I usually have a good handle on how I judge a certain movie. But I don't know what to think of this movie. Is it good? Is it bad? Here are my thoughts on Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
Star Wars is one of the most popular franchises in the world. Every episodic movie that's been released up to this point follows this thought process: It's accepted that the first three films (Episodes IV-VI) are great; It's accepted, for the most part, that the next three films are hit or miss, depending on who you talk to; It's accepted that, as much as I love The Force Awakens, Episode VII is just a rehash of A New Hope. However, this new movie is the most divisive that I've seen, not only between the critic and the audiences, but between hardcore fans themselves. Before I continue, I'd like to state that I am not a hardcore Star Wars fan nor am I going to pretend that I understand the entire universe regarding Star Wars. With all of that being said, I cannot conclusively come to a decision about how I felt about this film. There were great moments in the film but there were also a lot of questionable decisions made on director Rian Johnson's part. Some of the plot points seemed unnecessary and felt like it was just padding on time. Some plot points were just stupid and unreasonable. Some scenes definitely could've been trimmed for cohesiveness or cut for the fact that they were just dumb. The movie just didn't flow right and it had a strangely uneven pace throughout the film. The casino planet story arc should've just...never happened. There was a social justice warrior plot line in the film that didn't fit nor should it have been included in the film. Above everything, it was LONG. It felt like there was a point where it should've ended, but then didn't. However, with that being said, I thought the visuals were astounding. The action scenes were shot beautifully, especially the fight scene with Rey and Kylo Ren. The music was great, the acting was excellent (even Rose, I liked her but I know a lot of people didn't), and I really really liked Mark Hamill's return as Luke Skywalker. I know people have criticized his "drastic" character change by the usage of humor, but Mark Hamill pulls it off so well that I don't think it's an issue for me. Rey and Luke's storyline was great and hands down the best storyline in the movie. I also appreciated the scenes between Rey and Kylo Ren because they were so well executed and acted. There's a cameo from an iconic character that has one of the best scenes in the film. There were definitely scenes where I was at a loss for words for how great those particular scenes were. In fact, one of the best scenes in the movie is probably one of the best scenes I've seen in a Star Wars movie. So overall, I cannot give this movie a proper rating yet. I have no clue how to rate this because I feel like I need to watch this movie again. I'm conflicted because I don't know if the good outweighs the bad or vice versa. So the rating will have to come later. Rating: ???/10
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No, this is not a joke.
I mean it. According to my friend Kennedy, this is a hot take, but I'll say what I told him: I walked out of the theater feeling satisfied with Solo: A Star Wars Story, something I didn't feel with Last Jedi OR Rogue One. So here are my thoughts on Solo: A Star Wars Story. Alright, so it seems to me the last few Star Wars films, including this one, have been extremely divisive in the film and Star Wars community. I thought Rogue One was alright and Last Jedi was...a movie. So I went into Solo with not so high expectations. And I gotta say, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I mean, it was perfect by no stretch of the means, but I walked out of the theater satisfied with my experience. First off, I gotta give props to Alden Ehrenreich. When I first saw the trailer, I thought he was completely wrong for the role as the lovable scruffy nerf herder. After watching the movie, I thought he did extremely well and I was not displeased one bit about his performance. I thought the rest of the acting was superb as well, but when you have people like Paul Bettany and Woody Harrelson rounding out your cast, that's almost to be expected. The visual effects were incredible, and it seems to me that the visual effects have been better in the one-off Star Wars stories than the episodic Star Wars stories. I also thought the story was engaging, entertaining, well-written (for the most part), and exciting. Nowhere did I feel bored out of my mind. However, with that being said, there were issues, especially with HOW the story was laid out. Which leads to me to my first and BIGGEST problem with this movie: consistency with the tone of the movie. Lord & Miller, the first two directors of the movie, were fired last July and Ron Howard was hired to direct the rest of the movie. The issue is this movie FEELS like two different sets of directors directed this movie. There were drastic tonal shifts that occurred between scenes and those shifts resulted in inconsistencies in how the characters were portrayed. Like for a good chunk of the film they'd be played as a straight character and then for one scene they would act like a total buffoon, which was totally out of their character. I wish they had smoothed these tonal shifts out or had just reshot those scenes, but I would think that would've been out of the question. What I would've loved to have seen is the full fruition of Lord & Miller's Solo movie, because they did great things with The Lego Movie and 21 Jump Street and I think it's unfortunate that they weren't given the opportunity to complete their vision. Another problem was the fact that I was introduced to probably the worst character that I've seen in the Star Wars franchise since Jar Jar Binks: L3, Lando's droid first mate. Every time she was on the screen and opened her big stupid mouth, I cringed. Her social justice warrior attitude just, in my opinion, didn't fit in this movie, nor should it have ever been included. It would've been one thing if it had been executed well, but it wasn't and she was so annoying that I just couldn't stand it. Also, there was a cameo near the end that really confused me and felt like a cheap excuse for fan service. But obviously I'm not going to spoil it. Overall though, aside from those issues, I really enjoyed it, much more so than I thought I would. I was entertained, I was never bored, and I felt satisfied, something I haven't felt with a Star Wars movie since Force Awakens (so 3 years!). Don't knock it til you see it. Rating: 8.3/10 |
AuthorBuster Bigelow: 30 year old lover of movies, cinema, and music. Whether you agree or disagree with my reviews, I'd love to hear what you think in the comments! Archives
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-Roger Ebert
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