Finally saw this tonight, on the darkest low-contrast projector onto the worst screen I have ever experienced, in a cinema so ball-broilingly hot and humid that I'm surprised they didn't charge extra for the use of the sauna
Aw, heck, TB, if I'd known you were visiting Cookstown we could have met up for a pint, as clearly you used the same cinema I did. RedLetterMedia actually complained about the cinematography in this being really dark, and I had problems figuring out what was happening in the odd bit - I especially couldn't make out some of the Maelstrom/gravity well stuff. As near as I can figure, Howard for some reason made a deliberate aesthetic choice to make everything look dank and industrial.
Also should have mentioned the design work, especially the towering Chris Foss-inspired yacht that looked like it could have sailed straight off an Asimov cover circa 1980. I know Foss did some concept work on Jorodowsky's abortive Dune adaptation, so was this a design he did for Lucasfilm in the same period?
Also really liked the nice touch of
Beckett's face just before he dies - like he's about to burst into tears as he realises he's where he is because of the bad decisions he's made since Val's death. He seems angry at the selfless nature of her death immediately after it happens, and only seems to get his head straight by retreating into the infantile mantras and codas of the scoundrel and rogue, much as Han would when things go to shit between episodes 6 and 7. "Don't trust anybody" he tells Han, only to hear "You trusted Val." Did he tho? Was that why he was angry? I suspect I'll be trying to unpack that character arc for a while.
Of course then they go and ruin it with
the comedy URRRRGGGH death rattle immediately after Woody's crying death face. If they'd done a big fart noise and a wet splat to denote he'd pooed his pants it would have had much the same effect.
I did like L3, but I suspect a lot of people didn't because they felt they were being made fun of.
I thought Last Jedi reheating the Emperor's Throne Room scene from RotJ was dumb, but I liked it here.
Also: Teras Kasi - WOOT!