The Last Jedi: spoilery reviews inside

I’m not seeing it until Thursday on the US west coast, but everyone should feel free to use this for their spoilers reviews.

As a note, because of our activity stream, make sure you keep your Extreme Spoilers out of the first few sentences.

It's real good, guys

Loved it. :D I thought they did a great job and added a few twists that I wasn't expecting. Hated saying goodbye to certain characters, but loved how they did it.

I'm not sure how to feel about the movie at this point in time. On one side, I'll say that it's a great movie and well worth seeing.

On the other side, it has some problems, I'll get into both the good and the bad here in just a moment. This movie was divided into roughly three sections and I'm not sure the three really mesh together that well.

Okay, now on to the spoilerly stuff; My favorite scene was also the most visually stunning scene of the movie and answers a long standing question that I had about what would happen under those circumstances.

What I'm not too fond of; Warships being converted from the traditional Star Wars designs into Space Yamato, complete with curving lasers as lobbing shells even though it was in the middle of nowhere. First Order being made to look as utterly incompetent as ever, losing two dreadnoughts and half a dozen smaller destroyers while only gradually whittling down Resistance forces due to attrition. This movie came so close to having a fully original plot going for it, but then they had to lean on Empire Strikes Back for the final one third of the movie. Rey's parents turning out to be no one special or significant in any way. Lando being teased at being the slicer only to have someone else step in.

What I did like; Ramming at hyperspace speed. Luke projecting himself across time and space, very similar to a trick he pulled in the Dark Empire comics but stronger. The force bond that developed between Kylo and Rey. Leia using the force for the first time that we really see.

There's plenty more of course, that was just a few basic points to being discussion. Still very conflicted on how I feel about the movie.

I'm pretty blown away. It was really good :D

At a high level, this movie had a lot of good moments, some mediocre ones, and a few that were cringe-worthy. I generally liked it. I had issues with a couple of the plot devices. However, the characters themselves really shined (with a couple of exceptions), and Star Wars has really always been about exactly that: compelling characters, the paths they take, and the consequences of their choices.

That said, I can definitely see why parts of the fan base will have heartburn about how the original trilogy characters were handled. How Luke was written will be very divisive (although I personally had no issue with it... I think it was a fascinating and bold choice.) Leia was great when she was on screen, but having her out of action for half the film was a curious decision.

I was surprised that we didn't get much in terms of evolving views on the nature of the Force. For all of the speculation that there was going to be some big reveal or change in philosophy, it really was much of what we've seen before. I think the concept of truth being "from a certain point of view" was once again very prominently on display and crucial to much of the film.

I'll probably see it again sometime after Christmas before passing any real judgement, but I liked it more than The Force Awakens.

Saw it last night.

Not going to say much - I'm still digesting a lot of it. I think my thoughts echo Figrin's - some really good stuff - some stuff that was just ok - and a few things that I had to roll my eyes at a bit.

Overall I was very pleased with it. I don't know that it will enter the upper echelon of SW movies in my estimation, but it was a pretty good movie.

One thing that I'm still coming to grips with is just the different visual "language" of how movies are made nowadays. When GL made the originals, they were shot/framed/paced in a certain fashion that I just associate with Star Wars. Movies, for better or worse, just don't seem to follow that same language any more - and as a result, these new movies just don't have that same "feel" for me. I'm not saying its bad or good, it's just different, and I guess it's just something I'll need to reconcile with myself, that the new SW will just have that different feel.Saw it last night.

Not going to say much - I'm still digesting a lot of it. I think my thoughts echo Figrin's - some really good stuff - some stuff that was just ok - and a few things that I had to roll my eyes at a bit.

Overall I was very pleased with it. I don't know that it will enter the upper echelon of SW movies in my estimation, but it was a pretty good movie.

One thing that I'm still coming to grips with is just the different visual "language" of how movies are made nowadays. When GL made the originals, they were shot/framed/paced in a certain fashion that I just associate with Star Wars. Movies, for better or worse, just don't seem to follow that same language any more - and as a result, these new movies just don't have that same "feel" for me. I'm not saying its bad or good, it's just different, and I guess it's just something I'll need to reconcile with myself, that the new SW will just have that different feel.

I saw the film at midnight when it came out along with a cinema full of Star Wars fans. There was a double bill of The Force Awakens followed by The Last Jedi. Amazing experience and loved the whole sense of occasion.

As for the film. Hmmm. I seem to be one of the few who loved The Force Awakens and thought it was much better than Rogue One and in fairness I had the onset of tiredness creep in when I saw The Last Jedi so perhaps my opinion should be taken with a pinch of salt but I just felt very underwhelmed.

On the surface of things the film was good. It had good action scenes, good performances all round and a great deal of character development but there were just certain things that just didn't seem to quite sit right with me. I had the same feeling as darth_mcbain in that there were certain things in the film that just didn't feel very star wars. I am no expert in film to be able to tell you what the issue was but a number of times I found myself thinking this is a good sci-fi film rather than a good star wars film.

Here are some of the specific issues I had...


Leia's force usage to fly through space was terribly cringeworthy, as was the opening "please hold" scene. Don't even get me started on Luke drinking the alien milk... wtf?

Rey's parents - I personally didn't like the reveal about Rey's parents, although I can live with that. I guess I just wanted there to be more to it than that. Some explanation of why she was so powerful with very little training.

Snoke - I hated the fact we learn't nothing about who Snoke was and I felt the way he got killed off was really lame. While I love Kylo Ren's character, I don't think he is big enough or bad enough to be the ultimate bad guy in the universe.

Luke's death - This just seems such an incredible waste to me. The whole of the first film revolves around trying to find Luke. It gives his character weight, mystery and legend and by the end of the second film his entire reputation is left in shatters and no real way for him to redeem himself. The trailer had the line "let the past die, kill it if you have to" and I think this is the key message from this film. This film was all about setting the franchise free of any of its past. Past characters, past ways of thinking and opened it up to a new future but a large part of what I loved about Star Wars was its past. Was its history and meaning.

The ending felt, well, like an ending. Snoke is dead. Luke is dead. The rebellion is all but dead and all thats really left is Rey and Ren disagreeing with each other. There are no high stakes to be settled. No real mystery to be resolved. This could have been the ending to the saga rather than the beginning of the closing chapter and I can't help but wonder where the series goes from here. At the end of the Force Awakens I couldn't wait for the next film whereas now I just feel a bit meh about it.



The guys I went to see the film with were all very positive about the film and the chit chat I could hear from other members of the audience all seemed very pleased with the film so I was left wondering if it was just me. As some time has now passed since the initial release there have been a few more people speaking out against the film and I now realise I'm not the only one.

In summary, I think the film is good as a sci-fi action adventure film but as a Star Wars movie, I wanted more, a lot more than I got Im sad to say.

Finally got around to seeing this today because it was the first time my girlfriend and I could find a time together to go. I mostly had kept away from spoilers and thank God because I was consistently surprised. I'm not always sure if that was a good or bad thing, but bravo to them for going in some unexpected directions.

I'll have to see it again and really think on it for a few days because they really left a lot to consider. It really did burn down a whole lot of expectations I had (and again I'm not completely sure it was always a good thing, but I love that Johnson went for it). I'm not sure where I'd place it in the eight film saga as of yet, but it's certainly ambitious as all hell.

Just got back from seeing The Last Jedi for a second time.

I was really conflicted after my first viewing. I liked a lot of what they did, but I was also disappointed by a lot of what they didn't. For me, the dynamics between the new characters was a big part of The Force Awakens' charm, and I was disappointed that The Last Jedi barely delivered any of that (though in fairness, neither does The Empire Strikes Back). I was disappointed that Kylo Ren stayed dark in the end (Kylo and Rey fighting together was a magical sequence), and to have Luke gone was doubly gutting knowing that Leia will be gone for the sequel as well.

The first time around, I also felt that the movie didn't actually advance anything. The Resistance is still on the run; Rey is still untrained; Luke is still out of the picture; the only real change seemed to be that Snoke was gone, and even then that just leaves Kylo and Hux in charge, which isn't really that much of a variation from how things were in The Force Awakens. The second time around though, knowing what was going to happen later in the movie, I picked up on the subtleties a bit better. There weren't big picture changes, but all of the characters grew into who they were supposed to be. Finn grew into the Resistance hero that Rose thought he was. Poe grew into the Commander that Leia hoped he could be. Rey, who spent the movie thinking that someone else was the galaxy's last hope, realises in the end that she is. Even Luke, who was adamant about not being that last hope himself, ended up restoring that hope and serving as an inspiration at the end.

I do still feel that this was "Episode VII, Part 2" or "The Last Jedi: A Star Wars Story" rather than feeling like a proper Episode in it's own right, but it is 2+ fantastic hours of solid Star Wars, and I think it's one that is going to hold up especially well to being rewatched over and over again at home.

I've seen it 3 times now and I have to say that I've enjoyed it more each time, but I do have some issues with it. I saw it opening night and I had a ticket for a second 3D showing but I just couldn't do it. I went to Guest Relations and asked for a refund. I had to work the next day and I was just emotionally drained after watching Luke die. The second time I saw it I just let myself go and I had tears streaming down my face in that final showdown.

I admire the decisions that Johnson made in this film. I enjoyed Looper, but I'm an even bigger fan of his work on Breaking Bad. But he's made some pretty gutsy decisions with this film. I'm actually stunned at the divisive reaction TLJ is getting from fans. When I saw the RT numbers I was ecstatic, but, the fan score and online reactions have been something else. And the B.O. numbers may end up being some of the weakest we've seen for a SW film. The dropoff in the OW was to be expected, but the daily weekday drops have pretty significant. Even with many schools still being in session, the numbers aren't what we've been use to seeing. We're looking at a domestic run of less than $700M. It may even fall below $650M. I thought the floor for TLJ's domestic B.O. would be 85% of TFA, but it could very well make less than 70%. That's a stunner to me. I ran the numbers years ago and put them up here, but I don't remember just how far ESB fell off from ANH, but I swear the first run of ESB only fell off by 80+%. And AOTC's drop from TPM wasn't this bad either.

I just think that Johnson took the film in a very different direction than JJ did. He made some choices that were such a radical departure from the groundwork that Abrams laid out that a lot of fans are losing their shit over what we just saw. I'm OK with the decisions he made because there's really no point in fighting it, but I think this film is going to be very divisive for years to come.

I'm not sure where I'd rank it, but I did enjoy it more than Rogue One. The longer it sits with me, the lower it slips in my Star Wars rankings. It's definitely behind the OT and TFA, but still ahead of the prequels.

So here are my thoughts. Sorry for the formatting issues: I copied and pasted from where I just posted this somewhere else.

Not my favorite, but not my least favorite.Somewhere in the middle, maybe closer to the bottom.A lot of this has been said before.

I don't care too much for Rey.She was fine in TFA, but I lost interest in her in this movie.As others have repeatedly said, she is the epitome of a Mary Sue.She has all these powers with no training.She has all these lightsaber skills with no training.She seems to have more control over her emotions than even Luke Skywalker -- again, with no training.I don't like overpowered characters that shouldn't be overpowered.I like Palpatine because you need a big bad who is more powerful than your heroes.I like Yoda because he is small, humble, and funny.Both of those characters earned it.Rey hasn't.



But while we are on Rey, I like that her parents are nobodies, and I hope that sticks.I don't need her to be connected to everyone else.It is one of the more interesting aspects of her character to me.



I'm not upset about killing off Snoke.I thought it was handled well.Explain his backstory in a novel.I don't need it in TLJ, and I think Rian Johnson's choice to exclude it was perfectly reasonable if not preferable.I think his character became less interesting in TLJ, but it was a major twist that had luckily not been spoiled for me.Yes, I want to know more about Snoke, but this was not the place.



Canto Bight and Benicio Del Toro's DJ -- not interested.Canto Bight was visually appealing, but the entire side story was distracting and ultimately not interesting to me.I really like Benicio Del Toro as an actor, but his DJ character was a huge disappointment.Interesting plot twist in the end with him taking the money and selling them out, but not worth the payout.



Speaking of, I don't care for Rose.Again, she's not a very compelling character.Her decision to save Finn at the end was quite dumb.She almost died (I actually thought she did die at the time) and almost killed Finn without affecting the First Order, while Finn's sacrifice could have potentially saved more lives, including hers.



And again speaking of wasted characters, Gwendoline Christie's Phasma is probably the most disappointing of all.I had high hopes for her.Same as DJ -- I like the actress, but the character was a waste.



Holdo's plan was meh.Her sacrifice was great.The character annoyed me throughout, but her final scene came close to redeeming her.



Leia flying through space?Please just cut that entire scene from the movie and re-release it.



I get Star Wars has humor, but I thought the scenes with Hux went way too far to undermine an otherwise interesting and compelling character.Now he's just a walking joke.I had high hopes for Hux, especially since I read the Aftermath novels.Also, seeing him grab for his gun to finish off Kylo Ren came close to redeeming the earlier ridiculousness, but then they had to do the whole scene in the AT-AT to ruin it.



I wish Luke had been portrayed as more stoic and mystical.I was hoping for more of an Obi Wan type character.I think reading some of the EU tainted me as to how his character should be.The scenes with Yoda were a little silly, but I needed that.He completely redeemed himself in the end.Force projection is a little dumb, but it was implemented incredibly well for the story.



I'm interested to see where Kylo goes from here.I'm glad he lost the mask.The Force link was a little silly at times, but not over the top.I think he's inadequate to lead the First Order, and I would have preferred they not ruin Hux and have Hux still running things with Kylo as his enforcer for a bit.But whatever.



Poe is Poe.He's the most interesting character at this point.He has the Han Solo charisma.I enjoy scenes with him, and I enjoyed him learning his lesson here.



Finn is okay.I don't dislike him, but I don't like him.He's just there.



I didn't have the warm fuzzy feeling I had when I left TFA.It was definitely not as good as Rogue One.I'll watch it again because it's Star Wars, and I love Star Wars.