Review of Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) by Joy R — 26 Dec 2017

I watched it twice and thought about it a lot. The Last Jedi lacks the most important element of any decent film: good storytelling. The characters (old and new) don't take you on an interesting, convincing journey with them. They make choices just so you will feel constantly shocked by an overload of twists. Seriously, so many characters bluffed and double-bluffed that it actually got boring.

Personally I did not expect or demand to see anything specific. All I wanted was a nice movie with some basic continuity. I loved the new characters of Rey, Finn and Poe in the Force Awakens. I was looking forward to seeing Luke and Leia again. I was open to any version of a competent fairytale. Yes, I set the bar pretty low and yet this film managed to fail. The writing was disappointing, not just as a Star Wars film, but as any film in general. The one star I gave it goes to the visual effects and music but I clarify that neither visuals nor sound can dress up this empty shell of a story.

Like thousands of others, I came here for the first time because I was appalled by the critics praise and wanted to balance things out in my own small, rebel way. I was also appalled by Disney's defense mechanism. Sorry dears but I am not a white male, nor a fan-boy, nor a racist, nor a misogynist, nor a bot. I am a lover of good movies and this was NOT a good movie.

SPOILER: For me, the worst of all the artificial "twists" and continuity errors was within Luke's arc. I was perfectly happy to see him turn into a grumpy old man who completely detached himself from the force. But I needed a reason as to why he arrived in that state of mind. Instead, I was told that Luke, the greatest optimist of the entire saga -the guy who even saw good in Darth Vader when nobody else did- lost his mind simply because he sensed the dark side in his nephew. Remember, we're talking about the same nephew who has been portrayed to us as self-conflicted, again and again and again. The boy was far from lost at the time when Luke sensed trouble. And what does Luke, the greatest optimist, do about it? He stands over the boy, pulls out his lightsaber and considers murdering his nephew in cold blood, in his sleep. Because that's what people do. Right. Even this nonsense could have semi-worked if there was a reason for this temporary madness. Did Luke suffer from a horrible post-traumatic stress disorder, was he tricked by Snoke, was he having a mental breakdown, did he hit his head? Give me something, anything. Some of the characters' motives and motivations are either stupid or remain a mystery. This is not progressive. It's just bad writing.