Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (2017) ✦ YouTube Edit
Added 2022-04-10 04:43:17 +0000 UTCHey everyone! Here is the edit for my reaction to The Last Jedi. If you already sat through the whole movie with my unedited reaction, then you are free to go ahead and skip to the last 20 minutes where I talk about my overall thoughts and feelings about the movie, both the criticisms and what I enjoyed. Each of those sections is marked in the video directly (see below) or in the description.
The premiere for this will occur Monday, April 10 at 12:00 MDT / 18:00 UTC.
Here is the direct link to the reaction.
Please enjoy!
✦ KL
Comments
I haven't re-watched the sequels yet, but I want to soon!
kaiielle
2023-04-17 16:37:18 +0000 UTCWell I have to say, being so far removed from when this first came out and going into it with more of an open mind than the one time I rewatched it in the past, it wasn't as bad as I remembered. However I agree with your criticisms. Mostly, coming from so much rich world building through all the rest of Star Wars media, this story has no... place. Like where are the first order headquartered? Why is it AGAIN a small rebellion vs an empire that just kinda came out of nowhere vs slowly built with skill and finesse during Palpatine and the Clone Wars? There's no scale to what we see in this movie specifically (we ignore canto bight here because that could be removed and the story not changed-- which means it should not have been in the movie to begin with). In other movies we got senses of place-- Naboo, Coruscant, Geonosis, Tatooine, Kamino, all the animated planets and people, Utapau, Cloud City, Ryloth, etc. All unique and well developed. WE KNOW when we are on tatooine because it is consistent and has consistent culture, vs Naboo with it's culture and people and so on. So many places that told us the scale of how big the galaxy is and how this rebellion vs empire vs republic thing was impacting and spreading everywhere. Here it seems like it's supposed to be massive war with massive stakes but we never actually get to see it (as of this movie). This in and of itself isn't bad, per se, but we don't really get character development in this movie to pick up the slack. Everyone has one note: Poe is Abrasive, Finn is Confused, Luke is Failure, Leia is Hope, Rose is Sad, Holdo is Secretive... I used to feel Rey was meh but after this watch, I kinda like her a lot more than I used to because she and Kylo did have the bulk of development. I do have to say I'm still sad Finn didn't turn out to be a Jedi focus of this series, after the Force Awakens trailer came out the way they framed it with the Snoke voice over "there's been an awakening" and Finn pops out of the Jakku sand reaaaaalllllyyy makes me believe before THIS movie that was kinda maybe where it was going. Thanks for the watch and the thoughts! I did enjoy this more this time and so maybe at some point in the far future when you watch it again you will like it more too!
Keeley Thurman
2023-04-17 06:06:54 +0000 UTCAppreciate this comment a lot, thank you!
kaiielle
2022-04-11 22:58:28 +0000 UTCI would say this is the most divisive movie in the fandom. With The Force Awakens, most of the fans realised that the story was uninspired, almost a remake of A New Hope, and there were minor problems, mostly with things like killing Han before having a scene with the trio together, and with Ray being able to use advanced force abilities without any training as well as beating Kylo Ren who had been training for years, first with Luke and then with Snoke. But even with those problems, I'd say most fans enjoyed Episode VII, and were keen on seeing new stories in the sequel trilogy. The Last Jedi on the other hand, there are people who enjoy it and people who hate it. On my first watch in the theaters, I thought it was ok, but I am not a very critical watcher on my first watch. After hearing the criticisms people had, I must say that I personally agree with some of the main points. I would say most of the people who hate the Last Jedi have their biggest problem with the way Luke is portrayed: Luke in Return of the Jedi was incredibly optimistic, the most important aspect of his story was his unshaken belief that even Darth Vader could be returned to the light and he didn't give up on that believe even when that meant being killed by the emperor. He did feel the pull to the dark side in his confrontation with Darth Vader and the emperor, but he managed to overcome it, that was the big challenge in his arc and his big victory. It doesn't make sense character-wise for Luke to being afraid of Kylo's darkness even if it was just for a moment, And it makes even less sense for him to give up everything and cutting his connection to the force. Even Mark Hamill strongly disagreed with Rian Johnson on the way Luke was being portrayed. It doesn't help that long time fans had had more than 30 years of Luke in the Expanded Universe being portrayed as the ultimate Jedi Master, powerful and wise and in line with how he was in Episode VI. Luke is, together with Han and Leia, one of the most beloved characters by long time Star Wars fans, and seeing him deconstructed in this way in The Last Jedi was a big problem for many of them. And I have to agree. A flawed Luke is interesting, don't get me wrong, but it could have been any other flaw, instead of making it a 180º change from his biggest strength. I think a powerful and wise Luke, who kept his optimism and faith in the goodness of others, but had some other flaw or challenge to overcome in this movie would have been much more consistent. People also had problems with most of the oher things you mentioned: Holdo being so secretive about her plans was totally unnecessary, Rose and Finn being romantically involved felt forced, Leia's space flying was weird, etc. Another problem people mention is how some concepts and hints from The Force Awakens were totally ignored in the Last Jedi: the mystery of who is Snoke and how he came to be so powerful went unasnwered, Snoke being unceremoniously killed instead, the Knights of Ren were completely ignored and didn't even get mentioned in this movie, etc. Another problem people point out to is that the "Holdo manouver". the kamikaze jump to hyperspace, contradicted well-established lore. Hyper-space is supposed to be a sort-of paral·lel dimension, meaning that ships traveling in Hyper-space can't collide with things in real-space. Things in real-space project gravitational fields over hyper-space, and given a strong enough interaction, a ship can be pulled from Hyper-space, that's why calculating safe hyper-space routes is important. So Holdo's manouver shouldn't be possible. But also, in-universe it creates a problem: droids can pilot ships, they can even identify enemy targets and manouver in-combat. Holdo's sacrifice was totally unnecessary, and if Holdo'sn manouver was effectve once, it can be replicated and weaponised by making kamikaze droids outfitted with hyper-drives, and completely changing the warfare in star wars: big, expensive ships would become obsolete. Don't get me wrong, as a stand-alone movie, I think the Last Jedi is a good movie, probably better than Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones. But it feels Rian Johnson purposely chose to subvert many expectations, specially with Luke, and didn't really care that much about consistency or an overarching narrative within an existing universe (which is what George Lucas was quite good at). And seeing the whole sequel trilogy, it seems that Disney didn't really have an overarching story planned either.
Michał Zawisza Alvarez
2022-04-11 21:59:15 +0000 UTCIt's all good!
kaiielle
2022-04-11 04:09:39 +0000 UTCNo worries! 😂
kaiielle
2022-04-11 04:09:05 +0000 UTCNew rule for me, I'll no longer be commenting on videos when I'm high, I had episode VIII and episode IX mixed up, so my bad 😂 episode IX is the one I find difficult to get through because of Carrie Fisher, sorry for the mix up...... I am an idiot 😂...... but I have a feeling you'll love IX, it ties up a few of the mistakes from the other films.
Douglas (James) Cavers
2022-04-11 02:43:57 +0000 UTCI really need to start taking notes as I watch these with you. I forgot most of what I want to say by the time it’s over. I’ll do that next time so my thoughts are in order.
Absher
2022-04-11 00:42:44 +0000 UTCIn general it was really refreshing to see someone who liked Rey and Luke in this movie but had other criticisms. Great work as always!
juliachristine
2022-04-10 16:21:13 +0000 UTCI would agree that the disorganization is the point re: the Resistance. One thing I try to keep in mind with this and the sequels in general is that there’s quite a bit in any SW movie that can strike different people as confusing or odd(Padmè doesn’t know she’s having twins???) and that our enjoyment/dislike doesn’t always equate to quality. I LOVE TPM but it’s a bizarrely structured movie with lots of new and strange ideas. I still love it. On a different note, I for one am thrilled that we have such a diversity of Star Wars projects these days so that there’s something for everyone. I’m a PhD candidate by trade and I try to teach my students to do what you’re doing here with your criticisms: talk about the actual thing itself and be specific. So many people just regurgitate talking points from overly negative talking heads on YouTube and don’t let themselves investigate and come up with their own opinions. Speaking of Phasma, the book by the same name by Delilah s Dawson is really good. The books in general are fantastic if you’re a reader. Let me know if you need any recommendations :)
juliachristine
2022-04-10 16:03:40 +0000 UTCAunt Lysa is on the dread-knot in the beginning, she has one line I think
Absher
2022-04-10 06:17:08 +0000 UTCI did recognize Ser Barristan! And of course Emilia Clarke in Solo. The others I definitely missed and I'll have to go back and look.
kaiielle
2022-04-10 06:13:36 +0000 UTCI’ve watched GOT so many times. I’m waiting to watch it until HBO wakes up and offers it in 4K HDR. Greatest TV show of all time imo. Star Wars could have used her talents. You probably didn’t notice Ser Barristan in Rogue One. Mother of Dragons herself in Solo obviously, Max Van Sydow played the Three-Eyed Raven was in the opening scene of Force Awakens. Did you notice Aunt Lysa in Last Jedi? There are more GOT alumni sprinkled in the SW universe going back to the original trilogy. I’d tell you to look it up but there is one spoiler in the bunch.
Absher
2022-04-10 06:07:36 +0000 UTC👍✌️🤘
Absher
2022-04-10 05:53:38 +0000 UTCThanks so much for sharing your thoughts! Yes, Obi-Wan Kenobi is going to be reacted to as soon as it comes out. Full reactions will be here on Patreon and then edited ones are going on YouTube. That's the only Star Wars TV show that I plan on doing YouTube edits for, simply because it's only 6 episodes and I have a feeling they're gonna feel like short movies. 💛 Won't lie, I'm going to *attempt* to watch/record all of TCW before it comes out so that I'm kind of in the loop? But I know I'll still enjoy it regardless.
kaiielle
2022-04-10 05:51:24 +0000 UTCLol Kaiielle, loved your intro to this one. Haha, you don’t take any shit like that. I agree with every criticism you made. As a massive GOT fan I love Gwendoline Christie and I think it’s a huge missed opportunity to utilize her acting in the sequels. One of my favorite moments in GOT is her smile after Jamie Knights her, I cried. I liked a lot of the same things you liked about this movie, some of the visual style is very unique and did bring something new to Star Wars. It’s so terrible that it was ruined by a bad plot, shitty, lazy writing and in my opinion straight up disrespect for Luke and Leia’s characters. Let’s not forget that these are sequels to the “Skywalker Saga” I am absolutely for new stories in the SW universe but not here. Disney fucked up by not using George’s vision. Sorry, I’m trying not to be negative here but I get frustrated with this movie in particular. Anyways, I have enjoyed your reactions and I’m loving watching the Clone Wars again. Looking forward to Mando reactions. Question and maybe you’ve said this and I missed it, are you planning on reacting to Kenobi as it airs? I think that would be cool. Not sure if Dave is planning on bringing a lot of CW and Rebels content in or not, I’m hoping he does but I still think it would be awesome if you reacted to Kenobi live.
Absher
2022-04-10 05:49:36 +0000 UTC
