Star Wars: Episode VIII (The Last Jedi) - SPOILERS POSSIBLE*

Hmm. Apart from our very different opinions on TLJ, your list is otherwise nearly identical to mine. (I have ANH ahead of TESB, and I'm split on placement for ROTS and ROTJ and could rank them either way.)

 

Pretty much agree with SW and ESB being interchangeable. I think ESB is a better movie, but SW has a special place in my heart for obvious reasons.

As for ROTS and ROTJ, I give ROTJ the edge because of the Emperor/Luke/Vader scene is one of the best scenes in the movie. ROTS had more things I disliked than ROTJ overall too. But they're close. Nostalgia likely is helping prop up ROTJ for me too.

 

Empire
Star Wars
The Last Jedi
Return of the Jedi
The Force Awakens
Attack Of The Clones
The Phantom Menace

Haven't seen ROTS all the way thru in a single viewing. Haven't seen Rogue One yet. Mildly interested.

 

Sorry, But Poe Dameron Is Actually Worse Than Jar Jar Binks

 

What a horrible take. "Poe is the worst because he makes bad decisions." No kidding. That's literally the point.

 

I don't disagree, but I posted that more for the Holdo bashers who think Poe got a raw deal or something....

 

Exactly! That article perfectly sums up my feelings on Poe’s and Holdo’s roles in the film. Poe is a low-ranking, insubordinate screw-up who, twice in the same film, helped the First Order decimate the Resistance, and the Vice Admiral is expected to tell him about her plan to save the Resistance? Somehow, the mutiny is her fault?

 

Don't forget, he flat-out lied to Holdo about his rank when he introduced himself as Commander. That's the second time in the first hour of the movie that he was insubordinate to a ranking officer!

 

Indeed, every single person was told the plan - when they were told to board the escape pods. So her rationale for not telling everyone until that moment? She's a sadist, I guess. Or - I'd have to watch it again to check the sequence and I don't really want to do that - perhaps she waited because she needed everyone on the medical ship to die first, or else some of the people on the medical ship may have given away the plan by trying to reach the planet in their escape pods prematurely.

 

You really should watch the movie again. No one died who was on the medical frigate, except its captain. He reports to Holdo that all transports are en route to her before his transmission is cut off. In fact, I'd wager that she got whole the idea to escape in transports from that ship captain.

Or you can just read about it here.

 

^Then really I have no explanation for why she made everyone think they were going to die.

But so much doesn't make sense that it is hardly worth pursuing. Not an original observation - I heard this from a YouTube review - but it seems that the resistance would have many millions more people on their side now, due to the First Order having blown up some very popular planets. At the very least, however many thousands of people who were born on those worlds but are living on other worlds now would be pretty steamed at the First Order. And each planet would have had thousands of ships elsewhere, all ready to join the fight (if they are armored/have weapons). The Resistance should be at an all-time high thanks to the events of The Force Awakens.

 

I don't recall this happening. I must be watching a different movie.

Except that The Last Jedi picks up not long after the end of The Force Awakens. Maybe there hasn't been time yet to rally all the people and ships from the planets that Starkiller Base destroyed.

 

Well, poor choice of words on my part. She didn't make everyone think they were going to die. She just didn't relieve anyone of that deduction. Some of the more optimistic people were probably praying that rescue would come.

That seems very likely. And perhaps some people wouldn't even believe initial reports since it would be such horrific news.

 

I think the only minds she couldn't put to rest were Poe's and the people he roped into his mutiny. But those people knew Poe and respected him, so maybe they were blinded by loyalty and failed to see it was his bruised ego calling the shots.

 

The vice admiral of the Resistance didn’t tell the insubordinate captain, the mechanic, the former stormtrooper and their low-ranking loyalists of her plans. Based on the scale of the operation to evacuate all of those people and get them safely to Crait, she presumably told those who needed to know and those who were actually willing to respect the chain of command and follow orders, and an operation of that scale would have required her to tell those who needed to know well in advance.

 

Star Wars’ Yoda Is Real: Master Yoda’s Image Found In 14th Century Manuscript

 

Based on TFA, my impression was that Poe was fairly high ranking in the Resistance. He seemed awfully familiar with Leia and the other general. Plus, he is personally chosen by Leia to go on special missions, isn’t he? That implies an intimacy and trust beyond that of a simple pilot.

I really disliked the Poe arc in TLJ, both because of the way he was treated and the way he acted (he should have been shot for his failed coup). It didn’t feel consistent with what we already knew about the character.

 

What did we know about Poe, though? Compared to Rey and Finn, he has hardly any 'backstory' at all, beyond being a droid owning, arrogant, cocky, hot shot pilot. I admit I like the character, but he does seem to be a bit of an a--hole

 

Right. Thus, he also gets slapped in the face in front of everyone, in addition to being demoted. And that's also why he's not otherwise punished more severely. There's an extra personal element to it. Leia still sees value in Poe, even when his ego gets in his own way. Maybe she's got a history of dealing with cocksure flyboys and knows how to tame them, hmm?

 

Kind of like Han?

 

Yeah this.

After him making out to be the "Wedge Antilles" of the Resistance in TFA, he becomes a poster boy for "bruised ego." They turn him from a hero in TFA to a trigger-happy "fly boy" in TLJ. I understand the analysis above saying that Poe's behavior and insubordination needed to be reeled in by Holdo, etc. However, I disliked this arc and where they took his story, which was a creative decision by Lucasfilm/RJ.

 

The good news is that Poe should be a veteran, seasoned, disciplined leader in Episode IX, and not just a hotshot pilot. so there's nothing but upside potential for the character.

 

Who knows. After seeing TLJ twice (both times in the theater) I don't have any expectations for IX, nor do I have the same "I can't wait to see what happens!" feeling that I had after seeing TFA three times in the theater.

 

Well, then, you might be in a good place. I went into VII and VIII with few expectations, really, and seemed to have enjoyed both (or at least VIII) more than you did.

 

Yeah, you know what? The more I think about it the more I feel that this movies SUCKS and I hate the Star Wars franchise and I want off RIGHT NOW. I'm gonna go see "The Avengers" instead of "Solo" and any other fancy spin-off they come up. That sound you hear is me flushing the toilet on this whole affair. I should have bailed after "Star Wars". Everything after that has just been needless baggage. The Journal of the Whills didn't say nothin' about all this corny junk. Suck suck suck sucking all the fun out of this experience. Kill all the old folks so we can make way for the wicked cool new generation of emasculated pilot, ex-storm trooper who keeps trying to sneak away, and girly who gets hot and bothered in the pants by creep dad-killing villain with no shirt. Billions of dollars spent and they can't even devise an effective story arc for the trilogy. The thing plays like they are making it up on the spot. No more, Mouse. I'm walking. Not gonna piss another $12 away watching this garbage in the theater out of some misguided sense of obligation. You killed all the characters I cared about anyway, geniuses. "I am none with the Force the Force isn't with me. I am none with the Force the Force isn't with me." Gonna go watch "Grease 2", a sequel that actually deserves to exist! You finally did it!! You broke me!!!! Damn you! Damn you all to hell!!!! Hallelujah!!!...holy spit!!!!...where's the Tylenol?....DON'T YOU EVER COME BACK AGAIN BECAUSE I'M TOO OLD TO WASTE MY TIME ON YOU, YOU BUM!!!!!!