The Canto Bight setting provides some resonant material for Finn, who struggles with his position as a cog in the war machine and Rose is a compelling new addition to the Star Wars family thanks to Tran’s energetic and determined characterization, but their subplot feels a bit unwieldy at times. That’s also where we meet Benicio del Toro’s unscrupulous hacker character, DJ, who, with his small but effective part, makes a slimy yet profound impression by sharing a morally gray worldview that isn’t usually expressed in the black-and-white world of Star Wars.īoth of these storylines have their merits, but are also what cause The Last Jedi to lose a bit of its momentum in the middle. This new locale is overflowing with weird and wondrous alien designs, like a Mos Eisley cantina for the galaxy’s one-percenters, and it serves to demonstrate a different kind of evil than the militaristic First Order while also showing the disenfranchised people worth fighting a star war for. Meanwhile, Finn (John Boyega) and Resistance maintenance worker Rose (Kelly Marie Tran) have their own plan to save the day which takes them to the casino city of Canto Bight, where people and aliens of all shapes and sizes live in excess. Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) is still the hotshot pilot you remember, but his brashness soon gets him into hot water with the leadership, General Organa (Carrie Fisher) and Vice Admiral Holdo (Laura Dern). No one will ever say Johnson didn’t take any risks.Įlsewhere in the galaxy, even though the Resistance is in quite the pickle, its members can’t decide on the best course of action to combat the First Order. They’re both struggling with their parental figures and want to shape their destinies, and how the story addresses that proves to be the most memorable and undoubtedly polarizing part of the film.
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Her narrative isn’t unlike that of Kylo Ren, who is played with a tortured psyche and haunted demeanor by Adam Driver as he strives to please his own mentor, Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis). The big questions from The Force Awakens regarding Rey’s family are the same ones that drive her throughout The Last Jedi, and Ridley is utterly captivating as Rey uses her strengthening relationship with the Force to explore them. Ridley and Hamill play off each other well, expressing a strange mix of frustration and empathy for one another, resulting in something vastly more interesting than the expected master-student relationship. There’s a frankly brilliant sense of poetry to Luke’s story in this movie, with elements that harken all the way back to the start of his journey in beautiful fashion. He rises to the occasion with his finest performance as Luke, using the timbre of his voice and the pain in his eyes to express Luke’s reluctance to confront his past, let alone help Rey mold her future. One of the major changes is that Hamill is no longer playing Luke as the archetypal hero – he’s now a conflicted, deeply damaged Jedi master.
That’s why it’s so satisfying to watch: it feels more like a complete story than your typical installment of Star Wars. By the time The Last Jedi ends, the Star Wars universe feels like it’s been through an entire trilogy’s worth of revelations. The first half is so exciting and involved that Johnson is able to hide the fact he’s setting up the truly stunning moments still to come. The film moves at a brisk pace, covering an impressive amount of ground while still finding time for slower, more methodical scenes, not to mention well-placed moments of levity. Johnson manages to tell a deeply personal yet large-scale tale that gives every character a moment to shine. It’s by far the most tense and exciting Star Wars adventure, and surprisingly, it’s also the funniest. The story wastes no time setting the stakes astronomically high, and things only get more dire from there. Meanwhile, Rey tries her best to convince an ornery Luke to leave his secluded, Porg-infested island and rejoin the fight. The story picks up right after the events of the Force Awakens, with the First Order setting out to conquer a Republic-less galaxy by destroying the Resistance (natch). Johnson plays with all the toys Star Wars has to offer, and he’s not afraid to change – or break – a few along the way. There are fan-pleasing moments, for sure, but nothing is included without a purpose. It’s evident that Johnson understands the criticisms about every preceding film and predicted the assumptions about this one (to the point where some dialogue sounds as if it was lifted right from fans’ mouths), and that he used that knowledge to absolutely shatter expectations.
Abrams’ The Force Awakens got dinged for borrowing too much from A New Hope, but recycling old material isn’t an issue in The Last Jedi.
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