Wick's Review

Summary - Great 4.0

The Last Jedi has lots to love and more than a bit to disdain. I found myself un-aggrieved, and loved it. Notwithstanding its blasters and disasters, Rian Johnson’s first Star Wars movie is deeply human and personal, in true Star Wars fashion. “Why did you come?” asks Luke Skywalker in one telling example.

Happily, Johnson keeps it witty throughout, in both word and deed. This is the writer/director who dazzled and tickled us five years ago with Looper. That was a better movie than this, and yet his Star Wars VIII is still great. Why? It successfully follows all the George Lucas created tropes, but also trods new ground.

It helps immensely to have a first-rate supervillain, though some aficionados complain that Supreme Leader Snoke is insufficiently introduced and insufficiently immortal. Poppycock. The evocatively named Snoke is as frightening as could be and supremely powerful in a believable way. No, the problems lie elsewhere.

• Adam Driver’s Kylo Ren improves his desultory performance from The Force Awakens, but not enough to be Darth Vader worthy. Doubt is simply unbecoming in an icon of the Dark Side.
• The plot meanders. While generally interesting, inventive and witty, it also slips into dilettantism. The side trip to an intergalactic Monaco typifies this, as it doesn’t seem possible even within the movie’s fantasy and appears to have been inserted mostly to scratch a class warfare itch.
• Some characters are poorly drawn (Laura Dern’s strident Admiral and even John Boyega’s ex-Storm Trooper), or barely drawn (Captain Phasma, she of the shiny chrome stormtrooper uniform).

And yet, The Last Jedi ably gives us worthy sendoffs, echoes of old legends, new beginnings, and several good laughs. It gives us hope that J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars IX in 2019 will restore the Force to its full power.

Acting - Very Good 3.5

Oscar Isaac, Daisy Ridley & John Boyega are terrific as dashing pilot Poe Dameron, next-gen Jedi Rey, and good soldier Finn, respectively. All three will be warmly welcomed in the final episode two years hence.

Adam Driver, not so much, and not because his Kylo Ren is the leader of the bad guys. No, more because he’s as much sniveling as sinister, which rarely works for a supreme villain.

Old Legends

• Carrie Fisher finished filming her scenes as General Leia, and then died. Unfortunately, she’s just ok. But then, she was never much of an actor, as I noted in reviewing The Force Awakens.
• Mark Hamill has lived his entire adult life as The Man Who Played Luke Skywalker, a burden he visibly carries in the movie. Truth be told, he wasn’t that great as a young Luke, and hasn’t improved since. Word is that he wasn’t happy with how his character was drawn in The Last Jedi, but his underwhelming performance doesn’t seem to be the script’s fault. There is no try, per Yoda.

Key Supporting Cast

• Andy Serkis’s Supreme Leader Snoke is a supreme triumph of dread and motion-capture acting.
• Lupita Nyong’o cameos as an ancient pirate.
• Domhnall Gleeson is suitably priggish as a villainous General.
• Anthony Daniels charms once again as C-3PO.
• Gwendoline Christie may as well have been a drone actor as Captain Phasma.
• Kelly Marie Tran charms as a nerdy Star Wars fangirl.
• Laura Dern disappoints as a strident senior officer.
• Frank Oz is always welcome as Yoda.
• Benicio del Toro is more weird than wonderful as an underworld codebreaker
• Joonas Suotamo gets in the Chewbacca suit, taking over from Peter Mayhew
• BB-8’s final sound effects are voiced by Bill Hader again. Wonderful!
• Justin Theroux cameos as the master codebreaker
• Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, Prince Harry and Tom Hardy all filmed cameo appearances as stormtroopers. Bully for them.

Film - Really Great 4.5

Let us now sing the praises of Rian Johnson’s great Star Wars film. It looks terrific, worth the extra bucks for IMAX or 3D. Further, it ably explores destiny vs. free will, making it philosophically intriguing, not just a popcorn movie. But a great popcorn movie it is!

Sure, it’s far from perfect, as noted in the Summary commentary above, but love forgives such trespasses. Light years better than Episodes I, II & III, it is a worthy successor to The Force Awakens and able predecessor to Star Wars IX.

Edge - Risqué 1.8

Reality - Fantasy 4.7

The R-factor liberties are somewhat more ridiculous this time around than in The Force Awakens.

That aside, the movie is 2017 PC: half the stars are female, neither primary hero is a white man, and polyglot ethnicities are represented. This would all be fine if those characters were all well drawn.

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