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I wasn’t going to write a review for this movie, simply because I have a podcast where I primarily do my reviews. But after several days sitting on this movie I have developed more thoughts and I’m sure I will develop even more after repeated viewings. This will be less of a review and more of my thoughts as I process this film. I wouldn’t normally write a review this long.
Before I dive into my thoughts I want to point out that they are coming from someone who has been a diehard Star Wars fan since the age of 8. This review is also coming from someone who is a massive fan of director Rian Johnson. He’s a brilliant director and writer and if you haven’t checked out his previous work you should.
My hype for The Last Jedi has been at an all time high. I thoroughly enjoyed JJ Abrams take on The Force Awakens. It introduced amazing new characters. Characters I couldn’t wait to see evolve and grow. It also introduced many mysteries. Some mysteries turned into complex theories and debates for over the past 2 years. My only major gripe with The Force Awakens is that it mirrored A New Hope a little too much for me, at least with the third Death Star. It didn’t take a lot of chances other than killing Han Solo, but if you know anything about Harrison Ford that shouldn’t come as a shock. I understand the first movie in the new trilogy had to play it safe to win people over.
Going into The Last Jedi I wanted Rian Johnson to try something different. I didn’t want him to play it safe. I didn’t want a typical predictable cookie cutter movie we see so often in Hollywood movies today. In fact that’s what made the original Star Wars movies so popular. They were strange, different, funny, and adventurous. They took chances. I’d say the prequels did the same thing. After The Force Awakens it was time for things to be shaken up. If Star Wars is to survive it can’t keep blue milking the nostalgia of the originals. It had to move into new territory and develop weird things. Rian Johnson does precisely that.
Coming out of the theater at first I didn’t know what to think. I was shocked. As Luke Skywalker says in the film, “This isn’t going to go the way you think”…and it didn’t. The Last Jedi did some ballzy things, things I didn’t want, but needed in the end. It’s a lot to process. It’s a movie with a lot going on and it’s slow compared to the breakneck pace of TFA. It’s slower like the originals. I love it for being that.
I knew Rian Johnson’s Star Wars would be divisive the moment they hired him, but really what Star Wars movie isn’t? Every time a new movie comes out a part of the fandom cries out that their childhood is ruined because they can’t stand to grow up and to move into new territory. Even the now beloved Empire Strikes Back had its critics back in the day.
It’s impossible for me not to discuss this film going forward without discussing spoilers, so be warned.
The Last Jedi is funny, intense, emotional, action packed, challenging, flawed in areas, totally different, yet it still feels like Star Wars. It still has all the things we love. People seem to forget these movies are made for kids first and foremost, before they are made for everyone else. This film strikes a balance for the most part. My only major gripe is that there was too much humor in some areas and it doesn’t always land.
The only element that reminds me of Empire Strikes Back is that this movie follows three separate plot points with our heroes scattered. The first plot point picks up minutes after the last film. The Resistance is now on the run after destroying Star Killer Base. Poe (Oscar Isaac) the hot shot X-Wing Pilot gets too trigger happy and ends up endangering the whole fleet of bombers so Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) demotes Poe.
The First Order has developed new technology that can track ships in hyperspace. So now the Resistance can’t enter hyperspace and must travel the slow way. They lose fuel and their fleet is slowly consumed by the First Order. Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) is torn and hesitates to attack her ship, but another Tie Fighter fires on the ship taking Leia out of the picture. This scene happens to be one of my biggest complaints of the film visually. For me it wasn’t executed well and it kind of ruined the moment for me. I think it’s cool that Leia used the force, but it would have worked out better visually if she used the force to lift fallen debris, instead of flying back to her ship.
While Leia is on the mend, Vice Admiral Holdo (Laura Dern) takes command of the ship. She butt heads with Poe. Poe is ready to attack with guns a blazing instead of running away. This whole plot point is a growing time for Poe. At first your on Poe’s side and you’re not sure if Holdo should be trusted.
Poe learns that sometimes fighting a war means not foolishly getting yourself or others killed, but escaping so you can fight another day. It’s a dire situation and time is ticking as they race toward the Planet of Crait where they hope to make their last stand and to send a signal for help to the rest of the galaxy. It reminds me of the classic movie Twelve O’Clock, which Johnson has said did play as an influence. It’s the slowest moment of the film and some of it could have been trimmed back.
This brings us to the second story where we follow Finn (John Boyega), Rose (Kelly Marie Tran). Rose is the new addition to the group. I liked getting the perspective of the war from a simple mechanic and not just a space wizard. She’s someone who’s lost her sister to something greater and she wants to do more to help the war effort.
Poe sends Finn, Rose, and BB-8 there to the casino planet Canto Bight to find a code breaker to shut down The First Order’s hyperspace tracker.
This was my least favorite part of the film. It has its moments and I understand this is the fun and games part of the movie. It’s a nice break from all the other intense story elements. I also understand you have to have some stuff for the kids, but some of the scenes could have been trimmed down a little. Overall I enjoyed how crazy Canto Bight looked. I liked the drunk alien placing coins in BB-8 like he’s a slot machine. I also enjoyed the chase through the city streets on the space horses.
This is also where we are introduced to DJ (Benicio Del Toro). He’s an eccentric, stuttering, code breaker. I wasn’t the biggest fan of DJ as far as Del Toro’s performance, it felt off. It was unique to see a hacker in the Star Wars world. He’s a hacker that doesn’t really like either side of the war effort and is willing to play both sides if the price is right.
Now I want to talk about the third part of the story. My favorite part of the movie. It’s the dynamic relationships between Luke, Rey, and Kylo.
When we last saw Rey (Daisy Ridley) she was holding up the Skywalker lightsaber to old man Luke (Mark Hamill) in a plea to get back into the war. Mark Hamill nails his performance as a broken man and Daisy nails her performance as the hopeful young hero who’s trying to find her place in the galaxy.
Luke doesn’t want anything to do with the Jedi anymore. He’s not the Luke we last saw. He’s haunted by his past. He’s come to the Island to die alone, but Rey is there on her own journey of awakening. She’s heard about the legend of Luke Skywalker and she wants him to train her and help her understand her purpose.
Luke is bitter about his failure to not be able to live up to the skywalker legacy. Luke sensed darkness and Snoke’s pull in Kylo/Ben Solo. In a brief moment of weakness Luke thought about killing Ben in his sleep. Ben awakens, fights Luke, burns down his Jedi order, and takes some Jedi with him. Now Luke is filled with regret over that one moment of weakness.
Luke sees the same raw strength in Rey and rejects her, but Rey is stubborn. She trains herself as Luke watches from afar. One night Luke wanders in the falcon and reminisces. Ther he meets his old trusty droid, R2-D2. It’s then and there Luke decides to train Rey.
During this time of training Rey and Kylo (Adam Driver) develop a force bond in which they cannot explain. Both give an outstanding performance. In their force bond they are able to see and talk to one another. We see and hear both sides of the story on what happened that night in a very cool Akira Kurosawa Rashomon way.
With this force bond, Rey sense good in Kylo/Ben. The conflict within. The same conflict Luke saw in Darth Vader. She thinks she can bring him back into the light. She has pity towards him. Rey leaves Luke alone on the Island to confront Kylo/Ben
Luke feels he’s failed again and wants to burn the sacred Jedi tree containing all the Jedi text. The force ghost of Yoda shows up to remind Luke that he has to let the past go and to pass on what he has learned. I love it when Yoda says,”You will always be that boy looking into the sunset.” Yoda burns the tree down with a bolt of lightning calling Luke’s bluff. Luke panics, but Yoda laughs it off and tells him everything in that tree Rey processes and that they cannot lose her like they lost Ben. We later find out at the end of the movie in a quick shot that all the Jedi books are on the falcon. Rey had stolen them and Yoda knew that. I loved seeing Yoda return as a puppet instead of CGI.
In the end all three story elements collide in a beautiful way that pays off. All our main characters get their time to shine and we clearly see their character arc.
Holdo who we didn’t trust sacrifices herself in one of the most beautiful shots put to film. She smashes her ship into the First Order star destroyer so the Resistance transport ships can land on Crait. This whole scene made the theater gasp.
Kylo brings Rey before Snoke. Snoke reveals that he’s the one who bridged their minds to create a bond so she could reveal the location of Luke Skywalker. When Snoke finds out where Luke is he asks Kylo to strike her down. This is where the big twist happens. Surely they won’t kill Snoke. He’s Darth Plagueis, right? (Joking) Fan speculation on Snoke has come to an end. Kylo uses the force to ignite the Skywalker blade to slice Snoke in half along with all those theories.
The death of Snoke might frustrate some, but I was never a fan of Snoke. I thought his design was unoriginal and too much like Palpatine and I thought the movies going forward should focus more on Kylo Ren. He is the most passionate, conflicted, and unpredictable villain we have seen in a Star Wars movie.
I love it when Rey and Kylo ignite their blades and go to town on those red Praetorian Guards. It’s such a unique and vastly different lightsaber battle. It’s one of the coolest lightsaber fights in a Star Wars movie. The theater went crazy over the Reylo team up. Kylo thinks Rey is helping him because she wants to join him and Rey thinks Kylo is helping her because he’s returning to the light.
Kylo wants Rey to bury her past and to forget about Luke, Snoke, The Jedi, and the Sith so they can create a new order. Kylo reveals that her parents are nobodies and that she’s a nobody in this story, but she means something to him. Rey refuses to join. Some fans might not like that Rey’s parents are nobodies after JJ’s big mystery box setup. I was pro Rey Skywalker, but this is unique and different. Then again…Is Kylo lying to her?
Then we have Poe and Leia trapped, making their last stand on Crait with only a handful of Resistance fighters and a few junk speeders. They are forced to retreat into the caves to save what they have left of the resistance. Poe learns it’s not always about going in with guns a blazing. It’s about being wise. This whole battle reminded me of the battle of hornburg in Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.
Finn and Rose learn and grow together. Finn confronts Phasma and is no longer afraid, he no longer wants to run from his fears. He wants to fight for what he loves. He’s willing to smash his fighter into The First Order battering ram, and Rose is willing to become a hero by joining the front lines and saving Finn. They both learn that it’s not about fighting what you hate, but what you love.
All of these stories connect to the final spark needed to burn down The First Order…Luke Skywalker. Luke shows up and has a very emotional scene with his sister Leia. It’s the last time we will see them together on screen. Luke is here to make things right. I love it when Leia reminds Luke regarding Ben/Kylo that, “Nobody is ever really gone.”
While Rey helps what’s left of the Resistance board the falcon we get the true Luke Skywalker in all of his glory on a battlefield at sunset with gorilla walkers staring him down and blasting away in a classic cinematic western samurai way. Kylo goes down to face his uncle. What’s awesome is Luke never attacks. Only dodges and deflects Kylo’s swings. Luke becomes a Jedi in the truest sense. A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defense, never for attack. Luke reminds Kylo if he strikes him down he will always be around, forever haunting him. In in a classic Han Solo way he says, “See you around kid.” Kylo stabs him and he’s gone. Adam Driver brings an intense performance as Kylo Ren. You feel for him in moments and hate him in others. I feel like he’s the Anakin we should have had and I like the prequels.
This is where things got crazy and the theater went nuts. Luke has become so powerful in the force that he had projected himself on Crait, when he was really on his island meditating on a rock overlooking a twin sunset. He drops and looks weak, but regains his composure and looks off into the sunset like he did as a kid so many years ago. He smiles with purpose before becoming one with the force. We all know Luke will be back. He will be teaching Rey and tormenting Kylo.
Rey, Poe, Finn, Rose, Leia, and a handful of Resistance fighters escape on the Falcon. Rey wonders how they will rebuild and Leia tells her they have all they need, as she holds the broken skywalker saber. We also get a glimpse of those Jedi books.
The Last Jedi has its flaws. It could have been trimmed down in some areas, some of the humor with General Hux didn’t work for me, and some of the characters were wasted like Captain Phasma and Chewbacca. Overall it’s a brilliant heavily character driven film with riveting performances from all. It also happens to have great action and spectacular special effects. Oh, and Porgs are not annoying.
The thing I enjoy the most about this film is its themes. The Last Jedi is about failure and redemption. Star Wars has always been about redemption. It’s about learning from your mistakes and failures and moving on. We all imagine our Luke always being that brave fearless boy full of hope, but he fails and loses that hope and then regains that hope. Much like growing up. When we are kids we are hopeful and sometimes ignorant about the real world. We think we are unstoppable. Our loved ones for better or worse tell us we can do anything we want. Then when we grow up failure hits us. We find out that life is more complicated and we lose hope. We lose that childlike wonder. It’s about how we deal with that failure. Do we look back at it or do we look into the twin sunset of the future and see hope and move on?
I love the final shot of the movie. We end with the hopeful kid at the stable on Canto Bight. He calls a broom to his hand with the force and holds it into the air like a lightsaber as he gazes upon a shooting star. He is a part of the Force awakening in many new kids who will someday become Jedi.
There are many young audience members who are also having an awakening to a grand new story about light, darkness, hope, failure, and redemption. Like Luke passing down the torch, I pass that torch down to my own niece and nephew and I’m happy I get to enjoy it with them. Luke was the spark that ignited the flames that will burn down The First Order and he won’t be the last Jedi…
– JL
This week I’m starting a new series of reviews that will go along with my podcast, 
The Art of Scriptology 