STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI Review

Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) 

A Review By Ben Hunter

3/5 Stars 

GET TO THE POINT BEN!

It does its job of being the good, new, big movie out at the moment. But the force will be with whatever’s out 10 years and 10 movies from now. 

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“If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?”  - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

It’s all around us, the alluring destruction, such flattering compliment, such fatal merry. We know the moral law, we know to follow it, and many times, during the call of evil, that seems so distant. 

The passing of the torch. 

This is the makings of the next super villain, the next Vader, Kylo Ren (Adam Driver). Conflicted between the goodness his parents instilled and the dark side he now resides within led by Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis), who now reveals more of an influence on the “new” new hope of the rebellion, Rey (Daisy Ridley). The force is strong with Rey, and she sees well into the dark side of the force, something that the previous leader Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) didn’t come so quickly to. So continuing from The Force Awakens (2015), Luke, after much convincing, takes Rey as his young padawan only to show her why the Jedi need to end. Why he left and wanted no more to do with that world despite Rey’s plea for help with the rebellion under turmoil from the First Order (Kylo Ren, Snoke and gang). May the force be with us all, how does this play out?

Well, it’s time for another Star Wars movie. If not now, definitely this May when it’s time for the NEXT one will it feel like Disney is milking this for all they can. Diluting the specialness and the magic that is Star Wars. To stand the test of time to be introduced to the new generations as a welcoming to the culture of the world. Little by little, as I started to feel from the last Star Wars film last year (Rogue One), there’s no longer going to be that special Star Wars feeling sometime in the not too distant future. After awhile, “it’s time for another one”. Which Disney is okay with as they want this to seep even further into the fabric of society. In a sense of everyday commonality. Not abstract uniqueness which I feel is the much better path. But it’s Hollywood, and Hollywood is a business, and businesses are about making money. So with the best people they can find, we’re going to get as many Star Wars movies as we can stomach, and then some more because other people might like it. So, because it’s Star Wars and it has to be epic, get ready for an over saturation of the market. That feeling is starting to kick in now for me, just a little. I didn’t care much for the trailers this go round. We’ve done this twice before EVERY YEAR NOW. So three years in a row now. I can see the two suns, representing change, that Luke Skywalker ponders his beginnings and endings over. I sense a disturbance in the force. 

The First Order

But until then, we’ve got another decent movie. Everyone clapped, probably a little more than necessary, because we’re so excited for a new, socially acceptable Star Wars movie. Everyone’s a little bit extra excited than they would if it were some other big movie with decent trailers. Ironic, I don’t feel this way with Marvel, or even DC for that matter. For I see the potential and endless directions they can go. Star Wars totally has this same potential. The cannon is basically endless. But for 3 and soon to be 4 movies now, they’re talking about the same thing we’ve been talking about for FOURTY YEARS with all this space stuff (my problem with Rogue One). Disney, having been handed the baton from creator George Lucas, is slowly inching away with this new chapter series. So it’s slowly happening. The stand alone films are mostly what’s causing the feeling of redundancy. Had they gone off in completely new directions like I strongly feel they should’ve, I’d probably be ecstatic for all the new storylines and sagas to come. Instead, I’m fearful of overkill. 

Nevertheless, right now, we got a decent film. There were elements of Empire Strikes Back as well as The Return of the Jedi which was cool. However, it did seem like this 2nd chapter of a new trilogy should’ve been the 3rd chapter. Some of the visuals felt gratuitous with no real support. Thought it was going to end when it kept going to crescendo 30 more minutes or so. Yoda looked more like a puppet when a great opportunity to utilize technological advancement of the Jedi spirit ghosts could’ve been grounds for new heights reached in storytelling. And not to mention the ever so slight feeling of political correctness for the sake of making sure we’re “correct” and not “hateful, bigoted, etc.” had to be thrown in. But in the grand scheme, these were small potatoes compared to the real meat of the feast. There was so much going on that it took away from what I feel is the biggest part of what could service this entire new trilogy: the relationship between Luke and Ren. 

Finn (John Boyega) in The Last Jedi. 

I see what Disney was going for, establish that Ren was conflicted in the first, heavily because of Luke in the second, and most likely die or become a good guy in the last. Well, in this second chapter, he takes a step forward and then a step backwards in my opinion. Only to be explained not brilliantly woven into the storyline to show there was no other way than such. I was genuinely confused for a good moment with this direction director Rian Johnson was going. I went one way with all the potential my mind went to with the “new hope” and direction they just introduced me to. And then Rian Johnson goes back in the same direction we just came from! I was let down. Dangle the carrot in front of the horse and then, with the horse watching, throw the carrot into the lake, and then blow the lake up with an atom bomb. “This door is closed!” And I had to accept that. So, on this similar path that I was disappointedly now put on, it sufficed. Naturally, I couldn’t stop thinking about the carrot I truly wanted. Not the apple I was forced to take. 

I wanted more from this relationship with Luke and Ren as I feel there was more to tell here and stretch out over the series and really delve into this new saga. With Rey, now in the mix, the fate of the universe rests on her shoulders, with the help of her friends because we’ve got a perfectly crafted villain. This is what Disney thinks they’ve exactly accomplished. My point is, a little more than half of the way towards accomplishment. It passes, but doesn’t move me to tears and want to watch this over and over because it doesn’t just work, it blows me away. I’ll watch this movie again whenever I get around to it. If I get around to it. But I shouldn’t be able to wait to see it again because Disney did an amazing job tying these new characters together to take the saga to a new world, literally. 

But it’s the new Star Wars film. Everyone will watch it. Everyone will love it. Everyone will talk about it the next couple of weeks. And that’ll be it until Solo (the next one). And 10 years from now, when Disney has put out a new Star Wars film every year (that’s the plan), will you still feel the need to experience The Last Jedi just one more time because “it was so good!”? I sense a disturbance in the force. 

But for what it’s worth, it does its job of being the good new movie that’s currently in the spotlight. 

Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)

Based On Characters Created By: George Lucas

Written & Directed By: Rian Johnson

Cast: Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Lupita Nyong’o, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Gwendoline Christie, Kelly Marie Tran, Laura Dern, Benicio Del Toro, & Frank Oz