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When I wrote my review for Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, two years ago (already?), I took the path of the self-indulgent and rambled-on for a whopping ten whole pages, mostly recounting my praise and defense of George Lucas’ maligned but secretly brilliant prequels.
For the sake of not repeating myself, I skipped reviewing Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, a film I liked much better (although heavily considered reviewing Michael Giaccino’s excellent soundtrack). Although I got some likes on Facebook for my TFA review, not one person commented on a single thing that I wrote or, any one opinion I expressed in it. I suspect the article was just too much and what few readers mostly took to it skimmed through it as opposed to reading it word-for-word. Anyone reading this I may now refer to that article to know where I stand on most of this saga, and here, I can contain myself to reviewing this single film, these introductory paragraphs notwithstanding! Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (TLJ hereafter) begins, intriguingly, mere days after the events of the previous film. Finn is just awakening from his severe wounding and the Resistance, still led by General Leia (the late Carrie Fisher, looking appropriately frail throughout), is fleeing planet Q’Dar following a heavy attack from The First Order. Hotshot pilot Poe Daemeron (Oscar Isaacs) taunts one-dimensional General Khar-Twoon Baudguy (oh, uh, I meant Hux, as still played by Domhall Gleeson) and, through a single, very humorous exchange, both characters are instantly developed far more than they ever were in the previous film. We are also introduced to a wonderful supporting new character, Rose Tico, earnestly played by the adorable Kelly Marie Tran. She is mourning her sister; a character we are shown heroically going down in action during the first bombing raids against the First Order’s dreadnaught Star Destroyers. Then, for the first time ever in the saga (that I can recall), we flashback to earlier story events with Rey (still the gleaming, radiant, resplendent miracle of Daisy Ridley) handing Luke Skywalker (still the gleaming, radiant, resplendent miracle of Mark Hamill) his lightsaber from the ending of TFA. What he does with it, I will not spoil, but it is absolutely hilarious and for a moment, it seems as if we have the Monty Python and the Holy Grail of Star Wars movies. Well, we have precisely that, but in a good way - the best way possible - and I even might be tempted to equate the adorable (read: merchandise) creatures, the porgs, with the Killer Bunny of that film. Just when you think Disney would never let a Star Wars film to get so graphic Chewbacca (now quite noticeably not played by Peter Mayhew) roasts one up and tries to eat it! Force Awakens was a fairly even-split film, and for all of its faults (mostly in the plotting, dialogue and flip-flopping character motivations) that I pointed towards, it did not skimp on the humor. Many licensees forget that humor was a major element of these films, even at their grimmest, (both The Empire Strikes Back and Revenge of the Sith feature excellent humorous asides) and a lot of the expanded universe novels, comics or games suffer for a lack of it and from taking themselves too seriously. (Wizards of the Coast, I’m farting in the general direction of your roleplaying game products). Clone Wars and Rebels, the animated series often get it right, although both can sometimes suffer from the pretension of Jedi mysticism. I still cannot believe that The First Order took over the entire galaxy so easily, even if by redressing and retrofitting most of The Empire’s old fleets and vehicles (although this new film suggests most of their equipment is newly constructed for the sake of economics, but why would a group calling itself The ‘First’ Order just redesign the Imperial aesthetic? Shouldn’t they call themselves The ‘Second’ Order?). Yet, as we’ve seen in the real world, a group like ISIS did come to sufficient power right under the noses of many political and military polities around the region, including the US troops that are still in Afghanistan after more than fifteen godless years of “The War on Terror”. In both TFA and here in TLJ, we see so little of “The Galaxy” (at least the parts of it that we knew from previous works) so maybe it was more that they took over only a “slice” of it. They seem to have no presence on the gambling world of Canto Bright, for instance, just as they didn’t on Tokadana in TFA, at least not before Han, Rey and Finn arrived there. But what of worlds like Tatooine, Naboo or Bespin? Are the First Order troopers plowing over the citizens of these worlds? It is, in the films, nowhere mentioned or talked about (I do know the newer novels get into that, but...…let’s just stick to what we get in the movies). Most of the plot of The Last Jedi is focused on Rey’s training at the hands of a somewhat daffy Luke Skywalker, intercut with scenes of The First Order slowly destroying the Resistance fleet (although they are often referred to as Rebels just as much). Rey is also, in the words of the LA Times’ review, “Forcetiming,” with First Order henchman Kylo Ren. Rey believes she can pull him back to the Light Side of the Force, but even trying to might lead her down a darker path. Kylo Ren is still brooding, still outstandingly portrayed by Adam Driver. His charisma level is such that we, the audience, want him to turn back to the light, because it would be the reverse of Darth Vader’s story, and we have yet to see that happen to anyone after nearly ten pictures in the saga. (On the other hand there is that whole, killing off the coolest actor in one of his major signature roles thing). There is also critically divisive sub plot, but one which I found rather nifty, in which Finn (a very subdued John Boyega) and Rose go to the aforementioned gambling world of Canto Bright and have, to my mind, more than a few rousing escapades there. I felt it was some of the series best scenes in quite a while and featured more of the surprises and imagination (and humanity) I’ve come to expect from the franchise. They are looking for a fabled code-breaker, someone who can help them infiltrate The First Order’s Mega-Mega-Mega Quad-Super-Duper-Scooper Star Destroyer (yeah, see?) and take out a device that helps them track the Resistance fleet even through hyperspace. (Many have pointed out that Rogue One sets up this tech ability when Jyn Erso is sifting through various Imperial files on Scarif; although I didn’t pick up on this myself I do recall Harry Knowles pointing it out in his review of TFA that The First Order tracked the Resistance this way back to Q’Dar, so I’m confused about where it came from first). In any case, Finn and Rose instead wind up with a slippery fella’ played with his usual delirium by Benicio Del Toro, who leads them right back to The First Order! Some fans and critics have accused this subplot of being a meandering mess that goes nowhere. They are wrong! Those paying close attention will notice that these are actually some of the most important, the most fun, and among some of the best scenes in the entire movie! Director Rian Johnson does a fantastic job juggling these many elements, and it's shocking just how much he is allowed to subvert our expectations and turn entire Star Wars tropes on their heads. We're never quite sure which characters are good, which are bad, or who is murdering whom. The action might not have been as visceral as J.J. Abrams’ TFA, but it is certainly much more artistically expressed: slow motion shots and still imagery are quite a breath of fresh air for this brand! Overall the dialogue, humor and character development is so much improved over The Force Awakens. Mark Hamill, arguably, gives the film its best performance as a grizzled and kooky Luke, which bristled many other original series fans expecting him to be more heroic. But that just wouldn’t have fit the style and story developments inherent in both this and previously in TFA. Overall, I think I like this film better than both Force Awakens and Rogue One put together, and considering how much I liked Rogue One, that is saying a lot. Heck, I thought I’d seen the best movie, sci fi or otherwise, in Blade Runner 2049 only a few months ago. I was wrong. The Last Jedi is this year’s truest, boldest masterpiece! My rankings: Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Star Wars: The Clone Wars Seasons One through Five Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens Star Wars: Rebels Seasons One through Four Star Wars: Droids (animated series) Star Wars: Clone Wars The Macro Series (animated series) Star Wars: The Clone Wars - A Galaxy Divided Ewoks: Battle for Endor Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure Star Wars: Ewoks (animated series) The Star Wars Holiday Special (because obviously) |
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