Rapid Fire (Film) Review - Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

In Realm Beyond Sight's "Rapid Fire Review" I hit the good, the bad, and try to get out before the review becomes too long winded. (I admittedly went a bit longer with this review.) In this new review I take a look at the newest installment in the Star Wars saga, Star Wars: The Last Jedi. (Better late than never.)

Star Wars: The Last Jedi had finally hit theaters and to my surprise was met with mixed reactions from fans. I expected reactions to be on both sides but this film really seem to split the fandom. I on the other hand thought it was a really good film and I really enjoyed it. A lot of people say that this is not a Star Wars film and that it's two different from what they know and love. However, I have to disagree. Rian Johnson doesn't steer away from the normal themes and concepts of Star Wars. He actually takes the themes and concepts that we know and turns them in a direction that we haven't seen before and I for one commend him for taking chances with this film. (Especially after having The Force Awakens be so similar to A New Hope.)

Although I enjoyed this film it was definitely not perfect. Rian Johnson definitely had some stumbles along the way. In no particular order let's go through some of them. I know that Rose is a role model character at the moment for the Asian fan demographic but personally I have to say that I just wasn't feeling the character. This has nothing to do with Kelly Marie Tran who portrayed Rose but the character just didn't capture me. I just felt like she didn't actually do anything in the film. She has a generic story which is fine but then I just thought that the character itself didn't go anywhere either. Next, although this will be controversial, I wasn't too impressed with Carrie Fisher either. (Let me state that I have respect for the character and the late actress.) I thought Carrie's acting was stiff in this film and there are things with the character that we're just bad. General Leia's space flight was a completely awful scene and I felt that there are much better ways to show latent Force abilities than having her revive herself in the cold of space and then fly back into the ship. Speaking of that scene, Admiral Ackbar deserves a much better death and what he got in this film. A throwaway line saying that he was on the bridge as it exploded and then nothing else is not how you should treat an Admiral in your forces and a loved character. Two other quick negatives was Rose's out of nowhere love for Finn. I don't know where that came from but it was felt really forced and just didn't fit. The other thing that was awkward was the over-the-top humor in some parts. There were scenes where the humor was appropriate but then I felt the film unnecessarily pushed it too far when they should have just taken the laugh and moved on. I also was not crazy about Canto Bight but I shall talk about that in a moment. Lastly, I felt that Luke Skywalker was overall under utilized in this film and it's story. The character's big return just felt like it was missing a lot. Also missing is an exciting lightsaber duel. I miss them so much.

With all that said, there were a lot of positives in the film as well. John Williams did an amazing job with the film's score (as he always does). I really enjoyed the music here and thought that he perfectly captured various moments throughout the film. I also have to admit that I love the porgs. They were funny and adorable and I want to have one as a pet right now. Another great aspect of the film was the exploration of the Force. Seeing abilities that we hadn't seen in other films yet was a very nice touch and something fresh to bring to the franchise. Although I wasn't excited about the Canto Bight scenes I do respect them for what they bring to the table. I like that you get to see the other half of the galaxy's population that is thriving on war profiteering and completely respect that this scene is what brings Finn deeper into the fold. Before Canto Bight Finn is just a defector from the First Order. However, once he takes on this mission to go to Canto Bight he's officially part of The Resistance. This scene also serves another point in that in every film we see a hairball scheme save the day. Everything is dependent on that one far fetched plan being successful and in the past it always comes through. Poe Dameron throws this Canto Bight plan together with Finn and Rose with all their hopes on it and it fails. I think that this failure is something that we needed to see. This failure treats the audience to a more realistic tone within the film. Just because you are the "good guys" doesn't mean that everything is going to work out. Next, bringing back Yoda was a great touch and I really love that it was puppet Yoda and not CGI Yoda. I did not see him returning in this film and when he did my jaw dropped and I smiled so wide. I also really liked Luke Skywalker's walk through memory lane as he was aboard the Millennium Falcon. There were really touching moment here while watching him go through items on the ship and seeing the old message from Leia to Obi-Wan. It was an emotional scene that made you smile and laugh.

I have to say that they did a really good job with Kylo Ren in this film. The character development here really went into full drive. I like that they had him destroy his helmet and separate himself from Darth Vader. I liked that they show that he's trying to become his own person here. It's clear here that in this film Kylo is not a Jedi and he's not a Sith; he's an opportunist. He sees an opportunity and he takes it. He has a great moment where he turns from The dark side to the team up with Rey and then all of a sudden sees that there's an opening now that Snoke dead and takes it. Speaking of that scene, the team-up fight between Kylo Ren and Rey was fantastic. I believe at this point it's fair to say that this was actually a team up battle between Ben Solo and Rey, not Kylo Ren, and they worked really well together. It was exciting to see the Elite Praetorian Guard (Snoke's bodyguard) in action here. You didn't get to see Emperor Palpatine's Royal Guard in action enough in the other films. Although I thought that Luke Skywalker was underutilized in this film, I did like his Jedi Luke projection to face off against Kylo Ren. This was a fun scene and it was nice to see what Luke looked like at his height. We definitely got to see some cool moves and flips but it would have been really nice to see him in full action. One final lightsaber scene would have been beautiful to watch. Even if Luke was just using defensive strikes and tactics to buy time for the resistance. The ending scene with the young boy in the stables was absolutely beautiful. I literally got chills. Seeing him use the forced to pick up the broom and then looking up to the stars, holding the broom as though it was a lightsaber, and then finding out that he's wearing the ring of the resistance sent a beautiful message. Between this young boy and finding out that Rey's parents were essentially nobody (which could be changed in the next film according to Rian Johnson) it was a nice message that the Force doesn't necessarily have to be passed down through a bloodline. An average person can step up and become a hero. Here you have this young boy looking to the stars as the Star Wars theme slowly builds up in the background. It was just beautiful.

Overall, this was a very enjoyable film. Yes, it had its stumbles but I believe at this point no Star Wars film is going to live up to the high fan expectations that we all have. The story flowed nicely, it had great action sequences, and it had some surprising plot and character twists. I recommend this film to all fans of the franchise and anyone who just loves seeing a good film.

RATING: 7.5 out of 10

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