Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)

I have been reluctant to write an article about Star Wars: The Last Jedi, largely because practically every blog and Youtube commentator has beaten me to the punch.  It’s one of the most divisive Disney..er I mean Star Wars movies ever made; people either love it or hate it.  My viewing experience of Star Wars: The Last Jedi was eerily similar to the one I had during The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug; I found both movies to be extremely frustrating and by the end I had no desire to see the next chapter in the series.  I have yet to see The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies and I honestly could care less about the next episode of Star Wars. They exemplify the unfortunate trend of modern day filmmaking– take a beloved franchise, inject it full of steroids, and disregard any attempt at storytelling in favor of fan service. The Last Jedi is not a bad movie and, despite the claims of the Internet, it is far from being the worst Star Wars movie ever made (I personally award that to Attack of the Clones).  The Last Jedi, like Desolation of Smaug before it, is frustrating because it had the potential of being a genuinely great movie, but often gets bogged down by needless characters and pointless subplots.  It is a competently made movie, with some truly stunning visuals, but the script is a total mess.   While director Rian Johnson is credited as the writer, I’m sure he was given nonstop memos by the studio to make sure he was filling out the proper check boxes. 

It certainly doesn’t help that The Last Jedi often plays like an extended episode of Battlestar Galactica. The rebels are being pursued by the First Order throughout space and, after Leia is knocked unconscious, there is infighting between the crew which finally escalates in Poe Dameron committing mutiny against Vice Admiral Holdo. 

The character of Holdo is problematic for two reasons:
1. She isn’t introduced until midway through the movie and barely registers as a character. Who is she? What is her motivation?  It is a bid odd how she scolds Poe for being hot headed, but later on, after he has committed a mutiny, gushes to Leia about how much she likes him. Really?  She has a “boys will be boys” conversation with Leia and Poe is immediately forgiven for his criminal act. Granted, given how scant the resistance is, I guess there isn’t much a choice. It’s bad writing disguised as a character arc. “You see, she wasn’t so bad, after all. She did have a plan. And she likes Poe!”
2. Holdo is essentially a place holder for Leia. It would have been more interesting if Poe was leading a mutiny against Leia.  It would give his a character some conflict; Leia has been a mentor to him and he would have debate whether or not to go through with it. In the first act, Leia berates Poe  for his reckless behavior and demotes him to Captain.  It seems inevitable that the two of them are going to butt heads and…… then Leia is bed ridden for nearly half an hour while Holdo barks orders.  Poe butting heads with her surrogate doesn’t have the same dramatic impact and the resolution is a bit weak:  Holdo had a plan all along; she just kept it from Poe because…ummmmmm…… Not to mention her plan ultimately results in most of the rebel forces being picked off by the First Order, so maybe Poe had a legitimate reason to doubt her leadership skills. Also, given the fact it has been established that Poe is a bit of hot head who constantly disregards orders; wouldn’t it have benefitted Holdo to have someone keep an eye him? Or lock him up in the Brig?  She scolds him for his reckless behavior, but it never occurs to her that he might try something that is…reckless. 

I know we’re supposed to condemn Poe for being a hot head, but he is the only character that seems to understand the urgency of the situation, while everyone else just goes through the motions.  While it is easy for Leia (and the audience) to berate Poe for his risk taking, let’s not forget that the resistance is in dire straits; at certain point they’re going to have to take a roll of dice.  Oscar Isaac is a fine actor, but he is absolutely let down by this series. In The Force Awakens, Poe is off screen for a good chunk of the movie and in The Last Jedi he is made to look like a fool.  

While it’s nice to see Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia (especially that brief moment she gets to share with Mark Hamill), it’s a shame that she is given very little to do. She butts heads with Poe in the early scenes; gets shot out into space; uses the force to survive the cold vacuum of space; and then spends a good chunk of screen time in a coma. This also begs the question: Why not kill off Leia? The sad death of Carrie Fisher makes it impossible for Leia to appear in future entries (without the use of CGI) so why not give her a heroic death? I understand they filmed all of her scenes, but couldn’t they have figured something out in post production.  Of course, if Leia gets killed too early that would make it impossible for her to be reunited with Luke, albeit briefly. Still, with Fisher being gone, how are they going to resolve the Leia issue in the next movie? 

 The fact that the First Order “reigns supreme” (despite having their super space station blown up a few hours ago) is more likely due to the fact that the resistance is poorly run rather than them being an efficient force of evil.  How else do you explain the resistance losing to the likes of General Hux and Kylo Ren? General Hux is extremely incompetent, and Domhnall Gleeson’s performance is so over the top that it often borders on parody.  One could easily believe that Gleeson was cast in a Spaceballs sequel, but accidentally wandered on to the The Last Jedi set, instead.  Who knows, maybe Domhnall Gleeson was paying homage to George Wyner’s performance (as Colonel Sanders) in Spaceballs?  The movie opens with Poe Dameron, in a bid to buy time, prank calling General Hux.  Hux, despite being this supposedly “sinister” monster, just stands around like a dummy and allows Poe to continue with this charade, instead of just ordering Poe to be shot down.  It is an odd way to begin a movie, especially when you want to establish the First Order as a credible threat. Imagine if in the original Star Wars, Grand Moff Tarkin’s first scene began with him slipping on a banana peel.  His credibility as a villain would be shot to shit and he would be regarded as a complete joke.  Again, how is a supposedly intelligent leader like Leia getting beating outsmarted by this dumbass?  

  

Do Star Wars fans genuinely like Captain Phasma?  She comes off as a desperate attempt by the studio to create a Boba Fett-like character – one that fans will immediately cling to because she looks cool. The character is so devoid of any personality – and menace- that I wonder why they even bothered to cast Gwendoline Christie in the role. A stunt woman would have easily sufficed (and probably cost considerably less).  Her big moment in The Last Jedi is that she, once again, loses to Finn. 

It also occurs to me that the new Star Wars movies completely negate the original trilogy; thirty years later and Leia is still the leader of the resistance, Han has gone back to being a smuggler, and Luke lives in complete isolation. I wouldn’t go so far to say  that “DISNEY RUINED MY CHILDHOOD,” but it is slightly depressing to see two iconic characters from my youth,  first Han Solo in The Force Awakens and now Luke Skywalker, relegated to bitter old men who are promptly killed off after their moment of “heroism.” There was always a nice dynamic between Han Solo and Luke Skywalker in the original trilogy; Han was the cynical rogue, while Luke was the eternal optimist. Han was the cool character that everyone wanted to be, while Luke was the heart of the series.  The fact that Luke has given up, and treats Rey in such a cold manner, often feels like a betrayal of the character. On the other hand: what else could Rian Johnson possibly do with the character?  If Luke is the optimist of the original trilogy, then there is basically no dramatic conflict between Rey and him. Also, he wouldn’t be in hiding in the first place; he would be fighting side by side with Leia to bring down the First Order.  I don’t blame Rian Johnson for this, because “the map to Luke Skywalker” was the MacGuffin in The Force Awakens.  

On the other hand, Luke being a disillusioned old man is one of the more compelling aspects of the movie.  Luke isn’t wrong when he talks about the Jedi’s many past failures:  they couldn’t spot the Sith Lord in their midst until it was too late; they knew Anakin was emotionally unstable but assigned him to guard Padme (despite the obvious crush he has on her); they knew that the clones were created under highly suspect circumstances but used them any ways; and Luke, sensing Kylo Ren might turn to the dark side, briefly contemplates killing his own nephew him and when he finally regains his senses, it is too late; Kylo retaliates and destroys the Jedi temple.  Luke explains to Rey that the “legend of Luke Skywalker” eventually became a burden, because it was a standard that he, as a mere man, could never live up to.  One can’t help seeing a parallel with Mark Hamill’s film career; the character of Luke Skywalker casted such a huge shadow that it doomed Hamill to decades of mediocrity; culminating in direct to video purgatory.  He eventually found in redemption in the role of The Joker in Batman: The Animated Series.  This may not be the Luke Skywalker the fans wanted, but this is by far Hamill’s strongest performance in the entire Star Wars series. 

Unfortunately, Luke is so engulfed in his self loathing that he fails to realize that he is pushing Rey straight into the arms of Kylo Ren.  Rey is trying to find her place in the world and hopes that Luke can give her a few answers, and maybe even train her, but his cold treatment makes her disillusioned and she finds an unlikely kindred spirit in Kylo Ren.  The Rey/Kylo Ren storyline is the most intriguing aspect of The Last Jedi, because it’s unlike anything we’ve seen in previous Star Wars movies.  It also proves to be the most frustrating aspect, because Rian Johnson completely undermines a fairly interesting plot twist.  For some mysterious reason (that is later explained) the force keeps connecting Kylo Ren and Rey; initially Rey is put off by this (after all, this is the same man that killed Han Solo) but as the movie progresses she starts to believe that maybe Kylo Ren isn’t all that bad, and, in fact sense that there is still some good in him.  She is convinced she can change Kylo Ren for the better and decides to meet him head on

It is interesting how the movie breaks down the barriers of good and evil; Kylo Ren has done great evil in the past but he was greatly wronged by the protagonists of the original trilogy (Han, Leia, and Luke).   Han was a total deadbeat dad, who when things took a turn of a worse got out of town. Leia was probably a well meaning mother but was too involved in politics to give her son the attention he desperately needed.  While Luke, rather than reaching out to Kylo, automatically assumed the worst and contemplated killing his own nephew in cold blood.  Yet, Kylo Ren is greatly torn up over killing his father and later on, when he has a chance to kill Leia, he can’t bring himself to do it. He is not a good man, but he is not a one dimensional baddie, either.  Unfortunately, Rey is not nearly as compelling as a character, because she is completely devoid of any flaws. She doesn’t earn any of her powers; they are magically given to her.  While I enjoyed The Force Awakens, the first thought that popped into my head after the movie was, “What are they going to do with Rey?”  Without any training, she’s already the best Jedi to ever walk the universe, so what can they possibly do with her?  Then, for a brief moment, it seemed that Rian Johnson had a brilliant answer to that question.  After Kylo Ren and Rey have taken out Snoke’s guards, he pleads with her to join forces with him. I can’t be the only person that genuinely wanted this to happen, because it would have made for an interesting cliff hanger.  Kylo makes an interesting point; both of them have been greatly disappointed by their would be mentors and the Jedi/Sith way of life has only wrought misery onto the galaxy. Let it die and build something new.  To hell with the First Order and the Resistance!  Unfortunately, such an idea is too interesting for Star Wars and Rey resists Kylo Ren’s offer and he goes back to being a full on baddie!  

Final note: Many fans were angered at how easily Snoke was killed off by Kylo Ren. I wasn’t really bothered by this plot point because I didn’t find Snoke to particularly interesting.  However, I don’t think it’s so much Snoke’s death that fans were against as it was the execution of the scene. It is laughable bad! It’s something straight out of an old G.I. Joe episode. Snoke sits on his throne and gloats, for minutes on end, about how he can’t be betrayed, only to be betrayed by Kylo Ren. Oh, the irony! Snoke is able to manipulate the force so that it can connect Kylo Ren and Rey, but he can’t sense that his pupil, who is an emotional wreck, is about to betray him. It’s a rather silly moment!  I don’t even want to waste my time talking about the Finn/Rose subplot, because it is fairly pointless and doesn’t accomplish thing. It’s annoying to seeing Finn being reduced to “comedy relief” while Rose is practically perfect in every way. 

The Last Jedi isn’t so much a bad movie as it is a disappointing one. It has a few genuinely interesting moments and then proceeds to undermine them in dumbest ways imaginable. Oh, look, Luke is finally going to confront Kylo Ren. This is going to epic. Oh, he’s a hologram? Did Stephen Moffat write this script? It feels like the kind of “clever” twist you would find in the later seasons of Doctor Who? Also, it amazes me that Rian Johnson actually ripped off the ending to Chuck Norris comedy, Sidekicks. The final shot of that movie is a boy in a wheelchair being inspired by Chuck Norris themed magazine.  The Last Jedi has a slave boy, staring off into the stars, inspired by the story of Luke Skywalker’s last stand.  Though, at least Sidekicks had a central character that was slightly relatable. 

Cast: Daisy Ridley (Rey), Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), Adam Driver (Kylo Ren), Oscar Isaac (Poe Dameron), Carrie Fisher (Leia), John Boyega (Finn), Kelly Marie Tran (Rose), Laura Dern (Vice Admiral Holdo), Andy Serkis (Emperor Snoke), Domhnall Gleeson (General Hux), Benicio Del Toro (DJ), Gwendoline Christie (Captain Phasma), Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Bille Lourd (Lieutenant Connix), Frank Oz (Yoda – voice), Lupita Nyong’o (Maz Kanata – voice), Joonas Suotamo (Chewbacca).

Writer/Director: Rian Johnson
Running Time: 153 min.