04 May Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi

STAR WARS EPISODE VIII: THE LAST JEDI

dir. George Lucas, starring Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver, Mark Hamill, and Carrie Fisher

[UPDATED REVIEW – 20 April 2022]

This movie is still the hardest for me to properly evaluate of the sequel trilogy. I feel strongly that The Force Awakens was an entertaining entry that was mostly a modern remake of A New Hope and endemic of JJ Abrams complete lack of originality. And I hate The Rise of Skywalker through-and-through, full stop. The Last Jedi contains arguably the best moments of the sequel trilogy, as well as some of the dumbest elements.
The good: Rian Johnson boldly forged his own path and made some elements of the Star Wars universe his own. To me, the top three moments of the entire trilogy are in Episode VIII: Holdo’s light speed carnage, the Millennium Falcon rescuing the Resistance, and Luke vs. Kylo. Genuinely thrilling, very excellent Star Wars moments.
But the bad:
Completely abandoning almost every major narrative thread Force Awakens set up.
Completely wasting Finn, utterly squandering every last bit of character potential and giving John Boyega absolutely nothing to work with at all.
All of Canto Bight Casino is garbage.
Refusal to let any major character die in a meaningful sacrifice, except the one character that deserved better (Luke).
Fundamentally idiotic yet intrinsically critical story elements (why didn’t the First Order light-speed a couple massive star destroyers to intercept the Resistance?!)
Benicio del Toro’s super-odd portrayal of a nearly excellent thematically strong character.
Leia’s space floating and Ackbar’s ignominious off-screen death.
Gravity-reliant bombs in space (an Acme spring would have been better).
Poe bearing far more responsibility for the decimation of the Resistance than the First Order and being rewarded for it.
Holdo’s idiotic OPSEC (editor’s note: operational security) compartmentalization.

All of these things were both much better and MUCH worse because of The Rise of Skywalker, which, as I’ve previously mentioned, caused me a powerful retroactive re-evaluation of the entire trilogy in the same way the fourth Matrix movie made me retroactively hate everything Matrix-related but the original movie. In retrospect, Episode VIII may be the best-made movie of the sequel trilogy, but it is deeply, ridiculously flawed. It suffers by its refusal to narratively connect with Episode VII, and then from being similarly retconned out of relevance by Episode IX. The whole trilogy suffers from a lack of coherent narrative throughline and disturbingly frequent signs of studio meddling. But The Last Jedi seems to suffer from some purely dumb story beats that probably rest at the feet of Johnson alone.
I still stand by my original review (below), but the good and bad have both been amplified, and the bad simply outweighs the good considering where the entire venture ends up in The Rise of Skywalker.

[ORIGINAL REVIEW – 16 December 2017]

I love Star Wars, but I’ve come to realize that this love is rooted in the ideas, imagination, and potential of the stories, combined with their longevity and parallel development with my own life. The simple fact is that many of the Star Wars films are not great:
Episode I is a dumpster fire of disappointment–I don’t even need to go into it.
Episode II is worse than a dumpster fire–I don’t even have an adequate description for what is worse.
Episode III is passable, but still suffers from some mighty poor filmmaking across the board. In reality, the prequels are obviously terrible, with about 2/3 of one good movie spread across all three episodes.
Episode IV is a classic film that was made in an era when pacing and special effects were so far removed from today that it can be difficult to watch. It’s a great movie, but not as much of a crowd-pleaser as anyone seems to remember.
Episode V is a brilliant and most easy to justify as the best of the franchise by a wide margin. It is nearly flawless and stands up today just fine.
Episode VI is pretty great, but I have problems with it that endure to this day: I don’t like the Ewoks, it has a second Death Star as the McGuffin, and the climactic lightsaber fight is archaic by today’s fight choreography standards. But overall, a solid film.
Episode VII is a magnificent remake of Episode IV, with very little additional imagination and the third Death Star in seven films–too many; but it introduced some great characters, modern special effects and pacing, and (after several years) reminded everyone of why Star Wars is great. It was the best lazy remake ever made.
Rogue One was the most unique film in that it stands outside the core Skywalker Saga and explains some details about the original Death Star that flesh out some murky (if never-questioned) details leading into A New Hope. It has faults (ANOTHER Death Star movie), but I really love it despite these faults–see my full review if you want more detail.

All of which brings us to the ninth entry in Star Wars Cinematic Canon: Episode VIII: The Last Jedi. I gave The Force Awakens a mighty generous mulligan for being a remake of A New Hope, and I discounted Rogue One since it was not technically part of the core Skywalker Saga. But both passes meant there were tremendously high expectations of this film. I was prepared to walk out if there was another Death Star (there wasn’t…luckily), but I also demanded more originality and creativity than Abrams managed in Force Awakens.

Long story short: I really enjoyed The Last Jedi. It took the entire story in unexpected directions, played with narrative structure and formulaic action movie expectations in wonderful and new ways, making for an overall great experience.

That said, let me get my complaints out of the way, which did stop me from giving it a full 5/5 rating, as I was expecting/hoping to do.

So with that, The Bad:

First, the movie turned the Force into a narrative ‘deus ex machina’ by introducing new Force powers whenever the story got caught in a corner. By my count, three new Force powers were introduced and all three were crucial to the continuance of the story, as if the writers found themselves with no other choice but to throw in a new Force power just to get the story moving again.
This was most noticeable and offensive when General Leia is blown out of bridge of the command frigate. If you can get past the fact that the concussive force of the explosion would liquify a human body, or the vacuum and cold of space would cause catastrophic physiological damage, you then have to accept that General Leia, who has never shown any aptitude for using the Force other than a vague awareness of her brother’s powers, wakes up and Force-flies to safety. It was ridiculous. And in light of the tragic death of Carrie Fisher in real life, it seemed like a REALLY obvious missed opportunity to let her character go out defending her fellow Resistance fighters. The sequence was absurd, and maybe the worst in the entire Star Wars canon. It stretched my suspension of disbelief further than any other Star Wars movie…
The second was Snoke’s creation of a Force bridge between Kylo Ren and Rey, so they could see, hear, and touch each other across the galaxy. Kylo and Rey’s relationship is the core relationship of the new film, and without this mechanic, there would simply be no story to tell. But it is literally explained away by a single line of dialogue from Snoke as his doing, without any further explanation, which made the continuation of the link more perplexing after Snoke was killed.
Lastly, the entire climax of the film hinged on Luke’s ability to Force Project himself as a hologram across the galaxy and fool Kylo Ren into a false mano-e-mano showdown. Again, never seen this power before. And in retrospect, if the effort to do such a thing was going to cause such a terrible strain on Luke (spoiler alert: he died from the effort), why not just travel to the actual fight and go down actually fighting?! Why not Force Project to Rey long enough to tell her to come back and pick him up?! So strange…so seemingly unnecessary.

Second, the subplot of Poe, Finn, and Rose trying to save the Resistance not only took up vast amounts of time, but ultimately led to the near annihilation of the Resistance, and at the cost of a LOT of screen time for very little payoff. The entire thing could have been avoided if Leia or Jurassic Park Woman (JPW) had simply told Poe “Hey, we do actually have a plan. It’s this: [tell the plan].” Instead, we follow Poe, Finn, and Rose as they literally retrieve a shady cryptologist who betrays them and directly leads to the death of most of the cloaked transport ships. Finn and Rose’s trip to Casino Planet was especially expensive timewise. After Rogue One, we DO NOT need an entire subplot telling us that the Rebellion/Resistance is the home for oppressed, poor rebels–we get it. That’s an underlying theme of the entire Star Wars universe. The whole subplot felt like the answer to “What do we do with Finn and Poe during the slowest chase in galactic history?” Ultimately, all of this subplot would have been explained away very easily by a single, definitely-likely-to-occur convo between JPW and Poe. Save 30 minutes of screen time and focus on the other, better-developed storylines.

Third, two major scenes of the film were too-close homages to original trilogy scenes. The throne room scene with Snoke, Rey, and Ren is, beat-for-beat and shot-for-shot, a near remake of the throne room scene in Return of the Jedi. Why?!? And the Battle of Crait on the salt planet was wayyyyy too reminiscent of the Battle of Hoth in Empire Strikes Back. Again, WHY?!? Neither scene was bad by any stretch, but why the fanservice of being so close to the scenes that inspired them? I gave Force Awakens a pass for being an entire movie of these fan-indulging scenes, but I did that with the expectation that Lucasfilm would not be stupid enough to do that again. Wrong.

Fourth, the contrivances that led to the Slowest Space Chase in Cinematic History were difficult to believe. The scenario was set up primarily to introduce a running-down-the-clock mechanism that was meant to keep the tension high, but the effect was little more than a high-stakes car chase in golf carts. I really feel like any intelligent First Order officer would have volunteered to light-speed away and back again but arrive right in front of the Resistance ships and blow them up. There was a vast ocean of tactical possibilities for the First Order to finish off the Resistance that didn’t involve an 18-hour slower-than-light spaceship chase. Similarly, the Resistance should have used the time more effectively to communicate their plan to their people. OPSEC concerns aside (which would have been significant, given the light-speed trace the discovered), there’s no reason not to share some information with people or even crowd-source a better solution–maybe one that involved auto-piloting the frigate at light-speed into the First Order fleet as a proactive weapon, not a last act of desperation after 75% of your people are dead.

Lastly, after the glorious victory of the Rebellion in Return of the Jedi, led in large part by the heroics of General Leia, it is shocking that the Resistance is so appallingly poorly run. Episode VIII reduces the number of Resistance fighters to 30-40; however many fit in the Millennium Falcon. The hundreds (thousands?) that started at the beginning of the film died because their leaders were morons. I found it very hard to sympathize with them after Poe’s antics led directly to so many unnecessary deaths. TWICE!! The bombing run at the beginning, in which 80% of all fighters/bombers were destroyed, and again at the end when 80% of the transport ships were destroyed because Poe’s plan resulted in the idiot twins of Finn and Rose bringing back an unvetted cryptologist with complete access to the cloaking systems of the Resistance. Then they had the temerity to highlight Leia and JPW having a brief verbal exchange extolling the virtues of Poe as a fighter/leader. I was…not impressed with either of them, Poe, Finn, Rose, or any other Resistance fighter. They were decimated by their own stupidity.

So yeah…those are my concerns. And writing them out, it seems like they are major problems that should significantly impact my enjoyment of the film.

But here’s the thing: I still REALLY enjoyed watching the movie. Here are some of the reasons why:

First, the unique narrative structure allowed for the development of Rey and Ren’s relationship in a way that facilitated strong character arcs for each of them. While Rey had a solid arc in Episode VII, Ren was relegated to Emo-Secondary-Villain. Here, I was shocked that the big confrontation between Snoke, Ren, and Rey was at the end of the second act–much earlier than expected. And the scene not only included the awesome costumes of the Imperial Guard, but the best lightsaber battle in the Saga. By far. And the main villain was killed! I assumed that Snoke was a trilogy villain, but…he dead. It was a really great scene and reminded me of the No Man’s Land scene in Wonder Woman, which was the highlight of the entire film and the centerpiece of the second act. Typically, scenes of this magnitude and importance are relegated to the climactic third act, and it is unique, daring, bold, and impressive to see both films throw everything on the table so early compared to conventional wisdom.

Second, it was a huge relief that Luke’s Jedi instruction to Rey shifted the metaphysical explanation of the Force back to its spiritual roots and away from the midichlorian bullshit of the prequels. A more robust (and much needed) explanation of how the Force is balanced was great, and really brought back the narrative magic of the Force that makes Star Wars unique. I also liked how the Force is no longer a hereditary disease passed along in bloodlines but is more widely accessible. This was subtly but beautifully conveyed through the final shot of the movie, which showed a random peasant child using the force to pick up a broom. It was also, I believe, the reason for having Ren tell Rey that her parents were nobodies. I had never considered that as a possibility, but the underlying impact of that revelation is incredible. The contrast between Kylo and Rey further emphasizes the importance of this revelation. Kylo is Force Royalty, being the son of a Skywalker. But Rey is…nobody of importance. And yet, she is the Force’s way of balancing the universe, being the yin to Kylo’s Force yang. The reinvestment in Force mythology was a key strength of The Last Jedi.

Third, and along similar lines, it was interesting that the story director Rian Johnson ran with kept Luke on the island for the entire movie to his death. Not only that, but it becomes apparent that Luke is definitely not the full-blown powerful Jedi Master we expect him to be but a hollowed-out husk of his former self. I was shocked at the reveal that he had lost touch with the Force. At first, this really bothered me, and made me think that the filmmakers were monumentally stupid for squandering such a clear opportunity for the kind of fanservice that literally everyone expects. But Johnson took Luke’s story in a completely different direction, that, in all honesty, fits in better with the true Skywalker legacy of the Saga films. Throughout the previous films, the Skywalkers are strong with Force, but so fraught with doubt and insecurity that they consistently cave under pressure. Anakin, Luke, and Kylo all suffer from literally debilitating doubt in their abilities, which leads to their destruction. Luke’s actions, which are VERY different than audiences likely expect, actually fit better with the character’s actions in episodes 4 and 5, in particular. Don’t forget that Luke didn’t really save anyone in episode 6 aside from inspiring his dad to commit one final, heroic act before dying. Similarly, Luke didn’t really defeat Kylo Ren– he just delayed Ren long enough to let the final remnants of the Resistance escape. His last, death-inducing act was as heroic as Vader’s, but was barely eked out after decades of personal failure and inflicting significant misery on others by either villainy (Anakin) or inaction (Luke). The Skywalkers are not just reluctant heroes, but arguably non-redeemed heroes; the damage they cause far outweighs the final act of heroism.

Which brings me to my next point. I overlook many flaws because I think The Last Jedi is a fascinating deconstruction of what it means to be a Star Wars Hero. The entire saga has presented a wide range of heroes of all kinds, from Han Solo, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Finn, Rey, and Lando Calrissian, to the entire Skywalker family tree. Almost every portrayal of the heroes sends the message that, despite their weaknesses, they will triumph in the end. The movie does the opposite: we see how almost every hero in the film is consumed by their weaknesses, which ultimately decimates the Resistance and leaves most of them dead. Poe’s hubris is the worst and leads to the most meaningless deaths. Finn is close behind, with Rose in tow. Luke’s failures dominate the entire story, much more so than his legacy provided hope and was the ever-present undercurrent of the entire story in the previous film. Leia’s plans are derided because, despite her inspiring historical actions, she is a terrible communicator to even her inner circle. Every hero fails in this movie, and I think that is the underlying theme of the film: Left unchecked, heroes will allow their weakness to consume them. The lone exception is Rey, who is the only hero to pro-actively face her fears directly, by going into the mysterious black-vine-hole-pool thing and face her destiny, including the possibility that she will turn to the dark side.
If ANY of the other heroes had done the same by admitting and adjusting to their clear weaknesses, they almost certainly would have made different choices. If Poe accepted and acted on his overconfidence and pride (as Leia CLEARLY told him to do), the fleet could have kept their fighter squadron. If Luke had faced his failures with Kylo, he could have moved past them and realized that he did not commit any of the atrocities attributed to his former students. If Leia or JPW had simply talked to the subordinate that was KNOWN to go rogue, they could have proceeded with their plans unimpeded and likely survived.
I really, REALLY appreciate the subtle, powerful nature of this kind of theme in a major science-fantasy Star Wars film. It sets this entire film apart from most of its predecessors. It reminded me of Hugh Jackman’s Logan earlier this year, which was a powerful deconstruction of the superhero movie genre. The Last Jedi eschews the easy path for a Star Wars sequel, which would have simply played out the solid narrative setups of The Force Awakens. Episode VIII actually tries to engage the audience in some critical thinking about who and what heroes really are…and the final shot confirms that sometimes, the best heroes are the ones that know when their job is to sweep the floor and look to the stars with hope for an opportunity to make the universe a better place.

Next, I really like the special effects, which should not be a surprise, but after the prequels, it’s nice to have Star Wars films that consistently churn out solid, photo-realistic special effects. It was especially impressive in light of the last two massive films that were released last month: Thor: Ragnarok and Justice League. Thor had passable special effects, but they were the weakest link in that film. Justice League suffered from epically bad special effects, from Superman’s shitty mustache removal to yet another DC all-CGI villain. Last Jedi had a solid balance of practical and visual effects, with the reveal of puppet Yoda being a wonderfully pleasant surprise. I called it several months ago that Thor would be the most fun of the three, Justice League would be my guilty pleasure (aka, the worst film), and Star Wars would be the best made of the three. From a technical perspective, Episode VIII was another remarkable achievement.

Also from a filmmaking standpoint, I think some of the performances in the film were excellent. Daisy Ridley’s Rey was, again, fantastic, doing a spot-on interpretation of the conflict between light and dark. Adam Driver’s Kylo Ren is less emo and more imposing, while also showing a softer side in his cross-galactic interactions with Rey, as well as a wonderfully unhinged performance opposite Hux and Luke. Mark Hamill’s Luke was a pleasure to see on-screen again, even if the character itself was very different than audiences had psyched themselves up for–which is really a tribute to Hamill’s excellent performance in the face of some hard character decisions. Carrie Fisher’s Leia was endearing and touching, particularly in light of Fisher’s death last year–it helped me gloss over her ridiculous Force power scene knowing that she would continue to be the film. There were some weak spots as well: Poe and Finn were criminally underutilized and reduced to caricatures that cause more harm than good. And Snoke ends up being a non-entity.

Along these lines, I loved the humor of the film. The jokes were strong, frequent, and context appropriate, even if some of them were more self-aware than usual for a Star Wars movie. The visual humor was fun but not overbearing, which I was prepared for with the Porgs. But I was really happy with all of it, and might call this film’s opening, with Poe’s radio taunting of Hux, the best Star Wars opening thus far.

Lastly, I think The Last Jedi accomplished something else that no other Star Wars movie has done yet: without a cliffhanger ending, it has managed to end the film with absolutely no clear path for Episode IX; it could take place 5 minutes later or 5 years later. The truth is that Johnson cleared the decks of characters, both intentionally and unintentionally. Luke, Snoke, Ackbar, and 99% of the Resistance are all dead. And with Fisher’s real-life passing, we know that Leia probably will not have any significant role in the last episode unless they re-cast the part, which seems unlikely. There is no obvious narrative through-line to continue the story, and particularly in light of the episodic films being referred to as the Skywalker Saga, there is essentially only one Skywalker left alive and he REALLY seems like the heir-apparent for being the trilogy’s main villain. All of this was surprising and narratively daring–very unlike the last two Star Wars films, which played everything very safe; Disney safe, if you buy into the theory that corporate Disney has strict expectations for franchise extension and investment. I’m genuinely mystified as to where the story goes from here, and that is exciting in its own way.

Overall, I feel like Last Jedi earned 4 out of 5 stars. Johnson brought his signature narrative structure and some powerful, subtle thematic work to bear on a Star Wars film, making it unique and entertaining, all within the confines of a long-living franchise with rigid rules of engagement. The weaknesses, while significant, don’t diminish these accomplishments nearly as badly as they could have in a lesser filmmaker’s care. The Last Jedi is a worthy addition to the Star Wars canon and stands above many of its predecessors. I just hope that a clear deck and some mature, purpose-driven characters can close out the Skywalker Saga in 2019 on a high note…

Review by Jim Washburn