Product Info

Studio

Disney

Director

Rian Johnson

Genre

Action, Adventure, Fantasy

Rated

PG-13

Theatrical Release Date (NA)

Dec 15, 2017

Film Length

2h 32min

Purchase From

Best Buy

Target

These 9 simple words, spoken by Legendary Jedi Luke Skywalker, first heard in the trailer for the Last Jedi. Taken solely in the context of the trailer these words are spoken to Rey, used to heighten the tension of the situation, by expressing that her journey won’t be as smooth as she would think.  But after seeing the movie, I feel that this was a bit of a meta nod to the user, almost in the sense of “You think you know how this movie will go, but you have no idea.

This movie did not at all go the way I thought it would. Before we get into the specifics, and warning there will be a few spoilers, let’s talk about the good and the bad.

Let me just go ahead and state upfront that this was an overall fantastic movie. Mainly because of the way it subverted my expectations, daring to push parts of the narrative in unexpected places. I know that many fans won’t like that this movie breaks the fairly traditional roles for such beloved characters but I feel that it helped breath some new energy into the franchise.

The thematic storylines of Snoke, Luke and even Leia to some degree, refused to follow to the subscribed norms of where audiences and ultimately propelled where to story will take us, in episode 9 to new heights.

Structuring the characters story arcs in a way that may be unfamiliar or perhaps disorienting, ensures that fans remain on their toes and not rely on understanding common themes / events found in previous movies.

One of the biggest reasons I’m such a Star Wars fan is the amount of scope each story entails. While the Last Jedi contains multiple smaller storylines (Poe’s journey from Hero to Leader; Rey’s training, etc.) I’ll focus on what I think are the main ones. What was most interesting to me was that these “main” storylines were largely driven by the pairs that represented each. As a quick reference, these storylines are as follows…

Rey & Luke

Probably the dynamic with the most intrigue coming into the movie, the duo of Rey and Luke, provide what most people will consider a jarring mirror of the traditional mentor/mentee relationship. Instead of the mentor inspiring the mentee to action or providing wage wisdom, TLJ provides us with the inverse as it is Rey that springs Luke to take action in the film’s final act.

Rey & Kylo

The connection between these two that was established in the Force Awakens was full on display in the Last Jedi. While I think the connection between Rey and Kylo can come off as forced sometimes, I do think Adam Driver and Daisy Ridley have a good chemistry that works well when these two are on screen together. The ending of this movie sets up much more of this duo , which I’m sure will help the success of episode IX.

Poe & Vice Admiral Holdo

My least favorite duo, while Holdo served as the catalyst that got Poe to understand what Leadership truly means, it just didn’t work for me. Perhaps a lack of chemistry or the fact that Holdo was an obvious placeholder for Leia this duo just didn’t leave me wanting to see more of those two on screen together. Fortunately (or unfortunately if you’re a fan of Holdo) this won’t need to be considered for future movies.

Poe & Leia

While we’ve seen the mentor / mentee relationship of the Jedi several times, this is one of the first times (in the movies at least) that this relationship type is explored from the non-Jedi / rebel standpoint. This brings an interesting dynamic as the relationship is not driven by learning and mastering the force but instead on making decisions that balance taking critical strikes at the First Order while simultaneously preserving as many rebel lives as possible. While they consistently butted heads throughout the movie, there was always a mutual respect between the two. Leia liked Poe’s brilliance as a pilot and valuable member of the rebellion. It was Leia’s injury (and promotion of Vice Admiral Holdo) that spurned Poe to take Leadership of the rebellion. Carrie Fisher’s unfortunate death makes me question how she’ll be handled in the next movie, but hopefully we’ll get at least one more scene with Oscar Isaac.

Finn & Rose

In what turned out to be a surprisingly fun duo (at least I thought so at least), Finn and Rose’s adventure was mostly contained around a vital side quest that happens during the culmination of all the movies events. There was some good chemistry between the two which I’m sure will be further explored in the next movie. In a key moment of the movie, Rose sacrifices herself to ensure Finn’s safety and in turn Finn is left caring for her after a critical injury. I’m sure their relationship will be explored more in episode IX.

The Last Jedi

While there are a lot of great characters throughout The Last Jedi, my favorite was Luke. Again, this may be another situation where I differ from other fans. I appreciated having a Luke that has lost his hope and optimism. A Luke that was weary, and downtrodden preferring exile instead of confrontation with Kylo and the First Order. Yes, this change in Luke’s character is seemingly done for story narrative, but it does seemingly work for two reasons. The first being that it forces you to look at Luke view from a more 3D perspective, where he is no longer the hero he once was, now preferring exile to standing with the rebellion and fighting.

This ties into the second reason this new Luke works so well in this movie. Like the dynamic Luke and Yoda had in Empire Strikes Back, Luke now serve as the wise and somewhat off-kilter Jedi master to the more naïve and hopeful Jedi knight in Rey. Unlike Yoda though, who solely serve as the wise sage in Empire (and doesn’t have a badass moment until the prequels) Luke gets his definitive moment in his fight with Kylo. While I won’t entirely spoil the fight, I will say that this one is one of the most satisfying and clever fights Star Wars has delivered.

Tied to this fight (and why the fight was so clever) was a new use of force powers. Again, not to spoil too much of the movie, I will say that this new force power (side note: I’m only considering the movies with this comment, and am discounting anything related to the books / extended universe) is a treat to watch and provides an excellent way for Luke to deal with Kylo and provide hope back to the rebellion. Snoke’s use of the force, albeit only in a few, brief scenes, showed the sheer power a master force user can have. Snoke also displays a new unforeseen use of the force, that while unfortunately was merely used to serve the plot, gave us a new ability that perhaps will be revisited in future SW installments.

As I said at the beginning, overall this is a fantastic movie but it’s not without its faults. I mentioned previously, that this movie took some liberties with Jedi powers. While in the cases of Luke and Snoke they somewhat worked, Leia’s display of her force powers was awkward and a bit of a stretch. I won’t give context as to how she displays / uses the force, but let’s just say that it was a bit ham-fisted and eye roll worthy.

In fact, Snoke was another thing the movie took liberties with. Don’t get me wrong I enjoyed the scenes he was in, but not the role he served in the movie. While shown to be a major evil force in the galaxy, he ultimately became nothing but a tool to prop up the Darth lite that is Kylo Ren. While I hate to be critical of Rian Johnson who I think is a talented director, I think this was a wasted opportunity to have Snoke have a major impact on the series.  While he was shown to be somewhat of a puppeteer, in the same vein as Emperor Palpatine, he was not the menace as his earlier counterpart.

I will also say that while the fight were solid (especially that scene with Kylo and Rey in Snoke chamber room) that lack a certain dynamism that ruined the overall effect. To be fair, this criticism is largely due to the fight between Fin and Captain Phasma, especially considering we got really nothing from such a cool looking character in the Force Awakens. This is likely due final editing of the film, to keep it within its current roughly 2 ½ runtime, so I don’t consider it a major complaint.

Ultimately, I’m for the vision Rian has laid out. Sure, some of the characters didn’t fit the traditional mold we expected of them but if you recall we’re roughly 19-22 from Return of the Jedi, which gives the writer a bit of a blank slate to work with as far as character development goes. And while I have some criticism of the way Leia and Snoke we used throughout the story, at the end of the day, it doesn’t alter my enjoyment of the film. I was captivated and engaged from start to end, gleefully cheering on characters as they progress throughout the story. Watching in shock and astonishment when the movie took a turn I didn’t quite expect.

This movie took my expectations of the Star Wars Franchise and upended them and for that I am thankful. Ultimately, I’ll save my final judgement of the series post episode 9, but for the moment I am pleasantly satisfied and eager to see what comes next.