Star Wars: The Last Jedi - Shades of Grey

So the blog posts kinda got a bit quiet in the last 2 months. I think I'd only seen two movies in that time and they weren't particularly interesting, or easily bloggable movies. The first was Thor: Ragnarok, the second The Disaster Artist. For Thor, my thoughts amounted to "eh, its another Marvel movie, too long, too much humour, lacklustre villain." My review would have been, do you like Marvel movies? You'll like this. If not, this won't win you over.

The Disaster Artist on the other hand, was a trickier film for me to blog about through its subject matter: a film about the making of the the best worst film ever made, The Room. I'm not a huge comedy movie fan but this film had me in stitches time and time again. Plus, I'm no Francophile (great pun, google it), but he gave a spot on performance of the alien-like Tommy Wiseau. If I had to give any critiques it is that it would not work for anyone who has not seen The Room but really, why haven't you seen The Room? Get a group of friends together, a few drinks, and have you mind blown away. (N.B do not confuse The Room, with the oscar-winning movie Room. That one isn't quite a laugh riot...)

And now for something completely different. The Last Jedi is probably the biggest movie event this year. It comes hot off the heels of the series reviving Force Awakens, which was a huge success with everyone it seems...except me. Now in order to put my The Last Jedi review in some context I'm going to have to go into my thoughts on what worked and what didn't work in the Force Awakens. So if you haven't seen the Force Awakens, duck out now, there will be some spoilers. I'll do my best not to spoil any plot point whatsoever from The Last Jedi.

For me, the biggest issue with the Force Awakens was that it traded on nostalgia and fan service, which, although a huge fan of Star Wars as a kid, did not resonate with me at all. From about 5 minutes into the film I could track it as a retread of A New Hope as the broad, and at times the exact details, are played out beat for beat. Compounding this issue, were new characters, Finn and Rey who just annoyed me. Rey's chirpy optimism and instant knowledge of the Force, drove me mad. Finn's constant breathlessness and all round kinda of pointlessness grated. Furthermore, Rey and Kylo Ren had intentionally vague backstories that prevented me from connecting or investing in them in any meaningful was. Kylo Ren was just a spoilt teen, who for a principle villain, lacked any menace. Plus, having been bested by Rey, (I know he had taken a bowcaster blast to the chest and was still standing) who had never wielded a lightsabre, at the end of the film, cemented his position as a villain I should not take seriously.

I realise I was, and probably still am, in the minority about the Force Awakens and most people were happily swept up in it and thoroughly enjoyed it. I'd like to say my equivalent for being swept up in nostalgia and fanboyism is watching Spectre where it name checks the Bond tropes of old, in not so subtle ways, and I can happily overlook the paper thin plot for sheer action spectacle. However, watching the Force Awakens, my nostalgia spark was so feeble that no amount of "no honest, this isn't another Death Star" was going to rekindle the fire.

Cut to 2017 and The Last Jedi rolls about. I'd openly said on numerous occasions that if this retreads Empire Strikes Back, I'm done. This trilogy of Stars Wars can go on without me. Well, I can happily report that the Last Jedi is no retread of Empire. It does take looks and images, and sometimes carbon copy scenes from Star Wars movies, but nearly every single times there is an inversion. Some of these inversions are highly risky and I think if anyone came out of this movie disliking it for those inversions they would be well within their right too. But I think that by taking risks Rian Johnson, the writer-director of the movie and also of the best episode of Breaking Bad Ozymandias, has made the most interesting, but probably most divisive Star Wars film to date.

I'm a big no no on spoilers and I really think you need to go in as blind as you can for this film. The trailers leading up to the movie had actually done a fair job of not revealing the truly big moments in the film so if you fear that they may have spoilt stuff for you, I promise they haven't. The structure of the plot in the Last Jedi is fairly unique in the Star Wars series in that it is quite contained, taking place over a small amount of time, and with a fairly direct objective and end point for the characters to work towards. Having said that, there is a glaringly odd plot contrivance propelling this plot forward that once introduced passed me by for a few minutes before it became lodged in my head, it took me out of the film for a while (all I'll say is "Are they really limited by range?!?").

Strictly speaking, I'd divide the plot in 3 sections, and I think I can just about get away with describing them briefly without spoiling. One involves the ongoing war between First Order and Resistance, the other is a covert operations to undermine the First Order, and the one that I imagine everyone knew was coming seeing as how Force Awakens ended, is the tutelage, and I use that word lightly, of Rey by Luke Skywalker.

When we left Rey in the last film she'd managed to track down Luke on his island, hoping to bring him back into the fold. Well, to say Luke is a reclusive hermit would be an understatement. If you thought Yoda was a tricksy Master for Luke back in the day, then Luke is here to make Rey beg for help. This plot is the true plot of the film and it actually allowed Daisy Ridley to make Rey a proper character for me. I began to get the character, understand what had motivated her, and admired her drive. I think it is helped immensely by having her play off veteran Mark Hamill who isn't playing the Luke from the galaxy a long time ago. This Luke has a much more interesting take on the Jedi and Sith and the passing down of wisdom to Rey, some of which comes across as a pleasingly meta take on the whole light side and dark side dichotomy of Star Wars.

And speaking of conflicted - they also managed to turn Kylo Ren into a fully formed character, giving him proper motivation for his internal conflict which is wonderfully played by Adam Driver,  a tightly coiled ball of rage. The way his backstory is revealed is a particular highlight, playing with significant ambiguities, and uneasy answers, portraying characters we thought we knew as something quite different.

But when the film comes to answering the vast network of conspiracy like fan theories that have swirled in the past years, the particular ones I won't say, I feel like the film will prove to be particularly divisive.  Questions are answered, but rarely in the manner a lot of people will expect or want and how much mileage you get out of the film will depend on how much energy you've put into theorising over the years. Personally, I like to theorise but I don't think a filmmaker owes a fanboy a duty of care to live up to their wildest speculations. Again, perhaps my lack of nostalgia made me more open to enjoying the reckless abandon that Johnson showed in chucking out the old and in with the weird and new.

So far so good, yeah? Well, there are some significant clunkers sandwiched between a superb opening and closing act. The middle section of the film sags considerably, and when the film is clocking in at 152 minutes, you really start to feel it. Unfortunately, whilst Rey and Kylo evolved into proper characters, Finn remains very much a character without real purpose in the film, and his side plot which sits in the second act, really clogs the movie up, feeling like the cutting room floor afterthoughts of a Guardians of the Galaxy movie. Furthermore, one key character, whilst leaving  a lasting impression, looks like they will remain a mystery now, when a few crucial details being revealed about them really would've helped elevated other connected characters.

And speaking of Marvel, for some reason The Last Jedi, has decided to saddle itself with gawd-awful sassy, quippy, slapstick, humour. It is rarely deployed artfully, or with wit, and most egregiously simply undermines proper dramatic moments. It is in these moments when the the illusion that these characters are more than simply the constructs of the writers is broken and you see the writer crowbarring in a funny, self-referential witty line in "just cus." I don't remember the old Star Wars movies being full of these gags, so whilst I'm cool with the mantra that Kylo Ren espouses of "letting the past die" I don't think it should be replaced with this. Much like the Force Awakens, and particularly in Marvel movies, if you keep undermining the villains by having heroes just sassing them without acknowledged consequence, I won't take the villains seriously, and certain members of the First Order are just reduced to cartoon Scooby-Doo villains, albeit it clearly intentionally so.

Furthermore, whilst the film is brave in a lot of areas, forging ahead new ground, not always successfully but trying nonetheless, there is one key moment in the film that appeared devastatingly brave at first but was then swiftly reversed. I really lost a lot of faith in the film at this point but through sheer force of creative brio and invention that built and built that faith was restored.

It would be remiss of me not to mention that this is of course Carrie Fisher's final appearance as Princess, now General Leia. From various interviews it is clear that Carrie Fisher was an immense personality, who truly embraced her role in Star Wars and, whilst of course she could never know this was her final appearance, her role has several particularly emotionally engaging scenes which engage ten fold, with this knowledge.

Visually speaking, Johnson is supremely creative, whether it be through set design or camera angles, he brings a new look to Star Wars that continues to catch your attention, even when the plot machinations of the subplot try their hardest to make you lose it. There is a wonderful emphasis on blood reds, with one scene in particular set on a white salted landscape where the gravel masks a blood red dirt, that brings to mind a samurai duel in the snow during a key confrontation, and a fantastic multi-way duel between characters, focusing on long takes.

All in all I'd recommend The Last Jedi, with some reservations. If the Marvel brand of humour isn't your thing, this film will sting at times. If you were a long time, deep conspiracy theorist, dying for those lofty answers, this film will sting. But, if you are willing to let the past die, I think you'll be in for an a times long, and meandering, ride with a truly special beginning and end.