Double_Oh_7

Just have one of the rebels be a codebreaker. Or totally avoid the cliche Star Wars "good guys have to go into the bad guy's base" plot altogether.

Artman

Initial reaction 3.5 out of 5 for me. (probably dropping to 3 after processing it all) My issues are not so much what happened but with the directing. The overabundance of cutting back and forth and the overuse of humor really undermined potentially dramatic scenes. Let the scenes play out for crying out loud... this is why the OT still stands head and shoulders above everything that has come after... leave the inter cutting for limited, dramatic moments.

Overall a fun film but somewhat disappointing...we never thought we'd get these movies so there is always that initial joy of seeing some of those memorable scenes...and than driving home you start thinking about the lost potential.

Rian as a writer/director dropped a few notches imo, glad JJ is coming back. At least we've cut the characters and subplots down...I'd be all for a stripped down ReyLo centered third film. (which is kinda what I was hoping for with this film)

And why the bad dye job on Luke's beard...wasn't he only supposed to be six years younger? lol. I wonder if leaving him at his current age during the finale would've infuriated audiences more after the twist? With his younger looks you knew something was up from the get go. With that shot of his X-Wng underwater, one of my hopes was that he'd show up like he did in the end, and you knew that he force lifted his X-Wing out of the water. (you didn't need to see that scene) It kinda played out like that...but not really.

And why re-invent the wheel with force ghost appearances? I loved the Yoda scene...but, just keep the same look they had in the OT.

mcnabb

I disagree as Blockbusters we grew up with we’re not made for kids, but they were made in a way that kids could enjoy.

Back to the Future is essentially about incest as a mother falls in love with her son, but 12 year old kids like me loved the movie. If they made it for kids then it wouldn’t hold up as well because it would be dumbed down. That’s why the modern Blockbusters like this don’t hold up well cause the cutesy stuff looks awful years later.

nodeerforamonth

Yeah, this movie felt different. The Force Awakens (for me) was pure magic. The Last Jedi had some flaws and mainly felt "different".

Can't wait for JJ Abrams to come back!

My main complaint is that there was way too much "humor" and in the wrong places and the wrong kind of humor. Felt totally out of place. Your Mom jokes? In a Star Wars movie? Beyond stupid. Much of the movie felt like a bad SNL or Mad Magazine skit. Finn walking around with water spouts coming out of his medical tube? Ugh... Can't wait for the fan edit versions of the film to cut this garbage out.

The editing could've been done better. Loved everything else about it.

tanman

It would have been fine and would have worked much better if the movie didn't end on that scene. There was no reason for it to end on that. It should have ended with the scene on the falcon.



Now THAT is how you end a movie.

nodeerforamonth

You have a link to that? I tried to avoid anything about the movie so I went in completely blind. Anything I saw about Mark recently looked like he was very proud of it.

tanman

r2d2

tanman

I really didn't like him in TFA (mainly because he was a whiny kid who killed Han) but I think they set him up to be a very interesting story arch and thought he redeemed the character with this latest movie.

I think this guy does a good job explaining Kylo and why I think it might be okay if in fact Rey does come from nobodies. Note it was posted before TLJ.

outcastja

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood...star-wars-nerd


And according to this article: https://heroichollywood.com/mark-ham...force-awakens/

Hamill thought the prequels more "original" than TFA, and thinks TLJ is the best SW movie since ESB.

tanman

https://movieweb.com/star-wars-last-...-score-lowest/

haha. Not that movieweb is a very good source of news but as of right at this moment it's true.

TomOpus

You would still need a scene to find a rebel with that skill.
R2 can interact with Imperial computers but can he hack?

bluetoast

Haven’t read through this thread yet, but had to come in to appreciate the Hardware Wars reference. I thought that object/ship looked like an iron/was a reference, prior to the reveal.

Double_Oh_7

Poe "Anyone here a codebreaker?"
Rebel raises hand "I used to hack computer banks back home growing up"

Done

tanman

He's been a Deus Ex Machina and a Macguffin is it really that much of a stretch?

johnnysd

Well certainly seems like this will be a divisive movie for years to come. Disney can't be pleased with the word of mouth. I looked forward to this for 2 years and avoided any mention of it, going opening night just to make sure it was unspoiled. I expected to really like it, but in the end I almost think I like Phantom Menace more, despite so much being wrong with it.

johnnysd

Well to be honest, the entire central conceit of the movie, that incredibly silly bombing chase needed to be shit canned. I honestly think many here could have taken TFA and written a better story and plot for the movie than what we got.

Personal conspiracy theory: In the original treatments and vision Abrams set out Snoke IS Darth Plagueis, especially when you see the design for the face they came up with.

tanman

And this is why this movie is so confusing to me. So far Disney has done a great job with both Marvel and Star Wars in allowing enough creative freedom while still keeping the story of individual movies in line with the greater overall plot of their respective universes.

So what happened with this movie? Why was everything that JJ set up basically burned? Ever since the Disney takeover Lucasfilm has been very careful with making sure every piece of media fits in with the overall Star Wars story even going as far as to declare the controversial legend series and removing them from cannon. So why would they allow Rian to do this to all the threads that JJ set up? Of course it could still be possible this was the plan all along. I would imagine that the over all story was hashed out when they were producing TFA. But right now it certainly doesn't seem like it.

Michael Corvin

Two years from now when SW fans walk into Episode 9 convinced that Rey being a nobody was a good idea, and Rey turns out to be a Skywalker ... SW fans will lose their shit and it's going to be glorious.

Fixed to add the needed nostalgia.

mcnabb

It's amazing because of all of the good will that TFA earned to get me back into the franchise and hyped again, is gone with that 2 1/2 hour shit-fest. And they are letting Rian Johnson do another Trilogy? No Thanks!

I'm don't even give a shit about Episode 9 at this point, because what story is left to tell at this point as the Big 3 OT players are gone and the main villain of this Trilogy is gone. So we are left with Resistance vs The First Order part 3, and Rey vs Kylo Ren? Sorry, but Episode 9 will take a hit at the Box Office.

I still want to know how this movie got 93% among the critics on RottenTomatoes as Disney had to buy these people off or something. There is no way that you can only get 10-15 thumbs down among 200 reviewers.

joe_b

"Let the past die. Kill it... if you have to."

I'd never been anything less than pumped about the possibilities a new Star Wars movie held, but it now feels like the bloom is off the rose. Nothing could kill my love for this universe, but this one did extinguish the excitement I had about continuing the main saga. I'll miss that feeling. I didn't hate the movie, but I now realize I just don't care where they take it from here.

tanman

Because it's not a bad movie on it's own. But when taken into context of a second film in a trilogy that didn't meet fan's expectations it takes on a totally different meaning.

mcnabb

There was some reviewers saying this was a masterpiece, and throwing out terms like as good or the best since ESB. I'm sorry, but there is something fishy going on here as I must be living in a different world. But I will exclude those hyperbole reviewers and discuss everyone else who simply liked it or hated it.

The PT movies had their fair share of bad reviews along with fans disliking the movies, but this is just the opposite where the critics seemed to praise it and a good portion of the fans absolutely hate it. If the movie was at 70-80% on the RottomTomato Meter then it would make sense as there would some reviewers that liked it and some hated it. But for this movie to only garner 10-15 thumbs down among 200+ reviewers really makes me question what is going on here and very suspicious about the whole reviewing community.

JeremyM

We have a lot of commenters here upset that the movies ape the OT too much, and then others are mad that Kylo can't turn on Snoke and redeem himself in the next one.

I'll have to see this again because right now I am with apparently 93% of critics on it.

JeremyM

On Rotten Tomatoes, the audience score is 56%. Is it common for the disconnect between fans and critics to be that disparate in that direction? We've obviously seen audiences love plenty of movies the critics hate.

Rob V

I liked it... was good, not great and once I saw Leia "flying", I was wondering when the next incredibly stupid thing was going to happen. I could nit-pick a lot of things but will be seeing this again tomorrow with the family and will reserve more comments until then.

Did anyone catch what D.J. meant? "Don't Join"... wonder if Del Toro will be back to redeem himself?

Edit: Also, Rey IS someone, no doubt in my mind... she's NOT the daughter of a couple of drunks.