“The Last Jedi” Has Great Moments and Themes But Suffers From Awkward Pacing
Coming out of the new Star Wars movie, the first thing I thought was, “Well, that was a lot to process.” “Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi” was released in theaters on Friday. It stars Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, John Boyega, and Oscar Isaac, and is directed by Rian Johnson.
Despite being the eighth film in the franchise, “The Last Jedi” decides to mix things up a bit and subverts the expectations of those watching. This movie feels very different from the other Star Wars movies as the film has a unique take on the Star Wars mythos. This movie tackles a couple of themes; some work out, others not so much. The movie also expands more on the history of the Star Wars mythos, specifically on the subject of the Force.
As usual for these new Star Wars films, the cinematography is amazing. Fight choreography is great when it uses longer, wide shots rather than frantically jumping frame to frame. Standout moments are also well-paced and keep the audience stunned at the right times.
Like other contemporary movies, The Last Jedi also has moments of comedy. The comedy doesn’t always hit and sometimes feel out of place. Another problem Last Jedi suffers is having too many characters. The new characters introduced in this film have an interesting concept tied to them, but in execution the characters came off as forgettable. There was one character in particular that was introduced in the last film I felt was very underutilized. There was also a storyline in the movie that was fairly unremarkable and honestly felt a bit “prequelly”. The storyline and the rest of the film does pick up near the end of the film and concludes The Last Jedi very well.
Overall, I found this to be a very enjoyable movie with a bit of an awkward pacing. However, the unique things Rian Johnson does with this movie steers the franchise in an interesting direction and makes me interested to see what he wants to do with his proposed new trilogy–Old Republic anyone?
