Star Wars: The Last Jedi Review

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is another smash hit for the franchise, it has everything a Star Wars movie needs, Lightsaber duels..Yep…Vehicle battles..Yep..Iconic music..Double yep!  I came out of the cinema with a huge grin on my face, humming the tunes and with my head spinning over theories and thoughts.

Spoilers Ahead!!

This movie really pushes forward the development of newer characters like Rey, Poe and Kylo Ren, while still offering nods to the past and offering something completely new.

There are also some great scenes involving the Resistance and The First Order in battle, that continued to show Poe at his best, while also helping to develop his character.  Many fans had been expecting a “Hoth” style battle on the new planet Crait, with huge AT-M6 walkers that just blew me away.   The visual effect of the planet just worked so well, especially the scene involving the Millennium Falcon in the caves.

Poe also stood out as a much more interesting character, a flawed pilot who’s first reaction is to blow stuff up and his mutiny felt right as I also was doubting what Admiral Holdo was doing and if she was working for the First Order, but she also had a standout moment with her sacrifice that stood out as one of the most impressive special effects scene.

I also enjoyed the scenes between Kylo Ren and Rey, how they got to know one another, how they connected and how this really helped push forward their inner conflict.

The lightsaber fights also really impressed me, with the team up of Kylo Ren and Rey taking on the Elite Praetorian Guards just leaving me wanting more.  I also loved the final battle with Luke Skywalker and Kylo Ren, giving us that Obi-Wan Kenobi feel from A New Hope, as Luke fades off into the sunset.  Though I’m sure we will see him return in Ghost form in episode 9.  For me that final battle wasn’t just about giving the resistance time to escape, it was about sending out a message of hope to all those who believe in the Resistance, giving them a Legend to inspire a new generation.

Luke Skywalker stood out as one of the best characters since they didn’t just have him there for a cameo or playing a caricature of himself, they showed he had grown old and wasn’t the same man who was on Tatooine.  He showed many different emotions and honestly I’m surprised they did kill him off, which leads me to one of my issues with the movie.  I felt that Leia should have been killed off when she was blasted into space, Kylo had resisted the urge to fire and when she displayed her use of the Force, I had a flashback to a classic Superman movie with wires.  However it was nice to see Luke and Leia together once again for one scene.

I did have some other issues with the movie, primarily the use of Finn, as he was reduced to a sidekick role with developing Rose.  The whole subplot of them heading off to the Casino to find a hacker and rescuing Fathiers, only to head back to Snoke’s ship for a underwhelming battle with Captain Phasma.  Who once again is barely used in the movie and is shown as being incompetent as she once again comes up short, after reading the Phasma Novel, I’m just disappointed in how she got used.  This whole subplot could have been removed and made the movie a little shorter, however the final scene with young slave child with Force abilities was a great way of showing that there will be more Jedi’s, that was given more weight because of the scenes on Canto Bight.

 

The Force Awakens had left us with many questions, such as who are Rey’s parents and who is Snoke?   And unfortunately we learned nothing about either of these.  While Kylo Ren might have told us a story about Rey’s parents being nobodies, I still believe this could be a lie or its about moving the stories away from the Skywalker’s legacy in that anyone can be a hero, regardless of their upbringing.

And then there was the Snoke, I was shocked with his death, but I loved how this brings Kylo Ren to the leader role within the First Order, though I will miss his mask, since I always thought he looked awesome with that on.  It’s a shame we don’t know more about Snoke and I’m sure novels, comic books and possibly other movies might help fill in the blanks but it’s still a mild disappointment as he wasn’t such a interesting bad guy.

One aspect I hadn’t been expecting, was the use of humour, there are a few laughs along the way, most of which take place on the island, with little nods to the past and also with the addition of the Caretakers and Porgs, neither of which came across as badly as Jar Jar Binks, which I was especially worried about with the amount of Porg merchandise.  And I also never want to drink blue milk now I know where it comes from.

This movie was all about building towards their final big fight, to use some wrestling terminology,  I couldn’t help but think that Star Wars: The Force Awakens was all about giving the rub to the younger new stars like Rey and Star Wars: The Last Jedi was all about putting characters like Kylo Ren over as the top heel and Rey as the main babyface, and I can’t wait for these two to do battle in episode 9 in the main event.

Its easy to try to compare the new movies to the previous episodes, but The Last Jedi is about pushing elements from the past aside and moving forward.   This wasn’t a nostalgia filled reboot, this was about telling a story, giving fans some unexpected moments and letting newer characters step out on their own and for that I’m really excited.  This is the middle part of a trilogy, it was never going to end the story and helped set up the next chapter.

Overall: Star Wars: The Last Jedi is an amazing movie and for any Star Wars fan, worth checking out.  It has all the elements that make a fantastic movie, however it does have some issues with, especially with a little bloating from the subplot involving the Casino and how the movie didn’t answer the questions we all wanted answered.  I loved it and can’t wait to watch it again.

Review Score : 9 out of 10

RECOMMENDED STORIES