Don't look to the horizon, look at the piece of massive, character-driven entertainment (and some pathos) here

Rating: 10/10 (17 December 2017)

Ive seen Last Jedi twice now and the second time went with my older brother (who is old enough to have owned original Return of the Jedi toys). He remarked (and I took for granted) John Williams's score once again being a highlight, and starting off on that point reminds me why Star Wars still has the adventure/operatic impact it does. The Last Jedi is full of sweeping action and tragedy and loss and hope, and Williams reflects that and heightens it, elevates it, into more than it was. We just always think, well, this is Johnny, but his achievement here is no less than any of his other compositions. For all of the attention to the psychology of the characters (as much as can happen in Star Wars, which is a fast-moving adventure serial), without Williams's themes it doesnt grab the punch. One day he will go into the great dissolve in the sky.
I'm struck even more this time by how there are many, many character dynamics in this 150 minutes - even Benicio Del Toro's stuttering thief, who has the kind of grime and sleaze but charisma this needs, some originality here and there - and Johnson as a writer is able to juggle so many. I should have more or a gripe with his Poe only kinda sorta grows by the end (for all of his cocksureness, he knows well enough to leave a giant death-star-tech cannon alone at a certain point), but it's offset by how we get to see Isaac actually inhabit this guy (unlike last film when he was away most of the time).
Every connection that should matter, from Luke to Rey to Rey and Kylo (a curious linkage by the way that makes me wonder about whether Snoke was saying truth or not when he commented on being the architect of their bond... A very small moment near the very end tells me he wasn't or at least not fully), Finn and Rose, Poe and Holdo (is she coming back in the next one? I have no clue, but her exit is easily the most breathtaking moment in this film and most of the Star Wars movies), and even Kylo and "Admiral Hugs." It might be a lot of skipping between the timelines, but the tension isn't lost from thread to thread.
If anything seeing it again I admired more the tapping between tones, from the wide-eyed goofy (mixed with a tinge of melancholy for the exploited underclass) in the Casino city to the uneasy and veering on psychedelic bits on the island. Oh, and as a director Johnson gets the most bang for his buck as far as capturing indelible images and even visual poetry (and I dont mean how Lucas once tried to say it once upon a time). Only flaw: he could have even more if he slowed down for a beat or two (my one minor gripe pace wise, it's breathless in the storytelling often in this long but not overlong sit).
This is wonderful work, funny, heartwarming and heartbreaking, and while with no twists that will especially change the fabric of pop culture, there are a couple that make enough of an impact to get a packed theater into excitement (but then again perhaps Johnson knows ironically people might go in *expecting* to get one of those bone-shattering/solar-plexus-damaging twists like in 'Empire'). And it has a strong take on what is wrong and right at the same time about legacy. You can't stick to everything in books that are older than dirt, but the impetus for keeping a balance in the force is a good one and may inspire those who are told from birth they should have none. This goes for Luke but it also goes for Kylo Ren, and his turn towards the dark side in this story is more subtle in some waye than that of his grandfather - what do you take with you and for all of the talk of God powers (and demonstrations, like the kick-you-in-the-ass climax), it's always down to choice in a given circumsrance, pure and simple.
Thats a powerful message, especially for children, and if one takes it a political step further there are far greater parallels that can be drawn, but that would take a longer review to get into (suffice it to say if you can't make paralells between the Resistance and the First Order to what's going on in America and the UK and other points worldwide now, you're not paying enough attention). In other words as basic entertainment it's a blast that has steady direction, and as something political (as all art, or good art, should be), it kicks ass too.
One question as I still am in awe of what Johnson was able to do as far as making a spectacular blockbuster film...
Why didn't Laura Dern just take Oscar Isaac aside and tell him the plan to ger into the cloaked ships? He wouldve saved a lot of trouble, though ultimately the trip to the Casino planet for Finn and Rose *is* much more important than even I first thought. It really is key to setting up a lot of what's to come in movies beyond this which was clever given how it seemed like a silly diversion (was that Justin Theroux as the expert gambler? Looked like him). But anyway, just a minor gripe.