Phasma/that third guy that name evades me: smoke meant nothing.. I’m guessing snoke will still play a role in 9

I do not understand this reaction at all.

Can't speak for everyone but I've stated my issues. The stupidity of the whole set-up and weak story are what did it for me. There were just too many missed opportunities of what could have been.

The multiplier was that I was expected more from Rian.

There were cool things that I really liked - Snoke and Luke scenes were all interesting. The Praetorian Guard battle (though you have to admit it should probably have started a tad bit earlier lol) was well done. It just felt like there was about 45 minutes of actual story that got padded with nearly two hours of side-quests that went no where.

But in answer to your questino I think a lot of it has to do with what could have been and what is there is just really, really weak.

Agree with all of this. Except Poe. I really hate Poe because his humor is just stupid and he's pretty perfunctory in every way.

I'd add...

I thought it was pretty good. First hour was pretty slow but it really picked up after that. They really need to cut back on the silly one liners though. Star Wars is much better when it takes itself serious.

I am not completely sure how I feel about Last Jedi yet. I liked more things than things I did not like.....but there is no way on God's green earth that Episodes I or II are better than it.

We ran into some people we knew who were leaving as we were waiting in line, and they were gushing that it was the best one they'd seen.

After leaving the theater and having some time to digest it, I don't agree with that assessment at all. It was fine, and certainly better than the prequels, but there are a lot of things that either fell flat or made no sense to me:

Why spend the entire first film with the audience knowing Snoke is the Supreme Commander, give him the standard bad guy, "I fooled you all" speech, and then kill him off? Where did he come from? Who trained him? They turned a compelling character into General Grievous.

If Leia can preserve herself from death in the vacuum of space and propel herself back into the bridge of the ship, why can't she move some rocks that are in her way?

Why did they modulate Kylo Ren's voice through the first half of the movie, even when he was next to Rey and not a force projection, and then have his normal speaking voice over the latter portion?

Why was everyone on the verge of tears, or crying throughout the entirety of the film?

Star Wars has always had clunky humor, but a lot of the humor in this movie was too forced, IMO, and borderline inappropriate for the tension of certain situations. Snoke tapping Rey on the head with the lightsaber when she tried to pull it, and her comments about shirtless Kylo during one of their mental encounters took me out of the scene, as well as his "They were nothing...nothing," line.

Also, I don't think Adam Driver is a compelling antagonist at all. He's overacting the entire time, trying to over-emote with a shaking visage and tear-filled eyes. I don't
think his performance was much better than Hayden Christensen.

Maybe this is my nostalgia speaking, but I don't think that every old character has to die in the new series. I spent the entire last sequence thinking, "Please, don't kill Luke Skywalker." Is the story harmed by having him merely exhausted after the force projection? Obviously, he can still exist in future installments as a force ghost, like Yoda, but I think his corporeal form had more to offer for the next film.

Luke can't be corporeal in the next film.

No more than Obi-Wan or Yoda could be in Jedi.

If a ****ing Jedi Master is running around there's no reason for Rey to do anything. She barely had a dramatic hand in this movie's climax as it was.

I actually wished that Leia had died instead of Admiral Holdo, because it would have been the IDEAL death for her, and cleared a path for Poe to do more in IX.

So the protagonist actually has something to do. C'mon.

I'm actually conflicted about whether or not killing Snoke was the right thing to do (he's an interesting character, but I think his backstory is more interesting than anything he had left to do in this story), but if you don't A) how does that scene advance forward otherwise and B) how does Kylo really get set up as a real villain.

Now he is. It served it's purpose.

Killing Snoke removes any possibility of IX being a ripoff of Jedi, at the very least, and with Jar Jar Abrams lurking that's a very good thing.

We're set up now for a Kylo/Rey Hux/Poe showdown in IX and it's going to be fun.

I would assume that nudging oneself in the zero gravity of space is far easier than picking up large boulders against the pull of the planet's gravity. Much in the same way the little boulders that luke moves when he is training with Yoda are easier for him to lift than the xwing buried in the swamp.

I feel like a major theme of this movie is "You're asking the wrong questions." That being said, why not let this play out? Just because it isn't addressed in the remainder of this movie doesn't mean they're done with the character totally.

The Force manifests itself in different ways in different people.

Because they're being pushed to the brink of what they can handle in different ways.

I don't like Adam Driver. But he's way better than HC.

Chewie is alive. Leia has to die, due to unforeseen circumstances. The first film was supposed to be Han's, this one Luke's and the third was supposed to be Leia's. Can't do that now.

The story isn't harmed, but there's not much else left for him to do. He's trained Rey as much as he was trained by Yoda. We also may not be done with him.

On track for $220 million, maybe more.

Interesting, it got an A grade from Cinemascore.

http://deadline.com/2017/12/the-last...ds-1202228444/

https://www.cinemascore.com/

The issue with this is that it presupposes that the only thing a Jedi is supposed to do is train an apprentice then die. Part of this film is about the fallibility and arrogance of the Jedi's methods, but in the end, he does what everyone before him did despite an awareness of that arrogance.