Star Wars: The Last Jedi [non-spoiler review]
I'm going to preface this review by saying I love Star Wars. I've loved it since I was a kid and devoured almost the entire pre-1999 expanded universe novels library during my adolescence. And while I loathed the prequels and their related spin-offs, that didn't kill Star Wars for me. I went into The Force Awakens and later Rogue One afraid I wouldn't feel the Star Wars magic again with a new movie. For both those movies I was wrong. I LOVE The Force Awakens and Rogue One, they are chock full of the Star Wars magic. So I figured I had reason to be cautiously optimistic about The Last Jedi.
The Good:
+ TLJ isn't afraid to do things differently and play with failure
+ Nice use of Luke and Leia's characters
+ Lots of fun creature design
+ Great use of jokes and humor
The Not-So-Good
- Huge glaring pacing problems with the script, the script had problems balancing the three plot threads
- The cinematography got a bit boring, it needed to be punchier in places
- Poor use of most characters outside the Skywalker clan and Rey
TLJ ended up being a huge mixed bag for me that just doesn't gel into a whole. I didn't feel any Star Wars magic, it was just a movie. Not a bad movie or anything, but just a movie as opposed to a Star Wars Experience. For those who like it, I'm super happy for you. But for me it felt like Star Wars had been taken away from me again (like with the prequels). Like TFA and Rogue One felt like lovely surprise presents of "This is the Star Wars that was waiting for you your whole life!" and TLJ felt like "Ohhhh, did you think this franchise was for people like you? No!"
By which I mean my biggest issues were the undercurrent of racism/stereotypes in handling the POC characters, that they were basically the afterthought to the Rey/Kylo main plot. But I can't get into that without getting into spoilers.
Will you like it? If you're white, cis het/bi female then odds point to yes you will probably really like TLJ especially if you heavily identified with Rey in TFA. That's not a criticism or anything, I'm just noticing that amongst my friends those are the fans who are liking it best. I think it was worth seeing if you're a Star Wars fan and even if you're not one it's interesting enough to be worth a trot to the theater to see what everyone's talking about. It's challenging female protagonist led sci-fi which is worth supporting even for all its flaws.
ETA: I liked the movie, but again it was just a movie for me. The poor POC representation (b/c it was after TFA and RO) is a big huge personal issue for me and will likely not bother non-minority audiences. I have been very much enjoying reading the thoughts of other fans and yes, especially the positive reviews of people who loved it. Please don't take my issues with the movie to mean it's terrible or not worth seeing.
The Good:
+ TLJ isn't afraid to do things differently and play with failure
+ Nice use of Luke and Leia's characters
+ Lots of fun creature design
+ Great use of jokes and humor
The Not-So-Good
- Huge glaring pacing problems with the script, the script had problems balancing the three plot threads
- The cinematography got a bit boring, it needed to be punchier in places
- Poor use of most characters outside the Skywalker clan and Rey
TLJ ended up being a huge mixed bag for me that just doesn't gel into a whole. I didn't feel any Star Wars magic, it was just a movie. Not a bad movie or anything, but just a movie as opposed to a Star Wars Experience. For those who like it, I'm super happy for you. But for me it felt like Star Wars had been taken away from me again (like with the prequels). Like TFA and Rogue One felt like lovely surprise presents of "This is the Star Wars that was waiting for you your whole life!" and TLJ felt like "Ohhhh, did you think this franchise was for people like you? No!"
By which I mean my biggest issues were the undercurrent of racism/stereotypes in handling the POC characters, that they were basically the afterthought to the Rey/Kylo main plot. But I can't get into that without getting into spoilers.
Will you like it? If you're white, cis het/bi female then odds point to yes you will probably really like TLJ especially if you heavily identified with Rey in TFA. That's not a criticism or anything, I'm just noticing that amongst my friends those are the fans who are liking it best. I think it was worth seeing if you're a Star Wars fan and even if you're not one it's interesting enough to be worth a trot to the theater to see what everyone's talking about. It's challenging female protagonist led sci-fi which is worth supporting even for all its flaws.
ETA: I liked the movie, but again it was just a movie for me. The poor POC representation (b/c it was after TFA and RO) is a big huge personal issue for me and will likely not bother non-minority audiences. I have been very much enjoying reading the thoughts of other fans and yes, especially the positive reviews of people who loved it. Please don't take my issues with the movie to mean it's terrible or not worth seeing.