So since 2015 it’s seems like December is now the official month of Star Wars.
Which I guess’ll be broken next year, but you get what I mean.
Disney has done an amazing job of getting people back into this universe and now these
movies are bigger than ever, everyone gets so excited when one rolls around.
I never grew up with Star Wars, but I really enjoy the originals and just this world in
general and so far I’m having a lot of fun with these new ones.
So now that the 8th episode in the main saga has hit cinemas, let’s talk about it.
*clip* And as always, first part of this review is
gonna be no spoilers, and then later on after a waring I’ll get into the spoilers.
I know people are very particular about spoilers with these movies especially, so don’t worry.
So….yeah….the hype around this film was huge and I’d say for me at least it totally
lived up to it.
I had a great time with this.
This is definitely one of the best Star Wars films.
The new trilogy cast once again kills it here, Daisy Ridley is great as the hero, Adam Driver
is great as a conflicted villain, John Boyega is just great in general and still really
funny as Finn, and Oscar Isaac got a lot more to do this time around which is great to see.
The old trilogy cast members that show up here are equally good, Carrie Fisher’s still
fantastic as Leia, and Mark Hamill kills it as Luke.
It feels like a natural progression of the character we know from the originals but with
quite a few new layers to him.
The new additions of big actors are just as good as you’d expect, but Kelly Marie Tran,
who I hadn’t seen in anything before this, is also a stand out here.
And everyone else from ginger Nazi to Andy Serkis mocap role #723 are great too.
Now this film is directed by Rian Johnson, who I mainly know from Breaking Bad.
And he brought so much awesome stuff to this film.
For one, the camerawork.
There are some really creative shots in here but also just a lot of visually stunning shots.
Like ones you’d wanna print out and frame and put on your wall kind of visually stunning.
Not only that, but in terms of story, he also brings something new to the table.
A lot of people’s biggest complaint with Episode 7 was that it was just a rehash of
episode 4.
And while this certainly shares story elements with Empire Strikes Back, it definitely felt
like it’s own thing to me.
It feels familiar enough to fit right into this world, but is different enough to be
interesting.
It takes risks and does stuff that some people might not like, with new stuff.
While I felt the last one played it reallys safe, this also does some new kind of weird
stuff, which I loved.
No spoilers, but there are some….weird moments in this film in terms of this world, and that’s
make this feel much more unique.
This is also pretty well placed, it’s long but it never felt like a drag, and even though
at the very start it felt like it was moving a little fast it didn’t really bother me.
This movie gives us new stuff with these characters, the new and old, and the interactions and
relationships that build here feel believable and earned.
The Rey Luke interactions are really fun and never once did it feel fake to me, they worked
really well together.
The movie’s story in addition to not just feeling like a rehash is just a good story
with good characters.
The conflicts are interesting, the characters have arcs, it’s exciting action and chases
and fun space stuff mixed with characters you care about and a story you’re invested
in.
Forget Star Wars, this is just what movies in general should strive towards.
There are really good character moments here, some that may even bring a little tear to
your eye.
Yeah, this movie has some decently emotional moments.
This movie has a few different plot lines going on but it never feels jumbled or too
crowded, each one serves its own purpose and is engaging and fun to watch.
Back to Rian Johnson for a second, while there is a little clunky exposition here one or
two times, a lot of the storytelling here is done in clever ways with the show don’t
tell rule, there’s a lot of interesting story told through visuals.
Something else I loved about this is that it expands the world.
That’s something that I've always loved about Star Wars, how massive this universe
is and the weird creatures and all the crazy stuff that inhabits it.
And here we actually see new stuff, I won’t spoil any of it, but there are new planets
and worlds and settings and creatures for Star Wars, as opposed to the last one where
I felt like we just visited pretty similar locations to ones we’d already seen.
By the way, I wanna stress right here cuz I realize it sounds like I’m really hating
on the Force Awakens, I love that film.
I just feel it kind of lacked in creativity in terms of the story, which this film I felt
did not.
Bottom line is, this is an amazing world, and I’m glad to see it expanded.
This movie does play on nostalgia quite a bit but not to the point where it’s annoying
or distracting, and when it does it’s effective.
Like i don’t have a ton of nostalgia for this or anything, but even I get a big kick
out of the Millenium Falcon flying in to that booming Star Wars music.
This is great for people who love Star Wars, obviously, they’re gonna go nuts over this,
but it’s also great for those who don’t know as much about it and great for those
like myself who are more in the middle.
Sure it’s set in a world with a massive fan base, but outside of that it’s just
an engaging story with compelling characters that is super entertaining.
This movie feels very Star Wars-y but also new at the same time,it nails that Star Wars
aesthetic with that 70s looking tech but it still feels like a modern film.
Also, without spoiling anything, just saying, this movie makes the Jedi and the Force and
all that so much cooler than, say, other entries in the series.
Keeping it mysterious but still offering some explanations, great balance here.
Now I’ve talked a lot about the story and characters and all that, but in terms of the
more blockbuster-y stuff, this movie is super entertaining.
Like it is so much fun to watch.
The action here is amazing, the classic Star Wars space battles or the more personal lightsaber
stuff, it’s incredible.
The movie on the whole manages to stay really exciting for its very long run time.
THe visual effects for the most part are also spectcaular, most of the CGI is great and
the sets and more practical effects are amazing.
More muppet-y kind of stuff for Star Wars with the Porgs is great to see.
The music is of course phenomenal, with the new stuff and old stuff, and all in all I
just gotta stress how much fun I had watching this.
I love an adventure, and this maintained this sense of energy throughout.
It is not only well made but also thoroughly entertaining through and through, it never
got boring to me whether it’s a big actions et piece or a comedic scene or a more serious
dark moment.
It’s just a very fun time.
Speaking of which, this was a lot more comedic than I expected, but I didn’t have a problem
with that.
The jokes that were there almost all the time were funny to me, and it didn’t undercut
serious moments with comedy.
The comedy came when it felt natural for it to come, it still made room for the either
emotional moments or the more epic moments, which we can talk more about in spoilers.
Now the last thing I wanna point out here is a credit to both the film and the marketing.
There are so many genuine shocks and surprises in this film, so many things that I had no
idea were coming, and I loved that.
That’s good on the film for making effective twists that made sense and caught me off guard,
and also to the trailers for giving away so little in terms of plot, surprises, and just
footage in general.
I did stop watching any promos tuff after that second trailer, so maybe the TV spots
give everything away, I don’t know.
But main trailer wise that everyone’s gonna see, this is exactly how to market a film.
Even a reveal that I thought they gave away in the trailer, there is so much more to it.
So please take notes studios, for this kind of film where a lot could be ruined, this
is the perfect way to do this.
Now, as much as I loved this film….there are a few problems.
For one, most of the visual effects are amazing, but there a few moments where the CGI and
green screen is a little obvious and started to look slightly prequel-y to me.
Only about once or twice, but still, worth pointing out.
Also, the Snoke effect is so weird, because I’m looking at it and I’m thinking, that
looks really good, but just something seems off about it.
Like it doesn’t seem like he’s a real tangible thing standing there.
I don’t know, maybe it has something to do with the uncanny valley or something?
There were also a few really cheesy lines in this, like some of them totally work and
are kind of emotional, but some are just a little cringeworthy.
And finally, my biggest problem with this is one specific moment that’s a huge spoiler,
so I won’t say it now.
But it’s just one moment that felt really cheap to me, and I was just like...this seems
a bit like the movie’s cheating here with its own rules.
Again though, we’ll talk about that in spoilers.
So speaking of which, before we get into spoilers, I’ll give a little conclusion to the non-spoiler
part.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi was pretty much exactly what I was hoping it would be.
It was fun, entertaining, exciting, with good characters and a good story that didn’t
just feel like a total remake of another film.
As someone who really likes Star Wars but isn’t a megafan I loved it, someone who
is a huge fan of this stuff I imagine is gonna go nuts over this.
I’ll give The Last Jedi a 9.5/10.
Ok, now we’re talking spoilers.
If you haven’t the film yet, click off now, cuz there is a lot of cool stuff to spoil
with this film.
Alright, you’ve been warned.
Firstly, a bunch of Luke stuff.
Luke’s return at the end, where he faced basically the entire First Order was so amazing.
It felt epic and kind of gave me goosebumps, and there’s one shot of him facing off against
those AT-AT looking machines, and it’s incredible.
I also liked Luke’s death, it showed a difference between him and Han Solo’s death where he
went with peace and a sense of completion, and I really liked that.
Great growth for his character.
The one main thing I really didn’t like was that Luke was a force hologram?
Who could interact with tangible things but was still a hologram?
Ok, again, not the biggest Star Wars guy, but is that a thing the Jedi can do?
Force holograms?
Cuz I don’t remember it being set up.
I guess it’s supposed to be a similar situation to Kylo Ren and Rey sort of talking through
the force and eventually touching each other and then Kylo actually appears there, just
taken to the extreme, but if that’s the case, I didn't feel that was set up enough
to fully explain that.
You don't need a five minute scene going over how he can do it, but just for a film that
otherwise I felt I could follow and understand the rules of, this kind of felt like they
were cheating with their own rules, and while it got better the more I thought about it,
especially in the moment I felt oh that’s a kind of cheap way to get out of this.
But hey, again, maybe I missed something in a crucial set up to that twist.
The actual fight between Kylo and Luke was awesome though, and it did a great job of
showing an old man being able to still move quickly and be a badass and not making it
look stupid or ridiculous.
I absolutely loved Yoda as a Force ghost.
In a time where every big movie has every big surprise spoiled by leaks and set photos
and whatnot, I had no idea it was coming and it was such a pleasant surprise.
Really funny, Frank Oz still does the voice perfectly, and I’m glad that even though
it was probably done with CGI, he still looked like the muppet from the 80s.
Great stuff.
There are some other really big and surprising reveals in this.
Firstly Snoke is not any insane character from the past, he’s just some prick who
gets Darth Maul-ed, that scene was clever and really well done, and again, surprising.
And then after all this speculation for so long, it turns out Rey’s parents are nobody's.
Just some junk collectors or something.
Now they might change that in the next film, like it turns out her father really is Obi
Wan Kenobi or something, but I honestly kind of like the idea that she’s just a nobody.
That there isn’t some intertwining destiny linking her to all of this.
As they showed, anyone can access the force, I think, it's a balance in everything and
you just have to really concentrate.
Again, maybe that’s not exactly it, but regardless I did enjoy the twist that hey,
she’s basically a nobody.
Just a few other things, I liked the scene where Rey is in the cave and sees like a billion
Reys or whatever, it was a good example of what I mean when I say this did some weirder
stuff.
I liked the return of Phasma, still a bit like a Boba Fett where she looks awesome and
doesn’t really do much but at least she got a little more.
I honestly thought Leia had died early on when she was shot into space, but using the
Force to pull her back to the ship was an interesting way to keep her in the film.
Also I don’t think we’ve ever seen Star Wars characters actually in outer space before,
so that was interesting.
The very end, with what was implied to be the new Resistance, I guess, with these young
kids on that casino planet, one of which has the force?
At least I’m pretty sure I saw him move that broom.
Ehhhhh I wasn’t huge on that, that was one of the parts that seemed a little cheesy to
me.
But hey I’m excited to see where this goes in episode 9.
The finale on the salt planet was pretty great and pretty beautiful with the scenery, and
that double lightsaber battle after Snoke’s death was amazing.
It felt new and fresh and like something I hadn’t seen before and it was just an amazing
action.
Also, just so you know, here in Denmark people in the cinema are relatively more quiet, like
there’s usually no cheering or anything in the movie, but even here, when Rey throws
the lightsaber to Kylo Ren and he catches it and basically shoots a guy through the
head with it, people started applauding.
It was that cool.
So those were my thoughts on Star Wars Episode 8.
What did you think of this?
Let me know all of your thoughts down below in the comments.
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Thanks for watching and I’ll see ya next time.