Let the Past Die: A Star Wars: The Last Jedi Review

I mean this review is pretty self-explanatory, so I’ll just hop right into it.

 

I really liked The Last Jedi. Most people I know also liked The Last Jedi. However, a lot of people seem to have really disliked The Last Jedi, making it a pretty divisive film overall. Now, since my opinion counts for more than the average film fam (obviously), I’m going to go through what I thought of it on a whole and then address a few of the common complaints I’ve heard about the movie so far. So, strap on in.

I’m just going to be honest here: The Last Jedi was easily the most interesting and well written Star Wars film to date. I didn’t grow up with the original trilogy so I don’t have that nostalgia, the prequels weren’t great so they’re out, and The Force Awakens was basically just Star Wars 1.5. I do enjoy the originals, and I did like both The Force Awakens and Rouge One (and even the prequels have some merit) but I’ve never really been super into any of the movies so far. Now, The Last Jedi I was pretty into.

Written and directed by Rian Johnson – writer and director of Looper and some movie I haven’t seen called Brick – The Last Jedi manages capture the feeling of what a Star Wars film should be while setting itself aside from the films before it. The Force Awakens created multiple characters and settings that weren’t too far from clones of those in original trilogy; but this new instalment in the ever-expanding Star Wars cannon took some of these old and recycled ideas and actually made something interesting and worth watching out of them.

While The Force Awakens had most of its character’s either flimsily introduced or blatantly shoe-horned in from previous films, The Last Jedi built them convincing motives and actually developed them as fleshed-out characters, with apparent big plans for the future of the Star Wars saga. While these new ideas could easily be scrapped instantly with JJ Abrams helming episode 9, it won’t take away from what worked here.

Now, with all that in mind, there were plenty of places where this one was lacking a bit. While no one should really have expected this to be the perfect Star Wars movie (because it still has to sell tickets), there were plenty of things that weren’t needed. I didn’t hate the comedic undertone to the film, in fact I thought the jokes were better than those of The Force Awakens, and I didn’t think it took away from the films darker themes at all. Honestly the main complaints I have are really just structural things.

The second act dragged on a bit, but I still liked it. There were a few characters that I thought were pretty poorly written (it’s Rose) but I could at least understand why they were there (for the most part). Some of the CG wasn’t great here and there, but the stylistic choices and set designs made up for it in the long run. Sure, it was cheesy at times, but it’s a fucking Star Wars movie. Sorry if it’s a surprise, but they’re all cheesy. It space magic.

If you’re reading this review than you’ve probably read about 50+ reviews for this movie already, all with their fair share of love and hate for it. So, I’ll just go through a few of my favourites and say what I thought:

 

Many Spoilers. Spoilers for everything.

 

Leia’s force superman: Yeah, it looked kind of dumb but I’d buy it. Again, space magic.

 

Canto Bight: Didn’t really like all the forced animal rights stuff, but the focus on dealing with the consequences of war from the perspective of those profiting from it: seems like something that should’ve been looked at a while ago (considering ‘war’ is in the title). Probably could’ve shortened it a bit, but I liked it overall.

 

Luke Skywalker: Thought he was great, Mark Hamill is already great and Luke’s development was convincing considering the time that’s past since Return of the Jedi.

Weird green milk thing: I dig it.

 

Kylo Ren: Probably one of the best developed new characters to come out of this trilogy. I already liked him in The Force Awakens but watching him rise to supreme leader of the first order has gotten me really hyped for episode 9. Adam Driver’s just really good in the role, and I don’t even mind that I’ll have to throw out my shirt and beanie with his mask on it.
Ben Swolo: Let the past die. Kill it, if you have to.

Rey looking in the mirror: Eh. I didn’t really care about this too much. It didn’t make as much sense as the scene with Luke and Darth Vader in Empire Strikes Back but it made enough sense.

 

Snoke getting skewered: This whole scene was one of my favourites. I thought the whole misdirect with Snoke was one of the smartest things they could have done with the character (since he wasn’t really a character as much as an emperor carbon copy). Also, that lightsaber fight was one of the best in the whole Star Wars series.

Poe Dameron: Yeah, he was good. Better development in this one. Only really but his name in here because I didn’t talk about him anywhere else (Hux was good too on that note).

 

Porgs: Yes. Solid yes.

Rose Tico: No. Solid no. I get why she was there, but she just wasn’t well written or particularly well-acted. And the whole ‘saving what we love’ was so fucking stupid.

 

Rey’s parents: Ok, this was a good one. I could not have cared less if Rey’s parents were Obi-Wan Kenobi or anything like that, but having a strong female character master the force from humble origins was just a better choice than some bizarre connection to a pre-established character. It also really helped with setting this trilogy apart from the rest of the Star Wars films.

 

Captain Phasma’s death: What a cop out. I know that there’s every chance that she’ll be back with a vengeance in episode 9, but would’ve been good to get a bit more out of Star War’s first female villain (in the movies that is – I’m not reading a book on Star Wars).

Holdo’s light-speed scene: Really fucking good. One of the best artistic choices in Star Wars films to date.

 

Yoda: The look of him made me uncomfortable at first, but then I didn’t mind. I thought the burning of the sacred texts was pretty great too. Good scene.

C3PO’s arm: Where’d the red one go? Who knows!

 

Final fight: A solid yes. Loved Luke’s use of the force, loved the rivalry between him and Kylo and just overall loved the look of it. It was a fitting send-off for Luke and a great place to end on. Sure, it was kind of ruined by Rose saying some dumb shit but hey, I still liked (most of) it. Also, I was fine with Finn not dying, leave the heroic sacrifice for episode 9.

And that’s done! Been waiting a while to do this one but hey, enjoy it while you have it because I’ll probably be too busy to do many more of these this year. That being said, 2017 in Cinema Part 2 will come out soon, so keep an eye out.

 

You know the drill; last review was Thor Ragnarok and before that was Blade Runner 2049 so check both of those out. If you want more Star Wars I did a Rouge One Review a while back too so you can give that a peep. There’s also the My City Life one’s which are a good read, so check those out here (the last one was Wonder Wheel and that was good despite Woody Allen being a creep now).

 

And as a quick aside, this day marks two years since my first review on Crimson Peak, so take that as you will (still can’t confirm that I know what I’m talking about yet).

 

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