In “Last Jedi,” writer-director blows “Star Wars” wide open
★★★¼ Rated PG-13. 151 minutes.
Note: This review contains mild spoilers.
There are countless moments in “Star Wars: Episode VIII — The Last Jedi” where writer-director Rian Johnson could have shown reverence for the past, whether it’s 2015’s “Episode VII — The Force Awakens,” which helped restart the idling sci-fi franchise, or the previous four decades of “Star Wars” lore.
He does no such thing. “The Last Jedi” may pick up where J.J. Abrams’ “The Force Awakens” left off, but it delivers on Johnson’s oftstated promise to explode expectations. Between the series’ slavish, hyper-critical fan base and its corporate overlords at Disney, that’s no easy task.
And yet “The Last Jedi” hums with Johnson’s rascal energy, making “The Force Awakens” look simplistic and apple-cheeked in the same way 1980’s “Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back” did with George Lucas’ 1977 original.
Those comparisons — inevitable, given that “The Last Jedi” is the middle of this current trilogy — are warranted in some ways. “The Last Jedi” is a long, complex film with more gray areas to explore than its predecessor. Its fastmoving plot often hinges on technical details, and characters rarely pause or repeat themselves.
Instead of immediately resolving the closing scene of “The Force Awakens,” in which scavenger-turned-hero Rey (Daisy Ridley) extends a lightsaber to exiled Jedi master Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) on the cliffs of Ahch-To, Johnson starts this film by dropping us over the Resistance base on the planet D’Qar.
There, the evil First Order — led by General Hux (an excellent, quivering Domhnall Gleeson) — marshals its forces to eradicate the last of the Resistance as payback for the destruction of its Death Star-like Starkiller Base.
General Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher, in her stately final role) frets as the planet is evacuated. Hotshot X-Wing pilot Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) buys time, while exStormtrooper Finn (John Boyega) stumbles back into action after a grave injury.
There’s so much agreeable misdirection, often in the way of humor, that resolving the Rey/Luke standoff almost feels beside the point when it arrives. It’s a trick that Johnson (who was reared in Denver) pulls again and again, setting us up for decisive conflict or resolution, and instead delivering a sharp turn in a new direction.
This is what the “Star Wars” universe needs: fresh ideas that make it a bigger, more interesting place. They’re on display in Resistance mechanic Rose (Kelly Marie Tran), the first major Asian role in a “Star Wars” episode — not including supporting characters from last year’s “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.” She gets valuable screen time with Finn, and delivers one of the film’s most affecting mission statements to boot.
It’s visible in Johnson’s disregard for mindless repetition of canon, but also in his visually inventive battles, which dazzle with color and detail but rarely overstay their welcome. Especially gorgeous is a climactic fight in a destroyed hangar bay, which unfolds as a fizzing, glinting riot of spark and flame.
When everything pulls in the same direction, as it does consistently in “The Last Jedi,” it’s like watching a mind-boggling clockwork click into a deft ballet.
The alternately stoic and enraged Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), who longs to emulate his grandfather Darth Vader, is recovering from Rey’s besting. He seethes under the abusive tutelage of Supreme Leader Snoke (a twisted, liver-spotted, performance-captured Andy Serkis), whose red-walled throne room hosts some of the film’s most tense scenes.
Whatever political relevance viewers want to project onto the light/dark-side struggles fit: the fragile, frantic white-male ego; the hair-trigger rage of online culture; the all-or-nothing view of polarized politics — all pining for a return to their addictive, illusory sense of control.
Some fans may similarly seethe at the loose ends (or are they seeds for future stories?) but Johnson’s message is unambiguous: It’s less important where certain characters come from, and more important what they’re doing now. Killing the past isn’t just a narrative theme, it’s an active principal.
Johnson’s overall tone is less crisp than Abrams’. Moral ambiguity reigns, and where witty repartee developed plot and character in “Awakens,” “Jedi” barrels forward with hasty decisions, debate and action tumbling closely together. “The Last Jedi” makes clear that the “Star Wars” universe, much like our own world, is an increasingly fractured and confusing place. We have to carefully pick our battles, it argues, because the war for balance never truly ends, and no amount of well-intentioned hope can spark an empty fuel tank.
But legendary heroism, it also argues, can come from anywhere. Especially with the right inspiration.