FEEDBACK: upNXT Movie Review - The Last Jedi

General
1

Allo, allo, allo Davie Portman here requesting all of your feedback for this month’s upNXT Movie Review - Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi! Braden and I have been reviewing every single Star Wars film including the Holiday Special and spin-offs and we are so, sooo close to the finish line!

We would love to hear all of your feedback for maybe the most polarising film in the whole Star Wars catalogue. We will be recording on Thursday evening and posting on our free feed!

In the meantime you can check out all our previous movie reviews here: https://www.postwrestling.com/category/podcasts/upnxt/upnxt-movie-review/

We also have many more to listen to on our Patreon:

Really look forward to hearing all of your feedback!
Ahoy!!

1 Like
2

As far as I am concerned this film doesn’t exist,it is a cluster as a standalone film and as a part of the final trilogy.
I hope Disney are happy with ruining the saga.

3

I am a life long fan of the series, and a bad movie or two won’t change my opinion of that. If a movie “ruined your childhood” perhaps you just haven’t grown up(?)
This movie veered off into completely unexplored, and unexpected, territory. And you have to respect that. The previous movie was pretty much a paint by numbers experience that was fun, but really added nothing to the story.
This one tries to do a lot, and sometimes fails (the entire Canto Bight side story, for example) but overall, it was a dark disturbing entry into the series. It wasn’t gonna be the most popular movie in the Skywalker saga, but it opened up an entire universe beyond that one family. 3.5 outta 5

4

Three words: This movie sucks.

Jake from the Windy City

1 Like
5

I think I’m on an island here but I don’t think this movie is that bad. It had plot issues and I didnt like the casino subplot.

But I loved the kylo ren and Rey dynamic. I loved anything Luke Skywalker.

And the salt planet and final battle with Luke I thought was pretty good. This movie does benefit from different viewings. Its definitely better than the prequels (all of them) but comes under expectations from Force Awakens.

1 Like
6

Jesse in Taipei

I am on record as not liking The Last Jedi. In fact, I have expressed this opinion ON an upNXT podcast.
It always bothered me that many seemingly right-thinking people liked this movie, though. People such as our own Davie Portman, Brian Mann, and Jeopardy! GOAT Ken Jennings.

In anticipation of The Rise of Skywalker I re-watched TLJ. Having seen it again, and then having seen the dross that is TROS, I have something to say:
The Last Jedi is a good movie.

That’s right, I’m turning. Let it not be said that I’m totally stubborn. What I hated about this movie upon first viewing, more than anything else, was the treatment of Snoke. I wanted to know who this character was and his backstory. Instead, it felt like they wrote him out because they were lazy.

Seeing what J.J. Abrams did with TROS, it’s clear that the flaws of this movie are less the fault of Rian Johnson and more the fault of Disney’s lack of forethought. How you can pay $4 BILLION for a movie franchise, hundreds of millions more to film a trilogy, and you don’t even bother to have the multiple directors sit down and plot this thing out is mind-boggling.

As a stand-alone film, TLJ is mostly good. Yes it’s too long, yes there’s no good reason why Holdo didn’t just tell Poe her plan, and yes the side-plot on Canto Bight seems unnecessary. However I did enjoy the moral of that sub-plot: war is never as simple as good vs. evil. TLJ expanded on the themes introduced in Rogue One and added nuance and ethical questions not present in other Star Wars films. I also loved everything with Rey and Kylo. I thought both Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver performed their roles excellently and that Kylo’s belief that the past should be destroyed was a powerful character trait. I also thought the motif of unrequited love between Rose, Finn, Rey, and (perhaps) Kylo was very subtle and intriguing.

Of course I understand the criticisms of this film because I have made them all myself. But when I look at TLJ on its own, I can’t help but think this trilogy would have been better had Johnson written the whole thing.

Take Care

2 Likes
7

I will never understand the sheer amount of hatred this movie gets. I’ve heard every single criticism thrown at it and it always sounds contradicting and boils down to the the story going in a direction they didn’t like. But watching it for the first time and forgetting about all the fan theories and hype I settled in to see what Rian Johnson has done, I was transfixed by what he had made. It was a Star Wars movie that took risks and pushed the characters new and old in directions I didn’t expect. The rashamon story where we slowly uncover the most likely truth of what happened between Luke and Ben is tragic, and I love seeing that push Luke to a point where he had to question what he was doing. I even think the casino scene gets way too much unnecessary flack, it explored and opened up the Star Wars universe in new and different perspective as we get a glimpse into the world of these people with no real connection to the dark side, who prove to be a different type of evil, profiting off both sides of the war. If you don’t like the movie that’s fine, everyone is entitled to their opinion but anyone calling it a dumpster fire in my mind isn’t willing to look past their own preconceptions of what a “Star Wars movie should be” that they miss a movie that did stay loyal to the themes of hope in the face of what should be a hopeless situation while expanding on what it means to be a hero and a fighter for good. I will argue the last shot of the young ranch hand who stares up at the stars moments after casually demonstrating a connection to the force is easily one of the most inspirational shots in any Star Wars movie
Sorry for writing a dissertation, enjoy everything you guys put out

2 Likes
8

Hey Yo,

I saw Episode VIII opening week in the cinema, just as I had for 7. I even remember going dark on social media for the better part of a week as I knew some friends going to watch it opening night.

I remember walking out of 7 and feeling on top of the world, thinking we’d have to wait the better part of 5 years just to see the epic conclusion to a 9-part adventure I’d watched the first 6 so many times as a child on VHS.

Sadly, Episode VIII is a horrible Star Wars movie (in my oppinion).

Meaningless characters include,

  • Supreme Leader Snoke
  • Captain Phasma
  • Maz Kanata

This is not the Avenges, I don’t want that stuff in my Star Wars. STOP TRYING TO BE MARVEL!

  1. From Luke lack of faith with The Force now, throwing his saber away to comedy training routines where Rey almost injured the locals while Luke drinks green milk.

  2. Holdo’s ultra super secret plan that no one can know, even when Poe threatens high treason. How did no one else know, or try to stop Poe?

  3. In carrying out Holdos plan she effectively changes the way Hyperspace is used in the Star Wars universe. I mean what’s stopping the First Order moving their ships into position and effectively charging down the Resistance with continued Suicide Hyperspace charges onto their fleet.

  4. The whole Chase / Casino / Escape side-story takes forever, yes even for a Star Wars movie. How do they one specific guy but some tweaker guy will do?

  5. Finn is about to surface himself to save the remaining Resistance members, but Rose says we win with love…okay…WTF? I’m sorry but now your both stranded in a battle field.

  6. Luke Skywalker is not the Luke Skywalker we know, yes even Mark Hamill has public said as much. How can someone who had so much hope for his father become a Jedi Master is about to kill is student (a family member) in his sleep?

If the prequels are remembered for the sand line, then the sequels are remembered for the towel line.

This movie can best be summed up by one simple image…

Screenshot_20191220-234406
Screenshot_20191220-234406960×540 286 KB

Unpredictable does not equal a good movie,
87 thumbs down.

9

Jalen from Pickering,

I really enjoyed episode 7 when it came out. But TLJ and Rogue One turned me off of Star Wars in a pretty major way. I remember asking my friend, “wtf is happening?!” when Leia turned into space Mary Poppins. Finn and Rose ended up being a complete waste of time, and Finn’s sacrifice being thwarted was dumb on multiple levels. And poor Poe had his entire storyline based off of illogical and contrived movie tension.
I did like Kylo and Rey’s relationship for the most part though.

The new trilogy is like the WWE: expensive, pretty, and filled with talented performers. But overly long and with stories that don’t go anywhere and/or insult longtime fan’s intelligence.

10

Michael from Newfoundland.

Oh God! Why? Why?

Fuck the porgs. Fuck everything about this film. Fuck George Lucas for selling it. Fuck Disney for fucking it up.

I’m out.

11

The ship crashed into a Star Destroyer while travelling through Hyperspace, in silence. That’s it, that’s my feedback.

12

David H (Syko45) from Arlington Tx. The problem with this movie isn’t that it was an unexpected outcome. The problem was that nothing progressed. The narrative thrust of the trilogy was stopped in its tracks for the sake of being unexpected. Ultimately Rey and Kylos connection was made a bit stronger, and thats it. The fact that this movie ends with like 7 or 8 members of the rebellion remaining is totally pointless since part 9 they have seemingly all kinds of people. It completely ruined the trilogy. There are people that know what I’m talking about,and then there are people that like this movie.

13

Ahoy!

Upon second watching I like VIII more than I initially did. As a feature length movie it works, the plot for the most part moves forward fast enough, and the acting is good by many (Driver in particular).

Some fans rag on VIII but I think we ought not try to force the franchise into one’s own desires of what it should be, as the production is more enjoyable if we just accept the simple plot of good guys vs. bad guys.

Still, VIII has many of the long running weaknesses of SW:

  • SW continues to rerun WWI (see the trench warfare on the planet) and WWII memes over and over. There’s even a “Dreadnought”, COMPLETE WITH PERISCOPE VIEWER!!!

  • There are fighter vs. bomber sequences over the dreadnought. I’m kind of expecting SW writers to introduce a character called “Red Baron” next!

  • There is so much wrong with Star Wars movies in regards to plot devices, but VIII took the WWI and WWII re-enactments much, much too far.

Important admission by Luke: “The legacy of the Jedi is failure…. hubris”. For sure. It is laid out over 9 movies that the Jedi are a death cult.

Yoda: lifts one little finger and boom, lightening from the sky burns down the sacred tree and (we assume) texts of the death cult. Seemed a bit violent but again the Jedi are into burning things down.

What I noticed this time watching:

  • Luke does not leave footprints when on the salt flats - too subtle for me on first viewing.

  • Also in the final scenes onboard the Millennium Falcon - when Fin pulls out a blanket from a drawer, there appear to be old books there. (Are we to presume that Rey took them from the old cult sanctuary before Yoda burned down the tree? Rey does show up in IX with old Jedi texts.)

In summary: sure, lots of things to complain about in VIII (see my addendum below of my personal gripes), but this episode is still needed to tie together the story from VII, and my personal favorite part of VIII is Luke sacrificing himself to buy time, echoing back to how his master Obi sacrificed himself for Luke.

6.5 Whole-roasted-porgs-on-a-stick out of 10.

Ahoy!

===========

Little things, and big things, that bug me about VIII:

“Bombers”! Do you know why (in real life) bombers are called “bombers”? Because they DROP bombs. And why do bombs drop? Because bombs want to fall to the center of mass of the Earth like everything else (including you and me.) We call this phenomenon “gravity”.

So why, please tell me why, are their “bombers” in orbit? Why are the bombs acting like the dreadnought has a greater gravitational pull than the planet? Why are the bombs dropping out of the bomb bays AS IF the bombers are just flying near the surface of the planet???

If you think me too stuck on this issue, the problem is the opening sequence is obviously set to replay WWII-style battles. We are supposed to be reminded of WWII. Well if I am supposed to be reminded of WWII, I’m also reminded of how objects in WWII actually worked.

"Shuttles" : So Fin and Rose go off in some sort of shuttle. But does the shuttle have “light-speed” capabilities??

Rey on the Falcon: After the destruction of Snoke’s ship and Ben and Rey end their dual, somehow Rey escaped, but how did she find the M.Falcon? We’re missing a rescue scene by Chewbacca.

1 Like
14

Chris from Pennsylvania,

I have a lot of thoughts on what I believe to be a severely underapprecaited film, so I’ll do my best to organize them clearly.

To put it in wrestling terms, I feel like The Last Jedi is a card with a couple of five-star matches, but also with a couple of duds on the undercard. The things that are bad about the movie are small. Sure, Leia floating through space is weird, and a lot of the stuff regarding Holdo’s plan seems like unnecessary filler, but those things don’t leave a lasting impression for me.

The things that do stand out to me - first and foremost how this movie attempted to take the sequels in a new and exciting direction. The Force Awakens was a good movie, but it borrowed so many plot points from A New Hope it felt more like a reboot than a sequel. I loved that Kylo Ren decided to take control of his fate, and not be another Vader subservient to an Emperor. I was thrilled that they weren’t going to shoehorn Rey to be a part of this giant, incestuous Star Wars family (so much for that thanks to The Rise of Skywalker.)

I thought the character arcs of Kylo and Rey were also fantastic in this movie. From the beginning when we see him smash his mask, we see him reject being a second-rate Vader and instead trying to be his own person (another thing Rise of Skywalker decided to run back.) Kylo and Rey are both trying to figure out who they really are in the midst of this intergalactic war. They each think the answer is bringing the other over to their side. The entire scene in Snoke’s throne room is phenomenal. The fight with Rey and Kylo working together is visually stunning and one of the best in all the movies. And then when he tells Rey, “You’re nothing. But not to me.” as he begs her to join him was excellent. Adam Driver really is the best part of the sequels.

Finally, I really enjoyed the darker side of Luke Skywalker. I don’t understand all the hate for how he was portrayed. First of all, it’s been 30 years since Return of the Jedi. People change over the course of 30 years. And also, Luke went from this teenager whose greatest thrill in life was going to buy power converters, to being thrust into the middle of a fight for the fate of the galaxy. He discovers he can use the force, finds out the father that he thought was dead is actually the galaxy’s biggest villain, then watches him die in front of his eyes. Then, he’s basically tasked with the responsibility of making sure this centuries long order of the Jedi survives. That would mess anybody up. While training Rey, he rightfully calls out the arrogance and hypocrisy of the Jedi. In all these movies all they want to do is “bring balance to the force” yet the way the go about it is completely casting away and hunting down anyone who embraces the dark side of the force. True balance would be someone equally in tune with the light and dark sides, which is where I thought we were going with the Kylo-Rey dynamic in this movie. Instead, this trilogy ends with Palpatine saying “I am all the Sith” and Rey saying “I am all the Jedi.” So much for all that subtlety.

Anyways, apologies for the length of this and thank you if you actually read this all. Long story short, the great things about this movie are so great that for me I’m able overlook the flaws, and I appreciate the risk taken in trying to let the past die and go in a new direction with Star Wars movies.

2 Likes
15

It’s incredible how divisive this film is. By my count the love/hate is still pretty evenly split.

6 like the movie. 6 dislike the movie.

Couldn’t tell: @Adam.from.the.Street

And i’ll break the tie by saying I really like Last Jedi. I didn’t when I first saw it but I encourage many of you that dislike the movie to give it another shot like @picjapan and @Jesse_from_the_6.

The scenes between Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver is some of the best acting and directing of the entire series and the “force time” concept created by Rian Johnson was a brilliant new storytelling device and a natural extension of the ways we had seen the force used before.

A lot of others big complaints feel really small to me. Especially about Luke’s behavior as a hermit and teacher. His mentors were Ben Kenobi and Yoda. Two Jedi that abandoned the universe and went into hiding after they failed. It’s not a “betrayal” of the character that he followed in their footsteps.

I do think it’s fair to criticize Lucasfilm/Disney for not keeping the series on track which led to Episode 9 being a real mess. But Disney can’t win in these situations. When they do fire a Marvel or Star Wars writer/director because they don’t “follow the plan” they get bashed as “too controlling” and “stifling creativity”.

In this case I’m glad Rian got to make The Last Jedi his way. And while it created a challenge for Abrams he still had an incredible cast, hundreds of millions of dollars and brilliant creative minds at Lucasfilm and he failed badly.Then again, maybe I just need to give Rise of Skywalker another chance too like I did Last Jedi.

16

Scrump from the PWTCAST

Bang, bang, boys.

I have a lot to say about this movie so I’m going to get right to it.

Visually looks great, has some solid action sequences but I just have so many issues with it. I have no problem with a Star Wars story not revolving around the Skywalkers being told. I loved Rogue One, liked Solo, and are super into Mando right now but this IS supposed to be chapter 8 in the story and Rian Johnson decides to veer off course from what JJ brilliantly set up for him to tell another story. Again, nothing wrong with non Skywalker stories but this IS supposed to keep telling that story.

Laura Dern’s character JUST had to tell Poe what the plan was and they could’ve avoided half of the plot but instead she doesn’t and it makes no sense. Poe is clearly a high ranking official but let’s not tell him information he should be privy to.

-Leia flying literally made me say “oh fuck off” audibly in theaters. The powers of the force have never been defined, I get it, but she should’ve died to further Kylo’s descent into madness especially since we’ve never seen or been told of her Jedi training until episode 9.

Luke is supposed to be THE Jedi. Trained by Obi Wan and Yoda and being able to over come the dark side, he’s the fucking man. But in this film he’s a surly old man who scoffs at the notion of being called upon to take down the first order as if that’s something that would be uncharacteristic of him. On top of him trying to kill Ben because he sensed evil goes against the entire arc episodes 4-6 built for him. There’s nothing wrong with PTSD Luke, there’s a way to tell that but Rian again tells a story that makes no sense to the point that Mark constantly spoke up about it but was a professional and did what he needed to do.

You bring in Brianne of Tarth to play Captain Phasma and the whole character is wasted. She fights twice and gets jobbed out both times and then told “she’s a great character in the books”. Fantastic. I don’t read the books I watch the movies. Her armor is made from the shop Padme used in episode 1 but unless I’m reading the books I never learn that.

The Casino scene is a giant waste that ultimately leads to nothing more than Benicio turning on them and then never showing up again in episode 9 to get his comeuppance, Rose blabbing on about economic disparity and war profiteering in the galaxy, and again just leads to nothing in episode 9.

Finn gets completely wasted by the dumb side mission of the Casino. He’s got so much story to tell in that he’s a defected storm trooper but they kind of just yada yada that after using him to get into the imperial ship. They split him and Rey who’ve got such good chemistry in Force Awakens to stick him with Rose who’s Chemistry with Finn is that of a lamp and a dying turtle, and again if Laura Dern just TELLS him the plan he doesn’t have to waste this movie in a casino.

But my biggest gripe with the movie is Rey’s backstory. The whole mystery of episode 7 is who are her parents, what happened to her as a kid, and why is she such a good force wielder. Instead of giving the fans what they want, Rian wants to subvert expectations and not have Rey be some lost scion of an ancient family but instead just a kid from a desert world in the middle of nowhere.

Makes no sense how she could go toe to toe with the son of Leia and Han Solo if she’s just a nobody. If they wanted her to be a nobody they could’ve at least made her a Knight of Ren who got their memory wiped if they really didn’t want her related to like Obi Wan or Luke.

But instead of making her character interesting and complex they brand her a Mary Sue by just making her born incredibly powerful and having to have done literally no work to make it so.

Granted we learn her true history in episode 9 but come the fuck on.

Sorry for the 5 paragraph essay, I just hate this movie for having ruined what I thought was going to be an awesome new trilogy.

-Scrump

17

I see this comment a lot from people who hated Last Jedi and see it’s version of Luke Skywalker as a colossal failure. And I just have to wonder what trilogy did you watch that gave you the impression that Luke is this bad ass warrior who’s saved the universe? The only lightsaber fight he won in the entire trilogy was when he gave into his anger in Return of the Jedi to get the upper hand on Vader. And then it’s Vader who saves him by stopping the emperor.

Luke wasn’t resistant to the pull of the dark side. He could also be impulsive and angry. And was trained by two hermits who failed themselves.

I think the sequel trilogy could have done a lot with Luke and make it work because of the 30 year time jump. And that while I understand that Mark Hamil wasn’t happy with this direction it’s still a story arc that I think made logical sense. And even if Mark didn’t like it he acted the hell out of it and made it work.

2 Likes
18

Sorry about that, that’s a thumbs up from me

1 Like
19

I love this thread so damn much. :smiley: