Star Wars: The Last Jedi (Rian Johnson)

[megladon8]

Please explain to me where this fairly common conception comes from.

She is strong physically and headstrong but not yet wise. Love that we are given enough information about her physical prowess and ability to fight without it being spelled out. No one had to come out and say “she’s been alone on a hostile planet since childhood so she can fight!”

Her instant attraction to Han as a father figure, Kylo as a troubled brother relationship in TLJ. She’s constantly searching for family and trying to fill that void in her life while also seeing herself as the missing piece in others’ which works thematically with her line “I’m just searching for my place in all this”.

The hints at her having darkness inside her as well as light turn to a kid nature vs nurture discussion. Does that darkness stem from her (lack of) upbringing? Does she have a tendency towards the dark? If so, then her natural empathy towards others is actually her weakness that must be overcome.

And her natural ability with the force is totally in keeping with Star Wars tropes. Luke went from barely being able to move his lightsaber with the force to a near Jedi master over a long weekend, Leia had natural inclinations to the force in the OT with no training at all, Anakin was already powerful with the force before training with Obi Wan.

I can’t wait to see more Rey.

[Grouchy]

What you say about her surrogate family thing with Han/Kylo is interesting. Everything else strikes me as reading too much into a blank slate, particularly the "nature vs. nurture" thing.

Her development of Force powers remains specially ridiculous. The Force might have been strong with Anakin or Luke, but they required at least some guidance before using it to trick others into doing things. Her sudden skill with saber fighting is only as ridiculous as Finn's sudden skill inmediately afterwards.

I bet you can't name one characteristic or even bit of trivia about her personality that isn't just the usual features of a hero.

[Dukefrukem]

Not sure I understand this line: "Luke went from barely being able to move his lightsaber with the force to a near Jedi master over a long weekend"

[Dead & Messed Up]

I bet you can't name one characteristic or even bit of trivia about her personality that isn't just the usual features of a hero.

I get what you're saying, but isn't this a feature of archetype? Neo, conceptually and on the page, is boring as fuck, his character beats and choices are predictable, his dialogue is uninspired and basic. It's casting, the playing of the role, and the surrounding context that breathes life into the character.

[transmogrifier]

I don't really care about Rey one way or the other, seeing as she is ground up in the mess that is the film as a whole, but I do find Daisy Ridley to be wildly overpraised for her performance in this and TFA. She is borderline terrible in some scenes.

[Pop Trash]

She is borderline terrible in some scenes.

I mean, so was Mark Hamill, but that doesn't stop the OT from being awesome as fuck.

[Pop Trash]

Rey's backstory is a secret. That's why she's interesting.

Duke, your parents were filthy junk traders. Sold you off for drinking money. They're dead, in a pauper's grave in a Jakku desert. You had no place in this story. You come from nothing. You're nothing, but not to me. Join me.

[Skitch]

Guys, I shudder every time I remember that JJ is doing the next part.

[Spinal]

To the first, I say well, why not? We have seen Leia and Luke "communicating" with each other in the The Empire Strikes Back although it looked sillier in TLJ.

It's a really boring way to develop your characters. It speaks to the film's dull-headed literalness. How do I explore the tension between my protagonist and my villain? Well, how about if they just read each other's thoughts and bluntly explain to each other what they have planned? And visually, he did absolutely nothing with it.

[Spinal]

One thing that surprises me about the majority's reaction to both movies is how Rey was embraced as a protagonist while Jyn is rarely championed.

For me Rey is one of the sketchiest, most poorly written leading characters of all time, while every character in Rogue One was at least interesting.

And Felicity Jones is a much better actress.

[D_Davis]

Rogue One is probably the only Star Wars movie made since 1983 that's worth a damn.

It's barely worth a damn.

[Spinal]

It's barely worth a damn.

I mean, I wouldn't say it's worth a dayum.

[Dead & Messed Up]

I mean, I wouldn't say it's worth a dayum.

Rogue One gets two and a half dayums out of a possible four whaaaaats.

[Winston*]

Rogue One is very good.

[[ETM]]

And you don't feel that way about Rey? At least Jyn has a backstory and a motivation for doing what she does.

Yes, we are told her backstory and we're told she has a motivation. I might as well have read her performance in a book.

[Pop Trash]

It's a really boring way to develop your characters. It speaks to the film's dull-headed literalness. How do I explore the tension between my protagonist and my villain? Well, how about if they just read each other's thoughts and bluntly explain to each other what they have planned? And visually, he did absolutely nothing with it.

You're telling me you've never had vaguely flirtatious, sexually tense conversations with your arch-nemesis through space and time?

[Dead & Messed Up]

I liked that he did nothing visually with the Force Skyping. Or, rather, that it was just editing and suggestion. That was super-fun to me. I love lo-fi approaches to high-concept ideas.

[Dukefrukem]

If you guys thought Rouge One is bad, just wait until Solo.

[megladon8]

I didn’t think Rogue One was bad. Just competent, in the most boring ways. The Vader scene is one of the best scenes in the whole saga, and since it happens at the end I think it tainted my original viewing to feel more positive than it actually was.

Rogue One could almost be one of our “movies that exist”.

[Dukefrukem]

Enough with the hyperboles!

Hate it with all your might, but fuck.

[megladon8]

Think I stated pretty clearly that I don’t hate it.

[[ETM]]

I don't get the love for the Vader scene either. Maybe I was too numbed by the realization that they're literally connecting it directly to ANH to care.

[megladon8]

I don't get the love for the Vader scene either. Maybe I was too numbed by the realization that they're literally connecting it directly to ANH to care.

I can see what you mean for sure, but I guess I was kind of expecting a boatload of connections to ANH already. I think the use of Tarkin was much more cringe-worthy.

I just loved seeing Vader totally merc some fools for once.

[Skitch]

Enough with the hyperboles!

Hate it with all your might, but fuck.

What with your hard on for meg lately?

[Peng]

I think one of my first thoughts after Rogue One is it's funny that the infamous reshoot resulted in one of, if not the, best things about the film. The ending is not only pleasing in a fan-service way, but it's also just so organically and thematically appropriate and fitting, like the essence of the film, the message of the past 2 hours, distilled into one scene. Meant to rewatch it one of these days because actually the whole last third is so much superior that it might help with the underwhelming stuff that comes before.