Runtime: 2 hours, 32 minutes
Rating: PG-13
Director: Rian Johnson
Quick Impressions:
This isn’t an ordinary movie, and I can’t possibly treat it that way. My family is a bunch of Star Wars fanatics. Don’t let the fact that we waited until Sunday morning to see the movie fool you. We had to work around my soon-to-be-fifteen-year-old son’s incredibly busy schedule.
While I was waiting for Sunday to get here, I almost died. I nearly had to be bedridden with anxiety. I was absolutely frantic that some random internet comment would spoil the whole movie for me. And then my parents saw it Friday morning! I begged them not to say a word about it. I was sure one of them would slip up and blurt out something key at some random time. I got a crick in my neck (actually in my whole head) from tensing up in anticipation of such a casual blunder.
But to my shock, my parents said nothing. And I went into The Last Jedi Sunday morning cleaner than the unsuspecting Luke Skywalker falling for his sister at the beginning of A New Hope.
And now I’m recounting all of my heightened anticipation at painful length to stall. The truth is, I have no idea what to say about this movie. I try hard to keep my reviews free of major spoilers, but practically every moment of The Last Jedi feels like a surprise to be spoiled.
“This isn’t going to go the way you think.” That’s what Luke Skywalker says in the trailer. Mark Hamill has said that it’s the most important line in the film, and he’s right.
At every turn, Rian Johnson’s film stokes expectations, and then thwarts them, gleefully subverting almost everything it anticipates that we will expect.
I can imagine how shocked audiences in 1980 were to learn that Darth Vader is Luke’s father. That level of shock seemed impossible to replicate decades later when countless die-hard fans devote huge chunks of their lives to thinking about the Star Wars universe, churning out theories, and using the internet to disseminate their ideas. Granted, many of these theories are not exactly sound. But the sheer number of them suggests that at least some of the ideas put forth must be partially correct. But Rian Johnson gives us something totally different.
This is particularly surprising because it is so different from what J.J. Abrams did in Episode VII which, while I loved it, was not incorrectly derided as a (not even so thinly) veiled replica of A New Hope.
The Force Awakens was a crowd-pleaser designed to use fans’ nostalgia to its advantage. Now, I am not one of its detractors. I thought The Force Awakens was great. (Making films like George Lucas used to in the 70s and 80s is no small feat. Lucas himself couldn’t pull it off when he made the prequel trilogy.) The Force Awakens is a pleasure to watch, aesthetically pleasing (that beautiful light saber battle in the snow), immediately rewarding, briskly paced. It is a pleasure to watch, but it is also safe. It is an extremely safe movie.
The Last Jedi is not. The Last Jedi is innovative and bold, risky even. Knowing that it may not achieve greatness, it nevertheless eschews safety for a chance at greatness. It is new. We have to decide–do we want Star Wars to spoon feed us the same old comfort food, or do we want it to broaden our palette?
That is a terrible analogy, but the movie is good. Taken together with The Force Awakens, it is practically genius. The first film sets up all the pins and even lines up the ball for us. Then the second film reveals that we’re playing water polo. Sometimes films like this end up being too clever for their own good. But I think that in this case, the Star Wars franchise needed a healthy injection of mind-bending surprises.
Of course just how far The Last Jedi succeeds at greatness really depends on that third film in the trilogy. I, personally, am glad to have J.J. Abrams back for Episode IX. I think that after such a disorienting second act, the film needs a clear, controlled, easy-to-watch conclusion. We need to see everything pulled back together, not complicated infinitely.
I am hopeful that Episode IX will reveal the full genius of Episode VIII. Even if The Last Jedi ends up falling short of greatness, though, it definitely deserves praise. It is the kind of film that will inject new life into the franchise.
The Good:
That said, I totally get why some people didn’t like this movie. It is very dense and at times rather onerous to watch…for two and a half hours. (I should note here that while my usual policy is to avoid other reviews before writing my own, in this case, after seeing the film, I immediately read all the spoilery articles I’d been avoiding, and I talked to friends, and I read tons of stuff all over the internet. I just couldn’t resist. My two-year-old had to fall asleep before I could find time to write the review, and he wanted to stay awake forever to play with his brother and sister.)
Anyway, here’s my take. The Force Awakens was a confectionery pleasure. The experience of watching it was like eating a puffy cloud of cotton candy, so sweet and delicious, devoured without a trace before you know it! The Last Jedi is exhausting. It’s like chasing down the vendor selling the cotton candy, then just when you almost catch him, you’re unexpectedly crushed by a careening hot dog cart. The two films are still in the same ball park, but the viewing experiences differ vastly.
At one moment during The Last Jedi, I had to draw back and ask myself, “Wait! Am I even enjoying this movie?” I wasn’t sure.
But then on the way home, the funniest thing happened. First, our car wasn’t towed, which was a delightful surprise since our choice of parking spot was kind of sketchy. Then when my husband and I started talking about the movie, we realized that as we vocalized our thoughts about it and made continuous discoveries, we started loving it more and more.
What I love most about the film is its echoey cohesion. I said that to a friend and (as I’d feared) she asked me to explain “echoey cohesion.” Well, I can’t. It’s not a thing, as it turns out, but it’s still what I mean. (I can’t be expected to control what’s a thing and what’s not. Even Jedi masters can’t do that.) What I mean is that (while the editing of the film could perhaps be tighter) the screenplay is well written and feeds off its own energy and ideas. It consistently anticipates, teases, and then ultimately subverts our expectations. It often doesn’t say what we want it to be saying. But it so strongly and relentlessly reinforces what it actually is saying that with a little distance, it begins to look like a masterpiece. Imagine a long hallway full of endless reflections, each one looking to the next in fear and anticipation. (If you’ve seen the movie, this should be pretty easy.) That image is The Last Jedi.
Johnson makes really brave, bold choices for the characters and is unafraid to own the material. He proceeds so confidently you would think he was George Lucas.
Characters are consistently confounded, and every time they make a strong statement, they end up doing what almost perfectly opposes it. Each time they learn a lesson, they later learn that the lesson wasn’t quite right. Maybe they should try doing exactly the opposite thing. Every few minutes in this strange story, a character is given a choice. And consistently, each character makes the choice that will result in the most difficult situation. Nothing is done the easy way here. It’s all the hard way. And strangely, we somehow never get wise to this as we’re watching. I’m sure that in the future, many actions/events/revelations will seem inevitable to us, but these same things in the moment strike us as bizarre and we’re constantly left off-kilter and uneasy.
One overwhelming complaint about the film is that the Canto Bight scenes should be cut completely as they add nothing. I’ve read this over and over again and heard it from many close friends and relatives. This makes me sound like I’m being deliberately contrary to grasp at edginess, but honestly I loved this crazy, doomed adventure, and I think that including it might be what elevates the film to the level of true greatness. As I watched, I thought, Oh cool! Gambling and ore mining and profiteering—this is incorporating a lot of elements from recent books. Not long after the film, I asked my husband, “I wonder how people would have felt about these scenes had the outcome of Finn and Rose’s efforts been different?” And then later still, I began to think that the movie was, in fact, doing an extremely clever thing, giving the characters what they weren’t looking for. I do think there’s a chance that Finn and Rose’s misadventures might be absolutely integral to the greater plot of the trilogy, though Rian Johnson insists there is no over-arching plot. I feel like this is a movie that likes to thwart our expectations and misdirect our gaze as every turn. Plot elements that ought to be obvious feel like crazy twists in execution. I do think that it’s possible the Canto Bight sequence sets some very significant things right in front of our faces and laughs at us for not noticing. Even if this is not exactly true, I still think the Canto Bight material is worthy of inclusion because of the point it drives home about some issues Poe is grappling with.
I also loved how very reverently the film handled Carrie Fisher’s Leia. Fisher’s death last year deeply resonated with me. It made me very sad, partially for selfish reasons. When I learn that someone is a bipolar female writer, I don’t want to hear about her untimely death. I want to hear that she lived forever, compliantly taking meds whose side-effects did no long-term negative damage. This hits really, really close to home for me.
I was also sad for the Star Wars franchise since reading many of the newer novels thoroughly convinced me that they had a big role for Leia planned in Episode IX.
And besides, Fisher was such a vibrant person with so many fans, friends, family. She left behind a lovely daughter and the cutest dog on earth. Just on a human level, it’s sad. On the other hand, she and Debbie Reynolds certainly couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful demise, legitimately tragic and so sympathetically (and thoroughly) covered by the press. Few movie stars get the chance to make such a grand final exit.
Rian Johnson said he cut none of her scenes, which I think was the right choice (though I do wonder if that’s part of the reason the film turned out so painfully long). I’ve also read that she gave him the idea for “space jewelry” and that is prominently displayed and actually usefully incorporated throughout the film. The “space jewelry” thing is really a beautiful tribute to Fisher’s memory since it is noticeably all over The Last Jedi. Fisher’s daughter Billie Lourd is all over the place, too. She seems to have about ten thousand more lines than she had in The Force Awakens, and she’s in like every other scene. I honestly thought it was almost even a bit distracting until I mentioned it to my family only to be asked by literally every single one of them, “Who’s Billie Lourd?” And then when I told them, none of them could figure out who I was talking about. (To be fair, I did not talk about this with my husband. I just asked my daughter again about Lieutenant Connix to double check. My mom reiterated, “I don’t think anybody knows who that is except you.”)
I think Fisher gets a beautiful send-off in this film (especially since there’s not much one can reasonably do to further showcase the part when the actress is now dead). I loved Laura Dern’s character, too, eventually. And after watching all the press they’ve been doing, I’m so delighted Dern was given a part in these movies since she is so clearly and unabashedly a genuine Star Wars fan from childhood.
Another character whom I began to love intensely is Oscar Isaac’s Poe Dameron. Why does he become so much more interesting and sympathetic to me in this film when he spends the first ninety percent of it being stupid and getting everyone killed? I don’t know. Maybe that says more about me than about The Last Jedi, but I stand by my opinion. And I loved Kelly Marie Tran’s Rose Tico. What a great new character!
I’m also so delighted at the continued presence of Domhnall Gleeson as Hux. I just love Hux. Well, I mean, I love the way Gleeson plays the character. Seriously, he’s one of my favorite characters simply because Gleeson’s performance is always so perfect. My daughter finds this so hilarious and keeps asking me, “Why are you so obsessed with Hux?” If you have to ask why, you just don’t get Hux. That’s all I can say.
Andy Serkis is always excellent in everything, and Snoke gets much more to do in this film than in The Force Awakens.
After the film, I read an interview with Rian Johnson in which he calls Captain Phasma the “Kenny from Southpark” of this trilogy. That cracked me up. I like Gwendoline Christie a lot. (My family has been discussing which stars should appear in Kenneth Branagh’s Death on the Nile, and I think Christie ought to play someone. Also, Maggie Smith should obviously play the Bette Davis part. That goes without saying. I’m sure it’s already occurred to him.) I don’t know what I can say here except that I expected Phasma’s part to go somewhat differently in this film than it did, but that’s The Last Jedi for you.
One more thing. I truly loved John Williams’s score. Dear Academy, please give it an Oscar nomination.
I also love the Porgs. I was one-hundred percent all-in on the Porgs before I even saw the movie. I keep buying my entire family Porg themed merchandise which could make for a very polarizing Christmas. But if they don’t like them, more Porgs for me! That’s what I say!
Best Scene Visually:
Love it or hate it, The Last Jedi boasts pretty stunning visuals. You might not like what you’re seeing, but you’ve got to admit it looks good. (I’m sure somewhere a die-hard hater reading this is responding, “No…That’s not true…that’s impossible!” So, I mean, to each his own, but I think this movie looks fantastic.)
There are also so many moments that visually echo earlier and later moments (a kind of weird foreshadowing that works both ways). Such vivid, charged visual symbolism! (This movie should come with a trigger warning directed specifically at Darth Maul. I don’t think he could handle The Last Jedi.)
A number of scenes stand out. Personally, I really loved the look of that Rey’s-bored-shopping-with-her-mom-and-is-playing-in-the-dressing-room scene the best. You know if someone is jumping into a nasty, evil pit then what follows will dominate the screen and mesmerize viewers, and it does.
Another pretty awesome image involves a shattering bit of (presumably) improvisation on the part of Laura Dern’s character. My almost fifteen-year-old son loved this moment. (How could anyone not?) (I’ve read lots of complaints about it, but you must allow that whether or not it makes sense or raises questions, it’s still kind of awesome. It’s the kind of moment that makes you think Dern is trying to one-up Carrie Fisher’s “drowned in moonlight, strangled by my own bra,” thing.) (It’s also nice that Holdo and Poe exchange strategies after each of them so strongly repudiates the tactics of the other.)
Best Action Sequence:
My soon-to-be-nine-year-old daughter has repeatedly told me her favorite scene, a prolonged kerfuffle in Snoke’s throne room. She loved the suspense of this moment and the possible outcome it teased. On a related note, in my head, I could not help fondly recalling Josh Gad’s video of Judi Dench in Jedi garb interrogating Daisy Ridley during the making of Murder on the Orient Express. When I watched this scene, I kept imagining how delightful the whole thing would look accompanied by an auto-tuned remix of Dench’s earnest question, “What’s the deal with Reylo?” When I remember that scene, my own crazy soundtrack still plays in my head.
Incidentally, all of the the extensive complaints I’ve read and heard from fans disappointed in where The Last Jedi took every character notwithstanding, my daughter passionately loves Rey, remains fascinated with Kylo Ren, and rabidly looks forward to their future interactions. The Disney version of Star Wars is doing something right because she is hooked.
Best Scene:
Luke Skywalker dominates this movie. I have seen ten thousand complaints now from disappointed fans saying that Luke isn’t given enough of a chance to show off his Jedi skills. Are you kidding? Did we see the same movie? Mark Hamill gives a fantastic performance. I’ve talked with several friends who didn’t like the film, and all of them saw Hamill’s strong turn as Luke as a bright spot in a dismal movie. I doubt very much that Hamill can pull off an Oscar nomination, but he certainly would not be undeserving of one. Luke’s amazing display near the end of the film is probably the strongest scene in the movie and certainly ends it on a high note.
My favorite scene, however, involves a conversation Luke has earlier when he’s deliberating about destroying the sacred Jedi books. I think the character interaction here is handled perfectly, and another visual revelation later in the film makes the moment so retroactively hilarious. When I saw this scene, this conversation, I thought, Wow, Rian Johnson is really taking a huge risk here. He’s unafraid to use everything at his disposal. I like what he’s doing.
Best Joke that Carrie Fisher Never Got a Chance to Hear:
Carrie Poppins. She would have liked that, I think. Maybe someone actually said that during filming, but as I’ve seen that phrase pop up all over the internet, I can’t help but smile and think that Fisher herself would have appreciated the joke.
Now, as far as that scene goes, I totally understand the hate it is getting from so many baffled (and insulted) viewers. I, however, loved it. I actually think it makes perfect sense with the character of Leia as they are presenting her in the newer books. I can’t say more without getting super spoilery. (Not like anybody reading this hasn’t seen the movie already, but I’ll maintain that pleasant fiction.)
The Negatives:
Rian Johnson clearly has his fixations. I mean, I know it’s not unusual for pet themes to dominate an artist’s work, but come on. Was Johnson almost murdered as a kid or something? Is there some primal trauma in his young life he’s trying to solve through cinema?
Certain aspects of this story are so similar to Looper that I can only conclude that Johnson secretly wanted to make a Star Wars movie all along but was forced to funnel his creative ideas into projects he had permission to write. (Brick plays with some of the same plot elements, too, but in retrospect, Looper really feels like the work of somebody who longed to write about Force users the entire time.)
Why would I complain that some crucial elements of The Last Jedi reminded me of Looper? I suppose the realization shook me out of the Star Wars universe and made me ask, “Are we really getting a piece of an ongoing saga, or is this just stuff some guy thought was cool to include?”
Now realistically, I know Star Wars doesn’t exist in a magical bubble, but the child in me likes to believe it’s something more special than an ordinary movie.
On to more specific (and some would say fair) complaints. The movie is too long. It is simply far too long. I kind of do think that’s partially because they’re cramming all the Leia in there that they possibly can. But it’s still too long. To me, this is troubling because despite the exhausting runtime, Johnson still leaves so much for Abrams to tie together in Episode IX. Some people are saying that there’s nothing left to do in Episode IX. To me that’s a sign that there’s actually almost too much left to do.
On a first viewing, it is also rather exhausting to watch, and that means that it’s not exactly what you would call enjoyable which would be a bigger problem for most movies than it is for this one. Since this is a part of Star Wars, it will be watched only once by only a minuscule portion of its audience. (I’m sure those fans who hate it will, for the most part, react like Comic Book Guy on The Simpsons and watch it a zillion more times.)
The most negative thing I can say is that I did not necessarily enjoy watching it. Friends I’ve talked to and commenters I’ve read have consistently said that this movie is much funnier than The Force Awakens. At first, that was such a shock for me to hear because in my experience, The Force Awakens was much funnier and more fun to watch. As I think back, though, I realize there are a lot of jokes in The Last Jedi. It’s just that the experience of watching is so onerous, like the film is trying to punish you for being so interested in it.
My mom complained that it was slow-starting (though I disagree) and too choppy. Now she’s doing a little vaudeville routine in the kitchen, which is, admittedly, more entertaining than the actual first part of the movie. “Let’s blow up this thing! You can’t blow up this thing! Come back with me! I won’t come back! Let’s blow up this thing! You can’t blow up this thing! Come back with me! I won’t come back!”
My sister said it needed editing. I agree.
My daughter said, “I didn’t like it because it kept flip-flopping. Whenever it told you something, it would basically be a lie, because it would change, or it wouldn’t do what you expect.” I agree with that. The film is basically undermining itself scene by scene until nothing is left but empty echoes and a big pit of despair. That is why I personally didn’t like it as I watched. That’s also why it’s a great film that I may love in time.
This film is far too challenging to be enjoyable on a first viewing. Also the Maz Kanata scene is dumb (though there is nothing not to love about Lupita Nyong’o).
Overall:
The Last Jedi is not a perfect film, but it’s certainly an ambitious one and a far better movie than Rian Johnson has ever made before.
I’m seeing the movie again tomorrow night. We’ll see what I think then.