Star Wars - Episode VIII: The Last Jedi «««
PG-13, 152m. 2017
Cast & Credits: Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), Carrie Fisher (Leia Organa), Adam Driver (Kylo Ren), Daisy Ridley (Rey), John Boyega (Finn), Oscar Isaac (Poe Dameron), Andy Serkis (Snoke), Lupita Nyong’o (Maz Kanata), Domhnall Gleeson (General Hux), Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Gwendoline Christie (Captain Phasma), Benicio Del Toro (DJ), Billie Lourd (Lietenant Connix), Jimmy Vee (R2-D2). Written and directed by Rian Johnson.
PG-13, 152m. 2017
Cast & Credits: Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), Carrie Fisher (Leia Organa), Adam Driver (Kylo Ren), Daisy Ridley (Rey), John Boyega (Finn), Oscar Isaac (Poe Dameron), Andy Serkis (Snoke), Lupita Nyong’o (Maz Kanata), Domhnall Gleeson (General Hux), Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Gwendoline Christie (Captain Phasma), Benicio Del Toro (DJ), Billie Lourd (Lietenant Connix), Jimmy Vee (R2-D2). Written and directed by Rian Johnson.
I couldn’t put my finger on as to why I liked Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the eighth chapter in the blockbuster saga, almost as much as I did watching Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) and Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015), until I read editor Bill Hunt’s non-spoiler review of the film on his website, thedigitalbits.com, which he posted on 12/15.
In short, Hunt wrote, “What I expect from a new Star Wars movie is simply this: To be reminded for a few hours what it was like to feel ten years old. That’s it.”
Exactly! I liked Star Wars: The Last Jedi as much as I enjoyed, in what many call founder/director/screenwriter George Lucas’ much-loathed and mostly humorless, computer generated visual effects exercises that were Episodes I-III (1999-2005).
Like The Force Awakens, which had “Nerdville”, “The Big Bang Theory” crowd and anyone on social media, who just wanted to bitch, just to make everyone else miserable because they were miserable themselves, about how episode VII was more of a remake of Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) and if one is going to spend a budget of $250 million, make something different, Star Wars: The Last Jedi evokes memories of Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) but not by much. Those images only occurred upon my seeing the updated versions of The First Order’s Imperial Walkers from Episode V in the trailers. The Porgs on the other hand, an outer space version of furry brown penguins who can’t fly, reminded me of the Ewoks from Episode VI but with barely the cuteness factor. They are more annoying to Han Solo’s Wookie co-pilot, Chewbacca, than to anyone else who just wants to be left alone to eat his dinner.
What director/screenwriter Rian Johnson incorporates into Star Wars: The Last Jedi as part of the plot is what got left on the cutting room floor in Return of the Jedi. In an early deleted scene from episode VI that’s been seen on youtube.com and on the Blu-ray disc set released years back, Darth Vader retreats to his private chamber aboard the second Death Star to communicate with his son, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), via "The Force" in a continuing attempt to draw him closer to the Dark Side.
By comparison, Johnson uses the same plot elements in the eighth installment where First Order Dark Lord Jedi, Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), communicates via "The Force" aboard his Star Destroyer with Rey (Daisy Ridley) on Luke’s water world planet. The two go back and forth as Rey continuously asks how Ren could kill his father, Han Solo (Harrison Ford), attempting to understand if he is really a monster. At the same time Rey tries to convince Luke to join his sister, Leia (Carrie Fisher), the leader of the rebel’s Resistance movement in their battle against the new Empire while the elder Jedi Knight reluctantly trains her in the ways of "The Force."
Just like Hunt, who commented on his website how, as a result of watching so many films since 1977, he found it hard not to get an impending sense of “déjà vu”, I, too have felt the same way. Kylo Ren and Rey communicating via "The Force" might as well be called a version of the “Vulcan Mind-Meld” that Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) from both the Star Trek television series (1966-1969) and the movie franchise it spawned ten years later in 1979 and ending in 1991.. While the casino planet in Star Wars: The Last Jedi reminded me of the same gambling world the Colonial Warriors came across in ABC’s three-hour 1978 pilot sci-fi Sunday event, Battlestar Galactica, which in its day was seen as a one million dollar weekly Star Wars rip-off, lasting only one season yet generated high ratings and a cult following that spawned a new darker, sci-fi television series of the same name that ran from 2004-2009.
It reminds me of what the filmmakers did in giving Captain Kirk (William Shatner) a send-off in Star Trek: Generations (1994) and years later, Mr. Spock in the new set of Star Trek (2009-2016) movies. They paid homage to the original characters while introducing audiences to new ones and stories. In giving us new characters like Jedi trainee Rey, First Order traitor Finn, rebel pilot Poe Dameron, the soccer ball droid BB-8 of the Resistance, and villains, Kylo Ren, and General Hux of The First Order, the powers-that-be over at Disney/Lucasfilm are doing just that with this new trilogy but not without giving Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Chewie and droids C-3PO and R2-D2 who most fans my age grew up seeing on the big screen from 1977 to 1983 a final send-off.
President Kennedy said in his 1961 inaugural address “Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation.” That quote only applied to Americans over fifty years ago. In 2017, the quote could well apply to the new characters from that “galaxy far, far away.”
©12/15/17
In short, Hunt wrote, “What I expect from a new Star Wars movie is simply this: To be reminded for a few hours what it was like to feel ten years old. That’s it.”
Exactly! I liked Star Wars: The Last Jedi as much as I enjoyed, in what many call founder/director/screenwriter George Lucas’ much-loathed and mostly humorless, computer generated visual effects exercises that were Episodes I-III (1999-2005).
Like The Force Awakens, which had “Nerdville”, “The Big Bang Theory” crowd and anyone on social media, who just wanted to bitch, just to make everyone else miserable because they were miserable themselves, about how episode VII was more of a remake of Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) and if one is going to spend a budget of $250 million, make something different, Star Wars: The Last Jedi evokes memories of Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) but not by much. Those images only occurred upon my seeing the updated versions of The First Order’s Imperial Walkers from Episode V in the trailers. The Porgs on the other hand, an outer space version of furry brown penguins who can’t fly, reminded me of the Ewoks from Episode VI but with barely the cuteness factor. They are more annoying to Han Solo’s Wookie co-pilot, Chewbacca, than to anyone else who just wants to be left alone to eat his dinner.
What director/screenwriter Rian Johnson incorporates into Star Wars: The Last Jedi as part of the plot is what got left on the cutting room floor in Return of the Jedi. In an early deleted scene from episode VI that’s been seen on youtube.com and on the Blu-ray disc set released years back, Darth Vader retreats to his private chamber aboard the second Death Star to communicate with his son, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), via "The Force" in a continuing attempt to draw him closer to the Dark Side.
By comparison, Johnson uses the same plot elements in the eighth installment where First Order Dark Lord Jedi, Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), communicates via "The Force" aboard his Star Destroyer with Rey (Daisy Ridley) on Luke’s water world planet. The two go back and forth as Rey continuously asks how Ren could kill his father, Han Solo (Harrison Ford), attempting to understand if he is really a monster. At the same time Rey tries to convince Luke to join his sister, Leia (Carrie Fisher), the leader of the rebel’s Resistance movement in their battle against the new Empire while the elder Jedi Knight reluctantly trains her in the ways of "The Force."
Star Wars: The Last Jedi, offered a few surprises like a couple unexpected exits of a few characters I expected to see return for episode IX (the late Carrie Fisher’s passing last December not with standing). I loved hearing composer John Williams’ previous scores he had done for Episodes V and VI in certain scenes, in particular when another memorable character makes a cameo. (Those of you who read the spoilers on the Internet know who that is but I’m still not going to reveal it here).Like all the installments, Star Wars: The Last Jedi again took me to different planets across the galaxy from Luke’s water world planet, an abandoned rebel base that looks like it is covered with snow but seems to be more like the desert world of Tatooine, to a luxury planet specializing in illegal four-legged alien racing and gambling that’s an obvious nod to Las Vegas but is an upgrade of the cantina scenes in A New Hope and The Force Awakens.
Just like Hunt, who commented on his website how, as a result of watching so many films since 1977, he found it hard not to get an impending sense of “déjà vu”, I, too have felt the same way. Kylo Ren and Rey communicating via "The Force" might as well be called a version of the “Vulcan Mind-Meld” that Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) from both the Star Trek television series (1966-1969) and the movie franchise it spawned ten years later in 1979 and ending in 1991.. While the casino planet in Star Wars: The Last Jedi reminded me of the same gambling world the Colonial Warriors came across in ABC’s three-hour 1978 pilot sci-fi Sunday event, Battlestar Galactica, which in its day was seen as a one million dollar weekly Star Wars rip-off, lasting only one season yet generated high ratings and a cult following that spawned a new darker, sci-fi television series of the same name that ran from 2004-2009.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi did its job and entertained me. I will probably like it better when I see it again come March or April next year when it reportedly arrives on 4K Blu-ray disc from Disney after all the negative/positive hype is over.Director Johnson reportedly said a few weeks ago of his intention to do a whole new Star Wars trilogy in the coming years with completely new characters and barely any ties to episodes I-IX, if at all. That may be the real test whether audiences flock to the box office to see those movies. Up until now and when director J.J. Abrams’ concluding chapter arrives in December 2019, the only reason audiences have bought advance tickets to see these films, prior to their release before every Christmas, is because they featured the original cast who grew up watching them in Episodes IV-VI.
It reminds me of what the filmmakers did in giving Captain Kirk (William Shatner) a send-off in Star Trek: Generations (1994) and years later, Mr. Spock in the new set of Star Trek (2009-2016) movies. They paid homage to the original characters while introducing audiences to new ones and stories. In giving us new characters like Jedi trainee Rey, First Order traitor Finn, rebel pilot Poe Dameron, the soccer ball droid BB-8 of the Resistance, and villains, Kylo Ren, and General Hux of The First Order, the powers-that-be over at Disney/Lucasfilm are doing just that with this new trilogy but not without giving Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Chewie and droids C-3PO and R2-D2 who most fans my age grew up seeing on the big screen from 1977 to 1983 a final send-off.
President Kennedy said in his 1961 inaugural address “Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation.” That quote only applied to Americans over fifty years ago. In 2017, the quote could well apply to the new characters from that “galaxy far, far away.”
©12/15/17
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