This review is spoiler
free, all mentions of locations and plots in the movie have been shown in
trailers and mentioned in interviews before the movie was released.
The Last Jedi (TLJ) is unlike any other Star Wars (SW) movie
out there. Rather than keeping with the classic Star Wars formula, the director
Rian Johnson was not afraid to take risks. This has caused it to be one of the
most polarising SW films with fans since the prequels, and possibly The Force
Awakens. Some have restarted the familiar battle cry of “Disney has ruined Star
Wars” while others have praised it for being the best SW since Empire Strikes
Back, or even claiming that it surpasses it. I would personally group myself
with the latter half of the fans. The film is enjoyable and in my opinion an
improvement to Force Awakens (I still enjoy this film, even though it copied a
lot of New Hope) but is not without some faults.
But I believe I should go into the positives first as to not
make this movie sound bad. To rehash what I mentioned earlier, a positive of
this film is its ability to take risks in a way that change the shape of the
galaxy forever. A theme throughout the movie is of moving forward or to loosely
quote Kylo Ren, “letting the past die”. TLJ is unshackling itself from the
original trilogy and moving into unknown space for most fans. There were
several WTF and OMG moments that I’m sure nobody expected, even when the
audience thought they could see where something was going, the movie would make
a sudden turn and provide an alternative path. Its rare for a movie to surprise
people more than once, usually by the middle there is a general idea how the
ending will play out, but TLJ keeps you guessing until the credits.
The acting is brilliant throughout with standout
performances being Mark Hamill's Luke Skywalker, Daisy Ridley’s Rey and Adam
Drivers Kylo Ren. Mark Hamill excels as a disgruntled Luke who has no desire to
come back to the galaxy, and the film shows him in a new light that nobody
would expect. The performance of Rey and Kylo go hand in hand as there is a
strong relationship between these two that make them more complex and more than
the one-sided characters that critics of TFA said they were. I would also like
to mention that Carrie Fishers final performance as Leia serves the character
justice and is as badass as ever, with a scene that I’m sure will make the fans
go wild. Most of the other writing and performances are well done, with Benicio
Del Toro’s character being really interesting by being positioned in a moral
grey area in a series of films that like to easily distinguish between dark and
light. As a side note, the Porgs are not as bad as people thought they would
be, there is actually some funny interactions between them and Chewbacca.
One thing that episode 7 and 8 have got right and I’m sure
Lucasfilm has all the desire to allow it was the use of practical sets, props and
characters. The sets and props are well built to a level that is believable and
the majority of the alien characters look really good without looking like a
person in a mask. The worlds of Canto Bight and Crait are familiar but
different at the same time from all previous planets in the franchise and are
beautiful in their own way. With the many lights and colours of the casinos of
Canto Bight and the Red dust being sprayed from the white surface of Crait
while speeders glide across it. These sets are complimented with CGI which of
course is a must have as not everything can be made into a physical prop or
scene. The CGI is used well throughout the whole film, especially during one of
the most visually stunning and beautiful space shots set near the end of the 2nd
act of the film. As with most CGI heavy films there are some characters that
have had less work done and do look unreal, but this can be easily ignored. One
small mention in terms of the music; John Williams as usual creates an amazing
soundtrack which fits the tone of each scene of the film wonderfully.
Now onto some points that have stopped the film becoming a
masterpiece. Firstly, there is a handful of humour throughout the movie, with
some gags feeling at home in a Monty Python sketch. Not to say there aren’t any
funny moments, there truly are; but some humour felt very forced and weirdly
placed in some scenes of the narrative that kind of pulled me out of the movie.
The middle of the film did drag on a little bit, as well as felt a little in your
face with messages about the wealthy elite and the cruelty towards animals. I’m
not saying that films shouldn’t contain some good messages or ideas but in my opinion,
they should be discreetly weaved into the film and not remind the audience (who
most want to escape the real world for a few hours) of the difficulties of
today.
Some returning and newly created characters did seem a bit
pointless to the overall narrative, with their addition of the film not making
much difference had they not been in there or their job to forward the plot
being handled by somebody or something else. Another minor thing that felt a
bit off was between two characters who had a good dynamic with each other
throughout the movie, but by the end had developed into something else which
did not seem natural and came out of the blue.
But overall Star Wars the Last Jedi is a solid film that
does not deserve the hate it is getting. By no means is it perfect (as I have
said numerous times), but it strives to achieve new ground for the franchise. I
am really interested in the direction J.J Abrams will take Episode 9 as there
as so many paths open now for the franchise to go towards. All I hope is that
he brings enough creativity to the table to allow a satisfying ending to the
trilogy. To all those yet to see the film, I beg of you, go in with an open
mind, don’t expect a traditional Star Wars film and when it finishes, rewatch
it, and think for a few days about what has happened and why Rian Johnson has
made these choices before rushing towards hate.
Film score (may or
may not change once I see it a second time): 8/10
Review by Matt Filipiak
the image above does not belong to me or the blog and can be sourced from:
http://www.starwars.com/news/the-official-title-for-star-wars-episode-viii-revealed
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