Star Wars: The Last Jedi – spoilery thoughts

I am not a superfan of Star Wars but I enjoyed the new Star Wars episode. Here’s a quick breakdown of a few things I particularly liked and a few things I did not. Please let me know your thoughts, I’d be interested to hear them.

Things I Liked

• Some Character Arcs
  • Luke – without much previous attachment to the character, I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of emotional response the film managed to evoke. The technicalities of why he did what he did were unclear, but that didn’t seem to matter.
  • Kylo Ren – I was pleased that he didn’t turn to the light; even after The Force Awakens a decision like this would not have seemed plausible. Now, he is irredeemable and presumably will have to be destroyed. I also liked the way he killed Snoke.
  • Rey – stuck to her guns and moved lots of rocks.
• Acting – from all, except the kids in Harry Potter land, was great. Perhaps the best I’ve seen in a Star Wars film
• Crait (the salty red planet) – incredible production design and visual effects for a beautiful to look at finale
• Lightsaber battle – against the red-hooded guards was fun particularly the ending. The variety of weapons the guards had was also enjoyable.
• Sound Design – the beautiful moment of silence at lightspeed was a giant risk but it paid-off, stunning our theatre into silence.
• Score – John Williams at it again

 

Things I Didn’t Like

• Terrible visual effects – most were great but there was a noticeable amount of green screen rubbish. Particularly on Harry Potter land.
• Leia using the Force – doing a Superman/Star Lord impression
• Unnecessary animals – Porgs provided standard Star Wars laughs, but the crystal foxes at the end  were just a lazy plot device,and the racing animals on Harry Potter land felt like a huge distraction away from anything of importance
• No Phasma – yes she was in the film but she was rubbish. I assume from her position as a leader of some sort she must have earned her way there but she can’t even beat an ex-stormtrooper one on one. Feels like potential not utilised.
• Rose saving Finn – I actually would have liked to see Finn die. As he was flying up to massive lazer #34, I understood his intentions and motivations for doing such a thing and yes, it wouldn’t have helped the Resistance but it was a powerful scene. Or it would have been if Rose hadn’t magically sped-up and saved him before having another cheese-fest conversation about saving what you love or something…

Overall I really enjoyed the film. It seemed to take quite a few risks and in many ways felt like a different Star Wars film. Not all the story decisions paid-off (nearly everything on Harry Potter land seemed unnecessary), but it was fun and I think because I am not that heavily invested in Star Wars as a property meant I had the freedom to enjoy the spectacle without getting too caught up on plots not going the way I wanted them to or characters not doing what I deemed appropriate for them to do. Perhaps on second viewing I will have more gripes, perhaps not.