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#Post#: 40997--------------------------------------------------
The Last Jedi (spoiler thread)
By: Neumatic Date: December 24, 2017, 1:14 pm
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Lot to unpack here.
And obviously spoilers, so don't be readin' this thread unless
you've seen the movie.
Let's start out with the positives:
It looks amazing. Especially in IMAX, I imagine 3D would have
looked awesome too (I think I'll try to see it in that context),
but the cinematography really put you into those worlds, nothing
felt fake or matted in. The spaceship stuff looked amazing too,
I think I complained that they weren't in space or spaceships
that much in TFA, well now there's a whole thing on a starship.
Oh, and I LOVE Snoke's throne room. That big red wall? SO
Korusawa. The Red Guys (who I assume are the other Knights Of
Ren, despite being listed as "The Elite Praetorian Guard") and
the gold outfit reminded me of the Coppola Dracula in the best
possible way.
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The Jedi stuff is interesting, they don't just give us new
powers (or I would argue new ways of VISUALIZING the powers),
but by keeping it so close to nature and so on, they stress the
simplicity of it. You hear of this ancient Jedi temple, but
it's an old tree with, what, six books in it. And doesn't Luke
say "there's nothing in here you don't already know?" I love
that. It reminds me of Dogma, "you took a good idea and you
made a RELIGION out of it." I love the idea that the Force
belongs to everyone (how could it not? It connects to ALL LIVING
THINGS), but the way Luke described it sounded more like
disaffection rather than him finally grasping a simple concept
and trying like hell to explain it to another person, like how
water is wet.
I really thought we were going to get more of a Force
Renaissance because of that, the idea that the whole religion
is... well, not false, but a form of control, combined with the
idea that the Resistance and the First Order were decimated in
the movie (how beautiful was that shot where ALL those ships
crack in half?) really made me think we would get a "Golden
Compass" sort of thing where we just venture straight into
unknown territory. Except we double back on good vs evil so we
can have Luke finally face Kylo. As much as I like that scene,
it doesn't feel like the climax to the movie the throne battle
does.
Also, if the idea is tearing down old structures, it seems
really weird to me that Snoke is just some guy. I would have
thought he would be an Aeryn Targeryan type, just this overly
imbred Jedi from ages past who kept his life extended far past
the breaking point so he could maintain control and keep things
the way they've always been, doling out approval to Jedi and
Sith as the sole arbitrator. Like, a literal expression of
nobility and blood supremacy that's been the hallmark of both
Jedi and Sith. Doubly so when you think about the imagery
inherent in destroying that big red wall and seeing all of space
behind it.
I thought for sure Rey would join Kylo, or they would unlock
some new power (I could see Kylo being able to kill people just
by looking at them), something weird and messed up that would
throw us all for a loop. Although again, they did intro a lot
of new abilities, I just thought he would go Avatar mode like
Thor in Ragnarok.
Oh, and I totally can see where Mark Hamill is coming from with
disagreeing with Luke's actions... but at the same time, it
still feels like it's true to his character. He does have
darkness in him, he's arrogant... I can see him having a moment
of weakness that would bring everything tumbling down. How
could he not? He's human. We all do things we disagree with.
The stuff about the stories we tell ourselves and how we fall
for our own bulls*t was interesting... I like how Finn still has
this reputation that he feels like he has to live up to, it's
like a macrocosm of that. He's not brave, strong, or
particularly clever... and he's always trying to run away, but
he's still slowly coming around to that because that's the
person he wants to be, even if he doesn't know how too yet.
As for the practical movie, I felt it was paced weird... like, I
wasn't sure when the first act was over... I don't think that's
going to be an issue with rewatches, but I couldn't tell where I
was. There wasn't enough segmentation of the sequences for
there to give you a sense of momentum, you know? The Rose/Finn
stuff moved the most places, but it didn't feel like enough
because it wasn't the A storyline (it's hard to tell which was
the A storyline, actually). And it felt weird that "we have
just a few hours, we can go on TWO missions?" That felt
strange. It would have made more sense if they weren't with the
fleet to start with, if they had been marooned or were bringing
up the rear, that might have felt more natural... having to race
against time to go in one direction instead of doing a donut.
Or it could have taken place over, I dunno, more than a few
days? Like months, perhaps?
I can't really dissent structure properly b/c it was a one-time
viewing with no time bar or anything to refer to, it just felt
kind of blob-like to me. Visually there's a nice progression
with the ships, how the Resistance fleet gets smaller and
smaller and the First Order ships get bigger and bigger, but
it's not enough to sell that progression.
There's an article on Vox about all the backlash the film
received,
HTML https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/12/18/16791844/star-wars-last-jedi-backlash-controversy<br
/>and it's definitely an interesting read, but here's a block of
text about the pacing that I thought was worth pointing out.
[quote=Vox Article]ut when you reach the third act, and the
thematic impact of this plot clicks into place (as the
Atlantic’s David Sims has written about here), it becomes more
impressive within the whole of the film. Put simply, Johnson’s
film, on a first watch, seems to have a lot of pieces that don’t
fit, because he’s not planning to make them fit until the film’s
very end. And that can be taxing to watch.[/quote]
Also in thoughts to timing, I don't have an issue with "how
quickly people learn to use the force" now. Because I realized
just being aware of it and tapping into it is the big
breakthrough. Yeah, there's skill involved in using it or
fighting with a lightsaber, but I think it's a "once you hear
it, you can't unhear it" type of thing. "How did I never notice
this before?" The power and balance of the universe suddenly
becomes big and obvious, that's the trick, and the ones we've
seen learn it are already a little aware of it.
I'm glad to see Phasma back so that she and Fin could
physicalize their beef, but it felt like too little. Underused,
just like last time. And I understand that's due to her working
on Game Of Thrones, but man it would have been fun if she had
more **** to do. Like when Rose and Finn are in prison, and she
walks in with a couple troopers, that could have been a lot
scarier than the beach police, right? Or if she was like a
Captain Bligh figure to the other stormtroopers now, since Finn
escaped, ANY hesitation or even HINT of independent thought is
wiped out. Couldn't you see a Trooper trip or something, or
fall out of formation, and she just walks up to them and shoots
them in the head or whip them or something. "Let that be a
lesson to the rest, any deviation is unacceptable."
The Leia in space thing just looked weird. The issue is that
the stuff that establishes that, being able to pull bodies and
sh*t happens AFTER the scene, so you have no idea what's
happening. And given that she survives, what was the point?
It's cool to see her use the force finally, but it feels so out
of left field. Wouldn't it have worked if she could close the
breach in the wall with her mind? Like she's holding onto
something and reaching out? Wouldn't that have the same effect?
I dunno.
I love that Poe got more sh*t to do, but at the same time I
wanted him to be put through cr*p on a planet b/c after TFA he
was kind of boasting that he got to just chill in London while
everyone else was in the desert. I do like the he finally got
to meet Rey at the end, that was cute (although I instantly
imagined him saying "we didn't meet in the last movie.")
A little thing, Benicio's ship? Love it. I have no real idea
what it looks like, but I love that about the tech in these
movies, it's almost treated like "yeah, you've seen a starship
before, it's no big deal." There's no establishing beauty shots
like a commercial or anything, it's just there.
I thought Laura Dern was going to stick around, she seemed like
the natural replacement for Leia... so it's interesting that
they didn't go in that direction. I suppose in the new
micro-Resistance there isn't a place for someone like that
anyway, so no big deal, I suppose.
I have also no issue with Rey's parents being nobodies who don't
matter, they always said it didn't and it's part of the theme of
the movie. If the Force belongs to everyone, it sure as h*ll
belongs to a literal no one.
I do wish we would have seen what regular life was like under
The First Order, it sounds like they control everything but I
want to know what it looks like. Also do love that they have
the writing on their sleeves, very SS. But I was kind of
disappointed by the casting. Something I liked about TFA was
how many of the First Order were young, too young to remember
how bad life was under The Empire, so they're making the same
mistakes again. Very timely, I think, with the current
resurgence of Nazism and White Supremacism, so I feel like an
opportunity was missed there. The way people were reacting, I
thought for sure the movie would be blatant about "these people
are total monsters and if you identify with them, you're f*cked
up." Surprised that they didn't do that.
I'm sure there's more, but I can't think of anything else at the
moment. I'm glad I finally saw it (especially on that big big
screen) with my family... wish other Efe could have come along,
we'd have been geeking out all night, but alas it wasn't to be.
Oh well, a good excuse to come back.
#Post#: 41004--------------------------------------------------
Re: The Last Jedi (spoiler thread)
By: Chiprocks1 Date: December 26, 2017, 5:39 pm
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I've already bookmarked this post until I see the flick.
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