The last remake? Hopefully

Rating: 1/10 (21 December 2019)

The Last Jedi has a lot of problems, mainly, in my opinion, it's single greatest problem is that the man chosen to make this film doesn't understand, or like, or sympathize in any way with the necessary subject matter of his film.
This is the second installment of the Disney made sequel trilogy and sadly, as with its predecessor, it is a remake of the corresponding film from the original trilogy. As such it is echoing the themes and tones of the darkest and most militant edition of that trilogy, 'The Empire Strikes Back' which is widely acclaimed as the best Star Wars film now, but which actually received mixed reactions when brand new precisely because of its darker and bleaker material.
I do not believe that filmmaker Rain Johnson was capable of properly creating this remake with sincerity due to its necessary complete discontinuity and disconnect with his own ideas and ideals.
Therefore this film proceeds to fail terribly.
The story points of this episode are radically rearranged from 'Empire' but they are largely intact as features in 'The Last Jedi' within their new narrative locations.
Such things as the frontal land attack on a fortified final resistance base.
A trip to a capitalist outpost to seek aid only to be betrayed and almost suffer complete calamity.
The young Jedi seeks and finds an old reclusive isolationist jedi master for training.
In this training the apprentice undertakes a test below ground and sees a threat from the dark side.
There is a sunken x-wing fighter.
At the end of the film the resistance is on the run with no fixed base and reduced to a motley collection of survivors.
The millennium falcon is chased through a ravine and subterranean spaces.
Han solo is captured and out of action/Luke Skywalker dies and is out of action at the closing moment.
The use of distant force communication between living force sensitive people Luke/Leia and Rey/Ren.
Yoda shows some power!
And tonally there is no doubting that the retreating and defeated rebels represents a mid saga lull or low point in the fortunes of the goodies. When good is under the pump.
However this film contradicts, confuses, convolutes and counters this tone and the themes of its own story at almost every stage.
This produces insurmountable, intractable and utterly irredeemable problems of story, narrative and characters all the way through.
From the opening to the ending this film beats itself up uncontrollably.
Characters get in the way of the story, story gets in the way of characters. Repeatedly and often in multiple ways within the same scene or sequence.
In the end The Last Jedi feels like a space soap opera not a fantasy space sci-fi or "space opera"; no it presents itself like a space soap opera.
Incoherence is uncontrollably let lose upon the storytelling. However, not in any way does this produce a zany or dynamic free-form anarchistic film.
It makes for incomplete, incompetent characters making inconceivable and inane and insane decisions. Characters that exist as martyrs to their own suffering at the hands of induced misfortune again and again and again. Until such time as every protagonist and antagonist across the film is jellyfied to a wobbly incoherent mush.
Plot holes are another bane of this film: multiple plot holes and inordinate examples of plot conceits and plot armour.
The most serious are regarding the climax however, as many people have listed the multitude of unbelievable plot cheats and plot holes through the course of the film already. At the climax however we have the appearance of Luke Skywalker, as a force projection, which buys time for a last ditch escape by the remaining fighters trapped within the base. However as portrayed in the film Luke's intervention in this manner causes his death and only serves to gain relatively fractions of time. There is an example effected however but only due to the offchance noticing of a form of local wildlife doing a runner. Erm. What? No. No. Was that part of Luke's plan? That someone inside the base would see a native animal in those few moments, see the animals appearing to flee, make a rather unfounded conclusion that they were fleeing cus they "knew" what they were doing and rally everyone to follow. So....if those animals had already fled. Or been killed. Or lived in a different cave that particular day. Or if that single rebel hadn't seen them. Or hadn't drawn a highly contentious conclusion about their actions then Luke's intervention would have been simplely completely unhelpful. Pitifully meaningless. And pathetically useless. That's a serious plot hole right there. Right at the climax.
And representative of the entire scope and condition of this film which I have had to rate as my first ever 1/10 as it ended my interest in this incarnation of Star Wars.