Star Wars: The Last Jedi - Reaction and Discussion *CONTAINS SPOILERS*

[Iowamomof4]

Mark Hammill on Twitter today: I'm really enjoying the conversations about #TheLastJedi both Pro AND Con. Everyone's entitled to their own opinion-but let me make one thing perfectly clear: Neither @Disney or #Lucasfilm has complained or told me what to say- EVER. #PeriodEndOfStory

-mh

 

[jkh36619]

Mark Hammill on Twitter today: I'm really enjoying the conversations about #TheLastJedi both Pro AND Con. Everyone's entitled to their own opinion-but let me make one thing perfectly clear: Neither @Disney or #Lucasfilm has complained or told me what to say- EVER. #PeriodEndOfStory

-mh

Neither has my boss.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Mark Hammill on Twitter today: I'm really enjoying the conversations about #TheLastJedi both Pro AND Con. Everyone's entitled to their own opinion-but let me make one thing perfectly clear: Neither @Disney or #Lucasfilm has complained or told me what to say- EVER. #PeriodEndOfStory

-mh

Which is exactly what they would tell him to say

J/k

 

[jade1]

Watched on Dolby D springs tonight. Liked it quite a bit better the second time.

 

[Iowamomof4]

Watched on Dolby D springs tonight. Liked it quite a bit better the second time.

I know it hasn't happened for everyone, but A LOT of people have said they liked it better the second time.

 

[BrianL]

I just saw it a second time, and while I would say I liked it fine the first time, I think I liked it more after another watch. I still just hate Armiral Holdo, but my new opinion of her is that she is a phony. She obviously had an axe to grind against "flyboys" like Poe and wa just reveling in stick it to him. As soon as Leia wakes up, she's all, "I like him." No. Leia likes him. Holdo is just the stand-in. Maybe she knew she screwed up and her death was her penance. I don't know. That character though, she just irritates me. Everything else in the movie is fine. In fact it's more than fine, it's pretty great. I even love the Canto Bight stuff, which it seems like nobody does. Anyway, I'm glad I caught it again.

 

[Iowamomof4]

I just saw it a second time, and while I would say I liked it fine the first time, I think I liked it more after another watch. I still just hate Armiral Holdo, but my new opinion of her is that she is a phony. She obviously had an axe to grind against "flyboys" like Poe and wa just reveling in stick it to him. As soon as Leia wakes up, she's all, "I like him." No. Leia likes him. Holdo is just the stand-in. Maybe she knew she screwed up and her death was her penance. I don't know. That character though, she just irritates me. Everything else in the movie is fine. In fact it's more than fine, it's pretty great. I even love the Canto Bight stuff, which it seems like nobody does. Anyway, I'm glad I caught it again.

I was first introduced to (Amilyn) Holdo in the book Leia, Princess of Alderaan by Claudia Gray and I loved her character in that! Unfortunately, no one bothered to tell Laura Dern how her character was really supposed to be (or Claudia Gray really messed her up in the book if Rian Johnson is the one who invented her in the first place). Or, I guess it's also possible that she went from a wide-eyed, eccentric girl in her youth to what we saw on screen, but she was really missing something if you ask me. Anyway, I highly recommend the book if you or anyone else is interested in checking out some of the newer novels.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

I know I’m really late to the party but I just saw the movie two nights ago due to holidays and babysitter issues. I read the first 10 pages of this thread but that’s as far as I’ve gotten. I apologize if the points I’m bringing up are dead horses but I didn’t see a lot of them in the first 20 pages.

I’m really really disappointed in the movie. I liked (didn’t love) TFA. I loved Rogue One. I was giddy when my parents said they would babysit so we could go. 30 minutes into this movie I found myself thinking, I don’t care about what’s happening in this movie. Everything was just so off. Characters were so out of character and moments that should have been emotional were not.

The characters and the special effects to me are what made the OT so special and rise above the plot holes and bad dialogue and other flaws. This movie seemed to have no heart or Johnson didn’t understand what made these characters tic (or didn’t care).

You’re going to convince Luke to come back and you leave Chewie and R2 in the Falcon other than open a door for you? Really?

We get a 5 sec facial reaction to Han’s death. And the explanation happens off screen? Really? Yeah, I know, we know what happened but that should have been an emotional moment that should have had Luke ponder going back for Leia if nothing else, but no.

I’m totally ok with craggy mess of a hermit Luke at that point in the story. I’m totally ok with him tossing the lightsaber. I am not ok with how he got there. Luke wanting to murder Ben at that point in the story is not in character. This is the Luke who woukdnt give up on Vader who had murdered billions of people and was committed to help him because he saw some spark of goodness there. At that point in the story arc, the rebellion had won, he’s opening a school, life is good. He looks into his kid nephew, sees some darkness and thinks he should be murdered. Sorry kiddo, I went to the mat for your grandfather and successfully brought him back but you I want to kill at the first sign of darkness. No way.

I love Leia. I adore her. But her first real active use of the force (beyond reaching out and feeling people) is not to save herself after being blown out into space. It’s just too big a leap.

So the Resistance fleet is too fast for the big ships and they recall the TIEs because ... the First Order suddenly cares about TIE casualties? Really?

The whole hyperspace tracking from the lead ship only was a typical tortured SW plot device but just because SW is littered with them doesn’t mean it’s a good thing that should be repeated/encouraged/accepted.There were other ways to have the First Order track them. I really thought it was going to be that we’d find out there was some way to track stormtroopers. That would have given Finn a better role.

The Finn subplot was poor as many have said. It’s too bad, I like him.

After the fantastic space battles in Rogue One, these were very ho-hum in comparison. I did really like the use of silence and some of those shots were cool with the Raddus but other than that moment they were not as good as R1.

I also don’t understand why people are saying this movie is so original. It seems to me like they took a bunch of scenes and ideas from all 3 OT and just shuffled the deck to show them out of order. Crait was Hoth with red dye (and a bit of Helms Deep thrown in) at the end of the movie. Turning on Snoke was Vader turning on the Emperor in the middle of the second movie instead of the end of the last. Luke’s island was Dagobaugh complete with sunken x-wing and monster, dark side cave, Luke as Yoda. I told DH after TFA that I was ok with TFA being a bit of a rehash because of trying to kick off the universe again but would not accept that from VIII. But to me that’s what 8 is - rehash. Visually and plot wise there is way too much homage to OT.

I’m fine with Rey’s parentage but not fine with it was not explained in a way that fits with anything that was teased in TFA. Be consistent. A lot of people really enjoyed talking about how that could go. It was a great little mystery and helped keep the spark of excitement alive between movies. If Johnson didn’t like or even respect what was done in TFA why was he directing this? And the fact that they wrapped much of it up with no real mysteries to debate and be excited about is another source of my disappointment. As a kid I remember debating endlessly whether or not Vader was really Luke’s father after ESB. Im sad there is nothing like that after this movie.

I did like Luke’s gambit at the end. Although it worked in part because of all the other plot holes. When he came out of the back my first thought was ***. Oh another dumb plot point. Oh wait, this one was actually intentional.

I also liked the interactions between Rey and Kylo and also between Luke and Leia at the end.

I also liked Yoda igniting the tree and I’m ok with him agreeing that they need to take another path. Honestly it hadn’t worked out so well for the Jedi. Changing/starting over is wise of Yoda to admit. Sadly, it doesn’t seem that the people in charge of doing that are really up to the task.

I realize that a lot of my complaints when taken alone are small and can be lived with (TFA and TOS had issues and were still very successful movies). Taken all together though is just too much for this movie to work at all for me. I don’t have any desire to see it again. I may not even buy it when it’s out. I’m very sad about that. A lot of people who liked it keep saying things like people who didn’t are just looking to complain or hate on this movie. I’m not an Uber fan who has analyzed everything. I’m not someone who goes into a movie looking to criticize. I’m just a lifelong SW fan whose very disappointed.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

I love Leia. I adore her. But her first real active use of the force (beyond reaching out and feeling people) is not to save herself after being blown out into space. It’s just too big a leap.

Why do we assume this? Quite a few years have gone by... Her first on screen doesn’t mean it’s her first use — at least that was my assumption. And even then... self preservation instinct + strong innate power... I’ve been asked to take crazier leaps as a filmgoer.

We get a 5 sec facial reaction to Han’s death. And the explanation happens off screen? Really? Yeah, I know, we know what happened but that should have been an emotional moment that should have had Luke ponder going back for Leia if nothing else, but no.
....
The Finn subplot was poor as many have said. It’s too bad, I like him.
...
I also liked the interactions between Rey and Kylo and also between Luke and Leia at the end.

Agree on ALL this stuff!

 

[mom2rtk]

We finally saw the movie a few nights ago. I'm not a huge Star Wars fan, in spite of having seen the original in a theater in 77. I am grateful that it allowed us to have a shared experience with our 22 and 24 year old sons (especially since this was the first time the 22 year old has been home since moving out of state). Star Wars was a huge part of the boys' childhoods, so it is always fun to add a new memory.

I'm not plugged into all the details of this and that character nor can I recall every scene from the other movies (in spite of having seen them all).

It was a pleasant outing. But it did not wow me. I'm glad I went. But even this casual viewer could tell some things seemed "off". I was terribly disappointed in the Luke development, but probably because I'm in it for the nostalgia.

The Leia flight seemed so strange to me.

I have always loved the humor in Star Wars, but it seemed off in this episode. Just too easy, too cheap, something like that. The milking scene just seemed gratuitous, like it was there just to be odd, not to contribute in any real way.

My 22 year old was really disappointed they didn't do more before killing off Snoke and Phasma.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

Why do we assume this? Quite a few years have gone by... Her first on screen doesn’t mean it’s her first use — at least that was my assumption. and even then... self preservation instinct + strong innate power... I’ve been asked to take crazier leaps as a filmgoer.

Only because TFA and TLJ up until then had absolutely zero mention or hint of her doing anything with the Force. And after her son turned and Luke left, why would she start using the force. If they had set that up ahead of time, maybe. It’s still a case where she suffered a huge concussive force, was unconscious in a freezing cold, airless environment and woke up to use the Force to fly herself through space. I might accept that for a trained Jedi - Luke, Kylo - but I still think it’s a stretch. At least for me.

EDITED to add that in thinking about it for 15 mins in the shower I was trying to think what would have made it ok or even very cool for me. I think it would have been awesome if in TFA they had shown Leia doing something little like levitating a small object absent-mindedly while nervously waiting on D’Qar it would have let the audience know that there was more than we knew about Leia and the Force. I just think it’s the kind of gun that needs to be on the mantel in act 1 if you want to use it in act 3. I would have loved it if said levitating object had dropped when she felt Han die. Something like that and dialing back the TLJ scene a little would have made it go from ‘What?!’ to totally awesome for me. Everyone else’s mileage may vary though.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Only because TFA and TLJ up until then had absolutely zero mention or hint of her doing anything with the Force. And after her son turned and Luke left, why would she start using the force. If they had set that up ahead of time, maybe. It’s still a case where she suffered a huge concussive force, was unconscious in a freezing cold, airless environment and woke up to use the Force to fly herself through space. I might accept that for a trained Jedi - Luke, Kylo - but I still think it’s a stretch. At least for me.

Well, they definitely have shown her be Force sensitive in the past movie, specifically Episode V, so that is well known

Also, on my second viewing I noticed that you can see a moment of recognition in her face before the. Lasts hit so her body / instincts could have kicked in

Definitely wasn't my favorite scene and I personally would have handled it differently but I had less of an issue during my second viewing

 

[disneygirlsng]

I finally got to see it a couple days ago and I LOVED it!! Even my SW obsessed brother and dad who grew up with the OT both said it was easily their favorite in the series. They have each seen it 3 times now and say they like it even more each time.

I hadn't really seen too much at all about it until a couple days ago, just lots and lots of friends on facebook saying how much they loved it. So I was incredibly surprised to come on here and see so much negative criticism when everything I had seen/heard had been so positive. I thought it was really well done and I look forward to the next one!

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

I finally got to see it a couple days ago and I LOVED it!! Even my SW obsessed brother and dad who grew up with the OT both said it was easily their favorite in the series. They have each seen it 3 times now and say they like it even more each time.

I hadn't really seen too much at all about it until a couple days ago, just lots and lots of friends on facebook saying how much they loved it. So I was incredibly surprised to come on here and see so much negative criticism when everything I had seen/heard had been so positive. I thought it was really well done and I look forward to the next one!

It is really crazy how different it is for everyone. It really is like people are watching 2 different movies.

My DHs coworkers were all very split too. They have a Love It or Hate It tally board and Hate It is winning by a little but it’s very close.

 

[jknezek]

I finally got to see it last night. In a sense it was entertaining, but I wasn't impressed. It simply was too much JJ Abrams and too little Star Wars. We are going to blow up everything, every minute, rush from crisis to crisis, have too many concurrent plot lines so we can have neverending crises, and try and avoid as much to do with characters as possible. Dialogue? Nah, that's just to fill in areas where we can't blow something or use pretty scenery of an island and people stomping up and down it.

The Finn plot line could have been completely eliminated and it would have changed NOTHING and allowed for time to actually develop the characters. I also agree the homage to the Original Trilogy, which was ok and less obvious in TFA, was about as subtle as a brick to the face, over and over again, in TLJ.

Why does Finn need to be in a love triangle? Bleh. Snoke is now completely a dead end. Great. We know nothing about his origins, where he was hiding, how he got around the rule of 2, what he actually knew of the Force. Nothing. Kylo Ren is still a whiny, indecisive, father issuer, twit with delusions of grandeur and poor control over the Force.

Key themes are inconsistent from TFA to TLJ are completely inconsistent. Like the importance of Rey's parents. And when they are consistent, like apparently janitors turned storm troopers know every bit of First Order tech and how to defeat it, it's ridiculous. Because I know Green Berets, let alone latrine diggers, know all about the weaknesses of our aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines, and stealth fighters! That falls completely on Kathleen Kennedy, as it is her job to make sure each director is consistent with the over-arching vision. She failed between these 2 movies.

Look, I get that Star Wars requires a giant dose of suspension of disbelief. I'm good with that. But you have to do something that makes sense somewhere. And you have to do things that advance the plot. Finn's subplot... no. Not only that, but it breaks one of the cardinal rules of Star Wars, that even lightspeed takes a significant amount of time to get anywhere. The whole sand ski things were pointless. They added nothing to the story but in true JJ Abrams fashion, didn't they look neat?

And Luke is just...pitiful. Luke knew what it took to defeat the darkside. He didn't fear it. He didn't back away from the challenge. He certainly didn't have "a moment of doubt where I tried to kill my own pupil." That's just b.s. Bad b.s. Completely out of character. Run away and hide after losing his temple? Sure. To study and meditate and become more involved with the Force. Not out of fear and cowardice and to cut himself off. It doesn't fit his character. Han at least was still Han right up to the end. Leia is more or less Leia. Luke is... not Luke. There is no way around it. A massive mistake.

As big budged SFX movies go, it was fine. Entertaining, visually stunning, action packed. Worth paying to see the effects on a big screen. As a Star Wars movie? Well... better than the prequels, probably, but not real good.

I do think Ridley, Boyega, Driver, and Isaac put in better performances as actors, not that they were asked to do much besides run, panic and look hard core, but they did that little bit better this time around. But the plot, what little there was, was simply disappointing to me.

 

[rteetz]

I finally got to see it last night. In a sense it was entertaining, but I wasn't impressed. It simply was too much JJ Abrams and too little Star Wars. We are going to blow up everything, every minute, rush from crisis to crisis, have too many concurrent plot lines so we can have neverending crises, and try and avoid as much to do with characters as possible. Dialogue? Nah, that's just to fill in areas where we can't blow something or use pretty scenery of an island and people stomping up and down it.

The Finn plot line could have been completely eliminated and it would have changed NOTHING and allowed for time to actually develop the characters. I also agree the homage to the Original Trilogy, which was ok and less obvious in TFA, was about as subtle as a brick to the face, over and over again, in TLJ.

Why does Finn need to be in a love triangle? Bleh. Snoke is now completely a dead end. Great. We know nothing about his origins, where he was hiding, how he got around the rule of 2, what he actually knew of the Force. Nothing. Kylo Ren is still a whiny, indecisive, father issuer, twit with delusions of grandeur and poor control over the Force.

Key themes are inconsistent from TFA to TLJ are completely inconsistent. Like the importance of Rey's parents. And when they are consistent, like apparently janitors turned storm troopers know every bit of First Order tech and how to defeat it, it's ridiculous. Because I know Green Berets, let alone latrine diggers, know all about the weaknesses of our aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines, and stealth fighters! That falls completely on Kathleen Kennedy, as it is her job to make sure each director is consistent with the over-arching vision. She failed between these 2 movies.

Look, I get that Star Wars requires a giant dose of suspension of disbelief. I'm good with that. But you have to do something that makes sense somewhere. And you have to do things that advance the plot. Finn's subplot... no. Not only that, but it breaks one of the cardinal rules of Star Wars, that even lightspeed takes a significant amount of time to get anywhere. The whole sand ski things were pointless. They added nothing to the story but in true JJ Abrams fashion, didn't they look neat?

And Luke is just...pitiful. Luke knew what it took to defeat the darkside. He didn't fear it. He didn't back away from the challenge. He certainly didn't have "a moment of doubt where I tried to kill my own pupil." That's just b.s. Bad b.s. Completely out of character. Run away and hide after losing his temple? Sure. To study and meditate and become more involved with the Force. Not out of fear and cowardice and to cut himself off. It doesn't fit his character. Han at least was still Han right up to the end. Leia is more or less Leia. Luke is... not Luke. There is no way around it. A massive mistake.

As big budged SFX movies go, it was fine. Entertaining, visually stunning, action packed. Worth paying to see the effects on a big screen. As a Star Wars movie? Well... better than the prequels, probably, but not real good.

I do think Ridley, Boyega, Driver, and Isaac put in better performances as actors, not that they were asked to do much besides run, panic and look hard core, but they did that little bit better this time around. But the plot, what little there was, was simply disappointing to me.

JJ didn't make this film, Rian Johnson did.

We could still learn more about Snoke in the third film.

This isn't a realistic/historical film so not exactly sure the comparison of Green Berets knowing aircraft weaknesses is fair. We still have one film left so the vision could become clear then.

Respect your opinion and agree with some points but I think a lot of what happened in the originals didn't exactly make sense or was realistic.

 

[umichigan10]

JJ didn't make this film, Rian Johnson did.

We could still learn more about Snoke in the third film.

This isn't a realistic/historical film so not exactly sure the comparison of Green Berets knowing aircraft weaknesses is fair. We still have one film left so the vision could become clear then.

Respect your opinion and agree with some points but I think a lot of what happened in the originals didn't exactly make sense or was realistic.

As @TheMaxRebo has pointed out as well, he was an elite trooper in Phasmas squad. But in fairness the movies don’t do a great job of explaining that without having the books for context

 

[disneygirlsng]

I finally got to see it last night. In a sense it was entertaining, but I wasn't impressed. It simply was too much JJ Abrams and too little Star Wars. We are going to blow up everything, every minute, rush from crisis to crisis, have too many concurrent plot lines so we can have neverending crises, and try and avoid as much to do with characters as possible. Dialogue? Nah, that's just to fill in areas where we can't blow something or use pretty scenery of an island and people stomping up and down it.

The Finn plot line could have been completely eliminated and it would have changed NOTHING and allowed for time to actually develop the characters. I also agree the homage to the Original Trilogy, which was ok and less obvious in TFA, was about as subtle as a brick to the face, over and over again, in TLJ.

Why does Finn need to be in a love triangle? Bleh. Snoke is now completely a dead end. Great. We know nothing about his origins, where he was hiding, how he got around the rule of 2, what he actually knew of the Force. Nothing. Kylo Ren is still a whiny, indecisive, father issuer, twit with delusions of grandeur and poor control over the Force.

Key themes are inconsistent from TFA to TLJ are completely inconsistent. Like the importance of Rey's parents. And when they are consistent, like apparently janitors turned storm troopers know every bit of First Order tech and how to defeat it, it's ridiculous. Because I know Green Berets, let alone latrine diggers, know all about the weaknesses of our aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines, and stealth fighters! That falls completely on Kathleen Kennedy, as it is her job to make sure each director is consistent with the over-arching vision. She failed between these 2 movies.

Look, I get that Star Wars requires a giant dose of suspension of disbelief. I'm good with that. But you have to do something that makes sense somewhere. And you have to do things that advance the plot. Finn's subplot... no. Not only that, but it breaks one of the cardinal rules of Star Wars, that even lightspeed takes a significant amount of time to get anywhere. The whole sand ski things were pointless. They added nothing to the story but in true JJ Abrams fashion, didn't they look neat?

And Luke is just...pitiful. Luke knew what it took to defeat the darkside. He didn't fear it. He didn't back away from the challenge. He certainly didn't have "a moment of doubt where I tried to kill my own pupil." That's just b.s. Bad b.s. Completely out of character. Run away and hide after losing his temple? Sure. To study and meditate and become more involved with the Force. Not out of fear and cowardice and to cut himself off. It doesn't fit his character. Han at least was still Han right up to the end. Leia is more or less Leia. Luke is... not Luke. There is no way around it. A massive mistake.

As big budged SFX movies go, it was fine. Entertaining, visually stunning, action packed. Worth paying to see the effects on a big screen. As a Star Wars movie? Well... better than the prequels, probably, but not real good.

I do think Ridley, Boyega, Driver, and Isaac put in better performances as actors, not that they were asked to do much besides run, panic and look hard core, but they did that little bit better this time around. But the plot, what little there was, was simply disappointing to me.

JJ Abrams did not direct this film

 

[rteetz]

As @TheMaxRebo has pointed out as well, he was an elite trooper in Phasmas squad. But in fairness the movies don’t do a great job of explaining that without having the books for context

I didn't grow up with Star Wars and the new trilogy really helped me get into it. I feel even the originals have some holes that don't make a lot of sense. I haven't read any of the books but maybe I should to see the other stories of the galaxy and maybe help fill some holes.

 

[umichigan10]

I didn't grow up with Star Wars and the new trilogy really helped me get into it. I feel even the originals have some holes that don't make a lot of sense. I haven't read any of the books but maybe I should to see the other stories of the galaxy and maybe help fill some holes.

See I’ve been a Star Wars fan since I was really young (not that I’m that old but you get my point) and I really haven’t disliked the new trilogy. But I will agree after rewatching the originals as of late that they’re certainly not perfect movies. But doesn’t mean they aren’t good and enjoyable