Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi

Started by Jeremy Blackman, April 14, 2017, 01:19:38 PM

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Jeremy Blackman

Quote from: pete on September 16, 2018, 05:36:39 PMhere where multiple characters are like "nobody is into star wars anymore" which was said not just by Adam Driver but also Yoda and Luke and pretty much the whole movie.

Really?

jenkins

lol @ the idea of pete going back to watch the movie and find the exact quotes

he means it's like impossible for them to not act self-aware, which really does puncture the fantasy illusion, and sucks, and was present in The Last Jedi for sure

pete

it's not just that it breaks the fourth wall - but that it breaks fourth wall THE WAY EVERY SOFT REBOOT breaks fourth wall, but with a little more twitter-awareness than your Jurassic World. But what could "burn the old" coming from every single character's mouth possibly mean in the story aside from telling the audience "this is not your daddy's star wars!" I'd be fine if there was something else going in the movie, but I just wasn't even sure why else the movie felt like you needed to see it aside from letting you know that they were gonna pivot from their last pivot from two years ago.
"Tragedy is a close-up; comedy, a long shot."
- Buster Keaton

jenkins


Alethia

A friend made me watch this again the other evening on his enviably indulgent home theater set-up and by god this time around I think I liked it! Or at least came to the conclusion that my initial flat-out hatred of it was silly and ill-considered. Color me converted!

Robyn

This is kind of my favorite Star Wars film. At least of the new ones. But this is coming from someone who didn't grew up with the first trilogy, or was a huge fan to begin with. I just think this one is the most enjoyable. Also really like the Rey/Kylo (Ridley/Driver) combo and the set pieces in this one.

pete

a year later, still can't stand it. just can't believe all the usual TV-style wheel-spinning and retconning are suddenly deemed philosophical and subversive. I know JJ Abrams didn't write it but they're doing the same shit as they did on Lost.
"Tragedy is a close-up; comedy, a long shot."
- Buster Keaton

Alethia

Yeah I feel ya - to be clear, I don't suddenly *love* it, just simply found more there to admire this time than the first go round. It is interesting to contrast these new ones pace-wise with the original trilogy, particularly A New Hope - it has a great, very 70s pace that would never ever fly now, sadly.

All that said, the fact remains that, for me, if Harrison Ford isn't in it I really have to be feeling generous.

Jeremy Blackman

I found myself craving some good Star Wars content, so I revisited The Last Jedi. I had only seen it once, in theaters, and was waiting for the right moment for a rewatch. Which was definitely now.

And wow did it deliver. My favorite Star Wars film, without a doubt. Rise of Skywalker is a wet fart compared to this masterpiece. CHILLS throughout. I love, love, love this movie.

The first 10 minutes, which ends with a character we've never met, is more emotional than all of ROS. And that's what The Last Jedi does best. Intense, focused, meaningful emotion, scene after scene. Always character first.

Rian's writing in TLJ actually reminds me of Knives Out. It's razor sharp, effortlessly full of feeling and humor and suspense.

Some new plot observations...

Snoke insulting Kylo's helmet, followed by Kylo smashing it, does feel like a middle finger to The Force Awakens. If anything, people's reaction to that was understated. Luke throwing the lightsaber, however, is something completely different. It's perfect and necessary, and it's shown, in the space of this movie, to be immature and misguided. I will never understand why people cried about that so much, or why JJ found the need to reverse it so flamboyantly in ROJ, when it had already been reversed in TLJ. Silly.

When Rey first meets Luke, he thinks she's just some random person from the resistance sent to fetch him. His dismissiveness is completely understandable. He's been hiding, and he's annoyed to have been found, because he really does not want to be pulled out of retirement for whatever the next war is.

The turning point actually comes quite early. When Rey is drawn to the tree with the Jedi texts, Luke is instantly very interested in Rey—what is her real mission, and who IS she?

As the film continues, it stands in stark contrast to ROS. We get actual scenes that play out between two characters, where they get to talk about meaningful things. And we don't just get some of these character scenes. We get a lot of them! Rian manages to stir up intense emotion, for me, in nearly every one.

Rose's big moment (intercepting Finn) is generally regarded as a big dumb cheesy Star Wars moment, but it's actually much, much, much less cheesy than I remembered. Rose is disoriented and barely conscious, so her groggyness lends an unexpected (but necessary) subtlety to those lines that would be so easy to ham up. Well done, KMT. Seriously.

Rose's actual cheesy moment, which verges on light cringe, is when she takes the saddle off and says "now it's worth it."

Speaking of which. Canto Bight is not just a fun romp; it's essential. The big moment for me is Rose flashing the Rebel Alliance symbol to the kid, paying off Holdo's statement from earlier, that it's a symbol that means something to regular people all over the galaxy. (Which in turn sets up the coda.) We also get to see the plutocracy that helped build the First Order in exchange for obscene wealth. This is all crucial stuff, folks.

The scheme that Finn, Rose, and Poe cook up—finding the codebreaker on Canto Bight—does not serve a "productive" plot purpose; it makes things more difficult. The codebreaker turns and tips off the First Order to the Rebels' escape transports. Which results in a heartbreaking slaughter. In other words, the Canto Bight adventure—and especially the mutiny against Holdo—are proven to be misguided and kind of disastrous for everyone.

It's a whole lot easier to see things from Holdo's perspective on second viewing, by the way. She saw Poe as a rogue pilot who had just been demoted for defying orders and losing their entire bombing fleet, a reckless act that did NOT turn the fight in their favor but did lose them a lot of lives and resources. Poe then goes on to prove Holdo right, helping launch the Canto Bight plan that will lose even more lives needlessly. There's also a theory that Holdo suspected there was a spy on the ship. That's not in the text, but it would make sense.

In general, everything was more subtle and finely tuned than I remember, for whatever reason. I suppose with any Star Wars movie, some of the rough edges feel a bit smoother on rewatch.

Broom boy wrecked me. Absolutely wrecked me. It's a brief but very powerful and surprisingly subtle scene.

So here's my feeling right now. The Last Jedi is the most emotionally intense, most propulsive, most consistently rousing, most visually spectacular, most thematically interesting, best-acted Star War. I rest my case.