shadowhive

Naturally, after making that last post, things went wrong again. Joy.

So today we went to see The Last Jedi again, it's the first time I've seen a film twice since Revenge Of The Sith (which I ended up seeing three times). Like I said before, I thought of posting thoughts about it, so I'm going to now that it's fresh again.

So obviously, spoilers are under the cut for The Last Jedi

So before I start, I haven't read the visual dictionary yet. I have read the cross sections and maybe the visual dictionary will give answers/insiht like it always does.

Anyways.

The Last Jedi opens with the crawl, stating that the First Order reigns. Does it? It seems unlikely, just days after the destruction of Hosnian Prime in The Force Awakens, that the rest of the galaxy would just surrender. But then, of course, I thought about the galaxy. Do they know that Starkiller is destroyed? Planets way just surrender in fear of a wespon the First Order no longer has. Even so I don't see everyone giving up so easily. (At least the Mon Calamari anyway.)

But onto the film itself. It starts with Poe attacking the First Order Dreadnaught. With him distracting/movking Hux and then destroying it, disobeying Leia. A lot of back and forth has gone on about his plan since release. Was it a good idea? The dreadnaught is a fleet killer, he says it himself. Destroying it, I think, was the right call. The flaw was with the bombers. They flew too close together so when one went down, it took out all the rest with it. Whoever decided to fly like that was the one that made the wrong call and caused those lives to be lost.

Naked Finn and BB-8 letting Poe know was awesome!

A lot has been said too about Luke's character. I think they made the right call with it. He feels responsible for Kylo and so he ran and he hid. Rey manages to get through to him (with Yoda) and give him peace and purpose in the end.

I loved Leia using the force. It's still on of my favourite moments in the film. They could have done reshots, had her die though easily but they didn't and I'm glad of it.

I read Leia, Princess Of Alderaan a few months ago. While the story is, of course, about Leia, it also introduces Amilyn Holdo. As such I knew going in what Poe didn't, that she wasn't a coward or a traitor. She was Leia's friend and obviously in on the plan to hide at Crait. It all comes down to should she have told Poe the plan? She chose not to and in doing so Poe did so many reckless and stupid things it got most of the resistance killed.

The plan to Canto Bight was sound, of course, but it went so wrong. Finn and Rose weren't the right people for the mission. Landing their transport carelessly ended up costing them their mission. And then they had to go with DJ instead who turned on them the first chance he got.

Rey, I liked more this time then I did when I first saw it. The link with Kylo served a purpose which is clearer on second viewing (and hey, topless Kylo). Although I still feel uncomfortable with her using Kylo's out name. She's not Luke, or Han, or Leia so her calling him that feels wrong.

I loved Kylo killing Snoke and the fight that followed. I loved the Praetorian guards design (I plan on doing something based on them) and I loved that they went down fighting. I think, though that all this means Kylo won't be redeemed in IX and someone (Rey, Hux) will kill him before the film is out.

Holdo's sacrifice was awesome. I envisaged her just ramming into the First Order but a hyperspace jump destroying them? Genius.

I feel better about Phasma's death this time. It feels more right, her death being a part of Finn's journey (and comitment yo the rebellion).

The battle of Crait was largely hopeless. Playing it on battlefront makes that clear too. Thank fuck Luke shows up, or else they all woulda died. And the awesome Vulptices. Luke's reunion with Leia made me teary again. I'm glad they had that moment together. The words shared between them hit hard now. I think Luke's death felt right, he gave his life to save the resistance, to save Leia, to be the spark.

So yeah that's the basic thoughts. I really do not envy the people doing episode IX, especially dealing with Carrie's death. It's clear each new episode was focussing on a different character and so IX feels meant to be Leia's. How they handle it, I dunno.