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Rian Johnson's Comedy in TLJ

Discussion in 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' started by Fernus, Jun 6, 2018.

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Did you like comedy in TLJ?

  1. Yes, I loved it! The film is so much better with it

    11 vote(s)
    9.9%
  2. Yes, it was fine for most of the time

    23 vote(s)
    20.7%
  3. The comedy was alright. Some jokes didn't land, but nothing unforgivable

    16 vote(s)
    14.4%
  4. I didn't like most of the jokes. Some were fine

    16 vote(s)
    14.4%
  5. The jokes were bad. They interfered with the general mood of the movie

    22 vote(s)
    19.8%
  6. The jokes were atrocious. Nothing good about the comedy here at all

    23 vote(s)
    20.7%
  1. FN-3263827

    FN-3263827 First Order CPS
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    well i have a completely different take on Hux.
    and actually the Starkiller scene is the one that most points to him being nuts and not the least bit credible in my eyes.
    you're right: he's no Tarkin, Thrawn or Krennic. he's his own species of insecure megalomaniac.
    and to me that makes him no less dangerous.

    also, the mirror parallels between Hux and Ren are deliberate and plentiful.
    a lot of that is to be found in the EU, unfortunately, but i think it's echoed in Snoke's treatment of both of them, the fact that they were designated co-commanders, and the disturbing reality that Hux is in no way afraid of Ren (even after Ren chokes him in the throne room).
    was there any officer in the Empire who didn't shake in his boots when Vader was on the warpath?

    Hux is a hot mess in TLJ, but i think it's just an indication of how much more dangerous he'll be in ix.
    Snoke knew how to manipulate Hux to his purpose. i'm guessing Ren is not going to be so successful in this realm: Hux has no respect for Ren and he wants that throne. with Snoke out of the way, he's going to make a play for it.

    so to me the humor isn't a detriment at all. Hux is brought low deliberately, but he will definitely rise.
     
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  2. RoyleRancor

    RoyleRancor Car'a'Carn

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    Hux is made a joke because that's how Snoke controls him
    Same way he constantly belittles Ren. It plays on his insecurities and allows him control.
     
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  3. cawatrooper

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    For sure, I think we're probably pretty well on the same page still.

    When I say he's Krennic, I mean more of a "Meeting Vader" Krennic- he's a pompous overconfident fool. Obviously Krennic has a better handle on where is marbles are, if you know what I mean.

    And absolutely agreed that Hux will likely be all the more dangerous in IX, and the humor in the film likely even is being used to downplay that a bit.
    He's gonna snap, and I don't think many people will be laughing when it happens anymore.
     
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  4. RockyRoadHux

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    IMO well meant but unfortunately poorly executed. It's a shame that Johnson wasn't able to resist the temptation to have Domhnall Gleeson over-act in each and every scene. Same with the heavy-handed social commentary we got with the Canto Plot. Geez, I wish Rian Johnson trusted the audience more.
     
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  5. FN-3263827

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    to be fair, i also think this is what Gleeson does when a director doesn't tell him otherwise.
    we both know Gleeson thinks of Hux in absolutely the broadest, craziest terms, so it makes sense that's what we got.
    i feel like this signature is all over TLJ: Johnson used a great deal of restraint in some areas and then just let the actors/designers/etc. go bonkers in others.
     
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  6. NinjaRen

    NinjaRen Supreme Leader

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    Well, the director should have told Gleeson to stop it, because it looked silly... He didin't overact and he didn't make faces in TFA. So did JJ tell him not to do it then? Where is the consistency in all this? :confused:
     
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  7. FN-3263827

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    tell that to Abrams and Johnson? and Kanjiklub? XD
    it's entirely possible Abrams told him to play it with more restraint.
    it's also very clear that both Abrams and Gleeson agreed to make the Starkiller speech insane.
    i personally think that speech is pretty consistent with Hux's behavior in TLJ (and i dislike both, but accept that it's who he is, ultimately). : o p
     
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  8. ObeeJaun

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    I actually thought the comedy was about the only thing good about the movie. I thought the prank phone call scene was hilarious.
     
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  9. Viper78

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    I hated it, the prank call and "your mum" joke in a Star Wars film was so cringe worthy and set the alarm bells ringing for the rest of the film. Hux turned into a blithering idiot then Luke tossing the light saber over his should made me wonder what the hell was I watching.
     
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    Oh, the lightsaber tossing infuriated me.
     
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  11. Darth Chewie

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    Funny how I never saw Hux as threatening in TFA. To me he was just a crazy fanatic of the FO with daddy issues. The way he 'tried to act tough" around Ren only to swallow hard after Kylo threatens him if he doesn't find the droid... Or how Hux looks at Kylo sheepishly after he 'thinks' he's convinced Snoke that not finding the map to Skywalker was Ren's fault. Hux is the first to leave control room like a coward once Starkiller Planet begins to implode. He walked around with an arrogance that just seemed over the top in TFA. And that speech. Nothing says crazy and unstable like that speech on Starkiller. Watch his face.... This is not how a stable professional behaves. In no way does Hux come across to me as a brilliant officer with a tactical mind in TFA.

    Hux getting sucked into Poe's stall tactic at the beginning of TLJ is something I can totally see him doing. He's so arrogant, that the fact he get's caught monologuing is of no surprise. He is so sure he's got them, he wants to rub it in. Yes he gets tossed around and talked about behind his back, but as Snoke says, he's nothing more then a rabbid cur, and most of the other officers probably think the same. The fact that those older officers are subordinate to Hux also suggests that his career had very significant political backing, which in turn suggests that he’s likely to feel both entitled and insecure about his abilities, with something to prove.

    In TLJ he does have a few "professional" moments however. "We have them tied to the end of a string" was one, but was that even his idea? When with Phasma while he's dealing with the captured Finn and Rose, he is composed, on point and clearly in command. He even shows more smarts on the battle field then Kylo on Crait as he is the one showing composure and understands the end game better then Kylo who is fixated on his emotional battle.

    So Hux does indeed show signs of promise, but his overwhelming traits and faults of being young, having obvious daddy issues, and jealous of Kylo always seem to rise to the top. He was written that way in TFA, and Rian simply continued that, but ramped it up more. "I can hear you, can you hear me", may not have been everyone's cup of tea, but to me it fits his personality set up in TFA, perfectly.

    And to me that is very compelling. It’s immediately apparent from Hux’s character that the First Order is not the Empire. Fanaticism tends to crop up in smaller and isolated communities, so we can reasonably infer that the First Order is - at least compared to the Empire, if not in absolute terms - fairly small and isolated. Hux’s inexperience also suggests that the First Order hasn’t been to war recently, or at least not against an equal opponent. Hux is a microcosm of the entire First Order IMO, with the exception of a few experienced officers like Captain Canady.
     
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  12. Josh

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    Yoda was funny in the first 5 minutes of ESB, after Luke said hes searching legendary jedi master Yoda , he became serious again and stayed that way until he died in RotJ.
    He was like that in the PT too.

    In TLJ he is full comedy yoda again.
     
    #132 Josh, Apr 27, 2019
    Last edited: Apr 27, 2019
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  13. Sparafucile

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    I think Yoda worked for me in TLJ because I really needed something to laugh about. At that point I already hated the movie and I needed something to like or identify with. Funny Yoda was familiar, it brought me back to ESB. It was fleeting however after he summoned lightning the feeling was gone.

    I didn't post this to defend or detract from TLJ, I posted how I felt during my first viewing. It was an honest reaction and I laughed and enjoyed it. Retrospect, do I think it works. I see the issues, but I don't think it necessarily needs to be seen as problematic. Maybe Yoda felt at that point Luke needed to be reminded of his roots. This was created with his behavior instead of (preachy) words. For all my issues with TLJ, this isn't one I would die on. Had other parts of TLJ had worked for me, I think I would have been fine with funny Yoda. I don't like it as much upon further viewings, but that's mostly because I'm pretty sour on TLJ as a whole.

    This is the exact thing I mean when I say people nitpick at things in TLJ. This to me is a nitpick. It could have made sense if the rest of the film would have struck a chord with me, it only falters due to my opinion of the rest of the movie. I'm not going to be a hypocrite and say I didn't like it when my initial reaction to it was positive. The problems it poses to me, is more what surrounds it than the scene itself. That's just my opinion though.
     
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  14. Messi

    Messi G.O.A.T.

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    Luke's tossing the saber its not a comedy scene to me, its never was. He just toss the saber....I never laugh about that, not even in the first time in the cinema.

    After so many months of the movie release I really think the comedy works very well in the movie (at least in most part of it): Chewie eating that Porg, that iron with the military uniforms, Finn's face during the chat with Maz Kanata, Caretakers scenes (best for me), all of porgs scenes, etc...

    But there is one scene that kind of bother me and I don't think it was very well made: When Rey is meditating and she tries to "reach" the force and she touches that branch that Luke is holding. Didn't like that.
     
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  15. Darth Basin The Greatest

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    I only liked the cinematography & special effects. Everything else was just ok (like some new aliens) bad ( also some new aliens) or terrible (lightsaber toss).

    The comedy goes in the bad to ok at times category.
     
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  16. Ricky Spanish

    Ricky Spanish Rebel Official

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    Timing was off, lines were delivered poorly and some were just totally out of place or happened at the wrong time. What worked for me was the Iron, Chewie eating a Porg, The Porg playing with the lightsaber switch and Yoda's page turners line. The rest were okay-ish to toe curlingly bad. Some of the ideas could have worked better if they didn't happen when they did. So BB-8 losing his head after getting blown across the hanger...kinda funny, but literally a second after we see dozens of resistance fighters including one who's been on screen a bit just die? That kills the moment, it takes the gravity away from the deaths and the humour away from the sight gag and leaves me feeling confused, especially in a film that tries to move the nobodies and less important people into the spotlight and make you care about them. I really don't get the tone or conflicting messages RJ was going for.
     
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  17. FN-3263827

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    people seem to mistake a lot of things that make them feel uncomfortable as "comedy". i find this a really interesting thing with TLJ in particular. Rey getting hit in the head with the lightsaber makes some people laugh. that doesn't mean it's a comedic moment. same is true for any number of other things in the film. i think Johnson was very intentional about creating tension in the movie; how people variously interpret that tension is part of what's interesting about it for me: i like a director who asks us to think about how we feel about a moment (and even challenges us a little!). : D
     
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  18. RockyRoadHux

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    I wouldn't call it a comedic moment either.

    No one can argue that the throne room scene with Rey and Snoke was just a weak rehash of Luke vs Emperor in RotJ, and RotJ did it better. Just like the Emperor is toying with Luke, we now see Snoke putting up a show; there is nothing fresh and new- I don't see how this should be challenging to anyone who knows the OT.
     
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  19. FN-3263827

    FN-3263827 First Order CPS
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    well first (and most importantly) that scene is not comedy, which is what i was talking about.
    second, there is nothing fresh and new under the sun. it's all window dressing. : o p

    but i honestly don't bother comparing the Luke Emperor scene to the Snoke Rey scene; they're at completely different emotional stakes in the respective trilogies (so i guess, yes i can argue that's it not a weak rehash ~ hahaha)
    • Emperor tries to turn Luke, orders Luke to strike him down, Luke battles Darth Vader, Darth Vader kills Emperor = end of Luke's conflict and precipitates the end of the war/story.
    • Snoke wants Rey and Luke dead (already a different motive), orders Ren to strike her down, Ren kills Snoke instead (subversion of expectation based on RoTJ), Rey and Ren fight the Praetorians = conflict unresolved and escalated, the war is just begun/story still has one act to go.
    other than a negotiation and a fight between the protagonist and the villain, the two scenes have narratively very little (if anything) in common. ultimately, maybe it's just me, but use of comparatives in critique can but doesn't necessarily demonstrate anything about value or validity. and redundancy/derivation--the deliberate use of ideas/images/tropes can be interpreted as poetic or as hash; it's purely subjective.

    for me, trusting in Johnson's deliberateness, i think the scene is derivative, but in the best possible way for a pop sci-fi serial (kinda like Starkiller base). you think it's weak rehash and that's fine too. : D
     
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  20. RockyRoadHux

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    I think you're generalizing too much here. But yes, there was nothing fresh here, that's why I don't feel challenged by what Rian did with Snoke vs Rey.

    Yes, obviously what Rian Johnson was trying to do was showing us his version of the throne room scene and subverting our expectations, but Snoke's character just felt too similar to Emperor Palpatine in the way he handled the situation.
     
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