Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi

[Rusty]

The point is, if you think it would be stupid, look stupid and make literally no sense and have zero impact on the film as a whole, then why do it?

but I don't think any of those things - I thought it was absolutely fine both in the context of the plot, the greater SW universe and the on-screen depiction (but my 10 year old self thought Kenobi's death looked a bit silly)

I mean everyone involved in making the film, and the test audiences. Most people thought it was daft going by the reactions to it, both online and in actual theatres. It's one of those scenes you'd expect to find on a deleted scenes reel, not in the actual cinema release cut.

[Dandontdare]

now you're making no sense - you think that everyone involved in the making of a film deliberately put in a scene that they ALL agreed "would be stupid, look stupid and make literally no sense and have zero impact on the film as a whole"?

[The Enigmatic Dr X]

What was the point of Chewie?

Why were the bird things allowed on the Falcon? Who let them on?

[Mikey]

Maybe canon was the wrong word - My point was that many haters seem to love the OT but hate this film, but many of these criticisms are equally applicable to the first movies - but because we saw those when we were kids and have decades of nostalgia, they are seen as great, whilst the same scene now would be decried as an insult to the everything SW. Leia floating through space was no more ridiculous than Obi Wan disappearing out of his bathrobe.

and I don't think it looked dumb - how else would someone telekinetically floating through space look?

Yeah, I think 'we' might be expecting the films to be as serious as we took them as kids. If there's parts of TLJ that took people out of the film that's a real shame for them*, but I was just swept along by it a bit and just enjoyed the ride. A bit like when I saw the first ones really. And the Leia thing was a bit daft, but hey, it also had a bit of class reinforcing her link to the, erm, Force.

*I thought Rogue One was pants in part due to the same thing. 

EDIT: sorry for the overuse of 'bits' there!

[von Boom]

What was the point of Chewie?

Why were the bird things allowed on the Falcon? Who let them on?

Taxi driver. Birds were product placement for Disney's latest toy.

[von Boom]

Maybe canon was the wrong word - My point was that many haters seem to love the OT but hate this film, but many of these criticisms are equally applicable to the first movies - but because we saw those when we were kids and have decades of nostalgia, they are seen as great, whilst the same scene now would be decried as an insult to the everything SW. Leia floating through space was no more ridiculous than Obi Wan disappearing out of his bathrobe.

and I don't think it looked dumb - how else would someone telekinetically floating through space look?

At least they went back to the Force being the Force.

Yeah, I think 'we' might be expecting the films to be as serious as we took them as kids. If there's parts of TLJ that took people out of the film that's a real shame for them*, but I was just swept along by it a bit and just enjoyed the ride. A bit like when I saw the first ones really. And the Leia thing was a bit daft, but hey, it also had a bit of class reinforcing her link to the, erm, Force.

*I thought Rogue One was pants in part due to the same thing. 

EDIT: sorry for the overuse of 'bits' there!

[TordelBack]

What was the point of Chewie?

Kicking in Luke's door was cool, as were his interactions with the Porgs (some of the best bits of the film) - and Leia.  He let the Porgs overrun the place because he was heartbroken and lonely.  But yeah, he could have been give more to do.

The Last Jedi felt like a retelling of Empire Strikes back and Return of the Jedi (the Millennium Falcon chase through the caves looked very, very close to the chase through the second Death Star to my eye). Very similar stories going on and very similar themes. So no new territory there.

Except for all the ways that it repeatedly overturned the expectations that the similarities set up, which was very much the point. 

[radiator]

I knew it! I knew there had to be a missing scene that resolved the 'three lessons'. It felt like an annoying thread that was left dangling.

https://io9.gizmodo.com/report-heres-what-lukes-third-lesson-to-rey-in-the-las-1821467308

[JOE SOAP]

You can try to justify it all you like - enough people thought it looked silly that it's become a talking point. In my screening, people laughed out loud at it.

Maybe a better scene would have been her telekinetically using some debris to patch up the hole, or contain the explosion or something?

The original idea's perfectly fine – even great. Your suggestion sounds more bombastic, and more of what we'd expect, whereas I think they wanted something we hadn't seen before. Something more gentle for the first time she's shown using the Force.

I assume the problems people have with it are partly because she glides across a wide-shot whereas it might have looked less 'magical' if it had just been seen as a head on shot through the airlock.

[radiator]

Also, I really liked the porgs. Maybe I'm mistaken but I felt like they were used very sparingly in the film.

The creatures in TLJ evoked a certain kind of Jim Henson vibe from particular movies from my childhood without being an on the nose reference or callback to something specific. That's the kind of fan service I can get behind.

[GrudgeJohnDeed]

I liked the Porgs too, but then again I like Ewoks! I'm a sucker for a little cuddly thing. What Chewy did to their mate was horrifying

[TordelBack]

The creatures in TLJ evoked a certain kind of Jim Henson vibe from particular movies from my childhood without being an on the nose reference or callback to something specific. That's the kind of fan service I can get behind.

Yeah, the creatures were universally excellent, even the Falthiers, which I had been dubious about going in. and Yoda, who seems to attract some odd criticism - by far the best of the 'new' Yodas IMHO. 

[TordelBack]

The original idea's perfectly fine – even great. Your suggestion sounds more bombastic, and more of what we'd expect, whereas I think they wanted something we hadn't seen before. Something more gentle for the first time she's shown using the Force.

I think all the new Force trickery is one of the movie's greatest strengths. Rey's 'moving rocks' line pretty much sums up the way in which the later Prequels reduced a personal alliance with a mystical energy to a series of D&D combat talents and some vague prognostication.  TLJ expands the potential of the 'awakened' Force in directions that are exciting and potentially expansive, evoking for me the enticing strangeness of the early comics and books. It's a hell of step up from New Lightsabre Configuration No. 7 and "preventing people from dying".

[JamesC]

The original idea's perfectly fine – even great. Your suggestion sounds more bombastic, and more of what we'd expect, whereas I think they wanted something we hadn't seen before. Something more gentle for the first time she's shown using the Force.

I think all the new Force trickery is one of the movie's greatest strengths. Rey's 'moving rocks' line pretty much sums up the way in which the later Prequels reduced a personal alliance with a mystical energy to a series of D&D combat talents and some vague prognostication.  TLJ expands the potential of the 'awakened' Force in directions that are exciting and potentially expansive, evoking for me the enticing strangeness of the early comics and books. It's a hell of step up from New Lightsabre Configuration No. 7 and "preventing people from dying".

Totally agree with this. The Force should be weird and unpredictable. I really liked the fact that even the force users themselves didn't understand what was happening (Snoke had connected Rey and Kylo with neither of them being aware of what was happening).

My favourite of the new creatures were the diamond dogs on Krait. They were beautifully animated.

[Mattofthespurs]

My favourite of the new creatures were the diamond dogs on Krait. They were beautifully animated.

These were my least favourite. Nicely animated and designed they might be but they were still only there to be used solely as a plot device.