Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is the second film of the new trilogy and was directed by Rian Johnson instead of JJ Abrams. This film has received very mixed reviews but I really like it. I’m a big fan of Rian Johnson’s work, especially his 2019 film Knives Out. I think this film is more cinematic in comparison to ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ and ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’. Rian Johnson knows how to utilize cinematography and make beautiful films. This movie has a compelling story line and demonstrates a strong knowledge of the Star Wars universe by the director/ writer.




The other films simply lack the artistic style of this film. For example there is a prominent use of red, black, and white to represent the First Order and the dark side. This was seen in both Snoke’s room with the red walls and guards, and the final battle on Hoth with the red dirt under the snow. For people who appreciate good cinema you will notice the use of colour and the use of sound. An example of this is when the film goes completely silent when the two ships collide. After, you see the light before you hear the sound which is interesting since it shows how light travels faster than sound. I think the other two films in the trilogy just don’t have this beauty to them that this film does.




Pacing wise this movie is so slow and is probably the worst aspect of the film. It was hard to stay engaged the whole time with these scenes that didn’t seem all that important or were really dialogue driven. The film starts off so fast then seems to get slower and slower as if it was just trying to hit the 2 hour mark. In fact this movie is two and a half hours long and probably could have been compiled to an hour and a half.




Something I really liked about this film is that it is easily the funniest of the three films and really embraces this aspect of the film. I think my favourite part is when Rey hands Luke his lightsaber and it’s supposed to be this big dramatic scene and then he just tosses it. It just put the audience into utter shock to think he would do that and I think it was just hilarious. Another part I really liked was when Poe is on a call with General Hux and is messing with him pretending he can’t hear him and is waiting on hold.




I found in this one they did a better job at developing the characters. However, they also changed things about the characters that make them different from the first film. That’s kind of where I had a continuity issue with it since some characters came off differently than how they were introduced in ‘Force Awakens’. An example of this is the relationship between Ben and Rey. In the first film they had a more romantic relationship and in this one we get more of a brother-sister relationship. Thus, shifting their whole dynamic. However, I actually really liked this change, only for them to go back to the original dynamic for the third film. I think this is why it’s just a confusing relationship throughout the whole series.




To conclude, I really like this film despite all that is wrong with it. I think it's one of the better Star Wars films. I think it is beautiful to watch and is a great addition to the Star Wars saga. I think it did great justice to old fan favourites and did a good job developing new characters. I liked that this film has a more artistic feel to it and appreciate the use of cinematography. Star Wars: The Last Jedi is available on Disney +, so make sure you go watch it.