Spoiler Review – Star Wars: The Last Jedi – This DIDN’T Go The Way We Thought

Well, at long last Star Wars: The Last Jedi is finally here and, after seeing it on Friday afternoon, I’ve spent the past couple of days digesting it. (To clarify that a bit, since god only knows when we’ll be posting this, I’m enjoying a nice Sunday afternoon ale whilst I write my review here.)

There’s a lot there to process, of course, given that The Last Jedi runs a whopping 153 minutes in length and is bursting at the seams with characters, plot threads, and surprises. My thoughts on this film have wandered all over the place, but in the end I keep coming back to the phrase that came to me as I strolled out of theater on Friday afternoon.

Overall, The Last Jedi is a beautiful mess.

 

 

Simply put, this was (on first viewing, anyway) quite possibly the most uneven Star Wars film I’ve ever seen. I have never in my life seen a movie that has made my eyes both roll in derision and tear up with raw emotion in such equal and ample measure. On the one hand, director Rian Johnson hit way more prequel-esque clunkers than I’d have ever guessed him to be capable of, but on the other hand… the highs were so incredibly high! Rather than dwelling on the former, at least for the moment, let’s begin with the latter. Here’s what worked for me.

 

 

Luke Skywalker. I’ll say it straight out. This was Luke’s movie, plain and simple. Yes, we got another fantastic ride with our new batch of GFFA friends and foes, and yes Carrie Fisher’s final performance was everything I’d hoped it would be. No question about it. But for me, Luke was far and away the heart and soul of The Last Jedi. It was his film, even moreso than The Force Awakens was Han’s film. And that is, perhaps, as it should be.

 

The early trailers (I only saw the first two before I went on a self-imposed spoiler blackout) only hinted at how thoroughly done with all things Jedi Luke truly is in this story. He has not simply turned his back on the Jedi, he has turned his back on the Force itself, with a vengeance. This, of course, runs counter to just about everything that I, and I’d venture to say most of us, assumed about Luke’s life after the events of Return of the Jedi. Some fans I’ve spoken with over the past couple of days aren’t particularly happy about this, but it certainly worked for me. After all, a man who hides himself on a virtually deserted planet after essentially tearing up the map so that nobody can find it probably isn’t exactly going to be sporting the sunniest disposition. And indeed, in The Last Jedi we learn that the years of exile on the remote ocean world of Ahch-To have turned Luke not into a charming curmudgeon, but into a bitter old crank who genuinely wishes to be left alone to die. To his credit, Rian Johnson worked this angle virtually to perfection, using it as a springboard for a classic Buddhist master/pupil dynamic between Luke and Rey.

 

There was always some of this in Luke’s relationship with Yoda in the original trilogy, of course, but unlike the little green prankster, Luke isn’t playing around – at all. He genuinely does NOT want anything to do with training Rey. And, straight out of an old Buddhist tale, with prospective students being left to wait outside the gates for weeks or months before the master lets them in for a lesson, Luke continues to refuse to teach Rey or even really ackowledge her as much of anything but a nagging pest until she has followed him around for a few days and made it clear that she plans to stick around come hell or high water. Once Luke finally gives in and decides to teach her, their relationship continues to show heavy Buddhist undertones. At one point, Luke even pulls the old Zen master trick of whacking Rey with a reed in order to focus her attention. I found it to be a charming and effective way of portraying Luke as the reluctant teacher that the situation absolutely demanded that he be.

 

 

In fact, it was Luke’s agonizingly haunted worldview in the wake of what befell his nephew, Ben Solo, that gave Luke’s story its depth and texture. I can absolutely see why Mark Hamill said that he initially wasn’t crazy about Rian’s choices where Luke was concerned, but in the end I think it all made perfect sense for the story, and I found it eminently satisfying, and utterly unexpected.

 

A series of flashbacks present, Rashomon-style, three different versions of the night that Ben turned on Luke and destroyed his newly formed Jedi training academy. It turns out that Luke holds himself personally responsible for Ben’s fall to the dark side. Although the volatile young man had already been corrupted and pushed ever closer toward the edge by Snoke, the Supreme Leader of the First Order, Luke has convinced himself that it was his own moment of weakness in responding to the growing darkness within Ben that served as the catalyst that finally turned him into Kylo Ren.

 

Luke Skywalker Kylo Ren Star Wars: The Last Jedi

 

And so, in keeping with the grand tradition of teachers learning from their pupils even as their pupils learn from them, Luke is gradually forced to come to terms with his own past as he watches Rey develop her own connection to the Force.

 

This all culminates in Luke finally embracing the Force again at long last. And it’s a hell of a payoff when he finally does. First, we see an impressive new use of the Force, as Luke projects himself, seemingly in the flesh, onto Crait in order to distract the First Order while the remaining Resistance members find a way out of the mine base. After an impressive face-off between Luke and Kylo Ren, we get a nicely satisfying moment when Ren realizes that he’s been had, and that he’s been fighting a spectral image of Luke all along. Luke’s parting, “See ya around, kid” is a brilliantly Solo-esque exit line, both a crowd pleaser as well as a subtle reminder to Ren that the spirit of his father will always be with him, whether he likes it or not.

 

 

Then comes the moment that I think we all feared had to come sooner or later. Luke, lying on the ground back on Ahch-To, has obviously drained the last of his strength. As he struggles to pull himself up, he notices the deep brilliance of the setting sun – truly notices it for what may be the first time in years. Mark Hamill plays this scene exquisitely, his expression transitioning slowly from the mortal strain of the feat he’s just accomplished to the peace and pure childlike joy of immersing himself in the simple magic of a sunset. As he sits cross-legged on that cliff, it becomes obvious that that perfect sunset will be the last thing that Luke sees as he becomes one with the Force. And, sure enough, his empty robe collapses and blows away on the evening breeze as John Williams’ Force theme swells in the background.

 

While many fans probably envisioned Luke dying heroically in battle (I know I often did over the years) I honestly think that this quiet, peaceful, zen-like departure was the best and most dramatic choice. That he was watching a sunset at the end of his journey, just as he was in the last moments before his journey began in the original 1977 film was as perfect a  bookending as that of his struggle against the Empire beginning with the shot of his burning homestead in the first film and ending with Luke standing before his father’s funeral pyre at the end of Return of the Jedi.

 

I’m not too proud to admit it – this was the last of several moments during the Last Jedi that put tears in my eyes.

 

As I mentioned before, in my view Luke’s story is the backbone of the entire movie, and I believe that on subsequent viewings it may be a big part of what pulls all of the disparate threads of the story together for me.

 

It’s these other story threads from which I feel the unevenness of this film stems. The MANY other story threads. Against the backdrop of a desperate and seemingly doomed Resistance retreat from the overwhelming firepower of the First Order starfleet, we get to see the development of no less than half a dozen characters and character relationships aside from those of Luke and Rey. It’s a particularly bold move, within a film that is packed with bold moves, to focus on this many characters, and as one might expect it’s a rather mixed bag in terms of what works and what doesn’t.

 

 

As when we last saw him in The Force Awakens, Finn is still trying to find his place in life following his defection from the First Order after a lifetime of forced service. Early in the film, he teams up with Rose Tico (played by Kelly Marie Tran), an earnest yet awkward young Resistance fleet technician who is dealing with uncertainties of her own, as well as with the recent death of her sister, Paige (who valiantly and dramatically sacrifices her own life to cover the Resistance’s escape from their base on D’Qar.) Finn and Rose end up going on an adventure of their own as they travel to Canto Bight, an intergalactic casino, to find a codebreaker who can help them to slice into the First Order’s network and disrupt their ability to track the Resistance ships through hyperspace.

 

 

Meanwhile, we get to see a lot more of Poe Dameron in The Last Jedi than what we saw of him in The Force Awakens. Poe leads the fighter/bomber attack on the First Order fleet as the Resistance evacuates their base, and later leads a mutiny against Vice Admiral Holdo (played by Laura Dern,) convinced that Holdo’s questionable decisions in commanding the remnants of the Resistance fleet will result in the First Order picking their ships off one by one until there is nothing left of them.

 

 

Princess Leia, meanwhile, is doing everything she can to hold the Resistance together while she waits to hear back from Rey as to whether Luke will agree to return from his exile and aid the Resistance in their struggle against the First Order. Leia spends the middle portion of the film out of commission after narrowly escaping death at the hands of her son, Ben (now the dark Force adept Kylo Ren,) who leads the First Order’s attack on the Resistance fleet from the cockpit of his TIE fighter. This attack results in a rather strange and awkwardly conceived scene in which Leia and her entire bridge crew get sucked out into the vacuum of space, and Leia uses the Force to draw herself back to the ship before the cold of space kills her. (While I get the concept Johnson was going for here, the shot itself looks laughably ridiculous, because Leia is so unnaturally stiff and static throughout it. I have to wonder if, had Carrie Fisher not passed away, Johnson might have shot a bit of additional footage of her to make Leia look more animated and natural.)

 

Let me take a moment here to state the obvious: Carrie Fisher was absolutely wonderful as Leia in this movie. As was the case in The Force Awakens, she projected a perfect balance of the strong, matronly military leader that Leia had become, and the bold, fearless young rebel that we first met in the original 1977 film. At the same time, Carrie got to show us how the weight of years of war and struggle bore down on Leia, particularly once the few remaining members of the Resistance had hunkered down in the mine base on Crait with the First Order minutes away from crushing them once and for all. And, as always, Carrie’s eyes spoke volumes in scenes like this – both Leia’s waning hope as the base’s shield doors closed before the First Order’s attack, and the reawakening of that same hope when Luke finally arrived.

 

Knowing that Carrie had been gone almost a full year made her scenes in The Last Jedi all the more poignant and emotional. The reunion between Leia and Luke when he arrives on Crait really got to me, especially when John Williams, god love him, reprised Luke and Leia’s theme from Return of the Jedi behind the scene, transitioning into Han and Leia’s theme as their conversation turned to Han’s death. That was one moment when I couldn’t help but tear up. Now, more than ever, I think we’ll all always wish that Carrie could have been around to portray Leia one last time in Episode 9, especially since the plan had originally been to have that be Leia’s movie, the way The Last Jedi was Luke’s and The Force Awakens was Han’s. Sadly, we’re left to imagine how Carrie would have played the inevitable scene in which Leia finally confronted her son. The energy between Carrie and Adam Driver would undoubtedly have been powerful indeed.

 

 

Which brings us to Ben Solo/Kylo Ren. I don’t think I was necessarily alone in feeling that Kylo Ren was at times a strangely anemic villain in The Force Awakens, particularly in the second half of the film. Fortunately, he comes into his own in The Last Jedi, showing a great deal more strength and complexity. He has a moment near the beginning of the film (which was, unfortunately, essentially spoiled in the movie’s first full trailer, released back at the beginning of October) where he has the bridge of the Resistance flagship (and, by extension, his mother) in his sights, but finds that he cannot bring himself to fire his starfighter’s cannons. His story for the rest of the film revolves around his growing certainty that his only path forward is to destroy his past. All of it, and everyone in it. He is also compelled by an unexpected Force connection between himself and Rey, which ultimately brings the two together for a second confrontation, and which teeters precariously on the edge of turning into a full-blown partnership before he and Rey finally make their choices and realize once and for all that they must stand in opposition to one another.

 

There is, therefore, a lot of story here (or at least, attempts at story.) It’s all a lot to process and keep track of, and ultimately I feel like Rian Johnson just tried to pack far too much into this movie. As a result, some quite promising ideas ended up getting rather short shrift. I very much enjoyed the chemistry between Finn and Rose, for example. Finn needed somebody like Rose to give him a good swift kick in the ass so he’d finish his transition from reluctant hero to willing hero. And Rose is a really cool character in and of herself, with Kelly Marie Tran giving an exceptionally engaging performance here. But I just felt like there was an awful lot of the old Seinfeldian “show about nothing” to Finn and Rose’s subplot. Their quest to find the codebreaker and infiltrate the First Order flagship… it all ended up seeming like it was all just in service to giving Finn and Rose something to do. By that same token, I also felt like Poe’s mutiny subplot, though it fared a bit better, also fell rather short of what it might have done had there been more room within Johnson’s crowded story. As with Finn and Rose, Poe’s role in this film often seemed more about providing the character with a reason to be there than about moving the story forward.

 

Rey and Kylo Ren

 

The Rey/Kylo Ren plot thread was more consequential to the overall tale, and I for one was VERY glad to see the “shipping” fan theories put forth over the past couple of years shut down once and for all in terms of the way in which the apparent connection between Rey and Ben ended up being resolved.  No, folks, Rey and Kylo Ren do not end up together, either as lovers or as a Force-using team. This possibility is hinted at repeatedly throughout the film, but in the end Rey refuses Kylo Ren’s entreaties to join him in ruling the galaxy, realizing perhaps that as complicated as life can be, the grey between light and darkness is still merely the result of one pushing the other aside, and not of an actual blending of the two. Rey’s choice still boils down to choosing between the light and the darkness, and… well, let’s just say that Rey isn’t looking to go off and build herself a red lightsaber.

 

This all takes place during and immediately following a confrontation with Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis) aboard his flagship, in a scene that is practically a straight lift from the Emperor’s throne room scene in Return of the Jedi. I have to admit, I’ve never been a huge proponent of the “rhyming” concept that Lucas used in his prequel films, not because it’s a bad idea (it’s actually an excellent storytelling tool when used judiciously) but because it can so easily be used as an excuse for simply copying classic scenes instead of creating new scenes that might grow to become classics. And indeed, the scene in Snoke’s command chamber does have something of that feel to it. However, while Rian Johnson may have stuck a wee bit too close to the dialogue from Return of the Jedi for my tastes, I actually felt like the scene between Snoke, Rey and Kylo Ren worked for what it needed to be. And while there wasn’t an elevator shaft handy for Ren to throw Snoke into, Ren did find a suitably satisfying way to dispatch Snoke at the appropriate moment.

 

 

It was perhaps fitting that Snoke died by lightsaber bisection, as Darth Maul did in The Phantom Menace (though director Johnson made sure to leave the audience with no doubt that, in this case, the vanquished foe would not be returning via even the ropiest of future LFL retcons.) While Snoke was featured in two of the three sequel films, he reminded me of Darth Maul in that both were treated, in my opinion, as disposable villains. As was the case with Maul, we never really learned what it was that drove them, and what it specifically was that they wanted. To destroy the Jedi, yes, but that’s the basic canvas wash behind virtually every Star Wars villain. What we didn’t get with Maul, or with Snoke, was enough specific context for their motivations before they were killed off. In the end, Snoke was just Snoke, whatever that is, and he was yet another rotten sonofabitch who wanted to destroy the Jedi and rule the galaxy.

 

That was one area of story resolution that felt somewhat lacking. And it led directly to another even more anticipated moment that threatened to fall similarly short. Once Snoke and his praetorian guard have been dealt with, and with the red drapery that Snoke had hung about his command center burning away behind them, Kylo Ren goads Rey into admitting what they both knew to be true through their Force-powered visions: Rey’s parents, whose identity she had sought for so long, were in fact just a couple of anonymous Jakku scavengers who had sold their young daughter for a quick profit (I assume that profit was probably the starship we saw blasting off of Jakku in Rey’s Force vision in The Force Awakens.)

 

In other words, as Rey admitted to both Kylo Ren and to herself, and in an echo of the way in which he had described herself to Maz Kanata in the previous film,  her parents were… nobody.

 

This revelation has undoubtedly riled a great many Star Wars fans who walked into this movie chock full of theories, ranging from the impossibly convoluted to the incredibly simple, concerning Rey’s parentage. It’s what we do, after all, isn’t it? I admit to having had my own thoughts on this over the past two years. And it did indeed feel momentarily jarring to have those speculations brushed away like a zen koan at the snap of the master’s cane.

 

And then, of course, I realized that this was the entire point. Perhaps, given the Buddhist flavor of the scenes between Luke and Rey, this was a conscious intention on the part of Rian Johnson. Perhaps not. It doesn’t really matter. What occurred to me as my expectations were knocked aside, was that having Rey come not from a Skywalker bloodline (nor even a Kenobi or Palpatine bloodline) but essentially from nowhere and nobody somehow made the most sense of all.
 Han Solo blind shot in TFA

 

Ever since I saw The Force Awakens, I’ve gotten the impression that perhaps we were witnessing some sort of transfomation in the way the Force manifests itself. There were moments when it seemed as though the Force, rather than simply channeling through a select few as its always been shown to do, might have been beginning to surface in regular people as well. Now, it was probably just J.J. Abrams being cute without intending it to connect to the Force, but look at the battle on Takodana. In the space of a few minutes we see Han making an instinctive behind-the-back shot at a trooper he’s not even looking at, and then Poe taking out almost a dozen TIEs in about as many seconds. To me, things like that looked more than just a little “Force-ey”.

 

Regardless of whether or not that was intentional, it does seem like one of the themes of the sequel trilogy is a shift from Jedi superheroes saving the galaxy to ordinary people doing extraordinary things, thereby pushing the galaxy inch by inch away from the brink of darkness. And perhaps having the Force act through “nobodies” like Rey (or like the little stable boy on Canto Bight) is a key part of that shift.

 

In any case, Rian Johnson’s choice not to have Rey be related to any existing characters seems to be meeting with widely varied fan reactions. In fact the same can be said for the entire film. Some fans love it, some hate it, and I’ve talked with a few who openly despise it. As for those who aren’t particularly thrilled with The Last Jedi, I don’t think they can be dismissed as simply being unwilling to accept a Star Wars film that fails to stay safely within the bounds of their own expectations. This was an accusation that was often leveled at those of us who were less than enamored of the prequel films back when they were being released. It was facile nonsense then, and in my opinion it would be even further off the mark to slag critics of The Last Jedi with it now.

 

Because as much as I enjoy what works about it, I cannot pretend that The Last Jedi doesn’t have its problems. A lot of them.

 

As I mentioned before, it was probably inevitable that the sheer number of characters and subplots contained within The Last Jedi would result in an uneven movie. If that were the only flaw in Rian Johnson’s film, it would probably be in contention for the best of the series. However, the character and plot bloat are the least if the movie’s problems, at least in my opinion. The more glaring problem, and the one that repeatedly took me out of the film and set my eyes to rolling, is one of tone. Let me offer an example.

 

Star Wars: The Last Jedi opens with a cell phone joke.

 

Leia - WHAT?!?!

 

Would that I were b.s.’ing you here, but no. The very first sequence in the movie involves Poe Dameron prank calling General Hux aboard his star destroyer in an attempt to distract him while Poe maneuvers his X-wing into position to attack the massive First Order dreadnaught that threatens to destroy the entire Resistance evacuation convoy. While the basic concept of throwing the enemy off via confusing comm transmissions makes sense (Bodhi Rook pulled that sort of ploy in Rogue One, for example) the problem here is that Rain Johnson not only played it as broad comedy, but he also wrote it so that it sounded exactly like a millennial on a smartphone, rather than a fighter pilot on a comm system. It just sounds far, far too earthbound in the way the script is written. I can’t recall if Poe actually uttered the phrase, “Can you hear me now?” during this exchange, but he may as well have. Rather than distracting General Hux, it distracted the hell out of me (and, I suspect, out of a lot of the rest of the audience) and it honestly took me at least a few scenes to get my head back into the film. It was truly that bad a gag, and what’s worse, it set the tone for the entire picture.

 

Which leads me to the core of the problem here. Star Wars is supposed to have humorous banter – it’s not supposed to dish out gags. Those are two different things. Well-written banter tends to have staying power on repeated viewings. Jokey gags, like Poe’s cell phone bit, do not. I think that’s largely because banter tends to come from a real and human place that we can all relate to, whether we personally do banter well or not. Gags are just attention-getters that exist for their own sake. Some are better than others, but in the end they’re just a rimshot waiting to happen, with all the lasting appeal of a stick of Fruit Stripe gum.

 

Rian Johnson, for whatever reason, chose to load The Last Jedi down with joke after joke, gag after gag. And while there are occasional moments where this works (Poe’s foot punching through the floor of the rusty old skimmer that he pilots against the First Order walker assault on Crait, for example) there are far, far more gags that fall completely flat, in some cases derailing scenes that they were apparently meant to augment. It’s like being in a philosophical group discussion where there’s that one guy who is ONLY there to crack jokes, most of which don’t even fit in context with what’s being discussed. The discussion goes on, yes, but with everyone painfully aware of the fact that the same guy is going to chime in every minute or two with another pointless one-liner.

 

It almost felt as though somebody had tossed The Last Jedi into a crisper drawer with a bunch of Marvel Comics flicks (including about a dozen copies of Guardians of the Galaxy) and left it there to steep for a couple of weeks and absorb the Marvel franchise’s joke-a-minute approach to screenwriting. It’s not that I dislike the Marvel films. In fact, I’ve enjoyed most of the ones I’ve seen. I just don’t think it improves Star Wars to have their scripts made to more closely resemble Marvel’s joke-fests.

 

It occurs to me to wonder whether perhaps Johnson read the old story about George Lucas handing an early draft of his script for the original Star Wars to his friends Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck so that they could punch it up with some humorous dialogue, which Lucas’ script lacked at the time – but then Johnson neglected to read through to the end of the story, where Lucas trimmed about 80% of the humor out of the Katz/Huyck rewrite and left in what he felt was the best material.

 

Had Johnson simply gone through his script and thrown out the majority of the jokes (starting with that god-awful cell phone gag!) and just kept the comparatively few bits that actually worked, he would have ended up with a much stronger (and funnier) movie. Instead, he seems to have gone with quantity over quality, with little concern for context or timing. At times, it’s like watching a bad improv show (and I’ve seen plenty of them – hell, I’ve DONE plenty of them!) I can almost see the late Del Close growling at Johnson, “Are you here to play, or are you just here to screw around?”

 

Porg Wars

 

So that’s a big part of what soured a lot of the film for me. What was almost as bad (and could really be considered an extension of the same problem) was Johnson’s insistance on weighing down scene after scene with cute little squeak toys. It wasn’t just the Furby-like porgs (though there was entirely too much of them throughout the movie, often at wildly inappropriate times.) The entire casino scene on Canto Bight seemed to revolve around squeaky little critters in tuxedos doing bad slapstick. What should have been the Las Vegas version of the Mos Eisley cantina ended up coming across more like a bad Fraggle Rock outtake. (And again, it’s like the Marvel thing I mentioned earlier. I like Fraggle Rock – but it’s not Star Wars.)

 

The third main area where I felt like The Last Jedi needed some help was in terms of pacing. There is a certain rhythm to a Star Wars movie, and I wasn’t feeling that rhythm at all in The Last Jedi. It seemed to me more like everything was just sort of crammed together so that it would all fit. I just don’t feel like Rian Johnson quite gets how to hit the beats of a Star Wars story all that well. Say what you will about J.J. Abrams and the degree to which he made The Force Awakens so closely derivative of the original 1977 film, but at the very least he gave his film the overall cadance of a Star Wars film.

 

And maybe in the end, this won’t be such a terrible thing. With J.J. back at the helm for the third act of this trilogy, perhaps when we look back at all three films as a piece of music, The Last Jedi will fit in as a jarringly dissonant “middle eight”, as it were, and J.J. can then bring it on home with that familiar Star Wars tone and rhythm in Episode 9. But for now, The Last Jedi definitely has an uncomfortable stutter-step to it in terms of its overall pacing.

 

Here’s the thing, though. The more I roll The Last Jedi over in my mind (both over the past two days since I saw it, and in the course of writing this review) the more it occurs to me that there may be another underlying theme to this movie that may help it to feel a bit less disjointed. And, fittingly it comes to me courtesy of a familiar old “little green friend.”

 

Yoda

 

Late in the film, as Luke appears to hit rock bottom in the depths of his despair over what happened to his nephew, and what he fears will happen once Rey meets with Ren and Snoke, Yoda appears to him in spirit to impart one last lesson – that though we may naturally want to resist failure above all things, “The greatest teacher, failure is.”

 

Again, as of this writing I have only seen The Last Jedi once, and so at this point I have absolutely no idea of how exactly the film will crystallize and ossify itself in my mind once I’ve seen it a couple more times and once I’ve had sufficient time to process it all. However, perhaps – just perhaps – what I currently see as a disjointed story will seem a bit less so when viewed through the lens of Yoda’s statement to Luke about the importance of failure.

 

The Resistance’s evacuation from their base on D’Qar fails in the face of a massive First Order onslaught. Finn and Rose and their “show about nothing” mission to break the First Order codes and shut down the hyperspace tracker ends up failing when their supposed ally (Benicio del Toro) sells them out for somewhat more than thirty pieces of silver. Poe’s well-meant attempt to save what’s left of the Resistance from what he views as Vice Admiral Holdo’s inept leadership fails not just because Holdo breaks Poe’s mutiny, but because Poe misjudges Holdo who, as it turns out, has been operating according to Princess Leia’s plan all along.

 

All three of these plot threads, with the characters burdened by bad luck and some exceedingly bad choices on their part, have the tendency to feel rather pointless – in each instance our heroes end up being worse off than they were before. But bearing in mind what Yoda explains to Luke about how we can learn some of our most valuable lessons from failure, perhaps on subsequent viewings the maddening string of failures experienced by nearly every major character in The Last Jedi will actually make sense and begin to ring true.

 

As I said at the outset of this review, The Last Jedi is, to me, a beautiful mess. What remains to be seen is whether or not it the film is, on repeated viewings, actually more beauty than mess. For now, I’m hopeful that it will be.

 

 

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138 thoughts on “Spoiler Review – Star Wars: The Last Jedi – This DIDN’T Go The Way We Thought

  • December 19, 2017 at 6:24 pm
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    Great to read such an honest and thought out review, many of the same things bothered me. There’s a bunch to enjoy and admire about this movie and I’m coming around to a lot of things, but the initial viewing expreience was a total train wreck for me personally.

  • December 19, 2017 at 6:27 pm
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    What an honest and refreshing review, I think you captured perfectly why both sides of this debate feel that have a reason to celebrate/complain
    Thank You

    • December 19, 2017 at 7:16 pm
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      Thanks, Chris! I tried to be as honest and clear as possible about my initial reactions to The Last Jedi, and I’m glad it came across that way.

    • December 19, 2017 at 7:16 pm
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      Thanks, Chris! I tried to be as honest and clear as possible about my initial reactions to The Last Jedi, and I’m glad it came across that way.

      • December 19, 2017 at 7:32 pm
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        Yeah. Thanks for not just blindly praising it. I totally respect that. Not being facetious, sarcastic, or any other internet BS. Most critics are just mailing in their praise. I like how you pointed out the MANY concerns. The upbeats were great. However as you mentioned there is a clear distinction between a good movie, and a good Star Wars movie. This delivered on a basic entertainment level, but utterly failed to compliment the overall existing mythos.

      • December 19, 2017 at 7:55 pm
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        Honestly I was very surprised that this was written after seeing it only once. You absorbed it very well.

  • December 19, 2017 at 6:43 pm
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    Once I saw you describe Luke’s depiction so glowingly I knew. “This is not the review I’m looking for”. Luke’s character assassination is unforgivable, and multiple viewings won’t change that. Last thing i intend to do is give this crap MORE money.

    • December 19, 2017 at 6:54 pm
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      Right. Keep Luke exactly as he was in Return of the Jedi, just now he’s in his 60s. Thirty years and the tragic failure of the Jedi Academy at the hand of his own nephew shouldn’t have had any effect on him at all. He should’ve enthusiastically joined Rey and wiped out the First Order in an epic 30 minute lightsaber ass-kicking and happily passed the torch to Rey to try another Academy in IX. Kylo Ren throws Snoke down a pit, turns back to the light.
      Trilogy over. Fanboys happy. The End.

      • December 19, 2017 at 6:58 pm
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        From all these people that are so angry about how Luke character was ruined, no one has ever said what Luke was “supposed” to do.

        • December 19, 2017 at 6:59 pm
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          Are you kidding? They’ve been saying what Luke is supposed to do in this movie for two years.

          • December 19, 2017 at 7:03 pm
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            Indeed, first the problem was “the fanboys and their fan fiction”, now it’s “you never said what he was supposed to do”.

          • December 19, 2017 at 7:06 pm
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            All I’ve heard is “that’s not the Luke I know” and you’ve ruined his character” and “he would never do that”.

        • December 19, 2017 at 7:48 pm
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          “Pass on what you have learned. Luke…”

          Yoda

          • December 20, 2017 at 1:17 pm
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            I can agree with that, but he did pass it on. To Kylo. oops.

      • December 19, 2017 at 7:45 pm
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        You’re just making up straw men arguments. Basically arguing with yourself. No way Luke tries to save the 2nd most evil man in the galaxy, but kills his nephew IN HIS SLEEP on a whim. That’s totally out of character. Then gives a map to Lars Santeca to come get him in a time of need, but gets mad when they come get him in a time of need. Look you can disagree with me…..

        ‘I pretty much fundamentally disagree with every choice you’ve made for this character”

        Mark Hamill

        • December 19, 2017 at 11:35 pm
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          Uh…Not strawman arguements at all. This is exactly what people were expecting to see. They were talking about it for that last 2 years. A safe, predictable, derivative outcome that keeps Luke Skywalker a perfect Jesus superhero. They fundamentally reject the idea that human beings can change over time, particularly over as many as 30 years as a result of devastating circumstances that can shape a person’s character into something different than in their youth.

    • December 19, 2017 at 7:12 pm
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      While I didn’t see it the way you did, I can certainly understand where you’re coming from. Such a radical departure from the Luke we’ve all known for so long, while it certainly worked for me, is bound to hit a sour chord for some fans. As somebody who was profoundly disappointed by the prequels, I can absolutely relate to and sympathize with your feelings about The Last Jedi.

  • December 19, 2017 at 6:52 pm
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    Great article.

    I’m don’t necessarily agree 100% with every point (some of the things that worked for you didn’t for me and viceversa), but this is exactly the kind of analysis I can wholly respect instead of just pouring vitriol at all the wrong things.

    Great job.

    • December 19, 2017 at 7:03 pm
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      Thanks! And with a movie like this, I don’t think most of us are going to agree 100% with one another about it. I’m just glad my big ol’ rambling review didn’t rub you the wrong way. 🙂

      • December 19, 2017 at 7:05 pm
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        Not at all. It wasn’t rambling, it was making points in a correct way!

          • December 19, 2017 at 7:22 pm
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            Uhm… That’s from 2015, so what?

          • December 19, 2017 at 7:25 pm
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            Just pointing out how some people can look at something objectively and others like to insult, thats all

          • December 19, 2017 at 7:27 pm
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            And you’re making that point posting an out of context image and trying to give it a new meaning?

            Ok. Very objective.

          • December 19, 2017 at 7:29 pm
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            yep, you got.
            I didn’t realize this was from 2015, so shes always dealt with criticism like that, or do you think they pulled her aside

          • December 19, 2017 at 7:37 pm
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            If you didn’t realize this was from 2015, then you obviously don’t know why she posted that either (it was a response to racist comments after the trailers, not even the first film was released).

            You’re just making an uninformed assumption and trying to pass it as a valid argument (just the very point you were apparently posting about!)

            You’re free to do that, but when another person who doesn’t know the picture reads your post, they will be misinformed and judge someone unfairly, just because you’re trying to vent your (perfectly respectable) hate for the film in the wrong way.

          • December 19, 2017 at 7:37 pm
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            If you didn’t realize this was from 2015, then you obviously don’t know why she posted that either (it was a response to racist comments after the trailers, not even the first film was released).

            You’re just making an uninformed assumption and trying to pass it as a valid argument (just the very point you were apparently posting about!)

            You’re free to do that, but when another person who doesn’t know the picture reads your post, they will be misinformed and judge someone unfairly, just because you’re trying to vent your (perfectly respectable) hate for the film in the wrong way.

          • December 19, 2017 at 7:44 pm
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            Thank you too. I only called you on the mistake out of respect for the slandered woman 😉
            I’m also glad we can disagree rationally and thanks for admitting the mistake.

          • December 19, 2017 at 7:46 pm
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            your’e going to fit in perfectly over there, trust me

          • December 19, 2017 at 7:47 pm
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            Sure, I’ll take a glance soon. Thanks for the recommendation.

  • December 19, 2017 at 7:30 pm
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    So truly, it isn’t what they did to Luke that bothered me, but so much other stuff screamed of prequel nonsense. Little gags to get a cheap laugh, most of those completely fell flat. I didn’t love the movie, but I did not hate it. The good parts were EXCELLENT, but the bad parts were very rough. I don’t want to be like others and just say that I didn’t like it or I liked it. I want to give examples on why I felt that this was my most disappointing Star Wars movie. This does not mean I did not like it. I personally would give this movie a 6.5 out of 10.

    What I liked:
    -Kylo Ren finally finding his place

    -Luke becoming one with the force

    -New force abilities

    -The scene with Luke on the Falcon, especially when R2-D2 showed Luke the recording of Leia. VERY touching.

    -Broken Luke. We also got to see heroic Luke.

    What I didn’t like:
    -Canto Bight could have been removed entirely. Yes this includes the fathiers.

    -Luke didn’t need to milk anything.

    -The alien putting coins in BB8 could have stopped at one coin WITHOUT burping in his face.

    -Leia Poppins. Honestly I feel she was cheated a good death scene out in space. I didn’t want her to die, but it seemed like it was needed.

    -Snoke died too quick but I understand it is to grow Kylo Ren as a character, so I’m okay with this. He did die pretty quickly and anticlimactically.

    -Video game Maz Kanata (Your next mission is…)

    -DJ stuttering. I have no beef with people who stutter, my best friend does a bit due to a stroke, but it took you a bit out of the character.

    -Phasma. She is a very cool character, but I feel that they only were on the Supremacy because of this reason.

    -BB8 piloting an AT-ST?

    This is my personal list of best to worst in order. Mind you this may change. I have only seen the movie once, and I feel I need to watch it again to take it in.

    My List:

    ANH and ESB are dead even. 5 was a better movie, but I would say I enjoyed 4 more.
    RotJ
    TFA
    R1
    TLJ
    RotS
    AotC
    TPM

    • December 19, 2017 at 7:36 pm
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      Totally agree with that listing! Fantastic article! I remember being a four year old and being taken to see a New Hope for the first time..The Last Jedi broke my heart. I have to say it didn’t feel like Star Wars

      • December 19, 2017 at 7:45 pm
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        I have updated my post to be a little more descriptive.

  • December 19, 2017 at 7:30 pm
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    A good, insightful review that doesn’t steer clear of pointing out the issues with this film.

    • December 19, 2017 at 8:00 pm
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      Way better than “MASTERPIECES THAT CONNECTS GENERATIONS AND THAT WILL BRING PEACE ON EARTH AND FINDS THE CURE FOR CANCER” bullshit that was on here before the movie.

  • December 19, 2017 at 7:30 pm
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    Absolutely agree with 99% of this review – thanks for putting down in words my thoughts much better than I could.
    The 1% is that I liked the Poe/Holdo substory. But honestly, the exaggerate, pointless humour really took me away too often of the pathos needed for a SW experience. I can’t tolerate ruining deep moments like Rey training with lightsaber with the stupid gag of the rock falling on those stupid island caretakers (Just to mention one you did not). Overall I’m ok with the idea of letting old characters go, despite the obvious “pain”, but I’m not ok with HOW this was done. I hope there will be a “serious cut” version someday.

    • December 19, 2017 at 7:35 pm
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      Yeah I’m not going to do the whole DC director’s cut path. You got me to pay for this crap once, no more

    • December 19, 2017 at 7:58 pm
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      Any sort of serious moment in this movie was undercut by a joke. The tone of this movie was so incredibly off. This characters have acted seriously in all previous films, but this time around they are just cracking jokes left and right. None of the humor landed with me. I can get past the characterization of Luke, and the stupid plan of Rose and Finn and the pointlessness of Phasma and DJ, but the comedy in scenes where it had no right to be in is what stops this movie from being a good one for me. Also the Leia in space moment, I just can’t.

      • December 19, 2017 at 8:02 pm
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        Exactly!!
        now the point is: was everybody not able to recognize this was going to ruin the movie? I don’t think so – too many experienced people. So it was either done deliberately, possibly after Disney’s request, or this was imposed by RJ and nobody had the strength to tell him this was going to mess it up.

        • December 19, 2017 at 8:05 pm
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          It was very Marvel-esk tonally.

        • December 19, 2017 at 8:26 pm
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          I wondered that myself. It just seemed so obvious from the outside looking in? Right as I was about get “hit in the feels”, along came a joke and ruined the vibe for me. It’s interesting that they didn’t see it the same way. Maybe in their eyes, without those little lighthearted moments, the movie had WAY too much weight and darkness to it? (Sorry for the unintended pun.)

          • December 19, 2017 at 9:08 pm
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            I am looking forward to read the book “The art of TLJ” – as I did for R1 and TFA – these books are plenty of behind the scene insights into the creative process of making the movie. Curious to know if they were deliberately taking such a bad direction (bad for me of course, but judging from the comments and general feel I read everywhere… I really don’t feel alone at all!!!), or it was just a “unrealized” issue.

          • December 19, 2017 at 9:08 pm
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            I am looking forward to read the book “The art of TLJ” – as I did for R1 and TFA – these books are plenty of behind the scene insights into the creative process of making the movie. Curious to know if they were deliberately taking such a bad direction (bad for me of course, but judging from the comments and general feel I read everywhere… I really don’t feel alone at all!!!), or it was just a “unrealized” issue.

        • December 19, 2017 at 11:40 pm
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          Apparently Kathleen Kennedy requested Leia showing force abilities. Saw it in, I think Vanity Fair.

      • December 19, 2017 at 8:04 pm
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        Couldn’t agree more about the humor. Massive emotional moments were taken away because of it on a couple of occasions, IMO. We didn’t need jokes when Luke met R2 again, and we didn’t it during the Luke and Leia reunion.

        And Leia in space is absolute trash. How in the hell that EVER got past the conceptual stage, I will never understand.

        I still really enjoyed the movie, however. I liked so many things that the parts that I hated were outweighed in my overall opinion of the film.

  • December 19, 2017 at 7:38 pm
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    This review conforms with my own oppinion about 90% of the time and the 10% of the time it doesn’t it’s usually because I haven’t looked at the movie from that point of view or because the author didn’t mention certain scenes (Phasma). Great review and surprisingly honest. Apparently the bags full of money Disney tried to send you were lost on the way 😉 All jokes aside, I am really happy to have this objective, well informed and most of all down to earth newsnet to inform myself about my favourite movie franchise. Once again perfect review, thanks for the good read 🙂

  • December 19, 2017 at 7:51 pm
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    Great review. I feel very similarly, and will add that the Yoda scene definitely feels key for me. I would add another detractor though: I really don’t think Rian understands battlefield dynamics. The Crait battle just did not make sense to me at all. I could lay out the details, but I imagine you understand most of them.

  • December 19, 2017 at 7:51 pm
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    Great review. I feel very similarly, and will add that the Yoda scene definitely feels key for me. I would add another detractor though: I really don’t think Rian understands battlefield dynamics. The Crait battle just did not make sense to me at all. I could lay out the details, but I imagine you understand most of them.

    • December 19, 2017 at 8:14 pm
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      Yeah, with all of the large-scale battles in this film, it seems as though Rian would have benefited greatly from having a good military historian on his team to help him refine the details.

  • December 19, 2017 at 7:58 pm
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    Great review Dekka! You perfectly captured a lot of my likes and dislikes about this film as well. I may be more hopeful than you about the upcoming Non-Solo movie (as you call it), but it looks like we see eye to eye on this one for the most part. 🙂

    • December 19, 2017 at 8:12 pm
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      Thanks, Hard Case. Glad you dug the review. I think TLJ is (for the moment, at least) a real mixed bag for a lot of us. I’m interested to see if seeing it a few more times change our point of view on it.

      • December 19, 2017 at 8:23 pm
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        I also thought your review was absolutely killer. Very well-informed and brought to light the things that you didn’t care for without being needlessly brutal. Excellent writing.

        I’ll be interested to see what you think after multiple viewings. I have seen it twice and my second viewing left me with a much better feeling about the movie.

      • December 19, 2017 at 8:47 pm
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        Yes, very curious to see how I feel about the movie after seeing it a second time.

  • December 19, 2017 at 7:58 pm
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    The Superman Leia is Star Wars’ version of Indiana Jone’s ‘nuking the fridge’ moment.

  • December 19, 2017 at 7:58 pm
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    The Superman Leia is Star Wars’ version of Indiana Jone’s ‘nuking the fridge’ moment.

  • December 19, 2017 at 8:04 pm
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    Rather poor selection of aliens. Kathleen Kennedy’s idea of having the GFFA be a reflection of ‘our universe’ is idiotic. And Disney is too hellbent on making everyone know that the ST is not the PT- too many opportunities for cool visuals are being squandered. Does the outer space scenes have to be so flat and unimaginative? We’re talking SCIENCE FANTASY and not Arthur C. Clarke’s brand of ‘hard science fiction’.

    • December 19, 2017 at 8:06 pm
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      I know this is going to make me look like a total moron, but I keep seeing “GFFA” mentioned… what does that stand for?

      • December 19, 2017 at 8:06 pm
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        Galaxy Far Far Away

        • December 19, 2017 at 8:14 pm
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          Yup. Officially a moron.

          Thanks for clarifying!!

    • December 19, 2017 at 8:29 pm
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      There’s that too.

    • December 21, 2017 at 9:35 am
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      Because Droids aren’t great thinking fast, idk.

    • December 21, 2017 at 9:35 am
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      Because Droids aren’t great thinking fast, idk.

  • December 19, 2017 at 8:07 pm
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    This is definitely a movie that requires multiple viewings to take it all in. I enjoyed it MUCH more on my second viewing, and got a lot more out of it. I still don’t know how I feel about “normal people can have the Force” – that’s somewhat cool in a way, and leads to many more stories, but it also takes away some of the mystique of the whole concept. I don’t really care for that.

    • December 19, 2017 at 8:29 pm
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      But haven’t they already established that anybody can have the Force. In the past, the Jedi would seek them out when they were kids and train them. I don’t think it was ever established that there was some special bloodline you had to belong to. Jedis came in all shapes and sizes from many different species. Some people are just stronger with the Force than others.

  • December 19, 2017 at 8:10 pm
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    Too many of the new characters are being shoe-horned into the plot. Rose’s introduction into the story is contrived as anything from TFA. I just don’t believe in these new characters. Although, Kylo Ren is the best of the lot. He’s a flawed villain which is much convincing than some generic evil villain.

  • December 19, 2017 at 8:24 pm
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    I enjoyed the movie. One thing I can’t wrap my head around is Luke.

    My problem with Luke wasn’t why he was “giving up,” he explained his failure when he showed up in Ben Solo’s room while he was sleeping and contemplated destroying him, even activating his light saber, that Ben witnessed and rightfully defended himself.

    My problem is, why in the hell did Luke sneak into the room of his sister’s son, who he swore to help at her request, and activate his light saber to kill him in his sleep? Because he sensed some bad in him? That’s the part that makes absolutely no sense.

    In Return of the Jedi, Luke was the only one who believed there was still some glimmer of good in his father. A father who was a mass murderer. Who willingly embraced the Dark Side. Who Yoda and Obi-Wan told him that there is no good, he is just pure evil and has to be destroyed. What happened between Luke “saving” his father, and agreeing to train a new group of studens including his own nephew, (his only living blood relative’s only child), who he swore to train, and decide, however briefly, that he must die because he sensed bad in him? And to go so far as to sneak into his room, stand over his sleeping body, and activate a light saber. Give me some explanation here. Because that is a leap. Luke is the villain in that scene. And it lacks any real motivation and goes completely against his established character prior to that.

    At least throw in something, that once Luke turned briefly to the dark side to fight his father in the Emperor’s throne room, that Yoda’s words rang true “Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny.” Have it mentioned that he realizes that he is in constant battle over the light side and the dark side that he allowed in and can never rid himself of. Something. Anything. But after Luke confesses what he did, (AFTER Luke lied about it the first time, which was also odd…) then its like nothing, nobody bats an eye.

    Maybe somebody has a good explanation on what happened to Luke between Return of the Jedi and his founding of the Jedi training temple that he now contemplates slaughtering his sister’s children in their sleep?

  • December 19, 2017 at 8:32 pm
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    Great review btw. I enjoyed it. Made me want to be a part of the discussion! 🙂

  • December 19, 2017 at 8:36 pm
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    It’s a bottom 3 SW movie for me, but I appreciate the risks the Rian Johnson took to try and give us a top 3 SW movie. Sucks it didn’t work out, but hopefully JJ can stick the landing in Episode 9 and give us a satisfactory end to the Skywalker Saga.

    • December 19, 2017 at 11:45 pm
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      Well-said. It’s in my bottom 3 too, but to me at least, Star Wars movies have such a high standard that it’s not much of a slight to say that.

  • December 19, 2017 at 8:41 pm
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    Great analysis. It goes some way to explain the reasons for my disappointment. Every Star Wars film I’ve come out from seeing for the first time has always left me with a buzz of child-like excitement. And as different, clever, and spectacular as this film might be when watching it again in the future, I’ve still missed out on that initial buzz, which is what I’ve always expected from and loved about Star Wars films. That wasn’t there for me this time.

    • December 19, 2017 at 9:33 pm
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      Yip you nailed it. It seems strange but I have zero excitement for 9 as well. Never even felt that way about the prequels which let me down every time.

      • December 19, 2017 at 11:03 pm
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        Same here.

        • December 19, 2017 at 11:46 pm
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          I’m in this boat for the most part, although I imagine I will get excited about Ep 9 eventually. Much more excited about Solo now and the one-off stories. Damn, I miss that excitement after seeing a new Star Wars film for the first time.

    • December 20, 2017 at 12:36 pm
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      Wierdly I had exactly the opposite experience, found TFA and R1 great films, but didn’t get that feeling of being an excited kid which I did get from TLJ – I watched it again on Monday and found it better the second time. I really liked how it did it’s own thing – I tend to agree that the humour was a bit out of place at times, and there were definitely structure problems (possibly as a result of the huge amount that had to be edited out by all accounts) but overall I liked it more than TFA and R1.

  • December 19, 2017 at 9:01 pm
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    First impressions after seeing TLJ on Friday, was a big “meh” shrug of shoulders. You could even say disappointed as in this is not what I expected of Episode 8. Luke Skywalker was not written as the Luke we all knew, or even read about in other comic stories. Anyways, we watched Rogue One again last night, and yep, it is easily the best of the new Disney made Star Wars. The space ship battles in Rogue One are the best, the storyline is more focused, and not a million different side chapters things going on. The gritty look and feel is great in Rogue One. I hate to say it but the new sequel trilogy is kind of lame, it’s not terrible or bad, no, but it’s not great either, it’s just ok in my opinion.

    I hate to say this, but the ending of The Last Jedi, did not make me excited or pumped up for Episode 9, I was like uh ok, so now what ? And I don’t even care, because it just didn’t feel like Star Wars anymore. And I have never felt like that after a Star Wars movie before, even the prequels. With Han Solo dead, and now Luke Skywalker gone, and of course Liea, the only character left I care for is Ben Solo / Kylo Ren, the rest I don’t care about, Finn he’s over done I’m sick of him, Poe he’s ok, but whatever. Captain Phasma is the most overhyped character ever, and has the lamest scenes, she should have been used so much better. Rey she’s ok too, but doesn’t get me emotional attached.

    I am not excited for Episode 9 at all, which I never would have said before. Just to see more of Rey and Finn and Poe run around doing silly things ? They better make Kylo uber bad ass more tough than Vader and Papaltine combined, and not a “pussy emo Vader” like he was in TFA, let’s have Kylo Ren being super evil mean in Episode 9, and have a lot of screen time.

    And how can we forgive the lamest part, of the Rebel ship running low on fuel, so the Star Destroyer just sits and waits slowly behind it ? WTF. The First order has a very large powerful fleet of ships, they couldn’t call in a few more powerful Destroyers and blast the Rebels into pieces ? Or does it have the most powerful force field shield ever in all movies >?

    • December 20, 2017 at 1:27 am
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      Pretty much all your points are spot on.Rogue one is easily the best of the new movies.Im a huge star wars fan yet im not remotely intersted in how this trilogy ends.Its really amazing,and will confound me forever,just how much potential these movies had,and how badly(apart from a couple of scenes)they wasted that potential.

    • December 19, 2017 at 11:49 pm
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      One thing that this scene excels at is combining the prequels tone with the OT and ST.

    • December 20, 2017 at 3:13 am
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      I love Daisy Ridley’s face in that scene. “WTF am I doing here?”

      • December 21, 2017 at 12:05 am
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        exactly what the audience is thinking

  • December 19, 2017 at 9:21 pm
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    Now, this is pure speculation, but I can’t help feel the Canto Bight scenes were at the behest of Kathleen Kennedy. Don’t get me wrong, and I know I’m in the minority here, but I actually rather enjoyed this world, mostly due to how it made the Star Wars galaxy feel that much bigger.

    Anyway, having seen this movie three times now, I can’t help but see parallels between Canto Bight and the start of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Now, parallels between these two franchises are nothing new. In Doom, Ford chases after a couple of Thuggee guards in the bridge scene, much the same way as he did against a bunch of stormtroopers on the Death Star. Resulting in him promptly regretting his decision, and doing a 180 degree u-turn. Likewise in The Force Awakens, Ford being chased by the Rathtars, is reminiscent of the giant ball scene at the start of Raiders. To cement the comparison he even refers to BB-8 as ‘Ball’.

    Anyway the parallels I noticed in these scenes can be summarised as:
    1. Both movies look and feel very different to any of the sagas movies that have gone on before them, the juxtaposition is quite jarring [visuals and music]
    2. Takes place in an exotic location [casino world and the far east]
    3. Wealth, crime, and immorality are key themes
    3. Background characters are all smartly dressed in dresses/black tie
    4. Alcoholic drinks are brought to the foreground. In The Last Jedi, the first scene involve two glasses being clinked together. In Doom, Ford’s drink is spiked with poison
    5. The protagonist has an Asian side-kick [Rose and Short Round]. Both actors of which have Vietnamese origin, and were raised in California.
    6. The scenes culminate in a street chase scene, and ends with the protagonists flying away [space craft and airplane]

    Mindless rant aside, a nice balanced review by the way.

  • December 19, 2017 at 9:39 pm
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    Great review. You pretty much covered all I liked and disliked about TLJ.

    As much as I found this movie to be underwhelming, I’m going to try not to be too pessimistic until Episode 9 comes out. It’s so hard to completely write off Episode 8, if only because it’s part of a larger story, that as of right now is incomplete.

  • December 19, 2017 at 9:44 pm
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    I generally agree with this review. Though I liked the porgs and little drunk alien gambler.

    But is not as “dissonant” as you think.

    I watched all 7 films leading up to this with my kids. And guess what? Tonally, pacing…etc…and for better or worse: TLJ bridges and unites ALL films. It’s a little OT, a little prequel-y, a little rogue one-y.

    And my kids loved it. No one under 10 notices any of these “problems”.

    • December 19, 2017 at 11:00 pm
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      And when I was 10 years old I thought Rocky 4 was better then the Original Rocky because the fight with Drago was cooler and the training in USSR was cooler too. Then I grew up and watched the Rocky movies as an adult and realized the Original is a classic and Rocky 4 is a cheesy MTV era movie.

      I’m happy your 10 year old loved it but the last time I checked TLJ is PG13 so just by that the movie shouldn’t be dumbed down for kids like they do with so many Blockbusters these days.

      • December 19, 2017 at 11:51 pm
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        To me, no matter how I feel about TLJ, it is clearly a wonderful kids movie.

      • December 23, 2017 at 6:04 pm
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        Nope. The rocky analogy doesn’t work here. Every Star Wars film is rocky 1 & 4. Serious human elements mixed with cheesy space opera.
        There was nothing in TLJ that was “dumbed down” in any way.
        The humor and tone is consistent with the rest of the series and the drama and depth of it is arguably superior to what’s come before. .

  • December 19, 2017 at 10:03 pm
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    When fan reviews just linger on without the constraints of journalistic merit.

    • December 19, 2017 at 11:19 pm
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      Most of the fan reviews have been fine. If Star Wars fans stating why they liked or disliked this movie causes you to roll your eyes, I suggest you just stick to reading articles out of a newspaper.

    • December 19, 2017 at 11:19 pm
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      Most of the fan reviews have been fine. If Star Wars fans stating why they liked or disliked this movie causes you to roll your eyes, I suggest you just stick to reading articles out of a newspaper.

  • December 19, 2017 at 10:12 pm
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    You know Kylo could be totally lying to Rey when talking about her parents – just a thought.

  • December 19, 2017 at 10:12 pm
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    You know Kylo could be totally lying to Rey when talking about her parents – just a thought.

    • December 19, 2017 at 11:20 pm
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      I mean since each director has free reign to do whatever the fuck they want to do to these characters it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if she ends up being Han and Leias kid. Because complex themes and plot twists and things not going to the way you expect them or some bullshit.

  • December 19, 2017 at 10:27 pm
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    Kylo is turning Into a sith.
    He is trying to get rey turn side and he kills his true enemy Snoke. Taking Snokes place as suprime leader. Like palpatine did and what vader failed to do

    • December 19, 2017 at 11:19 pm
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      We did not see Sidious or Vader kill their master and take over. Because of this Snoke had to die. I personally think it’s a good thing Snoke was killed by his apprentice. Which is sort of a Sith tradition. I would not be surprised if Kylo would start calling himself Darth Whatever in ep9 in honor of his grandfather

  • December 19, 2017 at 10:34 pm
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    i cant overlook how they treated Luke Skywalker character i mean the training with rey was fine but making him want to kill kylo ren in his sleep…That aint Luke also the final battle what a missed opportunity , that matrix style shot sucked and not to mention his death by force exahustion.
    Also the comedy is way too much for a SW movie, too much BB8 and porgs.
    Snoke… what a waste when i was starting to like him, its like this movie slaps you in the face and says forget the past here’s your new SW movies
    there are parts i enjoyed too, i didnt leave the cinema with anger like TFA , yesterday i left the theater with a little sadness because the direction the franchise has taken

    • December 19, 2017 at 11:19 pm
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      Also a question I don’t see enough people asking is, Why set these things up if you’re not going to follow through on them anyway? If your goal is the make a “NEWz” trilogy that takes risks and is so different then why start off with something so familiar in The Force Awakens?

  • December 19, 2017 at 11:07 pm
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    I think what sums up this ‘review’ is the following quotes :

    “Star Wars is supposed to have humorous banter – it’s not supposed to dish out gags.”

    So you’re basically saying EVERY single Star Wars movie has to follow an exact TEMPLATE for its humour? How utterly boring.

    “There is a certain rhythm to a Star Wars movie, and I wasn’t feeling that rhythm at all in The Last Jedi. ”

    So EVERY single Star Wars film has to have the sam exact rhythm? Again how utterly boring. Why bother making any more flicks then as the ones with the rhythm you want you can watch at anytime.

    “familiar Star Wars tone and rhythm”

    Again looking for the same old familiarity, its a new movie made in 2017, not in 1977, it SHOULD have its own tone and rhythmn. Rian cant and shouldnt be Lucas, thats just pastiche and thats boring as hell.

    “our heroes end up being worse off than they were before”

    I’m really not sure how and WHY a situation getting more and more desperate is a BAD thing from a storytelling point of view? Doesnt this instead allow us to care MORE for the characters, so that its hard for them, and they dont just breeze through the plot? Again thats utterly boring. Remember this movie is second act opera and third act redemption usually comes in 3rd act.

    I do wonder if you’ll entirely change your viewpoint after seeing it again? I’ve seen it twice now, and by god did I start to love it on second viewing.

    • December 19, 2017 at 11:15 pm
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      Writing 13 paragraphs when all you had to write in all caps was “WHAT DID YOU WANT A COMPLETE REHASH OF ESB!? DERF”

      • December 19, 2017 at 11:25 pm
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        Or I could have went with “why didnt you just rewatch ESB again?” even more succint.

    • December 19, 2017 at 11:54 pm
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      I really feel you are not doing this well-thought-out review justice.

    • December 19, 2017 at 11:22 pm
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      Watched it this morning. Excellent as always.

      This comment was sponsored by FANDANGO.

  • December 20, 2017 at 12:12 am
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    I’m hoping Snoke transferred his soul to another body and that is how he could return for Episode 9 and reveal himself as Darth Plagues

    As for Reys parents fix that as well by saying Kylo was messing with Rey trying to turn her to the darkside

  • December 20, 2017 at 12:34 am
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    “Again, as of this writing I have only seen The Last Jedi once”

    Honestly maybe you should see it twice, maybe three times before doing an in depth spoiler review

    • December 20, 2017 at 5:40 pm
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      As a Star Wars fan there’s no way I could right an honest concise review after just one viewing. It’s too much to take in, too emotional and it just makes it very hard to take in first time around.

      Luckily the second time is fucking awesome!!!

  • December 20, 2017 at 1:01 am
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    Maybe one thing to take into account! I decided to check what my friends and companions thoughts about the movie. I asked probably more than hundred people and what I found out was kind of surprising: around 20 of then were diehard fans of Star Wars: half of them love it, half of them hate it! Exactly what it’s happening here I think. But then the rest of the people (people who also like Star Wars and know it pretty well) actually like it a lot! (maybe around 80% I would say) They thought it was much better in plot and making than normal blockbuster movies and really good in Star Wars level, much better than TFA… of course it could means nothing, but that’s what I found out

  • December 20, 2017 at 1:28 am
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    Maybe it’s time to accept the TLJ is a letdown for most of us fans and move on. To me this feels a lot like 99 when TPM was released. I wanted to like TLJ so much, but it just turns out to be full of waisted opportunities.

    As for this review, it’s like a deja vu from many a fan review of TPM at the time. Author seems to be still in denial that IS actually a straight mess.

    To me TLJ is as much a ESB rip-off as TFA was a ANH rip-off. It’s all there: Space ships chased by the empire that can’t go to hyperspace, ATAT’s on a snow planet (I know it’s supposed to be salt but hey), clean looking city with a scoundrel, Jedi master teaching the unexperienced apprentice…

    And then there are plot holes as big a death star could fly through them. Bad Luke thinking of killing his kid nephew while sleeping? The empire fleet unable to catch up with the running rebel ships because suddenly everyone goes green and saves energy by not going to hyperspace? Dropping bombs in space? Yeah right.

    Only time will tell what the final consensus on TLJ will be, but fan base approval has been going south quickly since release. I would not be surprised if in the end this one is mentioned – among TPM and AOTC – as one of the worst entries in the series.

    • December 20, 2017 at 3:48 am
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      “Maybe it’s time to accept the TLJ is a letdown for most of us fans and move on.”

      Don’t assume your own opinion is the majority one.

      • December 20, 2017 at 5:36 pm
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        Every fan I know have watched it multiple times now and absolutely love The Last Jedi. I’m pretty shocked that people really didn’t expect what we got to be honest. I was fully prepared and loved every second.

  • December 20, 2017 at 1:37 am
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    Thanks a really considered and comprehensive review. I agree with you on nearly all points – critical and praise-worthy. Overall, I was disappointed with the movie. You’re right, the centre character was Luke, but I just feel a bit short-changed by what we got. Force Projection is all good, but it was new and I wanted to see him be a Ninja with his lightsabre, as opposed to what could be compared to a flashback-type scene. I totally agree with you on flow. Simply way too many characters and sub-plots for Rian (or most directors) to manage well – a cynical view would be that he did this self-servingly for his trilogy spin-off.

  • December 20, 2017 at 5:00 am
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    Great point in the review about the force being shown in TFA in Poe, Han, (and Finn of course). At the time I thought that’s what was meant by “The Force Awakens”, making it a far more interesting setup film. Alas this doesn’t seem to be the case. There was even more Poe’s X-wing miraculously not being shot down in TLJ. Was also really hoping this movie would make TFA better by explaining why so many things significant to the galaxy’s past and future (map to Luke, Falcon, Rey) were in the same neighborhood on Jakku and they all ended up intersecting. No again.
    Not sure though why everyone is upset about Luke’s character – if we assume his own account of the events are true then he ignited his lightsaber in Ben’s room then came to his senses a few seconds later and shut it off. The dark side in Ben could have easily clouded Luke’s judgement for a moment like a hard drug and sent him to Ben’s room. Though I don’t dislike these films both ST movies so far have completely ruined Return of the Jedi. All the heroes spent their remaining years in pain and suffering, this was not what we envisioned. Now we are back to where we started, which I think is part of the reason many of us have little interest in Ep9, nothing was setup in this film except for a confrontation b/w Leia and Ren which obviously can no longer occur. Hope we at least find out where the students that Ren took with him disappeared to…

    • December 20, 2017 at 5:09 pm
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      You’re right. This movie does not leave much perspective for IX. VII was all about opening perspective (mystery boxes every where! Red arm! Sleeping Artoo! Big secret! Forgotten map! Sinister overpowered villain!), which stirred up our excitation for the VIII. But it didn’t provide anything sound apart excitation, so VIII was doomed to be a letdown, unless you put that all apart.

    • December 20, 2017 at 5:09 pm
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      You’re right. This movie does not leave much perspective for IX. VII was all about opening perspective (mystery boxes every where! Red arm! Sleeping Artoo! Big secret! Forgotten map! Sinister overpowered villain!), which stirred up our excitation for the VIII. But it didn’t provide anything sound apart excitation, so VIII was doomed to be a letdown, unless you put that all apart.

  • December 20, 2017 at 6:13 am
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    Probably the best (and most complete)
    review I have read so far. I agree on all major points, good and bad. But I have seen it 3x now and it does improve with more viewings. The gags seem to fade a bit and the important and forcey parts become emphasized. Also there is a beauty in how the three stories converge at the moment of Holdo’s “hyperspace maneuver”.
    I still feel a bit cheated by Luke’s appearance on Crait and subsequent death. I never believed we would see Luke ignite the green and be a heroic warrior, but this climax should have been more of a cathartic moment for Luke toward Kylo…it was too much for just a stalling tactic.
    Overall I am pleased and entertained. But wow is Star Wars suddenly more nuanced and complex than ever.

  • December 20, 2017 at 6:24 am
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    Long time lurker, first time poster, I have to say in all honesty, I didn’t hate this film, I felt it was pretty well put together. The only thing I hated was the treatment of Luke, Obi-Wan wasn’t sitting there all jaded for 20 years, he kept the hope alive. He knew the time would come to take the fight back to the enemy.

    And you can tell Luke had a lot more to offer as a character, killing him off genuinely hurt me as a fan. Seeing him fade away at the end left me in genuine shock.

    2 of my all time favourite fictional characters remain to this day, Superman and Luke Skywalker.

    Why? Because they’re the ultimate good guys, you always knew that no matter what, they’d always do the right thing, there was no gray area. Hell there wasn’t even black, it was just white. Forever the good guys. That whole rubbish about Luke considering murder was totally against the Jedi Code and something he’d never even consider.

    So besides the way Luke was handled my only other minor gripe was the Rose character, she just seemed pointless and didn’t really contribute anything other than throwing in a female minority character for PC sake (hey it’s Disney)

    Daisy was fantastic as well as Poe, Still not sure about Finn, hopefully they find a place for him in 9, because up until this point it just feels like he’s floating along.

  • December 20, 2017 at 6:52 am
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    Seriously? We’ve waited 30+ years for Luke to FINALLY do something and we get 2 swings of a lightsaber (that wasn’t his) and a Matrixy style duck. That’s it. And he dies not a true martyr, but because he was meditating too much? Sad. Hamill was right – this ain’t Luke’s character. Then he gives Leia astral projection dice that disappear. Chewie and R-2 totally wasted space. Mockery of the setups from TFA. Why are all of the legends going out like punks? If this was really “Luke’s movie” then have him go out like a legend. And the whole Leia thing, really? Please

  • December 20, 2017 at 6:52 am
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    Seriously? We’ve waited 30+ years for Luke to FINALLY do something and we get 2 swings of a lightsaber (that wasn’t his) and a Matrixy style duck. That’s it. And he dies not a true martyr, but because he was meditating too much? Sad. Hamill was right – this ain’t Luke’s character. Then he gives Leia astral projection dice that disappear. Chewie and R-2 totally wasted space. Mockery of the setups from TFA. Why are all of the legends going out like punks? If this was really “Luke’s movie” then have him go out like a legend. And the whole Leia thing, really? Please

    • December 20, 2017 at 5:04 pm
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      “Chewie and R-2 totally wasted space.” Couldn’t agree more. What’s the point to include them if they are just light, useless background elements?

      Artoo is to me the KEY character of the saga, spanning all the movies. He was let down in TFA. I had hope this would be explained in TLJ but… nope. He’s just sitting in the Falcon, chewing on the past.

  • December 20, 2017 at 12:59 pm
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    Personally I think this elavorated review should have been written at least having seen the film twice. I don’t get where the “mess” adjective comes from. Every single scene in the film has a purpose (yes, Luke milking an alien too), and for the first time, a Star Wars film has a clear speech and all the plotlines are narrowed towards the same themaes.

    I would call a mess Attack of the Clones, but not The.Last Jedi.

    • December 20, 2017 at 5:33 pm
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      I totally agree. It’s so dense that It can feel a bit messy on first viewing but after a second viewing nobody could call it a mess, not even close.

      It’s such a beautifully crafted film when you really understand everything that’s going on here.

  • December 20, 2017 at 3:23 pm
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    I’ve been a diehard Star Wars fan for life, including through the prequels, reading all of the books, virtually all of the comics, all of the games, TV series, you name it. Star Wars has literally been my favorite cultural icon since I can remember, and even a form of spiritual identity and personal mythology. The Last Jedi has shown me that, much like the Jedi, my fandom must now come to an end, and it deeply pains me to say that.

    I completely disagree with what Disney is doing to the franchise, and genuinely took the TLJ as a direct and purposeful insult to SW’s most involved, attentive and dedicated fans. It literally seemed to have the themeatic intent of spitting in the faces of people who care deeply about the galaxy far, far away, portraying characters in ways fundamentally opposed to the people we know them to be, disregarding necessary plot details and overall creating a tone that felt more akin to a Star Wars parody than anything else.

    I was honestly, after decades of loving Star Wars immensely, deeply disgusted and disappointed in this film, to the point where I’ve packed away my memorabilia and thrown in the towel. I will always be a Star Wars fan, but this new trilogy is no longer canon to me and I feel legitimately foolish for spending any money on Disney’s cancerous form of what I loved. I have no interest in seeing episode 9, and in fact will attempt to avoid it entirely. This will likely be my last post on SWNN.

    That Disney has somehow turned the somewhat promising beginnings of TFA and fascinating potential into this utter mockery of the Star Wars galaxy…I am at a total loss as to how this happened, and deeply saddened by it. Fuck you Disney, and fuck you Johnson. As if 2017 weren’t already shitty enough. You may make loads of money from this travesty, but you have taken its heart and gutted many of its fans, and I hope there’s a special place in Hell for that. Star Wars is dead. Long live Star Wars.

  • December 20, 2017 at 5:00 pm
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    Excellent review. Thanks!

  • December 20, 2017 at 5:28 pm
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    Good review. Having seen it multiple times it’s far from a mess and most certainly beautiful in so many ways. Every big choice Rian make is brave and bold and 100% the right one.

    I never thought we would ever get a Star Wars film this good but I’m so happy Disney were brave enough to let Rian Johnson do it he’s way, I’ll always be grateful for that.

    Bring on Episode 9! JJ has his work cut out to top The Last Jedi.

  • December 20, 2017 at 5:52 pm
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    The only thing ‘wrong’ with this film is one has to see it more to appreciate it more.

    I think most viewers – especially those theorizing for a couple of years – simply had a different idea of this film in their head, prior to seeing the actual film. When all the surprises have settled, what remains is a beautifully constructed film where a lot of themes actually do come to fruition.

    About ordinary people doing extraordinary things, remember, Pablo Hidalog posted a collection of tweets last year, basically explaining what they were evolving the Force into. The hints were there all along.

    Anyhoo, this review was a nice read, thank you.

    PS. Going for a third viewing tonight :)))

  • December 20, 2017 at 6:33 pm
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    This intimate relationship that Lucasfilm now has with its fans is unhealthy, and I’d be pointing this out whether I enjoyed the film or not. Those who are let down are regurgitating their disappointment too much; those who love the film are gloating too much; the shills in the entertainment reporting/gossip/analysis industry are laughing their way to the bank (because conflict is profitable); and most unfortunately, the creatives are looking way too reactionary and insecure (yet still very rich). In essence, almost everyone involved has simply lost their cool.

    There’s a tale of Alec Guinness asking a child to knock it off with his obsessive repeated viewings of Star Wars — whether it’s true or just legend, it’s still a prophetic message — it’s just a movie. There’s so much more to life.

    Let it go. (At least for now.)

  • December 20, 2017 at 6:48 pm
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    I agree that I am not a fan of the “gag” tone of some of the scenes, however, to say that these gags “are not star wars” is not correct. The opening scene with Hux is very fitting for Poe’s character given the opening scene for The Force Awakens when he has a similar comment to Kylo Ren (if anything, it adds continuity). MInd you – I didn’t care for it in The Force Awakens either. The Casino scene is more reminiscent of Lucas’s Jabba’s Palace musical number which is now canon…both were like the fraggle rock. Again…I’m not a fan…however that is star wars…more continuity. And The Phantom Menace (dislike or hate it) is still canon with all it’s “jar jar getting kicked in the crotch” animals farting in jar-jar’s face nonsense. Talk about tone…I’d say The Last Jedi followed suit. In thinking of all movies, Empire Strikes Back is the only one without silly moments and corny dialoge (though yoda even had some silliness for me). Empire is far and away my favorite however it is the least similar to all others with regards to tone. (again – not saying i like the tone). All of us need to remember that Star Wars is also for kids…and My nephew was rolling with laughter at the gags….which IS as much Star Wars as the adult tones and drama.
    I couldn’t have been more satisfied with Luke’s Role. Both Luke and Yoda suffered similar failures/disappointments and it was very fitting that they ended up similarly…both with contributions in their own way. I couldn’t agree more with the book-ending Luke got with the sun setting….it was so poetic. My one big disappointment is that Obi-Wan (an aged Ewan McGregor) should have appeared with Yoda. The two were both valuable influences on Luke (as they both appeared in RoTJ). This would have given Disney a great set-up to Have Ewan reprise his role in an obi-wan spin off.
    Still disappointed in the new characters. Growing up, I wanted to be Harrison Ford and marry Carrie Fischer. All new characters seem too flawed, shallow, and personality-less. The other major element missing is the romance/sexual tension that was so vivid in the OT (Luke/Leia/Han). There is nothing even close to sexual romance in the ST. Agreed that Chewie’s role is overlooked though LOVED the scene of him eating porg in front of porg…that justified their addition COMPLETELY!

  • December 21, 2017 at 9:22 am
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    Really, really good review. I love this guy’s writing style, excellent. Very good and fair analysis. Enjoyable read

  • December 21, 2017 at 9:32 am
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    Ikr, I love that The Hunger Games INVENTED the criticism of the upper class and war profiteering, LOL!!!!!

  • December 24, 2017 at 9:05 pm
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    So, unfortunately this is the first time I’ve been able to get on SWNN and not have the site freeze up on me since shortly after this review was posted earlier this week. That’s a shame, because I’d have enjoyed batting comments back and forth with you all. Aw well, maybe next time.

    There’s obviously a broad and interesting range of responses here. To those who took issue with the fact that I either didn’t like the movie as much as they did, or didn’t despise the movie to the depths that they did, my apologies. I’ve never really gone for the “SUX!!!/RULEZ!!!” game as far as Star Wars is concerned, and if what you were looking for here was a review packed with superlative-heavy praise or derision-riddled rants, this clearly wasn’t the review you were looking for.

    For those of you who fell somewhere in the middle about TLJ (and I suspect that’s where a lot of us are on this film) I tend to agree with those who say that TLJ will improve, at least somewhat, on repeated viewings. Unfortunately, life having gotten in the way like it does, I’ve not yet had the opportunity to see it a second time. Hopefully after the holidays are behind us I’ll get to see it a couple more times. I hope everyone else gets to do the same.

    Merry New Year, everyone! ;^)

  • December 27, 2017 at 4:42 pm
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    Good review. I agree with everything you said. I saw it twice in a row on the preview nite and opening day then I just saw it for a third time last nite and it was much better when you are prepared for what you are about to see. I had time to reflect on it and really think about the themes and how it fits in the overall picture.

    Yes. The intro started out very strong. I really liked the imperial commander Kannady I believe his name and the dreadnought and thought they should haves used it more. There is some really unforgivable parts like I still hate the canto bight scenes. It was boring not funny and definitely didn’t feel like Star Wars to me. It seemed like a way just to introduce the new force using kid, who I hope this new trilogy is not about. It took away too much from rey and Luke and I could watch Luke all day. I loved him in this film. That was the best part and he deserved more and I wanted to at least see the real Luke wield a lightsaber again. All we got was a flashback and his astral projection and I was truly sad to see the Jedi master hero leave us.

    Kylo was very weak and just not the evil dark lord I wanted. Without his mask he kinda sucks. Snoke I feel was very wasted and did not need to be killed YET! The tension with him and kylo was just starting to build up and I liked his mocking, very emperor like, then he’s killed by a cheap ass coward move. It was a scene straight out of return of the Jedi except Vader sacrificed himself. Luke should have fought and killed him and ended the Jedi and sith once and for all to end the saga.

    Also I loved yoda. His words of wisdom are still so perfect and how come no one is talking about his force weather control lightning strike. I thought that was awesome! DJ did pretty much nothing and should have just been a damn old Boba Fett cameo. Holdo served a great purpose too bad she died. There was the most humour AND cursing in this Star Wars too. I love the porgs. But why was there no scary creatures.

    Overall it gets a A-. It could have been so much better but fell short on “Fullfiling it’s Destiny!”

  • December 27, 2017 at 4:42 pm
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    Good review. I agree with everything you said. I saw it twice in a row on the preview nite and opening day then I just saw it for a third time last nite and it was much better when you are prepared for what you are about to see. I had time to reflect on it and really think about the themes and how it fits in the overall picture.

    Yes. The intro started out very strong. I really liked the imperial commander Kannady I believe his name and the dreadnought and thought they should haves used it more. There is some really unforgivable parts like I still hate the canto bight scenes. It was boring not funny and definitely didn’t feel like Star Wars to me. It seemed like a way just to introduce the new force using kid, who I hope this new trilogy is not about. It took away too much from rey and Luke and I could watch Luke all day. I loved him in this film. That was the best part and he deserved more and I wanted to at least see the real Luke wield a lightsaber again. All we got was a flashback and his astral projection and I was truly sad to see the Jedi master hero leave us.

    Kylo was very weak and just not the evil dark lord I wanted. Without his mask he kinda sucks. Snoke I feel was very wasted and did not need to be killed YET! The tension with him and kylo was just starting to build up and I liked his mocking, very emperor like, then he’s killed by a cheap ass coward move. It was a scene straight out of return of the Jedi except Vader sacrificed himself. Luke should have fought and killed him and ended the Jedi and sith once and for all to end the saga.

    Also I loved yoda. His words of wisdom are still so perfect and how come no one is talking about his force weather control lightning strike. I thought that was awesome! DJ did pretty much nothing and should have just been a damn old Boba Fett cameo. Holdo served a great purpose too bad she died. There was the most humour AND cursing in this Star Wars too. I love the porgs. But why was there no scary creatures.

    Overall it gets a A-. It could have been so much better but fell short on “Fullfiling it’s Destiny!”

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