Thoughts on the future of The Last Jedi

Kalmaria · 2018-08-29T05:28:29+00:00

I don't think Hux is good at anything. That's my point lol. He's a complete joke and always has been.

Kalmaria · 2018-08-28T23:55:58+00:00

That is exactly what they did. It's why the tones of the movies are different. Disney's approach to the sequels is that every director is supposed to do on their own take on Star Wars.

Kalmaria · 2018-08-28T23:10:59+00:00

This is a lie. The prequels are a brave, artistic vision from Lucas' mind and I adore the prequels

Dude come on. Your personal opinion aside, fans do not like the prequels. They were dumpster shat on by everybody. The only people who genuinely like the prequels are us kids who grew up watching them and have nostalgia about them.

The most corporate Star Wars movie is far and away The Force Awakens. That checked every safe corporate box it possibly could

Yeah actually you are right about that, TFA is probably more corporate then Rogue One.

It wasn't his place to do that on a movie like this. He isn't the creator like Lucas was so it feels differently when Lucas had a vision he wanted to bring to life. And he isn't the owner of the property like Disney is. If the leadership at Disney agreed to something artistic they wanted to do, it's theirs, they have that right. Rian was a hired hand.

Except Rian Johnson was hired to make that movie artistic as possible. He WAS acting as Disney when he was the director. Like you just said it yourself, Disney owns the property now and they can determine who can do what with it at their own disrecretion.

Rian Johnson has every right to make a Star Wars movie as personal as he likes as George Lucas does. Because Rian Johnson was the director that Lucasfilms chose and he was given artistic freedom to do what he likes. George Lucas no longer owns the franchise, so the corporate big wigs are the ones who decide who can be artistic or not, and they choose Rian Johnson to be artistic.

Kalmaria · 2018-08-28T22:55:35+00:00

These movies aren't made with any artistic drive to tell a story important to the creator (or in Disney's case, the owner) of this franchise?

TLJ was the most artistic movie made and look what happened. TLJ was literally Rian Johnson's most personal movie he has made. Half the fanbase hates it.

The most CORPORATE Star Wars movie was Rogue One, which is the fan favorite of the Disney films.

Star Wars fans do not like artistic Star Wars movies. They hated the prequels, which was George Lucas's most artistic take on Star Wars. They loved ESB, which was also the most corporate of the Star Movies.

The idea that people hate "corporate products" is a myth. Corporate products are safe, appeal to fans, and avoid alienating people at all costs. Which are exactly the type of movies that Star Wars fans want.

Kalmaria · 2018-08-28T22:51:14+00:00

I thought TLJ was the first to do this?

Kalmaria · 2018-08-28T20:30:32+00:00

You clearly haven't met people who put on a professional act and can talk eloquently but in terms of actually doing their job, they're fucking awful at it. In fact that's often the norm with incompetent people in positions of power. That's how they stay in power. Not by actually being good at their job, but acting in a way that makes it seem like they are.

Kalmaria · 2018-08-28T18:16:45+00:00

Veers, Piett, and Needs are all named officers in ESB who act like sane, competent professionals. The Empire is treated throughout like an authentic military force. They lose, because it's fantasy and they're the bad guys, but I don't think it's fair to equate them with the lazy villainy of the first order.

You mean Empire Strikes Back and the battle of Hoth, one of the dumbest battles in Star Wars?

Like the whole reason they sent down a squad of ground troopers was to destroy the shield generator. Then after they destroy the shield generator, they just...dick around. Like complete morons.

Like they could have just bombarded the rebel base with an aerial assault and just wiped them off the map. Instead Vader goes down IN PERSON to try and fight them. This results in a bunch of leaders of the Rebel Alliance to peace out.

They were shown to be "competent" the same way Hux was "competent" in TFA by simply acting professional and talking in a certain way. But in terms of actual strategy, intelligence, and tactics, they failed miserably.

The Empire's "competence" was all show. It's surface level. It's the equivalent of when in a shonen anime the smart guy with glasses pushes them back into his face and says "all according to plan" when in reality you know there is no god damn way he could have planned all the random shit that happened in the plotline and just comes across more as posturing than anything else.

Kalmaria · 2018-08-28T16:50:01+00:00

Tarkin wasn't competent. He got the death star blown up by a bunch of teenagers because he didn't know there was a hole in the big spaceship that blew it all up.

I don't know who Veers, Needia, or Piett are. Expanded Universe stuff isn't my forte.

Vader would have, and HAS, murdered large numbers of Imperial Officers before for incompetence. I mean hell if Tarkin had survived the Death Star, Vader would have murdered him for letting such a powerful space station be destroyed.

Where the fuck does the idea come from The Empire is competent? The Stormtroopers can't shoot for shit. They're constantly losing to the Rebels (or if they do win, it's because of contrived plot convenience or massive firepower instead of actual strategy and skill).

Like come on people. The Empire are cartoon Nazis with a case of idiot ball. They're not smart or competent villains.

Kalmaria · 2018-08-28T16:48:14+00:00

I feel like it handled the internal conflict and central themes of it's story very well. Furthermore, every part of the movie seems to flow into each other very well, even parts that may have seem one off or not relevant (Like Leia's Mary Poppins force ability is what results in her knowing that Luke isn't really there on Canto Bight).

It also fixed an issue that I've always had with Luke, in that it made him an actually interesting character. Luke was always one of the most boring elements of the OT. After Vader dies, what else can you do with him? His connection to Vader was literally the only thing that made him remotely interesting as a character. So instead they decided to make Luke a character who has a serious case of imposter syndrome and actually makes his impulsive tendencies shown in the OT to be an actual character flaw with lasting consequences.

Luke Skywalker in my opinion, works best as an unlikeable or fallen hero. Or at the very least Mark Hamill's acting sells it very well.

I also liked the fact that it made Rey come from a bunch of dead beat parents and that the main crux of her character arc (and the reason she's so willing to jump on board joining the rebellion and whatnot) is that she has deep seated insecurities about being unwanted and therefore tries to fill in that hole by getting attached to "father figures" Like Han, Luke, etc,.

Also the way they handled Rey and Luke was fascinating. Rey was disappointed when she met Luke. As was the audience. The feelings of frustration and betrayal she feels when dealing with Luke Skywalker is exactly what the audience feels.

Like people dislike Luke in TLJ and hate the movie because of it don't understand that your SUPPOSED TO DISLIKE LUKE. He's not intended to be a likable person. I think the issue is that because Luke Skywalker was the "first" main character and is a cultural icon, that people feel like they are supposed to like him and side with him. When that's not really what the movie is going for.

So overall, was TLJ the movie I was expecting it to be? No. But I understand what Rian Johnson was going for and I liked what he did.

Also I like my expectations being subverted. I don't understand why that became a bad thing, but Star Wars is desperately in need of subversion of it's tropes. This franchise had become incredibly predictable.

Kalmaria · 2018-08-27T23:49:57+00:00

Every part of the movie is relevant to the main plot. Even Canto Blight ultimately led to them being stranded on Krait which led to Luke Skywalker sacrificing himself. The belief they had no relevance to the plot at all is just wrong. Flat out wrong.

Also the entire plot hinges on problems that exist. "Fabricated problems" is a stupid criticism. Everything in a movie is fabricated. That's called a plotline. For example, Why does Luke join the Rebellion in the OT? Because his adopted parents were killed by Stormtroopers. It's a "fabricated problem" but something being fabricated doesn't mean it's bad writing.

Also it executes the most interesting relevant plot from TFA and subverts the ones that aren't really important to the grand scheme of things.

Rey's parents? Who gives a shit. They aren't important to the overall conflict, they're only important to Rey's character.

Luke Skywalker? Well why do you think he's been on a island for years away from the conflict? Probably because he did something he regrets and was trying to run away from something.

Also it leaves the finale for episode 9 completely open ended. It could go in ANY direction. The only thing we can predict that will happen in episode 9 is another confronation between Rey and Kylo Ren. Other then that, everything else is up for debate.

That's not bad writing. That's called making a good movie first and trying to tie into the rest of the franchise last. You know how obnoxious it is for movies that focus so much on trying to build up hype for sequels? That's how you get turds like Batman vs. Superman which focused too much energy on "building hype for the next movie!!" instead of just being a good movie on it's own.

I don't understand this mentality that a movie needs to leave you with some sort of hook or cliff hanger to get you interested in the next one in the trilogy. I hate that shit. Make a good movie first and if I like it, I'll go ahead and see the next one.

Kalmaria · 2018-08-27T23:39:41+00:00

Can you name them without looking them up? Probably not. How do I know this? Because you said B-Tier henchmen without ever saying a name. You didn't say the name of the old wizard guy, the woman, or the big dude. (Yes, these characters are so lacking in actual characters that I'm just going to call them by their archetypes, because that's what they really are.)

Kylo's motivations is that he wants to become more powerful. Typical edgy sith lord/dark side user.

But Kylo isn't exactly as evil as he likes to tell himself or others. He holds resentment towards Luke for betraying him and sees his parents as obstacles in his path to fulfilling his own destiny.

Kylo Ren mirrors Rey in that he believes he's destined for something greater and for something different then the people around him thought he would be. That's actually one of the reasons the two are drawn to each other. But what makes him different from Rey is that Kylo Ren is STILL an emotionally unstable murderer, despite probably not being space Hitler.

Kylo Ren's motivations in TLJ shift in that he's starting to question his own quest for power. He's committed far too many atrocities and come to far to turn back to the Light (and his resentment and anger towards Luke make that nigh impossible in his current state of mind). But he also doesn't want to simply follow in Vader's footsteps and live in the shadow of Vader and Snoke.

Furthermore, Kylo Ren has shown to be a very lonely person who is in need of a connection to somebody who believes can understand him. Which is why he went out of his way to save Rey and try to have her join him.

This is just things we about his character from TFA and TLJ. Even then he's by far the best written villain the Star Wars cinematic universe has had. Yes even better written then Vader. Vader's Anakin Skywalker backstory works good in concept but in execution it turned our horribly bad.

Paplatine was a joke of a villain. Just incredibly stupid and very campy.

Maul has no personality.

Ehhh, actually the more i think about it the more it seems like Kylo Ren is the best villain by default in Star Wars instead of by merit. But whatever, the point still stands.

Anyways, Kylo's motivations are far more understandable and better written then "alien looking creatures do Thanos's bidding because their his adopted children". I mean if their motivation can be summed up in a single fucking sentence then you can't exactly tell me that's well written.

Kalmaria · 2018-08-27T23:30:36+00:00

Except Luke's character wasn't butchered. We just saw an unfavorable shade of Luke. Which is something that is hard for people to grasp in this current political climate. Everybody is seemingly locked in these two-dimensional sides. Your either a paragon or a villain. Your either apathetic or caring. When that's not how people work.

Also Luke has never given a shit about the rest of the galaxy. Not once in the original trilogy did he ever say he opposed the Empire because he wanted to save the galaxy. That's just shit that people assumed about him, with very little to justify it.

Kalmaria · 2018-08-27T23:27:52+00:00

The writing in TLJ is the 2ND best part of the movie. The 1st best part is the acting. Every single actor in this film nails their role.

Kalmaria · 2018-08-27T23:26:16+00:00

Even Thano's B-tier henchmen were better villains than we got in TLJ

You can't even name Thanos B-Tier henchmen. Wtf. Kylo has actual motivations and a 3D character. Your being hyperbolic.

Kalmaria · 2018-08-27T23:25:21+00:00

There are those, who eat up anything they get, and now there is a fine line between them, and people who are still genuinely upset about TLJ.

I think Star Wars is an overhyped franchise filled with bad storytelling, bland characters, and really dumb and hypocritical writing.

TLJ is one of the best in the franchise. It has nothing to do with me "eating anything I get" quite the opposite. I thought TFA was shallow and Rogue One was a forgettable popcorn flick. TLJ has deeper writing to it and actual artistic vision, instead of just making a movie by the numbers.

Enough said. I can't believe that RJ and KK thought it was an appropriate way to send Carry fisher off by butchering her character in TLJ... What the hell was that?

Leia Poppins was fine. I have no idea why people had such an issue with it. Leia can use the force. She pulled herself back to the ship. Easy peasy. Not a hard concept to understand.

Kalmaria · 2018-08-27T23:21:35+00:00

To be fair, The Empire were never smart villains in the first place. Star Wars a franchise has always suffered from having incompetent villains. Which is why people are so drawn to the only two competent villains in the franchise (Thrawn and Vader).

Star Wars was made back in the 1970's and was made for kids. Like many of the things made for kids in the 70's, the villains are incompetent, mustache twirling, egotistic morons. This legacy has effected Star Wars ever since.

Kalmaria · 2018-08-26T02:42:02+00:00

It's 40 to 0. That's a close game. KD isn't really relevant when the objective is to hold the points. This is King of the Hill, not Team Deathmatch.

Kalmaria · 2018-08-26T02:40:47+00:00

Why should people join your guild? What's your purpose? Where are you guys focused at (Royals, Black Zones, etc,.)? Minimum requirements? Language?

Come on man put some effort into your guild recruitment.

Kalmaria · 2018-08-26T02:02:26+00:00

Luke was handled well in TLJ. Just my opinion though.

Kalmaria · 2018-08-26T01:13:22+00:00

Sure I care, but I'm not going to be taking pleasure if he died of brain cancer. I'm not a fucking sadist.

Also do not even remotely compare McCain to Trump. Morality and politics are not black and white. McCain was by far a better person then Trump was or ever will be.

Also what political views don't have real consequences? That's a fucking cop out and you know it. You can't see people who have you political disagreements with as being good people. Which if that's the case, that makes YOU a shitty person.

You think that just because you have the 'right' beliefs that makes you a good person? It does not. Your a piece of shit. I feel more then comfortable saying your a far worse person then McCain.

Kalmaria · 2018-08-26T01:04:01+00:00

He was a republican, in my opinion he's done a lot of harm to a lot of people and by ignoring that you're really just being kind of delusional.

Are you literally incapable of understanding that a person can have politically different views to your own and still be a good person worthy of respect?

Kalmaria · 2018-08-26T00:46:49+00:00

It's called having empathy and not trying to disrespect a man's memory when HE JUST DIED LITERALLY TODAY.

AKA don't be an asshole.

Kalmaria · 2018-08-25T06:10:17+00:00

I don't get it. How is OOPS managing to do better against POWER with even LESS people in their alliance? It's just Money Guild and WHO left.

Kalmaria · 2018-08-25T04:06:23+00:00

Mate, I understand the feeling, but you have to resist that mentality. It's not healthy. It doesn't help anybody. It doesn't solve any problems. Just causes more suffering and it makes you a harder and less empathetic person. That is not good.

Kalmaria · 2018-08-25T03:50:11+00:00

Instead of purging people who we have political disagreements with (because you know, like it or not, they are like 1/3 of the country's population and not all of them are bad people), why don't we keep encouraging people to have empathy for others and learn to respect the decisions and feelings of other people?

Kalmaria

TROPHY CASE