Review of Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) by Corey H — 20 Jun 2018

I feel a disturbance in the Force, a disturbance that has created a media nightmare. Star Wars: The Last Jedi is not a good movie. It was an unpleasant experience filled with off-putting characters, a stale main story, and politics that are being forced onto the audience whether they like it or not. Before I get into the review though I would just like to say I cannot believe the ridiculousness that has occurred from both audience members and the filmmakers themselves when it comes to this movie. On one side, you have directors and people in charge of companies worth billions of dollars isolating and insulting audience members by calling them bigots and saying they want to segregate their audience by saying things like "the force is female" or "there are too many white guys in Star Wars". On the other side, you have people who allegedly berated an actress for her portrayal of a character. People of the world, if you did this, please refrain. The actors did not write it, they are merely doing their job, a job that I have very little to complain about. That said, I will do my best to explain this critic's gripe about the movie Star Wars: The Last Jedi, yet giving credit where credit is due.

Despite the media circus and the glaring problems with the film, there are some arguably strong moments and entertaining parts in this movie. For one thing, the world building and stunning visuals were something I praised upon watching this movie. Something that Star Wars has always been good at is making their movies look good. This movie was colorful, the world building was nice, especially Ahch-To, everything looked real and the landscape was beautiful. There were also a lot of good shots in this movie, one of the best ones is where a ship crashes into a bunch of other ships at light speed towards the end of the film, arguably one of the best scenes in the movie. Despite the characters throughout the movie being flat, annoying or confusing, the acting in this movie is pretty solid. Everyone looked and sounded like the people they were playing. None of it ever looked forced or fake, even Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker, a character that will be discussed later, he was doing a very good job. These are probably the best qualities of the film. It's a shame that I don't have many good things to say, but it's the truth, and that is what is most important.

It is still unbelievable the number of things wrong with Star Wars: The Last Jedi from a critic's perspective. I wrote previously that the visuals were good in this film, that doesn't mean I enjoyed the special effects in the film. There were scenes with CGI that went from good to terrible quickly. There is a scene where two characters are riding these alien horse creatures, they look like something from an Xbox game. Similarly to a scene with a character resurrection where she flies through space, and it looked so fake that it took me out of the movie. Some audience members even started laughing as the scene played asking "what was that?" The characters were another gripe in viewing the film. Rey is just as bad as she was in the previous movie, she's an overpowered Mary Sue, and before you call me a misogynist let me tell you that if she was a man I would say the same thing. She learns nothing in the movie, yet is perfect in every way from the beginning of the movie to the end, she doesn't grow or change as a character, and people actively defend her character despite the glaring problems. Finn is a character who is used only for terrible jokes and gags as well as a subplot that goes nowhere quickly in the film. They tried to make him some sort of comedic relief, but it fails as a result. Rose is also a bad character in that her lines are so corny and on the nose, she has barely any impact on the story, and they try to make her a love interest, which falls flat immediately. Luke Skywalker is a completely different character than he was in the original trilogy, in that he turns to a cranky, old hermit who betrays everything that the character was about. What's worse is that he doesn't grow or change as a result. He just sits there complaining that the Dark side is too strong and Kylo Ren is beyond saving, so go away. I mean that can work as a story, but if that was the route they were going with, that Luke wanted to be alone, then why in the last movie did he leave a map for people to find him? Like did he just forget? The tone was another big problem with the film. It didn't know what it wanted to be and it wound up being a mess. Some parts had like childish humor, like Finn being naked in a suit and leaking water on the floor, and then scenes where a person is violently ripped apart by lasers. Can you make up your mind? Is it a comedy, is it an action movie, a political thriller? Finally, the politics that the movie is trying to force on people. This is less to do solely with the movie now, but just my two cents in. This is a message to everyone in Hollywood. Stop putting your political beliefs into your movies. If it's a political movie, fine, but stop forcing politics into films. The feminism message in this movie is a joke. With Holdo's character too busy making the men characters look dumb to make a plan that actually makes sense, to the Mary Sue that is Rey, it becomes too much to bear, very quickly.

I have seen all the Star Wars movies to this date and I have never been more disappointed by one of these movies than I am about this one. It's a shame, what was once a revered, iconic dream of a young director that grew into a billion-dollar industry, is now suffering and becoming comically bad. I have hope for the future and I want these movies to succeed because there were still good things about this movie and interesting ideas, but the potential is just potential. I won't give this movie the 91 percent that other people have given it because, much like Rey and her powers, it hasn't earned that score. Star Wars started out as a blessed franchise, let's not see it die a poor series of mediocrity.