Fear Leads To The Dark Side of the Force

Rating: 5/10 (17 December 2017)

Film Review: "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" is a galaxy far, far away from the one George Lucas created, but the film is good, just not great. I wrote something very similar about "The Force Awakens" when it came out. I still disagree with Disney's and J.J. Abrams' choices made in the "The Force Awakens," and I disagree more with how those choices play out in writer/director Rian Johnson's "The Last Jedi." However, I will review the film that I saw, then discuss what it isn't.
Mr. Johnson has put together a decent film. It does not match the jaw-dropping visuals of "Blade Runner 2049," released earlier this year, or for that matter any of George Lucas's prior Star Wars films, but the concept art, art direction, and production design are serviceable, if not slightly better, than the ones J.J. Abrams approved for "The Force Awakens." "The Last Jedi" does suffer from some poor editing transitions between storylines.
What elevates "The Last Jedi" is Mark Hamill's penultimate performance as Luke Skywalker and John Williams's best score in years. Mr. Hamill commits to this disheveled, disillusioned, and desiccated revised character by Mr. Johnson. And, Mr. Hamill triumphs with what he has been given. Additionally, John Williams's blend of old and new themes in a spectacular score elevate this film in a way only a John Williams score can.
**Slight Spoilers Below**Don't read the next two paragraphs, if you want to know nothing about the movie.**
However, Luke Skywalker's revised character is an example of a major flaw in the Disney-Abrams-Johnson changes to George Lucas's original vision. It is Star Wars Canon established by Yoda that Jedis are not fearful, because fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate, and hate leads to the dark side of the Force. For most of the film, Luke Skywalker is portrayed with so much fear of his past and the power in Kylo Ren and Rey that everything feels false about this Star Wars story. His fear of Kylo Ren's darkness during his training and Rey's darkness when Luke is asked to train her is all wrong.
George Lucas's Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker would never fear the darkness within people - he would face it, like he faced Darth Vader. Even pre-Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker was never scared to take on the first Death Star, or to start Jedi training, or to go into the cave on Dagobah, and or fear to rescue his friends from Lando's cloud city on Bespin. "The Last Jedi" Luke Skywalker is not Luke Skywalker, regardless of how well Mark Hamill performs the material he was given.
**End of Slight Spoilers**
Yes, Star Wars is a daunting project. It should be. Star Wars changed 20th century filmmaking in hundreds of small and large ways that reverberate today. However, Mr. Johnson was so self-conscious about the subject matter that he wrote an extremely self-conscious script that made fun of itself and Star Wars. He went for cheap "answering machine" jokes and winks to the audience.
Star Wars is Star Wars. All Disney, Mr. Abrams, and Mr. Johnson had to do was inhabit the world that George Lucas created in Episodes IV-VI and play by the rules. Constraints can trigger innovation. Lack of creativity is a poor reason to break rules.
Building an exciting three movie story about a confident and brave Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, and Princess Leia is not difficult. But, Disney's, Abram's, and Johnson's fear of Star Wars, led them to get angry at George Lucas's creation, ignore his ideas, and anger lead to a subconscious hate that caused them to throw away Mr. Lucas's rules, and hate lead them to the dark side of the Force.
Again, this is not a bad film. But, as I wrote about "The Force Awakens," "it's just not a sequel to George Lucas's 'Star Wars' films."