this post was submitted on 07 Nov 2024
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Star Wars: The Last Jedi
I saw it the day it came out and thought it was a brilliant departure from the macguffin-based plots that had come before, and it showed so many different things that had never been in a Star Wars movie before.
Turns out all Star Wars fans want is more of the exact same that had been in the previous 7 movies.
Honestly I loved both the direction that Rian Johnson clearly wanted to take the sequels and I loved the direction that JJ Abrams clearly wanted to take the sequels and I honestly wish Disney had just stuck with one of them for the entire trilogy and let the other do a trilogy as well. We all know how badly Disney wanted to pump out a Star Wars film every year during that timeframe so that way they could've had their cake and eaten it too
I agree with the other guy somewhat - take out a lot of the casino scene and it's the best star wars movie so far.
I'm pissed Johnson isn't going to get the trilogy he was promised. Instead, we got Abrams making the most corporate star wars to date, and that's saying something
The casino scene is the crux of the movie. The main character - Rose - is a loyal soldier who stops a deserter 'or her sister died for nothing.' Planet Capitalism is where she's disillusioned by war profiteers and makes the unsubtle decision to free their animals. By the end she prevents said deserter from repeating her sister's sacrifice.
The Last Jedi is an anarchist critique of of Star Wars where a rebel soldier rejects the old lie.
I have no fucking idea how Disney decided to produce it as an actual Star Wars film.
This has won me over. I was kinda meh about it outside of the nice visuals, but this clicked it together for me.
Thank you.
Years later, I'm still flabbergasted this isn't the default take. The movie has deep problems, but the themes are right there in your face.
The only way it doesn't put "anyone can be a hero" onscreen in eight-foot-tall letters is the ending. Which sure feels like Disney checked in, went "Oh SHIT," and forced a sudden fourth act that over-corrects back toward the status quo.
Imagine if Rey hadn't arrived on Krait. Kylo offers her the universe, she inhales to answer, hard cut. We don't see either of them until the next movie. Instead, when the last gasp of the Rebellion was pushed deep into the caves, some rando side character saves them. A nobody with significant screen time watches the whimsical native fauna casually nudge giant boulders, and decides to just fuckin' try. In an ideal reading, this character would not have dialog. She would not even have a name. Who she is aggressively does not matter. Only that she understood what Luke said and Rey ignored: the Force is in all living things.
Nobody can own that.
Oh I meant I liked Last Jedi, it was the only good one.
The scene I wasn't sure of, but the movie over all was good. I like the idea that Ray is a no one, and that helps the idea that anyone can be anything.
And then "whoops, youre only powerful because force eugenics!"
If you remove the whole space casino bit, I would agree with you.
If they had completely scrapped the casino arc it would fix so many problems. Not only would that shitty, worthless sequence not exist, but they would've had screen time to put in more quality stuff. Imagine if at the end of the movie the big reveal was that Palpatine was alive. Instead, they had to put that into a messy scroller at the beginning of the third movie.
Or they could just not bring back literally the most boring villain possible.
And I want to be very clear that I'm not saying the Emperor is the most boring villain in cinema history, even though he is. I'm saying he's the most boring villain possible.
When he was introduced in the original trilogy he was a nameless old man in a robe. Defining characteristics? None. Voice? Evil. Face? Evil. Motivation? Evil. Outfit? Featureless robe, black because he's evil.
The best part about The Last Jedi was that they were fixing the downgrade that RotJ made of replacing the most badass movie villain of all time with -- I can't stress this enough -- the most boring villain possible. TLJ killed the Emperor stand-in and set Kylo Ren up as the real villain. That was exciting.
But then they let fan forums write the third movie, and somehow, the Emperor came back.
Iβd say itβs quite annoying in its imperfections, as they make it quite an easy target and that undermines what it was trying to achieve. Washed-up, beaten Luke Skywalker drinking blue milk? Great. Reframing the Force as a cryptic balance that goes far beyond the Jedi Orderβs sacred tomes? Great. Undoing the obsession with the special noble bloodlines. Also great.
Honestly its especially annoying to those of us who have a good grasp of the old lore. Hell half of what you listed is kinda done in KOTOR 1 & 2.
Beaten washed up Jedi, heres the exile and to a degree Kreia.
The force is esoteric force deconstruction heres fucking Kreia and her goddamn thesis.
No obsession with bloodlines and shit, might I introduce you to the Mando killer, the Malacor evaporator, Darth motherfucken Revan.
But seriously the Sequels really did just retread old ground, hell in Dark Empire we atleast got evil Luke Skywalker and a Droid army.
I thought it was alright. One thing that really bugged me is that if you're chasing someone in space why not call another ship to cut them off, or just... fly faster. Idk it didn't make a lot of sense to me lol
Yes, but at least this one has 91% critic rating on RT.
The original trilogy is over-rated.
There, I said it.
First movie is 100% forgettable by todayβs standards. Empire Strikes Back is a great sci-fi movie by any standard, and Return of the Jedi is totally a lackluster finale. I think I agree with you
It's easily the best of the sequel trilogy, and most popular criticism is total nonsense.
It's still a hot mess.