I saw "The Last Jedi" today!

[protege]

Fairly good, though I will say that I'm concerned that they're rushing to write out the old cast so they can re-imagine Star Wars, but time will tell.

Just as long as Jar Jar Binks doesn't return.

[LadyofArc]

Fairly good, though I will say that I'm concerned that they're rushing to write out the old cast so they can re-imagine Star Wars, but time will tell. And of course this was one of the best scenes:

My partner and I (along with everyone else in the theatre) cracked up at that bit

[Mental_Mouse]

Well, the old cast was aging out to begin with! Ford wanted out, Fisher's now RIP. For that matter, Fisher already wasn't too happy about the conditions for her reappearance -- she complained that Lucas would only take her at 30% off... not money, but weight!

And... according to Wikipedia's article on "Luke Skywalker", Hamill was warned back during the first trilogy that he'd be reprising the role in middle age, specifically to pass on the torch to a new generation. I'd say he did pretty well there.

[Javarod]

Fairly good, though I will say that I'm concerned that they're rushing to write out the old cast so they can re-imagine Star Wars, but time will tell. And of course this was one of the best scenes:

[Ironclad Alibi]

Of course! PORGS! They eat porgs.

I hear they taste like chicken.

[mjr]

Of course! PORGS! They eat porgs.

I bought my wife a plush Porg over the weekend...

[EricKei]

What do they eat? Probably rodents.

Of course! PORGS! They eat porgs.

[Mental_Mouse]

They were quite cute, but I liked those crystal fox things better.

I enjoyed it, but I think I'll need to see it again. That was an awful lot to take in, I'm sure I missed a few things first time around.

They were pretty cool. One of the characters did dub them "crystal critters", but it's unclear if that was meant to be a name for them, or a "those things".

[XCashier]

I loved the foxes, too. Would be cool to have one, tho I'm worried petting them would HURT! Besides, what the hell do they eat >_>

I would guess that they're born normally furry, and the salt that coated the planet clung to and crystallized on their fur; otherwise, I feel very sorry for foxes giving birth!

What do they eat? Probably rodents. We don't see all of the lifeforms on the various planets.

[EricKei]

I loved the foxes, too. Would be cool to have one, tho I'm worried petting them would HURT! Besides, what the hell do they eat >_>

Hrm. Maybe I should settle for the plush versions once they come out as part of the merch parade. It...is...inevitable.

[XCashier]

Also, PORGS.

They were quite cute, but I liked those crystal fox things better.

I enjoyed it, but I think I'll need to see it again. That was an awful lot to take in, I'm sure I missed a few things first time around.

[Jay 2K Winger]

consider Luke's finale... if a Jedi could do that normally, they'd be unstoppable, so it only makes sense as a "last hurrah".

They even set up earlier in the movie that it's a trick that requires a fatal amount of effort. When Kylo and Rey first discovered their Force link, he noted something like "You're not doing this, the effort would kill you."

Further notes about it in spoilers: [ Snoke revealed was doing it, but given all he was doing was linking their minds across space, and only between them, it probably required less effort than what Luke did. Luke had to basically project himself to multiple people, and even to such an extent that C-3PO could see him. ]

[Mental_Mouse]

Also: Apparently (wikipedia) Princess Lea was supposed to be in Ep9, so now they're having to figure out how to write her out. Presumably from mostly offstage, since they already know their CGI of humans isn't quite out of the Uncanny Valley.

[mjr]

Yeah, I disliked the "All the stuff you spent the last half-hour doing? All meaningless." And I really hated the end of the escape sequence. Uhh, you mean a ship going light-speed can be a super weapon that kills anything in its way? So why aren't light-speed missiles the most common weapon in the universe? Why didn't the Empire use those on planets instead of the massive Death Star type beams?

I'm assuming by now everyone commenting on this has seen the movie...

But, spoilers:

The Rose Tico/Finn "mission" was completely unnecessary, and actually made things worse, because "DJ" turned them over to Phasma and the First Order. If they don't go on that mission, the "escape pod" plan that Holdo had would probably have been more successful, and they might have avoided the confrontation with the First Order.

But I suppose without that blown mission, we never would have ended up with "Force Projection" Luke, and Luke becoming a Force ghost.

[Mental_Mouse]

To me, the "hyperspace" is just the mechanism for FTL travel. Obviously the ship wasn't completely in some other (bubble?) universe, as it sure as heck interacted with the other ships in the area, so calling it "FTL" will do at least for me.

And the point remains--I hate that the tactic is an insta-kill Deus Ex Machina type of thing. "Oh, push that button and all the bad guys die." Uhh, why didn't they push the button years earlier?

I am sure there will be some sort of explanation, likely having to do with everyone being stationary (relative to each other, I'm guessing) but I still hate that way of resolving things. It's lousy story-telling IMHO.

"Everyone stationary" here is part of "caught them off-guard". I'm interpreting this as a tactic that normally, nobody would ever do, but in this case, they had the chance and someone willing to make a suicide run. Even then, it badly damaged the target ship, but did not completely destroy it. It didn't even take out Snoke's section of the ship. In an ongoing fight, any other ships and Tie fighters would have been free to keep beating on any remaining defenders, not to mention maneuvering to avoid any repetitions.

On the other hand, if you want a "superweapon pulled out of nowhere", consider Luke's finale... if a Jedi could do that normally, they'd be unstoppable, so it only makes sense as a "last hurrah".