Weakest Entry in the Series. Mediocre Adventure Story

Rating: 5/10 (31 January 2018)

WARNING! HUGE SPOILERS AHEAD!
I suppose it isn't really anyone's fault that, by now, the power of The Force is diminishing. That's to be expected when a franchise reaches its fortieth year. Where can you go from here? What more can you explore that hasn't already been explored by the original trilogy, the prequels, the expanded universe, fan fiction, and Ewok television movies, not to mention the 1978 Christmas Special? Sooner or later, "Star Wars" will decline in quality--and it has, with the Disney sequels. The Mouse is trying to make bank with a familiar name, seemingly blind to the law of diminishing returns. Thus, it's to be expected that "The Last Jedi" is a weak film that relies too much on special effects to impress. Its bloated runtime doesn't help matters: the film felt far longer than it ought to have been. With the exception of Rey, none of the characters were particularly memorable. I do admire director and writer Rian Johnson's efforts to take the series in a bold new direction, but his efforts are not enough to salvage a shopworn, tired franchise that has long since worn out its welcome.
Now to say something about the movie itself. "The Force Awakens" set up certain expectations: Rey would be trained by Luke Skywalker; Luke would help the Resistance, albeit reluctantly; some backstory about Rey would be revealed; Rey would actually be defeated by Kylo Ren; we'd learn more about Supreme Leader Snoke; Kylo Ren would complete his Dark Side training with Snoke; Leia would be riven with anguish over the fact that her son murdered his father, and would do what it took to avenge Han Solo's memory. Most of these setups are satisfied in a mostly unsatisfactory way. The manner in which Luke Skywalker was presented was disappointing. As many other reviewers have said: he made a map to find him, only to rebuke Rey? What? What few other reviewers have mentioned is that we are not shown the results of Kylo Ren completing his training. That is a huge disappointment: he is shown as weak and unready an adversary as he was in the previous film. It would have been satisfying to have him best Rey in single combat; she would learn a lesson about arrogantly trying to challenge such a formidable Dark Side user. I would have liked to have seen Rey struggle to learn the ways of the Force under Luke's tutelage. Yes, this is all a rip-off of "The Empire Strikes Back"--but a well-written ripoff is what we expected! To not satisfy this is disappointing, to say the least. If we expect Jedi training, we had better get Jedi training, period! If we expect Kylo Ren to grow into a more powerful villain under than training of Snoke, we'd better get that as well. Johnson seems to have deliberately set the audience up for disappointment in a mediocre chase story.
The film is not a completely wasted effort, and does have redeeming qualities--enough to attract and inspire some viewers. One: I love the fact that Rey is not anyone special; that she is not a Skywalker, and that her parents were plebeian junk dealers. This idea democratizes the Force: not all can be strong with the Force, but you don't have to have a notable lineage to be strong with it either. Following that route would have been *too* predictable, and I am glad Johnson chose to disappoint audience expectations with this. I also didn't mind Luke Skywalker being a sullen, grim, hopeless old man. I still would have liked him to have trained Rey, even with this new characterization; but that alone doesn't ruin his character. We expect people to change over time, even characters as iconic as Luke Skywalker. I also like Rey as a character. Yes, I agree with many reviewers that she's too *perfect*; that is, she does not face enough challenges, nor does she fail often enough due to her inherent flaws as a person. Still, her spunk and fearlessness is more welcome than Luke's blandness, in this film and in the original trilogy. She should be iconic, but simply does not face enough challenges or grow enough as a character to merit that distinction. She's a protagonist who badly deserves an arc, which the writers don't giver her.
And yes, some of the imagery was beautiful. I particularly loved the salt planet. I find an erie beauty in salt flats: salt flats with red crystals makes for a doubly dazzling setting. I also liked watching the AT-ATs face off against the X-wings on the salt flats. It all looked spectacular.
Overall, this is a below-average film from a franchise that did not need any more new movies. This is a cash grab from Disney that may entertain some for a brief time, but will quickly be forgotten. I recommend waiting for the film to come out on Netflix to watch it.