Review: Star Wars The Last Jedi
Last we were in the Star Wars cinematic universe, the force had awakened in orphaned scavenger Rey (Daisy Ridley), leading her to seek out the self-exiled Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) in the hopes of his teaching her the ways of the Jedi. It was a literal cliff-hanger as the key figures of the franchise's past and future met one another for the first time.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the eighth chapter of George Lucas' iconic family saga/space opera, doesn't immediately follow through on Rey and Luke's encounter, preferring first to plunge audiences in the midst of the First Order's retaliatory attack on the Resistance for destroying their Starkiller Base. Whilst the rebel army puts up a good fight under the gung-ho encouragement of hotshot pilot Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac), whose default inclination to blow things up and put himself and others in harm's way garners both the admiration and dismay of General Leia Organa (the late Carrie Fisher), who is disheartened at the rebellion's ever-dwindling numbers, the newfound realisation that the First Order are now able to track them through hyperspace jumps essentially make the remaining rebels sitting ducks.
Leia is not the only authority figure with which Poe shares differences of opinion. When Leia is temporarily incapacitated as a result of the opening attack, lavender-haired Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo (Laura Dern) assumes command and her decision to do nothing as their carrier experiences an endless barrage of attacks from the First Order starships bothers Poe to the bone (not to mention her description of him as a "trigger-happy fly-boy"). When the recovered Finn (John Boyega) and ship's engineer Rose (Kelly Marie Tran) come up with a plan to find a codebreaker to sneak aboard and disable the First Order's tracker, Poe gives them the go-ahead without informing Holdo.
Yet these two strands are satellites to the main narrative, which involves the complicated dynamics between Luke, Rey and Kylo Ren (Adam Driver). Rey is eager to persuade Luke to return with her and help the Resistance; Luke is more interested in convincing her to let the Jedi die off. He symbolises the legacy of the Jedi, he tells her, and that legacy is one of failure, hypocrisy and hubris. Kylo Ren, with whom Rey shares an intriguing and mysterious psychic connection, is also keen on letting go of the past and start anew; by doing so, he says to Rey, they can both become the people they're meant to be. Yet who exactly are they meant to be? The question of identity - or, more specifically, are they to be forces of good or evil - lies at the very heart of the film.
This theme, of course, is nothing new to the franchise but there's something deeper and richer about the way writer-director Rian Johnson delineates it in this instalment. Johnson not only builds upon the foundation set by J.J. Abrams in The Force Awakens, but reshapes it into something that feels fresh and pivotal. Much of this is attributable to Driver and Ridley, who effectively convey their characters' internal wrestlings. Driver's Kylo Ren hasn't progressed much since his adolescent tantrums in The Force Awakens, but that angst is better utilised to amplify his internal rage, ambition and, yes, even humanity. Ridley, meanwhile, brings forth the insecurity and vulnerability beneath Rey's pluck and tough-mindedness. There's a startling sequence about midway through the film where Rey comes upon a subterranean mirrored curtain, which reflects her to apparent infinity. Yet it's not quite a series of reflections as each Rey does not act in unison but rather in sequence, Orson Welles' famed The Lady from Shanghai sequence reimagined as a Busby Berkeley-choreographed moment of existentialism.
Apart from the more layered characterisation and sense of urgency to what is essentially a standing still situation, Johnson has delivered arguably the most visually stunning Star Wars film. The cinematic master Akira Kurosawa has long been an integral influence upon the Star Wars universe (A New Hope was inspired by Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress), and Johnson crafts sequences here that aspire to and often reach Kurosawa's bold, dynamic and sweeping style. It's there in the way the starships smash cut into view and in Supreme Commander Snoke's throne room, its throbbing blood-red walls serving as a backdrop to one of the best lightsaber battles of all time. It's there in the showdown between the First Order and the skeleton rebel crew as they pilot barely functional "rust buckets," the red salt of the planet's land trailing behind them. (That same swirl of red unveils arguably one of the most badass moments in franchise history.) It's even there in Johnson's decision to shoot on film, which not only continues the current trilogy's nod to nostalgia but adds depths and textures to cinematographer Steve Yedlin's compositions.
Not that Johnson overlooks the crowd-pleasing moments. From the ever-charming BB-8 and Chewbacca to the heart-meltingly adorable puffin-like porgs and crystal foxes to the multiple skirmishes and offbeat comic moments to John Williams' eternally magnificent score, The Last Jedi is endlessly satisfying entertainment for both the head and heart.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Directed by: Rian Johnson
Written by: Rian Johnson; based on characters created by George Lucas
Starring: Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong'o, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Gwendoline Christie, Andy Serkis, Benicio Del Toro, Laura Dern, Billie Lourd, Simon Pegg, Justin Theroux
