Last year, I wrote an article in which I reviewed the film, Rogue One. If any of my fans remember, due to the slightly negative review that I gave it, I received waves of controversy from devoted Star Wars fans. Despite this, I still anticipated what else the series had to offer, specifically Episode VIII, The Last Jedi.  I even placed The Last Jedi on my list of most anticipated films of 2017. But when this film finally dropped, I was completely shocked, but not in a good way. Not at all. Strap in, we’ve got a lot to talk about. And there will be spoilers ahead.

I have never in my entire life been more disappointed in a film. Let that set in. I know that I may get even more hate from this, considering what happened last time. But this film is so bad that I don’t care. Ever since I was a child, Star Wars has been one of my favorite film series. The Last Jedi is nothing more than a total mockery of what made these films appealing to begin with. The only redeeming qualities of this film are Kylo Ren, Rey, and Benicio del Toro. Kylo Ren is an truly interesting character with fleshed out development. Rey is good too, but she has the potential to be even better. And Benicio del Toro’s charisma makes him very entertaining. However, it’s hard for me to find much else about this movie that I liked. But I don’t even know where to start with what I didn’t like. What really stands out to me are the alien animals seen throughout the film. There are about three different types of animals that are seemingly only in the movie to sell toys. These animals are entirely pointless and are just annoying distractions. Another thing that this film did terribly was that it has awful characters. For example, Laura Dern’s character was so unlikable that even when her character changed from being a minor villain to a hero, I still was just annoyed by her. In the end, her sacrifice felt forced, unnecessary, and cheap. I also hated the character named Rose. She was nothing more than an annoying character who lead on a pointless plotline. Her entire role in the film stemmed from a separate plotline where her and Finn go to a planet with a huge casino. These entire scene is laughable as they walk through the casino and then to a stable with these horse-like animals. Then they break them out since they were mistreated and they ride one of these creatures as they stampede through the casino. This all adds up to one of the most laughably terrible scenes in a Star Wars film. And Rose’s eventual romance with Finn was completely rushed and forced and interrupts an otherwise interesting scene. Just as Finn is about to sacrifice himself, Rose saves him, injuring herself in the process. I was hoping this film would have the guts to make a big move like killing Finn, but I was wrong. I hoped that it would at least kill off Rose, but much to my dismay, she survives. This film is full of characters who do nothing of any significance in the film. For example, in The Force Awakens, Supreme Leader Snoke is shown. This character seemed very intimidating and I was excited to see what this film would do with him. But in the end, this character literally does nothing of any significance. And while his death scene and the fight that follows is probably the best scene in the whole movie, his character was ultimately nothing more than a cheap macguffin. His character was completely wasted, just like Captain Phasma. After a boring fight scene, Phasma’s death feels cheap and has absolutely no pay-off or effect on the plot. The film also has one of the strangest and most pointless appearances from Yoda in any Star Wars film. One of the weirdest moments of this film is with Princess Leia. After her ship is attacked, it seems like Leia was killed. However, she is seen floating in space. Then, she uses the force to pull herself back to the ship and survives. This scene just sticks out and feels completely out of place. It just looks plain stupid. But I think that the worst part of this movie is probably the utter misuse of Luke Skywalker. When Rey goes to train under Luke, he refuses for reasons that are too blurred and dodgy to make any sense. However, I had been waiting for a huge fight between Luke and Kylo Ren, but what we got instead was one of the worst scenes in the film. After a quick and sloppy fight, Luke seems to sacrifice himself. But as it turns out, he’s somehow using force powers to make a ghost of himself to fight. Then, far away from the actual fight, Luke dies. It almost feels like they were trying to make this scene as stupid as possible. Somehow, this film managed to take one of the most beloved and charismatic characters in all of Star Wars and make me feel nothing at his death. His death scene was too confusing and convoluted to have any effect on the audience. Comparing this scene to Han Solo’s death in the last film, it seems completely pointless. It’s very ironic considering that after he read the script, Mark Hamill told Rian Johnson, “I pretty much fundamentally disagree with every choice you’ve made for this character. Now, having said that, I have gotten it off my chest, and my job now is to take what you’ve created and do my best to realize your vision.” Mark Hamill was completely right.

It’s very difficult for me to put into words everything I hated about this film. It’s so bad that it makes Rogue One seem like one of the greatest films of all time. I can even say that I think The Last Jedi is worse than The Phantom Menace. There were times during this film where I was genuinely bored, annoyed, or just cringing. I just kept wanting the movie to be over. This two and a half hour film felt twice as long. Walking out of the theatre, I was completely upset. I was angry, sad, and just completely disappointed. Even Adam Driver is “undecided” about seeing the film himself. In the end, this film is polluted with unlikable characters, cringey moments, and pointless plotlines. I’m not quite sure who’s to blame for all of this. It’s most likely Rian Johnson, the writer and director. Surprising considering that his last film, Looper, was so good. The Last Jedi has sucked all of the life out of Star Wars. It has made great characters annoying, interesting plots confusing, and ruined one of the most iconic film series of all time. I have no idea where Star Wars will go after this. It’ll be very hard for the series to recover. I don’t have much else to say at this point, other than I think this is one of the worst Star Wars films ever made, and possibly one of the worst films of 2017.

2/5