Star Wars: The Last Jedi (Rian Johnson, December 15, 2017) Movie • Page 64

He didn't even want to direct all of the prequels, just tell the stories he wanted. But the overwhelming hate leaves a bad taste and it'll be sad if he carries that to his grave. The fact it put him off public filmmaking is a shame. Plus, idc for the hate, I still loved Ep 3. So shoot me [before Han does lel].

 

As I said above, he has no place in directing. It's sad the way the prequels and their response went, but the movies deserve the hate they get. I probably like the prequels more than most people, but they are awful.

 

A New Hope, THX 1, American Graffiti were all pretty good films. He definitely strives to push a more experimental take or at least attempted to in his younger days anyway (or whatever he's doing behind-the-scenes). Prequels flopped no worse than The Hobbit trilogy did, but you certainly can't question Peter Jackson's ability to direct.

But yeah, no doubt he'd be better as the visionary serving as some producer.

 

one thing that bothers me about TFA and maybe this can be cleared up here, is how Rey gets the lighsaber in the fight with kylo ren... The thought i've used to justify it is that Kylo was injured and not expecting anyone else to use the force against him so his focus was off. I really hope it isn't the lightsaber chose Rey bc then we are getting into some Harry Potter territory (lightsaber chooses the jedi, ala the wand chooses the wizard..) anyone want to shed light on this?

 

Yea and those were decades ago. He was a different guy then. None of that is a convincing argument in defense of Lucas at this point. Directing is not what he should do at all. He's too old and tired to do it the way he did back then. Which, hey, happens to everyone. There is no need to pretend he has the mind and energy he had 40 years ago.

Not sure why you brought up the Hobbit movies. Both trilogies are not good overal. But context is incredibly important. People don't question Jackson as much because the Hobbit movies weren't good, but they were okay. How it came out as okay is key. They absolutely pale in comparison to the original LOTR, but that's no surprise. They took the much shorter book and stretched it to 3 movies. As well, Jackson wasn't supposed to do them at all. It was GDT. And I believe when he took over it was still at 2 movies, not 100% on that timing. But it has come out that he stepped in last minute and then got an additional movie and didn't get to set things up and do things the way he necessarily would have. Given what was dumped on him, he did okay. But him not being all in from day 1 shows. And the Hobbit movies are much better than the SW prequels despite all those issues.

Where with SW, Lucas had 20 years to prep and perfect what he wanted the prequels to be and he absolutely dropped the ball. The prequels are very much his movies. The bad stuff can and should be attributed to him.

I get why you may think Jackson is a good parallel, but there are an insane amount of different things that went down that set them apart of how they are viewed.

 

She is incredibly strong in the force is the easy answer. Whether that is satisfying or not to you is another matter.

As well, Kylo is injured and potentially distracted by that pain. Plus he just killed his father. While he wants to embrace darkness they make it incredibly clear that he is conflicted, even if he doesn't want to be conflicted. He still feels the light calling to him.

Also, unless Yoda can't be trusted, the dark side is not stroger. Rey just awakening to the force is calling the saber in defense. One would assume that's pure light side in that moment.

 

yea, I can get behind all of these points.

 

guys i cant wait until december 14th.

 

As you also mentioned, the saber does call to Rey, according to Maz. Which is new to the movies, but kyber crystals calling to force users is a thing.

 

98 days to go

 

Just using Jackson as a simple parallel because he took upon the monumental task of expanding upon another beloved trilogy that he was involved with, just like Lucas. Both of them had the prequels in mind after the original trilogies. But yeah, Hobbit director duties did shift from Jackson to GDT back to Jackson. So like you said, there is a different context in the sense that Jackson took over his duties from GDT. Nonetheless, both were still writer-producer-directors of their respective films.

That said, a lot of the criticisms on both trilogies are similar. For example, reliance on old characters (*cough* Legolas) instead of focusing on the new, ie the thirteen forgettable dwarves; and how everyone shits on Lucas for his over-abundance for [new] CGI yet The Hobbit had the same. Ian McKellen said he broke down when filming "green screen" scenes, to the point he almost considered to quit acting. etc.

Also, I personally disagree that the Hobbit films are better than the SW prequels. Whilst the SW prequels do get an overwhelming sense of hate, they also bare a generation of love and even childhood nostalgia, beats being forgettable (imo anyway). Maybe they beat the first two films, but Revenge of the Sith has a higher critic review rating than Battle of the Five Armies; so whilst Lucas was building upon his mistakes, Jackson was digging deeper into them. You can argue of the Hobbit storyline limitations (not like a trilogy necessary though) but at least PJ had source material to work with, Lucas had to build from scratch.

 

You only brought up that people don't view Jackson as negative as Lucas and have ample evidence as why that is the case. I don't really have any interest in comparing the quality of the movies as both are the weakest of each franchise and ultimately both are losers.

 

see Lucas said something like Disney was turning the force into goblegook bc of that scene. And that may be why its bothered me, he may be a bad director but to me he has final say as to what the force can or can't do.

 

But he was involved with Clone Wars where the first canon instance of kyber crystals calling to a force user is established.

 

yea this is true. I went back and reread his quote, it seems like he was worried that they may turn it into that in the future.

 

Only because he's handling a completely different franchise; the SW prequels had far more anticipation than The Hobbit films ever did. Which also means there's a lot more disappointed fans. If The Hobbit wasn't so forgettable, then maybe the hate would cycle itself.

Obviously there's external factors at play on people hating Lucas (ie SW special edition edits, Indy 4) but it still seems he gets more unfair slack than most directors.

 

I generally avoid Lucas quotes these days. Ever since the whole "slavers" comment. I respect his work on making Star Wars a thing and the incredible work and effort he put into the OT. Them getting made and finished is incredible. But prequels were bad, even if I can still watch them and enjoy the few small good parts. He sold the franchise, he should be done. His comments come across like a bitter ex. Just not something I care about. I do respect that the money he got for selling it was given away. But his time is done. As I said before, an idea here and there could be interesting, but he is no longer the controller of canon.


This doesn't seem to be you, so don't take offense. But there are people who view any of these new movies as fan fiction because it's not Lucas. I can't stand those people.

 

The Hobbit movies still had much more competent directing vs the prequels.

 

definitely not me, I LOVE TFA it may be a top 3 star wars movie for me with Rogue one somewhat close behind. the prequels are my bottom 3 ha

 

Rogue One is only above the prequels to me. But it a good bit above those. TFA wavers between my 3 and 4 spot to sometimes getting close to 2.

 

Empire
A new hope
TFA
ROTJ
ROGUE ONE (oops)
ROTS
AOTC
PM

 

agreed with R1 tossed somewhere around ROTJ and ROTS

 

No Rogue One?

I'm not making a ranking. It changes too often. The only things I know... Empire is best and Attack of the Clones is worst.

 

I went and added it in, lol

 

Didn't Lucas offer some ideas to Disney when he sold it and they turned him down?

As for rankings, I fully recognize TFA isn't the best movie but I probably have the most fun watching it.