So, let’s talk about the new Star wars.
As I’ve mentioned before, this little franchise has been with
me for a while—ever since playing games like X-wing on my old iMac and then
seeing the re-releases of the Special Editions in ’97. Suffice to say, as with
many, it’s something I’ve felt pretty attached to—and twenty years later, we
come to the second main instalment released by our benevolent overlords of the
Disney conglomerate. One that’s proved, erm, divisive, between skewed Rotten
Tomatoes scores and clickbait Youtube videos proclaiming it to be the ‘worst
Star wars EVER’ (and I can tell you it ain’t, because the Holiday Special still
exists).
Before I continue, I might as well mention my thoughts on
the prior entries—The Force Awakens I found to be a fun yet frustrating
experience. Competently made, slickly designed, but also indecisive about being
either a new chapter or a retread. Fun to watch, but not a massive amount of
substance. Rogue One, though not perfect, I got a lot of geeky enjoyment out,
and found it a more satisfying experience. Perhaps because there was less
expectation, perhaps because it balanced nostalgia with new takes on things
(being a grittier war story), but either way, I liked it.
And that brings us to Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi—one I was
looking forward to, particularly after the underrated little flick Looper that
he directed a few years back, concerning a time-travelling Bruce Willis. I was
sure that Johnson was going to take things in a different direction than
Abram’s overt safe-playing…and…that he did. It’s taken me a little while to
properly digest it and think things over, while in the meantime, people either
gush over it as the best in the series, or rage about it in ways not seen since
the days when the Phantom Menace response almost blew up the internet in ’99. So
where do I stand? To be honest…somewhere in the middle, as I’ll explain.
Set right after the events of Force Awakens, the film
certainly opens up to cover a lot more ground than the prior one with several plot
threads and arcs—Jason Isaac’s Poe Dameron trying to ensure the survival of the
good guy fleet being pursued by the giant space compensators of the First
Order; Daisy Ridley’s Rey having to both learn the ways of the Force and
rekindle Mark Hamill out of his malaise; John Boyega’s Finn teaming up with a
resistance soldier; Adam Driver’s Kylo Ren trying to forge his own destiny, and
so on. There’s a much denser story to it all, one that could almost be seen as
thinly spread—and it brings me to the main flaw on a technical sense, in that
it’s probably a bit too long. Not, at least, in the usual popcorn flick way of
having endless redundant fight scenes, but by aiming for too many things—but,
at least, I commend Johnson for the effort.
The main thread everyone was looking forward to was Hamill
returning in full force as Luke Skywalker, and this’ll be one of the most
divisive points of the film. In the old Expanded Universe comics and novels
that were the continuation of the story after Return of the Jedi before Disney
took over, Luke basically became Space Jesus, being an idol among Jedi and
turning over starships with a flick of the wrist (there was also that time he
briefly fell to the side of a cloned Emperor Palpatine, but not many like to
talk about that one). Johnson takes a very different approach—this Luke is one
disillusioned with the whole idea of the Jedi and of being a great master of
the Force. Hamill plays it all with great sincerity nevertheless, even if he
disagreed with that direction—and it does tie into an ongoing theme of the film
of inspiring a new generation. But if you wanted the old take on the wide-eyed
space farmboy, it might not be an approach you’ll like.
Speaking of performances, that’s definitely one aspect the
film shines in—Adam Driver is a master of facial expression while playing Kylo
Ren, now that he loses his mask early in the film, and despite some of the questions
about the writing of his character, it’s miles ahead of Hayden Christensen in
the prequels. Daisy Ridley likewise is commendable, and the arc between their characters
is probably the stronger one in the film. There’s some answers revealed that’ll
be debated (though I actually liked said answers in this case) and there’s one
course I wish they took, even though I knew they probably wouldn’t, but still.
Of course, there's the inevitable tear in my eye that comes from seeing Carrie Fisher's last performance--she does a decent job, and there's one moment that did hit me early on in the film (followed by another that, erm, while making sense as an idea, is executed...a little goofily). This ties into the arc of Poe Dameron's character, which, though I found interesting as a concept, felt slightly half-baked.
John Boyega as Finn takes a different course in the film,
teaming up with Kelly Tran’s Rose—a character some haven’t taken to, but I
thought was fine, seeing as how I like to see the perspective of some of the
grunts in this universe. There’s a detour to a casino world that’s likewise
seem some derision, but it was one I liked the idea of, though it could’ve been
cut down. Some have said it didn’t add to the plot…though truthfully it did in
a rather big way, though I won’t discuss that now for spoiler’s sake--let's just say it involves Benicio Del Toro's space criminal for hire. This also ties
into one thing I have about the film is that while it offers some ideas,
scenes, and concepts that I like the principle of, it doesn’t always pull them
off as tightly as they could.
Another example is the evil overlord Snoke, played by
Anthony Serkis—let’s just say that’ll be another point of contention. Even
moreso is Gwendolyn Christie’s Phasma, who, well, feels even less present than
in Force Awakens. And on the topic of negatives, there is some somewhat
ill-fitting Marvel-style humour that, while not as intrusive as I felt some
others made it out to be, does grate a bit on the first round. Not to mention a
couple of ‘funny’ scenes that honestly should’ve been just cut—you’ll probably
know what I mean when you see it.
On the cinematography side, I definitely feel the scale of
things felt better and less frantic than in The Force Awakens, though it doesn’t
have the same vibrancy of that, nor the same impact of the battles in Rogue
One. It’s somewhere in the middle. There’s one shot that, while not making much
sense in-universe, is actually really awesome to look at. And…let’s just say
that there’s one scene that, while cool and unexpected, loses some of its
impact from some not that well executed greenscreen.
There’s not much more to talk about without getting into
spoilers, but it is that sort of thing where, when I think about it, I think of
something I like, then something I disliked to counter that, and then back to
liking again. Some of the plot twists I felt conflicted over on first viewing I’ve
actually come around to, but some others I still feel could’ve been better
executed. Johnson relishes subverting things—perhaps too much—and while there
are some interesting places to go, I feel it’ll all come down to how Abrams
picks things up, which is a thing I have even more ambivalence about.
Overall, I feel that The Last Jedi is a film that tries many
things, but doesn’t hit for all of them—though I appreciate the attempt
nonetheless. For me, I did find myself caring enough to get genuine emotion and
concern for the characters at some points—so it obviously did something right. There’s
a few odd, unnecessary, or not fleshed out aspects that hold it back, making it
not an even experience—but when Johnson could’ve just had an ice battle on the
planet of Schmoth and then a duel on Schloud City, and a trip to the Schmagobah
system, I at least see where he was going for in trying to make this film his own.
It can feel a mess at times, but an interesting mess at least.
Time will tell how the rest of the new trilogy pans out, and
whether the upcoming unnecessary Han Solo movie turns out to be as much of a
trainwreck as production has been. Still, with Disney now enveloping ever more
of western cinematic entertainment, it’s going to be interesting times for both
this series and many others. I’ll probably talk more on this film in a spoiler
review, and also on the expansion of the Mouse’s imperium into territories both
intriguing and scary. However you feel about The Last Jedi, or what’s been said
here, it’s always best to see what the future may hold, and of course, watch
out for the spinoff film about Jar Jar’s ascendancy to Sith-hood…
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