398: Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi

[00:00:00] 106. Let's get to Star Wars Episode 8, The Last Jedi, which is written and

[00:00:07] directed by Rian Johnson, stars Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, I mean basically the

[00:00:11] whole same cast from the first one, and the synopsis is Rey develops her

[00:00:18] abilities with the help of Lou Skywalker as the Resistance prepares for battle

[00:00:22] against the First Order. So again if you want to hear a full

[00:00:28] uninterrupted review of this whole trilogy plus the standalone films you

[00:00:32] can go to filmbuds.bandcamp.com, our bonus show page, and donate a dollar to

[00:00:37] the show and you'll get that. So I highly recommend you do that and it just goes

[00:00:40] to help keep the show up and going so would appreciate it. And thanks to all those

[00:00:43] who have. So I had seen most of Rian Johnson's films up to this point like

[00:00:50] Looper, Brick, and I didn't love any of those. I think Knives Out is still by far

[00:00:55] his best movie. I think it's an amazing film so I would check that out if you

[00:00:58] haven't seen it. And I actually interviewed, fun fact, I actually

[00:01:02] interviewed his brother the composer for most of his movies on the Music Buds

[00:01:06] podcast which is my other show that I haven't been doing much recently but

[00:01:09] that interview is there if you're curious. And so direction wise or

[00:01:15] director wise I wasn't like super hyped I was like okay cool it's someone kind of

[00:01:19] different for this didn't know much about the story or anything else as the

[00:01:23] sequel and I liked Force Awakens so I'm there. And I think that and I'd be

[00:01:28] curious to hear your thoughts so comment if you're in a situation where you can

[00:01:32] comment and let me know what you think of the movie. I know that there are very

[00:01:36] differing opinions on this one some people say it's like the worst one,

[00:01:39] others say it's the best one which spoiler I'm in that zone I think this is

[00:01:45] by far the best of the three. I don't think it's a masterpiece but while yes

[00:01:50] it does carry some things from Empire Strikes Back story wise I think this is

[00:01:56] by far the most inventive, the most refreshing, the most in its own world

[00:02:00] and trying to do something different. Not that it totally succeeds or it's

[00:02:04] entirely original but I think that whenever I watch this I feel like I'm

[00:02:08] watching something that is trying to be different from a lot of other Star Wars

[00:02:14] films and I think Rian Johnson's direction and writing very solid. The

[00:02:19] opening sequences with Rey and Mark Hamill some of the best parts of the

[00:02:24] movie I think the creatures that he gets and drinks the blue milk from amazing

[00:02:29] love that where he is on that long stick or pole and he like flies from one part

[00:02:36] of the cliff to the other love that so I think the whole look of that island and

[00:02:39] their conversations as to who he is now and then who she's trying to become and

[00:02:46] trying to find her way I think all that really works and it's very compelling

[00:02:49] emotional and those performances are awesome Mark Hamill is great in this I

[00:02:53] think but one before I get into some other good things I think the biggest

[00:02:57] issue I think with this and with Rise of Skywalker is Oscar Isaac's storyline I

[00:03:04] don't mind him at all I love Oscar Isaac in general but I remember having watched

[00:03:09] one of the making of documentaries for this where they're saying Oscar Isaac's

[00:03:14] character was originally supposed to be killed off in the first but Oscar Isaac

[00:03:18] was like please don't do that I want to stay on please find a way and so then he

[00:03:24] carried on through these next two movies and I think not nothing against him

[00:03:28] that's fine I'd want to be in more Star Wars too but this one especially I feel

[00:03:33] like he has nothing to do and I think that the spaceship sequences where it's

[00:03:39] the sort of political things with the first order I think is the worst part of

[00:03:44] the movie it feels like the pacing and energy momentum just comes to a halt in

[00:03:49] those sequences and so I wish that they had killed him off respectfully to Oscar

[00:03:55] Isaac I think that that part should have been way if not entirely cut at least

[00:04:01] limited because it kind of bloats the movie and it cuts away from things that

[00:04:05] I actually really care about and I just don't care that much about Oscar Isaac's

[00:04:10] group of characters he's interacting with in that especially in this movie

[00:04:14] it's not as bad in Rise of Skywalker but I think it's not great in this and

[00:04:19] so most of the stuff in this that takes place in space like off-planet I don't

[00:04:25] love but that's really one of my only issues with the whole thing

[00:04:29] one thing I do love is Snoke I know some people don't like Snoke I think the look

[00:04:33] of Snoke and the circuses performance is awesome I think the look of the Red Room

[00:04:38] is amazing one of the best visuals of the whole movie and that lightsaber

[00:04:44] fight or just overall combat fight in the Red Room is fantastic so huge huge

[00:04:49] fan of anything that takes place there and Snoke's conversations with Kylo Ren

[00:04:54] and Kylo Ren sort of failing and all that anger that erupts from that and I

[00:05:02] think that in dealing with Rey and Luke those teachings like the Jedi teachings

[00:05:09] are great I think there's some good humor there like with the little blade

[00:05:12] of grass is hilarious the Citizen Kane cinematography moment with the mirror

[00:05:17] images of Rey is great and her sort of visions of the dark side I think is all

[00:05:23] very effective but sadly it doesn't really work in the last movie so it

[00:05:27] makes this one a little bit more frustrating because they didn't fully

[00:05:30] carry through on that at least in how I wanted it to be and taking risks the

[00:05:34] stuff towards the end the main fight where there's the white sands fight and

[00:05:39] the ships are flying over with the red like kicking up the red dust or the

[00:05:43] trails looks fantastic so like there are so many things that really stick out to

[00:05:47] me and especially comparing it to JJ Abrams's work which is seven and nine I

[00:05:53] think it's eons better than his visually but actually before I forget one thing I

[00:06:00] don't love another sequence is the casino like horse race thing with John

[00:06:06] Boyega that's just something that goes on a little too long I don't think that

[00:06:09] there's really enough uncovered there I like the scene with Benicio del Toro he's

[00:06:14] amazing in this as he always is I love that character and the design of the

[00:06:18] character but that one is another piece I'm like that could have been cut down

[00:06:22] maybe even taken out switched around so the overall film lengthwise it is too

[00:06:28] long I think if there are points where just as in force awakens I'm like all

[00:06:32] right let's get this running you know let's wrap this part up so a little

[00:06:37] bloated but still very very satisfying very emotionally resonating very funny

[00:06:42] very compelling and intense with action and so there aren't huge flaws there

[00:06:49] aren't anything that like this is terrible I don't really understand why

[00:06:52] people trash on this one so much I really don't please explain it to me if you're

[00:06:55] one of those people and especially in comparison to seven and nine I just

[00:07:00] don't see a real comparison there but maybe I'm nuts oh and actually last

[00:07:05] thing the dream or flashback sequence with Luke and Kylo like young Kylo I

[00:07:11] really like that and and I guess I will talk about it as well in the episode 9

[00:07:16] review but the biggest story disappointment and I don't really blame

[00:07:20] Rian Johnson I think he did all he could with what he was given but in nine

[00:07:25] especially I hate what they do with Rey and the cop-outs with what they could

[00:07:31] have done with that character and I'll go into more detail with the next review

[00:07:35] but I really don't like that and I makes episode 9 all the more frustrating

[00:07:39] so I think it's in some ways underrated this movie is one of my favorite

[00:07:45] probably top three at least top five Star Wars films and I highly recommend

[00:07:51] it give it another chance so that one is a heavy four and a half out of five