The Last Jedi is not a bad film, though if one has to start a film review by saying it's not bad, then something's definitely wrong with it. For TLJ, it's the film's tendency to be anticlimatic at any moment possible (save for that one big scene where Holdo blasts through the First Order fleet near the end. That shit was badass).
There are no big reveals, no spectacular final confrontation. The film deconstructs everything people have come to associate with Star Wars, with Reality Ensues all over the place. Dashing hero like Poe taking on the bad guys all by himself and save the day? Turns out to have dire consequences in the long run. Expects Rey to have an interesting backstory and the potential to become the next Chosen One? Nope. She's just a nobody and was never an important piece in the grand scheme of things. Finn's entire subplot that people expected to pay off later in the film ends up being a "Shaggy Dog" Story. Snoke turns out to be a sellout, as does Phasma. The final battle where people expected Luke to singlehandedly taking on the First Order army doesn't happen, and just using Astral Projection cost him so much life force that he died from it, with no big lightsaber showdown between him and Kylo Ren.
Basically, everything fans loved about Star Wars got torn apart in this film. Coming out after the nostalgia-filled Rogue One, no wonder why it's so polarizing. Even Mark Hamill himself didn't particularly like it.
If one views TLJ without caring too much about the established Star Wars lore and characters, then it's a solid standalone film. The actions are decent, and the constant anti-climaxes and deconstructions take the film into an interesting path. Personally, I really liked how they ended the film like they did, because I have no idea at all how EP.IX will turn out.
However, that still doesn't excuse the fact that the production crew took so much liberties with the Star Wars lore that it's almost unrecognizable anymore, and all those anti-climaxes and deconstructions can only work when people are invested in the characters and story, something TLJ clearly didn't do well enough.
In a way, the plot of the TLJ itself summarizes the state of this movie: a struggle to find a balance between the old and the new, unsure of whether to breathe a new life in it or to completely wipes it away, and any effort to join the old and the new together only serves to fracture it even more.
Whether you'll like the movie or not depends on how much you valued the Star Wars lore. If it's not that important for you, then it's a solid entry. But if the lore is everything to you, then you're probably gonna hate it.
Anti-Climax: The Movie
The Last Jedi is not a bad film, though if one has to start a film review by saying it's not bad, then something's definitely wrong with it. For TLJ, it's the film's tendency to be anticlimatic at any moment possible (save for that one big scene where Holdo blasts through the First Order fleet near the end. That shit was badass).
There are no big reveals, no spectacular final confrontation. The film deconstructs everything people have come to associate with Star Wars, with Reality Ensues all over the place. Dashing hero like Poe taking on the bad guys all by himself and save the day? Turns out to have dire consequences in the long run. Expects Rey to have an interesting backstory and the potential to become the next Chosen One? Nope. She's just a nobody and was never an important piece in the grand scheme of things. Finn's entire subplot that people expected to pay off later in the film ends up being a "Shaggy Dog" Story. Snoke turns out to be a sellout, as does Phasma. The final battle where people expected Luke to singlehandedly taking on the First Order army doesn't happen, and just using Astral Projection cost him so much life force that he died from it, with no big lightsaber showdown between him and Kylo Ren.
Basically, everything fans loved about Star Wars got torn apart in this film. Coming out after the nostalgia-filled Rogue One, no wonder why it's so polarizing. Even Mark Hamill himself didn't particularly like it.
If one views TLJ without caring too much about the established Star Wars lore and characters, then it's a solid standalone film. The actions are decent, and the constant anti-climaxes and deconstructions take the film into an interesting path. Personally, I really liked how they ended the film like they did, because I have no idea at all how EP.IX will turn out.
However, that still doesn't excuse the fact that the production crew took so much liberties with the Star Wars lore that it's almost unrecognizable anymore, and all those anti-climaxes and deconstructions can only work when people are invested in the characters and story, something TLJ clearly didn't do well enough.
In a way, the plot of the TLJ itself summarizes the state of this movie: a struggle to find a balance between the old and the new, unsure of whether to breathe a new life in it or to completely wipes it away, and any effort to join the old and the new together only serves to fracture it even more.
Whether you'll like the movie or not depends on how much you valued the Star Wars lore. If it's not that important for you, then it's a solid entry. But if the lore is everything to you, then you're probably gonna hate it.