Review of Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) by Josh B — 12 Jan 2018

The Last Jedi was clearly made to "subvert our expectations", not to provide an expansion on a beloved franchise with another cohesive episode. The Force Awakens kick-started the new trilogy into life and left us (viewers) with lots of questions - SPOILERS - there aren't any interesting answers to those questions. The only answers we get are "it doesn't matter".

Star Wars films only need one thing to be successful, continuity. Continuity from what it's predecessor's built, and where the story continues to go. There is no continuity in the Last Jedi as it's sole objective is to "Kill the past". Unfortunate The Last Jedi doesn't set a foundation for Episode IX to build on either. The story lacks direction and bores you to death with it's thin characters. Rey is a complete Mary Sue who hasn't invested any time into becoming who she's become. Snoke is deemed irrelevant with no additional backstory. Phasma's sole existence is to make Finn appear heroic, depsite being treated as a joke in Episode 7 where she's supposedly thrown down a garabage shute. The Knight's of Ren are nowhere to be seen. Rose's character is a forced love interest for Finn, and in the final moments of the film where there could be good story telling, becomes a hypocrite to her own motives at the start of the movie.

The amount of real world sociopolitical agendas that are being pushed through this film blurs it enough to mean there wasn't enough time to focus on good story telling with interesting characters and understandable motives. The inherent "force is female" notion that Kathleen Kennedy has injected into this film is unavoidable, whether it be Leia's ridiculous scene where she survives being blasted into space, or the abundance of female commander's belittling the actions of men when they don't have any ideas or tactics themselves. Other than Holdo, whose "secret plan" was a suicidal sacrifice.

Ultimately, the subliminal message behind this film is best implied from Master Yoda. Lineage, hard work, training and seeking wisdom are apparently not important to becoming a good Jedi, simply having hope is enough. What a fantastic message to offer the youth of today, which is clearly Disney's target audience, not the dedicated Star Wars fans that made the franchise what it is today.