Star Wars: The Last Jedi

SPOILERS!!

The fanboy outrage is t h i c k for the latest installment of  the STAR WARS saga, THE LAST JEDI.   I saw the film late last Thursday evening in Manhattan with members of my family who are also SW nerds (to varying degrees), and spent the Uber ride back to New Jersey reading missives of vitriol on imdb, Letterboxd, and various forums.  "Remove this film from the canon!" "My childhood has been ruined! Thanks, Disney!" "How dare they kill off ____ so early..!" "There's no character development!" "Lazy writing!" "You turned Luke Skywalker into a grumpy old man!"  My favorite: "The attempts at humor are puerile!"

These criticisms are puerile.  And misguided.  But, I get it.  People have such strong associations with their beloved fictional worlds and characters that anything they perceive as a violation of it is met with daggers.  The Twin Peaks revival earlier this year saw such fan reaction.  Similarly, this eighth episode of STAR WARS has caused debates between those who consider themselves "real" fans and those who may be just as passionate but far less ham fisted about the whole thing.  I have been a devotee since 1977, when I was a wide eyed kid.  The memories are strong of my initial gasps to George Lucas' vision, an ode to old time serials and Kurosawa films.  I bought into the storyline fully, even reading supplemental novels, assauging the interminable wait between installments.  I consider myself a real fan.

Like many my age, I was less than impressed with the prequels.  Lucas was back in the director's chair, and still knew how to direct action, but with his actors he was far less deft.  It was as if he felt more comfortable on the second unit.  Then Lucas sold the franchise to Disney.  J.J. Adams dared to realize EPISODE VII, and did a fine job.  Sure, the movie was somewhat of a rehash, but delivered the goods for the most part, and introduced fairly compelling new characters.

Now Rian Johnson assumes the hot seat and dares to upend the legend.  To go off in new directions in plot and tone alike.  Yet, for all the choices the fanboys are whining about, there are just as many "moments for the fans", moments to make that uber geek stand up and cheer.  And my audience at the AMC on 34th Street did.  They yelled when an old time character made a surprise cameo. And when an evil character made an uncharacteristic choice.  And when Luke,  now a recluse on the oceanic planet of Ach-To, performed heroic acts by proxy (just see the movie).  To me THE LAST JEDI was a highly successful meld of the old and the new.  An episodic (the most since RETURN OF THE JEDI) rip roarer in which characters learn lessons about teamwork, letting go of the past, exercising trust (and knowing when not to) and so on.

Johnson does not disrespect or destroy the franchise ala Richard Lester with his SUPERMAN movies (particularly the third one).  The discontent there had some merit.

I won't divulge too much of the plot, or the "big" scenes.    LAST JEDI follows Resistance fighter battles with the First Order in increasingly deadly and costly attacks and counterattacks.  Princess Leia (the late Carrie Fisher) leads charges and evacuations while X-Wing fighter Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) disagrees with her orders, often causing further complications.  Things get especially thorny when Leia is knocked out of action (in another scene that have some in a lather) and Vice Admiral Holdo (Laura Dern) assumes the bridge.  Rey (Daisy Ridley) visits Ach-To and repeatedly tries to draw the curmudgeonly Skywalker - still reeling from his failure with Leia and Han's son Ben, ne Kylo Ren - back to help the Resistance.

Ren (Adam Driver) finds he has a sort of telepathy with Rey, leading to some intriguing moments.  Another outcry from fanboys comes with Ren's disclosure of who Rey's parents really are.  I found it refreshing that writer/director Rian Johnson decided to go a different route, to create a new character who may not be limited by the weight of mythos.  I could say that about many of Johnson's decisions, including some really surprising, quite bizarre moments of humor, especially the landing of a spaceship that upon pullback is revealed to be, um, something else.  The lengthy scenes on Canto Bight (mainly in a lavish casino) with Finn (John Boyega) and new characters Rose (Kelly Marie Tran) and DJ (Benicio del Toro, doing another weird thing with his accent) have also been criticized heavily, but are consistently amusing and lay framework for later episodes (revealed more fully during LAST JEDI's final scene).

Do I have any carps? I was a bit disappointed with Leia's arc during the movie, aside from a few scenes - including her emotionally charged reunion with Luke, all too brief.  Plus, she's absent for much of the running time.  This stings all the more knowing that Fisher passed away a year ago.  How will they handle this in EPISODE IX? Otherwise, I have nothing but praise for THE LAST JEDI.  John Williams again scores the proceedings with irresistible zest.  The large scale battles are exciting.  A martial arts inspired scene involving Rey, Ren, and Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis) and his guards is a stunner.  Its liberal use of red has been interpreted by some more rational fanboys as all the bloodshed the STAR WARS films hasn't showed us: all the downed fighters, the fallen heroes and villains.  The body count is very high this time out.

STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI is what the series needed - a risky, adventurous entry that announces a new attitude while acknowledging a considerable backstory, one impossible to ignore or best.  Rian handles it beautifully.  Don't feed the trolls.