Star Wars VIII: The Latest Disappointment (Review + Spoilers)
I have felt a great disturbance in the force, it’s as if millions of people bought into the hype, and were suddenly disappointed.
It was TGIF, I was with my family, we were excited to watch the latest Star Wars sequel The Last Jedi which was airing in our local cinema. The critics and movie reviews are very positive, with early reviews like this, this, this and many others. It is hard for me not to hold high expectations when I was entering into the cinema room. I love Star Wars, so much.
After the film was concluded with closing credits started rolling and iconic Star Wars theme playing, this was my reaction.
I am a simple nerd, I don’t really like to bash films, especially Star Wars film. I have always been a Star Wars fan ever since when I was a child, I fully enjoyed every single episode of Star Wars, except this one.
Review isn’t my thing, so please bear with me. I am gonna show just a few points to you why me and some fans are disappointed with The Last Jedi while others said that it is the best Star Wars film since Empire Strikes Back, I am gonna justify with spoiler talks. So if you haven’t watch the film yet, cease to read further, spoiler alert, you’ve been warned.
**********WARNING: SPOILER REVIEW**********
Snoke
This probably the most obvious one. The mysterious Snoke character, was nothing but an utter disappointment, especially to those who speculated about his background and identity.
All the speculations, conspiracies, findings and fantasies about this character straight thrown into trash can after the moment when Snoke got dismembered in half by Kylo Ren, who betrayed him.
There was no explanation about him, we do not know where he came from, we do not know if he is a Sith Lord, we do not know if he is an alien from what planet and why his face was disfigured? So who is Snoke?
We only know that he was Supreme Leader of The First Order, he constantly messing with Ben Solo’s mind, he was force-sensitive and more powerful than Rey, he wanted to destroy the rebels and complete Kylo Ren’s training, aaaaaaaand his fate was kinda like Darth Maul.
Dragging Subplot
Finn and his new female partner Rose, who admires Finn, embarking on an espionage mission, to find the codebreaker in a casino who are able to help them disable a tracking device in the First Order spaceship which are chasing the main rebel spaceships.
Now, this is where the story is dragging a bit. I am not going to talk about their operations, but overall this whole casino plot is to tighten the bond between Finn and Rose, and at the same time introduce this new character DJ, who is another codebreaker and only interested in money.
The result is, they all failed and got captured by Captain Phasma due to DJ’s betrayal, and this 20–30 minutes segments of awkward jokes/lines, saving animals, non-interesting companionship sequences are wasted, adding nothing significant to the plot.
In the last battle, when Finn prepared to sacrifice himself, Rose stopped him, saying rebellion is about saving someone they love, and then kissed him before she passed out, indicates a possible FORCED love triangle in the future? I don’t know, quite unnecessary filler scenes in my opinion anyway, because Finn obviously more interested in Rey.
Ooh another thing, Rose had a sister Paige who died in the first battle scene, this is the actress. Don’t you think she “might” be a better Rose and we will be more “interested” in her character?
Captain Phasma
Another disappointment, the badass bulletproofed/lazerproofed Captain Phasma, a completely wasted character. Outsmarted by her former subordinate Finn in a very brief fight scene, helmet broke and we can only see one of her eyes through the broken helmet’s hole, she fell into the hellish flames possibly dead.
What a meh moment, I really hope she somehow survived and comes back in the Star Wars: Episode IX, with a vengeful aim and look.
Luke Skywalker
Some people will probably strongly disagree with me on this, I have seen many people actually like Luke’s ending, well I don’t. I have predicted they gonna bring an end to Luke in this episode even before I watched the film, but the way they ended this biggest character in the Star Wars universe was just…huh…weak?
While Princess Leia and her rebels are trapped in a rebel’s base, the legendary Luke Skywalker came to the rescue, he intended to buy some times for the rebels so that they can escape while he alone went outside facing Kylo Ren, AT-AT walkers and the First Order armies. Filled with hatred, Kylo Ren ridiculously ordered all AT-AT walkers spamming laser cannons on Luke for 15 seconds. Expecting he will turn into a pile ashes, Luke stands firmly, appears unharmed(In that moment I was squealing like a fangirl OMG LUKE IS POWERFUL THAN EVER AND BADASS!!).
The later scene went completely down hill for me when Kylo went down from the AT-AT walker exchanged a few conversations with Luke and started slashing, poking him as he was taunting Kylo. Luke still completely unharmed as the lightsaber went through his chest. Finally Kylo realised that this Luke is just a projection as the real Luke is still on another planet and is using the force to create this projection. After the trickery, rebels escaped. The real Luke was shown, super exhausted, faltering on a rock, looking at the sun as if he sees something that we missed, smiled, satisfied and then disappeared, just like Obi-Wan Kenobi, while his robe flew away .
The film ended not long after that with rebels escaped with Millennium Falcon. I was scratching my head and asked myself, is that it??? My favourite character, Luke, just goes away like that huh? After Snoke, Captain Phasma, unnecessary subplot and story dragging, I was rewarded with this final scene?
A Better Luke’s Ending (In my opinion)
The final scene could have done much much better if we could see the real Luke battling Kylo and his armies. They could have make the new generation of rebels witnessing the LEGENDARY Luke unleashing a one last EPIC battle which Luke rampaging stormtroopers with lighsabers, bringing down AT-AT walkers with the force and doing heavy damages to Kylo’s forces. Then Luke will be defeated by Kylo due to (oldness, tiredness, weak, less crafty, ,overused of force, not powerful enough…etc), his body then disappears like Obi-Wan Kenobi after the sacrifice, successfully ended his story arc as legendary Luke Skywalker. Similar to Darth Vader in The Rogue One, where Darth Vader’s brief moment in the last scene was brutal and an awesome moment for the fans, and also shows the new generation of fans how powerful Darth Vader was.
Conclusion
The predecessor, The Force Awakens was hated by some people generally because it was too similar to A New Hope, but I don’t hate it at all, I love it because it was entertaining as a film and will be a great additions to the Star Wars saga series. Battle scenes were great, the new characters and their chemistry were great, I just failed to think of something to complain. There was never a moment in TFA that made me bored.
As for The Last Jedi, as a film, it is not bad actually, it is quite entertaining, the space battles were very good visually, performances are excellent especially Mark Hamill and Adam Driver, the Jedi training scenes were okay, a little bit of dragging and I am not a fan of the unnecessary subplot between Finn and Rose that’s it. As a Star Wars film, it definitely has problems that not just affecting the new trilogy itself, but also Star Wars’s legacy. Snoke’s lore is unknown, Captain Phasma as a potential badass like Boba Fett perished? More unnecessary subplot? Will Luke coming back in IX? Oh yeah and where are the Knights of Ren?
In the film, some characters mentioned “forget the past” or “let the past die” several times reminding the fans that they are concluding these old generation’s story line, old rebellions are fading away, but new rebellion is rising. Nevertheless, Han had a brutal dead by his son, Luke’s sacrifice was not glory enough. Princess Leia is not coming back in IX. The only iconics left are Chewbacca, C-3PO and R2-D2, serving as side-kicks and nostalgia characters who bridge the old generation and new generation. So, without old characters carrying the finale, is the ninth Star Wars film able redeem the trilogy? And where the hell is Lando?
Thank you for reading this short review, please clap and share if you enjoyed :)
