Review of Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) by Drexx T — 17 Jan 2018

As much as I wanted to love this movie, it utterly failed to deliver on so many levels. Disney, in all its previews, advertised the film as a serious epic focused on Luke, Rey, and Kylo Ren, with no doubt some appropriate comic relief as always.

What they delivered was a farce -- tripping over itself with excessive and ill-timed humor such that no scene could ever be taken seriously, even ones that were intended to be. That combined with frenetically paced cuts and transitions, too many new characters, and terribly conceived sub-plots (the codebreaker/casino debacle), meant the main story and characters were left undeveloped with few burning questions answered.

Even the opening premise, equivalent to a slow motion car chase with the First Order chasing the Resistance until they run out of fuel, was absolutely ridiculous. Ultimately, the plot felt like it went nowhere.

Rey's supposed "training?". Didn't happen. Who was Snoke and why was he built up as so important in The Force Awakens? No answer. Who is Rey and are her parents even relevant? Still no clue.

The relationship between Rey and Finn? Left languishing. Who are all these new characters? No time to find out (or even--truly--to care) despite the 2hr. 30 minute length. Perhaps most unforgivable of all, however, was the treatment of Luke Skywalker.

While a dark and withdrawn Luke was initially promising, his diminished role and ultimate end were insulting to his character and, frankly, made no sense. Disney will make a lot of money on this film so I doubt the significant criticism from fans will matter.

Regardless, Disney can't hide from the fact that they had advertised and promised a new epic Star Wars film. What they delivered was a cheesy, ill-conceived, poorly-written caricature of one.