STAR WARS : Episode VIII December 15, 2017 4 4

[Wall-Crawler]

I just got back from the movie so wanted to write while it was fresh...

My overall, my humble "overall review" is this...Not as "great" as the critics on RT are saying nor is it "as bad" as the general audience rating on RT either.  For me, it is somewhere in the middle.

The Good

I'm not sure where exactly to put this, so going to probably get reamed for putting it here, but here it is...Luke.  I heard a lot about how Luke was "mistreated"...I think I heard so much online I was expecting something really, really bad...I didn't find his reclusiveness and reasons (and subsequent explanations for it), all that bad...A hero can fall, stumble...But in the END, he came BACK. 

The meeting between Snoke, Rey and Kylo. I don't need to "know more" about Snoke. How much "back story" did we have on the Emperor in the original trilogy? We knew he was the dark lord, we didn't find out how he got there until episodes I, II and III. 

The fight scene with Snoke's guards was pretty cool, I thought. I think it also propels Kylo forward, he "surpassed" Vader by manipulating and then killing his master and assuming command.

I do not hate the fact that Rey's parents were not somehow linked to the "Force Royalty".  Anyone can be in tune with the force. "Anyone" can be a Jedi.  

The Bad

Too many corny jokes/scenes.  Star Wars has always had humour but they definitely "overdid it" in spots.

The entire casino and code breaker. Them riding those creatures through the casino. Ugh. Waste of time, not necessary. They magically "find" a guy just like the code-breaking hanging out in the same cell they are in? Wha? They could have found some other "Macguffin" to get Finn and Rose in there (and get captured) without that complete waste of time.

The pacing/timeline...Rey's training and the whole slow stalking of the last of the rebels fleet...The pacing and timeline of events seemed wonky to me.

The Dumb

"Super Leia". Words escape me. 

The "milking" thing. Yet another stupid CGI joke. I don't know why so many movies do stupid like this, but this one was beyond stupid.

My Personal Overall Rating:  6.5

This is definitely a flawed film and in parts, was jarring from the tone of Force Awakens.  I think it suffered from too much humour, some weird story choices and going against the grain in some respect as to what "the fans" were expecting.  It will be interesting to see how or if they "correct course", but even with the negative reviews, it is still a box office juggernaut so how much that will influence what happens in Episode 9, remains to be seen I guess.

[Red84]

4 hours ago, jsilverjanet said:

How interesting it is to see the success of this movie with both critics and $$$ compared to Justice League

 

And both movies had Superman!!!

[paperheart]

2 hours ago, jsilverjanet said:

I have a feeling this may change

studios typically Snyderize when they've seen the rough cut

[Red84]

The biggest difference between Empire and Last Jedi - building interest for a next movie.

At the end of Empire - Vader is Luke's father?  How will he respond in the next movie?  Han's been kidnapped, will they rescue him in time?

At the end of Last Jedi - We know who Rey's parents are and Snoke is dead.  There is nothing to wonder about and nothing driving the next movie.

 

[Azkaban]

46 minutes ago, Red84 said:

And both movies had Superman!!!

[Bosco685]

8 hours ago, paperheart said:

they gave Johnson the trilogy after this movie was wrapped. your contention makes no sense.

 

7 hours ago, comix4fun said:

After it was wrapped, before it premiered. 

Pfft. Details. Fly-by comments need none of that.

[bane]

Well my nephew won’t be dragging his parents to a 2nd viewing, he asked to go see Jumanji instead

[Bosco685]

Some people and their movie rage.

 

[Lonzilla]

Ade Edmonson absolutely made the movie for me! Every time he was on screen my girl and I were dropping Bottom and Young Ones lines to each other

[Artboy99]

Maybe Disney will get this guy to write the next film as with these small tweaks to the story he crafts a far better story that makes more sense:

 

[Bosco685]

FORBES.COM: Why The 'Last Jedi' Backlash Won't Hurt 'Star Wars Episode IX'

Quote

First of all, we can certainly debate to what extent audiences are indeed "dissatisfied" with a movie that has raced past $900 million worldwide in just over two weeks of release. The Last Jedi ended its second full week of domestic play with around $465 million in North America, which is (clears throat) exactly what I predicted even as a worst-case scenario back when everyone else was panicking about the second-weekend drop.

 

It may just take a dip in weekend three as well since New Year's Eve is on a Sunday night while New Year's Day is on a Monday. But after that, it gets another few days of "weekdays that act like weekends" before Insidious: The Lost Key opens. No, I don't think that The Last Jedi will make more this weekend than last weekend, but a $55m third weekend (-23%) and a $520m 17-day total isn't out of the question.

 

So, yeah, it should end the year as the year's biggest domestic earner (above Beauty and the Beast's $504 million) and over $1 billion worldwide, just over/under (for the moment) Illumination's Despicable Me 3 ($1.03b), Universal/Comcast Corp.'s Fate of the Furious ($1.23b) and Walt Disney's Beauty and the Beast ($1.26b). By the way, if this all comes to pass, then Star Wars: The Last Jedi will have earned in its first 17 days ($520m) what The Avengers had earned in its first 25 days ($523m).

Wow!

Quote

And it'll be pacing way ahead of Jurassic World ($500m after 17 days) to remain the second-fastest grosser of all time behind The Force Awakens ($742m). Unless it drops dead after New Year's, a $650m+ domestic total is starting to look relatively reasonable.

 

[Gatsby77]

I'm with rjrjr on this one - that folks on these boards vastly overestimate their influence on this film.

 

I posted earlier an explanation of why Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic user reviews are far more skewed (and outliers) vs. the positive audience reviews on IMDB and ComScore.

And yeah - it passed $450 million domestic yesterday, the second fastest film to do so, after only The Force Awakens.

Moreover, I saw it again last night -- along with a friend who'd already seen it once and my 70-something parents -- who were watching it for the first time.

We all enjoyed it immensely, and I liked it even more on second viewing. And folks in the theater audibly gasped at Holdo's sacrifice.

After simply remaking Star Wars with The Force Awakens, Disney has proven they can truly surprise, given Luke a worthy send-off, solidified Kylo as the true threat and vastly expanded the tapestry of stories they can tell moving forward.

 

 

[Artboy99]

25 minutes ago, Gatsby77 said:

I'm with rjrjr on this one - that folks on these boards vastly overestimate their influence on this film.

 

I posted earlier an explanation of why Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic user reviews are far more skewed (and outliers) vs. the positive audience reviews on IMDB and ComScore.

And yeah - it passed $450 million domestic yesterday, the second fastest film to do so, after only The Force Awakens.

Moreover, I saw it again last night -- along with a friend who'd already seen it once and my 70-something parents -- who were watching it for the first time.

We all enjoyed it immensely, and I liked it even more on second viewing. And folks in the theater audibly gasped at Holdo's sacrifice.

After simply remaking Star Wars with The Force Awakens, Disney has proven they can truly surprise, given Luke a worthy send-off, solidified Kylo as the true threat and vastly expanded the tapestry of stories they can tell moving forward.

 

 

Re Holdo:

One thing about her sacrifice that still makes no sense to me is why is her sacrifice not earlier? Why does it have to wait until so many Rebel ships and forces have died? If that was her plan that she couldn't tell Poe ( I can understand not wanting to tell him that information ) why couldn't her maneuver have saved a lot more Rebel lives?

[fantastic_four]

11 minutes ago, Artboy99 said:

Re Holdo:

One thing about her sacrifice that still makes no sense to me is why is her sacrifice not earlier? Why does it have to wait until so many Rebel ships and forces have died? If that was her plan that she couldn't tell Poe ( I can understand not wanting to tell him that information ) why couldn't her maneuver have saved a lot more Rebel lives?

I assumed she was waiting for the transports to get to the base before she did it, but once she realized they had spotted the transports (because Poe screwed it all up, which she never realized, she just saw the transports exploding at some point) she had to do it earlier.  Beyond that, I'd have to re-watch the scene to have an opinion because I'm not exactly sure about the times on these events:

1. How long passed between the time the first transport got whacked and the time she jumped to hyperspace.
2. At what point she realized the transports were getting destroyed.

If it was minutes between the time she realized the transports were getting whacked and the time she went to hyperspace, then yea, I don't get it either.

[comix4fun]

24 minutes ago, fantastic_four said:

I assumed she was waiting for the transports to get to the base before she did it, but once she realized they had spotted the transports (because Poe screwed it all up, which she never realized, she just saw the transports exploding at some point) she had to do it earlier.  Beyond that, I'd have to re-watch the scene to have an opinion because I'm not exactly sure about the times on these events:

1. How long passed between the time the first transport got whacked and the time she jumped to hyperspace.
2. At what point she realized the transports were getting destroyed.

If it was minutes between the time she realized the transports were getting whacked and the time she went to hyperspace, then yea, I don't get it either.

It was enough time for 20 of the 30 transports to be destroyed. It went on for quite a while. Johnson wrote Holdo as watching it unfold for far too long before she decided to alter her plan. 

[Gatsby77]

1 hour ago, comix4fun said:

It was enough time for 20 of the 30 transports to be destroyed. It went on for quite a while. Johnson wrote Holdo as watching it unfold for far too long before she decided to alter her plan. 

Def. wasn't part of her original plan.

I honestly don't think she thought of it right away.

I didn't.

Edited December 29, 2017 by Gatsby77

[fantastic_four]

4 minutes ago, Gatsby77 said:

Def. wasn't part of her original plan.

I honestly don't think she thought of it right away.

I didn't.

That makes the most sense.

[rjrjr]

17 hours ago, comix4fun said:

Would have been better if someone had actually said this in 1980. They really REALLY had to shoehorn a few of those complaints to make them comparative to TLJ. 

For Kershner to have "destroyed his childhood" the guy writing this would still have to be a child (three years after Star Wars), so he's still got time.

Oddly, I saw ESB in the theaters, I know you did too....literally none of those things mentioned were complaints anyone had. People were blown away by what a down note the film was, and shocked by the twist, and appreciative of how much better Kershner put together a film. That's probably because it was the first time it was done, to be repeated in the prequels, to be re-repeated in the Dis-Trilogy.

Fans LOVED Yoda, because even as a puppet they gave him real gravity. They didn't have him pause in the middle of training to make a fart joke. 

 

Did Yoda make a fart joke in the new movie?

Comparison's between the revenue generation difference between Star Wars/ESB and TFA/TLJ are interesting.  ESB made far less money than Star Wars during it's initial release and I suspect the percentage difference between TLJ and TFA will be very similar.  Both Star Wars and TFA had the advantage of being the first in their trilogies.  If the pattern holds, the third movie will make just shy of the second movies revenue.

[rjrjr]

16 hours ago, jsilverjanet said:

I have a feeling this may change

Not based on ticket sales.  Disney could care less as long as they make money.  They've had to weather these controversies many times over the years.  I suspect all they care about is the bottom line and this movie is making money despite the voices of opposition.  I bet the toys are selling as well as all the other related merchandise.  That's all these studios care about, money.  TFA was also lambasted by a vocal crowd.  And the prequels.  Yet all those fans that were through came back to watch the next movie anyway.

Most pop culture fans who complain never actually go away.  They just stick around and moan, all the while handing over their money.  Look at Marvel comic sales for an example of this.

Edited December 29, 2017 by rjrjr

[rjrjr]

14 hours ago, Wall-Crawler said:

I just got back from the movie so wanted to write while it was fresh...

My overall, my humble "overall review" is this...Not as "great" as the critics on RT are saying nor is it "as bad" as the general audience rating on RT either.  For me, it is somewhere in the middle.

The Good

I'm not sure where exactly to put this, so going to probably get reamed for putting it here, but here it is...Luke.  I heard a lot about how Luke was "mistreated"...I think I heard so much online I was expecting something really, really bad...I didn't find his reclusiveness and reasons (and subsequent explanations for it), all that bad...A hero can fall, stumble...But in the END, he came BACK. 

The meeting between Snoke, Rey and Kylo. I don't need to "know more" about Snoke. How much "back story" did we have on the Emperor in the original trilogy? We knew he was the dark lord, we didn't find out how he got there until episodes I, II and III. 

The fight scene with Snoke's guards was pretty cool, I thought. I think it also propels Kylo forward, he "surpassed" Vader by manipulating and then killing his master and assuming command.

I do not hate the fact that Rey's parents were not somehow linked to the "Force Royalty".  Anyone can be in tune with the force. "Anyone" can be a Jedi.  

The Bad

Too many corny jokes/scenes.  Star Wars has always had humour but they definitely "overdid it" in spots.

The entire casino and code breaker. Them riding those creatures through the casino. Ugh. Waste of time, not necessary. They magically "find" a guy just like the code-breaking hanging out in the same cell they are in? Wha? They could have found some other "Macguffin" to get Finn and Rose in there (and get captured) without that complete waste of time.

The pacing/timeline...Rey's training and the whole slow stalking of the last of the rebels fleet...The pacing and timeline of events seemed wonky to me.

The Dumb

"Super Leia". Words escape me. 

The "milking" thing. Yet another stupid CGI joke. I don't know why so many movies do stupid like this, but this one was beyond stupid.

My Personal Overall Rating:  6.5

This is definitely a flawed film and in parts, was jarring from the tone of Force Awakens.  I think it suffered from too much humour, some weird story choices and going against the grain in some respect as to what "the fans" were expecting.  It will be interesting to see how or if they "correct course", but even with the negative reviews, it is still a box office juggernaut so how much that will influence what happens in Episode 9, remains to be seen I guess.

I would give it an 8 out of 10, but much of my dislikes are similar to yours.  The jokes were the worst part.  I like the movie overall though and minus some misplaced jokes, this would have been a 9 or higher.  I also didn't mind the Luke storyline and I thought the sendoff was fitting.