It has been a two year wait to see what transpired after the destruction of the Republic and the Starkiller base. We have waited patiently hoping to see a Star Wars that leans more towards the spirit classic trilogy and not the prequels.
To avoid spoilers, I just won’t get into the story as much as I should. The movie picks up right after the destruction of the Starkiller base in Episode VII. The Resistance is fleeing their base as the First Order is coming to snuff them out for good. The movie takes place over the time frame of a few days. Now if you’re looking for answers on certain things such as character backstories, you will be disappointed. Even without a full understanding of certain characters the story builds a base for fans who are looking into the future for a more complete Star Wars universe that will move on without George Lucas.
The characters have a huge growing period in such a short time. Rey with her time around Luke Skywalker, Poe Dameron being forced to realize some problems can’t be solved by blowing everything up, and Finn who finally realizes you can’t run from the First Order. It was fantastic to see these three characters grow from the first film. Now Rose and DJ were two new characters that added some great depth to the movie. DJ played by Benicio Del Toro may not be in the movie for a long period of time but he gives his character a lasting effect on Finn and Rose. On that note, Rose is a new character played by Kelly Marie Tran. She brings some much needed stability to Finn who still feels like he should just run away from the Resistance and the First Order. Since the movie spans a short period of time we really never get to see the characters we love grow into what we hope they will become. This really was one of the few downfalls in the movie for me.
Since the Star Wars universe no longer pulls from the Legends universe we don’t see a time where Luke Skywalker gets married or even the Solo twins. The universe that we now have is very dark and those characters we loved from the old stories might not have a place in this new order. Sadly those moments we want to have with the new Star Wars universe is just not going to happen in this film. We now see how Disney will be dropping bread crumbs instead of a full story. It may be frustrating for fans who want answers now. Yet in the grand scheme of the universe being built it makes sense. That said, I would have liked to know more about two characters and their upbringing. I’m hoping these things will be discussed in some future Star Wars story.
Since I wont be going into detail on what happens during this movie, the review will necessarily be short. The Last Jedi is not the best Star Wars film. It is the best that we have gotten out of The Force Awakens and Rogue One. It will be interesting to see if we get more stories set during this time frame in the trilogy. A book, TV show or video game would be a great way to fill in some of these story gaps. I hope we don’t have to wait two more years just to see a few more breadcrumbs instead of a real story.
