Overall I did not like The Last Jedi. It did have some good parts, but the end of Luke's journey was badly handled and not what I wanted. I had figured he would die at sometime in this new saga but not this way.

I enjoyed Poe's development. Fin still needs more development. Rey feels like giving a monkey a machine gun. Too much power and no wisdom to use it. She feels like a reverse image of Kylo.

If this is the last we see of Snoke it's a waste of a good villain. If he comes back Star Wars has jumped the shark. It was bad enough that Maul survived being cut in half, but if they repeat that. <shudder>

I can buy Luke having some PTSD, but Yoda or Obi-Wan should or would have visited him sooner. That talk about learning from your mistakes was decades too late. It just doesn't feel right to me.

Story wise I'd have been tempted to have Leia killed in the bridge explosion. Her parts in the rest of the movie could be adjusted in reshoots. That's not saying I didn't like it, but it would have dealt with her passing in a more efficient manner. Here's hoping we don't get some crap CGI next movie.

I saw this movie having been spoiled for Luke's death. I had already bought tickets before I got spoiled and went ahead and saw it. If I hadn't bought tickets I might have given it a pass. I liked it better than I thought I would, but overall I didn't like it. Hopefully that makes some sort of sense.

There is a part of me that thinks the Star Wars saga in some ways mirrors the times. The first saga felt like the heroic mirror of WWII and we had heroes rising to the occasion to do what needed to be done. The prequels seemed to mirror the decay of society and the corruption of Government that seemed commonplace in the new millennium. The new saga seems to follow the themes of today with the empowerment of women and a dash of tearing down the heroes we once looked up to.

I hated the movie. Well, mostly.

But I'm not here to convince anyone who liked it, or even loved it, that they're wrong. Far more interesting than the movie (from my perspective, of course), has been how divided opinions are on it, and despite some name calling in media forums and threads like these, they don't seem to be divided among demographic lines. My gaming group is pretty evenly split among those who loved it, those who felt "meh", and those who hated it. I've seen people who loved the movie be accused of being fanboys, while elsewhere, the same accusation is leveled at people who hated the movie. I've read a bunch of testimonials from people who grew up with the OT that felt like the Last Jedi re-captured the spirit of their youth and others who felt like it betrayed the spirit of Star Wars. My millennial friends hated it, but of course this is mostly anecdotal, plenty of people felt like this was the Star Wars for their generation.

When I spoke to some friends who loved it, I found that our general impressions of what worked and what didn't were very similar, but how that translated to our overall enjoyment of the movie was very different.

10 minutes ago, bloody malth said:

When I spoke to some friends who loved it, I found that our general impressions of what worked and what didn't were very similar, but how that translated to our overall enjoyment of the movie was very different.

This !

Second viewing sealed the deal.

9 out of 10 instead of the 7.5 I gave it after the first viewing.

Also don't quite get why people can't just dislike the movie and have to act like they are somehow the voice of fandom.
Really annoying as I was never consulted about this and I didn't ask for anyone to represent me.

And lastly, I complained about it lacking "a Star Wars feeling" earlier.

I was wrong.

Very wrong.

I suggest everyone who didn't like it or was lukewarm on the movie to rewatch it. The second time is so much of a different experience...

2 minutes ago, DanteRotterdam said:

Also don't quite get why people can't just dislike the movie and have to act like they are somehow the voice of fandom.
Really annoying as I was never consulted about this and I didn't ask for anyone to represent me.

I hated most of the movie, but yeah, it annoys me to no end to see people writing things like "anyone who likes (or dislikes) this movie is not a true fan of Star Wars!". Get over yourself.

I'm going to see it tomorrow! Earliest day it could work for everyone's schedules, unfortunately. It's going to have to walk a thin line: simultaneously satisfying my inner eleven-year old and my adult self who's worked in lit-crit for awhile. We'll see.

also Porg i did read a spoiler about Chewie eating a Porg. My childhood wub of Chewie clashes with adult wub of Porg. Immovable object meets irresistable force (Force?).

Hope everyone is doing good and I hope I can come back to stay!

8 hours ago, TheShard said:

Disposal bad guys. The original trilogy worked because of the continuity of the bad guys. Culminating in the tension that made Vader's turn all that much more rewarding. So now why Snoke? Better yet who cares now...

Kylo and Hux are still there, and Kylo is the main villain of the story. Snoke is the Tarkin to Kylo's Vader.

You can please all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time.

I loathed Thor Ragnarok but my friends loved it. It’ll be interesting to see which camp I fall into with TLJ but I think it’s daft to argue something is crap just because I don’t like it. Subjective vs. Objective etc.

If I were running an SW game at the mo a thread on making the tech and tricks in the movie work in the game might be more useful than one trying to convince people they’re wrong based on individual taste.

my two pennies lol

42 minutes ago, HorusArisen said:

You can please all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time.

I loathed Thor Ragnarok but my friends loved it. It’ll be interesting to see which camp I fall into with TLJ but I think it’s daft to argue something is crap just because I don’t like it. Subjective vs. Objective etc.

If I were running an SW game at the mo a thread on making the tech and tricks in the movie work in the game might be more useful than one trying to convince people they’re wrong based on individual taste.

my two pennies lol

All of this

It looks like RT did get trolled on the Audience Score.

Deadline Last Jedi Audience Score Article

Page Claiming Responsibility

I personally rather see the fan base somewhat divided on their thoughts on a movie than someone doing something like this. From what I can see, this is someone with a vendetta against Disney and the Fan Community.

9 hours ago, splad said:

create a story with no trilogy plans

I'll give you that. I think that starting off a story without at least a rough guideline in place of the Who, the What and the Where is a terrible idea. Yes, no battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy, and Lucas changed plenty of things over the course of his 6 (some of them quite significantly) - but at least he had a good starting point.

Mind you, this is on JJ and Kennedy more than anyone who came after.

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you kinda made Luke out to be a giant *****.

A wise strong Jedi master Luke is the easy, lazy way to approach the character. A broken, disillusioned Luke is much more interesting and challenging.

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sort of lame after a 30 year build up.

Lame? That was well executed. Go study your Kung Fu texts young one, for the TRUE mark of a master is winning a battle without fighting.

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make Luke drink some and look goofy at the same time

Also go study your mythology. Being goofy is a page straight out of the Trickster handbook. He was no more goofy than anything Yoda did/does - just a more curmudgeonly bent to it.

8 hours ago, Ireul said:

the man who refused to give up on his father because he sensed scant good in him considered killing his nephew because he sensed darkness in him?

This is the same fellow who flipped out, did his very level best to kill Vader, and considered finishing the deed while Vader was on his knees and helpless. Yes, he came to his senses - but for that few moments, he was about to pull the trigger. I see no inconsistency here.

EDIT - also, that scene is very much an Unreliable Narrator moment. Go read/watch Rashomon for the "Ah hah!" of that scene.

The milk scene is also part of the whole cycle of life theme on the island. Chewie killing and roasting the space chicken. Rey's vision of life. All the animal life on the island.

Like all good storytelling, it serves more than one purpose.

Also at a more basic level it's normal sort of Star Wars world building. Take situation on Earth, turn up the extreme-o-meter. In this case, western Ireland (where it was filmed), upgrade Puffins to Porgs and basking seals to those sea cows (I presume those finding it disgusting don't drink milk?)

Looks like we're getting a TON of deleted scenes on the Blu Ray.

I kept hoping that Jar Jar would come rescue us from this film.

41 minutes ago, Stan Fresh said:

The milk scene is also part of the whole cycle of life theme on the island. Chewie killing and roasting the space chicken. Rey's vision of life. All the animal life on the island.

Like all good storytelling, it serves more than one purpose.

....you sure it wasn't just a cheap and nasty call back to "well the Blue Milk has to come from something" ? Because that's what it felt like to me.

2 minutes ago, KungFuFerret said:

you sure it wasn't just a cheap and nasty call back to "well the Blue Milk has to come from something"

Why not both?

4 minutes ago, KungFuFerret said:

....you sure it wasn't just a cheap and nasty call back to "well the Blue Milk has to come from something" ? Because that's what it felt like to me.

No, because the milk is white.

My new theory: a good Star Wars movie has Harrison Ford in it!

8 minutes ago, KungFuFerret said:

....you sure it wasn't just a cheap and nasty call back to "well the Blue Milk has to come from something" ? Because that's what it felt like to me.

I think it was just a cheap try at adolescent humor

8 minutes ago, robus said:

My new theory: a good Star Wars movie has Harrison Ford in it!

Disproven by TFA and TLJ

10 minutes ago, robus said:

My new theory: a good Star Wars movie has Harrison Ford in it!

Counterpoint:

13 minutes ago, Desslok said:

Counterpoint:

That’s no movie! That’s a disaster! Turn the ship around!