As with Star Trek: Discovery’s pilot, we’re presenting a variety of views on the latest Star Wars film. Below are two mostly spoiler-free reviews, from former Star Wars Magazine editor Brian J. Robb, and one of our lead writers, Alasdair Stuart, while on a separate page, you can find spoiler-filled reviews from Nick Joy and Greg D. Smith

 

Starring Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, John Boyega, Kelly Marie Tran, Benicio Del Toro

Directed by Rian Johnson

While the Resistance flee the First Order, Rey learns from Luke Skywalker that the ways of the Force are not simple…

Rian Johnson did not have an easy task in following The Force Awakens. In The Last Jedi – like The Empire Strikes Back and Attack of the Clones a middle segment in a trilogy – he has managed to make a thrilling and involving film that is also over-long and, ultimately, less than completely satisfying. As such, The Last Jedi fits perfectly with many of the ‘middle films’ from every currently on-going cinematic franchise.

From the unexpected answer to what Luke (Mark Hamill) would do with the lightsaber returned to him by Rey (Daisy Ridley), The Last Jedi wastes no time plunging into a propulsive narrative that rarely lets up through to the film’s concluding hopeful coda. Much of that focuses on the pursuit of the diminishing Resistance fleet by the implacable First Order, a solid spine for various character explorations, sub-plots, and some unnecessary diversions.

Thankfully, there is plenty of action and much new hardware, from the First Order’s intimidating Dreadnought, to their huge land cannon, and the Resistance’s ill-fated bombers. Things move on beyond the need to destroy a Death Star, yet the elimination of threatening super weapons still drives much of the plot.

Most of the new characters introduced in The Force Awakens get their moments of pivotal action, with hot-headed Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) coming across as a fly-boy Han Solo type, while Rey grows in her explorations of the Force with Luke, and then plays a significant role at the finale. The only downside is the Finn (John Boyega) storyline, an almost entirely superfluous trip to the casino world of Canto Bight in the company of new love interest Rose (Kelly Marie Tran). Up to 20 minutes could have been cut from what is a rather bloated running time by eliminating this inconsequential sub-plot. While Finn gets his big moments (confronting ‘chrome dome’ Captain Phasma; throwing himself into the path of danger) they all fizzle out.

As expected, Rey gets her confrontation with Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), but rather than do something dramatically unexpected, Johnson falls back on old storytelling tropes. In fact, that’s a problem throughout – whenever the film looks about to do something startling, it steps back and opts for the conventional. As with the previous Episode, this one remixes and reconfigures sequences, elements, and characters from earlier instalments, largely The Empire Strikes Back. This is a game of diminishing returns, with so many bits of Return of the Jedi having already been scavenged by both Episodes VII and VIII, there’s little of it left to prop up Episode IX.

Mark Hamill’s return is triumphant, and his character is the one who gets to be somewhat unexpected, perhaps failing to live up to fans’ 30-odd years of Jedi Knight fantasies. He’s conflicted, reluctant to revive the Jedi (in the form of Rey), and penitent over his responsibility for the creation of Kylo Ren (excellently toyed with, Rashomon-like). He also gets a moment of heroism that more than pays off those three decades of waiting, whatever the fate of the character in the next movie.

The biggest problem with the current Star Wars trilogy appears to be the lack of any overall coherent guiding hand shaping the narrative. For all their faults, all the original and prequel films were what George Lucas intended, while J. J. Abrams constructed The Force Awakens to pander to fans’ nostalgia. When the narrative baton was passed to Rian Johnson, it was without any clear direction. There were no overall answers to the questions (Rey’s parentage, Snoke’s origin, Luke’s destiny) exercising fans, and all are dealt with (after a fashion) here. Questions are raised for which there can be nothing but arbitrary answers, as none were originally planned. One reason the current trilogy appears so unfocused and dissatisfying is precisely because it lacks an overall controlling narrative intelligence.

Verdict: The faults of The Force Awakens are repeated and extended in The Last Jedi, but over an expanded, indulgent running time – it’s mostly enjoyable, nonetheless. 7/10

Brian J. Robb

Let’s see if we can do this; a Last Jedi review which talks about the movie in detail but isn’t spoiler-y. because make no mistake, if ever there was a Star Wars movie you wanted to go into unspoiled, it’s this one.

Rian Johnson has handed in the longest Star Wars movie to date at around 150 minutes and a lot of discussion has centred on whether or not the middle act works. Opinion is, as Tom Baker once said, divided. I say it isn’t, other people say it is. What Johnson does with that middle act in particular is thematically really interesting because it not only explains the long running time but what lies, thematically, at the centre of the movie.

Namely, torches, and what happens when you pass them.

Much of this is centred on Luke and Rey as it should be. Hamill has been talked about for a Best Supporting or Best Actor Oscar nod for this and honestly it’s deserved. This is Luke very much as Yoda’s student; a wildly eccentric and thoroughly grumpy old man who is really not happy about the galaxy intruding on his self-imposed exile. He’s by turns funny, tragic, frightening and absolutely, completely at peace and is impossible to take your eyes off. His fractious relationship with Rey is a big part of that too, as the old Master comes to slowly accept his student and then see the same things that happened in his life happen with her.

To. A .Point.

Because what Johnson does here that really works is massively, and constantly, subvert expectation. The Luke and Rey plot does not go where you’re expecting. Not even close. Neither do any of the others either as Johnson’s script takes us off into territory that Star Wars movies at least have never covered before. The logistics of galactic war, the people who play both sides off against the middle, the people who fall through the cracks. They’re all front and centre here in a way that only Rogue One has ever previously attempted. And where that was a film shackled by how it had to end, The Last Jedi is free to have a little fun.

So it has a LOT of fun.

This is consistently the funniest Star Wars movies of the new cycle, and, perhaps, to date. From Poe’s opening speech to the climactic events on Crait jokes are constantly used to not only illuminate character and break tension but drive the plot. Luke in particular has a glorious line in near stream of consciousness humour that says a lot about how isolated he’s been and where he is emotionally. It’s smart, nuanced writing that’s also very funny and again, consistently surprising.

And that surprise is what I keep coming back to with The Last Jedi. Several people have said this feels less like a middle chapter and more like a conclusion and they’re right, it does. A lot of the elements of the original trilogy that defined, and arguably dogged, The Force Awakens are gracefully put down here. As a result you could argue this is a transitional movie, one style shifting to the other over the course of its run time. It certainly demands a lot of its audience and for some people, that demand is far too much.

And that’s fine. People interact with different art at different times in different ways. But if you were worried this is the death of Star Wars as the more hyperbolic elements of Reddit have claimed, don’t be. It’s not a death. It’s not quite an end. And it is most definitely the beginning of something far more surprising than we ever dared hope.

Verdict: The last big movie of the year is, without a doubt, the one you will not see coming. And by far one of the best. 9/10

Alasdair Stuart