Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Episode VIII
Directed by Rian Johnson
Written by Rian Jihnson
Based on characters created by George Lucas
Music by John Williams
CAST:
Mark Hamill as Luke Sywalker
Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia Organa
Adam Driver as Kylo Ren
Daisy Ridley as Rey
John Boyega as Finn
Oscar Isaacs as Poe Dameron
Andy Serkis as Supreme Leader Snoke
Domhnall Gleeson as General Hux
Kelly Marie Tran as Rose
Laura Dern as Vice Admiral Holdo
Benicio del Toros as DJ
I managed to draw a laugh from my companions as In a Galaxy far far away flashed on screen, and I said, ‘Hey, I’ve seen this before!’
That is the issue. We all have. It’s a major cultural phenomenon of the last four decades, and does Episode VIII justify its existence in such major company?
First of all, it’s 152 minutes long. I thought much too long, but I also suspected that the script ran considerably longer because there are so many signs of cutting off a productive side plot prematurely. We have four (at least) plotlines and they are cut together abruptly. Oh, well, there’ll be a Director’s Cut then after they sell the first lot of DVDs in 2018.
Rey (Daisy Ridley) and Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) on the island
First is wannabe Jedi, Rey (Daisy Ridley), seeking out Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) on his rugged desert island home with its cute amusing plump little birdies and wild life. In tribute to Father Ted I mentally called it Craggy Island. Chewbacca has accompanied her aboard the Millenium Falcon. I didn’t have to look that up. We have the Millenium Falcon toys in three sizes. Mark Hamill moaned about his tiny screen time in Episode VII and my guess is that a decent part was a prerequisite for participation in Episode VIII. He got a very decent part too. I don’t think I’m dropping any plot spoilers that the title does not already give away, when I say that like Harrison Ford in Episode VII, this is Mark Hamill’s last appearance in the series.
Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) gets his helmet off. Later his shirt follows.
Then we have severely raddled pockmarked and hairy Supreme Leader Snoke (a rubbery puppet animated by Andy Serkis) with Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) plotting the destruction of the Rebels, Kylo Ren is so agonizingly lip-quiveringly emotional that Darth Vader would be ashamed of him. But then he is in telepathic communication with Rey who doesn’t know who her parents are. I bet they turn out to be closely related in Episode IX. OK, they’ve been there, done that. They’ll do it again.
Kylo Ren & Rey. Thisis what it’s all about.
The Poe plot with a sturdy Poe (Oscar Issacs) is a touch weird. He is constantly battling authority, in fact female authority in the form of Princess General Leia and Vice Admiral Holdo. Authority turns out to be justified (thin plotting here), but isn’t strict discipline / allow no arguments stuff the mark of the dark side? It also comes across as rash male deering-do against a more conservative female approach. Poe is the closest to the classic hero, given that the real hero, Rey, is female. The stubble helps. It was odd to have Princess General Leia flying through the vacuum of outer space by Jedi willpower alone. She was so severely hurt in the explosion, that they must now regret not letting her die there and then. My guess is they thought “Harrison Ford shuffles off this mortal coil in VII, Mark Hamill follows in VIII, and we reserve Carrie Fisher for IX.” But it is not to be, given Carrie Fisher’s sad demise in reality subsequently. I suppose they have those shots of her in the life support pod and I am assuming they might just reappear in IX.
Finn (John Boyega) and Rose (Kelly Marie Tran)
Plot Four is Finn from Episode VII and Rose. I thought all the way through that Rose was Korean, and thought too that it’s a good thing to have a Korean heroine, given the (justified) demonization of North Korea’s regime. But I Googled, and Kelly Marie Tran is Vietnamese-American. They are sent off to find a codecracker in Casino World. At first they seem to be after the Cary Grant lookalike, but end up with the shifty DJ.
DJ (Benicio del Toro)
This is the half-realized bit, in that we expect the Alien resort with exotic aliens (for the figurine toy sales), but it’s given very little time, and the large animal racing, crucial to the plot and coda, even less. I smell cutting. Rose seems to carry a torch for Finn, as does Rey. I think we’ll have a Rose / Rey = Hans/ Luke contest for the guy in the next one. The code cracker, a villainous rogue, should not be investigated too far in plot terms. One of the bigger plot issues. The exotic aliens are just glimpsed, as ever. It reminds me that the world of Star Wars is definitely bipedist. By which I mean that virtually all the alien life forms are bipeds with opposable thumbs. I recently read that while dolphins have bigger brains (as we know) than humans, they are technologically crippled by the absence of opposable thumbs. Maybe the writers of Star Wars knew that. Maybe it’s just easier to dress up a human with a rubber head and hands. I still think early Star Trek was way more imaginative in its alien life forms in that some were just electric fields, or mineral based forms.
The plots clash and bang into each other rather too rapidly. They try desperately to inject humour. Sometimes, as in Luke Skywalker squirting milk from one of a grotesque creature’s four bulging teats, it is very funny. As is Rey’s remark when her telepathic contact with Kylo Ren finds him shirtless and covered with bulging glistening muscle. The cute sweet cuddy little island birdies relationship with Chewbacca veer from funny to “Yuk!” though. I see it in the stores already.
Hmm. Chewbacca with cute birdie. Cuddly toy on sale soon no doubt.
It’s in line with the others. Effects and costumes brilliant. Dialogue creaky. Cinematically it differs in its strong use of flashback, and in scenes like Rey’s dive into the dark and fearful hole on the island to meet a series of mirror images of herself. Very well done too. The final land battle brings back the At-Ats and speeders from The Empire Strikes Back, never a bad reference.
Lots of this stuff of course
Here the plot holes shout a bit too loudly. I feel daft in even mentioning it, but if you crank up a space ship to light speed, and ram it into another one, I suspect the result would be a nuclear explosion and even a black hole rather than a fire and a few bits of metal falling about and just missing our heros. Dreadnought is a somewhat silly name for a spaceship type too. Great fighting from Rey. Great fighting from Kylo Ren.
Rose’s sister’s suicide mission. To me the flying helmet and uniform colour scream “Kamikaze pilot”
It is very PC in distributing roles across gender and ethnicity BUT I have one severe criticism. Basically, Rose’s sister (I assume played by Ms Tran too) goes on a Kamikaze style suicide mission to bomb the Dreadnought. Then at the end, Finn sets off on a suicide mission to attack the dark side’s nuclear cannon (or whatever it is). That is thwarted. But in 2017, are suicide missions with bombs something to show as heroic? I definitely think not and they should have considered that.
At the end of VIII, we have our four main characters intact, and Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaacs, and John Boyega all prove worthy inheritors of the franchise. Kelly Marie Tran doesn’t look too well at the end, but as at the end of Episode VII, that’s contract negotiation stuff.
STAR WARS – THE FORCE AWAKENS, EPISODE VII review here.