Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Yeah, as much as I like the Last Jedi, I laugh to myself feeling like Rian Johnson took all of J.J Abrams’ ideas and threw them away.

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I guess I could talk about some of the things I liked:

-Very pretty movie, effects are good, aesthetics are generally good.
-Mark Hamill put on a really good performance, to the point where I didn’t really mind the direction of his character on my first viewing
-I like Kylo Ren’s character for the first 2/3 of the movie where he has some really good character moments. I feel like it falls apart in the last 1/3 though.

That’s about it

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JJ Abrams was never supposed to direct Episode IX. When the new trilogy was announced, JJ was attached to VII, Johnson to VIII, and Colin Trevorow of Jurassic World fame to helm Episode IX. However, with Carrie Fisher’s passing, the script Trevorow was writing had to be reworked completely and that led to creative differences between LucasFilm and Trevorow, leading to him being let go. JJ was then brought on to finish the trilogy, which peeves Paramount Pictures to no end, because he’s basically broken a contract he had with them now. It’s an odd situation to be sure, but let’s remember that Abrams was Executive Producer on both VIII and IX before signing on to IX, so it’s not like he had no idea what was going on with VIII. He had input. I think VIII and IX will actually end up complementing each other really well, despite the weird director change ups.

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I agree to a certain extent but I believe Rose served a purpose. I think the good thing about Rose is how she developed Finn’s character. The contrast we see in their outlooks on life on Canto Bight is interesting and Rose has a clear effect on Finn after her sacrifice. There is no doubt that the execution of the arc for Finn and Rose as a whole could have been better but it makes me more interested in the character Finn going forward, to see his new attitude.

For me, it’s also the same with Holdo and Poe. I can’t get a full justification of Holdo’s actions, but the events developed Poe. He was humbled from a hotshot pilot to a real leader, in my view, and that makes him more likable and gets me more interested in his future.

So, overall, I would say that The Last Jedi was great for development of the main characters (Finn, Poe, Kylo, and some for Rey), but how this development was achieved could have been improved.

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Ep 8 has a major problem. Admiral freakin holdo. This character hampered the story and felt shoehorned in. Almost like she was forced in there after everything had been written, making parts of the plot disappear to accommodate her. Her not telling Poe the plan made no sense. I seriously think that if admiral holdo wasn’t in the movie, the kantobite plot could have been worked in better. We could learn more about the resistance or first order, and the move would be way better.
Also, Resistance bombers be buffed please to explain why the y wings aren’t being used. If you are too slow to do anything and your not a tank, your useless. Especially in the Star Wars universe. Also is it just me, or does this movie feel like it has peices missing from it. Also, the Finn vs phasma fight sucked. Rey and Luke, perfect, don’t change those scenes. Everything with Kylo, hux, and snoke, don’t change. Finn and rose… should be friends and rose Finn should have a better ark, with him actually developing.

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saw the movie a couple of weeks ago and
oh boy
lemme just copypasta my opinions on the film from… somewhere else, because my memories of the film have become pretty hazy (thank goodness)

the film has its good points, for example i found the whole “the jedi order needs to die” thing actually quite compelling
but then again the film has so many faults
i actually liked rey in tfa but i feel she’s weaker here
finn and rose’s b plot was nothing short of abysmal, i’d delve deeper into canto bight but i’d be banned 'cause of politics, the writers drew the whole breaker room deal completely out of their collective rear ends, and they never did anything with sir “red plom bloom on his lapel” fellow (the loaded rifle was hanging on the wall but it was never fired)
i liked crait, minus the whole “saving what you love” scene, finn could’ve finally been compelling and resolve the whole “i’m not a resistance hero” arc established when he first hooked up with rose (again, a loaded gun never fired). rest was p good actually
every naval officer in the film, be they first order (really? why would you have a general at the head of your lead fleet instead of an admiral?) or resistance, were completely incompetent and made no sense tactically except for ironically enough, poe, the fellow who was made out a fool by leia at the beginning of the film (even though an 8km mandator iv dreadnought for a small bomber fleet is, though wasteful, a pretty good trade tactically).
the bomber scene was pretty ok i guess, even if it doesn’t make sense to send big ol’ b-17 equivalents (b-17’s themselves were not used during naval combat historically, they were tactical bombers after all) but i’m willing to look past that (i found it odd that one out-of-control tie fighter shredded through three of the starfortresses like paper though)
and of course the xd haha funny quips, which all made me groan audibly

tl;dr the film isn’t completely worthless but it has a lot weighing it down imo

do i still need to spoiler tag everything 8 months later

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I hope we see fighter-bombers in episode 9

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Not gonna debate everything, but this is something that was 100% intentional and adds to the movie. “The greatest teacher failure is.” A major point of Finn and Rose’s subplot is that everything went wrong. Focusing on Red Flower Man emphasizes how completely they failed, and makes the frustration of that failure tangible to the audience by teasing us with a setup that never pays off.

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But what exactly did they learn from failing to fetch Mr. Red-Plom-Bloom-On-His-Lapel? To be careful where to park their ship?

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In the grand scheme of things it changed Finn from someone who wants to run to someone who is fit to lead (I’d say it was more so Rose’s sacrifice than the casino quest that had this effect but it did contribute). Also, it brought then to Canto Bight, and after they tore up the town, Rose showed Finn that it isn’t about revenge against enemies out of hate, but doing what’s right for the sake of compassion.

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Finn never ended up actually leading people though. Poe is the one to lead the cavalry charge on Crait, rather than Finn. After all, Finn’s just a low-ranking soldier in the Resistance (who get a sudden name-change hallfway through the film to just “the Rebels” for whatever reason), compared to Poe, who is an ace fighter pilot and a naval captain/commander. The arc set up with Finn at the beginning of the film was that he never thought himself as a “hero of the Resistance”, in Rose’s words. They do nothing with this on Canto Bight for whatever reason, instead they just have release a bunch of massive race horsedogs to stampede through a densely-populated city filled with nothing but mustache-twirling war profiteers, because politicals. Really the only thing that Finn learns at the end is just “morality isn’t just black and white” which is probably something he already knew by now.
They could’ve actually had Finn’s character go somewhere on Crait by sacrificing himself to save the cause he grew to love, being that of the Resistance (a stark change from the beginning of the film considering he did nothing to strengthen his love of the Resistance but cause millions of credits in property damage on Evil Monte Carlo, but whatever). However, Rose literally comes out of nowhere (mind you the films explicitly shows us that Finn’s was the only ski speeder that didn’t retreat) and crashes into his ride, dooming the Resistance (were it not for Luke-ex-machina), just to spout a line that gives Anakin’s sand speech a run for it’s money in terms of stupidity.
Do note: I really like Finn as a character. But he just goes nowhere in TLJ.

how long have i been typing this

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I’d say what Finn learned wasn’t necessarily how to be a leader, but to care about causes/ideals. In TFA, he was willing to risk his life (and others, lol) to save Rey, but saving Rey is the only thing he truly cared about. In TLJ, he goes from trying to desert the Resistance to being willing to give up his life for it (and not just for Rey or Rose). I don’t think Rose saving him lessens or nullifies that in any way.

As for what Finn learned from failing to meet up with the flower guy: I don’t know that that incident alone taught him much. I’d say that failing so completely, and getting double-crossed, made him think about what really matters (leading to his attitude change), and failing to meet up with the flower guy was part of that. A little remote, sure, but I think it works.

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Fair enough, I guess

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Man, now I feel bad for liking Rose’s line…

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No need for that; everyone has their own opinion. I personally found it touching, if a bit cheesy.

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I just realized. In Star Wars the Clone Wars Ep one, the droids call ventress, “supreme leader.”
Many supreme leader is just another term for a sith, Sith Lord, or for something else?

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Snoke wasn’t a Sith. He probably wasn’t even completely Dark Side based on his behavior.

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Well, maybe they’ll reveal who he was in IX, or maybe we’ll get Snoke: A Star Wars Story.

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YES! I told all of my friends that, because they were all upset that we didn’t find out anything about him. Walking out of Force Awakens, if you told me Snoke would not have any revealed backstory in TLJ, I would have cried. But while watching TLJ, I was more upset that he died than that he died without a backstory. But this is Star Wars! They can make a great movie out of anything! (Cough, Rogue One)

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Amen! Idk why so many ppl hated Rogue One

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