Star Wars: Episode VIII: The Last Jedi

[Anders]

Exactly. There was never any indication that Luke would act that way in that situation, even for a moment. In fact, when faced with a far more dangerous situation and a villain that had already committed atrocities, he still saw the good in that villain and chose not to kill him. And on top of that, his actions were vindicated, thus instilling this belief in him even further. There is absolutely no reason Luke would decide to kill kylo except the writers suck.

This is a textbook example of what you call "acting out of character" and all the flowery voiceover in the world can't help that.

Yeah, I don't know if Luke would actually consider killing Ben. It just doesn't seem in his character. I would assume up until that point training new Jedi was going pretty well. I would like to think that Luke wouldn't think about killing him, but maybe if he was seeing this dark side flare up, to maybe coax Ben into not becoming a Jedi, or somehow trapping him in mundane chores/tasks to keep him away from training, or even isolating him. Ben, sensing this exclusion, grows angry and decides to split. I dunno.

I really dislike the flashbacks, only because (in my opinion) SW works better being a straight forward, linear story. It makes it more epic. Flashbacks feel too TV-ish.

Yes, kill the flashbacks.

[tree_]

I'm still having trouble with ghost force lightning. Did anybody have a good reason for this yet? Why is this the first time we're seeing it in the SW universe?

[tree_]

Why did Yoda suddenly show up here? Why didn't he show up and help Luke before, during his downward spiral over 30 years? Apparently all Yoda needed was a sentence or two to make him give a shit again.

[tree_]

Has anybody had a good counterargument to the stupidity of the whole Holdo/Poe conflict? She says "Hope is like the sun. If you only believe in it when you can see it, you'll never make it through the night"... so she's basically saying, "Poe, you need to listen to me and follow orders even if it looks like I'm completely incompetent and letting everyone die." What kind of lesson is this? Blindly follow authority?

Poe should've taken over as Admiral and started kicking ass at this point. More wasted potential for good storytelling.

[tree_]

The timing of that 'iron that looks like a transport' joke is really bizarre... considering it takes place directly after the scene in which a mutiny takes place to save the lives of the resistance. Jarring tonal shift. Seems like something outta Space Balls.

[tree_]

Rey saying "I can feel the good in you" to Kylo is basically plagiarism from the OT. It is unearned in this movie and it feels poached. I don't know why Rey believes in Kylo... they do a poor job of getting there. It might make more sense if Luke were the one who were trying to turn him. That may feel more earned. But we don't like that old grump anymore...

[tree_]

Where did Holdo get her gun? Where was she hiding it? She's wearing a skin-tight ball gown... Did someone give it to her?

[tree_]

Where did Captain Phasma come from? She's just... back now. We were left to assume she was dead from the last episode... Some kind of explanation would've been nice.

[tree_]

Leia suddenly shows up from her coma.. unafraid of the mutineers... somehow knowing everything that's going on and shoots Poe with the stun gun... why wouldn't she send in a subordinate to do this?

[E.H. Ruddock]

I really wish we would have gotten more of a Snoke backstory. So far he's just some guy that became super fucking powerful with the force and liked the dark side, then BOOM he's dead. Maybe we'll get something in IX, but I doubt it.

[tree_]

Suddenly Leia and Holdo are giggling about how silly Poe is... the whole point apparently is to absolve Holdo and humiliate Poe and his silly plans... .... why can't a droid pilot the ship, or autopilot? Why is Holdo the one who stays behind?

[epilogue]

I'm still having trouble with ghost force lightning. Did anybody have a good reason for this yet? Why is this the first time we're seeing it in the SW universe?

The reason is that there are always new powers/strategies being explored. It's the first time we see it because it's the first time we see it. Maybe it's the first time it's ever happened. Why does that bother you? Wouldn't the first time we see it bother you no matter what? If Yoda had done it in Return of the Jedi, would you have been bothered and wondered why we'd never seen it before? There is a first time for everything. And I like that we keep expanding the mythology in such ways, personally.

[epilogue]

Why did Yoda suddenly show up here? Why didn't he show up and help Luke before, during his downward spiral over 30 years? Apparently all Yoda needed was a sentence or two to make him give a shit again.

We don't know when exactly Yoda last appeared to Luke before he appears in TLJ. Keep in mind that Luke cut himself off from the Force. So there is a large swath of time where Yoda didn't appear because Luke was cut off.

However, before that, we don't know exactly how long it's been. Yoda may have appeared and tried to help him immediately after his academy was destroyed. We haven't been given all of that info yet, so we just don't know.

[stip]

that guy was great. It's too bad he died

[stip]

Name your five things you loved about this movie. This is a test.

I’ll wakt.

5. Porgs

aw man, Porgs are cool!

I have a porg in my office

[epilogue]

Has anybody had a good counterargument to the stupidity of the whole Holdo/Poe conflict? She says "Hope is like the sun. If you only believe in it when you can see it, you'll never make it through the night"... so she's basically saying, "Poe, you need to listen to me and follow orders even if it looks like I'm completely incompetent and letting everyone die." What kind of lesson is this? Blindly follow authority?

Poe should've taken over as Admiral and started kicking ass at this point. More wasted potential for good storytelling.

There have been many, many good counterarguments to this yes. But you won't like/accept any of them, so I won't bother reposting them again. I really liked Holdo/Poe's dynamic in the film and think it's really strong.

[epilogue]

The timing of that 'iron that looks like a transport' joke is really bizarre... considering it takes place directly after the scene in which a mutiny takes place to save the lives of the resistance. Jarring tonal shift. Seems like something outta Space Balls.

Valid point. I agree. It's an odd moment.

[tree_]

I'm still having trouble with ghost force lightning. Did anybody have a good reason for this yet? Why is this the first time we're seeing it in the SW universe?

The reason is that there are always new powers/strategies being explored. It's the first time we see it because it's the first time we see it. Maybe it's the first time it's ever happened. Why does that bother you? Wouldn't the first time we see it bother you no matter what? If Yoda had done it in Return of the Jedi, would you have been bothered and wondered why we'd never seen it before? There is a first time for everything. And I like that we keep expanding the mythology in such ways, personally.

That's fine... I guess... it just seems like it would've happened in one of the previous movies. If something new is introduced after all this time, it deserves some kind of explanation, I think. Like, Luke saying, "Yoda?! HOW'D YOU DO THAT?!" And Yoda saying something like "I've been quietly growing my powers all this time and now I'm ready to help" or some other attempt at an explanation... If it happened in ROTJ, that's fine.. we're still learning about everything at that point...

[stip]

Exactly. There was never any indication that Luke would act that way in that situation, even for a moment. In fact, when faced with a far more dangerous situation and a villain that had already committed atrocities, he still saw the good in that villain and chose not to kill him. And on top of that, his actions were vindicated, thus instilling this belief in him even further. There is absolutely no reason Luke would decide to kill kylo except the writers suck.

This is a textbook example of what you call "acting out of character" and all the flowery voiceover in the world can't help that.

Yeah, I don't know if Luke would actually consider killing Ben. It just doesn't seem in his character. I would assume up until that point training new Jedi was going pretty well. I would like to think that Luke wouldn't think about killing him, but maybe if he was seeing this dark side flare up, to maybe coax Ben into not becoming a Jedi, or somehow trapping him in mundane chores/tasks to keep him away from training, or even isolating him. Ben, sensing this exclusion, grows angry and decides to split. I dunno.

I really dislike the flashbacks, only because (in my opinion) SW works better being a straight forward, linear story. It makes it more epic. Flashbacks feel too TV-ish.

I agree in general. I think this one worked because you saw the same event from multiple interpretative perspectives

[epilogue]

Rey saying "I can feel the good in you" to Kylo is basically plagiarism from the OT. It is unearned in this movie and it feels poached. I don't know why Rey believes in Kylo... they do a poor job of getting there. It might make more sense if Luke were the one who were trying to turn him. That may feel more earned. But we don't like that old grump anymore...

Are you watching this again as you post these questions? Or are they coming to you after the fact? Either way, it seems like the movie has a hook in you on some level and that's interesting.