Star Wars: The Last Jedi

[dryjoints]

Here's how I review films, music, food, etc - I try them myself. "Reviews" are extremely personal and very subjective (clearly), so the way to review a film is to watch it. I've watched films that had 20% ratings on "Rotten Tomatoes", and which I'd rate at 100%. If I don't like a film, and someone asks me what I think of it, I say "go and see it, see for yourself". If someone asks me for "spoilers" or a plot outline, I stonewall them completely; I don't ruin films for people, not AT ALL.

[james_s]

I generally find that most movies which are rated very highly by critics are ones I don't really like. There are exceptions but that happens more often than not.

[Decoman]

I think this will be my final post here on this movie. Though I am curious though if anyone who saw the movie finds this commentary in the video linked below fair or not, as I haven't seen the movie (and I probably never will).

As for movie critique in general, I think it is pertinent to the commentary on the new Star Wars movies to here add, that I think that any subversion of a genre as such is probably a very unfortunate thing. Without having seen the movie, I still ended up getting the impression that the fantasy genre here can be said to have been trivialized with this movie, as if 'fantasy' was either taken for granted, or used as a mere backdrop for the plot and events unfolding.

An issue I see here, with this idea of thinking of the 'fantasy genre' having been subverted with The Last Jed, with jokes, unappreciated twists and plot holes, is that I think that it is especially important for a fantasy movie (probably more than sci-fi movies) that the foundations of fantasy in the fantasy-genre is treated seriously, or things get bizarre and tending more towards the surreal. The 'surreal' movie genre (or tv-series like with Twin Peaks) would be a thing to be found enjoyable by itself, but then being favorable as a specific type of genre, not as some kind of effect or aesthetic as such. And so, I am inclined to think that whenever a resulting effect of watching a movie is generally thought to be odd or nonsensical, then I think that the strength of having a foundation based on fantasy (something to identify with, oddly enough, and to the contrary of conventional wisdom) is made void, turning things into a visual spectacle much like the Transformers movies.

I suspect that the director Rian Johnson maybe thinks of 'science fiction' and 'fantasy' as being similar, as being 'fictitious' (but what isn't fictitious in our world relying on people with subjective thoughts and expressions, most things are, even news unless showing unedited video footage or audio recording), when sci-fi and fantasy ought to be thought of as being something distinctively different (real vs. patently unreal). As I think I've pointed out earlier, people in general probably think of all the Star Wars movies as being science fiction movies because of the futuristic setting (ofc George Lucas instructed the viewer in the title crawl for A New Hope: "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away"), but given the artistic license that obviously goes into creating an unreal world, like the Star Wars universe, it is not a good idea to blur the distinction between real and unreal, when one is expecting something to exist in an unreal world, thus ridiculous humor, contemporary themes and references, and plot holes, would as I see it undermine the fantasy genre as such; because if one is to take the fantasy genre seriously, I think that the notion of "subverting people's expectations" as if bringing in something 'new' to a franchise, goes against the familiar setting in which one manages to suspend ones disbelief. So, as a final point here, the possibility of being able to 'suspend ones disbelief' when watching movies would imo not only be a thing for science-fiction movies, but is very much important for fantasy movies as well (and probably other genres as well). I can think of one type of movies/tv-shows in which a viewer will likely uncritically accept some trite content, and that would be movies made only for kids.

A word of warning: having listened to this commentary below, it made me want to shun The Last Jedi even more. I personally disliked the trailer, but then there is apparently a lot of bizarre things in the movie itself. I personally found the clip of BB-8 bashing his head into the motherboard to be very silly.

[GK]

This looks way better than any Star Wars. I'd trade in my flying car for a Galaxina any day. Phhooaaaahhh!

[theleakydiode]

Did anyone else never really care for the star wars hype? For me it was just a bit of light entertainment for a few hours, the latest one is no different.

[Decoman]

The plot thickens so to speak.

Someone somewhere apparently found an old video of Rian Johnson talking about the type of film he would want to make. Presumably, this is legit.

"It is much more exciting to me, when you get, you know, am, a group of people who are like coming at you like, and, and,  really really excited about it, and then there are other people who walk out, just, I mean, literally saying it was the worst movie I've ever seen. Having those two extremes, to me is, you know, is the mark of a type of movie that I want to make, so (...)"



Please, forgive or ignore the somewhat pretentious/hyperbolic framing of all of this. I suppose there is always some risk of having the quote being taken out of context, but heh it rally does sound very personal the way he talks about this, which I think is interesting.

[Bassman59]

I finally got around to seeing "The Last Jedi" on a flight a couple of weeks ago.

I saw a movie simply titled "Star Wars," on its second day in the theaters. I was 11. My older cousin saw it the first day and convinced my parents to let her take my brother (year younger than me) to see it the next day. Just that SuperDuper Star Cruiser thing in the very first scene -- WOW. It was fun as hell. I went to see it again a few weeks later, and by that time, it had already be renamed to "Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope."

It would be many, many years later that I finally got to see "Star Wars" in the original Japanese. That would be Kurosawa's "Hidden Fortress." George Lucas was smart enough to steal from the masters. (The SuperDuper Star Cruiser opening shot? Straight outta Kurosawa.)

"The Empire Strikes Back" remains the best of the franchise.

The three prequels could've been good, if only Lucas was interested in exploring the story he was telling, rather than selling Moichandising. Anakin Skywalker's descent into madness would have been fascinating in the hands of a better filmmaker. There is also the parallel storyline, the devolution of a democracy into a fascist dictatorship, also a good base for a story. But to combine them -- because they're really the same story, one on the micro level, the other on the macro -- and if you've got the right director and screenwriter that could be an astonishing tale, especially if you have three movies in which to tell it. But, know, pod racing and Jar Jar Binks and we've licensed this shit to EVERYONE so fuck it.

"The Force Awakens" nods to the past, introduces the future, same as it ever was. Daisy Ridley is a spitting image of Natalie Portman. Poe is Han Solo. Shit gets blown up, I don't remember. Oh, yeah, there's a goofy robot, because Moichandising. The ending when Ray is on the island and we see Luke? Best part of the whole thing. They kill off Han Solo and nobody even says a little Kaddish, they all just keep on doing what they're doing. Especially Leia. One would think that J. J. Abrams could do better.

"The Last Jedi." More winking nods to the past. As pointed out way earlier, we've seen this movie before. But: Luke Skywalker is the center of this universe, and he (and Mark Hamill) lives up to the billing. He gets it. He understands why the Palpatine Empire was able to gain traction as it did. He understands that the Jedi were in part responsible for their own downfall. (Hubris. That's the word we all need to remember.) He understands the Force and how the Jedi (and the Sith on the other side of this Manichean coin) do not have a monopoly on it, or even the right to claim that the should have such. Yoda, too, knew this; the younger Luke wouldn't listen (more hubris) and runs off half-cocked and almost loses it all. The older Luke we see in "TLJ" understands completely; he learned the lessons in the hardest way.

"TLJ" sets up Episode 9. Will Ray turn Ben/Ren to the Light? Yes, ditching the helmet as Snoke suggested was a wise move on Ren's part. It also requires us to see Kylo Ren as human, not as the ultimate embodiment of evil, Darth Vader.  So, #9. Have we seen that movie? Yes. Maybe. We don't know.

Regarding, "Where did the First Order come from, and how did it rise so quickly?" Yeah, that annoyed me when I saw "Force Awakens," but the answer is simple: The Dark Side Of The Force. You know the old sayings: "With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility" (another wide old Uncle Ben), and "Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely." Snoke was strong with the Force, and like Sauron he allowed himself to be completely corrupted by its power. And with that kind of evil power you can command legions to do your bidding. Orcs, stormtroopers, makes no difference; do as told or die. I suppose the story of Snoke would make for a good prequel, too, but he's not a character, he's a plot device.

BEST PART OF "THE LAST JEDI." In the casino scene (ripped off in equal parts from James Bond and "The Fifth Element", and wholly unimportant to the story), Finn and Rose are arrested for "violating parking law 27 B stroke 6." I was watching on the iPad Pro, and rewound and rewatched that scene three or four times, and finally turned on the captions, just to make sure I actually heard what I thought I heard. I'm sure Terry Gilliam got a huge laugh at that, especially because Adam Driver (Kylo Ren) is starring in Gilliam's soon-to-be-released "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote."

[Electro Detective]

..."The Empire Strikes Back" remains the best of the franchise.

No competition!     

[rdl]

In 1977-78 I paid to see the original Star Wars in theaters at least seventeen times. I had a chance to watch The Last Jedi for the first time a few weeks ago in my living room on TV. Somewhere past the halfway point I lost interest and wandered off to do other things.

[Electro Detective]

In 1977-78 I paid to see the original Star Wars in theaters at least seventeen times. I had a chance to watch The Last Jedi for the first time a few weeks ago in my living room on TV.

...Somewhere past the halfway point I lost interest and wandered off to do other things.

I can assure you whatever other things you did when you wandered off past halfway, were more entertaining, exciting and distracting 

and the activity would have scored more 'Likes' 'Subscribes' and 'Thank You' comments if filmed and uploaded on Youtube, to compete with $3.99 TLJ   

i.e. you didn't miss much, watch the rest if you need an early night good sleep 


TBH I had to use  'The Force'  to get through The Last Jedi ordeal     

I can't even remember what it was about, except thinking did they wack Harrison Ford out of the franchise for asking good money for the next epicsode, like because he's worth it?

Did they script Mark Hamills lines, or forgot and told him to just make it up as he goes?

Chewbacca is holding this show together, the other actors are giving it a fair go but have nothing to work with

What's next on the menu: "The Jedi Strikes Back" ?
The Jedi Strikes... for more money, better working conditions and a decent script   


I'm sticking with the original 3 DVD set, good to watch on a big TV every couple of years