Star Wars: The Last Jedi Review

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yo. We are in the midst of attempting to try

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allow us to meander all over the place for an

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just a a story not necessarily like a topic like

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episodes are going to be a little rough but what

we're looking for to do is to talk about like

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kind of steer clear of just continuously talking

about the same thing. So it would be kind of

like, think of it like a hot take you have with

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we could talk about a movie, but that would be

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mind, I think we'll just go. Go right ahead and

have the first one on this first episode be or

with the new format at least Steve and I talking

about Everyone's favorite thing to talk about

right now in the geek stratosphere, which is

the last Jedi. Oh, yeah So after that long -winded

meandering introduction Steve what did you think

what what was your Okay, so we've each had like

a couple of days to digest what we saw the what

we saw of the film, right? Yeah So what was your

not how you feel about it right now, but what

was your initial reaction? My initial reaction

was I kind of disliked it greatly just because

it was Basically taking everything I knew about

Star Wars and destroying it I mean, literally,

that's what the film did. Right, right. I mean,

is there anything else that you didn't like about

it, or is it just that? It was that, and just

a minor note here for anyone that hasn't seen

the film, although if you haven't, what kind

of a geek are you? Spoilers. Yeah, there's going

to be spoilers. I didn't like the whole moping

around Luke type thing. I didn't like the...

The timing and the pacing of the film the way

that you know Ray is supposed to be on Act two

and then and then the rebel Alliance is fleeing

from the First Order And then how Snoke was just

basically a useless villain Like all this this

build up of this, you know, I mean there really

wasn't that much build up either anyway But you

kind of with him being the supreme leader you

would think that he would have been something

more ominous than what we got But I think okay.

I think there's I think there's the Snoke that

was you know, the menace in the galaxy in the

interim between return of the Jedi and Now right?

Yeah, and like we we've never We never saw him.

He wasn't somebody from the prequels. He wasn't

somebody from the original trilogy. He was just

this He was just a construct and we or like the

fans built him up They put all that stuff on

there like like there's so much. I just felt

like he should have had I don't know More purpose

than what we got like I don't know I think I

think contextually he He filled his purpose,

but anyways, so I don't want to get to how like

I just wanted I'm trying to just sorry I don't

keep meaning to interject but I just wanted to

jump in there on that one little branch because

Like so much of what I've seen with this movie

People have the same opinion as you but it keeps

coming back around to like it keeps coming to

stuff that There is no basis for you to think

that like and I'm not saying you're wrong and

feeling that way And I'm not saying anyone is

wrong for feeling the way that they do. I'm not

saying that I'm just saying like for me Star

Wars exists like obviously we've had books We've

had comics, but Disney threw all that stuff out

the window And now there's a very small pool

of what is actually considered to be continuity,

right? Yeah in Canon and people just spent the

last two years coming up with their own headcanon

and I'll just I'll just leave it off right there,

but I just wanted to The way people were talking

about this. It's like that you you think that

they did something that they That But there was

no basis for the way that yeah where those opinions

are coming from anyways, so Few other things

like as far as like the giant space race of running

out of gas thing that was kind of I don't know

It was kind of annoying to me a little bit To

some regards and then phasma I don't see what

the fascination is with the character. I mean

essentially her characters basically a stormtrooper

Boba Fett with It's gonna say it's Boba Fett.

Yeah, and and serves like a couple lines more

than Boba Fett actually had you know if you count

his screaming and basically just goes out like

you know like the Joker in the animated series

of Batman just kind of disappears and then reappears

later on but yeah I don't know those are really

my main grapes and then the fact that they killed

Luke that was because I was kind of expecting

Luke to stay alive for the episode 9 well I mean

okay so there's those are my main pet peeves

okay I left the movie, first of all, dumping

on Star Wars the way that they did, the mythology,

all that, I loved all of that. Sitting down and

watching the movie, I loved all of that. Even

the part in the beginning where everyone built

up in, again, everyone built up in their heads,

what is the significance of the lightsaber? and

I literally, I wish I would have leaned over

to my wife so that I would have evidence of this,

but I literally, like 30 seconds, the scene switches

to them being on the island and Rey is handing

him the lightsaber, like while it's still in

her hand, I literally said in my head, I said

the best thing that could happen right now is

for Luke to chuck it off the side of the island.

And that's what he did. And that's what I got.

And immediately, right there, I knew what this

movie was going to do to my expectations. And,

like, I do... But that said, there was some stuff

that just, like, grated on me. Like, I don't

care for... I didn't care for the casino scene.

Nope, that part was just a giant waste of time

for me. I didn't care for that. the space chase

was... it wore on me the longer it went on because

nothing was happening. Yep. And there was a lot

of nitpicky things that came out at the end.

I didn't care for the look of... I felt the Rey

-Ren team -up fight looked really bad. I think

it was because of all the red. It could be that

like it just it it did not look It didn't look

as stylized as like the the prequel fights Well,

I would have even loved to have seen something

like akin to the Luke Vader fight from Empire

Strikes Back. Well, but Okay, but again that

was them like that was when You know, you've

got That the look in that fight Was more fighting

with broadswords. Yeah, right the prequels brought

in this whole notion of It's a lightweight sword

that does a lot of damage So they got really

fancy with the fighting style and that carried

over to like the Clone Wars the TV show where

it got Even more crazy because it was just computer

-generated And so I was expecting to see that

like there's this whole talking about like underlying

threads of like characters and things being a

letdown like Ren is a letdown. Like, Kylo is

a letdown. He's supposed to be this great fighter,

but it has not come across as any more than an

angry child swinging a lightsaber. Oh, I know.

That's what I've noticed through the whole last

two films. I was expecting that scene to be Ren

just destroying everybody and Rey just kind of

helping to clean up the mess. Like, there is

nothing, at least that we haven't seen anything

that says Rey is as good of a fighter as she

is. Like, I feel like that entire, there's no

setup for what she does in that throne room.

No. Okay. So, but again, that's just me geeking

out and getting really nerdy over the whole thing.

And then I kind of got, I got really taken aback

when It dawned on me when I was driving home.

I was like that entire movie Like it takes place

in less than 24 hours. Mm -hmm, but now My my

my dislike of it was I I didn't because I don't

think this ever happened with the Star Wars movie

So this is where it'd be interesting to have

a conversation with like multiple people make

this like a longer thing but we're not gonna

do that like the for There are gaps of time in

between each episode of Star Wars. Where there's

like character changes and arcs that occur and

character growth that occur that we never see.

Right? Yeah. But I feel like this is going from

episode seven to episode eight. It literally

starts where it ends with no passage of time.

And that the the no passes of time the concept

of time seems to get thrown out the window And

so there are character changes character arcs

that I feel like they happen But they feel more

like mood swings Because they happen so quickly

yeah That that was something that kind of bothered

me. I actually This was kind of it was kind of

long Like it and so like they but and uh going

back to like the whole casino thing the reason

that had to happen is because they put every

character except for ray on in the rebel base

and so if you're gonna have them flee like they

have to like everyone's on that ship so you all

of a sudden your cast is just on here and they're

just trying to last long enough to do whatever

they're gonna do So you have to break them out

and you have to have somebody go somewhere. Otherwise,

you end up with a really boring story. I think

that that was probably the sloppiest part was

that whole dynamic of having to go to the casino

and then go through space before they landed

on Crait. Right. Once they were on Crait, things

picked up again. Right. But Benicio del Toro's

character, the one that they actually picked

up. That was such a waste to me. Yeah, he was

such a tool in the movie and he could have been

done so much better The one thing that I think

they could have changed about his character that

would have redeemed that entire character in

my mind was Because they're in the hangar right

and then he's he sold he sold them out And he

says like he goes this week They blow you up

next week. You blow them up, right? Like if he

had been the one in the ATST Instead of What

was driving the ATSD? I feel like it just would

have come back around because again his character

flip -flops all the time Like he's he's got his

money. Why not just help him get off the off

the off the ship Yeah, you know you could have

he could have been like another like you know

chill smuggler, dude But I you know I'm wondering

if we'll ever see him again I don't think so,

but I think he was kind of like the rough -around

-the -edges version of a Lando. Right, and he

could have been the new Lando. And that's what

I was hoping for, and we didn't get it. So, okay.

So, I guess we should move on to the things we

like, because we're getting down to the 8 -minute

timer here. Things I liked, I liked the force

projection Luke Skywalker on the battlefield.

Yeah. That was totally different something I've

never seen unless it was in like Clone Wars or

something which I haven't watched but I really

liked that I was I was thrown a back and I was

like Oh Luke's actually gonna fight in this battle

and and I liked how polished he looked compared

to the island and then the fact that Ren was

just losing it and Luke was still standing there

after everything fired on him and Then he taunts

Kylo and then still manages to fight him until

he kind of disappears But it was just such an

epic battle. And again, I was sad to see Luke

die, but, you know, he if he can force project

himself, that just shows his power. And if Yoda

can, you know, physically reach out from the

force and smack Luke in the head with his cane.

Then that means that Luke could still come back

in the ninth movie and be a force projection

like like Yoda was in this one. Yep. So. physically

interact with them if he wanted to so I really

thinking about like what this movie did to Star

Wars like I really like a lot of what this movie

put down my my my complaints with it were just

that it just felt bloated and messy but I didn't

really have a problem like with what I saw like

I didn't have a problem with what they did to

the characters no I didn't really And I've had

this. My Twitter feed has been really weird.

OK, I have a bunch of mute filters set up for

The Last Jedi because I didn't want to risk anything

getting spoiled for me. In the lead up up to

the movie, but now my filters are still in place,

but I'm not seeing the angry, like the angry

tweets from people. That are like just slamming

rain Johnson and the movie are you talking about

the people that want the? Did the petition not

to work? Yeah, yeah of oh It should be mocked

from or not from continuity and somebody managed

to post something funny saying, you know strike

me down I'll come back, you know stronger than

ever before and yeah So I haven't seen any of

the negative like it takes on the last Jedi.

I've only seen the positive stuff So slowly over

the course of the weekend my opinion of the movie

without having seen it again and reading like

these These positive takes or why things work

the way that they do or why this is the better

Star Wars movie like that stuff is like Kind

of it's it's it's starting to affect me and I'm

able to see the movie in a much different light

now In that regard, when I left the movie on

Friday, I was not looking forward to seeing it

again with my dad. But now I am. Because I think

I'll enjoy it more the second time through because

I'll know what to expect. But I didn't have any

expectations going into this movie. I left it

barely feeling whelmed. I was just kind of like,

huh, that's a thing. that I just saw the coolest

scene the coolest scene to me was the end of

the chase the space chase where the the rebel

frigate oh like speeds through snowship that

is that is By far the coolest scene for me in

the entire movie see that that was something

That I thought was really original and interesting

that like, you know, everybody's safe I'm gonna

take out this massive ship. That's that's tracking

us and Just kind of you know damage their fleet

and and the fact that somebody thought to do

that you know for all the battles they fought

was kind of interesting and This film, say what

you might about it, whether you like it or hate

it, for whatever reason, but this film had a

lot of firsts with new stuff, and that's not

only Yoda cackling and destroying the Jedi Temple

with everything in it, and the end of pretty

much everybody from the old guard kind of moving

on. with the exception of like Chewbacca, C3P,

R2D2, and Leia, you know, all intents and purposes.

The Skywalker business is done. Yeah, pretty

much. They basically wiped the slate clean of

the Skywalker stuff, which is what a lot of the

hot takes that I've seen, like the positive stuff

that I've seen, is like they did away with the

whole, like they removed the Skywalker baggage

from the equation, at least from face value,

okay? Like, obviously, J .J. could backpedal

on a bunch of things in episode nine the way

that Rain backpedaled on a bunch of his stuff

from episode seven, right? Yep. So, like, there's

this tug of war going on, but I feel like they,

by freeing themselves of these Skywalker baggage,

which to me, the Skywalker storyline has never

been the interesting part of Star Wars. No, I've

always watched it for, you know, like, I kind

of look at the original, you know, the original

trilogy is kind of, you know, Luke and Vader

and this whole, you know, the Rebels and then

looking at the prequels is kind of, you know,

like Obi -Wan's kind of journey in a sense of

going through, like, this meltdown of the Republic.

Which, but it isn't that though. No. Like, that's

what the prequels should have been, is it should

have been about Obi -Wan? but because he chose

to focus on Skywalker it seemed flamier and the

evolution of Vader like that just makes everything

feel really tiny like you still could have had

Skywalker there but it shouldn't have focused

on him no like I've never I never bought into

the notion of Star Wars the Star Wars movies

being the the the rise and fall and redemption

of Anakin Skywalker Like I I heard that In an

interview like with Lucas like back when the

prequels were coming out He said oh Star Wars

has always been the rise and fall and the redemption

of Vader and I'm like no You were so full of

crap Like it's it's that way now because you

think that's what people it's because people

want to see like Vader, right? But that's not

that No one wants you don't want to see baby.

You want to see Vader being Vader. You don't

want to see how he became Vader like that's not

Like no one wants to see that stuff It's like

it's as dumb as wanting to know who's right raised

parents are or it's as dumb as finding out that

the force is midichlorians Yeah, like that stuff

doesn't doesn't work like you're you're giving

and the the negative reaction for people like

you know offing Snoke tossing the lightsaber

raised parents apparently being nobody like That

is not on the writing team or the director to

like bring your fanfic the screen It's on them

to tell an interesting and compelling story like

They didn't trash anything you the fans the hardcore

fans or the the nasty fans of Star Wars have

spent the last two years like Just Coming up

with the most absurd things and the fact that

they didn't get any of it like Their angry little

babies. Well, and I kind of had the feeling that

like Luke was gonna die in this one despite my

not wanting him to and they kind of alluded to

like Rey possibly going evil and then like she

just stayed true the whole time which was you

know basically everything I thought was going

to happen it was the complete opposite and that

was I wanted to see the flip I did I thought

it would have been interesting to see the flip

but um and then they they didn't um bring Kylo

to the light he stayed dark which was again something

I didn't anticipate either and I anticipated

him to die actually but what's interesting about

the whole thing is like there is now like a Skywalker

I mean technically a Skywalker like in charge

of the entire galaxy pretty much like he got

what his dad what what Vader was set out what

Vader set out to do Yeah, essentially and we've

never and we've never seen that like that and

that's not my take that was a take from I think

it was from an interview with the director like

it's interesting now because like there is a

Can you even call him a Sith? Like, they're doing

away with the whole Jedi -Syph -physis. Well,

essentially, not really in a sense, because if

you look at it, Luke was like, I will not be

the last Jedi. And then, you know, you see. So,

I mean, it's essentially it's like Jedi, but

not Jedi. Like, they're not going to stick by

the whole, you know, study with the temple and

all this other crap. They're just going to, you

know. And I guess it's because I was a fan of

The Clone Wars, the TV show, and I was really

a fan of the character Ahsoka. Like, The Clone

Wars... Delves into like the whole side of the

force that it not being black and white. It's

very gray And I think that's what they're going

for now And that's fine because I watched the

Clone Wars and I like my favorite character I

said this on Twitter my favorite character like

Leaves the Jedi Order and gives them the finger

because she comes to the same conclusion Like

the Jedi aren't always good like And and so like

I already had like this idea that you know, it's

not it's not black and white anymore guys And

and the Clone Wars sets that up, you know The

themes of this of this movie did not come out

of nowhere. Yeah, so But like I said, I'm looking

forward to seeing it again Definitely looking

forward to seeing it at home. I'm I'm kind of

curious to see how If Leia gets written out in

the crawl of the next episode. I'm wondering

if they're gonna write her out or if they're

just going to Because they were going to the

outer rim, which we've never got gotten to in

the Star Wars saga. I Think you've got to go

like there's got to be a mention of her in the

crawl Well, I think they'll be a mention of her

but maybe like she died of like, you know Doing

something extravagant or Because you know me

it almost kind of a shame to just say yeah, she

died of old age Well, that's what Luke died of

yeah Luke died of Overusing the force and projecting

is his spirit across the galaxy So that's what

I was gonna say though like a Jedi they can force

project. They're never really dead No, and essentially

I think that's why Yoda You know came to him

and kind of sat there and hung out with him is

I kind of believe that that was like his last

training seminar I do wish on that on that island

that we would have maybe like Obi -Wan would

have shown up I wish that to more things would

have would have shown up and I do like Luke I

Do like Luke's moment of weakness. I will do

like that. He created red Yeah, that was interesting

Like it's not and again, it goes back to it's

not black and white like So so funny enough before

we closes out because I Rewatch the movie. I

created this this piece of art for a custom altered

geek t -shirt on Teespring and it's on the the

altered geek Teespring store and It's it's called

no one's ever really gone and I've got the silhouette

of like Qui -Gon Obi -Wan Yoda Anakin and Luke

in the middle of it Just kind of like force ghosting

Fun fun little fact it was quite God that actually

showed Yoda how to do the force projection I

know which is why I left him on there first because

I was like he's awesome. He showed the rest of

them how to Which is in Clone Wars? Yep, which

is still continuity and it was actually Liam

Neeson Yep, which is even better so alright,

so On that note, let us know what you guys thought

of the new format. Let us know what you thought

of the movie, The Last Jedi. As I said, like,

nobody's right or wrong. I just where people

are generally where I feel where people are getting

really mad about is stuff that they that they

built up unnecessarily. Like the you know, no

one ever told them that that's what things were.

They just made it up because that's what they

thought was cool. So let us know what you think

in the comments either here on Facebook or on

Twitter You can hashtag that altered Jedi Hashtag

altered Jedi And you can follow me on Twitter

at booth ninja 81 and you can follow me at SCP

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