Let's talk Canto Bight

I'm split on Canto Bight

*LAST JEDI SPOILERS BELOW*

Things I liked: the creature/alien designs, the overall freshness of seeing a new part of the galaxy (reminded me of the prequels in a good way), and the stable kids. I really loved everything about it visually, even though I know some people found it too "Harry Potter." I also like it's place in the plot, how it takes the "Yeah, way to show those rich people what's up!" and turns it into a "Wait, maybe we just did something stupid and teamed up with somebody awful, and our actions will have grave consequences."

Things I disliked: BB-8's coin-shooting antics (reminded me of the prequels in a bad way). The whole bit with the actual code-breaker felt way too earthy for me, like something from a totally different film universe. And for some reason I'm really thrown off by that alien who rats them out to the police. His southern-sounding accent kinda pulled me out of the movie.

 

I felt like it was more there for kids entertainment... the BB-8 as slot machine, the large creatures like horses.

I was puzzled/disturbed that Finn & Rose cared more to free the racing creatures but not the children slaves.

But like I said I thought it was in the movie more to entertain kids. Overall it was boring to me.

 

I'm not sure if taking children to Supremacy is a good idea...

 

We all survived the prequel alien voices, watto, gungans, trade federation, etc, and those were so much worse, but I agree a stupid voice can really hurt my enjoyment. I don't remember this particular one but I know none were prequel bad.
I think canto bight may not have seemed like it was very necessary but finding "DJ" set up their betrayal and more importantly the young force sensitive boy with roses ring sets the tone to end the movie.

 

I posted this before about Canto Bight.

I liked. But sometimes some scenes took me off from the movie. Hard to explain.
But in a general way I liked, specially for the great messages: "dont hurt animals", "no slavery conditions", "riches finances the wars", etc...

 

Canto Bight gave us this:

Enough said.

 

DJ spoiled Canto Bight for me.

DJ character is bad writen, it spoiled Canto, and entire code-desruption tracking device whatever arc.

 

Exactly! You thought about the kids. Finn & Rose didn't even consider the kids.

 

Because you did. But why? Because of Rose removing a saddle from a Fathier? The context of these two moments within the film is quite different. The scene in the stable was when the tension was supposed to be high because our main characters were escaping and making a side talk about picking up these children would completely ruin the pacing. When Rose "releases" it, the tension has already been resolved. The chase is over. They're over a cliff and they can't move any further. The pace can slow down and focus can be moved to other aspects of the story. Also, when you're running for your life, you think about how to end a chase successfully and not about grooms, as cruel as it sounds.

Think of it like the Death Star scenes from A New Hope. Luke and Obi-wan are supposedly such noble figures, yet they care only about Leia, while there are other prisoners inside and their fate is most likely as bad as hers and no one even makes a suggestion regarding these people. Why? Because these scenes were already long enough without a side discussion. The thing about fictional stories, films especially, is that there is only so much time you can spend on side details without ruining the pacing and if you dig deep enough, no film makes sense and are in some ways "convenient."

PS. There are other things that you can focus on during this scene, like the music. The music is actually pretty good during that particular scene.

 

I just felt like it was too on the nose.

 

I know I am in the minority, but I actually really liked the prequel-esque look of the Casino and the aliens, AND the Fathier sequence.

 

I actually liked the aliens and overall art design of the place.
What felt out of place to me was the wardrobe and the cluster of so many real world objects (champagne, the glasses, the tuxedos).
It did somewhat feel like a sci-fi planet from a universe in which future earth could easily exist.

 

Well, we have heard many regional accents in SW- a couple of different British accents, New Zealand, a couple of different American accents. I think it was no accident they wanted to make the rat a Texan (though it seemed petty to me).

 

You can thank Joseph Gordon Levit for that. That was his voice.

 

Conceptually I liked the idea of Canto but I thought it was very poorly executed on a number of fronts. First, I was disappointed in the creatures and in particular the small motion capture one played by MH...many more looked fake to me - a step down from even Maz’s castle. I won’t belabor how stupid I thought the B.B.-8 slot machine was.

Secondly, I thought the whole freeing of the faltiers side story was abysmally dumb. What was the point in the narrative? They free horses but not the children? I thought it nonesene. But what REALLY got me was the terrible CGI of the entire faltier chase. Rarely has a SW scene looked so green screen fake...just terrible. And maybe I missed it but how did the faltiers end up running thru the casino? Didn’t Rose and Finn use binoculars to see all the way down to the track below? We’re the stables elevated right next to the casino away from the track? Admit a nitpick there and I might be wrong, but logistically I don’t think it made sense.

Lastly, how did DJ know about Holdo’s plan to send all the small ships without being detected? Was that explained - how would Finn or Rose have known that?

I have more problems with Canto than this, but will leave it alone. I am glad others enjoyed it, but for me it was one of the lower points of the movie.

 

These are some of the reasons why I didn't like it. It felt heavy-handed and preachy to me, and grounded the GFFA in our time with our worries. This, along with some of the slang language will ensure the movie doesn't age well.

GL really wanted a GFFA to be unlike our universe, to truly be escapist. In doing so, he made the movies timeless, particularly the OT but also the PT to a great extent. I really feel TLJ (more so than TFA) gets away from that. Thirty years from now, it will feel like a ca. 2017 movie. Kind of like when one looks back at STTOS, a person can instantly place it in the late sixties (especially if they had been alive then).

 

Hypothetically, where would they take the children had they freed them?
With them? Into an active war zone?
Just let loose in the wild with the animals?
Freeing the fathiers served a functional and moral purpose. Distraction + means of escape

The fathiers are shown to be adept climbers and jumpers. Not implausible to think they had leaped up or otherwise attained the right height. Or it's actually two different things we are seeing.

This question gets brought up a lot and unless you got up to pee in this part I have no idea how you missed it. Poe calls Finn while they are en route to Snoke's ship and explains what is going on. DJ is right there.
It's literally explained on screen.

 

The issue is not that Finn and Rose didn't take the children with them. The issue is what punishment the children would receive for letting the animals loose, and the fact that Finn and Rose didn't consider this at all. I kept thinking about it, but the movie expects me to forget about it - but I'm not dumb.

Also, it just doesn't make sense for the children NOT to alert the guards. Oh right, because Rose was wearing the ring of the Resistance. Or maybe they read the script?

 

The kids could just lie and say those two fugitives let out all the horses.

Hopefully the kids aren't stupid enough to tell the truth.