occasionally, very occasionally, reminds us of proper star wars

Rating: 6/10 (4 April 2020)

As an ending to what could have been the greatest science fiction franchise ever, this is a major disappointment. I hated the first half, but was pulled in somewhat in the second part, mainly because Adam Driver's Kylo Ren is kind of intriguing, at least compared to the rest of the cast. When he's around, the film almost seems like it might become proper star wars, and that despite the fact that for part of it he ponces around in the silliest Sith suit you could imagine. Whoever thought that red streaked helmet looked cool should be summarily fired from their job.
Kylo Ren inherit's the film's tradition of quasi-oedipal conflict. Motivation wise, it's not quite clear what's going on, but we know his past, who he's killed (actually I needed a reminder) and his precarious relationship with both the dark & light sides of the force & it's representative in this incarnation of the star wars universe. If only because of Driver the dreadful first half gives way to a second half that at times actually feels like proper star wars.
Unfortunately it never quite pulls it off. The story bitty & far from compelling. Rey seems like a nice girl but she's just too bland to really care. It's not Daisy Ridley's fault. She's not at all objectionable, but there is simply nothing remotely exceptional about her. As a Skywalker, she should have been a re-tread or reworking of the Luke story, the wonder of which was a bored teenager trodden down by his workaday life who suddenly finds himself swept into a galaxy spanning story of epic proportions as the key player. Technically Rei was designed along the same lines, except there was never even a remote sense of her really being swept up from the mundane in in the same way as with Luke. This is entirely the fault of the writers & a perfect example of why progressive writers with agendas really do their pet projects absolutely no favours: by making her far too powerful almost from the get-go in the very first film, they simply broke the character & plot development that was essential for her to become the pivotal character she is supposed to be.
We are never remotely worried she will fail. At anything. Because she's far, far too powerful. There is a scene at the very end where - not to give too much away - she appears out-matched albeit very briefly - but it is so out of sorts for her character it seems really odd? There's someone more powerful than Rei? That can't be.
There is some attempt at character development on the part of Rey, insofar there is the ever so slightest suggestion that she might be toying with the dark side, but we never really believe it & after three whole films it's clear that as the central character of this final trilogy she never quite makes it as a character we believe in. This is compounded by the fact that all of those with Jedi powers in this film, i.e. both jedi & Sith are suddenly imbued with vastly amplified powers, something which just makes all the rest of the action, not really seem to matter that much. Jedis are supposed to represent the power of the force, sure, but they are not supposed to be virtual Gods.
As for the rest of the cast, they are not really alive in the same way as the original characters, or even those of the prequels. John Boyega is ok, but after 3 movies I still care nothing about the guy flying the Millenium Falcon, not even to look up his name, and when - spoiler - he suddenly ascends to a top rebel commander rank, it just seems odd & jarring.
There are few good set pieces, the best of which features the broken form of the fallen death star from the very first film (or possibly the third, I'm not sure), now but a wreck in a very tempestuous sea. This is probably the point where the film feels most like Star Wars, and it's not coincidental that this is where we encounter the film's central (& arguably most climactic) conflict, where both Kylo Ren & Rey get to work on their inner demons, such as they are.
At this point it looks like the film, after a dire first half, could really redeem itself and provide a real conclusion. Unfortunately, it's unable to sustain the improvement. We are soon presented with the final conflict, unsurprisingly the final conflict between the evolved first order, now re-made as the Final Order & the still ramshackle rebel alliance. It's a shame but it isn't well done. We encounter the Emperor Palpatine once more, but now he seems increasingly like a pantomime character & the final conflict that occurs both above & below, above in the form of the clash of the imperial fleet versus the ragtag rebels & below between the adults - the jedi & the sith - working out their differences - never seems properly balanced in the way it once would have been. If you think back to the original star wars film, & the tension, the sheer impossible odds involved in the a no-hoper farm boy from Alderaan firing the killer shot that destroys the entire death star, and compare that to the pedestrian, go through the motions foxy boxing that we get here (I'm exaggerating a bit, some of it's ok I suppose), it's hard not to rue what a wasted opportunity this was.