It’s been a long time since there’s been a movie as polarizing as Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi. Either you come out of the cinemas really loving the movie or hating it so much that you vow never to spend another peso on the whole franchise. I don’t think there’s a better film to revive this old series of mine than this devastatingly divisive movie, don’t you think? I actually saw The Last Jedi twice in the theaters last month so that I can make a judgment with a clearer head.

Without further ado, here’s my review of Rian Johnson’s (of the Looper (2012) fame) Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) .

Please note that there may be spoilers. Read at your own risk.

THE STORY:

We find our characters (new and old) exactly where Episode VII’s Star Wards: The Force Awakens (2015) left them: Finn (John Boyega) still unconscious and currently onboard the one of resistance evacuation ships while General Leia Organa is trying her very best to put as much distance between her dwindling Resistance numbers and the First Order. Poe (Oscar Isaac) is pretty much still the best pilot in the galaxy while Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) is pretty much still bursting at the seams with unexplained rage and anger. Rey (Daisy Ridley) finally gets to meet the legendary last Jedi, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) in the hidden planet Achto.

THE GOOD:

1. REYLO FOREVER. Honestly speaking, a huge part of the reason why I even bothered hauling my lazy ass to the cinemas for that second viewing was for the Reylo feels – it’s the fanfic lover in me. I understand that a LOT of people can’t get on board this ship and that’s totally fine; I’m just really happy that Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver have so much on screen chemistry despite my theory of them not liking each other very much in real life (show me an interview where they were all joke-y joke-y with each other and I’ll change my mind).
2. Reylo’s force bond. Reylo aside, I think that this was a really cool take on another unknown aspect of the Force. I could totally hear the purists screaming THAT’S NOT HOW THE FORCE WORKS, but Kylo Ren and Rey did pretty much force themselves mentally onto each other in episode VII, it makes sense that there’d be repercussions of that interaction.

   

3. Poe Dameron’s story arc. I appreciate the effort to grow the character.

   

4. That they answered a lot of the burning questions that The Force Awakens left unanswered. Well, sorta. I mean, they did clear up why exactly Luke was hiding (I liked the reason and it totally made sense to me), why Kylo Ren was so, so angry (again, I agree with his line of thinking) and where Rey came from (meh, more on this below). Sure, a lot of the hardcore “old school” fans didn’t like any of the answers but at least they cleared stuff up.

   

5. That awesome fight scene in Snoke’s throneroom. That’s probably the best light saber battle in the whole franchise right there.
6. Luke’s final scene if only because it was very reminiscent of how Obi-Wan died. I thought that the picture of him looking out to another sunset was very poignant and emotionally heart wrenching. I also got the tiniest bit teary over the fact that he chose Leia to be the last person he went to.

   

THE BAD:

1. Snoke’s gold robe. What the hell was that about? Was he also an intergalactic pimp on the side?

   

2. General Hux is a comedian now, apparently. ??? He was such a deliciously bratty character in episode VII, what the hell happened? This is a massive shame because General Hux is one of the few characters that can go toe-to-toe with Kylo Ren in terms of battiness.

   

3. The overall humor in the movie. I understand that it’s all Disney property now and they’re all gung-ho in establishing that THIS IS A KID’S MOVIE, DON’T TAKE IT TOO SRSLY, K? but the funny beats were all out of left field. After the ending of episode VII, I was expecting a much serious tone in the movie, considering that they had a massive plot to move. As it was, the humorous tones were very jarring.

THE UGLY:

1. The Canto Bight escapade. Ugh, that was just a waste of time. I’m not sure if the director was setting up another movie but the entire escapade could’ve been scrapped and it wouldn’t have made a difference in the story. These were the scenes that I found myself reaching for my phone to check the time. I’m sure that the story in Canto Bight and how amoral people are profiting from the war deserves to be told BUT it doesn’t deserve to be told in this particular film. With everything going on in the galaxy, we can’t possibly be expected to be burdened by the social injustices of it all.

   

2. Rey is still pretty much a Mary Sue, unfortunately. It’s such a shitty explanation of why she’s so strong all of a sudden. They got Ewan McGregor to voice that one line in episode VII so obviously there was a set up of a Kenobi connection in there but apparently that was a bust. She’s just so powerful because Kylo Ren is so powerful that the universe felt the need to balance it out. Whatever.

   

3. Rian Johnson tried so very hard to subvert expectations. My main problem with the movie is that it obviously made an effort to veer away from what people are expecting to happen. Normally I approve of such actions but because this is the middle movie in a trilogy, this was obviously a wrong move. In the IMDB trivia page of the movie, it says that filming was delayed for a couple of months because Johnson scrapped the current outline and decided to re-write his own version of episode VIII. Granted, what he came up with was a very good movie, it just wasn’t a very good sequel. Watching it again, it almost became painfully obvious where he decided to go the other direction. Like Leia’s death. Given that Carrie Fisher won’t be in Episode IX, it would’ve been so much easier for everybody had Leia died on the bridge. If Kylo Ren had decided to kill her, it could’ve still worked out because it looks like they’re setting him up to be an irredeemable sort of evil anyway. Also there is still the matter of Rey’s parentage; in an interview Johnson was asked if Kylo Ren was lying to Rey about her past to get her to join him. Johnson says that as far as he’s concerned, Kylo Ren wasn’t lying at that point in time. What a BS answer. J. J. Abrams is set to direct episode IX and from the sound of it, he’s going to be ret-conning a LOT of things from episode VIII.

All in all, Rian Johnson’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) was a good movie; it just wasn’t a very good middle episode in a bigger story arc. Still though, performances were generally strong all around and the fight scenes were really good. Character arcs are also being developed, which was a nice touch but there was just that bit in the middle that took up a lot of unnecessary time. While I did enjoy the film a lot, I’m just scared for how the next episode will turn out.

THE VERDICT: 7/10

*All photos are lifted from the film’s IMDB page.