Similar faces...similar mess.

Rating: 4/10 (22 December 2019)

The 'last' (and I emphasise last as there is likely to be another 27) instalment in the Star Wars saga was meant to have it all but instead had all the ingredients of a narrative failure. The obvious, rushed attempt of trying to have it all only highlighted the true essence of the narrative mess.
So many unanswered questions, so many overly-clichÃ© lines (even for Star Wars) and so many near deaths. I must start with the very beginning as the Emperor reveals he never died and has been all the voices Kylo Ren has heard throughout his reign. Snoke was a creation of his amongst 'many others' and he was under his control the whole time. Whilst I can partly come to terms with this lazy explanation, there is little to none explanation of how the emperor is alive and why he is alive. Apparently you can survive a huge fall into a pit and now he's keen to build a ton of a star destroyers that don't move and will eventually blow up planets?
I get that he wanted Rey to carry this on after killing him. Although as soon as she refuses to do this he kills her and Kylo Ren anyway showing that Plan B may have been favourable after all. This consistent theme of rushed narrative choices with little development went on throughout the whole film. A big example of this being Fin saying to Rey as they were sinking to expected deaths 'There's something I need to tell you' or 'something I've always wanted to tell you.' This does not get mentioned again when he tells her to worry about it later. Something I missed or just lazy scriptwriting?
Action scenes are well done in the film's defence. Lightsaber duels are well choreographed and some of the ship fights at the beginning are very cool. But, as a friend had pointed out to me, the film felt like a Star Wars video game. The dialogue felt quick and rushed with not massive character development whilst the action was well sought out and in-depth. Mind you, not a video game I would have finished.
I appreciate that Fisher's sad passing surely had an effect on production but her conclusion, such as the rest of the film, just felt sudden and rash. I'm not gonna get into the boundaries of the force because I'll be writing the whole night. The only thing I will say is that Leia passing simply from uttering a word through the force but flying through space only creating a bed-ridden princess is an interesting comparison of power. But hey, the force has no boundaries so doesn't really matter.
Character motivations are just all over the place to be honest. Poe and Rae have an intriguing character divide at the beginning of the film with no follow up. Fin's obviously romantic feelings for Rae never get mentioned. Kylo and Rae kiss for no reason what so ever other than a quick thank you for resurrection I suppose. Emperor's plan seems scattered and frankly stupid - Rae's ridiculously op presence in this film epitomised by her destruction of the emperor. If the emperor really knew how powerful she was then how did he let her destroy him so easily? Could he really not be more powerful than two lightsabers?!!
I don't know, maybe I'm just a keen Star Wars fan who just had too big expectations. To me thought, it seems as if JJ Abrams tried to repair a very broken product. The complete change of narrative direction in TLJ emphasises the need for a trilogy plan; not just a franchise that wants to sell all its new toys before Christmas. The decline of quality since TFA is staggering. It's just shocking how a whole team looked at this before it's release without questions themselves.