Star Wars: The Last Jedi – a spoiler free review

Between January and the start of December, 2017, there were a total of four films that really resonated with me. I loved the way in which Logan wrapped up Hugh Jackman’s tremendous tenure as the irrepressible Wolverine; I was thrilled that Power Rangers turned out to be a terrifically deep and meaningful reinvention of something that brought me so much joy during my childhood; I was absolutely blown away by how breathtakingly beautiful War for the Planet of the Apes ended up being; and I was positively stunned by the execution of every aspect of Blade Runner 2049.
However, as I’ve said on this site before and will more than likely say again many times in the future, when it comes to fandom, Star Wars is my greatest and most enduring obsession. So, while I found myself extremely affected by each of the above movies this year, whether I loved it or hated it, none of them ever had even the faintest hope of moving me as much as The Last Jedi.
For myself and countless other Star Wars fans across the planet, the wait for VIII has been beyond excruciating, but after two years of endless rumours, speculations and fan theories, the latest film in the franchise’s primary saga is finally here and I’m incredibly pleased to report that writer/director Rian Johnson has delivered a thoroughly entertaining, if imperfect, science-fantasy extravaganza that I found to be quite satisfying on the whole.
As was the case with Episode VII two years ago, it’s extremely difficult to outline a lot of what I did and didn’t like about The Last Jedi while steering clear of spoilers, so forgive me if this review feels a little vague in certain places. I’ll publish a more detailed breakdown of my thoughts and opinions in the days ahead for those who have seen it, but in this post, some things are going to have to remain enigmatic because I don’t want to ruin anything for anyone who has yet to experience the film for themselves.
Now that we’ve got the housekeeping out of the way, I’ll start by touching upon one of the greatest concerns I had after seeing The Force Awakens and going into Episode VIII, which was whether Luke’s disappearance would be justified in a way that didn’t paint him in a cowardly light. One of the things I disliked the most about Abrams’s franchise re-starter was that it made it seem as if Luke had run away and left it up to others to clean up his mess after he lost Ben Solo to the dark side, therefore ultimately being responsible for Han’s gut-wrenching death.

Thankfully though, Rian Johnson has managed to elaborate upon Luke’s reasons for leaving without making him seem unheroic or hurting his character in any way whatsoever. Rest assured, I’m not going to get into the hows and whys here, but I thought Luke came across as extremely sympathetic and, despite his despondent state of mind, he still very much felt like the Luke we all know and love from the original trilogy.
Adept screenwriting aside, this was in no small part due to Mark Hamill’s utterly exemplary performance. Just like Ford and Fisher in The Force Awakens, Hamill slips seamlessly back into role that made him a star forty years ago and is completely believable as a more seasoned and world-weary version of the optimistic protagonist everyone remembers from Episodes IV to VI. In fact, while Rey is obviously the epicentre of this new trilogy, I would argue that The Last Jedi is very much Luke Skywalker’s film and I really can’t complement Mark Hamill enough on how truly outstanding his work is here.
And even though the original protagonist and the actor who portrays him stole the show throughout, Luke’s is actually one of three character arcs that I thought Johnson handled exceptionally well, the others being those of Rey and Kylo Ren.

Discounting the delight of seeing Han, Chewie, Leia, Artoo and Threepio again, by far my favourite thing about The Force Awakens was Daisy Ridley’s Force sensitive scavenger from Jakku and I was extremely pleased with the direction her story took in The Last Jedi. I’m not going to lie, there was more than one moment in which I was worried about what Johnson was doing with the character and where she would ultimately end up, but I very much appreciated how the unpredictability of her arc kept me on the edge of my seat and injected a lot of tension and suspense into the proceedings, helping to ensure that the movie remained consistently intriguing from start to finish.

Similarly, Kylo Ren’s arc kept me constantly guessing as it unfolded and there were many instances when I wasn’t sure his story would take the route I wanted it to. However, despite finding him to be an immature and irksome Vader wannabe in The Force Awakens, I couldn’t have been more content with what Johnson did with the villain formerly known as Ben Solo this time around. His arc was incredibly compelling and Adam Driver’s performance and presence were infinitely more effective than they were in Episode VII.

Speaking of Ben Solo, his iconic mother was undoubtedly another one of the highlights of The Last Jedi and I’m not just saying that out of a sense of obligation due to Carrie Fisher’s tragic passing. I thought the beloved actress was an absolute delight as Leia in The Force Awakens and she was just as good, if not better, in Episode VIII. She may be small in stature, but the amount of dignity and grandeur Fisher succeeds in exuding as Leia Organa of Alderaan makes the princess-turned-general seem astonishingly imposing and estimable whenever she’s onscreen. At the same time, Leia is still the same wonderfully warm and kind-hearted individual she’s been since we first met her as a young adult in A New Hope and, as always, there’s something very comforting about how Fisher plays the part. It goes without saying that Carrie’s sudden death was absolutely heart-breaking, but I don’t believe it’s an exaggeration to assert that her final performance was unequivocally impeccable.

But, let us not overlook the other heroes and villains introduced to us by The Force Awakens either, especially Oscar Isaac’s extremely charming Poe Dameron. I was disappointed that Poe didn’t get more screen time in the last film, because he was definitely brimming with potential, and hats off again to Rian Johnson, because he made sure the Resistance’s best pilot got the attention he deserved in The Last Jedi. Essentially serving as Leia’s headstrong protégé, Poe came across as a capable and charismatic leader who was impossible not to like due to Isaac’s captivatingly characterful performance.

Poe and Finn’s friendship is also expanded upon in a satisfactory manner, but unfortunately the individual formerly known as FN-2187 gets stuck in a subplot that really made the middle of the movie feel over-bloated at times. Don’t get me wrong, John Boyega was on fine form again as Finn. I don’t have a bad word to say about the bubbly British actor or Finn as a character. I hold both in high regard. But, without giving anything away, it felt like Johnson wasn’t sure what do with Finn in the second act and consequently decided to send him on a mission that, while serving a purpose later in the story, just wasn’t all that interesting as it played out. That being said, I did appreciate that the mission’s destination offered more insight into everyday life and civilisation in the Star Wars galaxy, and Finn did play a pivotal part in the final act that I thought worked remarkably well.

One character who I found to be completely superfluous though was Kelly Marie Tran’s Rose Tico. To be fair, I didn’t dislike Rose or Tran’s portrayal of her, I just felt that she added nothing of importance to the plot. By and large, the part she plays could just as easily have been handled by Poe, which might also have streamlined the unnecessarily long second act a bit.

As for the rest of the Resistance operatives, franchise veterans Luke and Leia are of course once again joined by everybody’s favourite big walking carpet, Chewbacca. Occasionally, there was a sense that Chewie was something of a loose end in Han’s absence, however, he never feels shoehorned into the plot and has some great hero moments, particularly during the movie’s climactic battle.

And how can you have a Star Wars film – or at least an episodic one – without prissy protocal droid C-3PO?! Despite lingering in the background for most of the story, Threepio’s role is a lot larger in The Last Jedi than it was in The Force Awakens and, unsurprisingly, he delivered more than one line of dialogue that put a smile on my face.

Conversely, I was dismayed that Artoo didn’t play a bigger part in the proceedings after his reawakening at the end of Episode VII. Having said that, there was one particular scene involving the chirpy astromech droid that I really loved, but I’m afraid I can’t comment on it because it very much falls into the category of spoilers.

As was to be expected, BB-8 was the true star in the droid department for the second episode in a row, being just as fun and vivacious as he was in The Force Awakens, even if some of the feats he managed to accomplish were a tad absurd.

Then there’s Laura Dern’s Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo, who fulfilled a purpose but really wasn’t anything more than a plot device to add more padding to that unnecessarily long second act. If you want to see Holdo depicted well, then you’ll have to read Christie Golden’s recently published Leia: Princess of Alderaan novel.

And on the topic of expanded universe material, in my last blog post I lauded over Delilah S. Dawson’s Phasma and expressed my hope that The Last Jedi would capitalise upon the chrome-armoured captain’s villainous potential as well as Dawson did. To be succinct, it didn’t. At all. And that’s all I’ll say on that matter.

Moving on to the rest of the First Order villains, I thought Domhnall Gleeson was great as General Armitage Hux. Some people may take issue with the fact that the character is largely played for laughs, but I loved what Johnson did with Hux and how Gleeson portrayed him. I thought he was depicted as a delightfully deplorable and admirably opportunistic antagonist who acted as a fun foil to Kylo Ren.

On the other hand, there’s nothing I can say about Supreme Leader Snoke that isn’t a major spoiler, except that Andy Serkis seemed to be enjoying himself emulating the Emperor. It’s seriously killing me not saying more because there is so much I want to talk about in relation to Snoke, but you’ll have to wait for my in-depth discussion for my full thoughts.
I think that pretty much covers everything I can say about characters without revealing anything that will ruin the story, so let’s shift gears and talk about the fact that, at 152 minutes, this is the longest Star Wars movie to date. First off, let me state that there was never a time when I was bored by what was happening onscreen. However, this film is definitely far too long. I’ve already made reference to the second act being a bit of a drag at times and that is solely down to the aforementioned subplots featuring Finn and Admiral Holdo. Now, I’m not saying either of these stories should have been excised from the script. They do both serve a purpose. But my god, they should have been significantly trimmed down.
Considering how strong the first and third acts are, after a point, it really felt like Finn and Holdo’s stuff in the middle was there just to surround the much more compelling arcs of Luke, Rey and Ren with unnecessary padding. Again, I was never bored, but I did feel that about twenty minutes could have been cut out of the second act.

Returning to the positives though, the set-pieces in The Last Jedi are the very definition of spectacular. An early battle between the Resistance and the First Order was more exciting than any of the dogfights in The Force Awakens, while the clash between Finn and Phasma teased by the trailers was a lot of fun, even if the latter character was generally underwhelming. But the final act brought things to a whole other level in terms of both action and emotion, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching it unfold.

On the production side of things, the cinematography and special effects were typically jaw-dropping, with all of the CGI and location shots being beautifully rendered. And John Williams’s score was truly magnificent. Sampling themes from the previous films while bringing plenty of new motifs to the table, the veteran composer’s music moved me and thrilled me in just the right way at all of the right moments.
With that, I’ve more or less talked about all that is possible while staying spoiler free. This may have seemed like a long review – which I guess is ironic considering I criticised the movie’s runtime! – but there really is so much more I’m dying to discuss, so watch out for a follow-up post delving into the specifics of the story early next week. For now though, I’ll finish by affirming that The Last Jedi, while still not a patch on the original trilogy, is a vast improvement over The Force Awakens. I’m not going to rehash what I didn’t like about the latter movie, you can read my previous posts on that subject if you’re so inclined. But, unlike Abrams, Johnson has delivered something that feels refreshingly original and creative, and he succeeds in plugging a large amount of the holes that the former director seemed to bore into the franchise. Let’s just hope JJ doesn’t undo all of Rian’s good work in Episode IX!

Rating: 8/10.

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