SPOILERS
The Last Jedi is the 8th film of the Star Wars saga and the 10th in the canon universe as a whole. It is a decisive film and one that I'm not sure really what I think overall.
The Good
The Twists and the Turns - there were many plot points that were completely unexpected which made exciting and excellent throughout. The best twist for me has to be Snoke's death
The Differenceness in Plot - The Force Awakens was a copy of the A New Hope in too many ways. The Last Jedi had similar plot points to The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi but they were executed differently, and were perhaps only that similar due to how JJ Abbrams had set it out to be. This allows the saga to take new roads in the future
Giving more Poe - Poe is supposedly one of the new three new characters for a new generation of fandom. Poe didn't feel like he fulfilled that in The Force Awakens so it is good that it has been changed.
How Ren turned to the darkside - Although I disliked a lot of things Rian Johnson did with Luke the reasoning behind Ren turning to the darkside was very good and the reasoning for Luke being on the island.
Force Ghost Yoda - the absence for Force Ghosts in the Force Awakens is understandable but there continuous absence would not have made sense due to them regularly appearing to Luke in the Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Although I believe it should have been Obi Wan, of which I will discuss, it was good to see Yoda. However I was not entirely happy about what Yoda did
Kylo Ren's Motives - What I liked about this is how Kylo killing Snoke was different to why Vader killed the Emperor. Kylo Ren killed Snoke so that he could become the new leader with Rey and not to deflect to the opposing side. That for me was clever. Now there is nothing, and definitely so with Leia probably going to be dead by the next film, to turn him to the light.
The Greyness - The weapons dealing to both the First Order and the Resistance was nicely done.
Luke facing the First Order on his on - That I admit was awesome but it would have been better if had actually been there.
Rey's Parents - I know upsetting for some but the fact that they are nobody is good. It is just as impactful to Rey as Luke finding out his father. It does mean that Kylo Ren is last Skywalker left for the episodic films which can only exist with a Skywalker.
The Bad
Super Leia - I think this does need to be addressed first as it was the worst thing in the film. Leia flying through space was not only weird but actually funny and badly done. Not good. In the explosion which unfortunately killed the great Admiral Ackbar, Leia was believed to have been killed as I thought myself. I thought it was an excellent way of killing off her character due to the sad passing of Carrie Fisher last year. I would have re done elements of the film after that and kept her dead which I know would be expensive and perhaps a little disrespectful to scarp her last ever footage recorded but it would have given the character Leia a fitting send off
Holdo not telling Poe - I did like the friction within the ranks of the resistance but had Holdo had told Poe the plan he would have not sent Finn and Rose on their adventure which was pointless
Humour - The humour was good in the sense that it did make me laugh but some of it was too Marvel esque and I didn't like that in Star Wars
Canto-Bight - All of the stuff on Canto Bight was very prequel-esque and don't get me wrong I am not a prequel era hater but there elements that I don't like and that did feel quite Special Edition and prequel like, as well as the Porgs too.
Phasma - Phasma was barely in it and her character was hardly redeemed.
Luke - Now first things first I understand that Rian had to give a credible reason as to why Luke had been on the island and that he couldn't immediately change his mind but him wanting the Jedi to end and hating them for me is very out of character as he is all about hope for the Jedi to return. The fact that he didn't want to return even after hearing that Han Solo had died was also unforgivable for me.
Lack of R2 D2 - R2 D2 is a great character and I know Disney sort of have a replacement for him now but R2 D2 is such a main character in both the originals and the prequels so is less of a role in sequels is an odd move.
BB-8 with the ATST - This looked awful and was similar to something they would do in Rebels, which is fine in Rebels but not in a main saga film.
Maz - Maz's roll was weird and shore-horned in for the big name of the actress for the credits.
DJ - DJ is annoying and badly done. Good acting however. I really didn't like any of his dialogue.
Language - First Star Wars film with swearing. Didn't like that. Simple
What Yoda did - Yoda disgracing the Jedi books (I know he probably knows they were safe) is not in character. Imagine him saying that to Mace Windu. And him blowing up the first Jedi Temple. I did not like that one bit either.
No Obi Wan - I do understand this one from Rian has Luke knew Alec Guinness Obi Wan not Ewan McGregor Obi Wan and I know that only the latter is possible due to Alec Guinness no longer being with us but Obi Wan is more of the wise consort to Luke. And it might have something to do with the fact that Obi Wan is my favourite Star Wars character.
The Ending - That child with the broom. No. Didn't like that at all.
Primary Cast
Rey - 9/10 - Character was explored well but some of the dialogue was not well delivered, but on the whole it was don't get me wrong.
Finn - 8/10 - I felt what Finn did was pointless and the story didn't serve him well at all.
Poe - 10/10 - Poe was very good in this and I liked him a lot more that I did in the Force Awakens
BB-8 - 7/10 - I didn't like a lot of what BB8 did so that gives him this score
Rose - 7/10 - Rose was annoying and some of her dialogue was a real miss for me.
Luke - 8/10 - Well acted and off course great character but I didn't agree to much with the change of character.
Total: 49/60
Secondary Cast
Leia - 7/10 - Unfortuantly for her last ever appearance but Space Leia really gets her down
Holdo - 8/10 - Good character but it would have been better if she had told Poe
DJ - 6/10 - Really low score but I really didn't like his role
Chewbacca - 9/10 - Not much to do but great character
C 3P0 - 9/10 - Same as above
Total: 39/50
Enemy Rating
Snoke - 10/10 - Good and well killed off. I thought he was evil and powerful. Some complain that we don't know he is - but we do- he is Snoke!
Kylo Ren - 9/10 - His emotions were well played but I felt he cared for Rey too quickly, but I did like that he did care for her
Hux - 10/10 - Surprising score but I thought he was a huge improvement to The Force Awakens and you can really see the evil inside him.
Phasma - 8/10 - She had a fight which is good but little off her
Protonian Guards - 10/10 - They were excellent fighters and showed off what the Royal Guards could not
Total: 47/50
Story Rating
Story: 9/10 - Good as ever for a Star Wars film but there were a few plot holes
Seriousness: 9/10 - It would be higher but Super Leia made it less so
Scariness - 8/10 - It wasn't scary but it wasn't not scary either
Humour - 8/10 - There lots of funny moments but some did fall flat and some where not welcome at the point of their appearance.
Continuity: 8/10 - Some of their character choices, particuarly in Luke were not liked by me as explored above
Total: 42/50
Total = 176/210
I am aware that I have done reviews for other films but due to the amount of films I have seen since starting that and not reviewing them, below are the Star Wars films and their scores.Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi - 90.00%
Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens - 86.47%
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back - 92.50%
Rogue One - 84.50%
Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi - 83.81%
No comments:
Post a Comment