Star Wars: The Last Jedi is a 2017 sci-fi/action film written and directed by Rian Johnson. The Last Jedi is the second film in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, following Star Wars: The Force Awakens and is the ninth film in the series to be released. The film stars Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Kelly Marie Tran, Laura Dern, Andy Serkis, Lupita Nyong’o, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Gwendoline Christie, and Benicio del Toro. The Last Jedi takes place right after the events of The Force Awakens with Rey seeking guidance from Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, while the First Order prepares an attack to end the resistance once and for all.
Jaw dropping. What more can I say about this film other than jaw dropping? Although I’ve seen a lot of films over the past year or so, this is by far one of the most controversial films of the decade. The Last Jedi is something not only special, but unique to the point that it will forever be known as the film that changed Star Wars. Although a lot of people have issues with this movie, I on the other hand absolutely loved it. The risks that this film takes are on a level that the series has never seen before, and the payoff will definitely be worth the troubles come Episode IX. So then what has the audience divided on this film? Well, lets talk about that.
Before jumping straight into the story I did want to touch on the acting seen throughout this film. Although Mark Hamill’s Luke can be seen as a whiny brat throughout most of the original trilogy, you can really get a sense of maturity and wisdom from his character. Although I haven’t seen him much, this has to be Hamill’s best performance of his entire career. He nails the character, he nails the emotion, he is Luke Skywalker. Carrie Fisher was also fantastic in this film and has a lot of great moments in the movie. It’s almost nice to see her have more screen time than she had in The Force Awakens, and I think her character went in a great direction, even if this is her last time onscreen. As for the rest of the cast, I was very impressed by Daisy’s character throughout the film, but the standout here was definitely Adam Driver’s performance. Not only is Kylo one of the best and most polarizing antagonists of all time, he is incredibly unpredictable and proves to be a great addition to the Star Wars universe. Andy Serkis kills it yet again, and other members of the cast like Boyega, Isaac, and Tran did a great job with their minor roles.
But this is a controversial film, so lets talk about why it is that way. Well for the most part it has to do with the film’s story as this film takes some sharp turns down unexpecting paths. Sure, some of the choices are great and exciting, but there are a lot of turns that the film takes for the worse. The Last Jedi answers a lot of questions that we all had coming out of The Force Awakens, but it also doesn’t. By that I mean the film takes a lot of our questions about characters and backstories and then just ends them in a way that provides zero context. Since this is a spoiler free review I won’t go into too much detail, but the film does take bold steps that can leave the audience questioning what direction J.J. Abrams will take in the next installment. There is a lot that happens in this film, almost to the point where it feels like a conclusion to the trilogy rather than the middle film.
As for the film’s visual effects.. my god. Lucas Film you have done it again. ILM is and always will be the best VFX studio on the planet. Not only does ILM’s visuals take the pilot’s seat in this film, but also Johnson’s style of directing. The red and green color pallets in this film provides a clear sense of light and dark, and my god there are some beautiful scenes that make even Rogue One (Star Wars‘ most beautiful film) jealous. Although I thought the studio did a fantastic job with this film’s visuals, I did end up seeing a lot more CGI than what I felt like I saw with The Force Awakens. To be more specific, scenes with BB-8 had a lot more of his CGI body than with practical droid. Sure some scenes needed it, but I would of liked to see more practical uses of his character. Other than those minor complaints, The Last Jedi is still visually stunning, and quite possibly one of the best visual films of the year (behind Blade Runner 2049 of course).
Transitioning over to the sound department, holy shit.. This film is amazing. I know I praise a lot of sci-fi films for their beautiful sound design, but The Last Jedi absolutely kills it in this department. The beautiful sounds of the lightsabers, to the iconic ring of a blaster just hits home every time and puts you straight into the world of Star Wars. John Williams’ score is as iconic as it gets, and is probably one of the best soundtracks he’s released in the decade. The beautiful themes that he had composed for the last film have evolved into different contextual meanings, and they really make you feel apart of the Star Wars universe. There’s really something special about that title crawl in the beginning, and of course it would be nothing without that beautiful fanfare to go along with it.
But of course I said this is a controversial film, and of course I will go over the more intricate parts in my review. One of the main issues people had was with some of the subplots being too.. boring? Although I’ve been raving about this film, I will say I agree to a certain extent on this one. This isn’t really a spoiler of any kind, but the scenes with Finn and Rose at the casino planet seemed to take the audience (and myself) out of the film multiple times, not to mention it didn’t really provide any significant purpose to the plot. Sure it sets up a larger reveal later on, but it honestly takes too long to get anywhere significant and could have been approached in a different way that would have been more accepted by the audience.. including myself.
There were also some issues behind the killing off certain characters too early into the series as well as some anticlimactic scenes. Although a second viewing ultimately fixed some of these issues for me, I can see why a lot of people were against this. The killing of one particular character was still something I didn’t agree with, but I can accept Johnson’s decision none the less. There were also some hands thrown about the way Johnson handled Leia, but unlike everyone I’ve talked to about it, I had zero issues with what he did with her character. I personally loved the way he used her character in this film. To be honest if Carrie hadn’t passed when she did, I don’t think anyone would be as mad about this issue at all.
Other than some more minor issues like the ending scene, I didn’t really have much more to complain about. Of course people over hype this film and expect way too much only to be disappointed, but unlike them I was incredibly happy with this film’s chances and risks that it took. To wrap things up I thought that The Last Jedi had some stellar visuals, beautiful sounds and music, fantastic acting across the board, and some great controversial decisions. There were some minor issues with character development and unanswered questions, but the majority of the criticisms should be taken with a grain of salt. In the end I decided to give Star Wars: The Last Jedi a “Very Good” on theVade Review Bar. With all that being said I have high hopes for Episode IX. Although that film is two long years away, if The Last Jedi is only the middle chapter of this thrilling series I can only imagine what is in store for the climatic finale.
