Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi

[SIP]

No, I don't think you are missing anything. Unless you are really interested in the fate of Kylo.....there really isn't anything to be excited about in episode 9. You want to see the first order beaten by 20 rebels maybe? It'll be Kylo that destroys it.

Rey is now fairly one-note. She can use the force. There is apparently nothing else we need to know about her now.

I thought they stole all of the charm from Finn and poes characters, so not excited to see them again.

JJ could save this mess.....if he brings lukes character back into the story and actually makes him a role model likeable hero again, perhaps some of the damage that's been done here could be at least partially addressed. It'll always be deeply unsatisfying and disappointing though.

[SIP]

For me.

[Tiplodocus]

No cliffhanger? The whole set up of being able to fit the entire rebellion into the Millenium Falcon is a massive cliffhanger.

It should all be stuff we haven't seen before from this point on. Rebellion/Resistance have always been well equipped but now they have nothing but the force and that little spark of hope.

Of course the opening crawl of 9 will probably start "Three years after being inspired by the sacrifice of Luke Skywalker, the Last Jedi, and the Resistance are on the brink of victory...."

[Colin YNWA]

No cliffhanger? The whole set up of being able to fit the entire rebellion into the Millenium Falcon is a massive cliffhanger.

Yeah for me the whole point of Last Jedi was building tension by slowly destroying the Resistance and smashing  it down to its knees while stripping out the old stuff. This surely forces (pun entirely intended) the next film to do new stuff (I hope). For me it was a cracking cliffhanger underlined by hope coming from inspired stable boys.

[Link Prime]

Rey is now fairly one-note. She can use the force. There is apparently nothing else we need to know about her now.

I thought they stole all of the charm from Finn and poes characters, so not excited to see them again.

Yeah, I feel the same.
If I'm totally honest, I couldn't give two shites about any of the new characters compared to Luke, for that matter compared to Chewie, but one of the many sins this film committed was actually making me like them less than I did during the TFA.
Finn in particular- what a waste of a decent character (and great actor).

[TordelBack]

No cliffhanger? The whole set up of being able to fit the entire rebellion into the Millenium Falcon is a massive cliffhanger.

Yeah for me the whole point of Last Jedi was building tension by slowly destroying the Resistance and smashing  it down to its knees while stripping out the old stuff. This surely forces (pun entirely intended) the next film to do new stuff (I hope). For me it was a cracking cliffhanger underlined by hope coming from inspired stable boys.

Mmmm. Presumably where we go from here is changing hearts and minds, turning the galaxy against the FO's authoritarian stylings.  The theme established in TFA by Hux's rantings is that the Republic is 'a regime that acquiesces to disorder', appealing to a desire for what the First Order eponymously claims it represents.  Building a consensual resistance, rather than trying to win by blasting away at each in some anonymous corner of the galaxy, seems to be where TLJ leaves us.  If the FO can simultaneously build a planet-sized hyperspace weapon, a 60km-wide throne ship and a fleet of dreadnaughts and destroyers, it doesn't seem likely that Leia's Resistance was ever anything more than a symbolic rallying point for opposition: now that is a literal reality, and with the Republic decapitated only days before that opposition won't be political.  As the man in the know, Finn repeatedly tries to tell everyone in TFA that there is no hope of winning against the FO: TLJ ends with that hope, although not in the way we expected.

I finished watching the movie with the phrase "what the hell happens next?" on my lips. That's a cliffhanger for me.

My worry would be that it's JJ Abrams that gets to answer that question.

[von Boom]

Musical. Episode IX will be a musical, bound to be.

The remnants of the resistance decide to take up their cause by infiltrating FO Theatre Troop and through the medium of song and dance change the hearts and minds of everyone in the FO. Kylo and Rey perform a Force dance at the end and everyone is happy, and everything is nice.

[Professor Bear]

In retrospect, "let go of the past" is less a delusion on the part of someone making a film featuring characters, plots and visuals from 40 year-old movies and more a desperate plea from the company to come back for the next one, because without the original characters a lot of people have a jumping-off point for Star Wars, while others will probably have a jumping-off point from the PR campaign looking to turn being a Star Wars fan into the equivalent of being a skinhead.

[Modern Panther]

There's no way that Luke is [spoiler]Darth Vader's son.[/spoiler] it just ruined the whole film for me.

The moments of comedy - confusing the besides with the old [spoiler]"I've captured a Wookie"[/spoiler] trick - were a bit hit and miss.

The character of [spoiler]Boba Fett[/spoiler] was woefully underused - such great potential, but reduced to a supporting character.  I'm sure though, that they'll be at the forefront of the third film in the series. Also looking forward to [spoiler]Vader[/spoiler] realising the error of his ways and being brought to the light side by [spoiler]Yoda[/spoiler].

[Link Prime]

There's no way that Luke is [spoiler]a depressed coward[/spoiler] it just ruined the whole film for me.

Nail head; meet Hammer.

[sheridan]

In retrospect, "let go of the past" is less a delusion on the part of someone making a film featuring characters, plots and visuals from 40 year-old movies and more a desperate plea from the company to come back for the next one, because without the original characters a lot of people have a jumping-off point for Star Wars, while others will probably have a jumping-off point from the PR campaign looking to turn being a Star Wars fan into the equivalent of being a skinhead.

What's the line about being a skinhead all about?

[SmallBlueThing(Reborn)]

The ninth film will end on a handshake. Balance will be brought to the Force, to the galaxy, and there will be no need for further war. It will all end on peace, not a "victory" for the resistance or a "defeat" for the First Order.

SBT

[Professor Bear]

What's the line about being a skinhead all about?

I offer skinhead as an alternative to the over-used "nazi".  Star Wars fans have effectively been turned into straw men hate figures for the high crime of giving a shit about Star Wars but not always articulating their frustrations with the new films particularly well.

This is not to say there aren't some who are just plain wrong, tho.  Instead of linking to one of those, I'll link to game streamer Shaun&Jen shitting on an anti-feminist tit's particularly dumbass interpretation of The Force Awakens.

[Magnetica]

I saw it with the wife and kids yesterday. They liked it.

Me: I 'm not so sure. I thought it was too long and a big contributor to that was the casino planet sequence, which turned out to be pretty irrelevant to the outcome anyway.

I had been avoiding everything on the Internet about it and have now caught up on the last 22 pages of this thread and some other Internet reviews. One in particular described it as the "worst Star Wars film ever", largely on the basis of how Luke acted, Leia's "Mary Poppins" style floating through space, that Rey, with no training can now defeat Luke and levitate rocks and that Poe's actions were largely harmful to the outcome.

Most of that actually didn't bother me (apart from how Leia survived being sucked out into space.)

No what bothered me with it, in no particular order were:

a) it was way too long
b) the jokey bits set a completely different tone to all previous Star Wars films
c) the way Luke just tossed the light sabre over the cliff, which pretty much said to me "all that stuff that happen in TFA was a waste of time"
d) how Snoke thinks it is a good idea to humiliate his commanders in front of all their bridge crew. Yes we have seen Darth Vader do that, notably in ANH, but that was in a "senior leadership" meeting, not in front of everyone. My point is, it must make it really hard for the commander to lead from then on.
e) how the FO were unable to either catch up to the Rebels or destroy their shields - pursuing them conveniently just out of range
f) the whole tracking them through hyperspace jumps was done in new BSG first
g) since when did Star Wars have hyperspace jumps anyway - it was described as travelling at "light speed" before (in ANH anyway - or ok "making the jump to light speed IIRC)
h) how such a small number of Rebels can make such a difference that the FO pays them so much attention
i) how we jumped into a James Bond movie in the middle third
j) how the vacuum of space didn't act correctly - when the bomber bay doors were opened, when Leia was let back onto the ship
k) how Ren's bomb inside the Rebel ship was enough to destroy most of the Rebel's fighters, but not enough to kill Poe or rip a massive hole in the hull.

I could probably go on, but I am sure most that won't matter a jot when I watch it again. Indeed I remember the thread about TFA complaining about all the coincidences that relied on. On subsequent viewings I just let that go...and indeed I think there are actually explanations for some of them anyway.

But mostly, I just thought it was, well, a bit boring. Which is not what a Star Wars movie should be. At the risk of heresy, I can accept some boring bits in say Blade Runner, but not Star Wars.

The other thing is, Luke's death had pretty much zero impact on me. Unlike Han's death - that was a real "I can't believe it moment". Whereas Luke had pretty much checked out from scene one, so when he did actually die, I didn't really care. And two days on from seeing it, that isn't what I think about when considering this film.

[The Legendary Shark]

j) how the vacuum of space didn't act correctly...

This annoys me in lots of science fiction films, even damned good ones like Aliens. It's called explosive decompression, not hurricane generation.