Star Wars: The Last Jedi is written and directed by Rian Johnson and follows on from where 2015’s The Force Awakens left off with Rey (Daisy Ridley) going off to find Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) while the Resistance is fleeing the increasing might of the First Order (Adam Driver, Domnhall Gleeson and Andy Serkis) but even when times feel dark there is always hope.
The Last Jedi sadly is a bit of mess movie wise don’t get me wrong there are moments here that are very strong and the plotline with Ridley and Hamill is great and both of them do a lot to lift this movie out of the bog of a messy story but outside of them there is a shaggy mess for these reasons:
- First off Finn and Poe who were built up so well in the Force Awakens are pretty much relegated to background fodder where Finn has a totally pointless story arc that feels like a distraction from the main action going on screen and Poe is reduced to running around and barking orders in so much of the running time when in the Force Awakens he was the dashing handsome Maverick of the X-Wing fleet flying out there in the Danger Zone whereas here he just does a lot of running and barking of orders.
- Secondly there is no sense of threat from the First Order at all they just come across as a bunch of shouting, whiny nitwits that only seem to have gotten this far because of their actions in the Force Awakens and Driver does okay here but Gleeson is as horribly over the top as he was in the previous film and Serkis is FLAT as Snoke and the promise of that character from the Force Awakens is now gone.
And compare these to the might, the strength, the force of the Galactic Empire in the Original Trilogy with that DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN of the Imperial March plus Lord Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine who were not just evil but crafty (remember the Emperor’s plan in Return of the Jedi brilliant stuff) and also imposing as Lord Vader was where much like Freeza in Dragon Ball if you fail him, you die.
- And lastly this movie is far far too long running for 152 minutes and a good 25 minutes or so could have easily been cut out of this movie just by tightening a very long Resistance sideplot and by rewriting entirely Finn’s storyline to something that feels more meaningful and like Poe not a near complete waste of those characters.
And so that was Star Wars the Last Jedi a film that has some great moments and performances that are trapped in the Bog of a messy storyline that wastes not only key members of its trinity from the Force Awakens but also any kind of threat its villains might have had I honestly don’t know how this trilogy is going to end but I sincerely hope it’s a good one, 2 out of 5.
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