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The Last Jedi Review

What I liked: The owl cats. Chewbacca making friends with the owl cats. The rock huts. Lightspeed weaponry and sneaky intelligent plans. Imperial armor that actually works. We know from episode VI and Rogue One that standard stormtrooper armor is completely ineffective against any weapon every invented from sticks and stones to laser guns, so it is good to know that the imperial engineering corp is actually capable of making really effective armor. But I am left with the question why not reduce the number of stromtroopers but only invest in the red and silver armor? By my rough calculations you would be able to off set the cost of the armor with all of the salaries and life insurance claims that would be avoided. Another solid victory for the imperial R/D crew is the variety of weapons that get introduced. The only think I was left wishing for were nunchuks. I like that in both militaries there are about 5 general level officers and 400-10 billion enlisted soldiers. I like that every decision is made and every attack led by the ~5 really important officers. There's no better way to shake up the chain of command. I like Yoda. I like that Yoda can now apparently shoot lightning. Too little too late Yoda. I liked the effective manipulation of mind reading. I liked Poe stalling for time. It wasn't always the best plan or the best executed but it was fun. I like the salt planet even though it was populated by the kind of Pokemon favored by elementary school girls.

What I didn't: The monologueing. Seriously, there was a whole lot of talking. None of the talking was cool. As general concerns I don't think these people know how war works, or gravity, or space, or explosions, or the military, or time. I also think that at some point there should be some consensus on what jedi powers are just for the sake of consistency. Luke's teaching philosophy and lessons are terrible; no wonder his efforts to start his own academy failed. The plot was really convoluted with both too few things happening (see monologueing) and too many given the apparent amount of time the majority of events are supposed to happen in. Most of the things that happened seemed to be happening just to show me that my expectations were wrong. I like movie surprises, that's why I watch thrillers, but I like them best when the plot twists have something to do with the plot.

Who should watch this? Probably everyone, I mean STAR WARS.

Would I watch it again? Yep.

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  1. "I like them best when the plot twists have something to do with the plot."

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