Man, I follow a number of film critics, but you guys are the best. When I read / watch your stuff, I know I'm going to get an incredibly thoughtful and intelligent discussion that is neither pretentious nor pandering. Keep up the good work!
I liked the humour, but it felt off tonally. A good indication of this was in both of my cinema viewings, where some a lone person would laugh hysterically at a joke, followed by the whole crowd losing it at hearing that first laugh.
The hate that this movie is getting blows me away. I don't understand it. I went in cold, without reading any reviews. I didn't check the RT score. I didn't go in with any expectations. And, I absolutely loved it. It's not perfect, it's not flawless, but it's a movie that I am happy exists. It takes chances and actually does things with the franchise that has seemed stale and stuck for decades. I think that some fans will never be happy. I'm going to see it again. It's incredible.
Did you check your brain at the door? The movie is not even consistent within itself. It portrays Rey and Kylo Ren as gods, Rey beat Luke Skywalker, and Kylo somehow deceived Snoke the entire time, and yet after they kill Snoke, they almost lose to Snoke's guards. You know why? Because it made a cool fight scene, even though it made no sense at all. I mean if all you want is explosions and to see a lightsaber, then it's as good as any other movie, but if you actually expected a plot that made sense, then no, this movie was a complete dog turd.
Or, maybe it was just a differing opinion. It made sense to me that both Kylo and Rey would be so powerful because, besides Snoke (who was a Master) and Luke (who had cut himself off from the Force), Rey and Kylo were the only other two who had opened themselves to the Force, and they were channeling all of that power that wasn't being tapped by anybody else. And, Rey "beat" Luke because he wasn't trying to kill her or disable her. Obviously, given his final showdown, he could have easily laid her out if he had wanted. He was just trying to fend her off while he tried to convince her not to go to Kylo, because he knew that it would be useless. Kylo was able to defeat Snoke not because he was more powerful, but because of Snoke's hubris. He thought that he was able to see everything, and Kylo knew that he had that over confidence, and used that to trick his vision of what was in Kylo's mind. If Kylo went up to Snoke one on one, he would have been annihilated. And he knew this, which is why he used his cunning instead of trying to match his power. It wasn't about Kylo being a "god," it was about how hubris can be the downfall of even the most powerful people. That's why they still had some difficultly with the red guards. They aren't "gods" and if they hadn't fought together, they would have been killed easily. But, you are right about it being a fucking cool fight scene. I love discussing this movie with people that don't like it, and I love talking about Star Wars in general, but saying things like "did you check your brain at the door?" isn't really necessary. There's no need to be a cock mouth about it.
Daniel Terrazas I 100% feel the same way as you. Just wanted to say that because I feel like you probably don't hear that too often when you're talking about this movie. I strongly feel like it's an excellent movie and it's really hard for me to understand how so many people loathe it so much. So many people are so arrogant with how they hate it too, it just makes me sad and rubs me the wrong way that that's the way it seems most people react to unique, unconventional and great movies these days
palbo4 That's definitely part and parcel of this fandom. Well, really any rabid, passionate fandom (Star Wars, Star Trek, Doctor Who, etc.) has the portion of the fan base that seems to hate any change or new addition to what they claim to love. I'm not saying that a person has to love everything coming what their fandom is about, but the vitriol has always been especially toxic with Star Wars. Check out some of the early fan reaction to Empire Strikes back. A large portion of the fandom HATED IT, and now it's considered arguably the film in the series. Moral of the story: Nobody can hate Star Wars as much as Star Wars fans.
I'm not gonna say this movie is terrible because it isn't. It's good, as a Star Wars film. I think it's better than TFA, due to the better action, visuals and story elements (even though as the guys said it really borrows from Empire), but I have some real issues with the pacing and the story choices they made. The first half was really slow and almost boring. It was the one that drew the most from other movies and I felt it. It definitely picked up in the second, with a couple stumbles, but it managed to make it good
Saw the movie last night, i have no idea where you're getting any of this. This movie was terrible, for all the money they threw at it they got a 5/10 movie. I hope Johnson doesn't come back for any of the side stories.
star wars is for kids and families. if star wars or indiana jones movies upset you, then id suggest acknowledging you're an adult and find other movies (they *do* exist ya know)
The Last Jedi is a terrible film. This video is a high brow sycophantic conversation about a festering turd. I’m sad that after a 34 year gap, Luke’s return is handled so disrespectfully and out of character based on everything we know about him. Kennedy and Johnson have dismantled the childhood love of my generation. The franchise is dead. I am done.
You've said it yourself - after a 34 year gap. In that gap, Luke took it upon himself to find and train young kids in the ways of the force. He took in and trained his sister's son. This young man exhibited a disturbing propensity for the dark side, and Luke was torn on how to handle this. He felt (and was partly) responsible for the deaths and/or corruption of almost everyone in his care, including the corruption of Leia's child. Apparently, you watched a completely different film. Strangely, you want the same old Luke - completely unaffected by all the trauma that he has wrought and befallen him. THAT is disrespectful to good storytelling, and I am very glad you do not make these films.
i love how you guys are getting mad at a movie for kids & families. you said it yourself: you saw it 34 years ago... once you're over 25 you've left the target demo
The franchise is dead. This is just Disney cashing in on their intellectual property rights. Sad part is we could have had both, good movies and they could have made money.
This movie is such a flaming pile of cow sh!t, it's incomprehensible that anyone with brain cells thought this movie was even remotely watchable. If you can get past the main plot line being, "The Rebels are running out of gas.", there are so many logical inconsistencies in the movie that about half way in I was actually amused by how awful it was. Did you know that ALL rich people are arms traders, and the violent oppressors of children who can only take joy in decadent gambling while having innocent animals race for their amusement? I always suspected, thanks Rian. Did you know that Rey and Kylo are close to the most powerful Force users to ever exist, even though they have next to no training, and one just "discovered" her powers a few months ago tops? Sweet. The list of inconsistencies is so long, it boggles the mind. This movie is completely unwatchable.
They're making surface-level observations about things they like without discussing anything more substantive like character motivations, story, the validity of the criticisms leveled against it etc.
