Star Wars: The Last Jedi Review
Winter Break is always a wonderful and relaxing time, as it gives students a chance to take a break from school, sports, their everyday routine, and, of course, to see the new Star Wars movie.. Pioneered by actors Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, and Carrie Fisher, Star Wars made a tremendous splash upon the release of its first movie, setting itself up to become the most iconic and universally loved movie franchise in existence. Star Wars: The Last Jedi is the newest installment in the franchise, and one that has done very well with both fans and everyday moviegoers. Upon its premiere showing, The Last Jedi received praise for being unique, fun, and overall spinning the saga into a completely different direction. The general consensus was that the movie was great, and a total critical hit. That is, until it hit the mainstream box office.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi’s initial reaction with critics and most people in Hollywood was night and day different than the opinions held by fans and critics now. Following The Last Jedi’s release, there were still a number of fans ready to praise it and call it “one of the best in the franchise”, but along with those people were an equal number of fans able to list a thousand reasons why the movie was terrible. While every movie has people who disagree, and the unnecessary troll that dislikes everything who pops up on every review, this film is different. The Last Jedi has a completely split fandom, and among the people with their opinions on why it was good and why it was bad, I cannot say I fully agree with one side, only that the movie has some pretty strong flaws, along with some redeeming qualities.
What was Bad: The Last Jedi was noted by some to be “as good as The Empire Strikes Back,” and a “masterpiece of film”.The Last Jedi to me was a total whirlwind of plot holes and confusion plagued by a single question, “what is it about?” The movie is essentially a chase scene between the heroes of The Resistance, and the villains, The First Order. The chase revolves around the fact that The Resistance has no fuel, and the First Order is staking them out until they come to a complete stop. Along with this plot, the two other subplots consist of Rey played by Daisy Ridley and her training with Luke Skywalker,, (a whiny, cowardly old hermit played by the great but seemingly tired Mark Hamill), and Finn played by John Boyega, and new addition to the team Rose, on some irrelevant mission to a casino based planet that makes little to no sense. This ill-explained somewhat confusing plot is one of many things I found wrong with the movie. The pandering Marvel Movie-esque quipping dialogue of the film was the second thing that came into my disliking. As I’ve recently found, movies these days feel as though they all need to have constant comic relief in order to make them more entertaining, trading out serious moments and gravity of the situation for cheap laughs and cheesy one-liners. The Last Jedi was filled with these, along with dialogue that did not belong or fit in with a movie about a rebel alliance facing an evil radicalist army in space. Overall my biggest problem is that it did not feel like a Star Wars movie, rather an experiment trying to steer the franchise in a different direction, that, in my opinion for the most part didn’t pay off.
What was Good: Although it may seem that I am completely biased towards the negative side of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, I do admit that the film definitely has its redeeming qualities. The first one, the movie was shot beautifully, with the introduction of multiple new planets and an awesome throne room scene which I cannot explain due to spoilers, there were some awesome shots. Along with those, the development of villain Kylo Ren throughout the film is something that was very interesting in my opinion. Something The Last Jedi does very well is develop Kylo Ren into a very conflicted and saddened character, struggling with the pull between the dark and light sides, but at the same time becoming more mature than the whiny child from The Force Awakens. This allows for some very interesting scenes with Kylo, and I am excited to see where they take his character in the next film. Finally, I think The Last Jedi did a decent job at adding some nostalgia to the otherwise very modern installment in the franchise, indicated by a familiar face that shows up during the movie.
Overall, I do not hate Star Wars: The Last Jedi over any stretch of the imagination. It is a Star Wars movie, something that, no matter how good bad, always brings me back to and reminds me of my childhood. As quoted by Supreme Leader Snoke (played by Andy Serkis) in The Last Jedi trailer, “Darkness rises, and light to meet it.” That is exactly the outcome of The Last Jedi, as with everything in life, it has both light and dark to it. It is no perfect movie, but what is? What The Last Jedi is a fun addition to the infamous sci-fi saga that is worth the watch.