Directed by: Rian Johnson
Starring: Daisy Ridley, Oscar Isaac, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Laura Dern, Adam Driver, Benicio Del Toro, John Boyega, Andy Serkis, Kelly Marie Tran, Domhnall Gleeson, Peter Mayhew
What happened? We went from the spirited fun of Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015) to this dispirited, sputtering chapter in the third Star Wars trilogy. Whenever The Last Jedi threatens to come alive, it stalls like an old car engine. The result is an overly long, sometimes ponderous exercise. How many battles between the First Order and the Resistance can we stand? How many teases of characters switching alliances, for that matter? The Last Jedi puts those questions to the extreme test.
The Last Jedi picks up where The Force Awakens left off, with Rey (Ridley) tracking down the reclusive Luke Skywalker (Hamill) on an island on an uncharted planet and begging for his help in the Resistance. He declines gruffly, as he does several other times throughout the seemingly interminable first half. His dialogue at first doesn't rise above, "leave me alone," "go away," or other half-hearted declinations. We know he will eventually join the fight in some way, so no need to put us through an hour's worth of paces. One or two of these scenes, including the ones tapping into Rey's introduction to The Force, would have sufficed.
Then, there is Kylo Ren (Driver), son of the now slain Han Solo and Princess Leia (Fisher), who isn't just conflicted, but Conflicted. He pretty much disposes of the mask which garbles his voice, so we see his pained, scarred face courtesy of his light saber battle with Rey in The Force Awakens. Kylo is the apprentice of the evil Emperor Snoke (Serkis), who if he were at all as intuitive as he professes would notice Kylo Ren is a tormented soul who can't be trusted to go all in to the Dark Side. Let's face it. Kylo and the baddies here are lightweights. Rey and Kylo Ren connect telepathically and each tries his or her darndest to turn the other one. They have an exchange in an elevator which could qualify as Star Wars trash talking.
Meanwhile, the Resistance has its own business to conduct, which involves the insubordinate, but passionate Poe Dameron (Isaac) running a covert mission to help the rebels blow something up and otherwise make the First Order very upset. He enlists Finn (Boyega), the former stormtrooper from The Force Awakens and newcomer Rose (Tran), who is a spunky and game heroine and involves tracking down a codebreaker (Del Toro) in an interplanetary casino which is among the visual highlights of the film. One thing you can never take to task in a Star Wars film is its endless imagination of lovable creatures. The Porgs take center stage, acting as a foil for the irascible Chewbacca.
There are numerous stories going on, but all are glacially paced, as if they are in no hurry to lead us anywhere. Our goodwill and patience, even with Star Wars, is finite. As the battles dragged on and the rebels (all twelve of them) escape what appears to be certain doom time and again, I was reminded of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, which also severely overestimated its audience's desire for an interminable running time. Writer-director Johnson (who made a superior sci-fi thriller in 2012's Looper), knows the words, but not the music of Star Wars. The visuals are, of course, well done, which is to be expected. The spark which was abundant in the joyous The Force Awakens is missing here, as well an emotional tug to pull things along.
It isn't a good sign when the nameless creatures which occupy the background are more intriguing that the characters which occupy the foreground, but there you have it. Instead of looking forward to the next (and hopefully final, but I doubt it) chapter, The Last Jedi left me sorely disinterested. I can only hope this film, which ranks alongside Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones as the weakest of the series, is a misstep which can be corrected with a thrilling climax. I'm far from convinced this can happen.
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