The Boldest Blockbuster in Years

Rating: 9/10 (17 December 2017)

9/10
Audacious and even somewhat bizarre, yet ultimately incredibly rewarding, THE LAST JEDI definitely feels like a film in which director Rian Johnson had complete directorial control and more often than not that is a very, very good thing. The film isn't perfect, and not by a long shot. After opening with a blisteringly thrilling forty-five minutes that features one of the series' best dogfights and the resolution of the infamous cliffhanger at the end of THE FORCE AWAKENS, the film begins to creak under the weight of multiple ongoing subplots, none so more than the unfocused casino storyline, which has received the brunt of fan criticism thus far, and rightly so. But before things get too out of hand, Johnson brings everything together with an unpredictable and astonishing final hour that delivers momentous sequence after momentous sequence, cementing Johnson as a master storyteller who could care less about fan expectations. While THE FORCE AWAKENS was criticized for being "too derivative" of A NEW HOPE, one of the main criticisms THE LAST JEDI has received thus far is that it skews too far from any previous STAR WARS film. To fans of the franchise: you can't have it both ways.
Did I enjoy it more than THE FORCE AWAKENS? It's hard to say, and I don't think I'll have the answer to that question even after a rewatch. Compared to its predecessor, THE LAST JEDI definitely has more than its fair share of flaws. It's overlong, although I admittedly have trouble finding what, if anything, should be cut, and the moment in which one of the characters briefly turns into Neo from THE MATRIX RELOADED left me scratching my head. But the stuff in here that works, works. The relationship between Rey and Luke (Mark Hamill's performance is easily the best in any STAR WARS film thus far), the further development of Kylo Ren, the revelations regarding the background of one the main characters, the thrilling action sequences (one of the film's lightsaber duels left me stunned), Steve Yedlin's series-best cinematography (those reds!), and as always, John Williams' magnificent score. Even the humor mostly works, thanks to Johnson's own idiosyncratic tendencies (would any other filmmaker have included that close-up shot of the iron?), and the fact that porgs are infinitely better than ewoks.
And simply put, there hasn't been any other film this year that I walked out of and immediately said "I want to see that again as soon as possible." And that one shot where the sound drops out is pure cinematic brilliance. Definitely the boldest blockbuster in years.