movie: Star Wars The Last Jedi

I went to see this new Star Wars film on Friday morning, and I even got cheap matinee prices. Good thing, since I walked away disappointed in the film. I do think it was better than any of the recent George Lucas films (Episodes I, II, and III), but I liked it less than the prior film, The Force Awakens. It's getting terrible audience scores at Rotten Tomatoes that I think are semi-undeserved. It isn't a terrible film (like the first 3 Episodes), but it isn't what I expected or wanted.

Everything below will contain big spoilers. Skip it now, if that sort of thing matters to you.

The new film certainly had its good points. Even without the Jedi Order around, people still manage to find noteworthy personal insights. And that's kind of the point of this whole film.

That's how we're gonna win - not fighting what we hate, but saving what we love. - Rose
Let the past die. Kill it, if you have to. That's the only way to become what you are meant to be. - Kylo Ren
We are the spark that’ll light the fire that will burn the First Order down. - Poe Dameron
I’ve seen this raw strength only once before. It didn’t scare me enough then. It does now. - Luke Skywalker

The most important characters in this film are: Leia, Rose, and Rey. All three of them are good at what they do. If their successes are enough to "carry the day" for you, then you'll probably walk away from this film quite enjoying it.

Leia	We learn just how powerful she is with the Force. Very powerful. Surprisingly (given Carrie Fisher's death) Leia does not die in this film. Neither does she turn to the Dark side, given the many significant losses that she has suffered throughout her character's life. She is a woman with a strong will.
Rose	Rose is significant because she should be a minor non-soldier character but her dedication, humor, and affection raise her to one of the main figures in this film. She is symbolic of what the Resistance is hoping to preserve.
Rey	It turns out that Rey is nothing special, and that revelation is special. Like Leia, her life has been a series of awful events, yet she manages to keep a spark of herself alive. Once again, she gains great Force powers with little-to-no formal training. Once again, we see that the old Jedi Order training is obviously pointless.

What's disappointing in this film is what's done with every single one of the other characters.

Poe	He is unnecessary in this film. Where he plays a significant foil, any other character could have stepped in for the same goal. Instead, they took lip-biting (and apparently flirting) Poe Dameron from the first film and gave him a tummy-rub with BB-8 in this second film. Utterly disappointing. He lost all romance and sex appeal. Is this Disney's handiwork? Where is the man of Poe's dreams, the man that he was supposed to get because Poe is one of the good guys?! Or, he was a good guy in the first film anyway. In this one, he gets very appropriate scolding from his superior officers for his failure to follow orders. I hope writers treat this character better in the third film of this trilogy. They emasculated him in this one.
Maz	Instead, who got the sex appeal in this film? Maz! She's definitely my favorite minor character from the last film, but she gets a only very brief appearance in this film, and even that is only remotely via comm link. I don't object to her sexuality (gotta love Maz!), but that it was delivered to us at the expense of Poe's is quite annoying.
Finn	He was really just a time-consuming placeholder in this film. He didn't contribute much except as an excuse to introduce us to Rose. Also, he firmly shot down any thoughts of he and Poe becoming "a thing" someday: Poe Dameron: "You must have a thousand questions." Finn: "Where’s Rey?" Poe (in my imagined script): *crushed heart break*
Luke	We learn that he hid from the Force in his exile, so he doesn't want any part in this war. He's finally convinced, though, to do a very impressive Force trick to protect the cornered Resistance... and he dies after the effort. Sort of an exhausted disappearance like Yoda. I liked it. I expected it, given the name of this film, after all. But Luke doesn't really do anything plot-changing. The main characters were doing that already.
Yoda	Speaking of Yoda... he makes a cameo appearance. He shows up to set fire to the last of the Jedi Order, literally. Um, ok. He's spending his afterlife becoming a mischievous prankster, apparently.  It's not a terrible way to spend your ghost years.
DJ	Benicio del Toro's character makes an interesting appearance, and an unsatisfying disappearance. Why did we need DJ instead of the character that Finn and Rose intended to find?
Ackbar	The Admiral dies. I wouldn't have known, except somebody mentions it in the film. How utterly unsatisfying treatment, a quick elimination for such a well known character.
BB-8	He gets some of the "comic relief" that's effective in this film. (The rest of it wasn't. Some of the audience laughed at the other stuff, but I thought it was cringe worthy.)
R2D2	Our old friend is the one who finally convinces Luke to join the effort. Nothing else happens with him.
Kylo Ren	I do like this character, although I know that others dislike him. I call him Darth Emo to succinctly capture his petty rages and damaging self pity. We get a gratuitous sexy shirtless scene, and Rey appropriately asks him, "Could you put on a shirt?"  At least he has a convincing rise to power.
Snoke	He talks, he manipulates, he dies.  Moving right along.
Phasma	Brief appearance. At last, somebody for Finn to fight in the film.
Holdo	Admiral Amilyn Holdo also dies. Not a good film for Admirals. She might have been an interesting character, but we barely meet her.

And plot? I have a few problems with that.

1. The whole film is one long slow car chase. If they managed to evacuate people from the slower ships, then why didn't they move fuel as well? Or at least try to turn around a doomed ship and ram it? Oh, like... they finally did with the very last one left?
2. What is that porg doing on the bridge of the Millenium Falcon? Do they not have any pre-flight checklist at all?
3. Snoke. Who is he? How did he rise to power? What's going on? We'll never know.
4. Escape. So the Millenium Falcon is the only ship in the whole fleet that can jump to hyperspace and escape? Why didn't they offload a few refugees during their trip? Make repeated trips to evacuate everyone?
5. What is the First Order tracking, exactly? Why is the device on their ships the only way to stop the tracking? This is plot-breaking technology, so what is it? It tracks all ships, and that's why nobody in the fleet can escape? (Except the Millenium Falcon, obviously, because... duh!) If it's only tracking the main ship, then why don't they just all jump in other ships? Or jump in different directions?

One of the good things they did with the film, though, was quite subtle. "How did Luke get in here?" At least someone finally asked the question that was in my head. I dunno, maybe they thought asking it aloud was necessary to lead us to the next obvious plot question, "Where did the ice foxes go?" And then when we learn where the ice foxes went... it couldn't possibly be how Luke got in. It's a subtle ponderable related to Luke's busy fight scene. Well done, a great conundrum for the sleuths in the audience... until the big reveal.

There is no secret ending to the film during the credits, so you don't have to watch it if you'd rather skip that part. Early on, though, there's a farewell to Carrie Fisher. We'll miss you, Princess Leia. You changed entertainment singlehandedly. Thanks to you, we eventually got leading characters like Ellen Ripley ("Alien"), Xena: Warrior Princess, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Kathryn Janeway (Star Trek Voyager).



So... The Last Jedi is not an awful film, nothing like the dreck that was Episodes I, II, and III, but it absolutely is not a great Star Wars epic film. I am very disappointed.