Star Wars VIII : The Last Jedi [WARNING: SPOILERS]

Anyone looking for a new movie review podcast should check out Now Playing. They're not sponsored or supported by any adverts (which means you don't have ad reads or sponsor segments) and they are passionate film lovers which really comes across, without seeming like uber geeks.

That said, I got in to the podcast years ago thanks to a recommendation from someone on the forum and it's been amazing. Their Last Jedi review is worth a listen as it nicely summarises almost all the gripes I've read in this thread, plus it discusses some I haven't.

http://www.nowplayingpodcast.com/episode.htm?id=1604
 
It gets me that they decided to casually kill off Akbar, so they could bring in the sneering, condescending character of Holdo only to kill her off too. Couldn't they have just had Akbar die a heroes death instead? At least people might have cared.

Also what's with Rose 'saving' Fin from the door blower upper gun? "save what you love" she says to him. Really? did she even know what was going on at the time? She saved Fin and put everyone else in mortal danger as a consequence. Another character too stupid to care about.

I just sat in the cinema shaking my head from start to finish.
 
pitkin said:
It gets me that they decided to casually kill off Akbar, so they could bring in the sneering, condescending character of Holdo only to kill her off too. Couldn't they have just had Akbar die a heroes death instead? At least people might have cared.

Also what's with Rose 'saving' Fin from the door blower upper gun? "save what you love" she says to him. Really? did she even know what was going on at the time? She saved Fin and put everyone else in mortal danger as a consequence. Another character too stupid to care about.

I just sat in the cinema shaking my head from start to finish.
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Agree with Ackbar, it was so casually mentioned, "oh everyones dead on the bridge including Ackbar". Wtf.
Yeah that part was dumb. Then Finn managed to drag her back to base somehow unscathed and unnoticed -_-
 
Seems to me that Rose saving Finn, and her speech about 'saving each other' was a pointer to the direction of rebellion in the post-jedi SW universe. A move to Leia's version of the force, rather than Luke's. See also Leia's rebuke of Poe near the beginning. It's a consistent message throughout the movie. A belief in the goodness of people, not in the Force.

Luke himself had come to this realisation. The Jedi order should die with him. And it has.

it's just a shame it won't be fully realised in IX, with Carrie Fisher's death.
 
Saw this movie yesterday lets say I wasn't impressed

complaints with the movie (not in order)

  • they as the resistance conveniently find/ approach a mining planet with a defence system
  • Kylo ren falling for the jedi mind trick at the end
  • also no Luke vs Kylo duel ...........
  • Kylo ren not pulling the trigger
  • Kylo ren killing snoke in the way he did and in this film means that he is/was an irrelevant character as he didn't really feature in force awakens
  • captain phasma use in this movie
  • Snoke for not killing Armitage Hux for the point below
  • Armitage Hux for getting fooled should have blown up the x-fighter
  • kylo ren / Armitage Hux should have just bombed the mining planet.
  • Leia surviving the vacuum of space after being blown up
  • rey not losing an arm /JK

    Probably forgetting other stuff
 
If Disney really wanted to target the Chinese audience with Star Wars with an "actor":

1. They would have needed a "Chinese" actor or actress, not an "Asian" actress. That's just how people are over there. It's not like African American groups, where it's "Blacks" vs "Whites". No no. It's "Chinese" and other nationalities (Malaysian, Philipine, Taiwanese, Japanese, etc). A Hong Kong or China actor/actress is needed, not "Asian".
2. Then of course, do not have the "Asian" lead being a female who falls for an African American male Lead. This is just going to lead to a big audience absence over there as well. The "Asian" lead needs to be able to stand on their own in such a situation (an issue of national "pride"). Not a fawning flower.

But none of this was to pass, and it would only push the China audience to see even more than Star Wars isn't something to watch. That's just how people are over there.

It's really not that hard to get really in the end. But Disney seemed to have dropped the ball hard this time over this for the China market.

And of course, a lot of the ideas in The Last Jedi are... well. Decades behind what is understood by the general populace in Asian countries.

1. Jedi "ARE" special; not a dime a dozen.

Trying to tell everyone being a Force user or Jedi/Sith whatever new name they want to use is freely available for everyone is going to get stiffled incredulous laughs. In China, there's been a long history of "Sages" (the equivalent of Jedi in mythological nature) and they were not "common"; often "Chosen" by Destiny or the divine (The equivalent of the Force), or trained to such levels. There are those who train (Obi Wan Kenobi), and then there are those who are born great (Rey, Luke, Anakin, etc). But they are 100% NOT common. Now here it's saying everyone can be one and the audience knowledge would say that's bull; they know they can't just train to gain the skills these "Sages" demonstrated. So the idea goes right in the face of the audience that has held these ideas for who knows how long, so of course they'll reject the Star Wars universe even more as childish fantasy (not worthy of their time).

2. Light/Dark, Jedi/Sith, not the same; even for the Gray (shade)

Back to these "Sages" (Jedi), where they often confront each over throughout the (sometimes mythological) recorded history in China, who was Light, and who was Dark? Everyone knows it's up for debate already, but what these "Sages" (Jedi) did isn't in question. Neither that of which side they were on. They were simply the equivalent of Star Wars "Force Users", and the general populace labelled them as "Light" or "Dark" sided depending on which side they (the populace) were on or whether they helped them or not.

But even that wasn't the key point. These "Sages" (Force Users) are capable of doing horrendous things to obtain their goal, or being most merciful to do the same goal. The most important thing in all cases, was what these "Sages" "chose" to do; not what they did in the end.

3. China is Wuxia spoiled already, which ideas on the Force are similiar to; bring the Action, not the Ideas

Then there's already plenty of Wuxia drama's in China that already cover the ideas above and have done so for decades. So trying to make this a selling point in China isn't going to work. They have the philosophical side down already in essence, bring on the action. And if The Last Jedi was anything, it most certainly wasn't action packed.

There's more, but the basic jist of it is: Don't try to pass something to the audience in China as something "new or revolutionary" (and that you must see) that they've had in abundance for decades.

Basically, Disney did everything wrong for the China market.
 
pioneer2000 said:
I wouldn't know but sounds like you think they would be targeting the Vietnamese market rather than the huge Chinese market... which is a bit dumb.

I never actually even said she was Chinese. Whoopsie for you!
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No, I don’t think they should choose actors based solely on race, gender, other characteristics or popularity in certain nations. They should be chosen based on acting ability. However, this is Disney and Lucasfilm so that’s not what we get.
 
Would have made absolute sense if the red fellas defending Snoke were the Knights who had given up on Kylo. But that would have required maybe explaining something, anything, of who Snoke was so Nah why bother.
 
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