The Last Jedi

April 4th, 2018 by

It has been a while since I have been to a movie theater to watch a movie. The last movie I can recall seeing in the theater was The Avengers. After that it seems like a lot of other movies have not had the appeal. I have not watched any other Marvel, DC or Star Wars releases in the theater since then. Most of the time I either buy a Blu-Ray copy or download from iTunes. Based on some of the movies I have watched, my feelings are somewhat validated. The only movie I sort of wish I had seen in the theater recently was Rogue One, the best of the Disney Star Wars movies so far.

From the beginning it was obvious Disney was going to overhaul, and reboot the Star Wars franchise with the last trilogy of movies. The last trilogy was going to be a passing of the torch to a new generation of Star Wars actors to bring Star Wars to the next generation of fans. This does not upset me, it makes me happy. Something I loved for over four decades will live on. Though a conversation I listened over the radio while driving to work concerned me. Kids do not have the same nostalgia for Star Wars as the older fans have. For many children who grew up with Star Wars as part of their lives, it is just another phase. Like Dinosaurs or Army Men, Star Wars is just an interest and then the child moves on.

Since I had some time to sit down and watch the Blu-Ray of The Last Jedi, I came in with some expectations. The movie was not as terrible as critics made it seem, it was just not good, and probably the worst of the Star Wars movies. That includes the prequel trilogy. The plot seemed contrived, and lacked any timing. The new characters introduced where unlikable. The characters we had already been introduced to were behaving out of established characterization. Ultimately it seemed to light hearted for the normally grim second act in a Star Wars trilogy. It seemed more like the plot was trimming down the Resistance to stock characters and main characters. It seemed like one of the creature makers had a fetish for rabbits. The Porgs were supposed to be some sort of sea dwelling bird akin to penguins, but looked more like a rabbit/penguin hybrid that became a living emoji. Then there were the fathiers which looked like a cross between a Jack Rabbit and lama.

The Last Jedi seems to take place with in a few days after The Force Awakens. The First Order is now pursuing the Resistance and the Resistance is abandoning it’s base. The Resistance manages to somewhat escape and score a victory by destroying a Dreadnaught Star Destroy by bombing it. Rose Tico is introduced to us via the mission. Rey traveled to the planet and island where Luke was living, and the scene where she hands the lightsaber to Luke is repeated. Luke tosses the lightsaber aside, and refuses to train Rey or help the Resistance.

Let’s face it, the movie was just a hodge podge of short stories that were sewed together to seem like a movie. As I stated no real sense of timing. The fleet is running on vapors, and only has a few hours maybe, yet Rey spends days on the island with Luke training. All of this is happening while the fleet is fleeing the First Order.

Vice Admiral Holdo is charged with running the fleet while Leia is incapacitated. She seems disliked by Poe, and she leaves the door open for desertion and mutiny based on her superior attitude.

Rose Tico seems almost schizophrenic in her moods. She was not likable at all, and seems to border on psychotic.

DJ, the intergalactic con man Finn and Rose meet while on a mission in Space Vegas only did one good thing, pointing out to Finn that people who were vacationing in Space Vegas sold weapons to both First Order and the Resistance.

Snoke seemed to be a bland version of Emperor Palpatine.

Characters from the first movie seemed to be out of character. Poe was more of a jackass than just cocky. General Hux was now a whipping boy for all the force users. Captain Phasma was sort of a joke as well.

Overall the movie was way too light hearted to be taken as a dark and serious second movie in a Star Wars trilogy. The second movie in the Star Wars trilogy is the one where the cause seems hopeless, and the enemy too overwhelming. The movie tried to portray this with just killing off secondary characters no one cared about. Luke was just a plot device to move Kylo closer to the light side. His only purpose was to give the Resistance time to escape.

The only thing I did enjoy about the movie was the use of Chewbacca, I am a Chewbacca fan. Chewbacca was always the conscience and advocate of the heroes, this time he breaks down a door for Rey, then snarls, growls, and howls chastisements at Luke. Then there is the whole guilt trip as Chewie tries to dine on Porgs, and the emojis get to him. Eventually he adopts several and they are on the Millennium Falcon.

There were so many missed opportunities in the movie, and hopefully things like Snoke’s origins or Rey’s origin will be cleared up. Unless those things will be saved for spin off movies.

Thanks for stopping by.