Let's talk Canto Bight

I'm not gonna get into whether the whole Canto Bight was a good side plot or not(i can't talk about Holdo any more!... or BB8 for that matter!) and people arn't gonna change their mind either way so whats the point?

One thing i will say though is while the cinematography in those scenes was stunning, but i was a bit disappointed with the practical effects, I've watched Valerian recently and while that film obviously has some issues some of the effects of some of the back ground characters on that are incredible, I know CGI is a bit of a dirty word in star wars at the moment after the prequels but for me a few of the puppets on display weren't great and i honestly think the casino scene would have looked even better if it was totally done with CGI.

 

You know...I've repeatedly had Canto Bight in the back of my head nagging at me.
It nags at me because I can't actually form any opinion about it at all. It's just Canto Bight.
I don't really care one way or the other about Canto Bight. I liked the tangent, and it has some good fun stuff going on, but I don't feel strongly about it.
It's about on par as Kamino. It's important to the characters who are there, and it's neat, but I'm personally not hugely invested one way or the other in it.
It's something like a side show in a circus. It's not not important, but it's not my meat and potatoes - no where close.

So I've given this lots of thought and, for me, what would likely change this feeling would be that it's too fast. Almost like the Green Lantern speed, where there's just tons flying in, but no real time with anything.
I definitely understand why it is so rapid, given how much was crammed into this film and its length already.

However, in a perfect world without time constraint logistics to concern over, I would probably feel more invested if it took up more time; if we spent more time there.
I don't typically prefer to do the "should have" ideas, but I'll put in the notion that if it were possible someway, I think I'd be interested in Finn and Rose getting to Canto Bight much earlier in the film somehow so that we were regularly popping over to Canto Bight like we were doing with the troop in Bespin; that is, a parallel plot that merges with the other plot(s) three quarters of the way through or so.

That might have been terrible, too. It could potentially fracture an already heavily fractured film plot to a point that's just too much and is on the brink of becoming American Graffiti or Pulp Fiction in form (i.e. a scene hopping carousel).

So I'd say that I'm perfectly fine with Canto Bight as is, in the real world of story telling, but that I wish there was a way to shift it a bit so that we get more time with experiencing it than we did without hurting the film's flow.

Cheers,
Jayson

 

I would have liked to see more of Canto Bight and its community. It felt rushed, but looked cool. And I think it fits the story well and does a lot for Finn's character development.

 

Now that I've had some time to digest the film some more Canto Bight has grown on me. Really the biggest issue I have is that we don't get enough time on Canto Bight. It would have been nice to get more DJ. The final cut of the chase scene is significantly shorter than the initial plan. Canto Bight is a good example of the challenges The Force Awakens faced with Luke Skywalker. Once Luke was added to this story it was difficult for me to care because Luke is my favorite character. I suspect for new audiences this section of the film worked better on the first viewing.

Now that I've had some time with the film I appreciate it more, but I understand why some hate it.

 

I loved Canto bight I thought It had a great vibe. I also liked the little connection that was the fact they are all war profiteers gambling. My only negative thought was not enough time was spent here and I feel like it could of been included a bit more and possibly got to know some of the characaters a bit better at this casino.

Just to add on I also thought it was beautifully laid out and everything was visually stunning. The creatures and other humanoid characters all looked great too. So realistic and great quality.

 

I had the same feeling; that the only issue I really had was how short it was.
Thing is, if you take the material that happens back at the ship after Rose and Finn are captured, and take that as the "Endor" link, and add that to Bight and consider that also Endor (it's a mash-up of Bespin and Endor [and others, but for simplicity, I'll just stick to OT links]) with the meet the natives, natives help out, trash the place with the natives' help, ride on something in a chase scene, etc... then the "Bight+capture" is about the same length as Endor....but split off into more locations, which consequently does make Bight feel far shorter than Endor.

Cheers,
Jayson

 

I think the chase was edited down perfectly from its initial stage. It's the scenes prior to their capture that could have probably used a bit more meat - but I can see why they wanted to spend time there as little as possible. At the end of the day, at least in terms of plot, it's all about the Supremacy chasing a small Resistance fleet - and for a movie that's already quite long, trimming some of it down made sense.

 

Canto Bight was too good of a thought to be in such a small segment. It deserves to be fleshed out. It ends up being weak because it doesn't have that time. It's a shame. It makes it feel out of place.

 

I agree... And I would love if they make something with these people in IX... I mean they don't have any purpose, they will just adore whomever pays enough for it... It's the biggest problem in the galaxy in my opinion.