Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi - Page 9

Kylo can't hide his inner turmoil yet he can deceive the master of the force they set up Snoke to be? It's not only a huge let down to see a character with such a build-up get killed that casually, it has also done the opposite of what it was supposed to do, namely make Kylo Ren seem like a believable and powerful villain. Kylo Ren comes across as an overpowered and unstable child while Snoke was demoted to a charlatan Sith with a degree of force control.

All-in all it has bothered me how these adolescent characters (Rey, Kylo) seem to randomly have powers that transcend jedi and sith prodigies that have trained their entire lives to wield the force.

Leia instead of imploding in outerspace just casually floats to the ship, really? I made audible sounds of disbelief when that happened.

Luke mind projection fighting Kylo Ren, like, that was a thing? Since when? Kylo can hide his killing intent from Snoke but he can't notice he's fighting a ghost? He's rightfully confused because it makes very little sense. Luke then does the *plop* I'm dead technique he picked up from his master, convenient way to get rid of a character you're done with after deconstructing his legacy to be a paranoid depressed and cynical manchild.

Yoda using lightning to set shit on fire? Not going to help out the resistance with our ghost Jedi elemental mastery but fuck this tree in particular! Makes me think the Jedi were really just pompous assholes that deserved to disappear.

Brienne the shiny stormtrooper, there wasn't any female bad guys so here's a decidedly non sexy antagonist because equality and shit, unfortunately her character is as flat as her boobs and no-one would have noticed if she was omitted from both movies.

Rose Tico? It annoys me that they seem to be putting in shallow characters just to steer clear of any SJW criticism. Asian girl falls in love with black guy on the drop of a hat, apparently the previous generations of star wars movies were deemed too white and now we're forcefully (hehe) putting in all possible combinations of gender and race because that's what equality is (there's also a ginger in charge, unfortunately he's incompetent).

When Luke steps out of the mine dramatically Poe *thinks* that he's stalling for time so they can get away? The whole story attempts to demystify the Jedi and the Sith yet Luke can't tell someone what his intentions are? Like, oops the rebels all ran out of the mine to make a dramatic last stand with me and now they're all dead and I'm just a ghost, awkward misunderstanding.

In the end what really happened? The unexplored master Sith and the master Jedi died, next movie: still rebels and jedi versus the evil empire and sith (the fact that Kylo doesn't identify as Sith doesn't change the fact he behaves like one).

1. Criticizing Poe at the beginning for the bombing run. Yeah, he's a bit of a hothead, but he was completely right about that one. The dreadnought was about to destroy the flagship so what the fuck else should they have done?
2. The pointlessness of the Finn and Rose trip to the flagship. They got caught and just so conveniently the folk on the cruiser ended up doing the right thing.
3. And for that matter, the frequency of the goddamn "plot twists" through the movie. It's like the entire point of the movie is to set up a plot point then undo it. The Poe mutiny then it being reversed then turning out that that was for the best, then Finn's sacrifice that ended up not happening then Luke dying like a force ghost then not dying then actually dying, and I know I missed at least like five in between. It gets old after a while.
4. The thief ended up being a bit more one-off than I would have liked.
5. The so easily defeated Republic that has no resources whatsoever to fight back after they lost their homeworld. Do they not have any military whatsoever?
6. I really don't see how they're going to write their way out of Leia being part of the plot without recasting or CGI or something. They might have slightly written themselves into a corner here.
7. Rey is OP for inadequately explored reasons.
8. Biggest problem was just that the pace was just too rapid. Moved between scenes so quickly that it became oversaturated. Ep 7 had more of the charming character development scenes like Rey sitting in the downed walker, whereas this one was just a dogged pursuit from start to finish.

1. The way they handled Kylo Ren ditching the mask was well done.
2. The little critters were pretty neat. I thought they'd ruin things but they actually did well.
3. Everything on the rich people island was quite well-done.
4. Visually it was great and I did like the new craft designs.
5. Carrie Fisher did well overall in her role for this movie. I just wonder what will happen next.
6. They cleared that Finn-Rey not-sure-if-love-interest situation. That didn't work at all, and even if the new romance is slightly shoehorned it seems more real.
7. Kylo Ren with the stitched scar looked really good. I wish they kept it with the grey stitch mark but even without it he looks a damn sight more impressive than without it.
8. Despite its flaws it was well done. I lightly clapped as I left the theater, so at the very least it was a good watch.

The scene were the lady charges at lightspeed into the main cruiser. Actually it was interesting for a few reasons. One, it was done before in the Star Wars Rebels cartoon, which although gimmicky did have a few rather interesting plot points. It was done in a much more effectively dramatic manner though, so props there. But I also started considering the issue of whether or not that was something that could just be done over and over again on any major ship. And then I sort of remembered the Thrawn books, either the new one (named simply "Thrawn") or the old trilogy, in which the titular character talks about how huge overpowered superweapons present a target that cannot be ignored and they are always far more vulnerable than they seem... and actually, it sort of fits because that's exactly what went down here. I don't think it'll get any official acknowledgment but it is quite an interesting connection.

While a step up from Episode 7 in all areas, Episode 8 suffers from many of the same problems, notably: weak character building, lots of recycled plot points, and disappointing plot advancement. Not a bad movie on its own, but when taken in context as step two of a new trilogy it feels weak and doesn't leave me optimistic for Ep. 9 It continues the Disney trend of providing awesome and gorgeous action sequences (arguably over the top in some areas) while also including plenty of lighthearted humorous moments. However it just doesn't have the same staying power of the original trilogy, and even lacks many of the outstanding individual character performances of the prequels, leaving it overall feeling like its predecessor, a safe bet catered to casual fan service.