By Joshua H. Stulman

SPOILER WARNING: See the movie before reading below.

Star Wars Episode VIII: Corporate Takeover

It’s unfortunate that I have to write this kind of review after being a Star Wars fan for 30 years. I liked the previous Rogue One movie very much and was willing to go along with Episode 7 to see where the story went.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi disappointed not just as a continuation of the series but also on basic moviemaking. Frankly, the direction of these new movies is akin to cinematic corporate takeover.

When Disney purchased Lucas film I was excited like many because I knew this ensured more regular Star Wars movies-otherwise why pay $4 billion? But brand buying is a little different and this is the direction Disney seems to be going. In short, George Lucas was quickly pushed out of input on The Force Awakens. Disney’s first Star Wars film began the trend of killing off all past characters and imagery of the original films to replace with a more diverse and marketable aspects.

For The Force Awakens major Star Wars costuming and vehicles underwent redesigns. It wasn’t just adding new vehicles and characters, it was about replacement with the Disney stamp. This meant everything kinda looked familiar enough but in truth everything was different. The notion of the Empire rooted in Nazi allusions was replaced by the multicultural/gender equal First Order. Stormtroopers were renamed and redesigned by Disney as well as iconic vehicles like X-Wings and Tie Fighters. Even subtle changes like X-Wing uniform color was revised. Every time an element from the original movies appeared it was treated as old and out of date. Right down to C-3po’s red arm or R2D2 being shut down (and replaced).

In terms of characters, originals were replaced by multicultural counterparts favoring diversity and genders. Han Solo was killed of and replaced with a new black character, Finn, who is both costumed and modeled after Solo. Rey was introduced as a female Luke Skywalker with complete with shared orphan background. Most ridiculously, R2D2 was replaced by a soccer ball (for international marketing).

Now the main point of The Force Awakens was in itself a new beginning so while these things bothered me I still want to see where it was going.

Unfortunately Episode 8: The Last Jedi continues this trend in more significant details.

(Last chance spoiler warning…. stop reading and see the movie now)

Let’s get right to it! Star Wars is not a comedy CGI video game action flick. Disney clearly tried to apply their Marvel movie template here and it was quite outrageous. From comedy scenes in the opening bit, star power actors like Benicio del Toro’s guest role, to Kylo Ren’s topless comedy routine and non stop bombardment of action scenes, Episode 8: The Last Jedi is a far cry from the classics.

Stylistically aside, from the overuse of gag/ gross comedy, the director Rian Johnson uses numerous flashback sequences that are foreign to Star Wars movies. References to the past have never been depicted in Star Wars as flashbacks because it ruins the viewer’s imagination and robs the viewer of suspenseful moments.

In terms the characters/actors- There’s something that needs to be said about the original actors hating their roles. Harrison Ford came back for a big pay day in The Force Awakens and to kill off Han Solo (a role he has said he hated). Now Mark Hamill’s return to Luke Skywalker creates an embarrassing portrayal that leads to his characters death as well. There must be a joke that even though Carrie Fisher is dead in real life her character survives!

Now plots and subplots- The whole movie is one big escape scene balanced by the Luke-Rey-Kylo relationship. If they had stuck to that, I think the movie would have been much better. Instead there’s a bizarrely forced love story with Finn and Rose-the Asian security Guard, as well as an unimaginative off world adventure to find a code breaker (enter Benicio del Toro). Not only did you get a poor attempt at re-creating the classic bar scene but you also get a heavy handed PSA about animal cruelty. Concerning the pointless confrontation scene with Supreme Leader Snoke. We learn nearly nothing about the character who is supposed to be some powerful mastermind and then he gets killed by Kylo?! That leaves me wondering what was the point of the character anyway!

Mark Hamill’s iconoclastic portrayal of Luke Skywalker is embarrassingly spiteful towards fans (you should see the kind of comments he’s written on fans vintage Star Wars cards throughout the years). I suppose the disgusting green milk scene was an attempt to mimic Yoda’s crazy charade in ESB, but here it just comes off as cringe worthy gross. However the most disgraceful aspect of his character is his self-spite culminating in he and Yoda destroying the Jedi artifacts for really no reason- not even letting fans explore what revelations they might have held. What’s even more bizarre is that he commits to training Rey with 3 lessons but only teaches her 2, then burns down all the Jedi texts and dies so how exactly does this help teach Rey to be a Jedi? What an ass!

That being said Episode 8: The Last Jedi was not all bad. I did like the Luke-Kylo-Rey story and his final fight with Kylo was very nice. Seeing Leia use the force was also cool too.

In the end there were just too many subplots shoe horned in. It made me feel like I was watching a fan fiction of Hollywood actors who wanted to be in a Star Wars movie.

The film lacked a sense of wonder and more importantly it lacked chemistry and heart-all aspects that made the Lucas films so great.

It’s clear Disney is looking forward to a younger generation that knows more about Star Wars from video games rather than reading the books. So I guess that’s why there’s a need for constant action in the film. I just don’t understand why they can’t bridge the older generation as well? I can only suppose that is what the anthology series are for.

While I’ll be eagerly awaiting Ron Howard’s Han Solo movie, I’ll be very cautious about expectations for future Star Wars films.

Movie Grade: 5/10

Joshua H. Stulman

Owner, BrooklynComicShop.com