Star Wars: The Last Jedi is the eighth movie in the Star Wars saga, and a movie that has polarized the fanbase of this sci-fi epic opera space adventure fantasy. That's a mouthful, we'll just say Star Wars from now on.
Point is, there are many angles from which one could review this movie. One angle is an extremely critical one, another a very blind support of this movie, another angle from a casual Star Wars, yet another from a fan well versed in Star Wars lore, and so on. But I belong to a rather small minority, a group of fans that are relatively large fans of Star Wars, dislike several aspects of the film, but also praise it's victories in others.
First, before reviewing this movie, one has to understand all the differing opinions being circulated around it. Star Wars's fanbase is divided on how to interpret Rian Johnson's latest project, as a crushing of Original Trilogy Fans's childhoods, a continuation of some feminist pro-liberal agenda plaguing Hollywood. The reason why many look at the movie from these lens is due to Director Rian Johnson and his writer's blatant mischaracterisation of the character Luke Skywalker in the film. Others love this movie blindly due to the dazzling special effects, which is also a given for any CGI-infested cinematic experience.
Now that we understand the opinions being thrown about regarding this film, it's time to now gauge a sense of what the movie actually is, and how it stands.
First, let's make a summary of the plot and criticise as we go on. We leave right off from the Force Awakens, Rey, Chewbacca, and R2-D2 head to pay Luke a visit on his isolationist planet, separated from Galactic civilisation. Meanwhile, the evil First Order, the autocratic fascist war machine, invades the Galaxy under the tutelage of Supreme Leader Snoke, whom still is shrouded in mystery. And while many argue that Emperor Palpatine's origins, or at least his rise to power, were not investigated till the Prequels, Star Wars is now a universe with its own lore and mythos. We expect at least some explanation for yet another gremlin-looking Sith mastermind who is once more pulling the strings from a throne surrounded by menacing guards.
Moving on, the First Order corners the Resistance on the planet of D'Qar. Keep in mind the Resistance is still an underdog like their predecessor the Rebel Alliance, lazy storytelling in my viewpoint but anyways. Using his fleet, General Hux, an extremely spooky and scary villain whom we learned to fear after his insane speech on Starkiller in TFA, feels confident in the Resistance's destruction. Of course, things will not go his way, as Poe Dameron, our beloved fighter pilot from the last film, makes fun of Hux. Which is where problems in the movie begin creeping out of the woodwork.
You see, Hux was an intimidating madman whom commanded legions, but after we see him go through endless bouts of verbal and physical abuse at the hands of both friends and enemies in this film, he becomes a walking clown. A once imposing presence is now ruined in the name of writing more comedic one-liners. Which is a problem we will see recur in this film, serious moments that could've been used to further character development are sacrificed for a temporary laugh that wears off after the audience exits the theater.
Moving on, Poe, after making fun of Hux, is shot at by Hux's warship's lasers. Using ace piloting skills in an enjoyable CGI sequence, Poe gracefully incinerates Hux's lasers, and we even receive some BB-8 comedy after some ship circuitry is damaged. Then, Poe calls in the Resistance's bombers to destroy the First Order's massive dreadnaught, that has railguns attached onto it because why not?
Now, in this scene, the bombers look honestly as inefficient, highly vulnerable, clunky, and especially outdated for Star Wars. I am not kidding when I say the wing of a TIE Fighter causes a chain explosion that destroys two bombers in one go. But that's a minor and forgettable nitpick, so let's go on.
One of the bombers whom is the sister to an important character we'll see later on, is the last woman standing as her bomber is the last one nearing the flagship. We also get to see a very old, Imperial-looking, elderly white antagonist whom would be an extremely likeable replacement for General Hux, especially after we see how abused he is by everyone. This Admiral, Moden Canady, seems to be extremely competent and contrasts to Hux, whom, throughout the battle, is stumbling around unaware of how outmatched he is by Resistance forces.
Canady is sadly killed after the last bomber ship explodes, as the woman heroically self-sacrifices herself. Keep in mind, an Asian woman suicide bombing the flagship of an older white man. Political imagery much? Probably not, but I must say the CGI chain reaction explosions are a delight to look at, feels like I'm in the midst of one of Michael Bay's masterpieces.
Moving on, the Resistance gets out of there in the nick of time, but via some unexplained technology, the First Order has a tracker that can give chase through Hyperspace, which I assumed was a faster then light travel so wouldn't that be theoretically impossible? It's a fantasy, nevermind. Anyways, before Hux explains this tech, Snoke, using force magic, slams Hux to the ground and ragdolls him mercilessly for losing TIE fighters and resources in a failed attempt to destroy the Resistance. Also for killing quite possibly the only interesting First Order antagonist aside from Kylo. Phasma doesn't count, she's cannon fodder that only comics justify, but I doubt casual flimgoers will read those.
After Hux is beaten, we go to the forest planet, where Daisy Ridley, the brown monkey monstrosity, and the trash-can bot meet up with Luke. Now, TFA left off with a dramatic and inspiring scene of Luke and Rey staring intensely at each other after Rey offers the old Jedi his lightsaber back. The scene's buildup is entirely squandered, yet again, for a cheap laugh, as Luke throws away this historic lightsaber for no reason... Like, no reason, he doesn't even elaborate later on about this.
Rey chases the hermit Luke to his village hut, in which Luke barricades himself from her saying he doesn't want to face the First Order, Snoke, or anything at all. This is because Kylo Ren was a member of Luke's New Jedi Order he formed after Return of the Jedi, but then turned to the Dark Side and massacred half of Luke's pupils and corrupted the other half.
Another really sad part about this scene is that Rey was going to inform Luke of Han's death by insane Sith-loving son, but it was deleted in exchange for more monetary laughs.
Well, stay tuned for part two, where we go more in depth onto the movie's positives, explore a not so subtle political agenda subplot, a feminist Vice Admiral Gender Studies, and more First Order comedy with gremlin-face, edgy Sith teen, and abused gingerboy.