Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi

Synopsis

Rey trains with Luke while the last of the Resistance limps away from the first order who has new tech. However, Snoke has other plans for Rey and Kylo that do not match either of theirs.

Review

If you watched 2024 Episode 2 - The Skywalker Saga you will know that this is where I believed Star Wars lost itself. Lost its edge. Lost its mojo. I blame Rian Johnson for writing something so pathetic.

Look, there are some superbly done scenes. Specifically I am thinking the throne room scene, even with the obvious part where Rey could have been stabbed in the back, and the Luke/Kylo fight. Snokes monologue is so good and just the mental thought process Kylo had to go through to show him what he wanted without giving away his other action. Super good. However, those two scenes don't forgive the other 90%.

Mark Hamill was highly critical of this movie during the press tour blaming Rian Johnson and he is 100% right. This movie's writing and story were horrendous. While he did say that it is better than he remembers it, there are some huge plot issues that hurt the core that was setup for 6 movies. Specifically the placement and thought process of the Jedi. I can understand the crisis of faith that he had and we have historical evidence in the books and Obi-Wan Kenobi about Jedi cutting themselves off from the force, so I don't have an issue what that. I have an issue with him being absolutely rude to Rey and lying about the events that happened. Luke was always upfront and this felt like a betrayal of that.

I can vividly remember walking out of the theater in Arizona and having a huge complaint about this movie. Leia being Marry Poppins. She is blasted into space, has been in space without atmosphere for a number of seconds if not a minute, and is able to wake up, calling on the force and float like Mary Poppins into the ship. It is lazy, stupid, and absolutely breaks the science of the universe.

I do not have an issue with the story and how it is played out when looking at it in the big picture. I think some parts are dumb, but I can get behind others. I think the cast did a great job with what they were given, kind of like Season 8 of Game of Thrones which I know I haven't talked about yet (A future podcast episode is coming out where all will be revealed).

My Rating

It is scenes like the last that I described about Carrie Fisher's flight in space + the writing that made it so hard for me to watch this movie. Up until the recording of 2024 Episode 2 - The Skywalker Saga I was watching all of them to refresh my memory, but this one is terrible (Hence why the name of that episode is "Rian Johnson Ruined It"). I think the fights look cool and I am down to watch the movie for that. However, the Canto Bight section can be tossed without losing anything. It is an additional 30 minutes or so that we didn't need. I detest this movie and that is coming from someone who LOVES Star Wars. If there was an adult book series (I feel like most of the books are Young Adult rather than true Adult), I would totally read them. This movie is a 6 with the fights being both good and bad on the scores. That was the best I could do.

Parental Rating

This one is hard. There is no language, no sex, no graphic violence. So based on the rules, they both approve. However, I really need to ask them what they think. I am sure my mom won't care either way, but I think my dad would feel that it is childish and boring.

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