Star Wars: The Last Jedi **** ½ / *****
Directed by: Rian Johnson.
Written by: Rian Johnson based on characters created by George Lucas.
Starring: Daisy Ridley (Rey), Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), Adam Driver (Kylo Ren), Oscar Isaac (Poe Dameron), John Boyega (Finn), Kelly Marie Tran (Rose Tico), Carrie Fisher (Leia), Andy Serkis (Supreme Leader Snoke), Domhnall Gleeson (General Hux), Laura Dern (Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo), Benicio Del Toro (DJ), Gwendoline Christie (Captain Phasma), Lupita Nyong'o (Maz Kanata), Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca), Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Jimmy Vee (R2-D2).
JJ Abrams was the right choice to direct The Force Awakens, because the number one job that film had being the first Star Wars movies since the hated prequels (which I don’t hate, but let’s not get into that) was to get fans back on board with the franchise. If they hated it like they did the prequels, the new series was sunk – not financially of course, but in terms of having any real impact. And for the most part, Abrams delivered in spades – basically giving Star Wars fans everything they wanted from their old, beloved characters, and introducing great new characters t the universe as well. When the only real complaint some overgrown man babies had about the film was “Ew, a girl can’t be this good at being a Jedi”, you know you pretty much hit the nail on the head. But in order for the series to grow, to be something more than simply fan service – which can be satisfying and fun, but isn’t overly daring – you needed a different filmmaker to come in, and do something more with the series. And that is what Rian Johnson has done with The Last Jedi. I understand there are some fans who dislike some of the things Johnson did in this film – and unlike the whining over Rey being a girl, I actually get it this time. But I loved the direction Johnson took with this film, I loved the misdirection’s, and subversions of expectations, and even the tangents that ultimately prove fruitless in terms of the plot, because they are fruitful in other ways. The Last Jedi is the first Star Wars film since I was a child that actually, legitimately surprised me – and that was thrilling to experience in this franchise again.
The film pretty much picks up exactly where the last one left off – with the Resistance scattered a little bit, and the First Order in hot pursuit. Most of the Resistance is in one fleet, and they are trying to flee – but the First Order, led by General Hux (Domhnall Gleeson) isn’t letting them get away – and shocking, they’ve now developed the ability to track them even when they go through hyperspace. The Resistance cannot escape, and cannot destroy them – unless they come up with a miracle – which is what leads Finn (John Boyega) to team up with new character Rose (Kelly Marie Tran), to try and do just that. Meanwhile, Rey (Daisy Ridley) as made contact with Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) – but he doesn’t want anything to do with the Jedi. More dangerously, Rey is communicating with Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), becoming increasingly convinced that he can still be saved – although the risk is still there that she could turn herself.
That’s about all I’ll talk about the plot of the film. Like The Empire Strikes Back – the original middle chapter (and still, the best Star Wars film ever made), the film has multiple plot threads, and multiple locations, playing out simultaneously, and Rian Johnson has to juggle them all. For the most part, he succeeds, and if there’s a clunky transition or two, that’s to be expected. The film is probably too long – it does run two-and-a-half hours, but it’s hard to think of what you would cut (I know a lot of people will say trim back Finn and Rose’s adventure, but those people are wrong).
The film is not subtle about its themes of the past, and letting it go (perhaps this is really what fans don’t like – the idea of letting go of something from the childhoods that they have held sacred for years). But it’s not as simple as that. All the characters in the movie – both good and bad – want to build a new future, but they don’t all look at the past in the same way, Kylo Ren wants to burn it all to the ground – only from the ashes can something new be built. But Rey respects the past, wants to learn from it and move forward. Luke isn’t ready for that – he is mired in regret for the mistakes he has made in the past – with Kylo Ren, yes, but also in his abandoning of the Jedi in general. By the end of the film, the past has been mostly destroyed – this is a series about the new characters wholly now – and hopefully they’ve learned from the mistakes of the previous generation. (The film is also about how a group of strong, intelligent women try to get a bunch of idiot man children to grow up and listen, although they never do – perhaps that’s why some fans hate it?).
The film does contain everything you could want in a Star Wars film – there is a killer Light Saber battle that involves Rey, Kylo Ren, and others, which ranks among the best in the series, and more interesting world building, and special effects. There are also some new, mostly good characters – the best of which is Rose (who of course some fans hate, but that has nothing to do with the fact she’s a woman, don’t be silly), but I enjoyed Benicio Del Toro as well as a Thief. The film is also filled with humor for the first time in a long time for a Star Wars film (I don’t know if every writer who came along assumed they had to be as bad at writing dialogue as Lucas, which is why the films have lacked in jokes, but it was a welcome addition. It delivers everything you could want in a Star Wars film – and then some.
What I really liked about the film though – what makes it the best Star Wars film for me since Empire – is the fact that Johnson is deliberately undermining your expectations through. Abrams setup so many things in Force Awakens, and then had them play out precisely how you expect them to, precisely how they have precisely, and Johnson pretty much does the opposite. The setups are still there, but this time, it doesn’t turn out the way you think it would, or perhaps how you think it should. If that sticks in your craw, so be it – but for me, it made this film feel genuinely exciting. I didn’t know what was going to happen moment to moment, scene to scene, and that made the film more alive – and also ending up deepening everything else about the film. If we really are going to get one new Star Wars film a year for the foreseeable future (and given how much money Disney spent on the franchise, we’re going to), we need people to take some risks, take some chances – even if that means pissing off some fans.
