The Leia dead in space scene was the worst I've ever seen in a Star Wars film AND a steal from the first Guardians of the Galaxy. Took me ages to recover in the film. Even Williams' evocative scoring of the scene couldn't save it. All the scenes with Rey and Kylo were great and fairly sizzled. Fantastic final scene. Good comedy moments mixed with some clunky embarrassing moments. Overlong and over scored. As much as it wanted to be the opposite of (semi remake) Force Awakens, it still felt familiar, more often than not. When the rebel troops got ready in their trenches on the not-snow-but-salt planet, waiting for the AT-AT'S, I laughed out loud.
The movie was too long and could have easily been cut down by taking out all that entirely superfluous plot with Finn and Rose.
Finn was a pretty useless character in TFA (they should have expanded Poe's role to combine the two characters) but in TLJ he does absolutely nothing. He goes to Canto Bright and fails to get the code breaker. By a stroke of luck (hate these coincidences) they find another code breaker.... and then fail totally to sabotage the hyperspace racking doohickey.
In fact the only contribution that Finn makes is getting the resistance picked off as they escape the frigate.
And just a word about Rose - honestly, it was like Lucasfilm just picked a cosplayer and plunked her into the film. What an utterly useless and quite dull character.
solium, I like you, you're one of my best friends, but you're a tough critic. I'm an easy critic. Like Kirk said in STAR TREK VI, "We're both extremists, reality is probably somewhere in between".
solium, I like you, you're one of my best friends, but you're a tough critic. I'm an easy critic. Like Kirk said in STAR TREK VI, "We're both extremists, reality is probably somewhere in between".
Truer words have never been said. You be surprised to learn I found things in this film I liked, and things they touched on but sadly didn't develop. I'm not a huge fan of the Star War films in general out of 4 and 5, but for what it's worth this is the third most entertaining of the lot.
(1) Finn serves no purpose in this franchise. He was conceived only to attract the minority audience. Same as Rose in this film.
(2) I don't care how much ppl rag on Laura Dern. Even with a stupid hairdo she's a magical presence on screen.
(3) This film forwards nothing from The Force Awakens. And actuality disposes of a lot of it instead.
(4) I LOVED Jesus Lea! They just went nowhere with it. (I know this is the #one most hated scene in the film)
(5) Luke really didn't train Rey anything. She trained herself. So, why she stick around?
(6) This film has some of my favorite alien creatures in a Star Wars film. The rabbit horses, the ice crystal foxes, and yes those cute adorable porgs. :-P
(7) The one liners were cringe worthy. Never chuckled not once.
(8) The light speed jump into a whole armada of bad guy ships was the coolest visual effects I've seen in a very long time!
(9) Luke just like Han in TFA was treated like a pathetic sad old man and just as haphazardly disposed of.
(10) The whole build up, the last stand, the climax never really happened. It kinda started then came to a screeching halt. I was expecting an epic climatic ground assault. Thumbs way down.
(11) Snorks double manipulation was brilliant and one of the high points of the story. I also love how there's a connection between Ren and Ray. But then moments later his brilliance as a mastermind fails to save him from the most obvious of assassination attempts.
(12) The scene between Luke and Lea had my heart in my stomach. Ugh!
(13) Chewy is a nothing character without Han Solo to work off of.
(14) Poe IS Starbuck! WFT Disney?!
(15) I found much of the tension gripping between Emo Boy and Mary Sue. (Sorry I’m always sarcastic) I truly liked what they were doing and for the first time interested in their development in the series.
(16) Oh and Chrome head! Everyone bitched how underused she was in TFA's, and while she presumably died on the Star Killer thing, miraculously returns just be underused and killed off again!
solium, I like you, you're one of my best friends, but you're a tough critic. I'm an easy critic. Like Kirk said in STAR TREK VI, "We're both extremists, reality is probably somewhere in between".
Truer words have never been said. You be surprised to learn I found things in this film I liked, and things they touched on but sadly didn't develop. I'm not a huge fan of the Star War films in general out of 4 and 5, but for what it's worth this is the third most entertaining of the lot.
I don't always agree with your reviews, but I do respect them. Your a smart guy and I'm not the brightest bulb in the pack. Your reviews are a lot deeper than mine and always interesting.
Yes, Capt Phasma (??) has got to be the most useless and ineffectual character since that Bob Fett dude.
Appropriate she was killed by another entirely superfluous (and IMHO, uncharismatic) character.
But your analogy to Fett is a good one. The Star Wars universe is replete with characters that have such great potential but which simply fail to deliver. Plasma, Fett (both of them), General Grevious.
I think Phasma is the Kenny of the franchise-I expect her to turn up again in Part 9 only to be bumped off horribly, as a kind of running joke.
Finn would have served more of a purpose if Poe had been killed off in Part 7 as originally intended. Then he'd have taken over that role. I liked Rose and I thought she did give Finn more purpose as a character.
My only gripe really was the slow motion chase across space between the huge First Order fleet and the tiny Resistance one.
Elsewhere I found it funny and entertaining. I was amazed so few people seemed to pick up on the stable boy and the broom at the end.
I was amazed so few people seemed to pick up on the stable boy and the broom at the end.
I noticed it.
I saw this movie with my family last night. Of course, I really liked it. Not perfect, but very enjoyable. I'll have to see it again to let it all sink in...
(17) Hated the random modern day political messaging. Child slavery, animal abuse, and arms dealers. All important issues, but NOT for a Star Wars film.
My favorite scene in the film is the Yoda scene, it was beautiful!
Yes, that was a good one.... "Page turners they are not."
I'm glad you liked it too my friend!I also loved when Yoda used the force to control the lightning to burn down the force tree. Did you notice at the end Rey had the jedi books which is why Yoda burnt down the tree, unbeknownst to Luke?
My favorite scene in the film is the Yoda scene, it was beautiful!
Yes, that was a good one.... "Page turners they are not."
I'm glad you liked it too my friend!I also loved when Yoda used the force to control the lightning to burn down the force tree. Did you notice at the end Rey had the jedi books which is why Yoda burnt down the tree, unbeknownst to Luke?
NO!! I didn't see that! Thanks for pointing it out. I'll watch for it the next time I see it....
Did you notice what stormie was pointing out above? About the broom and the stable boy? I don't know if it was supposed to be subtle; I forgot to ask my family if they noticed after we left because we were too busy talking about other parts of the film...
