First Thoughts on The Last Jedi
Warning: Spoilers about The Last Jedi lay ahead. If you've not seen the movie yet, do not read this post yet. Revisit it afterwards :)Okay, I’ve sat on it for 24 hours. But I want to get some thoughts down before I dive into everyone else’s thoughts on Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
I liked it. But, if I’m being honest, I didn’t love it. And if I’m being really honest, I was a little bit bored — bored! — after the great opening scene but before things really kicked into gear. I feel like the old man saying once again: the movie was far too long. But it was.
I know part of this is my own fault. While I go out of my way to avoid spoilers — including muting just about every word imaginable that could be related to The Last Jedi on Twitter — I did watch the trailers. And as seems to be increasingly the case, the trailers give away far too much. I love trailers, but this is really starting to piss me off. Even still, what really set me up for slight disappointment here was knowing that the reviews were glowing. Obviously, I didn’t read any of them. But I knew the consensus. And so hopes were high.
A little too high, as it turns out.
Again, don’t get me wrong. I very much enjoyed The Last Jedi. And I thought parts of it were brilliant — amongst the best in the canon. But other parts were just… weird. And several parts of the plot were just a mess.
I know, I know. I’m complaining about the plot of a science fiction movie. But there’s no way around it: this thing could have been significantly more taut (both in length and clarity and yes, pacing).
All that said, I still very much want to see it again. And I actually already have tickets to do so! For now, some scattered thoughts.
First and foremost, the death of Snoke was a great scene. But, who the hell is Snoke?! I feel like many of us spent much of the past two years traveling down a rabbit hole of conspiracy theory YouTube videos and maybe even reading a particularly nerdy book or two to get to the bottom of this. The Last Jedi played us worse than Kylo played Snoke in this regard.
Yes, I realize we didn’t know much about the Emperor in the original trilogy (until the god awful prequels). But Snoke was teed up by The Force Awakens to be a key part in this narrative. Yet he wasn’t. And now he’s gone.
I’ll also say that while I loved what J.J. Abrams did with Snoke in Awakens, I wasn’t a huge fan of Rian Johnson’s treatment here. Yes, it was already known that Snoke wasn’t actually a giant (as his hologram suggested in the last film), but he just never seemed as menacing here, hunched in his chair in a fairly well-lit room. The CGI is good, as is the acting by Andy Serkis.¹ I just would have staged him differently. And given us some more backstory. Obvious statement alert: mythology is pretty important in this world…
Sorry, I know I just complained about the movie being too long than gave you three paragraphs about Supreme Leader Snoke. But I waited two damn years!
In other reveal-news, I actually quite liked what they did with Rey’s backstory (assuming it holds up in Episode IX).² The question of Rey’s parentage was central to the last film, to the point where it was a far deeper well of internet conspiracies than it was with even Snoke. But I like that they made it a red herring. Because I like the notion that it shouldn’t matter who Rey’s parents are. It showcases that greatness can come from anywhere, not just impressive lineage. And it ties into the themes about the Force.
Speaking of impressive lineage, what on Earth was up with Leia’s resurrection? On one hand, I was excited when she woke up in the middle of space because it seemed like a lame, anti-climatic way to send her (and, of course, Carrie Fisher) off. On the other, I don’t care what her midichlorian count is — a human being would not last long out in open space. Then she awakens to become… Superman? In flight form and all. Weird.
Speaking of weird. The bizarro Vegas/Monte Carlo scene. Weird. Also, I have to hope the Justin Theroux character is going to be in the next film (and not just because I’m a Leftovers fan), otherwise, that Maz scene was… weird.
Benicio del Toro is always weird. Usually in a good way. But his inclusion here is also weird. Since when does Star Wars inject well-known actors into critical (but not starring) roles?³ Especially when they’re a part of another massive franchise… He’s sort of a distraction here.
Okay, that’s a lot of negativity. Again, I liked and enjoyed the movie. I was just confused by some of those choices. The rebel ships are too far to attack but can’t travel quickly? Or something?
There was plenty to like too.
Namely, the entire scene on the abandoned salt planet base. The Luke teleportation element was well done — did you notice he left no red footprints? Adam Driver had only one ridiculously emo line. That’s a win.⁴
I liked the twist of having Luke be the one who went mad — trying to take out Kylo. Though they equivocated on it later. I would have stayed the course — he thought he was doing the right thing to stop the Sith! Would have been nice to learn a bit about how Snoke — the creature we know nothing about — was able to recruit Kylo and train him in secret while he was at Uncle Luke’s Jedi Camp. But I digress… Nice subtle way to explain the Knights of Ren.
Rey in the Sith hole was compelling but — what the hell is the Sith hole?! Parallels to Luke on Dagobah, of course. But again, is it too much to ask to give us at least some narrative here?…
All the new creatures were fantastic. The porgs were fun, the nun-like things on the Jedi Temple island were funny, and the crystal foxes were beautiful.
I loved Poe Dameron’s expanded role, mainly because I love Oscar Isaac. I’m not sure how I felt about Laura Dern’s character. (Though her warp speed kamikaze move was certainly a visual highlight.) I very much enjoyed the Finn and Rose relationship. The kiss was a little awkward, but well-timed. The Captain Phasma death was pretty weak, but presumably we’ll see her again as well. Domhnall Gleeson remained great as General Hux, though the character was made a little too buffoonish here, in my opinion.
Mark Hamill and Daisy Ridley are both strong throughout the movie and serve as the core alongside Fisher, to whom I’m actually glad they didn’t give the big cinematic send-off. I don’t know what they’re going to do with Episode IX, but I was pleasantly surprised they didn’t turn her tragic passing into some contrived plot point (as it almost seemed like they were about to, per above).
Yoda! At first, the CGI Yoda looked a bit cartoonish — not this bad, but not great — but then they seemed to switch to the original pupppet. Will we see Anakin in the next one? Qui-Gon? Obi-Wan? If the latter, Alec Guinness via CGI or Ewan McGregor? Undoubtedly, we’ll see Luke again…
The Last Jedi is a good movie. But I feel like Rian Johnson gave us all the pieces of a very good movie here, they just need to be rearranged a bit. And with a few cuts and a couple things added, I feel like we could have a great movie. That’s a little frustrating. But maybe I’ll feel differently the second time around. Or maybe I’ll be even more annoyed about Snoke.
Here’s my ranking as of now:
V, IV, VII, VIII, VI, III, II, I
Also, the more that time goes on, the more I’m realizing just how much I liked Rogue One. The intro of The Last Jedi left me longing for it, a bit. Anyway, I’m excited to have J.J. Abrams back in the saddle to close some loop(hole)s in IX.
¹ Though at least one word was a little too Gollum-like…
² I’m more than a little worried about the double fake-out — that it will turn out in Episode IX that Obi-Wan or the like is actually her father. Or, god forbid, she was the product of an immaculate conception, like Anakin Skywalker…
³ Cameos galore, of course — but del Toro is pretty key to the plot here.
⁴ I can’t be the only one who thought Kylo was a much more intimidating villain with the helmet, right? They make such a stink about getting rid of the helmet, yet his voice and look is far more imposing that way. I’m holding out hope that he puts on Vader’s actual (re-created) helmet in Episode IX… After all, with Snoke out of the picture now, he can seemingly do what he wants!
