Star Wars: The Last Jedi (Rian Johnson, 2017)

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ford
Joined: Thu Mar 07, 2019 3:44 pm

Re: Star Wars: The Last Jedi (Rian Johnson, 2017)

#426 Post by ford » Wed Oct 23, 2019 9:44 am

Shrew wrote:
Tue Oct 22, 2019 6:02 pm
Cold Bishop wrote:Is it possible to like what Last Jedi tried to do but feel the execution was sloppy? Because that’s where I am with the film. Deconstructing the ethos of the Jedi and Force? Great. Pointing out the cyclical nature of these intergalactic conflicts? Wonderful. But the casino planet really was a dull dead end of a detour that could have been integrated better, and the return to unapologetically elastic CGI undid the one thing Abrams unquestionably did right with his film.
Co-signed. I think the strengths outweigh the weaknesses, but it's at least one rewrite away from greatness. But that's a problem that affects all the Disney movies (Force Awakens is easily the cleanest script), and seemingly the process most affected by the two-year schedule.
My biggest issue with the film is that I don’t think the whole “we’re being chased!” idea was executed very well. Compare to the Millennium Falcon being pursued in Empire, dancing around exploding asteroids, hiding out in a space worms mouth, and it’s a pretty dull affair.

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FigrinDan
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Re: Star Wars: The Last Jedi (Rian Johnson, 2017)

#427 Post by FigrinDan » Wed Oct 23, 2019 9:46 am

Cold Bishop wrote:Is it possible to like what Last Jedi tried to do but feel the execution was sloppy? Because that’s where I am with the film. Deconstructing the ethos of the Jedi and Force? Great. Pointing out the cyclical nature of these intergalactic conflicts? Wonderful. But the casino planet really was a dull dead end of a detour that could have been integrated better, and the return to unapologetically elastic CGI undid the one thing Abrams unquestionably did right with his film.
I second that emotion! I probably give Rian Johnson more duff than deserved for Last Jedi. There are a lot of things I did like about it. However,
- Finn and Rose's whole "arc". I left the theater thinking that a third of the movie was ultimately useless.
- Johnson turned Poe Dameron into a mutinous traitor, and then Leia and Holdo overlook it. He was trying to kill them both!

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captveg
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Re: Star Wars Franchise (1977-∞)

#428 Post by captveg » Sat Oct 26, 2019 10:00 am

moreorless wrote:
Fri May 31, 2019 12:45 pm
I'd agree with you the biggest weakness of Last Jedi to me is its conservatism, indeed to me it feels like a film that doesn't really follow though on its own ideas for fear of shifting the franchise. The idea for example of Luke shifting to a philosophy that acknowledges the dark side seems to be hinted at but then not adopted, I think that could have been an interesting direction to go in switching from undermining a characters simpler personal heroism in Empire Strike Back to undermining a simplistic view of morality. I'm guessing though Disney probably feared such a switch wouldn't be as marketable as the simpler Jedi/Sith divide. Equally the film spends much of its time setting up Rey potentially allying with Kylo and then rejects it favour of both characters switching to simplistic heroism and villainy.
Two years later, this is also my biggest hangup with the film. The idea that both Rey and Kylo could form a pact of not conforming to the Jedi/Sith dynamic that got the universe into this never ending conflict had me sitting up in my seat... only for it to be seemingly resolved/abandoned 30 minutes later with another battle skirmish and each of them returning to their default good/evil ideals. If the film had concluded with the two of them setting forth on a new never explored alliance to change the course of the galaxy by rejecting their destined roles it would be so much easier for me to embrace the film, even its other questionable elements in execution re: the casino side plot and the overly slow chase/escape. Trust the audience to be okay with waiting to get a resolution to this new Rey/Kylo game changing alliance in the third film.

Ultimately it's a film of compelling ideas - the central one noted above, bringing the Force back to everyone/anyone it anoints regardless of ancestry/bloodline, a Luke that has lost his faith in people and their potential for good - but nevertheless it's a film I also see as falling apart in its execution.

A third film where Luke gets his faith in people restored by Rey/Kylo discovering a new approach to how to bring the Force to the galaxy without the Jedi/Sith extremes, thereby validating Luke's notion that the Jedi should end but not validating his cynicism? I really wish I was seeing that film in two months. Perhaps Abbrams will get it close to that anyway, but if so he had to take the long way around due to the final 30 minutes of TLJ undoing the work it took to get there in that throne room sequence.

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tenia
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Re: Star Wars: The Last Jedi (Rian Johnson, 2017)

#429 Post by tenia » Sat Oct 26, 2019 1:36 pm

I actually expected so much the movie to default to the clichéd tropes that all the Kylo/Rey possible teaming up felt boring to me since I never expected the movie to go in this direction.
It's unfortunate, though.

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