Review By Ryan Sutcliffe (UK)
‘May the Director’s Vision Not Be With Us’
Arguably the most polarising instalment into the ever expanding Star Wars franchise, The Last Jedi offers immense action sequences, comedy, and nostalgia. Approve or disapprove of the direction the film takes, director Rian Johnson has created the most controversial film of the year.
As a fan of the Star Wars franchise I was delighted upon seeing this film, and I really enjoyed the film, however I have plenty issues and fully understand why some fans dislike it.
For example, at the beginning of the film after Poe’s bombing mission, we are greeted with the scene in which ended the previous instalment, The Force Awakens, with Rey holding out Luke’s lightsaber to Luke. However, the two year wonder of how Luke will react, and all the theories created on how Luke will react was thrown down the drain as Luke effortlessly tosses his sword of justice behind him. This was my first issue, it felt that Johnson traded in all the hype that episode seven left us for cheap comedy, it was almost like he laughed in our faces to show that he was in control now and not JJ Abrams.
My annoyance for these antics only grew when Johnson killed off several characters rather than continue to build what Abrams had set, such killings include the underutilised Captain Phasma, General Akbar, a completely randomly added Admiral Holdo, Rose, and most confusing, Snoke. Fair enough, most characters he killed off were low key and not that major to the stories progression, however, killing Snoke was absolutely idiotic! It makes zero sense! After all, Snoke was a main factor into the story of the sequel trilogy, he was the one who led Ren to the dark side, Johnson made no effort into delving deeper into this back story, and having him killed cheapened the character also pi**ing away all the theories of Snoke and speculation the fans have been building since 2015, it makes you wonder whether Johnson has watched any star wars film at all! I only wish that Disney listened to George Lucas, under his direction this film could and should have been a lot different.
Likewise, the debut of Rose was at first, promising, assisting Fin, I believed that Rose could become a key role in the film, however, after a rushed love story angle between the two, Rose, after spending just little time with Fin, sacrifices her life for his love. Its mind baffling! This is not the fault of the actors/actress’s but the fault of the director’s vision, this vision would probably work more for a Star Trek instalment.
Moreover, as the story escalates we learn the backstory of how Ren betrayed Luke and joined the dark side, and brace yourself for this die-hard fans! According to Johnson’s direction, the same guy that saved the evil, infamous Darth Vader and brought to him to the light side (Luke), was the one who contemplated murdering his own nephew out of fear he would join the path his father once did! I mean to a toddler this wouldn’t even make sense! It’s absurd! It’s an insult to the intelligence of all the fans, Luke just wouldn’t do that, he would embark on keeping Ren on the light side just like he did to Rey. Even more insulting is the fact that after failing Ren, Luke just gave up and hid on an island, when we all know that Luke from George Lucas’s originals would have fought all he could to stop Ren and turn him back especially if he felt responsible. Johnson screwed us out of a masterpiece just so he could say “It’s a different Star Wars film”, supporting a statement Mark Hamill said “the prequels were more original”, I fully agree with this and I’m a guy who liked the prequels! In addition, Luke’s death is ridiculous after saving the newly named Rebellion, he dies almost like he killed himself which again is absurd as we all know that Luke simply wouldn’t do this as him being out of the picture puts his sister’s life at risk as Ren already killed Solo.
All in all, I respect that Johnson wanted to create a Star Wars film we had never seen before, in which credit where its due he did, however, his direction was false and extremely questionable, and we can only hope that Abrams is able to fix the mess Johnson left in Episode IX. For any fan of Star Wars the film is defiantly worth a watch, I enjoyed the film but in the bigger picture of the franchise’s story, it was questionable, the visual effects are outstanding as always, and acting is absolutely on point, it was just the director’s decision I have an issue with.
Rating: 3/5
While many people have the classic debate in whether the newer Star wars movies can compete with the ‘Original Trilogy’. Many people have lost themselves, in star wars ,as in pop culture it is a ‘must have’ requirement or as it seems. People also forgot (while the trilogy has not yet been finished while writing this ) Star Wars : The Last Jedi is still apart of a trilogy making this very hard to stand alone as its own movie when we are brought into the movie as im sure u have all seen we are greeted with a cliffside dramatic moment or it appears to be, we the viewer if we isolate this movie have no idea what’s going on. The Nolan Trilogy , x men and even the original trilogy. All, of these movies could stand alone and even with the dynamic range of batman and star wars it is still film the last jedi fails to capture and reminiscence of the jedi order and the star wars law and the weapon of the jedi (Lightsaber) has been turned into a comical joke. Even with the well balanced characters of Kylo Ren and Rey ??? … with one of them being persuaded by the light side and one by the dark there still not enough chemistry and when kylo lets the light consume his decisions in the movie there is no regret in any scenes after making it feel very robotic with any thing the movie had done right. Also if people say that disney was making a more comical turn that’s fine if they change the branch of star wars there’s gonna be a lot of nerds like me upset about that but when they give us such a dark movie as rouge one then move it on later to be all happen and a joke while releasing rebels the tv shows which is amazing they cant act surprised when people are at a 50/50 split but i do ask anything of anyone who reads this re watch the movie as not a star wars movie, by itself and see wha6t your thought s are because most likely you will have the opposite opinion
Rating: 2/5
I’m a life-long Star Wars fan. I’ve seen every film in the theatres since the original. As a family guy now, I have taken my entire family to the last two films. Most people who have seen all of the Star Wars films give them a ranking from top to bottom. Honestly, I would rank this one near the bottom of my personal Star Wars scale, second only to Phantom Menace, which featured Jar Jar Binks, a character often noted as the most ill-conceived character in any of the Star Wars movies. From the very beginning of the movie the viewer is forced to suspend reality beyond the typical expectations of sci-fi fantasy. I didn’t realize that there was gravity in space in some places???
Why are there “bombers” attacking the Imperial fleet with gravity bombs??? This just got the whole thing off to a bad start for me. Shortly after that the ship carrying Princess Leia is attacked and she is seen drifting out into space. Then, suddenly, almost completely frozen, she uses the force to draw her back into the ship. Another significant moment of suspending reality that went too far. There are many other issues with the story-line and characters. Laura Dern is not convincing in her role. Luke Skywalker’s character seemed more like a ‘Grumpy old Man’ than a Jedi. Yes, I realize that he has apparently decided to forget his past and live the hermit’s life on a remote island on a remote planet, but there’s a reason that Mark Hamill hasn’t acted in years. He just was never really that good to begin with.
The hand-to-hand fight scene in Snoke’s chambers was just hokie! Why are all the other guards just standing there while Rey and Kylo Ren fight one or two of them at a time? BTW – Kylo Ren seems rather soft, too unfocused to be such an evil character. He just doesn’t have that total buy-in to the dark side that, oh, I don’t know, Darth Vader had. He’s just way too vulnerable!
How many times is the Empire going to be revived?? How did the Rebel forces become so depleted? If Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) is now dead, are they going to revive Luke Skywalker, who apparently became part of the Force at the end of this one? I’m sure that they are already hard at work on the next one. Disney has to get their money’s-worth out of this. All those Star Wars licensed products have to sell to make any real money on these flicks.
A little more thought in the story line and perhaps better directing might have saved this one, but for me it was a snoozer. Honestly, I enjoyed watching Jumanji much more than this episode of Star Wars. I’m sure that they will continue to make a great deal of money from the Star Wars films as they continue to cultivate the next generation of fanatics of the franchise. Personally, I will think twice before laying down my hard-earned cash to see the next one.
Rating: 2/5
(No Spoilers)
The only glimmer of hope to be seen in The Last Jedi was in Carrie Fisher’s facial muscles attempting to move from behind 20 layers of plastic.
It would seem Rian Johnson believes good writing is being reminded you’re watching a Disney film every 5 minutes through some of the most abysmal, cringe inducing dialogue since the days of “I hate sand”.
I knew many people, including myself, had higher hopes for The Last Jedi after the boring rehash that was The Force Awakens. These hopes have yet again been quickly dashed as Rian wastes no time letting us know that we’re in for the longest 2h and 33m a Star Wars fan has faced yet.
There were many scenes during the film that were colossal on the scale of ‘what the actual fuck’ that one can only question the sanity of Mr. Johnson upon completing this utter mess of a picture.
I could only help but yawn through the never ending arcs as 5 second characters are endlessly introduced solely for the sales of their figurine counter parts. I’ve heard Rian Johnson has been given three more films under the Star Wars name and I can’t help but feel they’ve been given to him purely from the projected sales of the never-ending Porg/Plushie collection.
It’s hard for me to explain the complexity of Disney’s latest shit stain without spoiling it, so let me regrettably tell you that Star Wars is officially dead and it’s corpse will be ridden until the end of our life times. So for old times sake, let us look away now, while we still can.
Rating: 2/5
The Force Awakens saw its end when Rey (Daisy Ridley) met Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) handling him over the lightsaber. The Last Jedi which is supposedly the movie where last of the Jedi race will face the dark side and it starts with distinguishing a line between good (The Resistance) and the bad (The First Order). Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) boldly leading the resistance starts her journey to find her missing brother Luke Skywalker.
We bid a sad farewell to Han Solo (Harrison Ford) in the Force Awakens but we’ve Kylo Ren this time who has been seduced by the dark side fencing Rey and team. Rey is a Jedi and how she trains to one, whether or not she’ll be able to convince Luke to come back on the field, will the Jedi(s) become extinct? It’s hope vs power & watch the movie to see who wins.
Rating: 5/5