The Last Film Review

Rating: Null/10 (28 January 2018)

Years ago a sound-man on a Sun Micro corporate video shoot gave me a phone number for a job contact up at ILM. Being a young sci-fi fan and a then aspiring film maker, I was a nervous wreck. I called the number, let it ring three times and then hung up, largely because I had very little technical training and didn't think I would be of much benefit.
After seeing Disney's take on mister Lucas's creation, I think I can safely say that that was a good decision.
This film is long. It's got tons of contemporary wit. Has several graphic novel (comic book) moments in it. And, most importantly, very much lacks the sense of wonder that everyone experienced back in the 70s and 80s with the first Star Wars' films--a thing that I think even the so-called prequels manage to keep in spite of suffering story shortcomings.
Films are meant for social inspiration, and this film departs from the predominantly white cast of the first films, and is a bit more all inclusive. That's a plus. Yet it feels ham-fisted to me. As if it was an afterthought to include African-Americans, Asians, Middle Eastern people, and whoever else, in the character line up. Personally, I don't care. Make the whole cast of mixed parentage from African Pygmies, Native Americans, Amazon tribes and Finnish and Russian for all I care, as long as it's a good story, but if you think that the fan who may have racist feelings is going to be suddenly enlightened, then you have another thing coming. In short, the benefits of a cosmopolitan cast, to me, do not outweigh an extremely iffy plot.
This film pays homage to The Empire Strikes back with several scenes that are lifted and yet re-arranged for this new movie's purpose (you'll note the space sequence and ground battle, reshuffled, as well as an "homage" to the showdown between Luke and Vader from "Empire"), but, unlike "The Empire Strikes Back"'s dramatic and operatic pacing and overall scale, we have a film that's driven by plot and subplot. Those of us who have seen and read the original Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers' serials, that would include mister George Lucas, there was larger edge to the story that made them grander than what they initially were; a relatively low budget series meant for boys and girls. "The Last Jedi" tries to placate to the Star Wars' fan, but doesn't understand its own roots other than what was produced in 1977 and afterwards.
An hour of this film could have been cut, and it's my personal opinion that the film was unnecessarily fluffed up or inflated for a distinct lack of good story material. "Empire Strikes Back" moves because each scene is pertinent, and moves the story forward for both the larger struggle in which the characters are involved, and their own personal struggles as they relate to the cause. That's what made those films so good.
The other real pitfall of this film is that we're never given a motive for the bad guys being bad guys. That is to say we don't know why they "turned to the dark side", unlike the nebulous yet rather emotionally found reasons explained to us in both Empire and Jedi. There's none the such given here.
There is one major positive about this film, and that is it reflects back on a message from the Hospitaller knight from Ridley Scott's "Kingdom of Heaven", and that is what matters is right action. But this is never really underscored nor pushed as a central theme, even though this is the key element around which the movie revolves. Instead the film meanders from one audience pleasing moment to the next, and never becomes fully realized.
I trained as a screenwriter, worked as a grip, stage manager, camera operator, and even just as a jack of all trades from the late 80s up through the mid 90s, a half hour south of ILM, wondering if I should have been really kicking myself for not taking that opportunity some three decades ago. Well, again, after seeing this film, I think it was the right decision. I can write a better movie. No joke. I can. Not that I would have ever had the chance to write a Star Wars' film, but to this end, and seeing this film in all its alleged glory, I'm glad I never worked on one. And, further, as much as I loved seeing Star Wars for the first time way back in 1977 on opening days, and subsequent re-screenings after that, I can truly say that this film epitomizes why I never became a fan in spite of being a dyed in the wool science fiction fan.
Thanks for reading.