Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Our Review

The most controversial Star Wars film ever made is also one of the best constructed. Rian Johnson looked at the mystery boxes J.J. Abrams left, picked up every single one, and threw them off a cliff. Rey’s parents are nobody. Snoke is cut in half mid scene. Luke Skywalker, the hopeful farm kid, has become a bitter hermit milking sea cows, and his arc is about learning that failure is the greatest teacher a Jedi has. Half the fandom called it a betrayal. I call it the only sequel with an actual idea in its head.

The craft is a class above its neighbors. The throne room fight, red guards against Rey and Kylo in a crimson chamber, is the best action sequence Disney’s era produced. The Holdo maneuver, a lightspeed ram that goes silent for one shimmering second, is the most beautiful image in any Star Wars film. Johnson’s direction gives every planet a distinct palette and every character a distinct wound. Adam Driver gets a full tragic arc, and his scene with Rey through a Force Skype connection is intimate in a way this franchise had never attempted.

The flaws are real, just not fatal. The Canto Bight casino digression is a speed bump that argues its theme out loud, and Leia’s space flight divided rooms for good reason. The film is also a middle chapter that conveniently killed its trilogy’s continuity: whatever episode nine was going to be, Johnson left no plan behind. Judged on its own, it is ambitious, gorgeous, and humane. Eight out of ten, and I will defend the ending’s quiet heroism to anyone.