Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi

[The Legendary Shark]

Well, that was more or less exactly as I expected. Cool ships, weird aliens, thin story, simple characters and loads of shit blowing up - just like every other SW film. Enjoyed it, thoroughly, for what it is.

[Rusty]

I thought it was pretty bad. Tons of clunky dialogue, unsatisfying plot cul-de-sacs in an overly long film and my god, what did they do with Skywalker?? He was completely neutered and squandered. Still too many riffs on scenes from the old films for me too, and some bad acting.. Daisy Ridley and Domhnall Gleeson being the main offenders. It was also trying to introduce and juggle too many characters I'd say. It was just a sprawling mess.

I'm normally a fan of Gleeson, but he seemed to be auditioning for panto in this.

Yeah, he came across as well over the top. Almost like he was in a stage play playing the part of a swashbuckling pirate. I blame the director for that, though, not Domhnall. He should have been told to reign it in a bit.

[PsychoGoatee]

I dig the movie, lot of fun! For me the original trilogy will always be the trilogy, I look at these as their own thing, and for what it is, the 8th main Star Wars movie, and a new crew's take on it, I really enjoy it. And Poe is one cool dude.

I particularly wanted to post here that I was reminded of a classic Judge Dredd storyline, maybe somebody else mentioned it. The way Luke just knew Kylo was filled with darkness, reminded me of Dredd in The Judge Child's conclusion. And being reminded of Dredd is always good.

On Episode 9, I have high hopes JJ makes his most unique and satisfying movie yet, while living up to the saga, and hopefully the other writer's are up to snuff as well. "Another happy landing" I hope. 

[Steve Green]

He was similar in TFA - just imagined he was going for young Hitler to go with the Nuremberg Rally vibe of that scene in the film.

[Spaceghost]

I can't stop thinking about this film and how much I loved it. The themes of failure, bad decisions, coming to terms with things that went wrong. It's refreshing and interesting subject matter for Star Wars.

I've seen a lot of people taking issue with it from the stand point that it's not what they want or expect from a Star Wars film, which I find a bit odd. There's even a petition to get Disney to strike The Last Jedi from canon, push back Episode 9, and re-make Episode 8 the way these "fans" want it.

I mean...I can't imagine what is going on in the minds of these people.

I can fully understand why people wouldn't like the film. It does break from the established traditional Star Wars themes, and certain characters are shown to be less than perfect. These are the reasons I loved it.

[Mattofthespurs]

I love Star Wars and have done since seeing the first film in 1977.
I had all the figures and that's what I spent my 50 pence pocket money on (typically as soon as I got a raise in pocket money to 50p, enough to buy one figure, they raised the price of them to 55p).
My bestest ever Birthday was the year I received a Millenium Falcon and the cardboard Death Star. I also got some money and managed to finally track down the final figure of the initial 12 released, a Jawa, which was hard to find in those days (plenty of Leias and R2-D2s).
I saw all the films during their first run at the cinema and have collected untold amounts of copies of the films on VHS, DVD, and Blu ray.
I collected the comics from Dark Horse (of course I had a complete collection of Marvel Star Wars comics) and bought the Timothy Zahn novels in hardback, often importing them from the US and this was before Amazon existed and it was an expensive past time.

In regards to The Last Jedi I avoided all the trailers, even closing my eyes and putting my hands over my ears when they were screened, without warning, in the cinema (and no doubt looking like a gimp in the process). I loved The Force Awakens and thought Rogue One was my favourite SW film ever. So it pains me to have disliked The Last Jedi so much.

I was due to see it again on Sunday but I just could not bear it. I might go this week as my Son finishes school today.

So I went into it not expecting much. Just some good old fashioned Star Wars fun. And I got disappointed.

But it's here and it is what it is. Some of it is fantastic. That opening 20 minutes was exhilarating and the ending (bar that cloying coda) was fun too (Although I do wish they had left the film on a cliff hanger just as Luke was seemingly being destroyed under a barrage of AT-AT lasers. That would have been fun.

So, I don't know what to tell you. I am the audience for this film and it fell flat as a pancake for me. As for traditional...Rogue One is a large departure from the Star Wars norm imo and that's my favourite.

Different strokes for different folks I guess.

[Spaceghost]

So I went into it not expecting much. Just some good old fashioned Star Wars fun. And I got disappointed.

This illustrates my point exactly. I think a lot of people disliked it because it wasn't Star Warsy enough. Or at least it didn't fit with what they think Star Wars ought to be.

That's a perfectly valid reason for disliking it by the way, I'm not trying to belittle anyone's opinion. You enjoyed Rogue One, I didn't, I enjoyed The Last Jedi, you didn't. At least we both got Star Wars films that we enjoyed.

[Link Prime]

There seems to be something more to the negative reaction than before (I mean with the poorly regarded prequels, Ep VII etc).
From my personal circle of friends & family, the general consensus for about 75% of them was that it was a boring clusterf*ck.
I know three life long Star Wars fans who have simply shrugged and claimed they just don't like Star Wars anymore after seeing it. Same for me.

[Professor Bear]

It is pretty funny to see Star Wars fans being painted as "gatekeepers" and the enemy of the thing they've loved and kept alive.  I guess you're never too old to learn that brand loyalty is a one-way street.

[GrudgeJohnDeed]

From my personal circle of friends & family, the general consensus for about 75% of them was that it was a boring clusterf*ck.

yeah absolutely true for me too. It's got nothing to do with it defying what star wars should be, and I've not exactly been a rabid star wars fan since I was a kid (the prequels took the sheen off for me). Episode 7 and Rogue One were far from perfect but I enjoyed them overall, this film was just too bad! Vasquez reference not intended.

[JamesC]

I’ve made it clear that I have some problems with TLJ but it was still fun and to say some people’s reactions are bizarre is an understatement.
Petitioning to have the film struck from the canon? Get a life!
 Don’t get all this ‘I don’t know if I can bring myself to go back for another viewing’ (if you didn’t emjoy it, don’t go!) or ‘I’m done with Star Wars’. Just accept that there are Star Wars stories you like and Star Wars stories you don’t like. They’ll be making these things for years so it’s pretty likely you’ll watch and enjoy one again in the future.

And to balance out my criticisms I have to say, I really like Kylo Ren. I think he’s a really interesting character. Having someone that unpredictable and unstable in charge of all that power is terrifying!
Someone should definitely buy him a pet. He has love to give but has trust issues (who can blame him).

[The Legendary Shark]

That petition is truly bizarre, surely the perfect definition of a First World Problem. I can't wait for someone to complain about something inconsequential so they can be accused of "striking the eighth."

[Link Prime]

No petition is going to work of course, and I'd say 99.99% of the people signing it are aware of that.
If a few nerds wanna give an ineffectual middle finger to Disney then let em at it.

[The Legendary Shark]

I wouldn't be surprised if Disney was behind this petition, or at least encouraging it from the shadows, because it keeps people talking about the film. There's no such thing as bad publicity.

[Mattofthespurs]

Don’t get all this ‘I don’t know if I can bring myself to go back for another viewing’ (if you didn’t emjoy it, don’t go!)

Ah if it was only that simple.
I've seen plenty of films that have, on the first viewing, not impressed only to find that on subsequent viewings the film has layers that I did not notice the first time.

The person I saw TLJ with watched it seven hours earlier and was not impressed only to discover he loved it on the second viewing.

Films are not like books where you can adjust the pace of how information is delivered. Although I think I went in with no expectations I could be kidding myself.

I think if a large body of people are going to spend millions of dollars and two years of their time on something I have liked in the past I think it deserves every chance.

The fact I have a Cineworld unlimited card helps in that it's only going to be my time that I investing in a second viewing.