OOC

[Jendu Verbenti]

Has anyone seen, The Last Jedi, yet?  Since I don't care about spoilers, I've been looking online for reviews and I haven't heard very good things.  I've seen people comment that it's not that it's a bad film but they take crap all over the original characters and prequels.  Many characters who die are killed off with little thought in how important they were to fans.  Apparently one character in particular was just sucked out into space off camera and the viewer wouldn't even have noticed if it weren't for someone mentioning what happened.  For those of you who do care about spoilers, I don't want to say too much more other than they really turned Luke into someone unrecognizable from the original trilogy, which is really sad.

[Man in Black]

I enjoyed it. It didn't go the way I expected. I certainly didn't agree with everything that happened. It was a good movie, though. Remember when everyone's complaint was it was just a retread of the original? Yeah, this is pretty much the opposite problem. I think too many people were geared up for a different movie. It definitely has a darker tone. There were developments I really liked and some I didn't. Go in with an open mind and forget what everyone is saying.

I was five when Star Wars first opened. To say I'm heavily invested in this franchise is an understatement. For those putting out petitions to give it all back to Lucas, go watch the prequels. Last Jedi isn't looking so bad now, is it.

[Nova]

I saw it shortly after Christmas and enjoyed. Certain things didn't land quite right -- some of the humor misses the mark by a fair bit, imho, as they seem to be going for more of an ironic, "modern" Marvel-esque tone with the jokes, and certain effects sequences look downright silly. Re: the latter there's one scene in particular that was laughable to me, but is a huge spoiler. I know you said you didn't care about spoilers, but I'll keep mum just in case others in the game haven't seen it yet. Still, by and large I enjoyed, but it is a departure, for sure. The finale's great and certain twists on established themes were well explored/introduced.

That said, there's an entire (15 min?) sequence (on the Casino planet) which, while necessary thematically, fell flat for me. That sequence was almost entirely devoid of any tension/suspense, in my view. And because it establishes a kind of closing touchpoint, I wish it had felt a little less hokey. But the point it was trying to make was a good one, story-wise. And I know Mark Hamill had initially voiced some doubts about how Luke was portrayed, but in-universe the characterization made sense to me. Luke was always emotional, and I think the character's later life decisions still jive with his previous persona -- even if he is supposedly wiser in his later years.

Have you seen it since your post, TIBBS-NOT-JENDU? What did you think?

[Jendu Verbenti]

I will likely go see it on Saturday.  

One complaint people had with Luke was that even when everyone was telling him there was nothing good left inside Darth Vader he went against everyone and held onto hope.  But when it comes to his Nephew -- the son of his twin sister and best friend -- lets just kill him while he sleeps!  Luke was not only considering murdering his nephew but if he was successful he would have destroyed his relationship with Leia and Han Solo.  To me it doesn't make much sense.

[Korstyn Steele]

Has anyone seen, The Last Jedi, yet?  Since I don't care about spoilers, I've been looking online for reviews and I haven't heard very good things.  I've seen people comment that it's not that it's a bad film but they take crap all over the original characters and prequels.  Many characters who die are killed off with little thought in how important they were to fans.  Apparently one character in particular was just sucked out into space off camera and the viewer wouldn't even have noticed if it weren't for someone mentioning what happened.  For those of you who do care about spoilers, I don't want to say too much more other than they really turned Luke into someone unrecognizable from the original trilogy, which is really sad.

Seen it. Was immensely disappointed.  But I won’t spoiler it.  Suffice to say the only thing I actually liked in that movie was the development of the relationship between Rei and Kylo Ren... and that wasn’t even part of the main plot!

[Nova]

I will likely go see it on Saturday.  

One complaint people had with Luke was that even when everyone was telling him there was nothing good left inside Darth Vader he went against everyone and held onto hope.  But when it comes to his Nephew -- the son of his twin sister and best friend -- lets just kill him while he sleeps!  Luke was not only considering murdering his nephew but if he was successful he would have destroyed his relationship with Leia and Han Solo.  To me it doesn't make much sense.

OK, mild spoilers for anyone not Jendu who might mind them:

Onscreen it's much more so a brief moment of weakness than a considered plan. It's a reaction -- and it's a callback to the more emotional and volatile Luke that was successfully baited by Vader to lash out, once Vader was able to sense that Leia was his sister. A moment of weakness at a time of high tension. And in Last Jedi, the moment passes quickly, but it was still too  And so, mild spoiler: the differing versions of how this same event are portrayed onscreen actually helps to underscore Obi-Wan's whole "From a certain point of view" statement.

Again, I liked it, but I wasn't super crazy about everything. Several things went well, others went poorly. It was certainly no Rogue One, which I loved, but I think it set out to do what it intended and while some things were carried out clumsily (like really clumsily), it was still better than Attack of the Clones and imho, a fair amount of Force Awakens (which I still liked despite agreeing that it tred too much of the same ground as ANH).

And I agree in part with Korstyn's take. Certain things were definitely disappointing -- and I do wish certain established characters got to "do more" than they did. The development of the Rey/Kylo storyline and relationship was definitely the strongest and best developed aspect of the movie and that was well handled.

[Garlen Veir]

Watched it lastnight. I long ago gave up on expecting SW movies to live up to any preconceived bias or notion. I measure them by one standard.. was I entertained.. Yes, I was. Maybe not as much as I was by Rogue Squadron, but orders of magnitude greater than the poor acting of Revenge of the Sith.( Which would have been much better if the acting didn't ruin the audience immersion in the story.)

[Rahullu]

So about purple how would rahullu rate him in comparison to rahull for Brawling and brawling pary?

[Nova]

So about purple how would rahullu rate him in comparison to rahull for Brawling and brawling pary?

Ooh, @Man in Black, so Rahullu can assess this via search and/or tactics as well?

And the descriptive comparative skill levels from 2E are the same in 1E, right?  As in:

3D is Trained
4D is Professional level
5D is Above average expertise
6D is Best in a city or geographic area, 1 out of 100,000 people

... etc?

[Korstyn Steele]

Really? I would have thought Professional level would be higher than “Above Average”...