So with all this controversy recently about Star Wars, you may be wondering why it is that the die-hard Star Wars fans – like myself – have had such a problem with this movie.
In this review, I will seek to show our point of view without nit-picking the movie scene by scene. Instead, I will focus on overall plot devices used throughout the movie, rather than small-scale issues.
Be warned that spoilers abound in this review. I advise you not to read this without first having seen the movie.
Positive Aspects
While this section is much smaller than the bad stuff section, you have to give credit where it is due to Disney:
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The Last Jedi turned out to have a lot of humor in it. I found myself laughing often throughout the film. While, at times, the humor was a little forced and over the top (Poe’s “your momma” joke to Hux within the first 5 minutes of the movie), it turned to be a very humorous film. Also, that whole scene where Chewbacca couldn’t eat the Porg without feeling guilty was absolutely hysterical.
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The pacing of the movie was excellent. It had amounts of dialogue in between action sequences, but you never got bored watching the movie.
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It had some very pretty cinematography, such as the scene when the rebel cruiser plows through the imperial fleet.
Negative Aspects
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Kylo Ren is not a scary character. I am sorry, but by making Kylo too human they completely destroyed the fear factor of his character. When Vader came on the screen, you pretty much were like “well the rebels are doomed”. But since you see Rey beat Kylo in Episode 7, it just makes Kylo into a weak character.
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The big questions we were left with after episode 7 seemed to all have very disappointing answers. They played up Rey’s parentage, but that seemed to be all deception when we found out Rey was not special at all. Most people wanted to know more about Snoke, but instead we found out absolutely nothing before he was killed. These answers just felt like such a letdown, especially after all the time spent making Rey and Snoke into have these mysterious backstories.
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The main critique I have of this movie is almost the same as with episode 7. Many of the key scenes seemed to be recycled. The walkers on the snow, eh I mean “salt”, planet was very similar to episode 5, even down to the rebels sending out speeders to stop the incoming walkers. The confrontation between Rey, Snoke, and Kylo on the bridge of Snoke’s ship was also incredibly similar to Luke’s confrontation with the Emperor and Vader in episode 6, down to Snoke touting the downfall of the rebels on some strange viewing glass looking thing. The casino scene was eerily similar to the cantina scene from episode 4.
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But perhaps the biggest disappoint of all was that Rian Johnson had a perfect way to end the movie, and it would have been different than any Star Wars movie before. The entire movie spotlighted the struggle of Kylo Ren and Rey’s attempts to turn him to the light. Kylo eventually killed Snoke and he and Rey worked together to defeat the guards. But after all of that, Kylo ultimately just chooses to become the new Supreme Leader. This was the biggest disappointment because it just seemed to be the same exact thing. Light versus dark. Imagine if after the battle, Kylo called off the attack on the fleeing rebel transports. Then he and Rey agreed to run the First Order together, one representing the light side and the other representing the dark. THAT would have been something we had never seen before. Instead, we were left with the Resistance becoming the new Rebellion, and feeling as if the rebellion in episodes 4-6 was completely pointless since the cycle simply started all over again.
Thanks for reading this fan’s perspective!