So I Just Watched… Star Wars: The Last Jedi // Disney/Lucasfilm...

So I Just Watched… Star Wars: The Last Jedi // Disney/Lucasfilm (2017)

*Spoilers ahead*. Bear with me, this is going to be very hard to read.

When Star Wars and Lucasfilm were bought as property from 20^th Century Fox to Disney I expected big changes. And I do mean big in the sense of the continuation of the story beyond the six original films that George had cranked out with Fox over the course of 30 years- Diosney paid $4 billion for the right to do as they pleased with one of the biggest brands ever built by a man or a corporation.

One of the first read flags I perceived on the new status quo was the disregard of the expanded universe as a whole. When a new trilogy was announced not only it was expected by me and the whole world I was also thrilled by it. The continuation of the saga was something that George was fairly open to, but had neither the time, nor the energy to continue. Since Disney now owned the brand it made sense for them to continue it. That’s when I got the second red flag: The company flat out disregarded any of George ideas and chose to go in another direction.

We had the chance to see the first result of the new management of the brand almost 2 years ago with Star Wars: The Force Awakens. It wasn’t a bad film, but it felt more like a remake of a “New Hope” than something completely new. We were wowed with the second offering of the studios, Star Wars: Rogue One, a film that despise the terrible press it had while it was being made turned out to be pretty good too. I even dare to say the best Star Wars product that Disney has put out to date.

Now it’s 2017 and we are getting another yearly dose of Star Wars with the new offering in the new trilogy: The Last Jedi. By now you have read the reviews and they are all praising the film as the best entering in the saga. Pay close attention to what Mark Hammil said before the movie opened and what I’m about to write for you: Don’t buy the Kool-Aid. This is the first time I have not a single scrap of doubt to tell in the open that the good reviews this film is getting have been bought and paid for by the studio. My third and last red flag was when the main actor for the top character of the franchise said in the open that “He fundamentally disagreed with virtually every choice made by Rian Johnson about his character”

The Force Awakens left us with a good amount of questions and almost none of them have answers in this new film. And the ones who have resolution it’s such a lackluster way that you will feel nothing more than just plain disappointment: big bad Snoke it’s just a bitch who gets killed in the first half of the film. The mystery of Rey’s parents is that they were nobodies who sold her for a pint on left her on Jakku. The fans have been expecting for a good story about the Skywalker saga and we got this time is a Disney film template fixed for a Star Wars story, chock full of misplaced humor with a weak script and more plot holes than a badly built Death Star.

In no particular order this is what you get over the curse of almost 3 hours: Rey asks Luke to train her in the force ways, he’s reluctant because of his story with Kylo Ren. Meanwhile the resistance is on the run. With the republic overturned by The First Order, there is no social reign in the galaxy. The resistance is fighting like hell to survive but they are being systematically decimated at every turn since The First Order is now able to track them down while they travel at speed light. When the resistance’s fleet is cornered with no fuel reserves they make a run for an abandoned rebel base in planet Crait. Rey begins to have force connections with Kylo and she believes deeply that she can turn him to the light.

Meanwhile Finn and Poe want to disable the tracker on the first’s order vessel to make a run for it so Finn goes with new character Rose to Canto Blight to recruit a decoder called DJ who (as expected) turns them in. As they get a last minute save from the last carrier of the resistance, Rey fights alongside Kylo to defeat Snoke, Finn gets a rematch with Captain Phasma and they all manage to escape. It’s revealed that Luke felt the dark side growing too fast and too powerful on Ben Solo and out of instinct he tried to kill him in his sleep. The kid lashed out back at him and feeling betrayed fled with the Knights of Ren to be a part of Snoke’s First Order while Luke retired to die of old age to planet Ahch-To, believing that Jedi’s had to disappear because of their arrogance (his included). Yoda comes back to reaffirm his belief by destroying the last of the Jedi’s legacy remaining on the island.

The movie closes with a final confrontation in the surface of planet Crait where the resistance is cornered by The First Order now commanded by Kylo Ren who instead of proving himself a fit leader acts out as a spoiled brat during the whole ordinance. When Luke comes back to confront him for the last time, he unleashes his fury and frustration at him just to realize he’s being duped into fighting a force ghost while what little is left of the resistance escapes in the Millenium Falcon.

This movie is driven by the tagline that was so heavily marketed over the last 6 months “Let the past die, kill if you have to”. The franchise seems very much intent on wiping away the classic characters and be done with them to keep telling stories with the new ones. They could have given a gracious exit to General Leia on this one, since it’s been reported that she won’t be coming back for the last episode, but the member of the Skywalker family we bid goodbye on this one is Luke. The movie also gives a total sense of closure to the story, so it’s very hard to understand how this saga is going to continue. Guess we’ll have to wait until 2019 to find out in the last chapter of this trilogy.

Prof_Dan

Posted in: Reviews & Appreciation