Note: Spoilers to maximum. Prepare to fire.
"Amazing. Everything you just said was... wrong. The Rebellion is reborn today. The war has just begun."
- Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Star Wars: The Last Jedi
In the aftermath of The Force Awakens, the world got Star Wars fever all over again. It was cool again to like Star Wars as opposed to having to hide it away in public for fear of Jar Jar jokes. This was naturally due to the fact that multinational conglomerate Disney now owned the franchise (and as of this writing pretty much everything else). They followed it up the coming year with Rogue One, a standalone film that proved the franchise was capable of going in different directions if just for one film. But the next film would be the real test. Would audiences come back for more? Had the new cast garnered enough goodwill for fans past and present? And most importantly: would Mark Hamill actually get to recite dialogue?
Enter Rian Johnson: a true maverick filmmaker. Starting from his first film, the Joseph Gordon-Levitt crime mystery Brick, Johnson established himself as a director that would go after storytelling with raw emotion. Following this up, Johnson would lighten his tone with the con-man comedy The Brothers Bloom, this time teaming with actors Adrien Brody and Mark Ruffalo. This jokey action movie would later lead to him directing one episode of "Terriers", a short-lived but cult favorite television series (maybe we should give a big-time franchise movie to the guy who directed the pilot episode?). Johnson went back to his darker roots with three episodes of the critically acclaimed series "Breaking Bad", with his final episode "Ozymandias" quickly scoring a perfect 10/10 on IMDb after its initial airing. In 2012, Johnson directed his biggest movie (until today), Looper - a massively mind-bending sci-fi/thriller starring Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as one hitman at two different ages. With all of these achievements, and all of them being all original material, what could one of the world's most popular film franchises ever have to offer to Rian Johnson?
In the aftermath of destroying the massive Starkiller Base, the Resistance quickly begins an evacuation with General Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher) in charge. As they are escaping, they quickly discover that they have very low fuel reserves and are hours away from destruction by the pursuing First Order led by General Hux (Domhnall Gleeson). Together, ex-Stormtrooper Finn (John Boyega), X-Wing pilot Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) and a young Rebel engineer named Rose (Kelly Marie Tran) launch a plan to find a code-breaker to help them break onto a First Order ship and disable it, so the Resistance can escape. Meanwhile, Rey (Daisy Ridley) has tracked down the missing Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) so that not only can he assist the efforts of the Resistance but so she can be taught in the ways of the Force. However, the years have worn down the formerly optimistic farm boy and Luke has become quite cynical and believes that the Jedi should die with him. However, after seeing Rey's determination, he reluctantly agrees to train her. Rey soon finds herself troubled by conversations she has through the Force with her nemesis, Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), who wants nothing more than to turn her over to his Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis) and kill Skywalker - his former teacher - himself.
This was an exhilarating movie. The cast, most of which has returned from The Force Awakens, has never been better. Every character gets their time to shine, which is good considering there are a LOT of them. Finn & Rose, a new character we are introduced to, work well off each other as Finn is having to live up to the Resistance hero image that Rose associates him with. Poe and Leia have great back and forth dialogue, yet I cannot say I am happy with Laura Dern as Holdo. She gets introduced near the middle of the movie and she immediately takes a dislike to Poe, without any real motive. It gets hinted that she is a traitor to the Resistance but that is thrown out the window. Maybe she had more to do and more to endear audiences with in a longer version of the movie, but as it stands she does not offer much except for giving her life to help save the Resistance.
Mark Hamill delivers a dynamite performance that gives laughs, cheers and even frights at times as Luke Skywalker. Naturally, after his 30 second performance at the end of The Force Awakens, many were confused and/or disappointed that Mark Hamill had relatively nothing to do. That is changed with The Last Jedi. Hamill is allowed to let loose with his performance, in very much the same way Harrison Ford did in the previous film. You get the sense that Hamill was tired of playing (and being identified as) the goody-two-shoes character that Luke was in the Original Trilogy. Here, he is giving broad drama where he feels much guilt for having failed Yoda and Obi-Wan at restarting the Jedi Order and for ruining the life of Ben Solo who became Kylo Ren. There is a series of flashbacks in the film, and while flashbacks are not centrally used in Star Wars, it shows both Luke and Kylo Ren's point-of-view of the night Kylo turned. In Kylo's version, Luke is terrifying with murder in his eyes. In Luke's version, he is "filled with shame" for having considered killing Ben with his lightsaber. We all make mistakes, even Jedi.
The big unspoken element of the film is that this is Carrie Fisher's final film. But to give the filmmakers credit, if this was to be her swan song, what a swan song it is. Leia plays an enormous part of the plot to the film and you can tell Fisher was enjoying every minute of it. She gets to literally slap around Poe Dameron in their first scene together and it is really funny. Without giving too much away, there is a segment in the film where Leia seemingly dies and I have to admit I was in disbelief. There was no way she was going to die in this movie if she had already died in real life; Carrie Fisher, tragically, lost her life but the character of Leia Organa is immortal. Naturally, she finds a way to survive and continues to lead the fight well into the end of the movie. The end credits dedicates the film to her.
Disney continues their hit-streak of bringing life back to Star Wars. They got Abrams to resuscitate it, had Edwards check its memory and now Johnson has checked its pulse. Weeks before its release, Disney and Lucasfilm announced that Johnson would be heading up his own standalone Star Wars trilogy after Episode IX. If this film is any indication, Johnson is not only well-suited but perfect for the job. Last Jedi is a thrilling, funny and riveting experience. There are quite a few nice surprises, jawdropping reveals and extreme excitement to be had. I highly encourage everybody to see it as quickly as possible. In IMAX, if possible.
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