Star Wars: The Last Jedi – Review

“This is not going to go the way you think!” – Luke Skywalker

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is the sequel to the 2015 The Force Awakens, presenting a new dilemma for the fervent fan base: it diverts from the structural spine of the trilogy.  It’s not a retread of 1980’s Empire Strikes Back in the way that Force was a soft reboot to New Hope  (well, not exactly…) .  This newest installment rekindles new flames and extinguishes old ones (literally).  I appreciated the moments in which The Last Jedi propels a new narrative, free from the bonds of fan expectations.  But, Last Jedi is also unfocused, busy, occasionally dull and victimized by some choices that I would imagine were decided by its new corporate overlords.

The film begins with perhaps the best action sequence in the entire saga.  The First Order, lead by the mysterious Dark Lord Snoke (Andy Serkis), his conflicted apprentice, Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) and militant General Hux (Domhnall Gleeson), have put the rebellious Resistance on the run.  The Resistance, lead by Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), sends hot-shot fighter, Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) and BB-8 (the cutest droid ever conceived…sorry R2) to lead a squadron on one last offense.  The scope and effects dazzle as director Rian Johnson provides a new creative outlet for these space battles and imbues some rather tense moments.  Despite some victories, the Resistance is running out of time and await impatiently for Rey (Daisy Ridley) to court Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) from his exile and save the galaxy once again.  Meanwhile, Poe sends Finn (John Boyega) and his new mechanical sidekick, Rose Tico (Kelly Marie Tran) on a secret mission to buy the resistance some time.

The Last Jedi connects to Empire by splitting up the principal actors into a series of subplots involving Luke and Rey, Leia and Poe, Finn and Rose.  However, The Last Jedi fails at keeping the interweaving plots equally enticing.  Certain sequences involving Rose and Finn feel unnecessarily padded.  Rose, who is among the many new characters introduced in the saga, is one of the least impressive.  Rose offers little other than moping over the death of her sister, occasionally fawning over Finn and pausing the story dead in its tracks to speak diatribes on the evils of greed and elitism (Um, this film was made by Disney, right?).  Star Wars has a history of sins, but stopping its momentum to lecture on morality was never one of them…until now.  Also, the lack of chemistry between Rose and Finn make their arduous journey feel all the more prolonged.

Fairing much better is Luke and Rey who begin early with Rey constantly harassing the curmudgeon Luke into either A) returning to the Resistance fight or B) training Rey with the arts of the Jedi.  Hamill wonderfully restores Luke Skywalker under layers of guilt and regret.  There’s a surprising amount of comedy in Last Jedi and director, Johnson, has some fun twisting fan expectations.

However, by the time Rey and Luke’s story concludes, I was left feeling cold and empty.  The warmth between the naive Luke and wise Yoda in Empire was missing.   Most of Rey and Luke’s exchanges are relegated to overcoming a story barrier rather than letting these two characters develop any semblance of a relationship.  Instead, the strongest personal connection exists between two of the least expected characters (one plot threat I won’t dare reveal here).  There’s also some engaging banter between Poe and Leia.  Fisher (in her final performance) is given much more to do in The Last Jedi, including one early moment (again, I cannot reveal) that will likely stir up emotions in even the hardest fanboy.

The Last Jedi is a very long film and I could feel every minute of it.  There are also moments in which the plot allows certain things to happen purely for the sake of elongating the film well past 150 minutes.  It doesn’t feel like three acts, but 1 first act, 2 second acts and roughly 3 third acts in which the film’s end point is never clear.  But Last Jedi occasionally stumbles with a big no-no in film: Saying instead of telling.  This was a huge issue with films like Rogue One, but Last Jedi occasionally cuts away from a very exciting moment in order to mow over unnecessary details of something very mundane.

The Last Jedi’s biggest issue are the moments when its screeches to a halt to appease the children demographic and serve as a marketing campaign for its various merchandise.  I am talking about the Porgs, one of the indigenous inhabitants to Luke’s island hideout.  These creatures are adorable.  They are also pointless.  And there are multiple moments that stop to allow the creatures to mug the camera and grab attention the way we clamor for YouTube kitten videos.  But there are also other terrible-looking CGI concoctions that occasionally stop to stare longingly at the audience that you can almost hear Sarah MacLachlan singing “In the Arms of an Angel.”  The Ewoks and Jar Jar were more annoying, but had something to do at least.

The Last Jedi occasionally soars above Force Awakens with the caliber of its actors and action sequences, but it doesn’t match its predecessor in entertainment value and consistency.  It’s long and meanders.  The many surprises revealed are occasionally abated by later revelations.  It’s evident that Disney wants to entice Star Wars fans by teasing various secrets and future revelations, but you won’t find any here that will knock your socks off (and occasionally 1-2 that will feel like you’ve been ripped off).

I was surprised by how empty I felt leaving the theater.  The Last Jedi remains another “ok” Star Wars film and will occasionally tickle our nostalgia to remind us of better times at a galaxy far, far away.

Nerd Alert Note:

The film’s ending will surprise most hard-core fans and will undeniably upset others.  I imagine that the sense of shock will fade and more fans will come to terms that this Star Wars saga — even if it was not the one we expected or wanted.  As a person who consumed large quantities of the Star Wars expanded universe books during many summers in the 1990s, I can attest that I prefer those stories to the ones we were given in cinematic form.  The only solace I can offer hard-core fans is that those books (especially the Thrawn trilogy by Timothy Zahn) can be the sequels that you always wanted.  They’ll never go away — as long as you come to terms with the fact that they will never become cinematic…unless CGI comes a long, long way…