‘The Last Jedi’ makes for a successful ‘Star Wars’ film
By Jack Murphy
“Star Wars: The Last Jedi” Movie Review
Written and directed by Rian Johnson, “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” is the second film in Disney’s new Star Wars trilogy. “The Last Jedi” stars Mark Hamill, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Carrie Fisher, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, and Kelly Marie Tran. “The Last Jedi” picks up immediately after “The Force Awakens” and the film really follows three storylines: Rey (Ridley) trying to learn how to be a Jedi from an internally tortured and haunted Luke Skywalker (Hamill). Poe Dameron (Isaac) is trying to take action as the Rebels are followed by the First Order lead by Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis) and Kylo Ren (Driver). Finally, Finn (Boyega) and the newly discovered Rose (Marie Tran) have to go to the planet Canto Bight to try and find a hacker to try stop the First Order from tracking the Resistance through hyperspace. This review is going to contain some spoilers, but if you wanted to not be spoiled, you would’ve already seen the movie by now, but here we go anyway…
Where do I begin with what the “The Last Jedi” did right, as this is a quality Star Wars movie. All of the acting in this movie is fantastic, as everyone is giving it there all to try and make the best film possible, especially Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, and Mark Hamill giving, quite possibly, the best performance of his career. The storyline involving Luke Skywalker giving up on the force and going into exile believing he is a failure, and Rey finding him and seeking him out to show her what her purpose in this story really is incredibly compelling and interesting. However, Kylo Ren continues from “The Force Awakens” to be the most interesting character and have the most interesting storyline of Disney’s new Star Wars trilogy. Kylo Ren, still feels conflicted about his place in all of this and is trying to figure out what he wants for himself, the light, the dark, or neither.
The force connection that Johnson introduces in the Star War’s universe, connecting Kylo and Rey brings together the hero and the villain in a unique way. The two learn more about themselves and connect in ways that would bring them, ultimately together. The idea of two people with the force being able to make themselves appear somewhere else and talk to someone else with the force is fascinating and I hope that this idea is continued in the future, as Kylo takes over the First Order, which brings me to Snoke.
Kylo betrays and kills the “all-powerful” Supreme Leader Snoke. This has been one of the things that has divided a majority of Star Wars fans, with them either loving it or wanting to start an online petition to have it removed from the Star Wars universe. In my personal opinion, I’m mixed on it. Did I care about Snoke as a character? No. Did I really care about all the theories that Star Wars fans had on who he is? No. Was I interested in learning who this character was and why he was so powerful and able to turn Kylo Ren towards the dark side of the force? Yes. “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” introduced Snoke and set him up to be explained later in the sequel, and in the sequel, we learn nothing else about Snoke and he is just killed off in an unsatisfying manner. That’s why I can understand why many Star Wars fans are upset because the setup led to nothing, which also connects to the revelation of Rey’s parent’s identity. Rey’s parents were just two junkers who sold her for drinking money and died in the deserts of Jakku. This was set up just like Snoke’s identity, and like Snoke, led to nothing. I’m a massive fan of this revelation because I’m glad that not everyone is related to someone that is a Skywalker, or involved at some point with a Skywalker. It’s brilliant, but the setup in “The Force Awakens” leaves the revelation as a letdown.
The real problem I have with “The Last Jedi” is the storyline with Finn and Rose and their journey as a whole. They travel to the casino-like planet, Canto Bight, to find a hacker so they can sneak onto a star destroyer to disable the light speed tracker that keeps the First Order on track with the Resistance. This whole storyline takes up around forty-five minutes of a film that has a run time of two hours and thirty minutes and is absolutely useless, boring, and just unnecessary. The characters of Rose and DJ (Del Toro) are just not interesting and at the end of the film, I didn’t really care about seeing them again or learning much more about them.
Overall, “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” is an incredibly bloated film, containing many stories and ideas that change the Star Wars universe, but the overabundance of ideas leaves the film messy. I can’t cover everything in “The Last Jedi” because I would have to write at the very least ten pages. I would recommend seeing “The Last Jedi” if you already haven’t seen it, but it’s a film that I believe needs to be seen twice to take in everything Rian Johnson presents. I look forward to seeing how JJ Abrams closes out this new trilogy.
Grade: B