Well, for a change I'm getting around to doing a new review of a NEW film, which has just been released and that film in question is of course the latest Star Wars films, Episode VIII: The Last Jedi. So, how does it fair after the success of its predecessor: The Force Awakens? We'll let's find out!
Oh, and as this is a brand new film I won't be going into more in-depth here with my review but I will still issue the following warning...
THERE ARE SOME PLOT SPOILERS AHEAD BUT NOT TOO MUCH!!
STILL IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE FILM YOU SHOULD SKIP THIS SECTION!!!
STORY
Right, so the film begins with a group of resistance fighters lead by Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher in her last role before her death last year) who are attempting to flee their base when the First Order arrives. However the resistance set up a counterattack, which is lead by Dameron Poe (Oscar Isaac) who disobeys Leia's orders to stand down, which results in success but also the deaths of several fighters.
The resistance are then soon attacked by Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) who destroys several resistance support fighters but hesitates to destroy Leia's command ship, which she is on. However the ship's bridge is soon attacked by TIE fighters, resulting in Leia blasted out into space, but she manages to use her force power to survive and pull herself back onto the ship, which results in her being in a coma. And while this is going on, ex-stormtrooper, turned resistance fighter, Finn (John Boyega) teams up with one of the mechanics onboard, Rose Tico (Kelly Marie Tran) to disable the First Order's tracking device that can track the resistance's ships through hyperspace.
Meanwhile, Rey (Daisy Ridley) having arrived on Ahch-To to meet with Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) has a hard time trying to get Luke to help her as he refuses to train her as he blames himself for Ben Solo (aka Kylo Ren) to turn to the dark side and doesn't want to take the risk of training anyone else. Rey and Kylo also begin communicating with one another through telepathic visions and Rey ultimately decides to go and confront Kylo in an attempt to turn him from the dark side and the evil influence of Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis).
And its from here things take a series of dramatic turns for everyone on both sides.....
THOUGHTS
The Last Jedi overall manages to succeed in being an entertaining and worthy follow up to the Force Awakens and it sees the return of the new engaging characters in Rey, Finn, the cute droid BB-8 and the Han Solo-esque Dameron Poe. However the film's main selling point of course is the return of Luke Skywalker, by now a Jedi Master, who feels he had failed in his mission to create a whole new generation of Jedi after Kylo Ren's turn to the dark side. And the film actually does manage to maintain a good character dynamic between Luke and Rey aswell as keep the ambivalent nature of Kylo Ren going, as continues to show his signs of torment as he is dominated by his evil master, Snoke.
The film also has one or two surprises up its sleeve as it progresses and there is again plenty of good action here although there are times where the film's "epic" running time of 2 hours and 31 minutes just feels a bit too padded out. However I will say more about that all in the flaws section of my review.
PERFORMANCES (Don't worry no notable scenes this time!)
As for the performances, well they are all pretty good once again as the cast are all on good form.
Starting with Mark Hamill, who is at last given his deserved full screen time here in The Last Jedi as an old and bitter, Luke Skywalker and this time around Hamill get's to play Luke with a world weary sense as well as a wry sense of humour, which was largely missing from his original portrayals. However, Hamill definitely has his share of good moments in the film but I won't say anything about them here so suffice to say this is definitely Hamill's turn to shine and he does it well.
Carrie Fisher is also once again pretty good in her role as Princess Leia, although it is sad when you realise this was to be the last performance of her career before her untimely death last December. And in a way its almost like they made provision for this as Carrie doesn't feature a great deal here in the film but there is no doubt her prescence is still felt.
Daisy Ridley is really good once again also as Rey, the plucky young scavenger from the planet Jakku, who turns out to have a strong link to the force and she goes to meet Luke Skywalker to learn about her powers. And Daisy's character starts to take a more serious turn here than before as it starts to mirror Luke's character when he was younger as they both set out to become Jedi and she also get's a chance to show off her Jedi fighting skills later on (and I won't say anymore than that!!).
Adam Driver is also once again excellent as the villainous yet tormented, Kylo Ren, who is really Ben Solo, the son of Han and Leia, who turned to the dark side after he began his training with Luke. And here, Driver continues to show Kylo as something of a wounded animal but at the same time, a pretty villainous, loathsome guy too. But Kylo this time round adds an extra dimension to his character through his telepathic connection with Rey, which ends up playing a big part in the film later on (and that is all I'm gonna say!).
WARNING: THIS NEXT PARAGRAPH DOES REFER TO A SPOILER OF SORTS!
John Boyega also makes a welcome return as the plucky Finn, a former stormtrooper, who switched allegiance to the resistance. And Boyega pretty much get's all the best lines in the film and often provides moments of comic relief in the story and his best lines comes in a moment where Finn fights against an old enemy of his, Commander Phasma of the stormtroopers, who just before they go at it, Finn says to her "Let's go, Chrome dome!".
Oscar Isaac for me is one of the weak links in the cast here, as even though he is fairly good in his role as Dameron Poe, I just was never that keen on his actual character as he comes across as a discount Han Solo and nowhere near as cool. So, I was left struggling to root for Dameron as a character even if he is a good guy there is something about the performance and the characterisation that left me a bit flat.
Andy Serkis also returns here as the evil Supreme Leader Snoke, who is in control of the First Order and Kylo Ren and this time Snoke takes on a more physical prescence than the hologram figure we had seen of Snoke in The Force Awakens. Serkis naturally does a pretty good job here with the role but I have to say as the film goes along things take a rather unexpected turn with Snoke (and that is all I will say!).
Domhnall Gleeson on the other hand is actually mainly just annoying in his role as the pompous General Hux, who was second in command to Snoke and Kylo Ren and here he just does alot of shouting and barking orders. However Gleeson's character has no real impact and is nothing more than just a whiny bitch, so ultimately for me he is one of the weaker cast members.
WARNING: THIS NEXT TWO PARAGRAPHS ALSO MAKE REFERENCE TO POINTS IN THE STORY!
Laura Dern does fairly well though in her role as Vice Admiral Holdo, who takes over command of the resistance fleet from Leia, after she is injured from the attack made on the fleet. Dern also get's to wear a pretty cool outfit and have purple hair, which is a first for one of the more featured characters in the Star Wars series!
Benicio Del Toro on the other hand is wasted here in his role as DJ, a codebreaker, who ends up helping Finn and Rose in their task to try and disable the First Order's hyperspace tracking device. Del Toro's performance here is no more than just reduce to him doing a something of a Tom Waits impersonation with an inexplicable stammer. Its not Del Toro's fault of course, its more just he was given an underwritten character.
And last of all is Kelly Marie Tran, who is pretty good in her role as Rose, who joins up with Finn and helps him as they go on their task to try and disable the First Order's tracking device. And the two of them have a fairly good rapport with one another even if the hint of an unlikely romance between them, seems to be somewhat forced (no pun intended!).
DIRECTOR AND MUSIC
As for the direction, Rian Johnson, takes control of the helm here and he does a pretty good job overall as he handles the action, the characters and the story as well as he could be expected to. The film however does lag a bit in places, so Johnson could be accused of making the film's running time just a bit too long. And despite any other issues, Johnson still does a fine job overall with the film and does nothing to disgrace the Star Wars series.
As for the music, well of course it is by none other than John Williams, who once again provides another very fine score here for the Star Wars series and it is filled with his usual touches and when it comes to film scores, there are very few that can contend with Williams.
FLAWS (Warning: this section might make the odd reference to one or two SPOILERS but I will try and keep it to a minimum!)
As for flaws....yes, The Last Jedi isn't quite perfect.
SPOILER WARNING HERE!
For starters one of the problems I had to do with the film was the whole sequence of Rey meeting with Luke. For starters, we had been waiting two whole years to see what Luke would do when Rey handed him his lightsabre. And what does he do???? He throws it away! Yep! Instead of giving this scene some potential meaning, it is literally treated as a throwaway joke!
Another issue was to do with the limited amount of any actual training Rey might be given by Luke, as you see here practice the force with Luke once and that's about it! Any other training Rey does, she appears to undertake by herself. Its almost like Rey might as well have not bothered turning up on the island in the first place! You could also say that the sections between them involving her training (or lack of it) and Rey's connection with the force and Kylo Ren, also feel a bit dragged out and laboured.
ANOTHER SPOILER WARNING HERE!
Then there is the whole subplot of Finn and Rose trying to track down a codebreaker at a casino on some planet where this plenty of child slave labour going on. And the actual codebreaker they are looking for is seen playing at a craps table but he eventually turns out to have NOTHING to do with the movie after that!
The film also still leaves plenty of things unanswered, which I won't really go into here but the one thing that still isn't expanded on is Rey's past and who her real parents were as it is again totally glossed over. Perhaps these are questions they want to leave to be answered in Episode IX but I guess we will need to wait and see.
I also felt that the film's ending was also very underwhelming and I already figured out that one of the main character's of the film (I won't say who!) was bound to get bumped off. However the way in which this happens, its extremely lame and it could have been handled alot better than it actually was and by now I'd imagine you know who I mean!
Anyway that's all I'm going to say for now but in a future revisitational review, I will elaborate on the flaws more.
SUM UP
So, to sum up, The Last Jedi is a very entertaining follow-up to The Force Awakens, that sees the return of the old and new characters, who continue to work very well for the most part. The film's action and visual effects are also largely great and the film is also benefited by solid performances by its cast, particularly Hamill, who steals the show at times and Ridley, Driver and Boyega also do very well again here as does the new cast member, Kelly Marie Tran.
The film however isn't without its issues and it is easily the most controversial and divise Star Wars film among the fans. However its flaws still don't quite derail what is still an enjoyable entry in the Star Wars series.
Right, so that's it for now and I will return with another post fairly soon.
So, till the next one, may the force be with....achhh... you know what I mean!
Bye for now!
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