Again, this discussion is for those who have seen the film or don't care about spoilers, because it will be full of them. You've been warned.
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Okay, I have to say that I was sadly disappointed. The initial reviews have been stellar, yes, but the audience scoring coming out of the theater is significantly lower than even Justice League. And I wanted to love this movie so very much.
When it comes to action films and blockbusters, there seem to be two mindsets; the first is to come up with a handful of funny or cool scenes/moments and then contort the plot and characters however you need to to get from one cool or funny moment to the next. This is an incredibly lazy method of film-making that might make for nice trailers but ultimately becomes for an under-whelming and forgettable movie. We'll call this the Zach Snyder school of film-making. The second is to come up with a solid, cohesive plot that is internally consistent, and THEN look for opportunities to write in cool or funny scenes/moments in order to enhance the story further. We'll call this the Josh Whedon school of film-making and it tends to result in far superior films that often transcend their genres. The Last Jedi was, unfortunately, the former.
At the beginning of the film I thought they were really going to do it right. The evacuation of the rebel base and Poe Damarin's heroics were great, as was the introduction of a minor character who would sacrifice her life to see the mission succeed. It also set Poe up as a complex and flawed character ripe for a moment of redemption or sacrifice... sadly, this opportunity would go wasted. That really seemed to be a theme in the movie, awesome opportunities that are ultimately missed and great potential that is destined to go unfulfilled.
A few chief complaints:
Pretty much nothing that Poe, Finn or the new character Rose did mattered in the slightest. Poe takes down a Dreadnaught... and the Order shows up five minutes later with an even BIGGER ship. Oh, well, so much for that. The big plan to find the 'master codebreaker' goes pretty much nowhere and has so little impact on the plot it would have been completely removed and it wouldn't have affected the outcome one bit. Nothing those characters did meant anything, from Poe's leading everyone in the speeder defense which literally didn't accomplish a single thing to Finn's sacrifice that didn't actually happen to Rose's sacrifice that didn't matter and ultimately wasn't even a sacrifice. Basically it was a whole series of meaningless subplots who's sole purpose was to give the diversity hires something to do and some time on screen. That's not 'representation', that's tokenism. At best.
Maybe they should have tried that light speed ram tactic a little earlier, like with one of the other ships that fell behind and were destroyed with their own pilots? Or, if they wanted to do something truly heroic, have it be Poe who sacrifices himself... it would fit in with the character's impulsiveness, inventiveness and courage while playing off the earlier lesson of his needing to grow from a hero to a leader. Instead he pretty much spends the key moments unconscious, committing mutiny or ineffectually doing doughnuts in salt as the walkers advance.
Who is Rey? Nobody. Literally. And it stinks. Jhaku is actually an incredibly important planet in the Star Wars mythology, one that played a pivotal role in the Emporer's grand plans (anyone ever wonder why there was such a massive battle fought there?), but when Rey tells Luke that's where she's from, he shrugs and says 'nowhere'. The big mystery of Rey's parentage turned out to be a nothing. They were drunk scavengers who sold their kid, the most powerful and instinctive force-user possibly ever, to slavers for some spare coin. Anything would have been better than this. There were some fantastic theories out there, but even the ridiculous 'immaculate midi-chlorian conception' would have been better than, uh, nobody... And what about Rey's supposed inner draw to the Dark Side? Another potentially great twisty that went nowhere. She went down to the secret, sacred Dark Side cave (which could have been a nice parallel with Luke's on visit to the cave in Empire), but when she got there she saw some reflections and then... another reflection. And then left. Having learned nothing because apparently for all the drama there was nothing to learn.
Yoda shows us that force ghosts aren't immune to senility. Enlightening.
Snoke as a villain comes in like a lion and leaves like a wet turd. He is an incredibly powerful force user with what is sure to be a fascinating backstory... except that, oops, no he's not and no he doesn't... or if he does, we'll never know it. And did anyone think they might get a look at the so-called 'Knights of Ren'? Silly kids.
That's not to say that there weren't some nice moments - Kylo and Rey fighting back-to-back was great, and Luke walking out to face the walkers alone could have been the stuff of legend... but across the board we were just set up only to be let down. Kylo and Rey's alliance was short-lived and Luke was... meh. We've waited 30 years to see him do something truly magnificent, like pulling a star destroyer out of orbit with the Force, but instead we get something akin to 'made you look' even if it was presented as something cooler. C'mon, couldn't we have had him at least crush a few AT-AT's with the Force before going quietly into that good night? I'm sure we'll see him as a force ghost in the third installment... maybe by then Yoda will have taught him how to evoke lightning strikes from beyond the grave.
*
*
*
*
*
Okay, I have to say that I was sadly disappointed. The initial reviews have been stellar, yes, but the audience scoring coming out of the theater is significantly lower than even Justice League. And I wanted to love this movie so very much.
When it comes to action films and blockbusters, there seem to be two mindsets; the first is to come up with a handful of funny or cool scenes/moments and then contort the plot and characters however you need to to get from one cool or funny moment to the next. This is an incredibly lazy method of film-making that might make for nice trailers but ultimately becomes for an under-whelming and forgettable movie. We'll call this the Zach Snyder school of film-making. The second is to come up with a solid, cohesive plot that is internally consistent, and THEN look for opportunities to write in cool or funny scenes/moments in order to enhance the story further. We'll call this the Josh Whedon school of film-making and it tends to result in far superior films that often transcend their genres. The Last Jedi was, unfortunately, the former.
At the beginning of the film I thought they were really going to do it right. The evacuation of the rebel base and Poe Damarin's heroics were great, as was the introduction of a minor character who would sacrifice her life to see the mission succeed. It also set Poe up as a complex and flawed character ripe for a moment of redemption or sacrifice... sadly, this opportunity would go wasted. That really seemed to be a theme in the movie, awesome opportunities that are ultimately missed and great potential that is destined to go unfulfilled.
A few chief complaints:
Pretty much nothing that Poe, Finn or the new character Rose did mattered in the slightest. Poe takes down a Dreadnaught... and the Order shows up five minutes later with an even BIGGER ship. Oh, well, so much for that. The big plan to find the 'master codebreaker' goes pretty much nowhere and has so little impact on the plot it would have been completely removed and it wouldn't have affected the outcome one bit. Nothing those characters did meant anything, from Poe's leading everyone in the speeder defense which literally didn't accomplish a single thing to Finn's sacrifice that didn't actually happen to Rose's sacrifice that didn't matter and ultimately wasn't even a sacrifice. Basically it was a whole series of meaningless subplots who's sole purpose was to give the diversity hires something to do and some time on screen. That's not 'representation', that's tokenism. At best.
Maybe they should have tried that light speed ram tactic a little earlier, like with one of the other ships that fell behind and were destroyed with their own pilots? Or, if they wanted to do something truly heroic, have it be Poe who sacrifices himself... it would fit in with the character's impulsiveness, inventiveness and courage while playing off the earlier lesson of his needing to grow from a hero to a leader. Instead he pretty much spends the key moments unconscious, committing mutiny or ineffectually doing doughnuts in salt as the walkers advance.
Who is Rey? Nobody. Literally. And it stinks. Jhaku is actually an incredibly important planet in the Star Wars mythology, one that played a pivotal role in the Emporer's grand plans (anyone ever wonder why there was such a massive battle fought there?), but when Rey tells Luke that's where she's from, he shrugs and says 'nowhere'. The big mystery of Rey's parentage turned out to be a nothing. They were drunk scavengers who sold their kid, the most powerful and instinctive force-user possibly ever, to slavers for some spare coin. Anything would have been better than this. There were some fantastic theories out there, but even the ridiculous 'immaculate midi-chlorian conception' would have been better than, uh, nobody... And what about Rey's supposed inner draw to the Dark Side? Another potentially great twisty that went nowhere. She went down to the secret, sacred Dark Side cave (which could have been a nice parallel with Luke's on visit to the cave in Empire), but when she got there she saw some reflections and then... another reflection. And then left. Having learned nothing because apparently for all the drama there was nothing to learn.
Yoda shows us that force ghosts aren't immune to senility. Enlightening.
Snoke as a villain comes in like a lion and leaves like a wet turd. He is an incredibly powerful force user with what is sure to be a fascinating backstory... except that, oops, no he's not and no he doesn't... or if he does, we'll never know it. And did anyone think they might get a look at the so-called 'Knights of Ren'? Silly kids.
That's not to say that there weren't some nice moments - Kylo and Rey fighting back-to-back was great, and Luke walking out to face the walkers alone could have been the stuff of legend... but across the board we were just set up only to be let down. Kylo and Rey's alliance was short-lived and Luke was... meh. We've waited 30 years to see him do something truly magnificent, like pulling a star destroyer out of orbit with the Force, but instead we get something akin to 'made you look' even if it was presented as something cooler. C'mon, couldn't we have had him at least crush a few AT-AT's with the Force before going quietly into that good night? I'm sure we'll see him as a force ghost in the third installment... maybe by then Yoda will have taught him how to evoke lightning strikes from beyond the grave.
