To quote C3PO, “Here we go again”.
Our nervous but ever faithful droid quips this as he accompanies the Rebels off on another dangerous mission in Return of the Jedi. When I took my seat in the Dublin IMAX (as is tradition now) for The Last Jedi it was those words that rung in my ears. Because despite The Force Awakens quelling my fears two years ago, in fact going further and being truly great, I was still worried for the 8th episode.
**some story spoilers ahead**
The Last Jedi starts strong. We watch as the Resistance make their evacuation and our daring heroes try their best to slow down the advancing First Order. The visual of the bombers slowly making their way to their target is incredible. The whole scene has weight and the right balance of will they or won’t they make it. Despite some oddly placed humour here and there I was settled and ready, The Last Jedi was starting off great. Then things got messy.
“After all these years of waiting to see and hear Luke again…”
The film cuts to the reason why we’re all here. Luke Skywalker. As I mentioned in my Force Awakens review, there was a tremendous amount of fear about how the new films would handle our beloved characters. Luke is the protagonist of the trilogy, Harrison Ford may have gone onto bigger things but Luke was the only one going through a full arc across the 3 films.
How would his character blend in with the new trilogy? How could an all powerful hero work with the new characters?
Ultimately the film creates a continuation of the character that gets so many things right and a few completely wrong. And it’s those wrongs that stuck with me the most post–viewing.
After all these years of waiting to see and hear Luke again, what he became after Return of the Jedi. After being teased in The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi would reintroduce Luke to us. With his first act he stares at his father’s lightsaber, a sword Obi-Wan handed to him so many years ago, the first step on his journey and he throws it over his shoulder. Not back at Rey in anger, not onto the ground. An aloof throw over the shoulder that was directed and edited for a joke.
In the 2 screenings I saw this film the room was quiet because no one knew what to do. Were they meant to laugh? Mostly they were in shock. This is how Luke is presented in his first scene?It takes me a while to recover from this as the film presses on and that’s a shame because the rest of the scenes between Luke and Rey for the most part play out really well.
There’s been a lot of backlash on the idea of a Luke who gave up and ran away but personally I thought it fitted well. Here is a hero who one shotted the Empire’s ultimate weapon and brought the galaxy’s most evil villain back to the light. After all this his nephew still falls into darkness and the galaxy with him. Luke has given up because despite all he did… darkness still prevailed. When Rey comes asking for him to come back to the fight he rightfully replies , “what do you expect me to do?”.
The film is at its strongest during these exchanges. It’s interesting to watch a Luke who isn’t as idealistic anymore. More than 30 years have passed for this character and nearly all that he knew was good is gone.
“The story also leads Star Wars down an interesting path…”
Unfortunately the film has to cut back to one of the longest and dullest space chases ever. I guess there is meant to be some sort of nod to Empire here when the Falcon was being chased by Star Destroyers. But where that was exciting and character developing this is just… poor.
Everyone acts their parts really well, Oscar Isaac’s Poe is still firing on all cylinders and a delight to watch but in these scenes he’s relegated to a hot head who hasn’t been given the whole plan. This is something that kind of pays off in the end but nowhere near as much as the writer thinks it does.
It’s around here we get our side quest and a trip to a new planet. Despite the backlash to this sequence I think it’s simply fine. It’s too long and again thinks it’s setting up more than it really is but the spectacle of a Monte Carlo style planet is entertaining. The story also leads Star Wars down an interesting path where ultimately the rich and powerful control the war on both sides but I was left thinking if it really fitted in the Star Wars space opera fantasy universe.
Pacing is a major factor in this film. Overall it’s too long and it really shows as we draw towards the final battle. I felt film fatigued near the end when I knew I had to watch the Resistance set up for another battle they (again) weren’t going to win. This wasn’t like the equivalent to LOTR Helm’s Deep where the whole film is a set up for an impossible fight. This felt like an add on, as if the director had to end the film on another big fight.
It should be remembered that Empire doesn’t end on a big battle. It’s showpiece was at the very start on Hoth and the film gets quieter as it goes along. It ultimately ends on two characters in a duel and then a chase after the Falcon. There was tension in these simpler moments.
In The Last Jedi we do get our duel at the very end but the same or even greater effect from it could have been achieved without another speeder vs walker battle. But that duel… I honestly don’t understand the criticism for this finale as it was a perfect encapsulation of Luke Skywalker. The Jedi who threw away his weapon in Return of the Jedi once again found a way to win the day without violence. He makes good on the claim, “more powerful than you can possibly imagine” and pulls off a trick that made me smile and nod.
“Great moments but the film took awkward ways to get there.”
In the end The Last Jedi is a confusing film in both its edit and to me personally.
There are moments that I can put up there with my all time favourite in Star Wars. The conversation between Luke and R2 in particular misted my eyes. A poignant moment where R2 was able to remind Luke of his old self in such a simple and pure way… the original Leia hologram message. This scene pulled the strings of nostalgia perfectly.
Another is the final talk between Luke and Leia. A scene which unintentionally ended up having dual meaning now that Carrie is gone.
Great moments but the film took awkward ways to get there. I’m of course looking for perfection here and maybe that’s not fair but the original trilogy was perfect. Yes perfect. Yes even the Ewoks.
And they were perfect because they understood how to keep things simple. How to maintain a good pace and when comedy could be used and when it absolutely shouldn’t be.
The Last Jedi purposely sets out to circumvent nearly all your ideas of plot and characters post The Force Awakens. It goes so far with this idea that it nearly breaks the whole film.
Every important set up from the previous episode, Rey’s lineage, who is Snoke, how did the First Order come to be etc are either ignored or simply put down as no longer important. You could call it brave writing and filmmaking but they wanted to stray from the expected sequel so much they ended up overdoing it.
Sometimes it’s okay to meet a general expectation. Sometimes simpler is better.
