The Last Jedi, if anything, has proven to be one heck of a polarizing movie. I saw it opening night, and my initial reaction was a mix of awe & wonder, with a little bit of shock & disappointment thrown in. My first instinct was to put The Last Jedi within the top 3 or 5 of the entire Star Wars saga. Coming out of the theater, I had the same sort of feelings I had when I saw A New Hope for the first time.
After mulling it over for a few days, some thoughts have changed. Overall, it's not a bad film. It's certainly not to the level of The Phantom Menace or The Attack of the Clones (which each have their own redeeming values in my book, but miss the mark in reaching their full potential as being great movies). In fact, I would consider The Last Jedi to be the second best in the franchise. To fully give my own review, I am going to address some of the other arguments people have made saying why they thought it's a bad film, as well as give my own thoughts about what was done right or wrong.
1. Force Powers - I was really happy to see the extent in which Force powers were explored. It was cool to see the beginning of more powerful Force abilities in The Force Awakens when we witnessed Kylo Ren stop a blaster bolt in mid-air & simply hold it there while talking to another character. Up until that point, we had never witnessed (as far as the movies are concerned) anything more than Force Push/Pull, Darth Vader blocking a blaster bolt with his outstretched hand on Bespin, Mind Control and Force Lightning. It was cool to see the mind-linking ability between Kylo Ren and Rey, as well as a more advanced version of Force Lightning. The coolest ability was manifested in the form of Force projection, when Luke projected his own image across the entire galaxy in the confrontation with Kylo Ren. One thing I (mostly) don't understand is the backlash that a scene involving Leia is receiving after a section of her ship is blown up, and the audience watches her become unconscious and floating in space, only to wake up and pull herself with the Force toward her ship and get back onboard. If one is coming from a point of view where the CGI looks a little bit unpolished, then I can understand the distaste for that scene. I can somewhat agree, yet can look past the CGI, but I understand where you're coming from. If, however, your problem is something along the lines of "How is Leia able to survive in space" or "How does Leia have Force abilities now", then I have a couple things to say. First off, this is a story involving space wizards with the ability to manipulate just about everything with their mind/connection with the Force. That's basically the premise of what makes this story fantasy. Logic doesn't necessarily belong here, at least when discussing this particular aspect of the series. Not to mention, if we dive deeper into Star Wars lore, in not just the movies, but the books and video games as well, there are certain abilities described which make surviving in space for a grand total of maybe 5 minutes seem entirely feasible. For instance, there is a character named Darth Sion. Seen in the video game Knights of the Old Republic II, Scion has the ability to achieve immortality by channeling his anger to basically hold his broken and decaying body together so he cannot officially die. There are other various abilities such as the ability to destroy entire worlds by drawing in Force energy to oneself, and the ability to transfer one's essence to anyone or anything, as well as other minor abilities like creating a Force "Bubble" to use as a shield in the middle of a battle.
In regards to Leia specifically, most people I've talked to who wonder how she was able to achieve that feat in The Last Jedi forget two things : A) Leia is a Skywalker, and it was established in Return of the Jedi that she has the ability to channel the Force like Luke and Darth Vader; and B) It's been 30 years between the events of Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens. It's not beyond the realm of possibility to believe that she received some training (though not enough to become a full-fledged Jedi Master) from Luke to have some basic Force abilities. My one and only critique of that scene specifically is this: I believe it should have been the way Leia passes away, because it was a powerfully breathtaking scene which could have served as the perfect opportunity to stir up emotions in the audience from the death of a beloved character. If there needed to be a scene where we see her use the Force in a way not previously established, then the set up could have been handled better.
2. Character Progression - I've read people's arguments about how there wasn't any character progression from The Force Awakens. I'd beg to differ in that regards...sort of. If we're talking about Snoke and Captain Phasma, then yes, there wasn't much in terms of character growth - we don't learn anything new about their background(s), they seem to only be there to further the main characters (Rey, Kylo, Finn and Poe) story arcs. Though I'd argue that's not a bad thing. However Rey, Kylo, Finn and Poe all have their own levels of character growth throughout The Last Jedi.
A) Kylo Ren - So many people (myself included the very first time I watched The Force Awakens) considered him to be not much more than a whiny brat who didn't seem like he would ever become a true force (ha) to be reckoned with. After watching The Last Jedi, I went back and rewatched The Force Awakens and I can better appreciate Adam Driver's portrayal as Kylo Ren. I've actually come to the conclusion of Kylo being a Dark Side version of Luke in his youth - brash, impulsive, always basing his decisions on his feelings rather than thinking things through. Luke was the same way when he left in the middle of his training with Yoda to go save his friends who were in trouble, or when he was on Tatooine with Obi-wan Kenobi and he rushed home despite Kenobi's warnings to his aunt and uncle when he realized the Empire was led straight to their doorstep in the search for R2-D2 and C-3PO. That being said you can see throughout the movie how Kylo Ren comes to realize how he's being manipulated by Snoke, and when he kills off Snoke and offers Rey a chance to join him, I found it easy to see his complete downfall to the Dark Side. He finally has nothing holding him back from his quest for power and influence, and following in the footsteps of his grandfather Darth Vader. People also need to remember that this is only the second movie in the trilogy. There's still plenty of time to grow even more.
B) Snoke - In terms of learning his backstory, there's not much there. However, I'd argue that that's exactly the point of his character. He's not there to to become the "big bad". He's there to help push Kylo Ren's character in the direction he needs to go to become the true villain of the new trilogy. As mentioned above in the Force Abilities section of this review, it was cool to see some of the extent of his own abilities. Seeing how little he's in the story though, sure, it would be interesting to see more of him whether it be his background (how he came into power, why was he such a threat to Luke and the Resistance, etc.) or just simply advancing his story from what it was in The Force Awakens. If anything, I would've wanted one final fight between either Snoke/Rey or Snoke/Luke and kill him off then. Yet, I'm ok with how his character arc was handled. Despite The Last Jedi having a runtime of almost 3 hours, I can see how it would probably have been too much at once to give more information on Snoke and Phasma, while also trying to bring to a close the classic characters of Luke, Leia and Han at the same time and further the story of Rey, Poe and Finn.
C) Rey - Rey is, if anything, the one character I was hoping to get the most growth. There was some growth there, but it doesn't come in the way one might expect. As established through her conversation with Han Solo when she and Finn first meet him, Luke is seen as this sort of mythical, almost god-like individual who has amazing abilities and has done some amazing feats. When she finally meets Luke, she realizes just how human & fallible he really is. In essence, the meeting pretty much confirms the old saying "Never meet your heroes". Unfortunately, either I need to watch TLJ again and pay closer attention to her story arc, or something, because I didn't see much growth in her as I would've hoped. Also, in her defense: I rewatched The Force Awakens after I watched The Last Jedi, and I *still* don't get where everyone is saying Rey is just a SJW "perfect" character with no flaws. In her first flight in the Millennium Falcon as she and Finn are running away from the First Order, she crashes several times into the ground as well as the walls of the remains of old Star Destroyers on the planet. She does have some skill in self defense, but she is still beaten and taken hostage her first time facing Kylo Ren on Takodana. Fast forward to TLJ, and she's gotten better in her fighting style, as well as flying. And yet, I was really hoping for some significant progression in her understanding of the Force and how it relates to the conflict between the Light Side and the Dark, as well as her own growing power. ***EDIT*** I saw TLJ again, and I noticed a bit more in how she comes to understand the Force and the Light/Dark conflict. I didn't catch this the first time around, but she saves the Jedi sacred texts before Luke could destroy them and any other traces of the Jedi. I'm confident we will see even more growth into a full-fledged Jedi Master once Episode IX comes out. As far as her parentage, I was ok with her being a nobody. With so many theories thrown about on who she was related to, I think having her not being related to anyone special was one of the only good routes. Had she been the child of a former Jedi, or someone equally well known within the Star Wars universe, the reveal would've been unfulfilling and empty. On the surface it might seem anti-climactic, but it's still one of the only good routes. Also, in regards to her fighting style/proficiency again, she still has a lot to learn as she gets beaten pretty easily in her sparring match with Luke until in anger she Force grabs Luke's old lightsaber and almost attacks him with it.
D) Poe - Poe is another character who's growth is subtle, but it's still there. All throughout TFA, we see how he's kind of a Han Solo-esque character - a hotshot who thinks with his ability to fly and blow things up rather than strategically, as a leader should. In TLJ, he starts off the same way, staying behind against orders to blow up a Star Destroyer instead of helping the escape to fight another day. It's because of this Leia demotes him, and he has to learn how to both gain that trust back, and to become a true leader for the Resistance. This lesson is solidified when his mutinous actions and going behind his superiors' backs to formulate a backup plan almost gets the Resistance annihilated. When his plan ultimately fails, and he realizes what Leia, Holdo, and the other Resistance leaders had in mind on the planet Crait, he gets a reality check of the damage his previous actions could have ultimately caused. His transformation to leader is solidified when he formulates a plan to escape the First Order on Crait, everyone looks to Leia for confirmation, and she says "What are you looking at me for?" and gets the group to follow Poe to safety.
E) Finn - I think Finn's drawn the shortest straw in terms of overall character growth. He isn't given much to do outside of hoping to see Rey again and caring for her safety - whether it be out of romantic interest or simple camaraderie built from their experiences running from the First Order together. However, the (now infamous) Canto Bight sequence presented an opportunity to show Finn's character in a way not seen since the opening scene of The Force Awakens. If you recall, the opening scene of TFA showed Finn as a Storm Trooper hesitate to obey an order by Kylo Ren to murder innocent villagers on the planet Jakku. He goes into a little bit of his backstory with Rey later on, stating how he was taken from his family at a young age and raised to become a soldier for the First Order. However, it's not until his, uh, misadventure with Rose on Canto Bight that he fully understands just what it means to be a part of the Resistance fighting against the tyranny of the First Order. Some saw the events on Canto Bight simply as a way to inject SJW problems into the movie. Personally, I'm not one of those people. Like the Leia space scene, the scene on Canto Bight could have been less on the nose, but after seeing TLJ multiple times I have a greater appreciation for it.
F) Phasma - Phasma's the one character I would agree that should have been handled better in both TFA and TLJ. She unfortunately gets the Boba Fett-esque treatment in both movies. I was never expecting her to be the main villain, but I was hoping to see her actually be a villain. The one fight scene she gets in TLJ was too short to have much (if any) impact on the story or any of characters.
G) Luke Skywalker - there have been a LOT of complaints that Luke's character has been destroyed, that he wouldn't have left his friends behind during a conflict (never mind that he technically did that when he left in search of Yoda, and then left Yoda in the middle of his training when he wasn't ready because his friends were in danger), he wouldn't have intentionally cut himself off from the Force, etc. I'm with a lot of these people in that I do wish we had seen Luke actually be in battle and be with his sister Leia, Han and Chewbacca. After seeing TLJ several times, however, I've come to appreciate his story arc. As mentioned above in Kylo Ren's description, Luke's always been the 'thinking with his heart and not with his brain' type of person. He's also one who takes failure far too personally (something I can relate to) and painfully. The timeline is slightly confusing, but some have argued about plot holes within the story as to why Luke is missing. In TFA, it's said he went searching for the first Jedi Temple. In TLJ, Luke's description of Kylo's fall to the dark side made me wonder if his search for the first Jedi Temple began, and then a short period after is when Kylo completed his fall to the dark side and burned Luke's new Jedi Academy. It's when this happens that Luke decides to just disappear after he finds the temple. I doubt he would have left the map to find him and the temple if he intended from the beginning to disappear. It's somewhat implied during a couple of conversations with Rey that Luke let the stories about him get to his head, and so he felt like he was invincible and that he had to live up to the stories. When that happens, Luke overestimates Kylo Ren (then known as Ben Solo) and his descent into the dark, as well as the magnitude of Snoke's influence. When Luke finally realizes how bad it's been is when he makes the drastic decision to end Ben's life and save everyone from harm. Yet just like when he makes the same decision when he attacks Darth Vader in Return of the Jedi out of pure anger when Vader threatens Leia, that feeling is only for a moment before he realizes his mistake, but unlike his confrontation with Darth Vader, by then it's too late. It's not until the end where Luke realizes what he must do, and confronts Kylo Ren in order to set things right for his mistakes. After watching the entire series straight through and then rewatching The Last Jedi, I don't really get how any of Luke's actions were out of character.
3. Story-wise, TLJ at its core is simply a giant space chase set almost immediately after the events of TFA. What I personally don't get is how a lot of people complained there wasn't much story, that a long chase through space was boring, etc. when Mad Max: Fury Road from a couple years ago has basically the exact same premise - though it's set in the desert - with even less of a story to go along with it, and yet that was widely praised while TLJ was divisive. I don't get how one can love a movie for almost the exact same reasons for hating a similar movie. Could TLJ's story have been crafted better? Sure, I can think of several ways in which the story could have gone. That being said, what we got instead wasn't bad in and of itself.
It took me several viewings to really appreciate The Last Jedi and this new trilogy as a whole, but in the end I'm excited where Episode IX is going to lead, as well as future movies within the Star Wars universe. Not to mention, I still consider The Last Jedi as the second best installment of the entire franchise.
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