Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, on home media Mar. 13, 2018

[Dangard Ace]

Saw it last night.  Loved it.  This is a reworked Empired except bleaker plus clearing out of the old heroes to make way for the new generation.  Empire/FO counter attack.  Luke/Rey goes to find a master. Luke acted exactly as I expected him to when Rey shoved his old lightsaber into his hermit craggy face.  Poe getting some character building so he can help lead the "Rebellion".  Luke and Ben Solo flashbacks.  They're all correct....from a certain point of view.  Finns story felt forced and almost pointless until the ending scene.  Hope.  

Lastly no fricken flowery light saber battles.  

[jenius]

They really did some good character building with Finn, Poe, and Kylo.

[myk]

53 minutes ago, Dangard Ace said:

Saw it last night.  Loved it.  This is a reworked Empired except bleaker plus clearing out of the old heroes to make way for the new generation.  Empire/FO counter attack.  Luke/Rey goes to find a master. Luke acted exactly as I expected him to when Rey shoved his old lightsaber into his hermit craggy face.  Poe getting some character building so he can help lead the "Rebellion".  Luke and Ben Solo flashbacks.  They're all correct....from a certain point of view.  Finns story felt forced and almost pointless until the ending scene.  Hope.  

Lastly no fricken flowery light saber battles.  

The entire Finn and Panda Express (sorry I don't remember her worthless character's name) sub plot was completely unnecessary, unless at 2:45 in the morning when I saw the movie I missed a critical detail of their adventure that says otherwise.  I do remember a forced political statement criticizing wealthy people, though.  It's such a glaring flaw in the movie that I can't believe they didn't have a better way to handle Finn's character.  Honestly, they should've just left him in a coma.

So, since Abrams and crew are only intent on re-hashing the original trilogy and not coming up with anything remotely original, will there be a new-style Jabba the Hutt and Sand Barge in the next movie?  Inquiring minds want to know...

Edited December 16, 2017 by myk

[jenius]

Not sure that nickname is kosher.

[Mommar]

30 minutes ago, jenius said:

Not sure that nickname is kosher.

Yeah man, the actresses last name is Tran.  That's Vietnamese.  Make with the Pho comments instead!

[Sildani]

Really? On a forum dedicated to a Japanese animated show?

[TangledThorns]

43 minutes ago, jenius said:

Not sure that nickname is kosher.

ROFL!! She was insufferable. Except for Rey I really don't give a crap about any of the characters. 

That being said Disney should fire JJ Abrams and Kathleen Kennedy. Their films are Star Wars for people who don't like Star Wars.

Edited December 16, 2017 by TangledThorns

[Kanedas Bike]

4 hours ago, jenius said:

They really did some good character building with Finn, Poe, and Kylo.

LOVED Finn's moment during the last battle sequence. Given how the movie had been progressing I hongestly thought that things would play themselves out to their "logical" conclusion.

Otherwise, as much as I want to enjoy Finn as a character, I think Boyega over-acts the hell out of his scenes making him borderline unlikable for me. Finn and Phasma are my two biggest complains among TFA and TLJ - otherwise still very much enjoying the sequel trilogy. The relationship with Finn and Rose* was forced, we'll see how that all plays out in IX.

*Rose's sister had one of the best moments in the movie IMO. In fact a lot of the Resistance/Rebel self-sacrifice scenes were pretty damn good, I'm surprised no one else got a Rogue One vibe in that regard.

And wait...I like Star Wars and the new movies. I just don't hold the OT to some impossibly high standard, as if looking at them through pure nostalgia like I'm a 10 year old kid.

*Shrugs*

-b.

[Thom]

I will be seeing this again, because it is a good movie. A little slow to the start, but once it picked up speed, I was with it all the way.

Spoiler

Some things I had wished...

That Luke had actually gone to the planet and faced off against Kylo personally. I could see a whole scene with Rey seeing the X-Wing on the ground, after they shake the TIEs, and taking it up for a spin! Or Poe for that matter. Get him in a classic X-Wing!

That strip with Luke taking out the walkers would have been great to see. His confrontation with Kylo was pretty good on its down, but damn I wish they hadn't killed him off! That little shoulder dust off was awesome though!

C'mon, stop killing all my childhood heroes! Han was bad enough, but now Luke too!? Oh well, it does lead into Rey now being the Force to look for for the Resistance.

As to the Resistance, they were left in a pretty bad spot. But as had been said in the movie, they were always a spark. That's what the survivors are, a spark that will spread and grow a broader Resistance. Although, I'm wondering why they didn't receive any help from the 'fringe?' Sure hope that's dealt with in Ep 9.

 

 

Overall, what I was left with, was a desire to see Episode 9 as soon as possible!!

Edited December 17, 2017 by Thom

[Kanedas Bike]

3 minutes ago, Thom said:

*Snip*

Overall, what I was left with, was a desire to see Episode 9 as soon as possible!!

+ 1

-b.

[Dobber]

30 minutes ago, Kanedas Bike said:

+ 1

-b.

+2

Chris

[peter]

3 hours ago, jenius said:

Not sure that nickname is kosher.

I'm Asian and I'm not offended.  I didn't like the little butter goblin either.  Her sister on the other hand...mmmm....

[Dangard Ace]

4 hours ago, myk said:

The entire Finn and Panda Express (sorry I don't remember her worthless character's name) sub plot was completely unnecessary, unless at 2:45 in the morning when I saw the movie I missed a critical detail of their adventure that says otherwise. 

 

I for one am glad there's at least some Asian representation in a highly visible franchise and not as a background throwaway character.  Also that she's not one of those hot asian supermodels turned actresses but a normal person.    (.....thought the movie could use some hot asian supermodels.....)

 

Spoiler

One of the stable kid force pulls the broom to himself while wearing the Rebel ring.  The shot from the back makes him look like he's wielding a lightsaber.  Finn and Rose's adventure through that town left an impression, a SPARK, for a rebelliion.

 

1 hour ago, Kanedas Bike said:

*Rose's sister had one of the best moments in the movie IMO. In fact a lot of the Resistance/Rebel self-sacrifice scenes were pretty damn good, I'm surprised no one else got a Rogue One vibe in that regard.

And wait...I like Star Wars and the new movies. I just don't hold the OT to some impossibly high standard, as if looking at them through pure nostalgia like I'm a 10 year old kid.

*Shrugs*

-b.

Well I was trying not to spoiler anything but I'm in the same boat.  I love the OT, hate the Prequels, loving the new trilogy.  Meaning Han, Leia and Luke have to die.  They're old now.  They're not going to be jumping around slashing and blasting shit up like in the OT saving the galaxy.  This trilogy is giving them their send offs while bringing in new blood.  The Force is NOT the Skywalkers.   "It's an energy field created by all living things.  It surrounds us and penetrates us; it binds the galaxy together."  It includes them but they aren't the be all end all of it.   Goddamn prequels and their stupid midichlorians....

 

And yes those Resistance self-sacrifice scenes were pretty cool.

 

[Dangard Ace]

2 hours ago, Thom said:

 

  Hide contents

Some things I had wished...

That Luke had actually gone to the planet and faced off against Kylo personally. I could see a whole scene with Rey seeing the X-Wing on the ground, after they shake the TIEs, and taking it up for a spin! Or Poe for that matter. Get him in a classic X-Wing!

That strip with Luke taking out the walkers would have been great to see. His confrontation with Kylo was pretty good on its down, but damn I wish they hadn't killed him off! That little shoulder dust off was awesome though!

C'mon, stop killing all my childhood heroes! Han was bad enough, but now Luke too!? Oh well, it does lead into Rey now being the Force to look for for the Resistance.

As to the Resistance, they were left in a pretty bad spot. But as had been said in the movie, they were always a spark. That's what the survivors are, a spark that will spread and grow a broader Resistance. Although, I'm wondering why they didn't receive any help from the 'fringe?' Sure hope that's dealt with in Ep 9.

 

 

 

Spoiler

i was expecting him to jump in the X-wing too.  That would've been sweet!  This way though it shows how powerful Luke can be projecting himself across the galaxy especially since he apparently closed himself off from the force for years.

 

As for the fringe not showing up...well they could only call for help after they got to that abandoned Rebel base and the FO was at most a few hours behind.  Call goes out, and assuming someone's on the radio, you've still got to supply up the ships, get the pilots and crew off their asses and launching and who knows how far away the fringe is even with hyperspace.  That's if whatever allies are listening have any ships to spare since in the opening scrawl New Republic leadership was decimated in TFA and everyone's scrambling and looking after their own asses.

 

[captain america]

Great little article. Contains spoilers, though.

http://www.slashfilm.com/the-last-jedi-defense/

[Warmaker]

 

Spoiler

This is the very first Star Wars movie where I left the theater angry.  I rolled and accepted with the up and down nature of some of the movies in this franchise, but TLJ does an amazing job in making this fan upset about so many things with this flick.  It's not just the handling of Luke and the fact they killed off another OT major character (oh hey, Ackbar gets summarily offed with zero fanfare also).  But the story, plot holes, nonsensical events, pointless characters, disappointing characters, aspects led on from The Force Awakens being resolved as useless dead ends, Super Leia, numerous failures at humor, etc.  There's so much wrong and upsetting with this movie, the killing of Luke Skywalker just tops it all off.

 

Usually after viewing a movie, I'm very talkative with about it afterwards with the people I went and saw it with.  Not this one.  It made me so angry that I avoided striking up any conversation about it on the drive home, etc.

 

[Negotiator]

 

"THIS IS NOT GOING TO GO THE WAY THAT YOU THINK!"

 

[Black Valkyrie]

Still I liked the movie overall, I wish Luke and Rey had more screen time. 

I love Porgs . 

 

[Dobber]

8 hours ago, captain america said:

Great little article. Contains spoilers, though.

http://www.slashfilm.com/the-last-jedi-defense/

I posted this on another forum where that article was linked as well.

Descent article you posted. I agree with most of it but found as I was reading I started to be reminded of  millenials in the work place and the issues they brought/bring. The “I know better than you even though I haven’t done anything yet” or the “you have flaws but don’t tell me I’m wrong” mentality.... and then the article actually goes and says it! It also becomes hypocritical to this point as it also says Poe has to learn from Leia as she is more experienced and knowledgeable. So which way is it? Out with the old who didn’t do it right and to which the new generation must now suffer and make better, or learn from the previous generations to make a better place. The ARTICAL is trying to have it both ways to an extent, but started to really smack of the “poor me” entitled millennial crap by the end. I write this as someone who did like this movie, and as I said agreed with much of what the artical was saying. Maybe this is a movie more for millenials and that’s why it’s rubbing people wrong. Interesting.
 

Edited December 17, 2017 by Dobber

[ErikElvis]

I’m thinking snoke is a created/manipulated life from the plagueis lore. 

 

Edit: after a little research my brilliant epiphany (of course) has been thought of before. 

Edited December 17, 2017 by ErikElvis

[Mommar]

10 hours ago, Warmaker said:

 

  Hide contents

This is the very first Star Wars movie where I left the theater angry.  I rolled and accepted with the up and down nature of some of the movies in this franchise, but TLJ does an amazing job in making this fan upset about so many things with this flick.  It's not just the handling of Luke and the fact they killed off another OT major character (oh hey, Ackbar gets summarily offed with zero fanfare also).  But the story, plot holes, nonsensical events, pointless characters, disappointing characters, aspects led on from The Force Awakens being resolved as useless dead ends, Super Leia, numerous failures at humor, etc.  There's so much wrong and upsetting with this movie, the killing of Luke Skywalker just tops it all off.

 

Usually after viewing a movie, I'm very talkative with about it afterwards with the people I went and saw it with.  Not this one.  It made me so angry that I avoided striking up any conversation about it on the drive home, etc.

 

The Force Awakens stuff was always going to be deadends.  JJ's mystery boxes never contain anything.  He even gave a Ted Talk where he discussed his flawed belief about his idiotic mystery boxes and the isea that the contents don't matter only the existence of the question.  It works for marketing, sucks for storytelling.  And his history in media proves none of his mystery boxes have contained anything nor have they been ultimately satisfying.  Rian Johnson did exactly what he should have and the only thing he could have really done, removed them.

Edited December 17, 2017 by Mommar

[Negotiator]

4 hours ago, Dobber said:

I posted this on another forum where that article was linked as well.

Descent article you posted. I agree with most of it but found as I was reading I started to be reminded of  millenials in the work place and the issues they brought/bring. The “I know better than you even though I haven’t done anything yet” or the “you have flaws but don’t tell me I’m wrong” mentality.... and then the article actually goes and says it! It also becomes hypocritical to this point as it also says Poe has to learn from Leia as she is more experienced and knowledgeable. So which way is it? Out with the old who didn’t do it right and to which the new generation must now suffer and make better, or learn from the previous generations to make a better place. The ARTICAL is trying to have it both ways to an extent, but started to really smack of the “poor me” entitled millennial crap by the end. I write this as someone who did like this movie, and as I said agreed with much of what the artical was saying. Maybe this is a movie more for millenials and that’s why it’s rubbing people wrong. Interesting.
 

 

 

Spoiler

the article doesn't mention having faith and hope or to understand/ accept that things are not always going to be in your control.  Maybe that was a problem for the writer to acknowledge as well

 

[Sildani]

9 hours ago, Negotiator said:

 

"THIS IS NOT GOING TO GO THE WAY THAT YOU THINK!"

 

“Let go of the past. Kill it if you have to.”

[captain america]

3 hours ago, Negotiator said:

 

 

  Hide contents

the article doesn't mention having faith and hope or to understand/ accept that things are not always going to be in your control.  Maybe that was a problem for the writer to acknowledge as well

 

Bingo!!

Add to this that many people cling to notions/ideas/beliefs which are comforting, but not founded in truth or reason... Only to be blindsided when reality comes-a-knockin'. Rian Johnson took a baseball bat to many of the sacred cows in the SW universe, and I for one would like to thank him for having the guts to do so.

Spoiler

In a way, Johnson is Luke Skywalker: he will likely bear the brunt of millions of butthurt fans and be reviled for his choices, sacrificing his popularity to offer the franchise a fresh start.

Darkness rises, and the light to meet it. I could spend a whole podcast on that one sentence alone.

[Graham]

Saw it twice so far, once by myself, once with my son. Will see it a third time with a friend.

Loved it.

Some  very spoliery comments:

 

Loved the opening space battle.

Loved the Dreadnaught design also.

Poe is fast becoming my favorite character. Love the whole "General Hugs" conversation.

But was wondering how the Resistance Bombers, bombs dropped in zero gravity? Perhaps the racks the bombs were stacked in were actually some sort of low-velocity rail gun launcher.

Rose should have been the one to die on the bomber and her sister Paige be the mechanic, as Paige was far, far cuter.

The Resistance Bombers seemed quite a step backwards from Y-Wings. Obviously carried a much heavier payload, but soooooo slow. I get the whole let's invoke the spirit of WWII bombing though, harking back to Lucas watching WWII aerial footage to set the tone for the space battles.

Hated the Leia Mary Poppins moment. Would have been better if she died then IMO. Or at least there should have been a reminder to people not well-versed in SW lore, that Leia is also strong with the Force.

Love the way Snoke got taken out by Kylo and also Rey and Kylo's fight with the Praetorian Guard, that was awesome. I definitely thought it was necessary  for Snoke to Die to advance Kylo as a character.

Thought the whole casino section was unnecessary and could have been cut. Along with Leia's  Poppins moment, it was my least favorite bit of the films.

Love the design of the new AT-M6. I also thought it was great that the First Order still had some legacy AT-AT in use.

I'm glad that Luke died in the end. It was necessary to kill him off to fully pass the torch to the new generation of characters. 

I hope Phasma somehow survived her fall and comes back for episode IX.

[M'Kyuun]

I saw it with my wife this morning, and really enjoyed it.

Spoiler

If I had to sum up the overarching theme with a couple words, I'd say sacrifice and hope. There was a pretty high body count in this film, with the good guys taking the brunt of the death toll. As a second act film, I thought it did a good job of raising the stakes for the intrepid Rebels to a degree we've not seen in any of the other films. I think it successfully invokes a feeling of near hopelessness in a much more visceral and gradual way that packs a much more emotional punch than Lucas' Order 66 and the abrupt killing of the Jedi. Enter Luke Skywalker in a pretty memorable scene. Enjoyed it; brush off was pretty cool.

Agree that the casino scene was a bit superfluous- didn't really add anything.

Agree that Rose's sister was really cute, but I like that they used a less model-perfect actress for Rose, who's not a typical hero type (pilot or a warrior), but just a humble maintenance worker. As a former aircraft maintainer, having experienced the juxtaposition of treatment and general impression between aircrew and maintenance first hand, she really is an atypical hero, and I like that. She had a noble end.

I thought Rose was a better fit for Finn than Rey, but I guess maybe that was too far from formula. 

The Leia space scene still raises an eyebrow. I think a demo of her Force sensibility could have been done far less sensationally, not to mention realistically. Even for the Jedi, space is a very cold vacuum. But, it's canon now. I thought this was how they were going to end her character, as probably did everyone else, although it would have been a meaningless demise. So, I'm glad she survived, but with the loss of Carrie Fisher, it begs the question of how Leia will meet her end, as she most assuredly must in the next film. The memoriam to Carrie at the beginning of the credits really struck a momentary emotional chord with me- it was unexpected, but I guess seeing her for possibly the last time on the screen brought it home to me. She left an unfillable void. 

Yoda was awesome. Some great sarcasm from the old Master.

I avoided spoilers like the plague, so I had no idea how Luke's role was going to play out. To that end, I expected the stereotypical retired hero picks up his sword for one last hurrah of action and daring-do sort of storyline, especially given the grim circumstances faced by our Rebel heroes. Glad I was mostly wrong. Spending his remaining life-force to give his sister and her buddies a much needed stall tactic was an unexpected turn, and one I appreciated. I know there are folks who wish he'd jumped back in his X-Wing to complete one final mission in person, but I like the more unconventional way his story played out. It's also a pretty subtle yet awesome demonstration of his command of the Force, esp after years of shutting himself off to it. The Force is indeed strong in his family.

The Dreadnaught design was, indeed, awesome. Hope LEGO makes a set of that eventually.

The different points of view concerning the origin of Kylo Ren were interesting.

Rey's origin is still potentially an enigma, considering she hears it from Kylo Ren, and the circumstances in which he tells her. I think there's more to her story. 

Snoke's demise was well executed (pun unintended); good character building for Kylo. Some cool scenes between him and Gen Hux. 

 

I suppose I could go on, but ultimately it wasn't quite the movie I expected to see, and I was pleasantly surprised by how the story deviated from the stereotypical way that things usually play out in action films. I think it did a good job of bringing home the sense of human tragedy better than any other SW film. Hope and hopelessness are both explored, and I like that it gave a truer sense of the latter than any of the other films, IMHO.  It brings a much needed poignancy to the deaths and sacrifices being made, and I appreciated that. On top of it all, like TFA and Rogue One, it succeeds in capturing the look and feel of Star Wars in a very OT nostalgic way. I hope Ep VIII brings at least an equally satisfying conclusion to this trilogy.

 

 

 

 

[captain america]

I've been contemplating something, having seen the film a second time.

Spoiler

 

We saw that Luke was able to project his likeness very realistically across the galaxy (albeit at great cost to him.) Is it possible that, in light of his impressive abilities,  Snoke could have done something similar? I bring this up because just as Luke's projection was of a younger, more vitality-filled version of himself, some of you may have noticed that some of Snoke's "injuries" appear healed in TLJ. He also looks younger and less frail than he did in the hologram of TFA. 

Could TLJ Snoke have been a projection? A clone? Or perhaps a being with uncanny regenerative powers? 

 

 

[peter]

19 minutes ago, captain america said:

I've been contemplating something, having seen the film a second time.

  Reveal hidden contents

 

We saw that Luke was able to project his likeness very realistically across the galaxy (albeit at great cost to him.) Is it possible that, in light of his impressive abilities,  Snoke could have done something similar? I bring this up because just as Luke's projection was of a younger, more vitality-filled version of himself, some of you may have noticed that some of Snoke's "injuries" appear healed in TLJ. He also looks younger and less frail than he did in the hologram of TFA. 

Could TLJ Snoke have been a projection? A clone? Or perhaps a being with uncanny regenerative powers? 

 

 

Spoiler

I think it's entirely possible that Snoke could have had the powers to do that, but my guess is he's dead.  

I think they want to move forward with Kylo Ren's character and let him develop, so it might be easier to do that without Snoke around?

Any guesses how they're going to write Leia out though?

 

[ErikElvis]

How do you hide comments? 

[Focslain]

{spoiler} Comment {/spoiler}

Replace {} with []

[Dobber]

43 minutes ago, Focslain said:

{spoiler} Comment {/spoiler}

Replace {} with []

You are so much smarter than me. I tried to show someone one time but I just typed it in the correct way to show the format and of course it just came up as a hidden comment! Lol! I’m an idiot!

[no3Ljm]

Spoiler

Even in a galaxy far, far away people do this...

 

It's kind of weird for me that Luke did it. Like how serious he is towards Kylo for him to do it. But I find it funny and ridiculous. 

 

[peter]

Spoiler

With previously shot footage of her or CGI?  

And speaking of CGI, some scenes of her appeared CGIish....Can't recall the exact moment, but I think it was around the time she was blown out into space?

Also, the hologram from A New Hope, was that redone or original footage?  I have to watch it again to see.

11 minutes ago, captain america said:

They may not necessarily have to. Off the top of my head...

  Hide contents

Episode IX takes place some months (or years) after the end of TLJ. The Rebel forces have split-up to recruit new members from across the outer rim  of the galaxy. Leia is out and about doing her thing, but due to distance only communicates with our heroes over audio or via holographic communications. She can very much become a symbol to rally troops from off-camera and never actually "die" during Ep IX at all. Then they can simply let her pass peacefully in her sleep in the decade or so between this and the next trilogy. See? Problem solved.

That being said, I suspect that they will kill her in EP IX if only to underline and follow through on the symbolism of the first 2 films.

 

 

[azrael]

I'm never going to make it to a theater so I downloaded it. Random 10-hour days and the holidays are a bad mix. An hour here and there at home, I can swing.

It was beautifully shot and that's about it. Then Rian Johnson takes the last movie and tosses it over his shoulder by not answering anything or by doing his own spin. That's when you lost me. The story was while not-Empire was tonely the same as Empire. Rebels Resistance on the run (and I'll get to that below) with the Empire First Order chasing. Hope get's a good slap across the face which leads to the next movie where the good guys get their mojo back. The highlight character was Mark Hamill.

Now, from the top...

 

-Since this film starts right where the last one ends that ends up being a problem. The "Resistance" and "First Order" still are not explained. The last movie never explained why they exist (yes, I am aware of the side material, but that should still have come up in the movies). In fact, they don't really explain much considering they are picking up right where the last one left off.  
-The jokes need to stop. One or 2 is fine. But it started on the wrong joke...
-Poe trolling Hux Hugs. Really? Is Hux that dumb? Oh wait...that bit on Crait answered that.
-Porg memes be a coming...
-The bombers. *facepalm* We've had 20-year old Y-wing bombers or TIE Bombers firing glowing balls and these things drop literal balls in space and they magically drop to their destination. Did we forget how space works? The way they dropped made them look like mines but they ended up carpet bombing the ship. And those bombers were more like gunboats than bombers. Those things reminded me of B-17s which seems even more backwards where we had Y-Wings, B-Wings, TIE Bombers, etc... And shouldn't that girl have been sucked out to space when the bomb doors opened? If they were magnetic bombs, what stopped the bombs from attaching to the bomber? The whole bombing scene rubbed me wrong.
-The whole slow chase scene. Why? Couldn't the First Order just blocked them in and shredded them? Why prolong it? They were so determined to end this and now they want to prolong it?
-supercalifragilisticexpialidocious-Leia. *face palm*
-Maz having a "union dispute".
-Finn/Rose side story. Meh. Canto Bight felt like Cloud City. Clean, purrty, there to introduce a character. I won't get into that SJW story. I couldn't even get into their story. Finn has only been with the Resistance for 1/2 a day and he's got some hero reputation already. And for a janitor/stormtrooper, he sure knows a lot about the First Order tech. Rose has more going for her and she's only been in 1 movie. Gonna agree with Graham and say Rose's sister was cuter.
-Speaking of which, how did they get floor plans of the big ship?
-Snoke. Best part was when he told Kylo to take off that ridiculous mask. That made my day. Cuz we all know that mask serves no purpose for that pretty face. But then he becomes a useless character when he gets cut in half.
-Snoke says bring Kylo to me to complete his training and berates him. Guess that was his final lesson. Unfortunately, the kid still has anger issues being that this is only a few hours later since the last movie.
-I'm sorry, did Snoke say Kylo could be the next Darth Varder? Does he know Vader eventually died? Stop it with the Vader-worshipping.
-Speaking of a useless character, Phasma. They hyped her up in the last movie, then her former subordinate tosses her over the ledge. That's 2 characters hyped up in the last movie to be thrown away here. And the ship gets cut open, she forms a perfect V-line of troops.
-Laura Dern was also another throwaway character. A badass throwaway character. Oh well.
-Luke and Rey. Boy has Luke gone grumpy. Mark Hamill did fine in this movie. And yeah, now that I see it, I would probably dislike what the writer did with Luke too. That I'll agree with Mr. Hamill. I liked the scene where he lectured Rey about the Jedi's hubris. But shouldn't that have been a teaching moment for Luke too? I'm glad Luke got his send-off and they brought it full-circle with the horizon shot. That story was satisfying and may have been the only highlight in this movie.
-The dark pit was Rey's cave. And now that her parentage has been answered, are you fanboys happy now? Hell, weren't most Jedi born from no-name parents who the Jedi found to be Force-sensitive? Luke, Leia and Ben are special since they come from a lineage, but most Jedi are from no-one special.
-Burning the Jedi texts are fun and all but what about Holocrons? Also as a student of history, isn't burning records just dooming us to repeat the mistake? But aren't mistakes are the best teachers? Nothing beats a "I told you so"-moment recorded in a book.
-The Crait-sequence. It would help to know where Crait is in relation to the Outer Rim territories to know how long it would take travel that distance. Star Wars has always been fuzzy on the hyperspace travel-thing. Tatooine to Alderran seemed like it took them an hour or 2. Sulust to Endor also seemed to have taken a couple of hours. If their allies were a distance away, maybe they considered going but had expected Leia's group to be wiped out by the time they got there. In that case, why send help if there was no expectation they would find survivors.
-So what was the point of the speeders? Besides a delay action? They were pieces of 20-30 year old junk that had no chance of penetrating walker armor. And if that big gun was covered by walkers, what chance did they think they had? If they said all that iron dust-stuff they kicked up with the salt reduced the effectiveness of the walkers' guns and the big gun, then they it would have taken us somewhere. But let's face it, those speeders were more like annoying gnats to the walkers. At least the T-47s had some bite in Empire.
-CG/Stunt-Luke. Something about it looked off. My head's visual processor was screaming at me. Just like how CG Tarkin was driving me nuts.
-Speaking of CG, puppet Yoda. WHY? Cuz we have to have practical effects? Cuz that's the version that Luke has the greatest connection to? Cut me the BS. It's 2017, just do CGI.
-Wait a sec...Couldn't Leia have helped Rey moved the boulders? She already flew through space....
-Rey and Kylo vs the Guards. Kylo I can understand but how did Rey last that long? Jedi spend years learning and here she does it again. Reminds me of  a line I've heard from chefs regarding going to school. You go to cooking school to learn the how and why. Once you learn basics, then you can frak with it and do you own thing. But you need a basic understanding before you start playing around. Rey only discovered she can use the force like a week ago. She has NO basis to start with.
-Now that we've torn Anakin's old saber in half, have Rey construct her own damn lightsaber. You want fans to let go of the past and forge a new story, then one step is have Rey construct her own lightsaber.

The jokes did it in for me. The Luke scenes were good but then the jokes started and turned it to a *ugh* -moment. Rian Johnson tried something new (compared to JJ who rehashed) and that should be commended (while JJ should be smacked and critizied) but the final product still left me saying "Meh." By continuing right where the last movie left off, it compounds the problem. The last movie setup the world then Rian Johnson gave it the birdie and did his own thing. After 2 films now, the prequels are better than this.

[TangledThorns]

Agreed, the prequels are better and I think its because they stuck to the rules of the original films. I actually paid to see The Phantom Menace four times in the theater, a fifth in 3D, and I have no interest in paying to see The Last Jedi again, same went for TFA too.

Some may be cool with the new films 'breaking the rules' of the previous films but I'm not. It can screw up sequels down the line, its happened before in other film franchises.

Edited December 19, 2017 by TangledThorns