As the year is finally ending for big blockbuster releases,
it is that time of the year for another trip into a galaxy far, far away. After the success and rebirth of the Star
Wars series with the 7th episode called The Force Awakens, it was inevitable that we would be getting an
episodic film trilogy that follows the characters from the original films as
well as the new cast to precede them in this latest adventure. Well, after ending on top of a cliffhanger
literally, the next chapter is finally upon us with the 8th episode,
The Last Jedi with Rian Johnson of
his previous indie/unique films of crime noir Brick and the sci-fi drama Looper
at the helm of directing and writing on his own. All the cast and characters are returning
from the previous film as well as new worlds, characters, creatures, and
storylines to be developed in this highly anticipated sequel. Does it satisfy not just fans but the movie
going public and cynical viewers with an engaging and exciting new entry that
finally carves its own path, or does it falter in its ability to introduce new
elements to a proven formula as well as rehashing the other films in the
series? Let’s search for the last Jedi
and discuss the story on display here.
Picking up immediately after the defeat of the First Order
and the destruction of the Starkiller Base, Rey (Daisy Ridley) along with
Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo) and R2D2 (Jimmy Vee) set off to the last location
where Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) remains in exile. She arrives to find him looking upon the
horizon, to present to him the lightsaber he lost decades ago on Bespin. However, he is reluctant to help with the
Resistance’s struggle against the First Order and train Rey in the ways of the
Jedi. Despite the victory against the
First Order, the Resistance has lost all support from the galaxy, thanks to the
complete destruction of the Republic itself. This forces Poe Dameron (Oscar
Issac) with BB-8, General Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher), a recovered but
determined Finn (John Boyega), optimistic yet spunky mechanic Rose (Kelly Marie
Tran), and the Resistance forces to retreat from their recent base with the
First Order on their tail. Then, you
have Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) conflicted with his place in this war as a fallen
Jedi that longs to be free from so called beliefs and ideals for his own
psychopathic vanity to be his own man.
He is goaded on by Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis) and commands General
Armitage Hux (Domhnall Gleeson) to hunt the struggling Resistance forces
down. It is a desperate struggle against
time and conflicts from within, for all our heroes and villains as the war
rages on and everyone must confront their own purposes in this war as well as
their flaws to discover what they have to accomplish to survive and win for
their respective sides.
Let’s start off by writing that this is a truly grand, complex
story at work here with the main plot lines being driven by the established
characters and subplots that advanced them further. Everything involving Rey’s journey and the
desperate flight of the Resistance is compelling, engaging, and has a good
momentum to the plot-lines at first, along with the ways in which the characters
are developed. The film does have some
subversion to the usual good vs. evil story ideology that provides some truly
exciting action moments and really progresses the characters in unique ways. Even Luke and Leia have some great, defining
character moments and developments that made them stand out as the highlights
of the cast along with the newer ones like Rey and Kylo Ren still intriguing to
watch them develop further along as opposites that are akin to each other’s
strengths and weaknesses. The beginning
and ending act of the story are the big highlights and showcase how exciting
and surprisingly shocking it handles these characters as well as the usual
formula for space opera adventures/war stories in this universe.
However, the balance of the force resides in what is
positively good but also what is negatively bad regarding certain parts of the
film’s direction and script that don’t work.
The middle act of the film when it puts the focus on Finn and Rose’s
side mission to find a hacker on Canto Bight, a casino/criminal socialite
planet is where the film comes to a complete halt and wastes time with forced
social agenda messages (with PETA animal cruelty, the wealth disparage, and Child
Slavery) along with an excessive emphasis on CGI/puppetry effects for the sake
of humor/gags. While it does further the
development of the characters with Finn and Rose as well as establish the
society culture beyond the war, it feels like the director expressing his love
for crime noir visuals for personal reasons that hurts the momentum of the whole
film instead of contributing to it. There
also seem to be a lot of repetition with the three main plot lines that felt
like they were repeating themselves too often, evident in the Rey/Luke and the
Rebel Pursuit sections. It also seems to
have suffered the misunderstanding story troupe of Disney animated films where
most of the conflict seems to occur due to not having the characters talk it
out and conflict over a incriminating detail kept secret to them. This also feels like another new beginning as
if the previous film “The Force Awakens”
needed a semi-reboot as it sorts of ends up right back to square one with new
characters established and explored for better and worse for the next
installment.
It is also beholden to the past again akin to the previous
episode but this time undoing and destroying what had come before, to leave it
open for the future, which is the most polarizing component of the film. It does callbacks to the original films that
are well thought out and really capture the magic of those films gracefully so,
those moments did work for old and newer fans.
However, it still feels like it has to riff on different plot lines from
the original trilogy such as The Empire
Strikes Back and The Return Of The
Jedi but remixing them in different places or cramming some notable
plot/character beats into one. At the
same time, it completely reshapes the way in which the force works as it now
seems to just work at convenience or for whomever gets it that is important to
the story or for future installments. It
also must be mentioned that for a film that takes risks and chance, it seems it
never truly commits to its end results, as if he wanted it both ways to please everyone
and stumbling on those plot/character beats because of it. Therefore, the term “unwieldy” best
describes the writing and direction efforts of Rian Johnson that has created a
bold but messy continuation to Episode 7 that at least starts and ends strong
but getting there feels very disjointed moving from point a to b. Despite its bold new direction for the series
and the changes/risks it takes are worth praising, it does have problems being
consistent with its tone and its characters at times.
The last thing that needs to be addressed before we move on,
the use of humor, quips, and gags throughout this film is quite different from
what we enjoyed or annoyed by in the previous episode. There is more slapstick humor along with some
quippy, self-referential gags that feel like they belong in a satirical or
parody of the sci-fi space opera genre.
While a few of these humorous moments do land effectively, most of it
doesn’t and sometimes undercuts the dramatic moments that needed to be played
straight but throws in a jokey line that is meant to keep viewers from
realizing how dark and depressing this story gets. It feels very akin to Marvel films
particularly their Sci-fi adventure series Guardians
Of The Galaxy and sort of suffers the same issue with its implementation of
the humor at times. Without giving away
a gag, it involves cow and milk and that should be clear as to how cringy and
badly timed the jokes tend to be throughout the whole film.
Let’s get to the cast finally as they are numerous and great
in their respective roles as well as tying into the components of the story
that works or problematic. Let’s start
with the lead characters, Rey played by Daisy Ridley, who continues to put in a
spirted and commendably passionate performance into her character even if she
tends to stay static writing wise throughout the entire story. Her scenes with Luke are filled with genuine
moments of humor and dramatic pathos regarding the themes of the film (letting
the past and expectations go). She also
has some compelling and surprisingly inspired moments of conflict and character
growth with Kylo Ren that expands on the idea of balance in the force and gives
both characters purpose to be in their respective roles in this conflict. They have minimized the so called “mary sue”
criticism of her character and she works best with the other cast members but
tends to be bit dull and uninteresting when she is left to her own devices as a
character and actress.
One of the few cast members that truly shines and is
fantastic in his return is none other than Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker, who
has exiled himself from the conflict and is the grumpy hermit from tales of old
that has some strong opinions on the force and Jedi along with not wanting to
train Rey in the ways of the force.
Hamill truly captures the inner turmoil and tragedy of a fallen hero who
regrets his actions and creating the evil that is now causing destruction to
the galaxy despite the contradictory changes made to this character from the
previous films for this particularly story.
He ultimately has the most fleshed out and satisfying character arc of
the whole film and is consistently amazing to watch from start to finish. He truly fits right back into the character
he made his own many years ago as well as really injecting some of the charm
and magic of the original film in subtle, gratifying ways.
The hero is only as interesting as the villain and Adam
Driver as Kylo Ren/Ben Solo Skywalker is turning out to be the most complex and
intriguing villains to grace this series in the main film line. His anger and temper tantrums really make him
the opposite of what Darth Vader was in a good way especially in the change up
regarding way the villains are handled and shifted in the middle act of the
film. Driver continues to impress in the
role and impose a credible threat throughout the film despite the disappointing
turns and development taken with the character around the last act of the film
as well as the enforcement of the tired old light and dark troupes. He has finally gotten comfortable with this
character in this outing and is shaping Ren to be a villain that will be
remembered fondly in this series especially among newer fans.
The lead characters that truly drive the story forward are
in top form, but the supporting/ensemble cast is more of a mix bag regarding
their performances and writing overall.
Let’s start with Finn played by John Boyega and he contributes very
little to the main story, even with his own subplot to find a hacker with Rose. He does develop further as a character from
being a selfish coward to a well intention, heroic figure despite the somewhat
down putting jokes about him being a janitor at times (it brought some Space
Quest vibes out of the way the jokes were written). However, they meander on his and Rose’s
development in a tedious way that it lessens the more dramatic moments of the
film regarding double crosses and sacrifice.
Boyega is still giving a committed and more even performance in contrast
to his inconsistent one in the previous film, but he is ultimately still
brushed aside for the other subplots and main narrative that makes his story
along with Rose feel like extra bits that could have been condensed or cut out
completely.
The character that really gets railroaded in this film from
the writing and development from his actions is Poe Dameron played by Oscar
Isaac. He has an intriguing and
compelling development of being the hot shot pilot that is headstrong and
challenges authority constantly despite being too stubborn and prideful to
learn from his mistakes. The problem
with the way his character arc is handle is that outside of one clear
consequence from the beginning action set piece, he literally suffers no such
punishment for his actions and it seems like he learns his lesson in a matter
that feels unearned and sudden. He is
also another returning character that is underutilized again by the
writer/director and relegating him for the dramatic exchanges on the capital
ships, making his character journey along with that story arc really feel
repetitive after the 4-5 times we see this before something does happen. Isaac gives a great performance as always and
is still charming in the role, but his character suffers from the poor timing
and execution of his development and contribution to the story and characters
surrounding him.
The one standout of the supporting cast is none other than
Carrie Fisher as General Leia, playing the same cool and no-nonsense character,
we have come to know and love from the previous films. While her role is limited to supporting and
comes into the story from time to time, she is just as likable and charismatic
as she was all those years ago as well as providing the leadership of the
resistance in presence and ideals. She
does have a moment in the film that might be ridiculous or amazing, but it fits
with what we know of her character and a great reminder of her lineage with
Luke as her sister. She is the hero who
provides a foundation for the cast of characters and story that is still felt
even after the credits rolls and that is a testament to the thoughtful handling
of her character in this film.
There is another supporting character that does seem
annoying at first but grows into a decent character despite the unbelievable
odd writing choices for her, Rose played by Kelly Marie Tran. She is played up as the spunky, heartfelt
resistance mechanic that is dealing with the lost of her sister during a
bombing run against the First Order armada.
It does come across as a meta performance especially with the odd and
somewhat flat-lined chemistry with Finn (Boyega) but it does seem genuine and
quirky to at least follow her in their subplot together. There is a romance they set up between her
and Finn that feels disingenuous and out of place with the characters
themselves that it is one of the plot lines that we can only hope will not be
developed in the next installment. She
provides the social messages and commentary on society’s problems that makes
her character only there to fill a status quo, rather than a necessary
character that helps drive the story forward and instead, just keeping it at a
standstill.
As for the rest of the cast, let’s give a brief mention to
what made them great but also kind of ancillary in a detrimental way to the
quality of the film. Let’s mention Laura
Dern as Vice Admiral Holdo as she seems to be playing the tough as nails, by
the book enclosed tactician that dramatically conflicts with Dameron for petty
reasons, but she seems out of place and not suited for this type of character
archetype. There is also the odd and
ultimately plot driven character DJ played by Benicio Del Toro providing a
rather strange, lisp inducing performance that makes his character unique to
the series but only serves to sprout the thematic element of morals in a
conflict as well as provide conflict for our heroes before exiting asap out of
the film. Captain Phasma played by Gwendoline Christie has the same purpose as the last film, to look cool and intimidating only to be underutilized and wasted in this whole film. Even Carrie Fisher’s daughter
(Billy Lourd) appears in this film to honor her mother as a communications
officer that supports Poe Dameron in his plans to keep the Resistance alive and it was
cool to discover that. As for Domhnall Gleeson as General Hux, he is still
comically over the top and just deliciously hamming it up in a British posh way
of talking and acting for essentially a fascist regime and his dynamic with Ren
is comically funny in both a meaningful and odd way. The cast is fantastic in their roles and they
elevate the tonally messy and disjointed writings of the director’s script
overall.
Let’s finally get to the technical aspects of the film,
starting with the effects themselves regarding the CGI and creature designs. This really has some serious talent in to
really shape the larger than life action set pieces in space and the creation
of the Crystal Fox as well as Porgs and the Frog Nuns. While they do exist for the sole reason to
sell new toys and merchandising for it, they do provide some levity and plot
movement for the characters as well as fitting with the flora and fauna of the
worlds they inhabit. There are a ton
more creatures in the casino planet, but they are fleeting at best with their
screen time and it feels like work squandered for only a few moments in that
world. The effects are utilized in the
proper ways for the space battles and to expand on the worlds themselves. While it is more CGI than practical
especially this time around, it is of high quality and works in accordance to
the settings and locations of the plot lines, be it in space or on the
expansions of the worlds the characters explore.
As for the cinematography, it is downright gorgeous to look
at and truly has some inspired artistic moments that will enrapture even the
most jaded film viewer. The cinematographer
was Steve Yedlin and the team of camera operators that truly shot on location
for most of these planets as well as the meticulous set designs of the ships
themselves. It is the best on the Ahch-To
planet with a Scottish island aesthetics to it as well as the salt driven
planet of Crait and the red crystal formations of the mines/tunnels. Even the most overly drawn out part of the
film of Canto Bight looks lavish in displaying the decadents of the old world
through wealth and power. The use of lighting
is brilllant as well, displaying the struggles of the characters visually as
well as the shifts in the atmospheres for certain narrative beats. It must be mentioned that this is truly a gorgeous
film when it is on camera and real, while the green screen scenes are a bit
spotty looking here as the unfortunate drawback to the look of the film.
This leads into the action set pieces themselves as they are
spread out through the film starting with the extravagantly explosive opening
that kicks the film off quickly. The
battle is reminiscent to what was intended for the series, a throwback to the 1940’s
world war 2 stories of struggles and victory especially in the use of the
Bombers in that sequence. There is only
really 1 lightsaber battle in this whole film that is brutal and violent
especially in the ways they dispatch their opponents but no Jedi/Sith struggle
physically in this film. The only action
set piece that is disorienting and a sloppy CGI mess to watch is the moments in
the Casino section that reeks of immaturity and tonally all over the place for
a dark, seedy environment to have humor akin to a cartoon. The space battles and chess games with the
ships are handled well enough to provide the signature look of Star War, which
goes for the sequences that do work on the ground especially near the
exhilarating last act of the story. The
last set pieces are handled with the right amount of intensity and stakes to be
the most memorable and energized finale of the series even though it took some
time to get to that last act
We follow up with the costume designs and they are the
traditional looks you expect but some unique ones introduced or revised for the
newer films. While the classic looks of
Rebels and Empire are still present here, we have a few oddities throughout
with certain characters mainly with Vice Admiral Holdo, who has this strange
purple look to her that feels like it’s being strange in a forceful disingenuous
way. There is also the classic look of
Crime Noir with Tuxedos, models, and the casino vibe of the extras there that
feels a bit out of place with the more fantasy/war time visual styles of the
series. Most of the characters costumes
and looks are distinctive to their settings in the story, as it maintains the
grimy, grounded look of the original series with a mix of medieval and
military. It is appropriate to the world
and characters with the costume designs, continuing the modern updates of the
classic uniforms while bringing in different yet jarring genre artistic designs
into the series.
The next section now revolves around editing and structure
as there have been some interesting choices made here that both work and
backfired throughout the whole film. The
first act is paced wonderfully, and it keeps the tension going as the
Resistance struggle to fight off the First Order as they escape in
retreat. Then, we have the other plot
line regarding Rey and her persistence to convince Luke Skywalker to help her
and the Resistance, which actually has some powerful emotional arcs to it that
are always compelling to watch despite some repetitive beats that can be redundant
at times, but it does move the plot, characters, and world building for this
series forward in an important way. As
for the Resistance plot lines, they are a mix bag and suffer the most from the
narrative juggling act here as they have to inner cut between the storylines
with Poe and Holdo along with Finn and Rose as well as Rey with Luke which
causes at least the Resistance storylines to feel needlessly convoluted and
bloated to the point where a ton of the problematic pacing resides in those 2 story
arcs. The fat needed to be trimmed in
those sections, which could have made for a tighter and concise entry that
didn’t feel thoughtlessly lengthy because Rian Johnson could not have found a
creative and dramatic way to make conflicts that made sense instead of relying
on the tired old toupees expected in not only space opera stories but Disney
animated ones as well.
Lastly, we have the exceptionally powerful sound design and
musical score done by none other than John Williams, yet again after his enjoyable
yet nostalgic return to the series in The
Force Awakens. The sound design is
reliably great for this series, from the use of sound drops for the Lightspeed
moment to the familiar sounds of lightsabers and rifles. It is still fantastic sound editing at work
here as it works truly in tandem with the exciting visuals and gives gravitas
to the emotional moments of the film.
With music, John Williams provides a suitable yet familiar sound back
again with the usual heroic and villainous themes rearranged for this new yet
past driven tale. However, it suffers
from yet again not really having enough unique and memorable themes to attached
yourself to, besides the returning themes for Rey and Kylo Ren. The sound design is top quality as always
along with a reliably great yet moment driven music score that enhances the
film’s visuals.
Now, we get to the coda for this long and rocky road by
expressing what this film did right and wrong with its
core themes and intentions on display here.
It is for better and worse not only a complete reboot of the whole
series that tosses out what was intriguing and problematic in the previous film
but a deconstruction of the series as a whole from tearing down what was the
foundation of the series and rebuilding from the ground up for the future. That might be what has caused such a strong
and divisive reaction from numerous audiences at least from the screenings
during the week based around the audiences’ reactions and conversations. However, in taking a risk in telling this
revisionist tale of failure through adversity and shaping the future through
the past mistakes, it is all over the place in its tone (going from dramatic to
comedic inconsistently) and having to not only be its own story but at the same
time, still beholden to the original films (The
Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The
Jedi are the obvious remixes and retreaded plot/character moments used
here) along with the clichés, troupes, and story/character arcs and themes we have
come to expected from this series. It is
has finally become another Disney style film as well and may have lost what
made this series so unique and beloved for so many years and that will
certainly be the way these films are going to be made in the future.
Score: *** out of *****
Star Wars: The Last
Jedi is an important change to the formula and status quo in its deconstruction
of the series as a whole, but its somewhat haphazardly convoluted and messy
script as well as plot structure has either developed character arcs like the
lead characters or ancillary and inconsequential characters that only
contribute to a plot point or force a political/social agenda in a ham-fisted way. The film is fantastic in moments especially in
its astounding visuals along with the returning characters’ development and the
intriguing new directions they take with Rey and Kylo Ren (who is shaping up to
be a remarkable villain for this series) despite Rey not really being an
interesting character on her own and working best with other characters even
though there are times when she falls into the Mary Sue issues yet again (they
never really establish her improved combat skills in film besides the force
reason, despite Ridley being trained by a fight/sword choreographer from
China). The middle act slows the film
down to a crawl and only picks back up in the end, since the Casino planet
feels not only out of place during the Resistance chase plotline but jarring as
well with its goofy cartoonish humor and poor CGI throughout that sections that
harken back to the bad use of green screen in the Prequel films. There are also numerous character arcs and
subplots that get lost in the shuffle or completely ancillary to the point of
being wasted in this outing yet again. It
is a different kind of Star Wars film that is combination of the old, gritty
war time stories, mythological heroes journey, and odd sci-fi settings that
fans know and love combining with the traditional Disney film formula that is
universal to everyone. In its attempt to
please and service everyone, it ended up dividing everyone regarding its quality
and that middle of the road mentality kind of fits what is so great yet
frustrating with this chapter of the Star Wars series.
