I’ve been in a bit of a Star Wars kick recently. Including watching the Rebels cartoon and appreciating it for what it is instead of being disappointed with what it isn’t. I guess that shows growth. But I still haven’t seen The Last Jedi. Until today.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Director: Rian Johnson
Writer: Rian Johnson
Quick Review:
After hearing so many strong opinions in either direction I’d expected to have a fierce reaction of some form. Instead I am just left with the feeling that this flick is a bit of a nonsensical mess, albeit ultimately an inoffensive one. It’s a movie where the only important things that happen aren’t really important to the status quo of the movie, or that are too subtle to really be of current consequence. It’s a movie that constantly feels like it is a matter of degrees from doing the right thing.
Spoilers Lurk Below
Analysis:
I guess ultimately my reaction to this movie would be a question of why does it matter? What really happens? We lost a shadowy bad boss who didn’t do anything and a recluse good guy who wouldn’t do anything. But, all of our main players are still in the same basic places that they were at the end of The Force Awakens. I suppose that in the serialized epic world of Star Wars very little is worse than saying nothing happened.
I’m also a little surprised at those who claimed this movie was something new. Was I the only one who saw this as a spliced up version of Empire? With flashes of RotJ’s throne room scene of course.
The only problem is that everything seems overly concerned with style and checking boxes rather than actually making sense. A hunt for a hacker. Wouldn’t a droid do? Nah. Because reasons. Oh, and Poe needs to buck authority, so make sure authority acts suspicious. But for a good reason so that authority can have a heroic death, regardless of that death having no resonance because nothing about this character has been developed.
A lack of development plagues almost everything here. Which brings me to the toxic hate was poured on the character of Rose (and even more so on the actor depicting her, Kelly Marie Tran.) Now, I’m no stranger to the internet, but I will admit that I did expect there to be a reason for this hate for Rose. Not that any actions would justify harassing Ms. Tran, but there was a reason many of us can’t stand Jar Jar.
But I didn’t see anything. Sadly, Rose was incredibly underused in this movie. She really wasn’t given anything to do other than stopping Finn. I suppose haters will indeed just hate.
I should mention that I am in the camp of really wanting everything said about Rey’s parents to be true. I want them to be nobodies. I want the world of Star Wars to be large enough to hold stories that revolve around more than one family. But it would be very easy to show what was said in this flick to be a lie.
Wrap Up:
There were some more good parts to this movie. Everything looked slick. The visuals were nice. Fight choreography was good. But it was as filling as a bag of chips.
Deadly Troubadour 