"Star Wars: The Last Jedi" Review
While "The Force Awakens" and the original “Star Wars” sacrificed character for the sake of adventure and world building, “The Last Jedi” manages to succeed in both. It may not be a hole-in-one but it’s the Star Wars film that fans deserve after years and years of sitting through mediocrity (Prequels, Force Awakens and Rogue One included).
This movie stars… a lot of people. I don’t think I can name all these actors, but most of them are great. I don’t know about that Benicio Del Toro performance though… his character was kind of just used as a plot point and just wasn’t all that great. Similarly with Snoke, who’s just there to advance the plot but at least he was portrayed super well by Andy Serkis. Snoke is just no good. Huge thumbs down. Ugh. The performances that I really enjoyed watching and worth pointing out include Kelly Marie Tran’s Rose who is so fucking cool and matches the insane amount of charisma that John Boyega has. Their chemistry is pretty great even with the less-than-stellar side plot heist thing they were given to work with. I love watching Laura Dern and Oscar Isaac. Poe is given way more to do than the previous episode and it’s a joy to watch his character bud heads with Dern’s Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo. Though I question some of the decisions of their characters. Daisy Ridley returns as Rey (who cries way too much in general I think) and this time her character actually has layers to her. She’s not just a girl who happens to know how to do everything. She struggles to understand her identity and grapples with the nature of Adam Driver’s Kylo Ren (who is even more conflicted than the previous movie and is totally way more complicated than the other villains that came before him in a Star Wars movie -way better than boring old Darth Vader). Mark Hamill’s Luke Skywalker is very different from the Luke Skywalker of yesteryear but still feels like Luke and is a natural progression to how his character would react after learning about what his character had went through. This is the best that Mark Hamill has ever been as Luke Skywalker. He’s great. Last and definitely not least is the late Carrie Fisher as General Leia Organa. This is her most endearing performance as Leia. She brings so much weight to her scenes that I couldn’t help but feel so sad that she’s no longer with us anymore. Any doubt you’ve had when you saw in her “The Force Awakens” can be put to rest. She was outstanding.
When JJ Abrams’ Episode VII came out, people hadn’t come across a Star Wars movie that was shot so dynamically. It breathed life into its world that its predecessors had yet to tap into. The camera weaves in and around the characters and scenes and the action felt primal. In Episode VIII writer/director Rian Johnson and Steve Yedlin reunite after such projects like “Brick” and “Looper” to bring the same artistry and ferociousness to their shots as one would expect. Johnson’s script is for the most part phenomenal. In it, several plots start out far away (granted not all of them are equally as intriguing or as emotionally ripe) and converge by the end of its second act, resulting in what has to be some of the greatest fantasy action sequences ever put to film. There one sequence in particular that was cut together so fucking well and looked so stunning, my heart felt like it almost exploded from how fucking insane it was. Holy fucking shit, man.
“The Last Jedi” is, I think, the best Star Wars movie yet. The emotional stakes are high and the action is phenomenal. It’s also the best looking Star Wars film even though I didn’t agree with some of the colour grading. It tells the story of its characters through the visuals and the colour red particularly plays a big role. Although the ending is great on paper and there really isn't anything wrong with it, it just isn't done well enough to for it to be a great ending. The film takes chances and this is an exciting direction to take these characters in. I doubt the next chapter in this trilogy will be as good as this one but I’m ready to be proven wrong.