Blogtrest Wrestling Talk: WWE Royal Rumble 2018

WWE ROYAL RUMBLE 2018

PREDICTIONS

It's that time of the year again In the WWE, the road to Wrestlemania starts tonight at the 2018 Royal Rumble which will be in the vocal city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

My hype for this year's Royal Rumble is just not as high as it has been in other years, and it's probably down to the fact that the WWE have  not created any hype or major intrigue going into the Men's Royal Rumble match itself (let's face it, it's the main reason that we are tuning in for). We should have gotten some Royal Rumble Qualification matches to cement a few superstars on the roster as sure fire entrants for the upcoming Rumble, backstage segments with superstars staking their claim as to why they will win this year's Royal Rumble and go on to main event Wrestlemania and even a qualification match featuring legends for a spot in the Rumble match.

But we literally got nothing the attention was all on the nostalgia of Raw and not the upcoming PPV. You really can't be blamed if you had no idea that their was a Royal Rumble PPV this Sunday.

Looking at the roster that we have in WWE in 2018, I don't know who I want to really root for, there isn't any major star on the rise who would benefit majorly from a Royal Rumble win and going on to main event Wrestlmania 34, and to me that's a problem.

According to sources Shinsuke Nakamura (left) and Roman Reigns (Right) are the two top favourites to win the 2018 Royal Rumble, with Shinsuke Nakamura the No.1 pick to win and Roman Reigns as the No.2 pick to win

The very underwhelming 25th Anniversary of Raw also did intrigue and hype going into this PPV no favours as it was a huge opportunity to create segments around 'Who Will Win The 2018 (men's) Royal Rumble Match and tease the possibility of legends entering the fray.

But it's really a double sided coin because not knowing who to root for does make for a unpredictable situation and unpredictability is ALWAYS a good thing because it genuinely keeps you tuned in (and not wanting to take a nap)

However it will be very interesting to see the new dynamic of having the first ever Women's Royal Rumble match as it is very important that the women participants knock this one out of the park and it doesn't just become a blink and you'll miss it affair when it comes to eliminations and the length of the match which WWE have been guilty of doing with the women's roster for years upon years now, the Women's Royal Rumble match needs to be on par or slightly on par with the Men's one.

The first ever Women's WWE Royal Rumble needs to deliver on the hype that it has been building and give us the same excitement and thrills that the Men's Royal Rumble match has given us over the years, which means a well booked and paced out over the top rope showcase

And speaking of the Women's Royal Rumble match, it would be great to see some female legends jump into the fray as well, and it would also be great to see some women that are free agents such as an Angelina Love or a Velvet Sky make a fantasy appearance in a WWE ring for the first time.

Let's not also forget those rumours of the former UFC Women's Division badass Ronda Rousey (above) making an appearance in the Women's Royal Rumble match tonight, which is very much a given to happen

As for the two World Title matches that we have on the card, I am more intrigued for one over the other as I feel one of those matches are just a formality as to who will walk out with the championship.

The WWE Championship match is the bout that interests me the most out of both defenses as we have the interesting dynamic of AJ Styles having to defend his championship in a handicap match against Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn which leaves a lot of potential to be setup around the WWE Championship going forward which I will get to in my predicitons in a little while.

It will be very interesting to see how AJ Styles (right) will handle the task of having to defend the WWE Championship against a very hungry pairing of Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn (left), but could either Owens or Zayn winning the WWE Championship cause friction between the pair?

The WWE Universal Championship bout however does not really stand out to me or have 'must see' written all over it, despite me being a huge fan with Braun Strowman and how he has been booked as the top monster (not named Brock Lesnar) in the WWE as a character like his is very much needed to fill a huge void that both Kane and Big Show will leave when they retire.

A Monster's Ball: Three monsters among men Brock Lesnar (left), Kane (middle) and Braun Strowman (right) will duke it out for the WWE Universal Championship, but it may just be a formality of who will walk away from the battle as THE monster in WWE

The dynamic between these three monsters has run it's course in my opinion and to me their bout for the Universal Championship has the most obvious outcome out of all matches on the card, hopefully the chaos that Brock, Strowman and Kane should cause in the match should make for a thrill ride.

Now without further ado let's get into how I think matches on the card will play out on what should be a decent Royal Rumble event:

Six Man Tag Team Match:

Kalisto, Lince Doraldo and Gran Mtalik vs TJP, Gentleman Jack Gallagher and Drew Gulak

Will the team of unified Luchadors get the win or will ego driven team of TJP, Gentleman Jack Gallagher and Drew Gulak (right) back up their confidence?

The Kickoff show will be featuring a Cruiserweight showcase six man tag team showcase which is always a good way to start a PPV as we are sure to get fast paced acrobatic action to hype up the crowd.

I am not a big follower of WWE's 205 live and tend to miss it most weeks than I do watching it, but it is still good to see that the WWE are still doing everything in their power to keep the division running even with the many setbacks that seem to keep coming it's way with the latest casualty being the recent fiasco of the then reigning Cruiserweight Champion Enzo Amore being fired resulting in a planned title defense between him and Cedric Alexander being cancelled at this event.

It's a massive blow to the Cruiserweight division as Enzo Amore's larger than life character was really injecting much needed life into the division as a whole and made it something you had to pay attention to.

Where WWE go with the Cruiserweight division now is beyond me.

As for this match, I expect a very fun little opener as we have a three team full of masked luchadors in Kalisto, Lince Doraldo and Gran Mtalik, which I believe is a first in WWE taking three of the Cruiserweight division's most cocky and arrogant members of TJP, Gentleman Jack & Drew Gulak which can make for great in ring chemistry.

The ingredients are all here for something to keep you in your seat as you start to dig into that bag of potato chips.

What Will Happen: Kalisto, Lince Doraldo and Gran Mtalik will defeat TJP, Gentleman Jack Gallagher and Drew Gulak.

What I Want To Happen: Same as above.

Tag Team Match:

Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson vs The Revival (Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder)

Two Teams with something to prove: Which team will make their case for a future Raw Tag Team Championship shot with a win tonight?

In what is set to be another Kickoff showcase for the PPV, we have a interesting Tag Team match between two rough and rugged teams, which could easily provide a smash mouthed in ring affair that could prove to be another strong taster match  in what is looking like a strong Kickoff PPV card

I'm not the strongest fan of either of these teams as I feel they both could be booked a lot stronger as the badass rough and tough teams of the WWE Raw tag team division.

Whoever wins this bout should be able to make their claim to be the next in line to challenge for the WWE Raw tag team championships.

I must say this one is a hard one to call as i think both of these teams need a win and momentum going forward in the Raw tag team division.

What Will Happen: Luke Gallows & Carl Anderson will defeat The Revival (Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder)

What I Want To Happen: Same as above.

Open Challenge WWE United States Championship Match:

Bobby Roode(c) vs TBD

Who will step up to the plate to take on a fresh and hungry United States Champion Bobby Roode? (above)

I've got to admit that I'm not the biggest fan of the decision to put the United States Championship on Bobby Roode as I felt that Jinder Mahal would of been the perfect fit to reign as heel United States Champion under his gimmick.

But nether the less I am a Bobby Roode fan and have been since his early days in TNA and it's good to see him win his first main roster championship.

The intrigue here of course is the dynamic of a open challenge United States Championship defence which means literally anyone can step up and see if they can cut Bobby Roode's championship reign short.

As to who it will be? I just have a gut feeling it will be...... Dolph Ziggler

Dolph Ziggler has been away from the WWE for a while now after relinquishing the United States Championship on 'his terms', Ziggler has most likely been at home watching Bobby Roode triumph in the United States Championship tournament and is now hungry to take on a 'credible' opponent in Bobby Roode to prove that he is the 'best at what he does'.

This match should be the icing on the cake of what could be the strongest kickoff show for a PPV there has been in a very long time.

What Will Happen: Bobby Roode will retain his United States championship via a Dolph Ziggler disqualification.

What I Want To Happen: Dolph Ziggler defeats Bobby Rood to once again become the WWE United States Champion.

2018 Women's Royal Rumble Match:

Which woman will make history by becoming the first ever WWE Women's Royal Rumble winner?

So here we have it, the first ever WWE Women's Royal Rumble match, and I must say this is perhaps the most intriguing match on the card as this will be the proving ground for if a Women's Royal Rumble match can be just as much of a spectacle as the Men's Royal Rumble match.

This match will most definitely need to hit it out of the park as we have seen the WWE on countless occasions over the years refuse to book a nicely paced over the rope contest between women.

I want to see a highly competitive match with all the surprises, thrills, bells and whistles that the Men's Royal Rumble match has given us on a daily basis.

This should prove to be very fun and edge of your seat stuff.

What Will Happen: Asuka will win 2018 WWE Women's Royal Rumble match.

What I Want To Happen: Same as above.

WWE Raw Tag Team Championship Match:

Seth Rollins & Jason Jordan(c) vs Cesaro & Sheamus

Will Seth Rollins & Jason Jordan (left) be able to stay on the same page and successfully defend their Raw Tag Team Championships against a dangerous team up of Cesaro & Sheamus? (right)

There is something interesting in the air going into this WWE Raw Tag Team Championship match tonight, and it's that of one particular Jason Jordan as seen on RAW 25 this past monday the Manhattan crowd really let Jason Jordan have it with a nuclear rain of boos, which is the biggest reaction that Jason Jordan has gotten in the company which tells me that the seeds are starting to grow on the much needed Jason Jordan heel turn, also add in the accidental Seth Rollins flying elbow meant for Sheamus that ended up hitting Jordan on Christian's special edition of the Peep Show segment, the signs are most definitely there for dissolution and miscommunication  between the odd pairing of Jason Jordan and Seth Rollins here.

There are also rumours that a long feud between Seth Rollins and Jason Jordan will soon start in the WWE which will see Jason Jordan complete his heel turn.

I feel that Sheamus & Cesaro are definitely due another WWE Raw Tag Team Championship reign.

This match will surely be the most interesting out of the two tag team bouts on the card in terms of the dynamics that could explode. We're in for a thrilling Raw Tag Team Championship defence here.

What Will Happen: Sheamus & Cesaro will defeat Seth Rolins and Jason Jordan to become the new WWE Raw Tag Team Champions due to miscommunication between Seth Rollins and Jason Jordan.

What I Want To Happen: Jason Jordan cements a heel turn by attacking Seth Rollins and handing the Raw Tag Team Championship victory to Sheamus & Cesaro.

WWE Championship Handicap Match:

AJ Styles(c) vs Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn

Will The Phenomenal One AJ Styles be able to show why he is just that by surviving and retaining the WWE World Championship against the cunning duo of Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn?

The most interesting World Championship defence of the night is most definitely this one for me as it will be a mountain for AJ Styles to climb to retain the WWE Championship against both a hungry and cunning team up of Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn.

I'm pretty much expecting Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn to dominate the majority of the match, with AJ Styles making the classic babyface come back throughout 

Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn are going to pull every trick in the book to take the WWE Championship from AJ Styles, meaning the referee is going to have a very hard time in this one.

What Will Happen: AJ Styles will find a way to retain the WWE Championship.

What I Want To Happen: Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn defeat AJ Styles to become the new 'co WWE Champions'.

2-Out-of-3-Falls WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship  Match:

The Usos(c) vs Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin

Will Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin be able to knock The Usos (left) of of their Perch?

This WWE Smackdown Tag Team Championship match is sure to be the workhorse match of the night and you can pretty much expect a Match of The Year candidate already here with this one as we have the superb Usos who are the best Tag Team in wrestling period going against the super athletic freaks of nature that are Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin.

Expect every bag of tricks in the book when it comes to athleticism, expect smash mouthed action, and expect a lot of near falls which is sure to be another epic Smackdown Tag Team Championship defence by The Usos.

What Will Happen: Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin will go 2 falls to 1 against The Usos and become the new WWE Smackdown Tag Team Champions.

What I Want To Happen: Same as above

WWE Universal Championship Handicap Match:

Brock Lesnar(c) (with Paul Heyman) vs Braun Strowman vs Kane

Who will walk away as the dominant monster of the WWE in this Monster's Ball WWE Universal Championship match?

I've got to be honest and say that I'm not really looking forward to this WWE Universal Title match on the card and it's down to the me being very sure of who will walk out with the title, and it also has the potential to be a slow and short match.

I've been a huge supporter of Braun Strowman getting a run with the Universal title for a while now as I feel his character has been built up excellent by WWE to the point where he can be bought as a viable babyface or heel monster champion, but I feel that WWE are still a bit away from pulling the trigger on that. I expect another Braun Strowman superstar performance in this match also.

Also with the rumours swirling around that Bobby Lashley has signed with WWE, there is only one person I see walking away with this match for certain.

I do have hope that for what this match will be, we will get three monsters going all out in a chaotic and thrilling match.

What Will Happen: Brock Lesnar will retain the WWE Universal Championship.

What I Want To Happen: Braun Strowman becomes the new WWE Universal Champion.

2018 Men's Royal Rumble Match:

Who will book their place in the main event of Wrestlemania this year?

And last but certainly not least is the main attraction and spectacle of this PPV, the 2018 WWE Men's Royal Rumble  which is a very hard one to call this year as there isn't anyone who really stands out as a runaway winner, but I do have a gut feeling that WWE are planning a World Championship match for Wrestlemania that fans have been clamouring for since early last year and my pick to win is based on that (you can have a nice guess as to what match I'm possibly alluding to when you're done reading this)

I feel this year's Rumble match will be a slight improvement over last year's and it's mainly down to the huge unpredictability factor that we have going into it.

What Will Happen: Shinsuke Nakamura will win the WWE 2018 Royal Rumble.

What I Want To Happen: Same as above.

And there you have it, my predictions and thoughts on what should prove to be a alsightly above decent Royal Rumble PPV that hopefully will deliver plenty of surprises and twists.

Feel free to leave your comments and thoughts on what you think will happen on the night.

-Simeon Barrett

STAR WARS

THE LAST JEDI

THE BIGGEST MISSED OPPORTUNITY IN FILM 

It's pretty much a given that the latest instalment in the much beloved Star Wars franchise has been the talk of social media this holiday season, and it's a movie that has pretty much divided long time fans.

I waited for the dust to settle on all the  reviews, opinions and controversy surrounding Star Wars The Last Jedi before finally going along to see it at the cinema on Boxing Day.

What I came back with from seeing this film, was complete disappointment, confusion and upset at where this film went after a great setting of the table in Star Wars The Force Awakens.

Star Wars The Last Jedi pretty much took away all my hopes, enthusiasm and excitement for a new epic Star Wars trilogy for the new age to REALLY kick into gear in this movie.

What JJ Abrahams set on the table in Star Wars The Force Awakens was completely swept onto the floor in Star Wars The Last Jedi with malice and no respect for what came before it.

Rian Johnson who was given the helm of writing and directing The Last Jedi seemed to have made it his mission to 'boldly turn away from the expected conventions of Star Wars' to deliver a film full of twists to keep people guessing throughout the 2 Hours and 30 minutes runtime, but instead ended up making a film that dangles a bucket load of carrots in front of the audience and never lets the audience catch even one.

And I'm gonna get to those dangled carrots in a bit..

The result of Star Wars The Last Jedi is a film that has the most plotholes and questions that I have ever witnessed in a movie, and it leaves me with fear and pretty much no hope for what Episode IX will bring.


But before I get to the upsetting negatives of this movie I will first raise some great positives:

I can't deny that Rian Johnson from a technical and audio perspective, got this movie spot on, Star Wars The Last Jedi, looks like a Star Wars movie and sounds like a Star Wars movie.

The visual of the Planet Crait is a big highlight of The Last Jedi as it is a very beautifully put together planet.

The Cinematography is spot on in Star Wras The Last Jedi, wish the same could be said about the script....

Space battles and spaceships all look great, the CGI is excellent and not overused and there are two great moments in the movie that include the use of a lightspeed attack on a main First Order ship and the use of force power by Luke at the end of the movie.



Two characters that I am invested in however are that of Kylo Ren and Poe;

With Kylo there seems to be some kind of presence and aura to him, despite the 'whiny emo' comments from critical fans I feel that Episode IX will make Kylo Ren a fully fledged and memorable character from this trilogy, as I feel he has good complexities to him.

Kylo Ren has something about him that makes him mysterious and complex, I pretty much see him as a very layered villain with a lot of potential, he shows a lot of grey moments in The Last Jedi and you believe that he can go either way; remain on the Dark Side or turn to the Good Side and still be a convincing character

Poe feels like a well rounded no nonsense character who is quite possibly the only character who feels like someone you would meet in everyday life, even though he is written to be a bumbling careless rogue at times who decides to go on dangerous suicide tactics, it was not enough to stop me loving his character. He is also very courageous in what he does and stands for what he believes in which are two great characteristics to have for a protagonist.

Poe to me feels at times feels like a true successor to Han Solo and feels like the most realistic character put on screen in this trilogy

But that's where the positives come to a complete halt.

I'm now going to run down some very eyebrow raising plot points in Star Wars The Last Jedi and give my two cents on what could have been done to make Star Wars The Last Jedi perhaps one of the greatest Star Wars movies ever made and one of the greatest Sci-Fi epics ever made.

Plotpoint/Dangled Carrot #1: Rey's Parents

Star Wars The Force Awakens put a great emphasis on main character Rey's journey to seek answers and the truth about her parents, to which I thought could possibly end up in Luke Skywalker being her father as the force was mysteriously already strong and present in Rey in Force Awakens, so her being the long lost daughter of the Jedi Master himself wouldn't be so far fetched.

The 'Who Are Rey's Parents?' arc was the most prominently setup story in The Force Awakens which had fans intrigued for two years but fans expecting to finally see a payoff in The Last Jedi would be sadly disappointed

But instead of getting some kind of closure or even a clue as to who Rey's parents are, we got...... NOTHING, yep just nothing. We got a scene where Rey plunges into a dark hole/cave on the planet of Ahch-To (which was also teasing a possible turn to the dark side), she comes across a misty reflective rock, which she proceeds to wipe away to which just at the moment where the audience thinks they will see something, just anything that gives insight to who her parents are, we see...nothing, that's right nothing but Rey's reflection looking back at her, which I found to just be the ultimate troll of this entire movie.

Also during scenes and dialogue with Kylo Ren, Rey is just told that her parents were 'nothing' and that's that. 

So The Force Awakens was literally keeping us hanging for TWO YEARS to give us no payoff to this interesting angle which could of added much needed layers and depth to Rey's character.

The Last Jedi needed to be the movie that revealed her parents to really make sense of why Rey is seemingly born with a strong force inside her and why she is so competent with a Light Saber despite having literally NO training what so ever.

The solution to this glaringly disappointing payoff could of been that Rey is pretty much the grand daughter of Luke Skywalker to which we get Luke retreading his memory in flashbacks of the son he once had, let's say his name was 'Jacen Skywalker' (as Ben Skywalker is retconned in this trilogy) how Jacen took his place as a young and powerful Jedi Master alongside the Resistance while he retired to Ahch-To, but Jacen was sadly killed along with his wife in battle by the all powerful Snoke who also managed to turn Kylo, Jacen's best friend and cousin to the dark side when Luke was giving his all to make him become a great Jedi in memory of Jacen Skywalker, Rey was only a baby when this took place and was taken in by a foster family who also perished and left Rey all alone as a scavenger to fend and survive for herself as a mere child.

I feel that to make sense of the Rey Parentage story arc, she should in fact be a generation of Skywalker and daughter of Jacen Skywalker (left) son of Luke Skywalker who grew up with his cousin Kylo Ren (Ben Solo)

And there you have it, something that makes sense and ties up the hanging story arc going forward for the movie, it's also something that gives Rey development and meaning while also explaining why Luke is soo out of character as being a man who is afraid of the dark side, just wanting to die all alone on Ahch-To and wanting to strike down Kylo in his sleep for even hinting a turn to the dark.

Rey is strong with the force because it is her destiny to become a great Jedi and avenge the death of her parents that she never got the chance to know.

Kylo and Snoke both know this.

I will get to Luke a bit later....

Plotpoint/Dangled Carrot #2: Finn's Missing Backstory

One of my major annoyances with Star Wars The Last Jedi was the sudden brush away of the fact that Finn had his back almost damn near split in half by Kylo Ren in the Force Awakens, but in The Last Jedi which is pretty much days after The Force Awakens Finn just hops out of his emergency pod with literally no trauma or flashbacks to what happened to him at the hands of Kylo or even a acknowledgement to his back injury; Just a silly emphasis on a water gag from his water pack suit and that's it....

The dynamic of Finn being a former Stormtrooper is a very interesting one that should of been explored more In The Last Jedi to add some great depth to this unique never before done character type in Star Wars films

Finn then suddenly turns into a coward out of no where after showing to be courageous by the end of Force Awakens by trying to escape from the Resistance ship and the fight against The First Order, surely Finn's first thoughts would be to get even after what happened to him right?? Well no not in this script.

Finn's awakening from his injuries and interaction with Poe would of been the perfect time to throw in some flashbacks of how he came to be working as a Stormtrooper in the First Order, his family, where did he come from? What was his motivation to suddenly leave and turn his back on being a Stormtrooper for the First Order?

This would have been a great way to start Finn off in the movie, and do what every sequel movie should do, build upon and develop characters more.

Plotpoint/Dangled Carrot #3: Finn's Alluded Romance with Rey & Forced storyline & Romance with Rose

Another carrot dangle from The Force Awakens that was forcefully (pun intended) yanked away in The Last Jedi was that of the chemistry between Finn & Rey which was superb and worked really well, both John Boyega and Daisy Ridley just seemed to click with chemistry that you just can't buy or force together, and it also seemed like they were heading for a romance going into The Last Jedi.

But as you can guess, that too went NOWHERE, as Finn does not have any interaction of any kind with Rey in this movie aside from ONE scene at the end where they hardly share any kind of passionate dialogue about the adventures they have been through since being parted.

Writers and Casters had found a natural chemistry between Rey (left) & Finn (right) in The Force Awakens, not seen since the original Star Wars trilogy between two protagonists, but this was completely squandered in The Last Jedi

Instead of going with the natural flow however, Finn's character out of nowhere began a bond with a new character called Rose, the sister of the asian Resistance lady from the start of the movie (I will get to that scene later too) this in turn began a very unneeded side arc which saw Finn and Rose sent on a mission to the lavish Canto Bight by Poe after he comes into disagreement with 'purple haired lady' Admiral Holdo's Resistance plan (which I will get to later) to find a 'Master Code Breaker' to disable the First Order's ship tracking device, which in turn ends up in failure as the 'Master Code Breaker' that they do find called DJ ends up snitching their plans to the First Order which just ends up putting the Resistance in even more danger (Sigh) 

The character of DJ (played by the excellent Benicio Del Toro), a scoundrel type character who helps Finn on their codebreaker mission but ends up revealing Resistance plans to the First Order, just felt like a waste of time

Then came ANOTHER dangled carrot with Finn where a true heroic moment presented itself, where on the Resistance evacuation Planet Crait during a suicide run against a enemy cannon, Finn refuses to back down against Poe's orders and put himself on the line to save the fleet, just when it looked as if this movie was going to give us a big shocker that would give Finn a huge heroic and emotional send off, we get a unwanted swerve of Rose saving Finn by knocking her ship into Finn's paving the way for the dialogue of she was "Protecting the ones we love" followed by completely forced kiss by Rose to Finn before fainting.

So not only does Finn get his chance to do something of great meaning in this movie, he is stopped by doing THE very thing that Rose was just preaching about....

All of the magic and chemistry that was present with Rey & Finn is nowhere to be found in the forced romance between Rose (left) & Finn (right)

This presented yet another missed opportunity for some great emotion in the The Last Jedi.

This whole 45 Minute  forced Finn & Rose arc could of easily been left out of this movie.

Finn was destined to find Romance with Rey but the script purposely put a stop to that, which is just a huge shame.

Plotpoint/Dangled Carrot #4: Who Is Surpreme Leader Snoke?? (no really who is he???)


I can confidently say that Star Wars The Last Jedi features the biggest waste of a villain ever in a movie and I'm not at all exaggerating.

Much like the 'Who Are Rey's Parents?' story arc setup in The Force Awakens, another very intriguing point that had fans speculating all over the online forums and having conversations in public for the past two years was that of the appearance of Supreme Leader Snoke, a interesting 'Harry Potter-esque' CGI  figure who had somehow taken control of the remains of the Empire and rebuilt them into The First Order, once again turning them into a formidable army with high quality ships and weapons at their disposal.

I along with many fans expected The Last Jedi to give us some back story into where Snoke came from and how he became the all powerful Supreme Leader that he is today, even if it was through a five minute flashback or dialogue, but nope. like everything else in this movie we got nothing on this end too.

And then to crush any hopes of us ever knowing more about this very intriguing villain, he is swiftly killed off by a Lightsaber sitting a few inches away from him by Kylo Ren, the same Kylo Ren who had not yet completed his training.

So Much Wasted Potential: Supreme Leader Snoke was built up as a near unstoppable force just to be cut off like a complete nothing in The Last Jedi

So after all of those huge showcases of power from Snoke throughout the movie as he is shown throwing General Hux around with as a HOLLOGRAM, totally dominating Rey with complete ease with a showcase of powers that absolutely trump that of Darth Sidious & Darth Vader combined (in the movies anyways) which included being able to manipulate BOTH Rey & Kylo into making visual Force contact with each other far away and after his dialogue of himself saying that he simply cannot be beat and can sense Kylo killing Rey to finish his training, he is unable to SENSE a lightsaber that is RIGHT NEXT to him and stop it from cutting him in half like he was completely nothing....

Yep, after all of that, Snoke is thrown in the trash, and to me that is one of the biggest upsets of this entire film.

We also never got to find out why Snoke went from wanting Rey to potentially bring her to the dark side because of her power and potential, to then all of a sudden wanting to kill her. Did he want to kill her so that Luke would finally leave Ahch-To?

Supreme Leader Snoke had the potential to be the next truly iconic 'big bad' of the Star Wars franchise, the Darth Vader of this era that should of reigned terror all the way through to Episode IX, heck you could even have him survive all the way into the planned new trilogy of Episodes X to XII.

That's how iconic and great this character could of been if given the longevity needed. To me this has got to be the biggest waste of a villain in a movie period.





Plotpoint/Dangled Carrot #5: General Leia Somehow uses The Force To Pull herself out of space back onto Resistance Ship


In what is surely the most 'What The Heck Just Happened?' moment of the movie, Kylo Ren and The First Order launch a devastating attack on the Resistance Star Cruiser that has General Leia aboard.

Kylo after much hesitation due to his own mother Leia being aboard the ship, fires the deadly hit that ends up blowing Leia out of the ship and into space (while also  calling for the film to needlessly kill Admiral Akbaar during in the process).

General Leia presumably dead in space, somehow gains consciousness and seemingly summons some kind of fore power to pull herself towards the Resistance Raddus ship in a scene that looks very 'Mary Poppins' like, once she is rescued and aboard the ship she looses consciousness and is put in a mini coma for a large portion of the movie.

General Leia Poppins: In what is surely to become a iconic controversial scene many years from now, Leia somehow calls on a powerful force power with no explanation, clues or references later on in the film as to how this happened

What is truly baffling about this scene is that even though it had been alluded to in the original Star Wars trilogy by Luke himself that Leia possessed the force inside her, we never at any point saw her get any kind of training or even attempt to use them.

You can't just put a scene like this in the movie without some kind of explanation as we have not seen trained Jedi's do something as spectacular as that.

This scene could have made some kind of sense if they had included a flashback to Luke's dialogue from the original trilogy where he made Leia aware that the force is inside her and THAT gives her the will and might to pull off a survival technique like that, or you could of established that Luke and Leia still have a strong mind connection with each other and whenever Leia is in big danger of dying, Luke senses this on Ahch-To and uses his force power to generate the 'Mary Poppins' survival technique as Luke at this point is supposed to be a super powerful Master Jedi as he displayed just how powerful his force range is towards the end of the movie. (which i'll get to soon)





Plotpoint/Dangled Carrot #6: Vice Admiral Holdo (Purple Haired Lady)

With General Leia out of action, a mysterious lady with Purple hair that has not been alluded to at all in the movie, steps in to take over Plan of Action for the Resistance, which is to simply retreat in small transports to the planet Crait, to which Poe strongly disagrees and sees as a cowardly and dangerous action. (This lead us to the annoying 45 minute Finn and Rose sidequest)

And myself along with many other fans could most likely agree that not putting up a fight while ALSO making a retreat plan against The First Order would result in even more casualties.


And Poe's case is proven to be right as during the retreat to Crait The First Order are just given an opening to destroy a large number of Resistance transports leading to many casualties.

But what follows is storyline inconsistency at it's finest.

So with Poe seemingly taken the reigns off of Admiral Holdo for about 10 mins, General Leia regains consciousness, seemingly uses the force again to smash through a door and proceeds to laser stun Poe.

During the resumed retreat plan to crait now lead by General Leia again, Holdo stays behind seemingly to provide a distraction for The First Order, The First Order then get the upperhand as predicted by Poe and destroy wave and wave of transports leading to many casualties, but then just as it looks like the plan that already looked like failure is about to fail, Admiral Holdo then decides to sacrifice herself by using lightspeed to ram through Snoke's fleet causing heavy damage ad casualties to the first order, which was one of a few great moment in this film.

Admiral Holdo was a character that came out of left field and was Feminism in the flesh for this movie, but provided perhaps the best and most epic scene of the entire film when she put her life on the line to save the Resistance by hyper speeding though the main First Order ship

But the elephant in the room remains as the question of why if all this time that the Resistance had this devastating Light Speed ability, why didn't they just use it in the first place?? If Holdo knew they had this at their disposal, why wouldn't she just use it instead of retreating and allowing so many casualties??

This was pretty much another case of a plotpoint that went no where, it took a swerve and then just trolled us out of nowhere with something that could of saved time.




Plotpoint/Dangled Carrot #7: Luke SkyWalker

In what is the most disappointing and near heartbreaking plotpoint of this entire movie is that of Luke Skywalker; a icon of the franchise who should have had a big epic last hurrah as an old Jedi Master, fans all over the world were waiting to see what Luke would do in The Last Jedi for two years. We were waiting to see stories of what Luke had been getting up to since Return Of The Jedi, how much more powerful and wise has he become as a Master Jedi. Luke had a ton of potential in this movie to give long die hard fans  a nice fan service and end to his long running arc.

But as you can probably guess we got NONE of that, it's like the writers said 'oh you wanna see Old Master Jedi Luke have an epic lightsaber battle and show just how powerful his force powers have become as a master Jedi? Well...nope we're not gonna give it you'.

And that's exactly the voice I heard in my head just constantly taunting me as Luke's time in the movie just dragged on underwhelmingly.

It's like the writers just pretty much ripped the life and the soul out of Luke Skywalker, and retconned his character to make him look inferior to the new character agenda that Disney is currently pushing.

The butchering of Luke's character truly felt like a big middle finger to those who held Star Wars in their hearts over the decades. And it makes me wonder why did they even bother to have Luke in this film in the first place.


Luke's character in this movie is that of a grumpy coward who just wants to die and have the legacy of the Jedi die, and that's basically it.

The great legendary hero Luke Skywalker who stopped at nothing to bring out the good in the most feared evil force in the galaxy Darth Vader, all of a sudden is scared of the dark side that consumed Kylo Ren at the hands of Snoke, Luke Skywalker who embraced the ways of the Jedi and opened up a Jedi School has given up because he failed ONE student and didn't even try to fight and put it right, instead try to cowardly strike down his student and OWN NEPHEW might I add in his sleep.

Mark Hamill was clearly warning us that we would be upset with how Luke is handled in all of this in press conferences.


I pretty much knew deep down from the continuation scene from The Force Awakens of Rey handing Luke his father's lightsaber and then proceeding to throw it in the sea that it was a symbolic message of what was to come in this movie, 'just forget everything you've invested in over the decades of Star Wars because we are about to step all over conventions and it's icon'.

Luke just flat out refuses to train Rey in the way of the force despite Rey desperately wanting it, which is completely out of character for a Jedi Master, just look at Obi Wan from A New Hope, yes he went into hiding after failing Anakin Skywalker, but when a 'chosen one' came along like Luke, he did not hesitate to show him the ways of the force to become the Jedi he was supposed to become.

Rey is in the exact same position of trying to get Kylo back to the good side that Luke was in during his training with Yoda against Darth Vader, but Luke has clearly forgotten that because the script has told him to.

Another hard to deal with scene for me was that of Rey being able to best Luke one on one in a duel when she was told by Kylo that Luke had tried to murder him, how can a Jedi Master like Luke be bested by someone with NO TRAINING, Luke looked weak and pathetic here, it was clearly a symbolic cutting of Luke's legs and female empowerment and it really hurt.

That's More Accurate: A mock up of how the duel between Luke and Rey should have looked at the end (above)

And the icing on the cake was when Rey left Ahch-To to confront Kylo, it was clearly alluded to that Luke was going to follow her  and show up to help her confront Snoke on The First Order Ship...but nope...He just stayed where he was.

Fans of the Star Wars franchise were waiting and excited to finally see the legendary Luke Skywalker as a all powerful Master Jedi flexing his abilities on screen but we were heavily trolled into disappointment

As I mentioned earlier, there was SO MUCH potential for Luke in this movie, and I'm gonna break down how he should of been handled.

When Rey came to Ahch-To, Luke should of been surprised with joy (instead of the grumpy who are you? He greeted Rey with) that a 'chosen one' found him and wanted to put up a fight against the dark side as it presents a chance for Luke to make up for and get over the failure of his training of Kylo, we should have had Luke tell Rey compelling and epic stories, things he experienced and saw after The Return Of The Jedi in between training Rey in the ways of the Force, between every training session, Luke tells Rey a different story which pieces events up until now together including the revelation of her parents which she pieces together as mentioned earlier in my 'Who Are Rey's Parent's?' plotpoint, so he is effectively making her strong, wise and aware all at the same time, Luke shows snippets of just how powerful he has become as a Jedi Master on the planet of Ahch-To which astounds Rey, Rey then leaves after Luke has shown her everything she needs.

Also add in the fact that Luke left R2-D2 with a map of his location in the original Star Wars trilogy should he ever be needed and that Rey told him of Han's death which should of been enough to spur Luke to train Rey. What we got from Luke in The Last Jedi was just a criminally written stranger.

But let's continue with how Luke's arc should have been done:

Rey confronts Kylo on the First Order ship and her confrontation plays out just like it did in the movie with Snoke dominating her with powerful force powers, suddenly a robed figure appears in the room lifts his hood and it's revealed to be Luke himself with Green Lightsaber in hand, we then get an epic lightsaber showdown with Luke and Snoke which delivers what fans were watering at the mouth for where Luke showcases just how powerful of a Jedi that he has become with groundbreaking force moves, meanwhile Kylo and Rey have their hands full with Snoke's guards and eventually dispatch of them with Luke, as Snoke has found a way to escape through force power and retreat to a unknown location.

Kylo's persuasion scene with Rey plays out exactly as it did in the movie with Luke and Kylo playing tug of war with the side that Rey should choose, the lightspeed attack by Holdo happens on the ship, Luke mysteriously disappears and Rey escapes the wreckage as it played out in the movie.

It's revealed that Luke projected himself onto Snoke's ship through force power on Ahch-To, Luke decides that it is time to physically leave Ahcho-To and join the Resistance fight one last time as he feels that Kylo is now more dangerous than ever with Snoke now absent from head of duties, he finds an old X-Wing ship on Ahch-To, jumps in and flies off to the battle of Crait, the battle plays out exactly like it did in the movie but Princess Leia is shown to feel Luke's force when the battle looks to be lost, Resistance members ask why Leia has such a big smile on her face, to which she says "I can feel him, he's here, Luke is here!" Luke wrecks havoc in his X-Wing on the way to Crait he even uses force power to blow away Tie Fighters while also using his ship lasers.

With Luke officially in the fold, the battle looks to be shifting in the Resistance favour, Luke lands on crait and meets with Leia just like it played out in the film, Luke then walks out of the Rebel base with Green lightsaber in hand  and confronts the First Order while the Resistance fighters escape, Luke then wipes out a wave of First Order fighters by holding and deflecting all laser shots, which gives Kylo no choice but to come down and confront his one time master, we then get one last epic lightsaber battle between Luke and Kylo, where Luke begins to exhaust and tire from the extraordinary force powers that he has used Kylo senses a opening and strikes down Luke who gives the 'I won't be the last Jedi' speech, Luke dies and vanishes into the force at the hands of Kylo.


And there you have my take on how Luke's long running arc should of ended in The Last Jedi a 'big last hurrah' for the iconic character instead of the tease of a big Luke battle and the very out of character retcon Luke that we got in the movie.

Justice for Luke's character could of been served with some major changes to the script.

But all that potential that could of been added to make The Last Jedi one of the best Star Wars movies ever made was squandered big time with the wasteful use of Luke Skywalker.

Just thinking about what could of been hurts.



Plotpoint/Dangled Carrot #8: How Did The Asian Resistance Lady Defy Gravity To Drop Bombs In Space?

The first 'What The Heck Just Happened?' Moment in the movie for me came at the beginning where we saw a suicide mission take place with an Asian Resistance lady (Rose's sister) putting her life on the line to cause massive damage to the First Order by breaking into a chamber packed with bombs and proceeding to catch and press a release detonator to send the bombs dropping down like an anchor in space.

In one of many scenes that had inconsistencies, Rey's sister (above) somehow manages to defy the laws of gravity by dropping a chamber full of bombs like anchors in space

Anyone with a grasp on how life in general works, knows that gravity causes things to float, but like many other things in this movie it was just forced to happen because the script says it just needs to happen.





Plotpoint/Dangled Carrot #9: The Tease of Kylo Ren Wanting To Start A 'New Order' With Rey

Another carrot dangled in front of viewers was that of the alluded plan by Kylo Ren after dispatching of his Supreme Leader Snoke and fending off Snoke's guards was Kylo turning his back on the First Order to start his own Order and tempting Rey to join him, which was something that had major intrigue as the Star Wars franchise had always been about two opposing armies of Good and Evil, the idea of there being a third army in the Star Wars universe would of been something fresh in a good way and would of added even more layers to Kylo Ren's intriguing character.

Also having Rey join him in his plan would of  would of been a great plot twist, something revolutionary for this franchise, but as you probably already know, this is Disney, a company that will always play it safe and not follow through on anything that challenging and complex.

Wanna see the possibility of Rey joining the Dark Side? How about Kylo turning to the Good Side? Oh wait how about both Kylo & Rey joining forces to create a NEW ORDER??...Nah we're not going there

And as you have pretty much guessed by the theme of this look at Star Wars The Last Jedi, we got NOTHING....

Kylo and Rey would just go back to their opposing sides, but the head scratcher was Kylo Ren just going back to fighting alongside the First Order anyways, which again makes me pose the question of why tease something if you're gonna go nowhere with it?






Plotpoint/Dangled Carrot #10: Captain Phasma

Another waste of a character was that of the chrome bodied suit commander of the First Order's force of Stormtroopers; Captain Phasma.

She played literally no role in any of the battles or consequences in this movie and literally just showed up for about 10 minutes just to once again interact with Finn after he was caught along with Rose aboard the First Order ship after failing the Code Breaker mission.

Captain Phasma was just missing in action when the First Order and Resistance battle was heating up, we should of seen her wreak havoc and prove to be a dangerous and formidable foe, she is a leader of an entire Stormtrooper fleet after all...

She is then easily dispatched and killed by Finn in the most un-epic, short and lazy fight scene ever in the Star Wars franchise like she is just completely NOTHING.

That's right, as a commander of the ENTIRE Stormtrooper fleet she gets owned by someone she used to have command of, therefore her battle skills should be way higher than that of Finn, she should know every move that Finn would make, but no.

You could of easily been fooled into thinking that this battle scene between Finn and 'Chrome Dome', oh sorry.. I mean Captain Phasma was part of an epic battle between the two, but it was FAR from that

Where were the scenes of Captain Phasma showing why she is the commander of the First Order stormtrooper force? Such as her being right at the forefront of the battle to destroy the Resistance and posing a massive threat by destroying a good number of Resistance ships and transports, why was she not out in space in her own super modified Tie Fighter causing havoc and wrecking up shop for the Resistance?

Nope, let's just have Captain Phasma stay put on the First Order ship, just sitting it out of the major action going on in the movie (sigh).






Plotpoint/Dangled Carrott #11: 'Darth BB-8'

In what was just clearly a ploy to sell another skew type of BB-8 toy in stores, we get a quick shot of a 'Evil' 'First Order' version of BB-8 when Finn, Rose and DJ are sneaking onto the First Order ship to carry out the codebreaking plan.

We never see this interesting looking drone in another scene again in the movie.

Which again is another dangled carrot of a possible 'Drone vs Drone showdown' between BB-8 and Darth BB-8 which could of served up a bit of fun and laughs in a entertaining way to appease the kids and give the adults a chuckle at the same time.

The writers went out of their way to make BB-8 look so clever and strong in this movie as we had BB-8 slaughter Resistance Troopers with coins to help Finn, Rose and DJ make a run for it and escape their imprisonment on Canto Bight to even OPERATING a AT-ST to save Finn and Rose again after they are captured by the First order.

So if you went there with BB-8, why not go all the way and have BB-8 have his own showdown with his First Order counterpart??

A Drone showdown between 'Darth BB-8' (left) and BB-8 (right) has clearly been marketed and hinted at in Disney Star Wars toy line adverts and in movie trailers, so where was the scene in the film?

Plotpoint/Dangled Carrott #12: Where Are 'The Knights Of Ren'??

One of the coolest potential plotpoints going into The Last Jedi that was setup by a vision that Rey saw when touching Anakin Skywalker's lightsaber for the first time in The Force Awakens was that of the Knights standing beside Kylo Ren in a rainy, dark and moody landscape, which fans pretty much theorised would be a epic scene of The Knights Of Ren landing on the planet of Ahch-To to confront Luke Skywalker after learning of his whereabouts, which would then lead into a epic showdown of Luke Skywalker and Rey fighting off Kylo and his band of Knights on the Jedi temple island (which would of been such a great part of the movie)


It is worth noting that there are rumours that this scene was intended to be a fight scene on Ahch-To but was simply cut out of The Last Jedi. If this was truly the case, then this is just the ultimate insult and troll for Star Wars fans.

The Cut Scene/Plotpoint?: This epic 'Knights of Ren' scene prophesied by Rey in The Force Awakens was nowhere to be found in The Last Jedi

It however may be the case that this is a scene intended to be shown in the upcoming Episode IX where Kylo Ren is sure to be a more powerful and skilled figure leading a new and more deadly band of warriors who are invading a possible rebuilt Jedi Temple where Rey is carrying on the legacy of the Jedi.

Not sure if that will be the case but it's just my two cents on figuring this all out.

But if Episode IX arrives and this scene is nowhere to be found then consider this to be the one of the ultimate trolls and waste of a potentially great arc ever.


I really hope that this wasn't just a marketing ploy to get people to watch The Last Jedi....


Plotpoint/Dangled Carrot #14: Rey's Devlopment As A Character

Much like the waste of Luke Skywalker, the titular character that is supposed to be the new iconic hero and Jedi of this trilogy just does not grow at all.

Through the disappointing revelation of Rey's parents being 'nobodies who sold Rey for alcohol money' according to Kylo Ren, we are basically told that Rey herself is exactly that, she's nothing.

Which raises the question of why we should care about her? 

We never see Rey fail at anything she does which means she has been given nothing to overcome since the Force Awakens, she's written in a way that she is already a fully fledged Jedi without even having to grind to get there.

Also as mentioned earlier, her natural chemistry and destined romance with Finn was strategically chucked away for a alluded romance with Kylo Ren which just sniffs of a racial agenda (which is a topic for another day) and it really disappoints me personally, it was a great arc for Rey that made her likeable in The Force Awakens.

Yep #Reylo Has become a thing online and it's not something to bask in as it is a strategic idea that producers want the fans have instead of the Interracial romance that was blossoming between Rey & Finn

Unless something about her is changed in Episode IX which I don't have hope for, Rey will pretty much go down as the most disappointing and one dimensional protagonist ever in a Star Wars movie.



Plotpoint/Dangled Carrot #15: The Ending That Doesn't Set Anything Up For Episode IX


The biggest head scratcher comes at the end of The Last Jedi where the remaining Resistance fleet fly away into the distance after a successful escape from The First Order, where we suddenly see one of the children from Canto Bight suddenly use the force to fetch a broom and look out into the distance wearing a Rebellion ring...

It was at this point where my brain just totally shutdown from a mixture of upset, heartbreak & confusion.

"Wut?" Was my reaction here, as it just seemed that the script called for literally ANYONE to now possess the force, where was the explanation and backstory for why all of a sudden a random child now has the force?

Is there now a litter of people that are suddenly born with the force??

Also add in the fact that NOTHING has been setup for Episode IX from this scene; my head now officially hurts from even talking about this movie.

Children out of the blue can now randomly possess the force for some reason

Overall Star Wars The Last Jedi is the biggest missed opportunity in film, a Star Wars movie that should of been The 'Empire Strikes Back' of this generation with the potential to be one of the best Star Wars movies ever made and a Sci -Fi masterpiece.

It's truly sad how this movie turned out to be after two years of being giddy like a child waiting for Christmas morning to come.

Also note that the very DNA of Star Wars which is at least ONE great Lightsaber duel is no where to be found in this movie.

JJ Abrahams has a mountain to climb to try and restore the damage done by the Last Jedi going into Episode IX and it's hard to see just where exactly this trilogy is going to go and how its going to end, I have a deep scary feeling that we are seeing the beginning of the end of the Star Wars film franchise that we have come to know and love in the hands of Disney and producer Kathleen Kennedy.

If JJ Abrahams can deliver even a competent Episode IX that can somewhat satisfy, he will go down as the true hero of this new saga.



Feel free to leave your comments and opinions on how you felt about Star Wars The Last Jedi.

-Simeon Barrett