Star Wars Saturday: "The Last Jedi" is pop culture mythmaking at its finest
Shut up nerds, this movie rocks
On Saturdays, we’re going through the entire STAR WARS saga in episodic order, a series that will include a number of pieces that have never appeared online before taken from my book 200 Reviews, available now in Paperback or on Kindle (which you should really consider buying, because it’s an awesome collection!). We continue today with the one worthwhile film in the ill-considered Disney sequel trilogy, THE LAST JEDI. Enjoy…
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
2017, Dir. Rian Johnson
Originally published December 31st, 2017
The latest in Disney’s never-ending parade of Star Wars movies begins with two scenes that make it abundantly clear that, for this outing at least, we are in the very best of hands. In the first, Rian Johnson delivers the greatest cinematic space battle in the franchise’s 40-year history, a symphony of aerial action so fluidly composed and expertly character-centric – even though the emotional lynchpin is a woman we’ve never met, and whose heroic sacrifice means we will never see again – that it works beautifully as its own short film. In the second, we resume from the cliffhanger of 2015’s The Force Awakens, where Daisy Ridley’s Rey offers Mark Hamill’s Luke Skywalker his father’s blue lightsaber, only for Luke to take it, chuck it nonchalantly over his shoulder, and walk away annoyed. And in these two scenes, The Last Jedi establishes everything that makes it wonderful: First, that it will be a Star Wars movie made with a unique amount of skill, visual invention, and pathos; and second, that it does not give a toss about holding on to the past or stoking fan theories. It is here to tell its own darn story, and it is going to tell it with style.
And tell it the film does. The Last Jedi is a much more liberated, engaged, and exhilarating film than its predecessor, critically interrogating the series’ past, challenging our preconceived notions, and providing organic, well-earned surprises at nearly every turn. Imperfect in large part due to the sheer scope of the film’s ambition, The Last Jedi is narratively and thematically cleaner than it may appear at first – the entire narrative spine is based around a tactical retreat, and the thematic core is about learning from failure and living to hope another day – and although it grows a bit too diffuse in the middle, it is consistently driven by an overwhelming sense of passion, exquisite character writing, and the best ensemble – of actors and of characters – the series has ever had. It all comes together for a beautifully interwoven character-driven finale that provides the most aesthetically awe-inspiring material in franchise history, a culmination as bold and harrowing, in its own way, as the finale of Empire.
The Last Jedi also delivers the greatest cinematography Star Wars has given us since that film, and maybe in the entire series. Beautifully and inventively composed from start to finish by Steve Yedlin, no other Star Wars movie – maybe no other modern Hollywood blockbuster, period – has a better or more developed sense of visual iconography, not just in how to deploy it, but in how to challenge and reexamine it. And everything to do with the color red? Incredible, and unforgettable.
Two years ago, I declared my love for The Force Awakens loudly and proudly, and while I don’t regret that – the film came at a time in my life when I very much needed it, its warm and comforting presence helping remind me why I fell in love with movies in the first place – The Last Jedi is a clear step up, a film that proclaims and proves that Star Wars can have a bright cinematic future beyond remixing past successes. In that way, it is one of the year’s most fascinating and invigorating experiences, a big slice of pop culture mythmaking at its absolute finest.
We also devoted an entire episode to THE LAST JEDI on The Weekly Stuff Podcast when the film first came out, so here is that episode again for posterity’s sake:
All STAR WARS SATURDAYS Pieces:
Read the book 200 Reviews by Jonathan R. Lack in Paperback or on Kindle
Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts!
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