So a few days ago, I watched Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Being a big Star Wars fan, and having watched The Force Awakens, I thought that I could get some enjoyment out of this film. And then I saw the reviews online. Critics seem to really like this movie. Fans…….. Oh. Review after review of people saying that this movie was an ungodly mess of a film and that this was one of the worst Star Wars movies ever made. I was actually surprised to see the amount of hate, but I thought to myself that, maybe I should give this movie a watch and see what all of the fuss was about. And that is why I am here with you today. To talk about this movie. Because clearly no one on the internet is talking about a new Star Wars film. And I’ll try my best to keep this article as spoiler free as I can.
Okay, first off, let me just talk about some things that I liked about this movie. I really liked the characters of Rey and Kylo. I remember some people saying that Kylo had no personality and that Rey had too much personality. And while I can understand that, I think that they were much better written in this movie than in The Force Awakens. Rey had a much bigger goal and we got to see what she was inside and what the Force is like for her. With Kylo, we get to see his anger and his hate come out tenfold and how he feels about the Empire, the Republic, and the entire war. And when the two are interacting, it’s one of the better parts of the film for me. These two characters work off each other so well, and how they interact with each other through a sort of long distance Force… thing. Not sure what, but I really like it. Whenever these two are talking with each other, it is the best part of the entire film. Speaking of best parts of the film, Luke Skywalker. Sure, of course a fan will like talking about him. He’s an iconic character to the franchise and has been there since the beginning. There’s no way we’re going to not talk about him. Only now, he’s a grouchy old man who is living on an alien planet, living out his days with himself, drinking unpasteurized alien milk fresh from the alien’s four utters… Yes, that actually happens. But aside from that, he is still just a joy to see. Mark Hamill does a great job playing him, as always, and he just plays the character so well. I can’t say much without just gushing about Luke Skywalker like some fanboy, so I’m going to just move on from there.
Some other things I liked about the movie are the set designs. Of course, it’s a Star Wars film, the entire place has to look beautiful. But I still have to say, these places are amazing. The island planet that Luke lives on, the space ships that they are all set on, and my favorite part, the mineral planet they escape to. At first, it looks like a snow planet and you think it’s gonna be something like Hoth, but it turns that, what looks like snow, is actually salt. So, whenever they step on something, the white salt turns red. As the battle goes on, the ground starts to become red and by the end of the fight, there’s just this giant splotch of red all across the ground, and I love it so much. It just looks so good. And some other things that I like are the designs of the creatures. Sure, they forced these new creatures on everyone so much that you can tell they are already making toys for them because Disney’s gotta make that money, but aside from the clear cash grab they are, they look really good. The weird bird creatures are really cute and the design of the crystal foxes just look amazing. I really do like the effort they put into them. I’d buy a duel set of the Crystal foxes and the Porgs.
Now, with that out of the way, let’s talk about the things I didn’t like about this movie, and unfortunately, there are a lot. First off, I did not like the villain, Snoke. I thought Snoke was a very bland and uninteresting villain throughout the entire movie. He was just some guy who we learn nothing about, who is just a placeholder villain until we can get a real villain out of Kylo, and the meeting between him and Rey is just so underwhelming that it wasn’t even close to being worth it. Honestly, Snoke’s red guards were way better than him, with their laser duel knives and whips, they looked so damn cool, and the fight between them against Rey and Kylo were so much more interesting than Snoke ever was. I honestly forgot about him the moment he was out of the film and didn’t even care after that.
Another moment that I didn’t like was when Leia needs a replacement admiral for the time being. This admiral character is the most pro-woman message I have ever seen in a Star Wars film. Her entire plan was to get the transports out of the ship because it was under constant attack by an empire ship, but Po, another character who I really grew to like in this movie for his cheesy lines, kept saying that the admiral’s plan would get everyone killed. Now, tell me why she didn’t just tell Po. She could have told Po what her real plan was to do instead of keeping him in the dark. She had no reason not to tell him her plan, in fact, if she did tell him her plan, it would have made things better. But no, she didn’t because we needed a longer running time for the movie. My friend, who was in the movie theater with me, hated her character so much, and I can’t blame him. But as for my most hated character in the film, well, let’s talk about her.
The Last Jedi introduced another character into the film, Rose. I honest to god despise Rose with every fiber of my body. A character who does nothing in the entire film except just… exist, she causes so much roadblocks and was a major part of the worst part of the movie, the Casino subplot. Finn and Rose are sent down to this casino to find some guy so they can get some help on the ship because admiral’s dumb plans, and in the end, it results in nothing. Well, it results in the police wanting to kill them over a parking violation and Rose causing millions of whatever Star Wars currency in damages and possibly deaths. Aside from that, nothing gets solved, nothing is gained, more lost, really, and Rose continues to stick around, throwing out random development out of the blue expecting us to just care immediately. She just throws out random background after random background and it is just the worst. They really wanted me to sympathize with her character, but I didn’t. In fact, I hated her the most out of any character in this movie. Now, I thought she died in this movie, but I’m pretty sure she didn’t, but when I thought she did, I cheered. Loud. In a crowded theater. With children. True story.
Okay, so, aside from… many screw ups, I thought that the movie was… good. There were some other things I would mention, but can’t because of spoilers. Like how this movie may ruin your childhood because of one moment. Can’t say because spoilers. But, as far as Star Wars movies go… It’s not the best, but it is far from something like Phantom Menace or Attack of the Clones. The Last Jedi is okay. It’s got enough to please a usual Star Wars fan, or, in Disney’s case, a young child. For the most hardcore fans, you may be a little disappointed with this movie. It’s better than Revenge of the Sith, but it’s less so than something like Return of the Jedi. That’s all I have to say on the matter of this film.