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nThe Last Jedi (2017)
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nDirector: Ryan Johnson
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nCast: Daisy Ridley, Mark Hammill, Carrie Fisher, JohnnBoyega, Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver, Andy Serkis, Lupita Nyongo, Laura Dern,nBenicio del Toro
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nAnticipation is always high for any Star Wars movie and ThenLast Jedi wasn’t going to be the exception. People just can’t wait for thatnStar Wars logo to flash on the screen while John William’s legendary scorenblasts through the speakers, it just starts things out with such a blast! Ofncourse, I was as excited as everybody else. Where the hell was Rey and Finn’snstory going to go? Who’s going to go bad, who’s going to “turn”? Theninteresting thing about this particular Star Wars sequel was that directorsnwere going to change. J.J. Abrams passed the baton to Ryan Johnson who took thenreins of the series with relentlessness. I wasn’t floored when I heard that Johnsonnhad gotten the gig because to be honest, I’m not a huge fan of Brick (2005) ornThe Brothers Bloom (2008). The only light at the end of his cinematicnrepertoire was a film called Looper (2012) which I did enjoy a whole lot. So, wherenwould a new voice, a new director/writer take the series? I was extremelyncurious.
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nThis time around, the rebels are escaping the ever-nearingndeath grip of The New Order. After the destruction of Star Killer Base, thenOrder is desperate to wipe out the last remaining members of the Rebel Alliance.nBut rebels are not so easy to kill. Meanwhile, Rey is trying to convince Lukento rejoin the fight, to lead, to train more Jedi. Sadly, Luke has all but givennup on the force and the training of Jedi. He wants none of the responsibility.nWill Rey convince him to come out of seclusion?
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nWhen I say that Johnson took the franchise relentlessly, Inmean it. It feels as if its writer/director, Ryan Johnson is scrappingneverything J.J. Abrams set up in The Force Awakens (2015) and doing his ownnthing. And by scrapping, I mean, completely obliterating a lot of what makes ThenForce Awakens what it is. So creatively speaking, that was so interesting. ThenLast Jedi is the polar opposite of what The Force Awakens was. If Force Awakensnwas giving fans everything they wanted, then The Last Jedi is defying what younexpected from this sequel. It’s almost as if Johnson is saying, if we follownwhat Abrams set up, we’ll end up seeing the exact same films we’ve alreadynseen. And Johnson obviously doesn’t want that, so he’s shaking things up almostnto the point of starting anew. And I must admit, I dug this direction Johnson took anwhole lot. With this movie, you’ll feel like no one is safe. It’s not like whennyou’re watching a movie and you know nothing is going to happen to the goodnguys, so let’s just enjoy how they go about doing what they got to do. Nope, innThe Last Jedi you will feel like every single person on the screen is in dangernof being obliterated, or killed or blasted into infinity by some freaking giantnlaser. In that sense, for me, the film succeeds. It takes away that feeling ofnsafety towards the characters.
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nThe film succeeds in many other ways as well. It is a darkernchapter in the franchise and in this way it is similar to The Empire StrikesnBack (1980), but it’s not as blatant as The Force Awakens was with its fannservice. This isn’t a Xerox copy of The Empire Strikes Back or Return of the Jedi,nthough we hear and see echoes of both films. So it gives you a bit of thatnfamiliarity, but without becoming fan service, which was what The Force Awakensnwas guilty of. The Last Jedi has many new things going for it, old fans will benthrilled at how well they go about explaining exactly what The Force is butnwill also be surprised at the additions that Johnson makes to the mythology.
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nThematically speaking the film is all about the new wantingnto stamp out the old, trying to forget it, leave it behind to start anew, whichnis kind of what the entire film attempts to do as well. I thought it wasnamazing how the film was mimicking what its characters were feeling. I lovednwhere the characters were going and was surprised at every characters story arcnand ultimate fate. I mean, Rey and Kilo, awesome! Snoke! Leia! Finn! Poe! Soncool to see them all going through their own intense thing and then comingntogether in the grand finale. With each passing movie I love Rey even more. The new characters like Rose and Benicio del Toro’snDJ were welcome additions. I was especially proud of Benicio’s performancenbecause he is one of Puerto Rico’s best actors, and he’s up there in Star Warsnand he represents. So, cool for Benicio!
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n The film is like anlong trip you don’t want to end. When I thought it was just about to be over,nboom, it wasn’t and a whole other chapter opens, and it’s also awesome. Finalnthoughts on The Last Jedi is that yes, it’s a very satisfying sequel. It is a darknchapter that shakes things up like crazy and attempts to put our characters innan incredibly difficult situation, therefore it is going to polarize audiences.nSome will love it, others will hate it, or perhaps even find it “boring”,nthough honestly, I can’t agree one parsec with them. I kept thinking, boy,nwhoever ends up directing the next one is going to have a hard time doing itnbecause this Ryan Johnson guy just left things in pretty dire straits! RyannJohnson was like a hurricane that just passed through the Star Wars universenand left said universe in tatters. Where are these characters headed now? That’snwhat I want to know! We have to wait a couple of years to find out, so patiencenmy young Padawan’s. Patience.
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nRatings: 5 out of 5
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