The good news is that the Star Wars universe appears to be in more than capable hands with Rian Johnson’s take at the helm for The Last Jedi. Whereas the previous installment in the franchise, The Force Awakens, was little more than a rehashing of the original, titular movie, Johnson takes this one in bold new directions and truly hands the torch to the new characters in the galaxy far, far away, namely Daisy Ridley’s Rey, John Boyega’s Finn and Oscar Isaac’s Poe Dameron, as well as one or two newbies, such as Kelly Marie Tran’s Rose. The movie is not without its problems. There are a handful of plot holes you could drive a Star Destroyer through, and the movie at times borders on silly, but once Johnson finishes the set-up of the first two acts, he goes for broke in the final act and largely knocks it out of the park. Unfortunately, getting to the third act is a bit of a process, particularly the overlong by about an hour second act that serves to do little more than introduce throw-away characters that are bound to have fleshed out and fulfilling lives in future books or comics, but distract from the emotional heft that is found in abundance elsewhere throughout the movie.
Do yourself a favor and stay as spoiler-free as possible for this one (for example, I won’t tell you that Rey’s parents actually are Dr. Evazan and Walrus Man aka Ponda Baba). Johnson throws some incredible curve balls that had the house full of critics I attended gasping and cheering when they occurred. That being said, here are some specific questions/comments that I don’t feel impact the plot at all that keep bugging me (but read at your own discretion).
- I find it ironic that it appears the writers are doing their best to make Poe a copy of Peter Quill from Guardians of the Galaxy, when the Quill movie character is himself a knock-off of Han Solo. Harrison Ford did it better than either of them. Let’s make Poe his own character.
- Following the destruction of the Starkiller base, how is the First Order at the level of power and might that they are in this movie? Wouldn’t they still be reeling from that devastation?
- Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver REALLY need to work on their fight choreography.
- While it’s not nearly as heavy-handed as JJ Abrams’ TFA, there still are a few too many direct call-backs to The Empire Strikes Back for my liking.
- Why is Laura Dern’s Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo essentially in an evening gown the entire movie?
- Some of the special effects and CGI simply are not good, which is mind-blowing considering this is a Star Wars movie with presumably a damn near unlimited budget. Let’s make this perfectly clear—CGI Chewbacca is not acceptable. We don’t serve their kind here.
- If we’re ranking the Disney Star Wars movies, this one definitely goes above TFA, but probably below Rogue One.
Bottom line, The Last Jedi is a movie that should appeal to the vast majority of fans, including the harder core fanatics (such as myself). A bloated second act and some unnecessarily silly, Disney-esque touches are problematic, but do not outweigh Johnson’s firm grasp of where he wants to take things. While I’m now that much LESS excited for Abrams’ return on Episode IX, I can’t wait to see where Johnson takes things in the next trilogy.
