We saw a Star War! Last Jedi spoiler thread

[ccs]

Indeed. But everyone's got a different profile for too silly. Is this to the level of All Terrain-Armored Transports that can probably not handle more than a featureless plain silliness? Or seedy bar denizens named Elan Sleazebaggano selling "deathsticks" silliness? Maybe it's a ships executing banking turns in space level of silliness? Or a giant space slug having sufficient atmosphere in its mouth that someone can engage in EVA without a spacesuit silliness?

There's a whole lot of silliness in Star Wars if you poke at it a bit, just like there is in the movies and serials that inspired it from Tarzan, to Hidden Fortress, to Buck Rogers and all points in between.

"Space Bombers" didn't trigger my "That's too silly/stupid" reflex.
No, that happened concerning the architecture of their target.

 

[trappedslider]

speaking of space bombers what was up with those Tie fighters doing dropping bombs on that asteroid back in ESB?

 

[Hussar]

I’m firmly convinced that the biggest enemy of Star Wars is the fans. Sigh.

Let’s not forget that we’re not the only audience. There’s a whole lot of people who didn’t grow up with the OT. I know we all want to believe that Star Wars is for us but it’s not. It’s for people like my tween daughters who think it’s fuggin fantastic.


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[Morrus]

I know we all want to believe that Star Wars is for us but it’s not. It’s for people like my tween daughters who think it’s fuggin fantastic.

It's for both. I think Disney would be most concerned to hear that we think Star Wars isn't for us!

 

[Ovinomancer]

I’m firmly convinced that the biggest enemy of Star Wars is the fans. Sigh.

Let’s not forget that we’re not the only audience. There’s a whole lot of people who didn’t grow up with the OT. I know we all want to believe that Star Wars is for us but it’s not. It’s for people like my tween daughters who think it’s fuggin fantastic.


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I think it's less those fans that grew up with the OT than those fans that extensively read the EU books. Of those I've discussed the movie with, that really seems to be a dividing line.

 

[Warmaster Horus]

I think it's less those fans that grew up with the OT than those fans that extensively read the EU books. Of those I've discussed the movie with, that really seems to be a dividing line.

This fan saw the OT in the theaters and only marginally engaged with the EU. But that has nothing to do with my distaste for this movie. I want a movie with a coherent story with characters I care about doing meaningful things.

Instead we get a Mulligan stew of "wouldn't it be cool if"s. Why is Laura Dern even in the movie? Who is her character and why does she matter? Instead of blowing Admiral Akbar into smithereens just 'cause, why couldn't he be the one to sacrifice the cruiser? We get a lot of who are they and why do they matter in this movie - Rey and Snoke come immediately to mind.

Rey's proficiency with the Force remains a complete enigma. She gets a short intro to the Force by Luke, like I spend more time talking to my coworkers about this week's episode of Agents of Shield than she does speaking with Luke about the Force. Then she tries her hand at using a light saber again, with no tutelage, and does just fine (wouldn't it would be nice to see her fail just a little bit?). Then she fights Kylo Ren and hands him his butt, again.

Do you notice Rey fights with a lot of anger? That should signify a strong presence of the Dark Side in her. Interesting angle, maybe? The movie never lingers on it for a moment, though. We see her do her 'trip to the Dark Side Cave' thing but it has no warning for her, just a riddle of her parentage. Perhaps the film makers want to stretch out her mystery, but in the end it just makes her less interesting. She has nearly no inner conflict or identity as to what her purpose is other than Force-Skyping with Kylo. Luke asks her, "Who are you?" A question I continue to ask after this movie.

 

[Staffan]

Were they all that they had left? I didn't get that impression. I thought that they were just recalled because they were dropping like flies.

At a later point in the movie, either Leia or Holdo tells Poe something like "Now would be a good time to use our bombers. Oh right, we can't, because you got them all killed."

 

[Ryujin]

At a later point in the movie, either Leia or Holdo tells Poe something like "Now would be a good time to use our bombers. Oh right, we can't, because you got them all killed."

Yes, all of their bombers were lost, but they had other craft as indicated by Poe's fighter. That's what I'm talking about.

 

[Morrus]

Instead of blowing Admiral Akbar into smithereens just 'cause, why couldn't he be the one to sacrifice the cruiser?

Because, as people keep saying, the actor died in 2016, and it would be creepy and weird to replace a dead actor with another just so you can kill him off. It would be highly distasteful.

Why is Laura Dern even in the movie? Who is her character and why does she matter?

If Laura Dern was too underdeveloped for you, why on earth do you like Admiral Ackbar? She's about ten times as developed as he ever was.

 

[Warmaster Horus]

Because, as people keep saying, the actor died in 2016, and it would be creepy and weird to replace a dead actor with another just so you can kill him off. It would be highly distasteful.

You mean like Tarkin in Rogue One? They've already crossed that threshold and it would be less uncanny-valley for them to CGI or whatever with Akbar. As for killing him being distasteful, they killed him anyway.

If Laura Dern was too underdeveloped for you, why on earth do you like Admiral Ackbar? She's about ten times as developed as he ever was.

The difference being that Akbar is ICONIC. Akbar wanted to take the rebel cruisers out of combat with the Imperial fleet during the Battle of Endor because they wouldn't last long against the firepower of the fleet and Death Star. He discussed it with Lando and stayed because he was convinced they wouldn't have another chance and Han would succeed, which took about 10 seconds of screen time but gave the audience everything they needed to know. Laura Dern was an obfuscating purple-haired who-is-that? who can't communicate a simple plan at a time of crisis, resulting in a mutiny for goodness sake!

As I read reviews and see responses to viewer dissatisfaction to the movie, I'm seeing the argument being put forward that the message is - the past does not matter. That's why the film doesn't care about a Snoke backstory or where Rey comes from or how she got to be superpowerful. Stuff happened, yo. But given that The Force Awakens set up these questions to be answered, this approach is very unsatisfying.

More importantly the past does matter! We seem to live in a world where retrospection and learning from history has become extinct as attention spans shrink to the latest celebrity Tweet. So asking for a film series to consider story continuity and plot payoff is pretty minor but also emblematic of how hungry people are for meaningful content over empty pantomime.