As a returning character once said '...only now at the end do you understand.' And for better or worse this is the end. But it's also just another J.J. Abrams film. Star Wars is back, again, and the results are erratic, messy and often badly edited. The plot threads he follows are cherry picked, new ideas are plucked our of thin air (sometimes literally) and there's a lot of rushing, shooting and yelling. Overall though it's just so hard to be that disappointed, in a world where the love or hate of a series like this is now an entire online industry. Some of it is a fine action adventure story, one last hurrah for various cast members. Some of it is hilarious laugh out loud schlock. Some of it's just overtly stupid. And yet it's hard for me to feel strongly about it either way.
The exposition dumps fly quick and fast as Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) races to stop opposition to his First Order reign which comes out of nowhere in the form of Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid). Meanwhile Rey (Daisy Ridley) trains with General Leia (Carrie Fisher) before jumping into a macguffin fuelled mission across the galaxy. The entire thing is a rickety and shambolic affair, often leaping from one situation to another with about as much logic as the piloting skills of Poe Dameron (Oscar Issac) who apparently learned new techniques by watching Guardians of the Galaxy vol.2. But on the other hand a lot of this is par for the course when you consider the results of Abrams direction on Star Trek and The Force Awakens.
Little effort is made to give this the contemplative tone of The Last Jedi, and there are various direct rebukes to the previous instalment. It all feels like a random adventure for the old friends without much real weight or depth. A lot of screen time is given to old stalwart C-3P0 (Anthony Daniels) lending it a kind of Saturday morning cartoon vibe. They get a lot of mileage from his interactions with the cast, which is strangely enjoyable. It's glib and outlandish, but it at least captures a sense of fun that was lacking in the spin off movies from this franchise. New characters come and go, as do new planets and technological devices. Characters like Rose (Kelly-Marie Tran) and General Hux (Domnhall Gleeson) are completely short changed, and the return of Wedge Antilles (Denis Lawson) is a laughably short cameo.
At least the central conflict between Rey and Kylo plays out in ways that are to be expected, particularly the conclusion. Their dynamic is probably the main through line in the trilogy, and some of the smaller moments they shared last time around are expanded. New powers and abilities are thrown around and not everything works, but their story is given enough focus along the way. Leia's involvement as mother or mentor was sadly never going to be as planned after the passing of Carrie Fisher, but there's enough of her to give the story some heart. Again, it's rickety, and there are some elements that fall apart like the Blues Mobile as soon as the credits roll. But it's these kind of moments that manage to create an emotional core and stop it from breaking down sooner.
Elsewhere there are a variety of scenery chewing bad guys with the big bad himself now looking like a certain Dr. Who villain for some reason, strung up like a mechanical puppet master and delivering all kinds of overwrought dialogue. It's silly, it's weird, and it tries to tie up various loose ends with only limited success. Elsewhere General Pryde (Richard E. Grant) offers a thoroughly hissable presence, and the Knights of Ren are brought back for a few action beats. Where do these guys get all their finances? Why is Kylo's top mechanic a cyborg chimpanzee? What do Palpatine's cultists do in their spare time? Maybe these are good questions (for another time) but maybe it just doesn't matter, it's best to stop worrying so much and to start chuckling at all this stuff.
Purely as a spectacle again it's kind of a mess, but it does all look pretty impressive. There are more animatronics and creature costumes than you can shake a force powered staff at, and all the locations are detailed and lived in. Many inclusions feel rather minor and the quicksand escapes and cloaked disguise scenes are definitely more cliff-hanger of the week than meaningful diversions, but it all looks great. A journey to a snow covered smuggler's moon called Kimiji where droid hacking muppets and Poe's one time comrade Zorii (Keri Russell) are met feels like a random television episode for the gang, but it still manages to be mostly entertaining. But maybe that's the idea and all these little details are just for intrigue and texture, rather than substance.
It's not the nightmarish melding of Star Trek Into Darkness and Justice League that I might have expected from the creative team involved, which is something. You wanted a fun cameo from Lando (Billy Dee Williams)? It's here. You wanted another team up between Kylo and Rey with all that entails? Most of that's here. You think Leia needs a more involved role? Well they did their best. Certain elements are mystifying, and anything involving Finn (John Boyega) comes off as completely unfinished, especially when he's given the chance of talking to Rey about their relationship or with deserter Jannah (Naomi Ackie) about their new lives. Maybe that's all being kept for another new Disney show, or maybe it's just a bad script.
In the end at least it's not another drab, grey, and often monotone journey through the edges of the universe like the Star Wars Story films either. Is it good? Not really. It's definitely choppy and ramshackle, as if many deleted scenes were lost in the mix. But it's nothing truly migraine inducing. Well at least until the final space battle. A lot of it is just inevitable and safe, particularly the post finale codas. In a world of embarrassing popcorn junk and outrage over films that are often just mediocre it's just simply a mixed bag, instead of the final nail in the proverbial coffin. After all there's only so many times commentators can say something has been ruined before it just sounds like noise. It's enjoyable... to a degree. For both for the things that work the things that are just absurdly out of control. See you at the next soft reboot I guess.
2/5
