Star Wars: Episode VIII ***Speculation & Spoilers***

[Crusader Husker]

Another problem is they tried to fit too much in to this movie.  If this had been two different movies without the smokey and the bandit chase, you could have developed the characters more and have added some back story.

 

[Cdog923]

I saw someone pose this on another forum I frequent, but Last Jedi would have worked much, much better as the finale to this trilogy as opposed to the middle section. I think the investment in both the story and the new characters would be much higher if we actually saw all of these things we've heard about: The Republic being established, the First Order rising from the Outer Rim, Luke beginning his Jedi Academy, and his failure with Ben Solo. Then, you go to The Force Awakens, introduce Rey and end it with Last Jedi. 

 

[knapplc]

I saw someone pose this on another forum I frequent, but Last Jedi would have worked much, much better as the finale to this trilogy as opposed to the middle section. I think the investment in both the story and the new characters would be much higher if we actually saw all of these things we've heard about: The Republic being established, the First Order rising from the Outer Rim, Luke beginning his Jedi Academy, and his failure with Ben Solo. Then, you go to The Force Awakens, introduce Rey and end it with Last Jedi. 

Except the good guys will have to win in the end, so the last movie will be the Rebellion Resistance defeating the Empire First Order.

 

[Redux]

The reason people hate on these movies is they're bad movies.

And we're  done here.  All the reasons you give following this could very easily be said about the original trilogy.

 

[Cdog923]

And we're  done here.  All the reasons you give following this could very easily be said about the original trilogy.

 

[QMany]

The reason people hate on these movies is they're bad movies.  The stories are poor, the plots are full of holes... they're just not good.  Slick CGI and cameos by their old action figure characters are enough to gloss over these facts for some people, but others just expect to see a good film for the price of admission. 

Star Wars was groundbreaking.  Empire was legitimately a good film.  Jedi was a decent end to a good trilogy. 

Nobody remembers these as fine cinema, they were rollicking good popcorn flicks.  The new movies are crass money-makers, period.  ROTJ had become that by the end of the original series but it was still a compelling story.  Two hours of space tailgating is not. 

Getting ready to see TLJ, I watched ANH, TESB, and ROTJ in a row. That is pretty much how I found those movies too: 


(I should have tweeted "Never continuously watched through the series before." I had caught all of the films multiple times in various pieces throughout my life.) 

I can understand that those films were groundbreaking movie-making and slick CGI in 1977-83, but they weren't great movies without plenty of plot holes themselves. I literally laughed out loud in my living room at Luke's acting. Just like a generation considered them rollicking good popcorn flicks when they were kids, many feel the same today. 

 

[knapplc]

Star Wars (ANH) gets by on its groundbreaking CGI.  It was not intended to be a money-maker, nor were marketing tie-ins heavily factored into the making of the movie.  That was a thought with TESB, but it became full-fledged with ROTJ - the worst of the three original movies.

Empire is, objectively, a fine piece of film.  Great story, one of the best OH S--T! moments in all of cinema history, epic lightsaber battle, and only a little bit of cornball.  

Jedi became a bit slapstick, was heavily wrapped up in tie-ins, and very corny. 

All three of those movies are better than TLJ, even with their flaws, if for no other reason than that the story was better. 

 

[NUinID]

Getting ready to see TLJ, I watched ANH, TESB, and ROTJ in a row. That is pretty much how I found those movies too: 


(I should have tweeted "Never continuously watched through the series before." I had caught all of the films multiple times in various pieces throughout my life.) 

I can understand that those films were groundbreaking movie-making and slick CGI in 1977-83, but they weren't great movies without plenty of plot holes themselves. I literally laughed out loud in my living room at Luke's acting. Just like a generation considered them rollicking good popcorn flicks when they were kids, many feel the same today. 

That really is a big part of it.  I was 11 when A New Hope came out.  It was the coolest thing I had ever seen.  Loved the ESB and ROTJ.  Nothing is ever going to be as great as what my imagination remembers it to be like seeing Star Wars in 1977.   With that said I liked The Last Jedi and I liked the Force Awakens. 

Like some on here I probably liked Rogue One better than the others. I think it is because it was darker, but mostly it was a stand alone movie.  It had no expectations of having to deal with the legends of Han, Luke, and Leia and all the things that go with it.  

 

[NUinID]

Star Wars (ANH) gets by on its groundbreaking CGI.  It was not intended to be a money-maker, nor were marketing tie-ins heavily factored into the making of the movie.  That was a thought with TESB, but it became full-fledged with ROTJ - the worst of the three original movies.

Empire is, objectively, a fine piece of film.  Great story, one of the best OH S--T! moments in all of cinema history, epic lightsaber battle, and only a little bit of cornball.  

Jedi became a bit slapstick, was heavily wrapped up in tie-ins, and very corny. 

All three of those movies are better than TLJ, even with their flaws, if for no other reason than that the story was better. 

You forgot to add IMO

 

[knapplc]

Everything written on a message board is the opinion of the person posting it.

Can you please stop with the personal stuff?  We're talking about movies, not me.  Whatever your problem with me is, take it to the Shed.

 

[Landlord]

The Empire - the thing that needed explaining the most in this whole new trilogy is What Happened To The New Republic?!?!? Instead, we just have to accept that the Republic, which had stood for thousands of years, is suddenly out AGAIN after reestablishing itself from the couple-three decade reign of the Emperor. We absolutely needed a brief scene explaining how that coalition of systems that grew so big they overthrew the Empire - setting off celebrations around the galaxy - became so impotent so fast that the Empire essentially reestablished itself in... what? A few years? But where did they get the funds to build a huge new fleet, how did they train all those Stormtroopers, how do they have a functional government, how isn't the entire galaxy in turmoil or fighting against them?  The tiny Rebel Resistance fleet... where did the galaxy-wide support go, and how did it go so fast?  This is the least believable part of this whole thing, and that's not even including all the science questions you have to just ignore. 

All three of those movies are better than TLJ, even with their flaws, if for no other reason than that the story was better. 

I don't necessarily disagree with this take, but it's curious to me that your biggest paragraph of criticism for Ep8 was the lack of exposition or setup of 'how we got here', and then you praise the original trilogy story that didn't give us any information about virtually anything that happened before it. 

4/5/6 don't tell us how this Empire came to be, who the Emperor is, why he looks like that, what/who the rebellion is and why it matters, and at most we get sparse lines of dialogue in regards to the Jedi and Anakin. They don't tell us who stormtroopers are, what moisture farming is, how the rebellion has a fleet of ships, what role Darth Vader actually has in government, etc. They just drop us into the middle of the story and we're fine with it. 

It's not TLJ's fault that it isn't a new story with no expectations. TESB, for comparison, had essentially no expectations of what it would be or where it would go when it was released. 

 

[QMany]

I see a ton of movies. My wives enjoys going to theater. I'll even go see movies by myself, I don't care. I'm not a Star Wars fan. That being said, when Holdo sliced through the First Order ship in hyperspeed, I was in a wide-eyed awe like I can't remember. The scale, the silence. It was really well done. 

 

[knapplc]

That being said, when Hondo sliced through the First Order ship in hyperspeed, I was in a wide-eyed awe like I can't remember. The scale, the silence. It was really well done. 

Best part of the whole movie.  My only question was, why didn't she do that earlier before more of her ships/people got picked off?

For a movie franchise so synonymous with massive, amazing music, that silence was one of the best moments of all the movies. 

Friend of mine says that in their theater when Hondo made the attack, in the ensuing silence a little kid said really loud, "What happened??!!?"  That would have been too bad.  My theater was stone silent, and it was great.

 

[NUinID]

I don't necessarily disagree with this take, but it's curious to me that your biggest paragraph of criticism for Ep8 was the lack of exposition or setup of 'how we got here', and then you praise the original trilogy story that didn't give us any information about virtually anything that happened before it. 

4/5/6 don't tell us how this Empire came to be, who the Emperor is, why he looks like that, what/who the rebellion is and why it matters, and at most we get sparse lines of dialogue in regards to the Jedi and Anakin. They don't tell us who stormtroopers are, what moisture farming is, how the rebellion has a fleet of ships, what role Darth Vader actually has in government, etc. They just drop us into the middle of the story and we're fine with it. 

It's not TLJ's fault that it isn't a new story with no expectations. TESB, for comparison, had essentially no expectations of what it would be or where it would go when it was released. 

again, you make a great point. I guess I wasn't looking for explanation in that regards.  

 

[Redux]

How so?