‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ – The NON-SPOILER Review
If you want to know VIRTUALLY NOTHING about the newest ‘Star Wars’ flick, divert your eyes now.
There’s been a lot of mixed reviews as far as the newest ‘Star Wars’ movie, and though understandably so, we have our opinion on the subject.
Without giving away any of the spoilers in this post, we meet Rey and Luke back on the hill, with her outstretching the Light Saber. Finn wakes up from his coma, and encounters the new character Rose, who plays pivotal parts in the role.
We only get a glimpse of Maz, and Poe Dameron becomes one of the center focuses in this film. We’re still feeling the loss of Han Solo in the film, but Chewbacca still makes himself both funny and useful in the film, still co-piloting the Millenium Falcon for Rey.
We also come across some major surprises, both new and old characters. The performance that was given by Carrie Fisher was an impeccable one, and it was noted in the credits that the film was dedicated to her. Billie Lourd, Carrie’s daughter, holds up her end as being a pretty standard character on board, but her performance is a teeny bit wooden compared to her mom.
Now, comes the frustration points. Without relaying any spoilers – the expression of many is that the film was “too funny,” or “too slapstick.” Within the film, there are moments in which members of the Resistance, as well as the First Order, have more “real” moments. From Poe playing jokes on General Hux, to the idiocy of the Porg, there are a lot of moments where you’re going to find more giggles than “Serious Space Drama,” which seems to be a huge qualm for some people.
When your Porg sees your workload. #TakeYourPorgToWorkDay pic.twitter.com/gV9u5iv8se
— IMAX (@IMAX) December 13, 2017
Now, I’ll make no assumptions that you are an avid reader of stories written by ME, AMY COOPER, but if you’ve kept with my opinions on ‘Star Wars,’ let alone any other films, you know what I find interesting, and that up until these new installments of the ‘Star Wars’ franchise, I was a purist, that only believed in Episodes 4-6. ‘The Force Awakens’ was an achievement in my mind because they were able to bridge the gap between Episode 6 and Episode 7 and it still felt like it was tied together.
With ‘The Last Jedi,’ aka Episode 8 – the gap was bridged, but what was lost in it (which I don’t think is a bad thing) is believing that the First Order and the Resistance have it all together. It’s a series of disastrous plans, including breaking the illusion that people like Poe Dameron always have the right answer, let alone General Organa. It’s almost like the characters are breaking the fourth wall, that life in space is not all soap opera, as it seemed to be in the first 3 installments.
General Hux and Kylo Ren have a dysfunctional brother vs. brother mentality for most of ‘Awakens,’ which only gets more intense and frustrating as time furthers in ‘The Last Jedi’ but the frustrating part to many is because it’s less clean-cut-without-chaos-and-serious, it means that it’s “too funny.”
https://twitter.com/StephenSeanFord/status/941654265738563584
My rebuttal is this: unfortunately, Disney is going to lean into consumerism. Marvel Studios has set the precedence with these movies now, even though what you’d consider Action / Comic Book movies and Sci-Fi to be different veins, they are still driven by the consumers that like to see them. Instead of leaving the movie dry and less palatable, the film adds some humor to cleanse the palate of the people who are looking to see the fun of a ‘Star Wars‘ movie.
You will feel when you see ‘The Last Jedi’ that the film is definitely an in-betweener, building the plot for the final act, much like how ‘Return Of The Jedi’ came to bridge ‘A New Hope’ with ‘The Empire Strikes Back.’ I, personally, left feeling like I wanted more, but not in a bad way. In a way of “How are they going to wrap all of this up at the end of Episode 9?”
It seems like there are quite a few loose ends, but having some more of the pieces falling into place, and showing the character growth with some of the film’s characters, I left feeling way more satisfied than I did with films like ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ or ‘Guardians of the Galaxy 2.’
And if like some of my friends, you feel that you’re craving your money back, all I can say is this: Disney did not envoke a character nearly as frustrating, annoying, and tactless as Jar Jar Binks, and I, for one, call that a win.
(And yes, I’ve already got my ticket to see it again.)
Amy Cooper is a geek. She geeks. She has the capacity to geek.
