THE LAST JEDI
Dec. 15th, 2017 07:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nrgburstI thought it was a great film, with echoes of Empire Strikes Back starting with a rebellion base in terrible peril and ending with a "darkest before the dawn" tone.
Poe Dameron/Leia/Holdo's arc and Rey/Luke/Kylo spiraling towards each other and than away again after the climax were utterly compelling.
There were a couple of times when I teared up- Leia's farewell to Holdo (I SHIP IT) and ahhhhhhh Finn and Rey finally reuniting!!! Actually, all of Leia's scenes made me emotional, especially her reunion with Luke. :(
On the other hand, it was way funnier than Star Wars films usually are- "Do you think you got him?" THE SHOULDER BRUSH MOMENT! Even Snoke slapping Rey upside the head when she tried that old Jedi lightsaber swipe trick. XDDDD And it actually got in a political message about how the war wasn't the biggest problem: the capitalist machine and rampant inequality were. (Ironic, considering that Disney just swallowed 21st Century Fox like the megamonster it is. XD) Plus the visuals were just breathtaking- the endless CGI spectacle scenes in the prequels were tedious and bloated, but these Star Wars were grand and exciting and used to punctuate character moments. Hux and Kylo's pissy sniping will never not give me life! XDDDD Crait was gorgeous- I loved how disturbing the salt surface made it look like the earth was bleeding. SO DRAMATIC I LOVE IT.
Still overall, TLJ didn't grab me emotionally as much as TFA did, even though I still came out with that general feeling of WOW.
I can see why so many people (only 56% popular approval on RT now vs. 93% of critics) are so dissatisfied with it? I think it has a lot to do with how invested we all were in theories and these characters. I wanted Rey and Finn and Poe being mentored by Luke and Leia; growth in the relationships whose seeds we'd seen planted. I wanted Rey's incredible natural gift to stem from the unending Skywalker Family Drama that was Episodes I-VII. But instead they all went off in vastly different directions, almost as if to spite all the shippers and internet theories with multiple pieces of canon evidence. I've seen the words OOC a lot describing Luke, and I'm just like, no. It wasn't what you expected, but I think the film showed exactly how understandable it was for Luke to despair and realize he'd been horribly blinded by hubris. And for Ben to react just as violently when he caught him in exactly that moment.
I'm especially sad to say I didn't love Rose despite her fantastic intro (Hahahah she took out a deserting hero she was moon-eyed over!), and her and Finn's arc was ultimately pointless and interrupted the pacing of the better arcs. She also got a fantastic line that totally rang hollow: "It's not about destroying the things we hate. It's about saving the things we love." That has zero emotional truth to it because we never saw them really care for each other. Ditto the way she screwed up his kamikaze mission. Argh.
Still, I like the way TLJ sets up the Star Wars world to spin around more than Terrible Skywalker Decisions. There's a spark left, and despite some disappointment, I still think it's a brilliant one.
Poe Dameron/Leia/Holdo's arc and Rey/Luke/Kylo spiraling towards each other and than away again after the climax were utterly compelling.
There were a couple of times when I teared up- Leia's farewell to Holdo (I SHIP IT) and ahhhhhhh Finn and Rey finally reuniting!!! Actually, all of Leia's scenes made me emotional, especially her reunion with Luke. :(
On the other hand, it was way funnier than Star Wars films usually are- "Do you think you got him?" THE SHOULDER BRUSH MOMENT! Even Snoke slapping Rey upside the head when she tried that old Jedi lightsaber swipe trick. XDDDD And it actually got in a political message about how the war wasn't the biggest problem: the capitalist machine and rampant inequality were. (Ironic, considering that Disney just swallowed 21st Century Fox like the megamonster it is. XD) Plus the visuals were just breathtaking- the endless CGI spectacle scenes in the prequels were tedious and bloated, but these Star Wars were grand and exciting and used to punctuate character moments. Hux and Kylo's pissy sniping will never not give me life! XDDDD Crait was gorgeous- I loved how disturbing the salt surface made it look like the earth was bleeding. SO DRAMATIC I LOVE IT.
Still overall, TLJ didn't grab me emotionally as much as TFA did, even though I still came out with that general feeling of WOW.
I can see why so many people (only 56% popular approval on RT now vs. 93% of critics) are so dissatisfied with it? I think it has a lot to do with how invested we all were in theories and these characters. I wanted Rey and Finn and Poe being mentored by Luke and Leia; growth in the relationships whose seeds we'd seen planted. I wanted Rey's incredible natural gift to stem from the unending Skywalker Family Drama that was Episodes I-VII. But instead they all went off in vastly different directions, almost as if to spite all the shippers and internet theories with multiple pieces of canon evidence. I've seen the words OOC a lot describing Luke, and I'm just like, no. It wasn't what you expected, but I think the film showed exactly how understandable it was for Luke to despair and realize he'd been horribly blinded by hubris. And for Ben to react just as violently when he caught him in exactly that moment.
I'm especially sad to say I didn't love Rose despite her fantastic intro (Hahahah she took out a deserting hero she was moon-eyed over!), and her and Finn's arc was ultimately pointless and interrupted the pacing of the better arcs. She also got a fantastic line that totally rang hollow: "It's not about destroying the things we hate. It's about saving the things we love." That has zero emotional truth to it because we never saw them really care for each other. Ditto the way she screwed up his kamikaze mission. Argh.
Still, I like the way TLJ sets up the Star Wars world to spin around more than Terrible Skywalker Decisions. There's a spark left, and despite some disappointment, I still think it's a brilliant one.
no subject
Date: 2017-12-16 06:43 am (UTC)and the way holdo-poe-leia thing played out is one of my favorite subversions of the whole movie, and yes i ship it too, and damn, that last jump.. amazing.
no subject
Date: 2017-12-18 04:36 am (UTC)Literally the whole theatre exclaimed when she made that jump. A couple "Holy Sh*t"s hit the ears of my kids. XD Kamikaze literally means "wind of the gods", and wow, THAT WAS WHAT THAT WAS.
no subject
Date: 2017-12-17 01:47 am (UTC)Also absolutely loved the bit with the mirror, and once I saw where they were going with Rey and Kylo, I was surprised by how compelling I found it. This one actually made me like Kylo as well, which I did not before, even a little bit, except as his SNL self-parody because Adam Driver has such perfect deadpan delivery.
I liked that they made Rey "no one" who came from "nowhere" because it fixed one of the biggest issues I had with the prequel trilogy: Midichlorians. The reason I loathed the midichlorians explanation for the Force was it changed something that I thought was supposed to be this all-encompassing energy that touches everyone into something you're either predestined for, or not. Getting away from the Skywalker legacy made the Force accessible and universal. The fact that Rey-from-Nowhere is a naturally talented Force-user means anyone can be a naturally talented Force-user, and that was really powerful for me. Plus what Luke said about it being the height of arrogance for the Jedi to think the Force is a "power" that belongs exclusively to them - it felt like a direct slap in the face to all the fanboys who get territorial about new fans getting into it for the first time and not knowing everything and trying to keep people out. And boy, did this franchise need that slap.
(I also really loved Rose, but I've taken up enough of your space and honestly need to just do my own write-up.)
Gotta get planning on the rewatch!
no subject
Date: 2017-12-18 05:01 am (UTC)I was totally surprised by Yoda too! Such a great surprise!
Yeah, I was all LMAOOOOO at Kylo Ren before. This time he had layers that made him far more interesting and understandable, if still not redeemable. THAT FIGHT WITH REY WAS FREAKING AMAZING! And then the way they turned that trope on its head, ahhhhhhhh! <3 AND SHE STILL WOOOONNNNN! And the kyber crystal for the lightsaber is still intact! :D That symbolism is just <333333
Yeah, the Jedi/Sith always came from everywhere though? Like Maz is Force sensitive, Sidious found and trained Darth Maul before he turned Tyranus- it was never this Pureblood breeding thing, especially because Jedi never married and had kids as a rule. It's just unexpected because the Big Twist in SW was Luke I am Your Father and oh yeah, Leia is your Twin Sister (HAHA Imagine shipping THAT back then only to have the next movie bring it CRASHING DOWN!) I love how this new wave of SW films is shaking things up though. SUCH GREAT STORYTELLING.
Anyway, looking forward to your writeup! :D
no subject
Date: 2017-12-18 06:32 am (UTC)Yes! Totally my impression.
Ditto. AHHH.
I enjoyed it, but it made VERY clear from the get-go that this was Not Your Momma's Star Wars Movie. It is very faithful to key elements, of course, and it keeps the story moving forward relentlessly. The visuals also slot perhaps a bit too neatly into the movie run so far (only more aesthetic, maybe).
I missed it emotionally, but I think I did not expect it, really? The opening had our heroes scatter, each on very different quests, and so many of them. Still, such a divergence from TFA.
Well, she was projecting, wasn't she? She very clearly cares about him -- she cared about him before they even met, and she literally does follow him to the ends of the universe...or he follows her. UNCLEAR. :) My point is, she is smitten with Finn from the get-go, and nothing he does disabuses her of the notion he is an amazing man.
And frankly, Finn dying...no. Just, no. I'm grateful to Rose there (especially as it would have been pointless a Black dude's death -- Luke appears to allow the Resistance to be whisked away to actual safety, after all.