Three years ago today Rian Johnson's 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' was released

[Stoney Mason]

I get that, and I think it's telling! I think it says something that a segment of the fanbase was more interested in Rey's parents than Rey, or more interested in needing a Palpatine-like figure to be the real villain than Kylo Ren. Certainly JJ Abrams was also one of these people lol. That was not the case for me, but it does often feel like a lot of people think the ST was really supposed to be the Snoke Trilogy, and that something like killing Snoke prematurely ended the whole story.

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Since we never got to see where Rian would have taken episode 9, its hard to debate some of this stuff. I personally was fine with Snoke being killed and Rey having no parents/or shitty parents. I think the emperor thing was incredibly dumb in the last movie.

That being said, I do have certain expectation in Star Wars and I do want to be surprised by some things. Whether people call that a mystery box or not I do want typical movie chills, and thrills, and excitement. And while I was fine knocking certain things down from TFA, for me personally not enough was setup where I was wondering where the third movie was gonna go. I felt pretty sure I knew where the third movie was gonna go. But without him doing it, its kind of moot point/argument because we really don't know or at least I can't experience it. So it goes back to the idea of my bigger issue separate from how I necessarily feel about TLJ is them not being consistent with the plot.

I neither hate TLJ nor love it. There are parts of it I hate and parts of it love which overall lead to a mixed response on the movie for me. Maybe that would have shifted somewhat in either direction if Rian had done the third one and certain aspects would have been fleshed out more to their natural conclusion. Hopefully Disney has recognized that they need a somewhat consistent vision going forward with the movies.

 

[DiipuSurotu]

JJ should have had complete control over the entire trilogy.

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Wasn't he offered Episode VIII and he refused to do it?

 

[Blader]

By the way, most trilogies suck shit. It's really just one or two good movies and one or two shitty ones. I don't get the fixation on needing a satisfying throughline across three movies. I guess it'd be cool if all things come together, but after watching movies and trilogies for as long as I have, seeing them as relatively independent from one another even if they're not marketed or even conceived that way is much more satisfying. You might read this and think I sound stupid, but literally just try it and you might see what I mean. The Last Jedi is The Last Jedi the movie first, and the middle chapter of the sequel trilogy second. What it portends for what became TROS or what it was or wasn't consistent with TFA, I don't really give a fuck.

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I agree. If movies can only be allowed to live or die based on their sequels, then most movies with sequels are doomed because franchises rarely bat a thousand.

Wasn't he offered Episode VIII and he refused to do it?

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I don't know if an offer was ever actually made but he couldn't have done VIII for the same Rian couldn't do IX: the schedule was too aggressive for any one director to do back-to-back films.

 

[Chibs]

And what a beautiful day it was.

 

[mbpm]

I didn't care for it overall but the important thing is to remember this man

 

[FTF]

The movie that ruined my childhood.

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I can't tell anymore if these are serious posts or jokes/memes lol

 

[Ottaro]

Guy was humiliated by Luke. His time as a villain was over. We what would have seen him lose one more time in the third movie - booooring.
If the movie had ended after he had offed his master, I would have been more open to this idea.

The entire section on that planet should have been cut and then mayyyyybe I would have viewed TLJ more fondly

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At the end of TLJ he was left with humiliation and a massive army now under his command. I would have been interested in a TROS about this humiliation causing him to descend into madness. He gets increasingly drunk on his new power but finds it unfulfilling and he is suspicious of everyone around him because he knows no one respects him, which all ultimately leads to his demise. You can't view him as a commanding villain after TLJ, but you can view him as a chaotic, unpredictable one who you could see take down the entire universe with him.

 

[AnimaRize]

That person is Hux. The veneer of the Empire is gone and it's truest representation is Hux, behind all the endlessly cool storm troops and TIE fighters the person at it's head is essentially a guy who will do whatever to save his own neck and is now serving as #2 for someone he can't stand but is too afraid of to do anything vs Finn who has grown more and more courageous in TFA and TLJ and now chooses to risk his life for those around him even though he could leave at any time. The plot moved forward and the ending of TLJ is that word of Luke Skywalker taking on the best of the First Empire has spread. The idea that one person can be greater than a whole army has flourished and it would make sense for the public view to the FO to shift and with that Hux is great representation of both Finn's internal view of himself and the FO and of the public who are into the resistance view them. That's not what we got, but I feel like that is what was being setup in TLJ.

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hux was treated and made into a joke in tlj, he was beaten tossed around and made fun of serving kylo who is at his lowest point, he was no where near the grand idea of the imposing empire he was a little twerp of a commander, he doesn't works as foil for finn, he does for poe though,

 

[Sordid Plebeian]

This was the final nail in the coffin for "nerd culture" becoming absolutely insufferable

 

[Dremorak]

Probably the most actively bored I've ever been in a movie theatre.

And I saw Jack and Jill in theaters.

JACK AND JILL

 

[Son of Liberty]

TLJ is easily in my top 3 favorite films in Star Wars. It resonated a lot with me and it's one that I think about a lot still.

 

[GARlock Spiral]

Probably the most actively bored I've ever been in a movie theatre.

And I saw Jack and Jill in theaters.

JACK AND JILL

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"I pirated the movie and wanted my money back/still felt ripped off" sums up my feelings on it in a sentence

 

[Mido]

The bad jokes in the intro and the sabre toss made me want to leave the theatre. It's a great Kylo film though and the high moments are up there with the best in the series.

 

[ProtomanNeo]

Three years wow.

I vividly recall the utter confusion and disappointment I had leaving theater, and had conceded that perhaps this saga wasn't for me anymore. Thankfully Mando has brought me back into the fold.

 

[Conkersbadfurday]

Only ever watched it the one time, but I really enjoyed it. I'd probably put it in my top three Star Wars movies, mostly for Kylo. He's a great villain. Enjoyed him in Rise as well, even if that movie has a handful more glaring problems than TLJ

Surprised at all the love for Rogue One which has twenty whole minutes worth watching at the end and not much else going for it.

 

[Falchion]

TLJ was the peak of the new trilogy for me before Rise undid all the good things about it.

 

[SteveWinwood]

Ignoring the part where people were already criticizing the film before it even started this is more referring to the posters ITT that after 3 years of the film being released they still need to come in and let everyone know they didn't like it because at that point it just becomes the same thread as the previous 100.

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i mean we dont know what they were saying but after ten marvel films you know what youre getting into. its probably okay to vent that youre sitting in another one of those

i just see tweets like that and it strikes me as bordering on anti intelectualism, theyre talking about stuck ups and hating everything outside of criterion, just say youre tired of the experts in their ivory towers. if someone doesnt like your nerd stuff its okay. that doesnt make them hoity toity and full of themselves. and yet both marvel and star wars fans have the same insatiable victim complex about how the world doesnt see their "deep art and complexity" and they lash out against them as if their goal in life is to make them miserable. it was the year anniversary of scorseses comments a month or two ago and people still have aneurysms about it. people need to get over that their giant toy commercials arent going to be winning best picture oscars any time soon, and for very good reasons. but instead of maybe learning more about the art form its easier to just whine about critics (posting a screengrab from a marvel movie and just saying wow cinematography became a meme for a reason)

it goes so far that people would tie anyone who criticized tlj with slightly less than a screed with pieces of shit alt righters who dont like hair colors or strong women. at that point i tried to actively avoid those threads, but it looks like thankfully most people have accepted that its not a perfect film

i get why you were posting the tweet, mostly the move on bit (because i certainly could have been spending my time typing this up doing better things, luckily literally all the last jedi posting in my life is probably fourty total minutes, which is a hundred fold better than thousands of others on the internet) because jesus christ people need to move on but im just saying why it struck me as a dumb tweet.

i agree we dont need 100 low effort threads on tlj, i dont know why they keep being made. theres literally no point to them

 

[JasonV]

I think an element of sexual tension was inevitable and necessary in TLJ. These are two lonely, hot virgins with magic powers who are low on self-confidence and have finally met someone they can relate to. Rey tries to appeal to the part of Kylo that is like her and vice versa. The film ends on a very clear note of Rey closing the door on a forlorn Kylo (who is clutching his murdered father's dice). What they didn't need to do was what they did in TROS.

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Why was it necessary? I don't think Rey was low on self-confidence or a lonely virgin. In TFA she came across as confident and independent. Now Kylo had incel energy for sure.

I thought the obvious love interest for Rey was Finn. They had excellent chemistry and it made sense in the context of the plot. But they gutted that in TLJ; yet another bad call.

 

[Vilam]

Sucked then. Still sucks now. Happy anniversary.

 

[StreetsAhead]

I'd like to see what Rian can do with Star Wars when he isn't beholden to Disney's arbitrary release schedule and doesn't have to create a followup to someone else's remake.

 

[TheGhost]

TLJ did the impossible, the first movie that gave me a horrible feeling from the jump that this was going to be a step backwards. From the opening scene and it rolled down hill from there.

I never left a a film series I loved and been more disappointed, and I've seen the prequels plus Thor the Darkworld.

 

[darkside]

This was the only good movie in the trilogy. I absolutely loved it. I really thought it'd right the ship and then well TROS happened (legitimately the worst movie I have ever seen in a theater). Franchise has been dead to me for the most part, I guess its pretty sad when the thing I've enjoyed the most lately are the EA games.

 

[Soupman Prime]

As a newer Star Wars fan who never saw the first trilogy I thought the movie was alright. Saw it once and that was enough, I did see TFA more than once and enjoyed it more. TROS was ok, probably the worst of the new trilogy.

 

[Vampirolol]

Lukewarm take: Kylo should not have had any sort of redemption moment in the third film. Him pushing away the idea of redemption in TLJ was interesting and a great setup for the final film.

It should have been the crew vs Kylo. No resurrected Emperor. No redemption. No god damn kiss, which in my mind is maybe the worst single moment in any Star Wars film.

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I feel like the redemption could have worked with a better execution, but a full embrace of the dark side is clearly the most organic choice character and plot-wise.

Let me fantasize with my inner desire to write a Star Wars pitch, which of course sucks because I'm not a writer:
- After TLJ, Kylo Ren still feels conflict inside, he wants to get rid of the Jedi and Sith rules (like he said in the throne room) so instead of ruling over the galaxy, something that he's incapable of, he tries to fit the New Order to his agenda. He apparently becomes a space terrorist, with no direction.
- Insert funny looking aliens suffering because of this.
- Meanwhile Rey and co keep saving the day and plan to stop evil, though Finn discovers how faulty the New Republic was.
- Insert some adventure shit, just copy Indiana Jones or something.
- Mid-point in the movie you have Rey VS Kylo on some planet, I'll leave plot condiment out but the point is: she realizes that Kylo Ren may have a point. He was there to destroy some shit that the Resistance was making. "See? Everything is wrong! We should rule over this galaxy and change it!"
Combine this with Finn having doubts and you have some sort of conflict.
Note to editor: yes, I'm talking about grey Jedi.
- At the end of the fight Kylo Ren escapes, Rey's team wants to chase him but she's kind of confused about what's good.
- Insert force shenanigans and fanservice. John Williams music. Luke's ghost appears, starts talking about the force.
- Poe sends a message to everyone: apparently Kylo Ren wants to attack the planet where they hid Leia.
But hey, Finn is on that planet right now!
- The Resistance says that they have zero time so they should just escape with Leia and he's like "what about people on this planet?"
"Well people die you know..."
And he's like "FUCK YOU! I'm staying here!"
It seems like he may die.
- Kylo's army appears in the sky.
- The Knights of Ren land on the planet, huge explosions and shit, Finn tries to stop them. One of the bad guys rises a huge hammer over his head, our boy is going to die but... holy shit is that a force user? Someone is stopping that weapon! Leia? No, it's fucking Finn himself. He's force sensitive! And since he never gave up hope, he's clearly a Jedi (fuck that grey shit!). He defeats the enemy.
- Huge army of allies appears in the sky, turns out that "spark" in TLJ kinda worked!
- Insert space battle
- Insert Poe fighting some other Knights of Ren
- Rey somehow has seen all of this and realizes something. She flies directly to Kylo's ship.
- We expect to see an empowered macho but instead we find a sad, broken guy. Kylo Ren has lost his mind: he wants to crash the ship on the planet, kiling everyone and himself.
- Rey talks to him, she explains that middle grounds, half measures like "grey shit" are still dark side. And there is hope to fix everything with honest work.
- Insert lightsaber duel.
- Cut to the planet, insert some explosions.
- Kylo Ren gest defeated, Rey spares him but he commits harakiri. Also, the ship is heading towards the planet.
- Rey tries to stop it but she can't. Force Luke says "believe in the damn force"
- She does use the force to fucking deviate the ship. I know it's kinda too much but hey...
- Finn (who really doesn't care about fighting anymore) and Poe saved everyone on the planet. They will restore the Republic BUT this time it's got to be done rightfully: the ideals of the force imprintend in the democracy. Evil does exist, nazis should be punched, revolutions should be encouraged.
- Rey is now a full Jedi.
- The End

Ok so this is a huge mess, I just had time to spare.

 

[Dubbedinenglish]

Anniversary of being graced with such high marks as "chrome dome"

 

[Bulby]

This is like the exact opposite of a description of The Last Jedi. It is the most thematically driven Star Wars movie ever. It's about leveraging your past, both successes and failures, into paving the way for a future, and the unexpected forms that might take. Which prequel is more driven by a specific message than that?

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Im sure you can find enough prequel fans who would argue that those movies also have super deep and meaningful themes. I think they are bad movies. But at least they had a point. It was the story of the Rise of Vadar and The Empire and the Fall of the Jedi and the Republic.

I have no idea what any of the sequel movies are actually about. Stuff just happens and the its over. The 3 movies, apart from having the same characters, have no cohesive point.

Literally, Cobra Kai, the F'ING KARATE KID sequel TV series handles everything these movies tried, better.

 

[Loxley]

Still possibly my favorite film in the franchise. Though I really wish they'd kept the deleted scene of Luke taking a moment to mourn Han's death in the movie. That and the deleted scene with Phasma killing the Storm Troopers.

But otherwise, yeah, I will stan for TLJ until the end of time.

 

[Rotobit]

Not gonna read this thread for my own sake but

ANH > TLJ > Everything other movie besides > Solo > TROS > TPM > AoTC

No Clone Wars movie cos I haven't seen it

And most of the spin-offs are good (Rebels is great, Mandalorian is fun, working my way thru Clone Wars and it's good so far).

 

[AstronaughtE]

There were some soft spots and iffy decisions but it's the only Star Wars movie to make me teary eyed.

It's probably in my top 3 as well.

 

[YolkFolk]

The most I've ever been disappointed by any piece of media. I don't think my mood was helped at first showing by a really annoying woman I was sat next to who laughed in an over the top manner at almost every 'gag'.

I've watched it back since and don't hate it anywhere near as much but I still don't think it's this great movie that some proclaim it to be. It's a reasonably solid film but not much else. I really disliked how all the villains were either discarded or treated like a non credible threat.

 

[sibarraz]

I loved how by the END of TLJ there were tons of possibilities with an unstable Kylo Ren leading the First Order against a diminished but with high morale resistance

Instead we got the return of Palpatine introduced on Fortnite

 

[Deleted member 17207]

Probably the best movie of the ST (though I "enjoyed" TFA way more), but it's not without its issues.

I think RJ could've made an amazing movie/trilogy had it been something he wasn't pidgeon-holed into. He made something bold and something great, but not necessarily great for the (shitty) trilogy it was a part of.

I hope he still gets a shot at making a Star Wars story that's unrelated to the "main story". It'd be a shame if he didn't.

 

[Deleted member 7051]

I loved how by the END of TLJ there were tons of possibilities with an unstable Kylo Ren leading the First Order against a diminished but with high morale resistance

Instead we got the return of Palpatine introduced on Fortnite

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I'm not even sure Kylo Ren would've worked as leader of the First Order when he was basically a walking gag character. It always seemed more likely that there would be a coup and he'd be ousted because nobody in the First Order particularly liked him anyway and he just killed their actual boss.

Ben just wasn't intimidating or believable as a villain and, given that the intention was always to redeem him anyway, he never could have done anything impressive enough to make you go "dang he's evil!"

 

[Cantaim]

I just can't get over that Rose got sidelined so hard after this movie.

 

[DiipuSurotu]

I'm not even sure Kylo Ren would've worked as leader of the First Order when he was basically a walking gag character. It always seemed more likely that there would be a coup and he'd be ousted because nobody in the First Order particularly liked him anyway and he just killed their actual boss.

Ben just wasn't intimidating or believable as a villain and, given that the intention was always to redeem him anyway, he never could have done anything impressive enough to make you go "dang he's evil!"

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Do they know he killed their boss?

 

[Grain Silo]

I did not like the movie. I respect what Rian tried to do but it was a mess.

 

[JasonV]

Ben just wasn't intimidating or believable as a villain and, given that the intention was always to redeem him anyway, he never could have done anything impressive enough to make you go "dang he's evil!"

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I think it could work as he got more and more unhinged instead of following the redeemed arc.

An out of control, petulant sith incel constantly harrassed by force ghost Luke would be something.

 

[Pall Mall]

Best Star Wars easily for me. The only one of the ST that I came out of theaters feeling like I watched a good ass film.

 

[Masterz1337]

3 years since I lost interest in what happens with Star Wars. Mando S2 picked up the dropped ball though.

 

[DiipuSurotu]

3 years since I lost interest in what happens with Star Wars. Mando S2 picked up the dropped ball though.

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https://www.resetera.com/search/8418355/?q=%22star+wars%22&c[users]=Masterz1337&o=date

 

[TSM]

I still feel like I did when I saw it at the theater. Everything with Rey/Luke/Kylo was engaging and the rest of the movie felt like a bunch of nonsense that happened to give the rest of the cast something to do in the mean time. I think there is a much better movie in there somewhere that's in the 90 minute range. Also Finn's first scene walking around in a leaking space diaper about summed up what TLJ thought about his character. What a waste.

 

[Waffles]

I'm not even sure Kylo Ren would've worked as leader of the First Order when he was basically a walking gag character. It always seemed more likely that there would be a coup and he'd be ousted because nobody in the First Order particularly liked him anyway and he just killed their actual boss.

Ben just wasn't intimidating or believable as a villain and, given that the intention was always to redeem him anyway, he never could have done anything impressive enough to make you go "dang he's evil!"

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This is where I thought they would go, especially with Hux staring down Kylo at the end. Sort of a splintered First Order with Kylo essentially isolated. And I thought Kylo's "redemption" with this in mind could have been more of him just rejecting the First Order (maybe Hux + KoR), rather than turning good again and dying. Which is kind of what we got anyway, except somehow Palatine has returned.

 

[Deleted member 7051]

Do they know he killed their boss?

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Even if they didn't, I'm sure they would have found out. It's not exactly something you could hide and I expect the only reason nobody cares in Rise of Skywalker is because Palpatine was like "all according to keikaku (keikaku means plan)".

That and Abrams was too salty to bring up the fact Johnson killed his Big Bad.

 

[DiipuSurotu]

Even if they didn't, I'm sure they would have found out. It's not exactly something you could hide and I expect the only reason nobody cares in Rise of Skywalker is because Palpatine was like "all according to keikaku (keikaku means plan)".

That and Abrams was too salty to bring up the fact Johnson killed his Big Bad.

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In TLJ Hux wonders what happened in the throne room and Kylo tells him Rey killed Snoke

 

[Arn]

Since we never got to see where Rian would have taken episode 9, its hard to debate some of this stuff. I personally was fine with Snoke being killed and Rey having no parents/or shitty parents. I think the emperor thing was incredibly dumb in the last movie.

That being said, I do have certain expectation in Star Wars and I do want to be surprised by some things. Whether people call that a mystery box or not I do want typical movie chills, and thrills, and excitement. And while I was fine knocking certain things down from TFA, for me personally not enough was setup where I was wondering where the third movie was gonna go. I felt pretty sure I knew where the third movie was gonna go. But without him doing it, its kind of moot point/argument because we really don't know or at least I can't experience it. So it goes back to the idea of my bigger issue separate from how I necessarily feel about TLJ is them not being consistent with the plot.

I neither hate TLJ nor love it. There are parts of it I hate and parts of it love which overall lead to a mixed response on the movie for me. Maybe that would have shifted somewhat in either direction if Rian had done the third one and certain aspects would have been fleshed out more to their natural conclusion. Hopefully Disney has recognized that they need a somewhat consistent vision going forward with the movies.

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I loved the film but this is all fair.

Star Wars always needs a central threat, I was just more bought in to that being Kylo after the events of TLJ than I was some super generic Sith Lord. Killing Snoke was the bravest thing Star Wars has done since the OT, closely followed by making the protagonist a nobody. Both were incredibly rich for a follow-up, and years of additional canon, but by throwing all of that away we're now left with nothing and a Frankenstein trilogy that is entirely worthless.

The plot points of TROS actively made the OT and beyond worse, because they reframed Palpatine, a relative nothingness of a character, as the central force of the whole thing. In a way it's karma that the film franchise was quite literally made worse by the vocal minority who didn't enjoy TLJ.

 

[Bishop89]

Visually it looks nice.
But it's a really horrible star wars movie.

 

[Fendajaz]

Not a fan of this film at all. Easily my least favourite star wars. So glad that Rian Johnson trilogy hasn't happened.

 

[Tankard]

A day to forget.

 

[Mekanos]

It's bloated with some obvious pacing issues but it's by far the most thematically interesting thing Star Wars has done since the Disney acquisition, even if I think Force Awakens is a more fun, brisker watch. Really bummed Rian probably won't get his trilogy.

 

[Ryan.]