The Last Jedi Vlog - It Made Me Feel Feelings 

Oh watching this in a post "Rise of Skywalker" world is... very, very sad. I'm so sorry past Dan, you deserved a much better end to the trilogy.

Listening to you praise the ambiguity and sad set up of Rey’s parents makes me so disappointed knowing what they did to that plot line in the third (ninth) movie.

I loved this review. I'm very excited to hear his feelings about Rise of Skywalker. When they reconned Rey's parentage I couldn't get Kathy Bates' Misery rant out of my head, "he didn't get out of the cockadoodie car!"

I actually _relieved_ they didn't pull off the Chosen Family™ bullshit again. Heh, people are going to be pissed that their "grand theory"/fanfiction got torpedo'ed by canon.

Thank you. I enjoy your videos and commentary a whole lot so I was initially hesitant to open this one, because I love this movie so much and wouldn't be able to listen to you hate it. But to hear you gush about my two favorite moments and point out some things I hadn't noticed or appreciated was absolutely worth it. Even with where the trilogy wound up, I will always love this film for making me see some different potential for the Star Wars universe and opening some new avenues for imagination.

I absolutely loved The Last Jedi. My second favorite SW film, after Empire. I don't feel like everyone has to like this movie, but the backlash it is getting from fans is so ugly that it says more about the fans than it does about the movie. I find it interesting that the vast majority of intelligent RU-vid personalities who I respect when it comes to filmmaking agree that Last Jedi was a well-made film with a ton of emotional poignance, amazing action, beautiful cinematography, and a few glaring flaws that nonetheless did not detract from the experience. I loved the focus on character, I love Luke's curmudgeonly old man gimmick, his flaws do not take away from his legendary status or make him a coward in my eyes, he slipped and he paid the price. Wonderful. I love that Rey's parents are no one, that's exactly how it should be. I love that the boring bad guy was killed and the interesting one is now in charge. I even loved Fin and Rose's story, even though it wasn't as well crafted into the overall film as it could have been, but their interactions were good enough to be worthwhile. The one thing I really haven't heard many people bring up at all was my favorite scene in the film- the light saber being torn in half. Yes, the light speed ramming took my breath away, but when the light saber ripped apart, I just said "Whoah." I was not expecting that, and it was a beautiful visualization of the battle of wills. Just an astoundingly well made film that I think a lot more people would enjoy if they didn't have this concrete version in their minds of what SW and Luke Skywalker are supposed to be. If you see someone calling this movie trash, or that it is the death of Star Wars, you know you've found someone with an overly inflated and sensitive ego. Great video, keep up the good work!

I dunno if you'll read this but here goes nothing: I'm very conflicted about this movie. I loved the Kylo Ren and Rey bits of it, but it felt like the Resistance bits were filler. They made so many irrational decisions just to have a plot (Holdo keeping the escape plan a secret for no good reason to motivate finding a code breaker for instance, or leaving people instead of droids on every ship to add artificial drama, or Poe not showing the least bit of remorse that he sacrificed the entire bomb squad just to add room for him to grow as a character) that it felt weird. I read an interesting take on consistency, how the Luke we know in Return of the Jedi would throw away his lightsaber because he could feel some good in Vader, and this Luke for an instance thought that killing a conflicted Ben Solo was the right answer. I really _like_ the idea of Luke failing, but the manner in which he did it doesn't feel consistent with his character. You make a good point about the mocking of Hux, and I agree. However my complaints about the comic relief bits is that they're too many, all the time. By the time Chewie was roasting a porg I was already sick of all the comic relief. The bits where BB-8 took down all the prison guards felt so much like the worst R2 moments from the prequels, and I didn't like those. One final note: On seeing Star Destroyers in the sky. It actually touches on something that has bugged me with both episode 7 and 8. It's how they've started breaking the untold rules of the universe. We've assumed that the galaxy is pretty much like in our universe in terms of distances and scale. Now episode 8 starts with Rose's sister opening a hatch into open space and there being no draft. We also see Star Destroyers from the planet, and while I agree it's cool, I'm also not sure they should be visible. Minor thing on its own, but there's more! Leia survives open space (that time there was a draft). In episode 7 Starkiller base shot something through hyperspace, yet they could still watch it at Maz's planet. Han's hyperspace jump that should rely on nanoseconds worth of timing. I'm quite bothered by this kind of breaking of the implicit rules of the universe used as cheap effects. I wish they could have been more careful with that sort of thing. Overall I am very 50/50 about the movie. Super great bits and very questionable bits. Thanks for a nice video.

The wing-ramming scene blew me away too. All I could say was "jesus christ"

I liked the movie. The only plot element that really bothered me was the Poe storyline between him and the new commander. They kinda frame it as his impulsive nature clouding his judgment, but he just wanted to know what the plan was. If the plan was always to escape in cloaked transport ships to a safe planet off the record...why not just tell him that? By keeping him in the dark for apparently no reason, they forced his hand.

Perfect Timing, I just saw it just hours ago, had time to talk a lot with my company and am now READY for this video 👍🏼

Also something I haven’t heard said yet about the reveal of Rey’s parentage: while deliberately unfulfilling, I found it validating because it is the polar opposite of the (spoilers!!!) Luke/Vader reveal in ESB. I don’t think it was coincidence or lack of creativity that the whole throne room set-piece was modelled after the finale of RotJ since the series of moments therein are essentially the new trilogy’s statement of differentiation from the original.

I loved the movie and I'm pleased that there really does exist a corner of the internet that also enjoyed it. I was starting to despair a little. That said... The one major problem I did have with the film was how jokey it was at the start, and I don't think you can hand-wave that away simply by saying "it's good to make fun of Nazis." I agree with that sentiment as it applies to the real world today, but it has the effect here of undercutting the threat the movie is trying to sell you on. I love me some Saturday morning cartoons, but it's weird to have a Saturday-morning-cartoon-villain aesthetic alongside some of the more mature themes in the movie.

I'm so sad about how people reacted to and criticized the lightspeed ram. The idea that "if it was possible to do that, the fact that it wasn't done more needs to be justified" is so completely ridiculous that I can only assume it's a bad faith criticism. Like, in RotJ, a crashing a-wing pilot takes down a super star destroyer by ramming it. With an *A-WING.* Not an entire fleet leading cruiser, but a single fighter ship. And even with the much more massive disparity in what was spent vs what was gained, of course people didn't start whining that the rebellion should have been doing that all the time, it was obviously a move made in desperation when the ship was already going down, and even with what it accomplished, it was understood that the rebellion obviously would not want to sacrifice their people like that. But because the whiners saw the sequels as being "woke" and having "gotten political" (as if that's new for Star Wars -__- ), they had to take any excuse to tear it down. And the baseless criticism is just made so much more of a shame by the fact that it's leveled against what literally might be the single most cinematically beautiful shot in all of Star Wars

I hated Sergeant Salt until my girlfriend pointed out that he's credited as 'Sergeant Salt' in the credits.

"Another victory like this and we're done for" I just waited for someone to say that to Poe. Loved the film.

i believe the Resistance Fighter that had the salt line on Crait was Gareth Edwards.

I'm gonna be the odd one out then, I hated TFA but loved TLJ. TFA felt really flat with no heart it was just an star wars themed theme park ride, star wars in name only didn't like the characters at all didn't feel like characters with depth just plot conveniences. TLJ had heart and soul, and character depth.

The more I think about this movie, the more I love it, which means a lot, since when I first saw it I immediately said it's the best Star Wars, no contest.

Can't wait to hear what you have to say about episode 9 now...it's...well...not like 8. Lol

I love TLJ and I'm always glad to see others who do, too!

I'm just curious if you're opinions from this video have changed at all with more time to think on the matter? It was fun seeing you run at SGDQ, you did great. I enjoy your content, keep it up!

loving the term, "Zuko-d"

I agree with most of what you've said apart from the treatment of Hux. The first scene with him and Poe is too silly in tone and it made it feel like a parody movie or something (Scary Movie etc.).

here i am basking in ironic hindsight

Talking about little details, I loved when Ray was standing under the Falcon and smiling at the rain. Realizing that that was probably the first time she had experienced rain.

watching this in 2020 as someone who felt very much the same way about TLJ is heartbreaking

And then JJ was like "nah, she's totally both a Palpatine and a spiritual Skywalker for no adequately explained reason."

"Has he been Zuko'd?" is the best ATLA reference I've ever heard

Dang sucks they never had a follow up to this great film

"I don't care if you hated this movie. It made me happy". That comment is as beautiful as the lightspeed scene itself.

This vlog is so sad to come back to after The Rise of Skywalker :( So many of the things that Dan praises were walked back SO hard in TROS

"I don't care if you hated this movie; it made me happy!" A great philosophy for moviegoers everywhere.

Combing through some of your older videos after watching the Flat Earth/QAnon video. One thing I wanted to comment on--which has been pointed out by others before me--is that the Rey Nobody twist is also an effective storytelling decision because of how it essentially positions her character as being in direct, opposite communication with the villain. In the original trilogy, the hero is revealed to be linked to the villain by family; here, they are linking Rey to Kylo Ren through her explicit longing for the family and belonging that he has thrown away. It was an incredibly clever decision that provided a lot of thematic depth and story that could have been explored throughout Episode 9. It's so rare to see a hero/villain combination where there is a true sense of kinship articulated through the way that loneliness can be both externally imposed (as with Rey) and internally imposed (as with Kylo Ren). I think Rian Johnson is a writer who understand the ways that human characters can have complicated relationships with each other that can't be defined in simple terms. You have to give it the thought that it demands from you to really unpack it.

I'm quite pleased to hear that Rey isn't a long lost relative.

‘I don’t care if you hate this movie, it made me happy’ sums up my feelings exactly. This has been a Hell year for me, and going to a galaxy far far away was somehow the only time I’ve felt at home in months. I’m trying to stop myself from going and seeing it again, because I really can’t afford to - but god it sent shivers down my spine and brought me so much joy 😊

I would actually say that I liked the Last Jedi in SPITE of the Force Awakens. I thought Ep. 7 did a pretty poor job of establishing the characters and making them believable, and was quite disappointing overall. Ep. 8 might be my second favorite Star Wars movie.

I thought the same thing about the ramming scene. Just mouth agape at how beautiful that whole sequence was, and I loved how they put a bullet in the head of the importance of Rey's parents. I also really liked Luke's bookends with twin suns. I liked this movie and I will be seeing it again.

I have watched 5 different reviews and you are the FIRST one to mention how good Daisy Ridley was in this movie. This girl worked so hard on this movie and still it somehow gets ignored.

I love the Rey parentage twist. I put it up there with "I am your father" as a rug-pulling moment. In fact, it is brilliant because it is the *inverse* of the 'I am your father' moment.

Thank you for using "Zukoed" as a verb.

I can respect the decision to present Carrie Fisher's final film as she performed her part in it, but It does leave her passing hanging over how to handle the next film. I was convinced Rey was Luke's daughter and would not have been surprised to see Lando frozen in carbonite to explain who would have left her there and why no one was able to come back for her. The message is the legacy of the Force does not belong to a single lineage, and I do find that to be a satisfying answer.

I absolutely love how it followed the beats of a traditional Star Wars film at first. The Jedi heroine is off somewhere training to be stronger but winds up face to face with the big bad before she's ready. The rebels are basically fucked but they have one last fleeting hope that almost certainly looks like it's going to pan out thanks to sheer dumb luck. The bad guy looks like he may be about to change sides because maybe he's not completely gone. But then Snoke died, and the second he died the entire structure of the film changed. The rebels go from probably gonna be ok to completely fucked barring a miracle. Rey finds out the answer she wanted means nothing. Kylo is now the new big bad and is probably too far gone to save. Just really loved how it took the expectations you would have had for how a Star Wars movie is supposed to go and completely changed it up, and then still brought it around to be all about building up a sense of hope.

"Has he been Zuko'd?" Exactly what i was thinking when i watched the movie.

I agree on almost every count. I love that Rey's parents were nobodies, and her future is not going to be dictated by her bloodline or having a famous last name. I like that the movie is mostly about characters dealing with failure, and somehow creating hope out of that. This tightly focused film, though, really needs to be followed by a galaxy-spanning epic for Episode IX.

I don’t see Rey’s parents being nobodies as being disappointing - if anything, it’s a solid decision to support one of the themes of the Prequel Trilogy: the idea that the Force is about balance. Anakin was not the son of important people - he was chosen by the Force to balance the light and dark sides. Likewise, Rey is likewise chosen to restore balance between light and dark, so her parentage doesn’t matter. Still, given how many “Jim” moments there were in this movie, I wouldn’t be surprised if the next one brought a “big reveal” that Rey’s parents weren’t important, but a more distant ancestor was, solely because “it would be cool”.

This is quite the rewatch after the debacle of episode 9.

I like The Force Awakens. I like the Last Jedi. I like Star Wars. It makes me happy too.

Oh, no. You must have been so disappointed at the reveal in Rise of Skywalker. It makes TLJ worse in retrospect.

I like how it starts all "Peace to the shacks! War on the palaces!". :-)

I had totally forgotten about Poe dunking on Hux. That was beautiful and am in total agreement with you on that.

the hyperspace ramming showed how epic a creative cinematic moment can be. reminded me of the reveal of the storm in mad max fury road.

Thank God. I thought I was going crazy with all these people bashing it as worse than the Phantom Menace which I think is fucking insane.

Every single interaction Rey had with Kylo, especially that weird Kylo shirtless scene, I prayed, "Please do not let them be cousins, please do not let them be cousins, please do not let them be cousins" not that I want them together, it would just be super weird

I think you're emphasizing "Holdo's" (don't know if that's how you spell it) introduction too much. You said it's more of a laugh moment and that it contradicts the importance of her character later on. I'm pretty sure you're getting that impression from the reaction of the audience at the theater you watched the movie in. The audience I was apart of did not laugh AT ALL during that scene and I highly doubt it was meant to be laughed at by the way it's directed.

I didn't find the Rey reveal disappointing at all, but I see what you mean. I just liked it, and it was exactly what I was hoping would happen. I especially liked how Kylo Ren said it, which really worked for me. "You have no place in this story. You're nothing. But not to me." I really liked that and the very end with the random Force sensitive kid and what it means to the saga.

I was okay with Force Awakens on the caveat that episode 8 had really better follow it up really well; unlike the original Star Wars movie, a lot of the characters felt half-finished, but seeing them in Episode 8 I feel like most of them were built up really well and it was awesome? My only issue with the movie I think was a little bit of subplot overload. Like, there needed to be one less subplot and maybe 10-15 minutes shorter overall, even though I'm not sure which one it should have been.

"Has he been Zukoed?"

The only problem I had with Rey's parents being nobodies is her insane level of ability in The Force Awakens. It makes her a bit of a Mary Sue for her to just be super good at the force with no in-story reason. She's amazing at using the force because the plot says she should be, which isn't very satisfying to me. If in the third one there's some kind of explanation that the force itself was reacting against Kylo's powers and she was born with super awesome force powers to balance the scales, maybe, but...it just seems like, Luke needed tons of training to even lift his ship out of the swamp, she barely knows what the force is and can intentionally use jedi mind tricks, that seems like it should be explained.

Dan, it's a credit to your channel and your audience that I've been politely disagreeing with someone about this movie since last night without it ever devolving into name-calling and insults. Kudos.

I loved this film. There were some slow moments and some bits that made me go "eeehhhh," but the awesome bits overwhelmingly outweighed them. Rey and Kylo fighting side by side, the reveal about Luke, the scene in the dark cave, the Yoda scene (finally, a force ghost who does something!), the lightspeed ramming, the kid lifting the broom with the Force...I could keep going, honestly. It was beautiful, it was meaningful, it was complex, it was nostalgic.

I think Hux being dunked on is a bad thing though, like ya he's supposed to be a nazi and nazis are bad, but if the character is treated as a joke how do we interpret them as being a threat. Episode IV would be an inferior movie if Grand Moff Tarkin was treated as a joke Hux was good as he was in VII because he was a competitor to Kylo Ren, he was an obstacle for Ren to overcome and they just scrapped that idea.

I actually really liked the characterization when, after the battle in Snoke's throne room, Kylo Ren tries to get Rey to join him. The way he talks to her is reminiscent of some hallmarks of an emotionally abusive relationship, the "I'm the only one that loves you" Shpeel.

Can I just say how great it was to see Leia have a Force moment that wasn't just about her being sad about someone she loved in peril?

I also loved it. Every single WTF moment of it! On the subject of wonderfully subtle details that showed how well Rian Johnson gets his subject. I noticed that the deliberately costumed and shot Mark Hamill in ways that emphasized his shortness, which plays off so many things, from being an analogue of Yoda, to the original "Aren't you a little short?" moment in his meeting with Leia.

I *ADORE* this movie. I liked Force Awakens and Rogue One a lot but I think Last Jedi blows them out of the water, no question.

The section about how he likes how Rey's parents aren't from one of the great space families hurts

I don’t know if I’m the only one who feels like you went kind of easy on this movie. It’s definitely worthy of praise, and I think you nailed all of those points really well, but there were some serious flaws in the script. For one (and this is where I was particularly disappointed in your analysis) the entire Fin/Rose storyline was a total waste of time that bogged down an already heavy movie. They contributed nothing to the overarching plot in the end and the casino planet was so tonally left of field. It was very clearly only written to keep Fin busy in a story he wasn’t required to participate in. The editing was also a bit weird in places. Never wrong, like with the case of Suicide Squad, but with room for improvement. Snoke’s death, for example, would have been far more effective if we hadn’t been so explicitly shown the lightsaber moving. It robbed the moment of a solid dramatic punch, because the audience has already played the moment in their minds before it happens. The Yoda reveal was also mildly disappointing. Introducing him with a shot from behind did the same thing, robbing the audience of that single gut punch moment. Maybe this is just my personal taste for drama, but it felt like something universal. There’s also the problem of wasted characters. We were told after Captain Phasma’s appearance in the last film that she was going to be more than set dressing in this one, a character as interesting as her description and actress hinted at her being. But no. She was introduced and killed in the same sequence, to little dramatic effect. I think this is an extension of the Fin problem, where he needed to do something both in the story and at the same time everybody else was fighting someone. And then there’s Snoke. Snoke was always intriguing for his mystery, the promise of his potential. Yet in nearly every single instance he was on screen, I was underwhelmed, most of all by his death. Who the hell was he? There’s clearly a story to his deformations that was intended to be told. But instead of being an overarching antagonistic force, he became a tool to make Kylo Ren (an actual interesting character, to be fair) the main villain, without truly changing Kylo much in the process. Is he a different character at the start and end of the movie? He’s committed to the Dark Side, or his interpretation of it, but killing Snoke didn’t cement that. It was an impulsive, rash decision from an impulsive, rash character. There’s also a few other small gripes I had with the film, like the continual comedy that never quite fits (although I thought your point on making fun of space Nazi’s was particularly insightful), the over-reliance on the new force-projection power that we’ve never seen before and a general unease about how I feel about Luke’s role in the story, especially his death. Overall though, I did enjoy The Last Jedi. It had some great moments; the Kylo/Rey team up fight, the Luke/Kylo fight and flashbacks, the light speed kamikaze run. The moment where Luke steps back, horrified when Rey didn’t even shy away from the Dark Side might be my single favourite Star Wars moment ever. But I don’t think I’ll see it again in theatres like I did with Force Awakens though. It’s just a little bit too long, which I could forgive if it felt like all of the almost three-hour story was essential, but unfortunately that just wasn’t my experience.

****SPOILERS FOR TLJ***** I love the reveal of Rey's parentage because it sets up Crylo Ren as even more of an appropriate foil for her. Rey comes from nothing, with a family that evidently did not love or care about her. Ren had a family that loved him, and came a lineage of space royalty and super-powered force users; he was extremely privileged in that regard. Yet despite this, he still choose to be power hungry and insecure (and re-choose this, again and again, throughout TFA and TLJ). To me, having Rey's parent's be junk farmers further highlights that she is actively making the choice to fight on the side of light; she's not a pre-destined, fated saviour figure who comes from a prestige lineage. I think its a democratic turn for the SW films to state that the main heroes don't have to be connected to this One Very Important Space Family, and I like it. Also, I gotta say that I find it extremely transparent that SWs fans single out Rey as a Mary Sue, when basically all of the main protagonists in each trilogy were Mary Sues (at least judging from the characterization from the first movie in each trilogy). I mean fuck guys, Anakin is basically Space Jesus. He was an expert speed racer at 11. He Was Literally Created By the Force. He Was The Chosen One (Who Was Suppose to Destroy the Sith, Not Join Them). It doesn't get more Mary Sue than that. Luke's arc in ANH is so cut and dry Hero's Journey too; he basically spends one road trip with an old religious dude and he can somehow utilize the force well enough to make an impossible shot despite having no training as a *fighter* pilot. He becomes one of the most powerful force users ever (able to defeat his father, at least), despite have about a week's worth of training himself (the timeline is fuzzy, but it couldn't have been more than about a month). It's shown in the prequels that it takes decades of training to gain the mastery Luke did in such a short amount of time. They're all extraordinary people in-universe, who are given unearned powers; yet Rey is the only one that comes from much more humble origins (no prophecies, no important parents). And I think that's pretty rad. I do wish she said done more training with Luke so that some of the more emotional beats of her using the force had more impact. But honestly, every protagonist of these films has been over-powered in some way, so if you're going to fault her for it you may as well fault them all.

Out of curiosity, what was your opinion on Rose? I really liked her as the microcosm of the "little people" we never see in these movies - the metaphorical ant being crushed under the boot of the First Order - and I thought Tran really sold it.

Leia should have been the one to sacrifice herself. Just as Luke passed the torch to Rey, it would have been a way for her to pass the torch to the Vice Admiral character who would then have taken Poe on as a second to groom him for eventual Leadership. Though we wouldnt have had that beautiful reunion in the third act.

The Last Jedi was not perfect. But that's what happens when a creative force takes risks. I loved this movie because it felt like one person's creative vision, instead of a committee think-tank product built on an assembly line. And there were so many scenes that I audibly gasped at in the theater- 1. The light-speed ramming scene. 2. Every scene with Rey/Kylo 3. Luke's last stand against Kylo and the first order, followed by his merging with the force in the sunset. Moments of masterful filmmaking within the context of the Star Wars universe.

Hux was my fave character in TFA specifically because he was a crappy Richard Spencer type trying to get people to take his Tarkin cosplay seriously. Having him be the beat on snivelling starscream in this was wonderful. Im seriously hoping him and Kylo have a full on power struggle in the next one. And that ramming scene would have been worth the ticket alone. First big 'WOH' momemt I've had since the uncut character sweep in 'The Avengers'

I think this movie will win over some people who weren't fond of TFA.

There's some rules to the force, yes. More like guidelines, actually. But the Force is basically Space Magic To Do Cool Shit, so I don't really get people who overanalyse it. People always use that gif of Han saying "That's not how the Force works!", but I don't think the force really works in any one particular way. It's the energy that flows through all the universe that you can connect to and do cool shit with. Brainwash people, sense things, telekinesis, force choke people, the electricity thing Palpatine did... there's probably loads of things you can do with it that people haven't discovered yet.

Spoilers ahead, obviously. I love how they killed off two big theories (Rey's lineage and who Snoke is) by killing off Snoke and having Kylo Ren tell that Rey's parents are a bunch of nobodies, all in one scene. We also don't get an Emperor-type character with Snoke because... well, he's dead, Jim. I did not really like the Canto Bight scenes. It dragged on for so long, it got a little preachy without it needing to be, and it led to basically nothing. I initially didn't like Vice Admiral Holdo. Perhaps it's how she was presented... it's like she was stiff, and contrasting with how Poe was itching to do something (reckless) with the situation, I thought she sucked. But once the plan began to unfold, and when she sacrificed herself to hit Snoke's ship, it was perfect. Tbh good character development for Poe too. I feel that it would've been better if either Finn or Rose have sacrificed themselves to ram the battering ram cannon. It would've been perfect for Finn because at VII we see him running away from the First Order, but now we see him charging them head-on, very willing to sacrifice himself for the Resistance. It would've been perfect for Rose because it would save Finn and cement her crush/love/whatever for him, and it would mirror Paige's sacrifice in the beginning. But nooo. She had to save him, putting the Resistance at risk. Stoned Yoda setting Jedi tree on fire best Yoda. Seriously though, the whole scene basically says that Luke's journey has come to an end and it's time to pass the torch. It was beautiful. I am lukewarm with how Luke died, but I understand that he had to. However, his projection fight against Kylo Ren was fucking amazing. We see how Kylo Ren can get so consumed with his obsessions (with directing the TIE fighters to attack the Falcon, then ordering all AT-ATs to attack 'Luke'), and you gotta admit that Luke floating in trance was really cool. I wish he could've stayed alive a bit for IX, but I'm fine with it. He'll definitely be a force ghost, guiding Rey and haunting Kylo Ren. Superman Leia floating in space best Leia. Seriously though, it would've been a perfect opportunity for them to write off her character (Carrie Fisher, RIP). The scene where Kylo Ren hesitated would've been a lot stronger, because that will lead to more anguish in him for failing to kill his mother and fully embracing his dark side. But noooo, they chose not to kill her, have her in a coma for most of the movie and show up last minute alive and well. And I know Phasma's still alive. I just know it. Overall, it's a mixed bag for me. I didn't feel ecstatic leaving the theater, I felt uneasy. There were amazing moments, there were painfully bad ones. There's a lot more to process, and I'm afraid of how this movie will fit itself into the whole saga. I hope it grows on me. Who knows. However, one comment in reddit that I read has put it to a better light. Basically, it goes like this: This movie is of failure, as all second films of the trilogies were. We see all the characters fail, mostly because of hubris, then learns from those mistakes and grows from them.

Dan saying "good morning Amy" at the beginning brings joy to the world.

Is that some extra credits swag in the back?

I loved this movie. It's really unfortunate that the rise of skywalker kindof ruined it. I guess the universe does revolve around a couple dozen people.

I loved most of the movie. I wish the Finn/Rose story had more meat to it. I wish the main threat is a "chase" that makes no sense had been removed and replaced with something better...anything. I wish Laura Dern's character was just slightly more likeable; I wish she has a moment like Leia did to say to Poe, "Dude...you're great. And, I get it you wanted to help, but you are not in charge, so you don't get to know what they plan is all the time - trust more, think more." Then she could have died, that would have worked better for me. What I loved most was the Luke/Rey dynamic of a recusant teacher and overeager student was both funny and serious. I liked the ongoing connection of Rey and Kylo throughout teh movie, and I like how they fight and come apart at the end. And, Luke goes out like a Jedi master...her talks, fights, and ends as I ALWAYS imagined an true Jedi would. This film redeems the idea of Jedi not by saying they are great but by having the master and student say, "Yeah...they Jedi Order was sorta dumb." Yet they still have Luke do the most Jedi thing ever, and have the most clever fight ever.

The Last Jedi takes long-time star wars fans out of their safe spaces, and I like that.

The magic of Rey's nobody parents is the very heart of Star Wars. People always ask who she is, as you would with a nobody. Like the examples of the underclasses, especially the end, it tells us that a nobody is capable of great things, and that the weak and underprivileged can resist the powerful.

Now do "Rise of Skywalker"!

I'm not a Star Wars guy (or LOTR or Star Trek). I didn't watch the films until my early 20s maybe 7 years ago. Though Ep 7 was fine, i only watched them for my wife. But i absolutely loved Ep 8.

And then "The Rise of Skywalker" goes to unnatural lengths to explain how she does in fact trace her lineage from few of the characters on whom the fate of the galaxy seems to rest time and again. It undoes all the intrigue and the setting up of her character in the last jedi, she was supposed to be no one but they decided that what the hell, we'll bring back palpatine and make her his granddaughter once again swapping the less satisfactory but more appealing approach towards the plot for an deus ex machina where a character (palpatine) has been off stage and is very important and then suddenly dropped to explain her lineage, which I personally think was not a good decision. Felt like dumping that information just to move the plot, if they did want to bring him back then I think they should have shown it at the end of The last jedi, or at least dropped hints out of it @Folding Ideas as you say, the three steps- Set up, Foreshadowing and conclusion.

I love the fact that Yoda was a puppet and not CG

I am so surprised that people actually was drawn into this movie. It was completely shallow and pointless.

I loved The Force Awakens. I was disappointed with The Last Jedi, though I have only seen it once and am planning on watching it again, for sure. I agree that TLJ has great moments, and it takes bold, and probably good steps for the franchise in general, but I vehemently hated the fact that it felt so out of synch tonewise with its predecessor, TFA. When Luke, for example, took his lightsaber from Rey and just willy-nilly chucked it away for laughs, sure, I chuckled a bit, but I felt cheated. It just seemed to me that Rian Johnson was going out of his way to take the expectations that J. J. Abrams set up in his movie, and fuck them.The two movies just don't feel connected, to me at least.

My deepest condolences past Dan. I loved this movie too. Such a shame they just ruined everything in the next one. My question is where do they even go from here? Everything since has been prequels. It's like they created a hard stop for star wars canon. When you've had fleets of planet destroying starships and force users that can destroy said fleets on their own it's a tough act to follow.

I need you to make a video The Rise of Skywalker related. For closure.

RE: ramming the ship at light speed. I find it interesting that you found that to be so original. something about the imagery seemed very familiar to me from various anime, it certainly has a strong Akira vibe.. but also it seemed to me that this, along with a few other scenes (in particular the montage while describing the force), were very out of keeping with the cinematic style of star wars. Anyway, thanks for the upload, and keep it comin' thick and fast :)

“Rey’s parents are either part of the Space Family or they’re nothing” Surprise! It’s both!

Most low-key meta movie I've ever seen

The instance of Holdo's introduction is indicative of the problems with both TLJ and TFA. It's gimmicky. It's not well thought out or written. She appears out of nowhere for the sake of plot convenience. You mention that one will enjoy TLJ if they enjoyed the characters from TFA, but that begs the question of what characters? The characters in episode seven are hardly established at all and certainly don't change much over time. There's Rey, she's scrappy and good at anything she tries, and she changes by learning the force. Po is a hot shot fighter pilot who has virtually no screen time and doesn't even hint at changing. Kylo is an angsty teenager who continues to be an angsty teenager. And then of course there's Finn, and he's the most tragic of all since there was some real potential for his character, but instead he's just a sometimes-cowardly ex-stormtrooper who overcomes his occasional cowardice because he has the hots for Rey. Their story is a poorly written rehash of a New Hope. There are no characters there to enjoy, nobody that I would want to see more of. These new star wars movies would be better, but at the same time utterly unmemorable, if they were part of a stand alone franchise instead of trying to shoe horn themselves into the existing star wars canon. But then again, they wouldn't sell nearly as well (in the box office or with merch) without the star wars brand.

I totally agree with your feelings about the lightspeed ramming. When it happened, the entire theater went dead silent. It was an amazing moment.

so after the honeymoon phase of TFA , the biggest complaint from the fans was that it was too safe. now here we are, and TLJ subverts so many expectations.. and the fandom is angry about it. what on earth do they want?

I really didn't like this movie when I first saw it, and still dislike parts that took me out of the movie, but from this video I can definitely see it more from the point of view of someone who really liked the movie and I'm really glad it made people feel something.

as someone who has been a huge Star Wars fan pretty much since I could talk this film really devastated me emotionally ngl (I mean that in a good way)

I don't really like Star Wars. I'm more of a Trek-o. I loved The Last Jedi. Super surprised you didn't mention the mirror sequence which was stunning visual communication with framing and temporality in parallel with the framing of Ren and Rey across space. But yes, ram the ships, eat the rich.

One of the criticisms ( honestly I didn't have too many) of the "Force Awakens" was how structurally similar it was to "A New Hope" plotwise. I was worried that Disney was just gonna remake the first movies all over again, just with a more racially diverse cast. But lo and behold I sit down to this movie and not only does "The Last Jedi" go in it's own direction... but for the span of the movie I had no idea what direction it was going! The movie had so many twists and every time I thought I knew where it was going, the story does a face turn and ups the stakes again! And that is a GOOD thing! Movies shouldn't be predictable. They should be able to defy my expectations and that's what the Last Jedi did. I am now honestly curious to see what's going to happen in the next movie.

A lot of people seem to hate this movie. I'm not sure where I stand yet. A lot of *fantastic* stuff, and I was never bored, but definitely some things I'm mixed on. First time I feel like I genuinely need a second viewing to fully digest a Star Wars film. But everyone whose opinion I trust when it comes to film has been loving it, which bodes well, and I've enjoyed all of Rian Johnson's other work more on repeated viewings. Plus, the film is incredibly imaginative with its story and its additions to the mythology. I'm really looking forward to Johnson's trilogy where he has a clean slate to work with, as it was clear that he was more interested in exploring some of the characters than other ones in this film.