The second of the big movie releases for the end of the year that seems to have scared all the other movies away (with the other being Justice League), The Last Jedi had allot to live up to. With the criticisms of the Force Awakens being fresh in the minds of the new makers of Star Wars, this is a movie where it definitely feels like they jettisoned everything from Episode 7. This scorched earth approach unfortunately means that the bad bits go away, but so do all the good.
* Spoilers Follow *
The story starts off following the magnificent trio of Poe, Finn and Rey as they continue on their side plots. Against them is the ever incompetent First Order headed by Snoke and Kylo Ren and an admiral that I didn't bother to learn the name of. Each of these goes through a plot where their plkot armour is in full effect and they never have to struggle for that much.
By the end of the movie, the only interesting villains (Snoke and his Red Guard) are dead. The only interesting plot development (Luke turned Dark and tried to kill Kylo Ren) is resolved in a way that says that Luke never did anything wrong because he never succumbed. ANd the Millenium Falcon can outgun a squadron of X-Wings. And First Order captial ships drop easily to a couple of fighters and bombers (and suiciding light-speed ships, which of course leaves everyone but the main characters unaffected).
And that is really the crux of the problem. The villains continuosly fail. The heroes never feel like they are in peril. And the characters and side plot are all boring. The special effects are okay (with some really weird parts that look awful), but there is nothing special about the movie or the performances in it. While Force Awakens may have been a little too much like the original, this throws away everything Star Wars for a bunch of generic perfect action heroes outgunning the foe. This is highlighted best by Carrie Fisher surviving being in a vacuum because of the force, which had me face palming. Doubly so because this was the only part of the movie where the villain nearly completes his goal.
At the end of the day, these are all nitpicks. The biggest sin of this movie is that I looked at my watch thinking the movie was nearly ending (because it felt like a slog) and it was only 30 minutes in.
1.5 out of 5 force-awakened waffles.
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