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Star Wars: The Last Jedi Reviewed

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9 years ago

December 13, 2017

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The Force Isn’t Quite With Them

♦ Tripwire’s editor-in-chief takes a look at Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the second in the latest trilogy and out from Thursday at UK cinemas and Friday in the US. Warning: Major Spoilers Ahead…

Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Director: Rian Johnson
Stars: Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Mark Hamill, Adam Driver, Gwendoline Christie, Domnhall Gleeson, Oscar Isaacs, Carrie Fisher, Billie Lourd, Kellie Marie Tran

When The Force Awakens was released in 2015, the filmmakers did have an uphill battle. The previous Star Wars film was Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith which was brought out back in 2005, a whole decade before. So the audience that was familiar with the classic SW characters had grown up and the newer cinemagoers lacked the deep connection to Luke, Han and Leia. So it was a very canny move to introduce Rey (Daisy Ridley), Finn (John Boyega) and the other new creations that debuted in The Force Awakens.

Fast-forward two years and Star Wars is back as a central fixture of mainstream pop culture again. Last year’s Rogue One took just over $1bn at the international box office so expectations are high for Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

Unlike TFA, the film doesn’t have to introduce a new cast of central characters and if The Force Awakens was A New Hope, is The Last Jedi this trilogy’s Empire Strikes Back?

Before I start my review, I do have to warn people that it is impossible to review The Last Jedi properly without blowing some of the major plot points here, so if anyone hasn’t seen it yet, please step away and come back when you have.

The rebels are still reeling from the death of Han Solo (Harrison Ford) at the hands of his son Ben/ Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) while Rey (Daisy Ridley) has found Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) at last. The problem is that Skywalker hid himself away because he didn’t want to be discovered and has no real intention of coming back to save the galaxy again. So Rey has to coax him to change his mind and also to convince him to train Rey as a Jedi. He is reticent to do this because he originally trained Kylo Ren and that didn’t exactly turn out well.

Meanwhile the First Order led by Supreme Leader Snoke (a CGIed Andy Serkis) is intent on finding Rey and destroying her and the new rebellion. Assisted by the comically inept General Hux (Domnhall Glesson) and Kylo Ren, they have the upper hand over the rebels because they seem to be able to second guess their location wherever they flee to in the galaxy. So Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaacs) with the assistance of Finn (Boyega) and new character Rose (Kelly Marie Tran) set out to find themselves a criminal ingenious enough to sabotage the First Order’s tracking device and offer a glimmer of hope to the rebels, against the orders of General Leia (Carrie Fisher).

So Dameron and co head to gambling planet Canto Bight to track down this mysterious criminal who could save their bacon. The criminal turns out to be DJ, played by Benicio Del Toro. But things don’t quite go to plan and the trip find themselves in the clutches of the First Order.

Much is made of the chemistry/ connection between Rey and the corrupted Kylo Ren. Are they brother and sister or something else? The relationship between the pair of them is probably the most effective part of the film.

It is nice to see Hamill back as Skywalker but the training scenes between him and Rey sometimes just feel like a retread of Luke being trained by Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back with Yoda’s planet swapped for a rocky desolate island.

The crescendo of the film where Luke seemingly returns to face off against Kylo Ren is arguably the best scene in the whole film. The salt planet of Crait, covering the red earth that lies beneath, is a great setting and Johnson uses it to full advantage.

The problem with The Last Jedi is that it just feels like there is far too much going on at the same time. For all of The Force Awakens’ flaws, and it did have a few, it was a very focused Star Wars adventure that introduced the new characters and set things up for further stories. Johnson is a good director but the pacing here is all over the place and it does feel like it needed a stricter hand on the directorial tiller. The running time is a problem too. Clocking in at two and a half hours, it definitely could have done with some judicious editing.

Rey and Finn are fine, Poe Dameron is a decent replacement for Han Solo, a role he was obviously always being groomed for, but new addition Rose (Tran) is a flimsy and annoying new character. Laura Dern makes her debut as rebel leader Vice Admiral Holdo and she is competent but she feels most of the time like a paper-thin version of Leia. The return of Carrie Fisher is nice to see but she feels a little bit like an afterthought here. It is left for Hamill as Skywalker to act as the link between the new and the old Star Wars and his fate at the end is left a little bit unsatisfying.

Del Toro is probably the most interesting character in the whole film and thankfully they leave it open for him to return.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi may aspire to be like The Empire Strikes Back but it falls far short of this ambition. Peppered with some great moments, it collapses under its own weight in its attempt to be the ultimate Star Wars film.

So we have another two years to wait until Episode IX hits and this film has left us with lots of questions. Star Wars: The Last Jedi is an enjoyable but very inconsistent film, weaker than The Force Awakens. It will still clean up at the box office as Star Wars is pretty much criticproof these days. Recommended with quite a few reservations.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is out in UK cinemas from Thursday 14 December and in US cinemas from Friday 15 December