luke cautioning him not to curse) and finally guilt tripped him with the old Leia hologram. Was that the original footage or a recreation?
Where were you in '77?
I like that Artoo gave Luke a bit of a beep lashing, (and Luke cautioning him not to curse) and finally guilt tripped him with the old Leia hologram. Was that the original footage or a recreation?
I think it was a recreation, I could be wrong though.
I didn’t see any prequel level bad CGI
It wasn’t as bad on a technical/execution level, but it was annoying just the same.
Did this movie have a “animal rights” sort of theme or was it just me? At the casino planet, and Chewie eating meat scene…
I assume they did the Leia hologram thing while they had everything out for the end of Rogue One.
I like that Artoo gave Luke a bit of a beep lashing, (and Luke cautioning him not to curse) and finally guilt tripped him with the old Leia hologram. Was that the original footage or a recreation?
They scanned in all of the original footage they shot for the Leia hologram back in the 70’s ( you can see the newly scanned footage in the Carrie Tribute that was shown at celebration). So they just added the hologram effects to the original footage (and new angles)
Wasn’t the original hologram footage shot on videotape though? I know it was shot off a tv screen to get the original effect.
Where were you in '77?
Saw it a second time, and overall enjoyed the film. I still feel it’s deeply flawed and plays it fast and loose with the in-universe rules. I still can’t believe how overpowered and perfect Rey is, learning in days what others do in years. There’s good stuff and some great scenes, but overall this film feels disconnected to the rest of the saga. I also feel the acting was on a higher level in TFA, and felt Domnhall Gleeson was overall very bad, which sucks because he’s now one of the two main antagonists. Kylo and Hux simply can’t compete with Vader and Tarkin or Vader and the Emperor as far as I’m concerned. Overall the antagonists left for ep IX seem a pretty weak bunch, but then again so do the rebels.
Wasn’t the original hologram footage shot on videotape though? I know it was shot off a tv screen to get the original effect.
It may well have been. i know it had been transferred digitally and cleaned up. The footage in the tribute looked a little too sharp to be 70s video tape.
After mulling over it some more, my view this film inches even more towards disappointment. The main crux for me all comes down to Luke and Kylo’s past. Okay so, Vader has tortured Leia, has blown up Leia’s home planet, has killed many of his fellow Rebel friends, has tortured Han and sent to Jabba’s, has sliced Luke’s hand off, etc. Vader has done some really horrible and twisted deeds, and Luke’s idealism never faltered, even when he was being electrocuted by the Emperor. "Father please!"
Luke’s unwavering determination and faith in his father to have the capacity to turn to the light was what finally convinced Vader to overthrow his master.
NOW…
An older, supposed wiser, Luke wants to murder his nephew in his sleep because he ‘felt’ some darkness in Kylo’s mind?? This isn’t even some random padawaan; his own family! Leia’s and Han’s! How the hell was he going to rationalize this act of murder to them?? Not without lying you couldn’t! I’m not even convinced or shown how Kylo was an issue in Luke’s academy prior to scary Luke the executioner shows up at Kylo’s bedside.
I mean, how backwards is it to consider now that of all people, HAN SOLO, was the one that held onto the idea that his son was still there? I just don’t think Luke was written correctly. The ‘correct’ Luke would do anything, I mean anything, to figure out how to redeem Kylo. Fine, Luke goes into Exile, and studies the teachings of the Force even further during this time. But no, Luke does nothing for all these years. You can still have an interesting element of how legends aren’t always great, just from the fact alone that he failed to train Kylo properly, but oh gosh, it doesn’t have to go against his character!
Due to this, I really think almost everything in TLJ starts to fall apart at the seams. TFA, though criticize for legitimate reasons, was overall received with praise. So it almost feels like a slap in face for the people like me that stood behind TFA. I truly thought the new trilogy was heading into something interesting, and even if it was old-retreads, I could at the very least enjoy seeing these new characters, like Rey, develop. But as I mentioned in another post, it doesn’t really feel like any of these main characters moved forward. The second act should be a smaller contained movie that pushes the characters to suffering and agony until they rise stronger than before with new wisdom; here our characters, especially apparent in Finn’s arc, they basically struggle with pretty much the same issues they had in TFA. Why?
The Rise of Failures
There’s a lot about the film I hate as far as how it fits in the saga. It’s so stylistically different, and really doesn’t seem like it fits…that being said, I loved the film. If Return of the Jedi didn’t have the excellent throne room and ending, I would say it’s the best since Empire.
"The other versions will disappear. Even the 35 million tapes of Star Wars out there won’t last more than 30 or 40 years. A hundred years from now, the only version of the movie that anyone will remember will be the DVD version [of the Special Edition], and you’ll be able to project it on a 20’ by 40’ screen with perfect quality. I think it’s the director’s prerogative, not the studio’s to go back and reinvent a movie." - George Lucas
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Second viewing. Love this film.
Thoughts on second viewing:
I want to fanedit this so badly.
The Rey, Luke, Kylo, Snoke, Poe, and Leia stuff all works so very well.
But this movie is too long. I am dying to start hacking away at Canto Bight and much of the humor. The second viewing overall just made me want to fanedit this more and see the deleted scenes.
What the fuck was this movie? They let this absolute madman of an indie director turn Star Wars into an experimental rumination on nihilism. Everything that’s set up in TFA and the first half of TLJ is rendered completely pointless and a waste of time. Snoke, Rey’s Parents, Luke’s depression and Nihlism, are the obvious examples here. I know Rian did this on purpose to like prove a point, but its not executed well. i mean, you spend 2/3 of the film on this B plot about disabling the tracker and it ends up being completely irrelevant. The case to be made here is that “failure is the best teacher” but setting things up without paying them off is not how screenplays are supposed to work. TFA may have been unoriginal but it was at least coherent. Unless you’re Terrence Malick, please stick with the standard hero’s journey, especially in a Star Wars film.
“I fundamentally disagree with everything you’ve written about my character”
-Mark Hamill
EDIT: Furthermore, the lack of organization between the two sequel directors is astounding. In TFA Luke has created a map to himself so that people can find him when they need him and then in TLJ he says he didn’t want to be found. What!? Where is the lore master of this trilogy, making sure things are consistent between the films?
Ah, one of the “TFA was unoriginal and TLJ was too original” reviews. Lol.
They say if you throw enough ad hominems, the film the person is criticising actually gets better
If Luke went to the island to die why was there a map?
If Luke went to the island to die why was there a map?
Maybe they suspected that Luke was looking for the First Jedi Temple, and the Church of the Force was the first group that actually figured out where that temple might be.
Luke need not be involved in the map’s creation.
You probably don’t recognize me because of the red arm.
Episode 9 Rewrite, The Starlight Project (Released!) and ANH Technicolor Project (Released!)
If Luke went to the island to die why was there a map?
Maybe they suspected that Luke was looking for the First Jedi Temple, and the Church of the Force was the first group that actually figured out where that temple might be.
Luke need not be involved in the map’s creation.
I thought that the island was a super hidden place in an unknown region, since not even Han Solo, the guy that’s been flying around the entire galaxy for 60 years, knows any of the nearby system/planets.
But your explanation is good enough for me.
If Luke went to the island to die why was there a map?
Maybe they suspected that Luke was looking for the First Jedi Temple, and the Church of the Force was the first group that actually figured out where that temple might be.
Luke need not be involved in the map’s creation.
I thought that the island was a super hidden place in an unknown region, since not even Han Solo, the guy that’s been flying around the entire galaxy for 60 years, knows any of the nearby system/plans.
But your explanation is good enough for me.
I recall that awful feeling way back in 1983 when, after much speculation about clones and other hopes and what-not, I suddenly realised that Lucas had no ‘plan’ and had been making it all up as he went along.
I’m getting that same vibe now…
At least here it’s explicit - the entire trilogy is a game of Exquisite Corpse.
But that’s also a wonderful opportunity for interpretation and re-imagining. Not even George Lucas can claim ownership of this sprawling and contradictory set of tales formerly known only as Star Wars.
You probably don’t recognize me because of the red arm.
Episode 9 Rewrite, The Starlight Project (Released!) and ANH Technicolor Project (Released!)
At least here it’s explicit - the entire trilogy is a game of Exquisite Corpse.
But that’s also a wonderful opportunity for interpretation and re-imagining. Not even George Lucas can claim ownership of this sprawling and contradictory set of tales formerly known only as Star Wars.
Oh absolutely. And I actually like a lot of the choices that RJ made ie Rey’s parentage, Snoke’s fate, and the fact that Luke wasn’t loading up some crazy pre-emptive ‘map-fragments, R2 on a timer, Falcon on Jakku, lightsaber waiting in a castle for the right moment’ masterplan.
I’m still not quite sure why there was a fragmented map to Skywalker at all though…
I’m also somewhat murky on what kind of legend Luke had become over the years. I’m assuming he took credit for killing the Emperor on Death Star II, but did he really tell his rebel pals at the Ewok party that ol’ Vader had been his Dad and turned out to be a great guy after all? I can only imagine how deafening crickets might sound on Endor…
Ah, one of the “TFA was unoriginal and TLJ was too original” reviews. Lol.
Well, considering that long running fan favourite franchises are often going to be a juggling act when it comes to pleasing the fans and telling new, original stories that also speak to the core ideals of the franchise in question, should it really be that surprising that there are going to be a lot of reviews like that? It’s always going to be hard for the creators to get the balance of elements right and they’ll never please all of the people, all of the time.
Personally, I thought the Force Awakens was an entertaining movie but was also, yes, a bit unoriginal - but also that it was a calculated sense of unoriginal, IMO, as they wanted to show that this was going to more ‘Classic Star Wars’ compared to the prequels. It was ‘playing it safe’ so they could then go off and be more daring in the next movie (this one). Were they too daring? I haven’t actually seen the Last Jedi yet so I can’t really say, but I can understand the ‘too unoriginal/too original’ criticisms (although I wonder if it is really a case of being ‘too original’ or just that it did original things that the reviewers in question just didn’t like or wasn’t the direction they imagined the series heading?) In any case, I’m looking forward to seeing it soon.
Whenever I buy The Last Jedi on Blu-Ray, I think I’m going to just buy the 4K version even though I don’t have 4K yet. Reason is I just found out that the 4K versions of movies ALSO include the Blu-Ray disc. I didn’t know that. So, I might as well just buy it once, instead of in the future having to track down the 4K version.
So, I’m going to start buying the 4K version of movies even though I don’t have 4K yet because they also contain a Blu-Ray disc.
I have the Steelbooks for Ghostbusters 1 and 2 on Blu-Ray. And learned they had a 4K release. But that they also had a new Blu-Ray release based on the 4K master that’s supposed to look better than the earlier Blu-Ray release. So I bought the new Blu-Ray release but then found out that the 4K release ALSO has the Blu-Ray disc that was done of the 4K master. So I should have just bought the 4K version since it has both 4K disc and Blu-Ray disc that was from the 4K master. They should have advertised this a lot more as I didn’t know of this.