Star Wars: The Last Jedi proved to be the most controversial Star Wars movie to date and was released on December 15, 2017. It focuses on Rey trying to make Luke Skywalker train her while the First Order is looking for her. It features surprising twists and turns and gives more back story on certain characters.
Rian Johnson helmed this entry. It’s also the last movie filmed by Carrie Fisher before her unfortunate passing.
The Good
The cinematography in this movie may only be second to that of Rogue One. All you need to do is watch the throne room battle with Rey and Kylo Ren to see how gorgeous the camera work is.
Unlike the previous movie, we get a lot of Mark Hamill’s Luke Skywalker. While some fans take contention with how he’s written, we are shown a Luke who is scared of what the future brings. A Luke who is an everyday person with everyday fears. A Luke who, in the end, stands toe to toe with the might of the First Order and gives up his life in the most peaceful way to inspire hope.
While The Force Awakens retreads A New Hope, The Last Jedi takes care to only play similar beats if it can twist them. An entirely different entry in the Star Wars universe is created and it makes the movie all the better for it.
The original Yoda returns to give a scolding to his one-time apprentice, Luke Skywalker. Where the Prequels used CGI to bring Yoda to life, The Last Jedi continued what the Original Trilogy started and used a puppet. It’s the return of puppet Yoda that also gives us the crazy hermit we loved in The Empire Strikes Back.
The Force is expanded upon with Rey and Kylo Ren’s connection. Showing their ability to full-on see each other no matter where they are, it opens interesting possibilities for down the line. There’s also Luke’s sacrifice using an astral projection with help of the Force that shows Jedi’s are more powerful than we’ve been told.
The Bad
While I get what they were trying to do, the Canto-Bight sequence seemed too on the nose. Its only purpose was for the Rebellion to find the codebreaker DJ. Yet, a secondary story saw Rose trying to free all the slaves. At any other point, it’s a storyline I’d love to see but it only succeeds in damaging the pacing of the movie.
Leia being a force user makes sense. However, when she’s blasted into space and uses the force to thrust herself back into the ship it looks tacky. This could be down to how it was filmed and perhaps in another light it’d look better. Unfortunately, it only serves to pull the audience out of the movie.
The quick death of Supreme Leader Snoke is also unfortunate. It’s a staple in the Star Wars universe that characters who seem they would be great are quickly killed. (see Boba Feet). This also happens to Captain Phasma, who yet again is shortchanged.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker releases in the U.S on December 20, 2019. A review for it will be put up on December 19 after I see it.
