Star Wars: The Last Jedi is easily the most divisive installment in the Star Wars franchise. Critics have been hailing it as the best film in the saga since Empire Strikes Back (1980) while unhappy fans have been calling it as bad as some of the much-derided prequels. I have a feeling that once the hype dies, both sides will realise that the truth is most likely somewhere in the middle.

On my first viewing, as a lifelong fan, I left The Last Jedi feeling a little unhappy. Fans like me had waited 34 years to see Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) once again in a Star Wars film. In the first chapter of this new trilogy, The Force Awakens (2015), we had been teased with a glimpse of the legendary Jedi at the cliffhanger ending in a non-speaking role when the newest Force-sensitive character in the series, Rey (Daisy Ridley) had sought him out for training in order to oppose his nephew and former pupil Kylo Ren (Adam Driver).

After decades of anticipation, the characterisation of Luke in The Last Jedi felt like a disappointment. This wasn’t the confident, courageous and mentally tough Luke from Return of the Jedi (1983) who had shown character growth from A New Hope (1977). No, this was a broken shell of a being — bitter, cowardly and at odds with his original characterisation. The reasoning we were given for Luke’s transformation into an old hermit wasn’t satisfactory enough to explain how a man who had selflessly stepped into the mouth of evil to defeat the two most powerful Sith Lords ever and resist the temptation of the Dark Side was mentally disarmed by one setback to the point where he had abandoned his sister in need, General Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher). Mark Hamill himself has twice said that he was in full disagreement with this move by writer and director Rian Johnson, but eventually went along with it because his job as an actor was to do his best to sell the narrative.

The other issues I had with The Last Jedi were with its pacing and lack of payoffs. The film drags in the middle when Resistance fighters Finn (John Boyega) and Rose Tico (Kelly Marie Tran) travel to a casino planet to locate a hacker. Here, there is an odd subplot about animal cruelty and the introduction of another uninteresting character who goes nowhere, DJ (Benicio del Toro). Had these sequences been shortened in the editing room, Episode VIII, which happens to be the longest Star Wars film in the franchise, could have been a smoother ride.

The Last Jedi shines in its performances, and a single viewing is not enough to appreciate them

What’s more, The Last Jedi simply ignored the more exciting questions posed by The Force Awakens. Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis), who had the potential to be a compelling villain had the script been creative and actually bold, is handled lazily by Rian Johnson. What’s more, the answer to Rey’s heritage feels like another disappointment, only because of what was falsely foreshadowed by The Force Awakens. Of course, every director stamps a film with his own footprint, but for Rian Johnson to not only ignore the original trilogy but the actual film to which he shot a sequel felt disrespectful.

On my second viewing in as many days I went in with the acceptance that whether I liked it or not, and whether it made sense or not in context of what we knew about Luke from the earlier films, this new characterisation of the old Skywalker was now canon. Prepared for these blemishes in the storytelling, I enjoyed the film significantly more.

Where The Last Jedi shines is in its performances. Ridley and Driver are excellent in their roles as young Force-wielders on either side of the same coin. But easily the best performer here is Mark Hamill, who throws himself into the role of an old legend displeased with his life. I also liked the way he took stock of the Jedi Order as a failed religion, especially in light of how their incompetence was responsible for the rise of Darth Vader and Darth Sidious. That being said, could he have come to these realisations without giving up on his friends or the entire universe? Of course he could have.

The cinematography, special effects and sense of humour are also excellent. The Last Jedi has amazing lightsabre fight choreography, only second to Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) taking on Darth Maul (Ray Park) in The Phantom Menace (1999), while the space battles are also spectacular, with one piece of jaw-dropping eye-candy that pauses so that you can admire it a little bit longer.

Aside from the writing of Luke’s character, The Last Jedi has been praised for its ‘bold’ decisions and I just can’t agree with this. Plot directions are courageous when they are made for artistic reasons, but the motivation here seems to be strictly business, especially when the consequences of the film’s ending are taken into account. Disney bought the Star Wars franchise for a pretty penny, and it is no coincidence that these ‘bold decisions’ are cleaning the slate for not one but several new trilogies.

Rated PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi action and violence

Published in Dawn, ICON, December 24th, 2017

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