Yes, this will be spoiler-free.
I generally avoid reading reviews of a film before I have seen it myself and written my own review. The most that I will do, when I’m particularly curious, is scroll through the blurbs on Rotten Tomatoes when I’m having my pre-movie burger and beer. But, this being Star Wars, I couldn’t help but become aware of the fan outrage being directed at this movie. I didn’t know what people were upset about, but a vocal group of people seem to think that The Last Jedi is the worst thing ever inflicted on mankind. Now having seen it, that may be a bit of an exaggeration. This isn’t an awful movie, but I don’t have much of a reaction to it at all. Rather than love or hatred, my reaction to this film can be summarized with a resounding “meh.” Maybe that’s the problem, as Star Wars should inspire something more in me than just meh.
Following a battle, the Resistance is left undermanned and pursued by the First Order (who I have to assume aren’t calling themselves the Empire due to some sort of intergalactic copyright issue). The First Order is pursuing them using a tracking system that can apparently now track ships through hyperspace, meaning that the tracking system would have to be destroyed in order for the Resistance to survive. Meanwhile, Rey is off on an island trying to convince Luke Skywalker to return and save everyone. And, um, that’s about it.
This is a shockingly long movie (2 and ½ hours) considering how little plot it contains. This is the longest Star Wars film and it also contains the least story in the series. Even Attack of the Clones felt more substantial than this. Essentially, the vast majority of the film is a chase scene with the First Order trying to take down the Resistance’s ship and it goes on for-fucking-ever. I have never been bored by a Star Wars film before (even The Phantom Menace isn’t boring), but there was a point when my desire to love this film was broken by the realization that not much had happened in a very long goddamn time. This is all broken up by period scenes of inconsequential action and Luke brooding on an island, but much of the experience can be likened to watching two engine-less boats chasing each other at the speed of a sloth.
Kylo Ren (played by Adam Driver) and Luke are the highlights of the film, but even they come with drawbacks. Driver’s performance is excellent and much more fleshed-out than it was in Force Awakens. However, one of my biggest issues with this new trilogy is that it lacks villains that are nearly on the level of Palpatine and Vader. Force Awakens left the possibility that Snoke and Kylo Ren could develop into worthy successors to those characters, but this entry largely snuffs that out. While Driver’s performance and the added back story add complexity to the Kylo Ren character, he is now also a much more conflicted character and that reduces his impact as a villain. Vader, Kylo Ren is not. Also, can somebody please explain who the fuck Snoke is? He is a master of the force, which means that he should be either a Sith or a Jedi, but neither of those explanations make any sense. Going forward, the lack of great villains could really become a problem in Episode IX.
I’m most conflicted about Luke. I would be lying if I said that seeing Luke Skywalker on screen again didn’t give me a raging hard-on of nerdiness and he has the best moments in the film. When he returns to help the Resistance (that’s not a spoiler, of course he returns), it’s a badass moment that I’ve been waiting to see since I first saw Return of the Jedi as a kid. His should-brush made me smile from ear-to-ear (you will know what I mean the moment that you see it). But, for all those great moments, his character is just off. I understand wanting to subvert expectations, but Luke should not be a brooding, grumpy asshole. That’s just not Luke Skywalker. I understand that he’s been through a lot of shit, but this is like finding out that Indiana Jones is now living under a bridge and drinking Thunderbird out of a brown paper bag. I respect the filmmakers for wanting to take it in a different direction than what audiences are expecting, but when it comes to characters that are this beloved, sometimes changes are unwanted for a reason.
As for the newer heroes, the lack of Han Solo really reveals just how boring and uncharismatic these people are. Poe and Finn combined have less personality than Harrison Ford has in his index finger. Rey is fine and I’m fond of Daisy Ridley as an actress, but I just don’t find the character compelling enough to carry this series without the original characters around her. Even Leia doesn’t have too much to do in this, though I don’t know if that has anything to do with the untimely passing of Carrie Fisher.
I’m not somebody that will be overly critical of the new Star Wars films because I grew up loving the old ones. I loved The Force Awakens and Rogue One (I particularly think that Rogue One is a highly underappreciated film). There are some really good things here. It’s a beautiful-looking and well-shot film and has a couple of great performances. Just seeing Luke Skywalker again is worth the price of admission for me, even if he really isn’t the character as I remember him. But there just isn’t much to this when you break down the plot and it probably does the least of any Star Wars film when it comes to moving the overall story along.
Image By: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7f/Star_Wars_The_Last_Jedi.jpg
