Star Wars: Episode VIII (2017)

[Cowutopia]

Yeah I think I might just be done. I had high hopes for ep 8 and like, the big narrative decisions I'm cool with, I just don't really enjoy watching the spectacle surrounding that anymore.

[Frogacuda]

Saw this last night. It certainly pulls things in a better direction than Force Awakens, which might as well have been called "Super Star Wars," for all the remixed shit from the old films it brought.

There were some corny moments I could have done without, but this one succeeds in building out the characters into people I liked and cared about, as well as telling an actual story.

[sleeve]

I think The Force Awakens was more fun to watch and I'd be more likely to rewatch that one in the future despite the cringey fan service moments. This one had a lot less of that.
I just don't understand what's driving the narrative anymore...? It's not really the characters as much as it is a resignation to the idea that there will always be this archetypal struggle no matter what happens because Star Wars. It's very meta and very depressing.

I took the opposite feeling from TLJ's ending. I found it very hopeful and inspiring in the suggestion that there might be a way to move beyond this archetypal struggle that has defined Star Wars for so long. Resistance versus First Order, Rebellion versus Empire...now that everything has been burnt to the ground, these new Resistance might actually be the start of something new.

[Cowutopia]

I'm truly hoping. This was the same feeling I was let with from TFA. So far it looks like 9 will end with Kylo forsaking his path.

I'm waiting for new story beats here.

I saw the movie again. It's pretty good. It looks great. It's still really boring in parts. The old characters are still dragging it down and they are taking forever to kill them all off but they are almost all gone now. The crux of this movie in the throne room when Rey turns down Kylo and it's a great scene but then there is this long drawn out exit for Luke that takes away from that.

[Cowutopia]

I have to say, just like in TFA Kylo is the strongest character and Driver crushes the performance. I love his fighting style and raw lightsaber.

[James]

Just saw it tonight and I think my favorite part is the way it rejects the logic of the original trilogy. Luke is Vader's son and Leia is his sister! Yeah, no more of that. Rey doesn't get to be a princess but instead has to become a hero. She's nobody from nowhere, as is Rose, as is that kid in the final shot. It's specifically rejecting the convoluted backstory as a prerequisite for the rise to heroism.

Another complaint I've seen is about the plot. While the casino planet bit didn't work, I liked that the rest was fairly stripped down. The Rebel base has been found and they spend the movie running from the First Order while Rey slowly gets her Jedi feet under her. That's not even a spoiler. It wandered all over the place along the way, but the plot was always straightforward.

Yeah, a lot of it was dumb, but I've yet to see a Star Wars where that wasn't true.

[Drewbacca]

I’m seeinv this Friday. But a lot of people have been having a weird malaise-y reaction to this movie. But a lot of people loved Rogue One too, which I thought kind of missed the whole point of Star Wars. It was like when dark and gritty Batman Dark Knight turned Superman in to dark and gritty. This isn’t the theme this series is about.

We’ll see!

[Mzo]

This was a long movie that felt long. Definitely dragged its ass by the end.

It was kind of stupid. Some explanations, some non-explanations, some dropped plot points, a horrible Finn and Rose side plot that did nothing but lead to a lot more dead people.

If it was ESB beat for beat I would've walked out. Being different is what kept me in the seat, but it still comes off as fanfiction. There are also some really strange and weird shots. Still better than the prequels.

[Cowutopia]

The ESB beats are all there just scrambled up and surrounded by other stuff.

Jedi training with eccentric jedi master in exotic location with strange wildlife. Check. Dark side cave scene where the resolution is YOU SEE YOUR OWN FACE. Check. Yoda dropping knowledge. Check.

Rebels escape from encroaching Imperial assault on their base (although they swapped it, the walker battle was at the end and they stuck a space battle in front) where shit was looking really desperate, check.

A long period of time where our heroes are stranded in space, besieged by an imperial fleet with seemingly no way out. Check.

A confrontation between the hero and villain driven by the hero's belief that the villain is conflicted and can be turned. Check.

Oops that doesn't work out so well. Check.

The death of a jedi master. Check.

A budding romance. (Take your pick: Finn and Rose, Kylo and Rey, Poe and Rey, Poe and Everyone Else, but mostly Finn and Rose) Check

A Jedi lifts a bunch of rocks Check (And then makes a 4th wall joke by saying that it's happening out loud)

I mean what else can we transfer over. The heroes are betrayed by someone they trust who, in the end, is looking out for his own skin first. (Though Lando is way cooler than Thief Guy)

I'm sure there are more. There are small changes and things and like CKA said, the beats are presented out of order, but it's pretty much a remake of ESB in the end. At this rate Kylo's arc will end just like Vader's but I hope that is NOT the case. They are certainly building it up enough to set up a departure from the old scripts for ep. 9.

OMG One scene you could cut RIGHT OFF THE BAT is the final Captain Phasma battle. It looked COOL AS HELL but it's soooooo dumb. I mean they're right there ready to be executed then there is the big explosion but Phasma and her whole squad has somehow teleported behind a COOL LOOKING SMOKE SCREEN so they could come out all threatening and badass to stop Finn's escape. WTF. They all started off right next to each other. I don't think it would have taken anything away to just have them escape from there.

[Cowutopia]

I guess a lot of the throne room stuff is pulled from Jedi but whatever.