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Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017)
The Movie That Killed My Love for the Franchise
Let me preface this review by saying that while I am a fan of Star Wars, I am not an apologist for any of the failings of any of the films. I recognize that they all have faults, and I've been careful to examine this one through the same lens as all the others.
That said, this is the worst Star Wars movie ever made, even worse than The Phantom Menace. A bold claim, I know, but I have my reasons.
Firstly, I defer to the axiom "Character is king." A central character in any work of fiction needs to have an arc. They need at least one flaw to be overcome by the end of the work. They need a psychological basis for their actions. They need to grow.
This is where the main character of the new trilogy, Rey, falls desperately short. If you've ever heard the term "Mary Sue" before, you might know what I mean when I say Rey is the poster child for the term. She has no faults. Her choices have no consequences. She does not learn and does not grow in any meaningful way because she's already perfect, as far as the narrative is concerned.
On the other hand, the established character of Luke Skywalker is taken in a direction that seems wildly incompatible with the actions of the character in the previous movies. The problem is severe enough that Mark Hamill has publicly stated that he's unhappy with the way his character was portrayed, even going so far as to say it was "not my Luke Skywalker." The reason for this betrayal of the character and fans of his adventures, in hindsight, is fairly obvious. Since Rey is not permitted to have any flaws, because that's apparently what being a strong female character means (as evidenced by all the other strong female characters in the movie who can do no wrong) the onus had to be placed upon Luke to experience a journey of personal growth, even if the nature of his journey made no sense.
The other new stars in the current trilogy, Finn and Poe, are given forced conflicts of their own which don't make them look good at all, and both of them have to be saved from themselves by - you guessed it - "strong female characters" with no faults who never make mistakes.
Then there's perhaps the most egregious of all the characterization blunders: Kylo Ren. I don't want to put a spoiler tag on this review, so I can't go into specifics, but let's just say everything that made him an interesting, conflicted, unpredictable character has been erased by the time the credits roll. He's been shoved into a box from which no exit should be possible.
Aside from the characterization issues, the plot is downright boring for much of its length, consisting of an extended chase with no tension, a nonsensical and unnecessary subplot that only exists to give Finn something to do, the character assassination of Luke Skywalker, and a few genuinely interesting bits which deliver a false promise of redefining the relationship between Rey and Kylo.
When the film transitions into its final act, the action starts to pick up, but at that point, there's nothing left for the movie to do but show off some eye candy (which is often spectacular) and infuriate the fans a final time or two.
At the end of the day, though, a bad movie can be somewhat overlooked in the course of a franchise if it leads to something good. After all, Attack of the Clones may not have been a very good movie, but it laid many of the pieces needed for Revenge of the Sith to be one of the better entries in the franchise.
The Last Jedi, however, does no such thing. In fact, it slams the door shut on most of the possibilities for future intrigue. Characters and subplots are unceremoniously discarded. Mysteries than fans have been speculating about for two years are cast aside with no payoff. The situation at the end of the film is as uncomplicated and uninteresting as it could possibly be. In many ways, it feels like the narrative is back at square one, and all we can look forward to is seeing familiar conflicts from The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi play themselves out again.
Rian Johnson and Kathleen Kennedy have destroyed my interest in a franchise I've loved since childhood. I pity J.J. Abrams, who must now face the daunting task of picking up the pieces and trying to craft a worthwhile story from the scraps they left him to work with. I pity George Lucas, who must watch, powerless, as the franchise which defined his career is taken in directions he would never approve. But most of all, I pity the fans who, like myself, are confronting the reality that a series we loved is no longer being made for us to enjoy.
Fainaru fantajî VII (1997)
Proof that popularity and quality are not linked.
Why is Final Fantasy VII popular? This question baffled me for a long time. When I played it, I quickly saw it for what it was, a poorly crafted and incomplete stain on the record of an otherwise outstanding franchise. So why do others not see what I do? I answer my own question:
Gameplay: In this regard, it was a noticeable step down from other games in the series. The selection of playable characters was nearly halved. The ATB system still functioned exactly as it did before, with none of the refinements you would expect to see in a game on a more powerful system. The materia system ensured that characters were completely interchangeable and adaptable for any task, making the entire party dynamic worthless.
So what was there to like about the gameplay? It was easy. People didn't care about the gameplay. All they wanted was to get to the next piece of the...
Story: The entire story of FFVII is laid out in a straight line, with nothing resembling a twist along the way. Every event progresses directly into the next exactly as one would expect. Nothing ever happens to make you re-examine or change your outlook on the game's events. At the end of the game, Shinra is still bad, Sephiroth is still loony, the party members act the same way, etc. All is exactly as it seemed from the beginning.
On top of that, the story is incomplete. By the admission of the creators, the game was rushed to make its release window, and quite a bit was cut out. Much goes unexplained that should not. Things the characters know are never revealed to the player, which is a tremendous no-no in character writing.
Why is it popular then? For one thing, it was simple enough to follow without any effort at all. Good and bad was clearly defined, characters made ridiculous leaps of "logic" to keep the story progressing, and it avoided making any of the underlying complexities of the scenario vital to understanding the outcome. Then there's the fact that its incompletion has been wrongly perceived as depth. Players are not given information that should be given throughout the course of the game, so they decide to make up answers. By discussing their various theories, they form communities and reinforce their mass delusion that the game had depth, rather than a simple lack of proper presentation.
Further disproving the idea that the game was intended to be open-ended to add depth is the existence of the FFVII Ultimania Omega book, which was released years later and explained most of the things the game left out, making years of theorizing utterly moot.
Characters: Another important piece of the puzzle; the characters are shallow, showing no depth to their personalities. Each is constructed around a very basic personality template and follows it in the most stereotypical manner possible. Examples: Barrett is a brash and aggressive black guy from the ghetto, Cid is an older guy who smokes and swears a lot because he's bitter, Tifa merely fawns over Cloud the entire game, Yuffie is hyper and steals stuff, and Vincent is a gloomy and depressed guy who doesn't talk about his past.
This part is easily explained. Fans don't look at their value as characters, they look at their value as avatars. They see things that they can relate to in their personal lives, and that endears the characters to them, even though the characters are merely personality templates. On no level are they believable in any way unless you juxtapose your own personality traits onto them. Fans do this, turning ridiculously bad characters into iconic figures of their own dreams of power and adventure. On top of that, fans have mistaken their background stories for actual personality depth.
Marketing: FFVII's release marked the first time a video game had been so widely advertised. TV ads showed consumers the high-quality FMV sequences to really drive home the next-gen impact. It made people who had never even played video games before take notice. Those newcomers played the game, liked it because of the aforementioned reasons, as well the flashy graphics and high-quality music, and further drove the hype machine.
In summary, the game itself is overly simple, has a poorly developed story and shallow characters, and makes absolutely no significant strides in terms of gameplay. Around the same time, a largely overlooked game called Blood Omen delivered a powerful story with not just one, but several of the best twists ever to appear in a video game. It's a pity more people didn't play that graphically inferior game that was better in every other aspect instead of following the hype.
Fainaru fantajî sebun adobento chirudoren (2005)
I guess it's what Final Fantasy fans wanted, but...
When The Spirits Within was released, all you heard from Final Fantasy fans was how awful the movie was because it didn't seem like Final Fantasy. This is a different story, for better or worse. The familiar settings, characters, music, story, and over-the -top action scenes should thrill fans of the original game. The problem is that it just isn't a good movie in its own right.
The direction during the fight scenes is often sloppy, switching camera angles ridiculously fast in an attempt to make the action seem more frenetic but only serving to make the scenes look jumbled and confusing.
The CG itself is exceptional, but I can't say it's the best I've ever seen. Spirits Within had much more detail on the characters, although Advent Children's characters seemed to move more naturally.
The plot is virtually a black hole. It's a giant deus ex machina designed solely to bring Sephiroth back for one last fight. Old characters reappear but serve no purpose other than fanservice. Character development is nonexistent, and the film does nothing at all to resolve any of the plot threads left hanging after the game's end. But it's packed with neat-looking fight scenes with magic, summons, and limit breaks, which is probably what fans wanted anyway.
In the end, Advent Children is a flashy but totally brainless action flick that serves more as a side story for Final Fantasy VII than a real sequel. Fans of the game might enjoy it (or might not) but others should steer clear.