The Worst Jedi

Rating: 5/10 (17 December 2017)

If The Force Awakens was a bit too adherent to the classic Star Wars formula, Rian Johnson's The Last Jedi is its equal and opposite reaction. JJ Abrams' effort often felt like a young boy putting on his Dad's coat, splashing on his cologne and trying in vain to mimic the old man's booming baritone voice. Rian Johnson's entry is the same kid a few years later, willfully eschewing everything that is his Father. The Last Jedi doesn't look like a Star Wars film. Hell, it rarely feels like a Star Wars film. Sure it's got familiar faces, space battles and Force mumbo jumbo, but this ain't your Father's Star Wars, and I think that's the point. The look and feel of this film is synergistic with its message. This is no longer Han, Luke and Leia's show. Perhaps more importantly, it's no longer George Lucas'. This is Star Wars: The Next Generation, and I don't like. Not at all.
There are some truly great moments in the morass that is the painfully overlong The Last Jedi. Moments worthy of the saga that has been my constant companion since I first saw the original film as a wide eyed 3 year old in the late Summer of 1977. But these are few and fleeting, and no salve for the gapping wound it left in me. I realize now that for me, the Star Wars saga consists of three films. Star Wars (because for me it will always be Star Wars), The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. And I can even still enjoy the prequel trilogy despite glaring flaws, because at its core are the same basic fundamentals and the DNA of the same architect. What Disney and its minions have done is take someone else's toys and played the game their way. That's fine. But I don't have to watch.