Star Wars: The Last Jedi (aka Episode VIII)

[Mr. Carnelian]

I've seen it twice this weekend, with two different sets of friends. Loved it both times. One of the most unexpected elements was (SPOILER)the smouldering intensity between Kylo and Rey. The tension was palpable.

[Raistlin]

It was ok. The movie was a mess, but has some good moments, good humor, and quality acting.

(SPOILER)

Pros:

In addition to the above, I like how the movie turned a couple tropes on their head. I like how Poe's mutiny actually smurfed everything up and the Vice-Admiral was right all along. And I think it's fully justified she didn't sit down and go over the details of her plan and reasoning with Poe, because Poe was an upstart asshole underling who was just demoted for insubordination. She was in charge and expected people to just do what she goddamn said. I liked Poe's development into a real leader by the end.

Overall, I thought the last chunk of the movie helped save what was, up until that point, a 6/10 movie at best. The story converging and becoming more coherent and less jumpy, along with Poe and Finn's development, really helped save the movie for me.

Rey kicked ass as always.


Cons:

The writing for the first half at least was a jumbled mess. The only good scene on the island was Luke and Yoda. Everything else was rushed and disjointed.

Leia surviving was retarded. Laughably, cartoonishly bad. Which was a shame, because her death that early was a surprise that still could have weighed on Kylo Ren. It was dumb.

Most of the villains outside of Snoke and Kylo seem pointless and poorly used. Even Snoke's death seemed anticlimactic, as I think we needed more background on him to develop him as the badass he appeared.

The entire casino city adventure seemed reminiscent of a random RPG fetch quest.

[Spuuky]

I basically agree with what Raistlin said. Except Finn wasn't good.

[Del Murder]

I've seen it once. I plan to see it again with Miriel. I'll reserve my thoughts until then, but so far I mostly agree with Raistlin.

[Freya]

My Finn storyline thoughts

He's a doll. Rose was a sweet. Their whole story was fun but it was just so out of place with the rest of the movie. It felt like an unnecessary sidequest. Benicio del Toro's character seemed... not utilized well enough. He was great but I wasn't sure why I should care about that whole situation. Phasma was under used... again. Finn possibly sacrificing himself would have made more of an impact but the whole saving of him thing seemed cheap cop out and left me wondering why include that whole side plot of his.

Had the thing been just about that story of Finn and Rose, it would have been fine. Had it just been about Rey, that would have been fine. It just seemed to fragment it all in pacing putting those two plots together.

[Loony BoB]

I rewatched The Force Awakens just before watching this, and I just feel like I got more thrill out of watching TFA than I did out of the entirely new movie. I think I just feel like the entire thing was a loss, from start to finish, and nothing that happened gave me any sense of satisfaction because of that. Even the death of Snoke just felt so simple and not as dramatic as they'd hoped. They shouldn't have focused on what was happening because it gave away the drama before it even happened.

I guess the middle movies are always this way? I can't remember.

[Christmas]

I am quite divided with The Last Jedi but Rise of Skywalker shattered everything.