Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi

It's funny how quickly the masses of the internet turn on a movie anymore. Or perhaps those are just the people that are the loudest about it? 

It seems common place now to just s**t on The Force Awakens as if it were akin to a Transformers film. I for one like to stand my ground on most films (depending how they age with multiple viewings) and I firmly stand behind my Force Awakens -- and Rogue One, which has aged very well -- review and initial response. 

The point of all of this is to say that I think it's important to stick with your guns and opinions rather than letting the internet dictate them so much. Which is why that, despite how much I loved The Last Jedi, the eighth chapter in the Star Wars sage, I don't think it's quite as revolutionary as many are suggesting. 

"Wait...what did I have for breakfast this morning?"

"Let's go fight giant monsters
with giant robots!"
Ummm...wrong movie?

Arguably I probably probed a few too many reviews beforehand and got my hopes up due to some irresponsible hyperbole on their part, but I had high hopes for the direction that The Last Jedi would go and the shocking revelations that it may leave in its wake. My biggest complaint is that those revelations never really come and ultimately I think Disney (read: Kathleen Kennedy) played it too safe. Aside from some momentary shockers that are often quickly explained, the big plot strokes of The Last Jedi are about what you'd expect. Rey finds Luke as we saw in The Force Awakens while the Resistance is trying to outrun the First Order with a shrinking fleet/army. Beyond that would be to divulge too much but if you were to guess where the film ends up logically, you'd probably be pretty close to correct. I suppose that's not such a bad thing when the ride is as fun as The Last Jedi, but honestly? I think there was one particular direction they could have taken it that would have A) made sense, B) made my jaw hit the floor, and C) left Episode IX up the air. That didn't happen though, and I'll get over it, but I think it would have been a better move. 

The other, and really final, issue I had with The Last Jedi is that among it's several subplots, one key one doesn't really pay off at all. We have the Luke and Rey interactions and mystery that remains interesting, but when the film starts to follow Finn and new character Rose, I felt like I was watching a completely different, and lower quality, film. Their sidebar mission is fun in an entertaining sense, but it adds on to a hefty runtime of a film where audiences are pining for answers. Exercises in patience aside, it was a tad disappointing that not much ended up stemming from their mission and aside from building their friendship the movie could have probably eliminated it completely.

Don't let my review discourage you though because The Last Jedi is still an incredible Star Wars film. It's opening sequence is one of the most exciting in recent memory and basically right at the halfway point the film kicks it into high gear. Kudos immediately goes to the visual team and creative thinking behind The Last Jedi as most of the film's biggest scenes are visually arresting. I imagine director Rian Johnson deserves credit too for some of the most imaginative stuff we've seen in a while from the Star Wars universe. He's having fun playing with the toys at his disposal, but also making new ones along the way. A battle on a salt-crusted planet with red clay underneath is so pretty and alarming that I couldn't tear my eyes away, even if I'd tried. A few other setpieces are like this too, but I won't divulge into those much as some of the film's best looking scenes are also spoilers (sorry not sorry!). 

Such an awesome opening sequence

The cast is back and I appreciate many of them even more. Daisy Ridley's Rey is still a beacon of light and her interactions with a very talented Mark Hamill (over-eager acting from A New Hope is nowhere to be found here!) is both fun and touching. Oscar Isaac gets a lot more to do this time around and proves that he's an ample leader of the screen and the Resistance. Adam Driver continues to drive home Kylo Ren's torment and teenager-esque angst in a character that I'm starting to love to hate for a variety of reasons. In a film this big though some characters obviously get the sideline and I felt like Finn and new character Rose got the least interesting material here. They're both endearing as hell which is why it works, but again about that plot thread...Anyway, Carrie Fisher gets more to do as well and it's touching seeing her back in action as the strong female character that helped to define a lot of what she stood for in her life. All of these performances, whether big or small, are done by an eager cast that is (obviously) excited to just be on the set of a Star Wars and it helps the film bring gravitas to otherwise silly dialogue because when they're taking it seriously, often we are too.

The Last Jedi also comes packed with some awesome action. I already mentioned the early spacebattle but there's also a creative lightsaber sequence, one particular moment of unique weaponry I wont ruin, and a battle of sorts at the end. It's all filmed thoughtfully with strong editing and cinematography. There's a keen eye for the action here and a lot of it feels Lord of the Rings-esque in the best of ways. Most of the special effects throughout are incredible and in the scenes where you can tell where they spent the money, it shows with some of the best visuals of the year. As is the case for Star Wars films it's also accompanied by a highly-unique and utterly brilliant original score that continues that tradition, despite the quality of any given film. On an accompanying note, there's a lot of wonderful humor throughout The Last Jedi too, some of it subtle (i.e. Kylo's emo tendencies), some of it downright hilarious. Much has been said about the Porgs and yes, they likely only exist for toys, but I'm all about that #Porglyfe. They're adorable and have some of the biggest laughs in the film. I'm not sure any moment is gut-bustingly funnier than BB-8's "thumbs up" in Force Awakens but a lot of it is close and the humor -- often thanks to that little rolling dude himself -- is consistent throughout.

Ominous Ocean: the newest rap album from Daisy Ridley

A lot of what I didn't like with The Last Jedi is my own personal ideas. I think most would agree it drags in the middle and certain subplots are unnecessary but my wants/hopes of the unexpected were a bit let down. Truly, that's my own fault for reading too many glowing reviews beforehand so I'll live with that. Past my wishes and a long runtime though, The Last Jedi features some of the most exciting moments you'll have in a theater this year (or next, really) and it's combination of visuals and creativity within the Star Wars universe have me excited to see what Rian Johnson will do next. 

Can't wait until we're all sh****ng on The Last Jedi in a few months once that becomes popular! /sarcasm

CONS

• Aside from reviews that made me think it would blow my mind, I do wish the creative team would have gone in one particular direction. To me, it made sense in the moment of the film and it would have left the entire gameplan up in the air. I think they played it too safe
• Finn and Rose's subplot is fun, but ultimately unnecessary and packs on a lot of extra runtime. This affects the film's pacing in the middle
• Few moments of shoddy special effects
• Captain Phasma once again sidelined

PROS

• A wonderful cast is back reprising some equally wonderful roles. It's great to have the talented Mark Hamill back, Ridley and Driver expand on what makes their characters so great, Isaac gets to nearly be the star of the show, and everyone else (newcomers and returning) are clearly into it
• Visually stunning. The ideation of some of these sets, creatures, and scenes must have been fun because the end result is some truly magnificent moments
• Probably one of the most creative Star Wars films out of the whole series. And that's saying a lot
• While I had my wishes with the story, it's still well thought out, answers some questions, has some genuine moments of shock, and wraps everything up nicely within the film
• A handful of year-best, standout scenes
• Fantastic special effects where it counts and the big action scenes are all the better (and wilder) for it
• Once again, that original score is undeniably iconic
• Funny in a multitude of ways and Porgs rock and if you hate them you're heartless
• A stunning middle chapter of this new saga that is just an absolute blast

Rath's Review Score | 8.5/10