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There has been a lot of change in the Star Wars Universe as of late and a lot of people, not just raging nerds bullying a keyboard, seem to be split on whether that is a good thing. For the sake of those who haven’t seen the Star Wars:The Last Jedi, massive SPOILERS ahead.
Luke Skywalker. Jedi Knight and hero to millions of fans is no longer that, he has become an embittered old man who fled after his nephew (petulant as ever Kylo Ren) turned to the dark side. The film brings to attention that Kylo only did this because in a moment of weakness Luke considered killing him after sensing the possible darkness lying in wait. This, for the most part, is pretty much nonsense, it feels like a “that’ll do” move more than anything and it doesn’t help that Kylo, despite his strength, is simply insufferable. He whines and pounds his way through the movie much as he did through the last installment. He isn’t intimidating, he’s aggravating. Luke himself is for the most part wary of training Rey for the most part. He goes back and forth on the issue and it never really feels like you’re watching Luke Skywalker as much as a shade of his former self. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing, it’s super obvious that director and writer Rian Johnson is clearly trying to move the franchise onto something new and it needs it badly, the Skywalker Saga is getting old, unfortunately the way in which he offered most of the changes was completely unsatisfying. Luke fades away in the end an unfitting death to a character who didn’t really get what he should have. His Yoda like self-banishment seems unnecessary and cowardly, it could be said that Luke was always whiney but, never a coward.
The film itself looks fantastic, the vehicle advancement design is beautiful and at moments completely fills one with awe. It was the character work that really had me disappointed. I wasn’t sure what I wanted but, as I sat down to it’s too long running time I realized I wasn’t getting it. With an exception to Oscar Issac and John Boyega I wasn’t really grabbed by any of the performances of the actors. The two of them shine in an otherwise dull movie. I even almost fell asleep a couple times which either means I’ve just had too much Star Wars (I’m a Trekkie at heart) or the movie just dragged, I would like to believe it’s the latter. While I didn’t particularly enjoy the movie I do have to say that it is one of the most important films of the franchise. Change isn’t an easy thing, birth isn’t an easy thing and Rian Johnson in my opinion did the best he could with what he was given. Things like making Rey’s lineage obsolete, killing Snoke, having Leia fly through space instead of letting her gracefully die or unmaking pretty much all of what The Force Awakens established while frustrating seem necessary at this point. I can’t say I liked the movie but, I can say that what the aftermath will bring to the series is exciting and a just might be the fresh breath some need so much. This is a film that is more than worth seeing, as a fan it’s necessary. The Force and that Galaxy far, far, away will never be the same again.
